Chapter Twenty Six

Draco awoke the next morning in the same spot he had fallen asleep - on top of the blankets curled up next to Luna in the guest room.

He sat and watched her until she finally stretched and opened her eyes. Seeing him next to her she smiled and asked, "What time is it?"

"A little after seven in the morning."

"Oh, no! Have I missed your mother?"

"She went home yesterday evening but we've been invited to her house for dinner in a day or two."

"Dinner?" smiled Luna.

"Yes. Dinner. Just one of many, if you are still amenable to that proposition."

"I am more than amenable," said Luna. "I just wanted to make sure that the same still held for you. It's one thing when I was the only woman within a hundred miles. Now we're back in the real world, where there are many women who will want to..have dinner with you."

"I'd feel the same about you no matter how many women were within a hundred miles of me. What in the world brought this on?"

Luna summoned her bag and pulled out the most recent edition of Witch Weekly magazine. "I found this in the waiting room at the hospital."

Splashed across the cover was a large picture of Draco. By the looks of his suit and the brooding expression on his face he assumed it had been taken at one of his parole hearings. The headline proclaimed, "Draco Malfoy - The Wizarding World's Most Eligible Bachelor!" A smaller inset showed a picture of Draco and Pansy at the Yule Ball with the tagline "What It's Like to Date Draco!"

Draco snorted before flinging the magazine into the fireplace and incinerating it with his wand. "First off, I won't even dignify Pansy's desperate grab for attention with a comment. Secondly, they're wrong. I am not eligible - I am very much taken. My heart belongs to the beautiful blonde witch next to me. And finally, I am a bachelor in only the strictest definition of the word as I am not married - yet."

"However, since we are on the subject, I think it is high time for me to fully declare my intentions." He took Luna's hand and stated in a firm voice, "Let me be perfectly clear. I'm not with you because of any agreement I may have signed. I'm not with you because I'm lonely or simply feel a need for female companionship. I'm not in this for the short term or to simply get you into my bed - although I will confess that last part is indeed on my wish list. The truth of the matter is that I am completely and utterly in love with you, Luna Scamander Previously Lovegood and my ultimate goal is quite specific - to add six more letters to that already ridiculously long name of yours."

He paused then added, "That's Malfoy, by the way. The six letters I mean. In case there's any question."

"Thank you for clarifying that part," Luna said. "The only other six letter last name I know is 'Potter' and if you were suggesting I marry Harry that would make outings with Ginny very awkward."

Draco shuddered and made a face. "Please let me assure you that I am not suggesting anything of the sort with you and Potter."

Luna began to say something else but Draco placed a finger on her lips. "I'm not officially proposing right now, mind you. I fully intend to do this in a time honored and respectable manner. I know it may not be considered fashionable but I want to give you the one thing I feel you have been denied in your lifetime - a proper courtship."

"Draco, you don't have to prove anything to me."

"Fine. Then allow me to prove it to myself."

Luna gave this some thought then said, "On one condition."

"Which is?"

"That you count the weeks we spent searching for the scroll as 'time served' in regards to this "proper courtship" of yours."

"Time served? You make it sound like a punishment," Draco laughed. "Fine. If spending time with you is a sentence then I demand life without possibility of parole."

Seeing a trace of lingering doubt in her eyes, Draco kissed her and said, "Oh, Luna, I wish there was a spell I could cast or a potion I could brew that would allow you to see yourself the way that I see you."

Luna bit her lip and asked, "What do you see?"

"What do I see?" Draco cradled her face in his hands and said, "I see a woman who is stronger and smarter and braver than any person I've ever known and whose beauty never ceases to take my breath away. I see a woman whose heart is incredibly full and open and whose very being emanates love and light. I see a woman whose hair seems to be spun out of silk and moonbeams. I see a woman whose incredible eyes peer inside people instead of focusing on their past or appearances. I see lips that captivated me even before the first time I tasted them and a smile that can light up the entire night sky. I see the woman who repeatedly and consistently haunts my dreams."

He ran his fingers along her jaw. "There is a place on your neck - right here - that I find inexplicably fascinating." He nibbled that spot and she let a soft moan, causing his heart to race in response. "And don't even get me started on how you sound and smell and feel..."

With a ragged breath he moved back slightly. "I would keep going but propriety constrains me so please take my word on the fact that I have very strong and favorable opinions regarding every square inch of you..."

"Even the parts you haven't seen yet?" Luna teased.

"Especially the parts I haven't seen...yet." He waggled his eyebrows and propped himself up on one arm. "So it's completely understandable that I should be madly in love with you. The real mystery is why you would look twice at me. You are the one that should be the one trying to find a way out of this. I am utterly unworthy and there is no possible way for me to live up to the memory of your late husband..."

Luna gripped the front of his shirt and gently reprimanded him. "Quit comparing yourself to Rolf. You aren't Rolf and he isn't you. I know that he would want me to be happy. And you make me incredibly happy."

"Are you sure, Luna? Rolf was..."

"Stop. Yes, Rolf was a wonderful man that I loved very much and he will always have a place in my heart. But you are the man that I love now and you have your own place in my heart and while it is separate it is most definitely not second."

Luna pushed him down onto the mattress and rested her head on his chest. "Draco, you understand me in ways that no one else every has or ever will and nothing or nobody will ever change that."

He stammered out a weak protest so Luna sat up and said, "Draco? Stop talking and kiss me properly, please."

With a wicked glint in his eyes, Draco deftly flipped her onto her back and growled, "As you wish, my lady."

He slowly dipped down and began kissing her passionately when they were cut short by a knock at the door.

"Master! Master! Breakfast is ready. Shall I serve you and Missy Luna in there or in the sitting room?"

With a frustrated groan Draco pushed himself up, hovered above Luna and rolled his eyes. "Why do I get the overwhelming feeling this won't be the last time she interrupts us like this?"

Luna giggled and said, "Think of it as practice. I understand children do this to their parents all the time." Draco's eyes flew open and Luna blushed. "Sorry. Was that inappropriate? I didn't mean...Did I say the wrong thing?"

Draco grinned like a mad man. "No! That's not inappropriate at all. I would love..."

Mitzi called out again and Draco reluctantly rolled off the bed. "I would love for us to more fully explore that topic when we have more time and privacy..." He extended his hand to Luna. "In the meantime, let's get some breakfast before Mitzi breaks down the door and tries to force feed us."

xoxox

In the weeks leading up to the gala Draco and Luna spent much of their time in each other's company, including dinners together almost every night. They went to a few restaurants but in effort to spare themselves the headache of the paparazzi, many of those meals were in the homes of family and friends, including a visit to the Burrow where both Draco and Luna were almost smothered to death by the hugs of Molly and Arthur as soon as they stepped through the floo.

Through those shared evenings, Luna's friends began to realize that the initial reports they'd received from Hermione and Ginny were accurate - the pair were deeply in love and Draco was obviously determined to do whatever it took to make Luna happy - even if that meant spending time in the company of former antagonists and getting the piss taken out of him on a regular basis by Potter and the others.

Even the likes of Neville were impressed when Luna informed them that not only had Draco matched her contribution to the families of the poachers who died but he had also authorized a sizable donation to Charlie's dragon preserve as well as establishing the Rolf Scamander Memorial Foundation - an organization with the express purpose of eliminating poaching, with a particular focus on the protection of dragons, erumpents and graphorns, with Luna as lead consultant and advisor.

One of Draco's favorite evenings was one they spent with his Aunt and little Teddy. The young boy immediately took to Luna and over dessert announced that when he got older he intended to marry her, causing Draco to tickle the child and tease, "Oi! Back off, mate. Find your own girl."

This sent Teddy into a pout until Luna assured him, "Teddy, I promise that if I'm not married by the time you graduate Hogwarts then we can revisit the issue."

Later, as Draco helped Andromeda in the kitchen, his aunt said, "Teddy will graduate when he's seventeen. He's three now. That gives you fourteen years to propose to that girl." His aunt then handed him a plate and smiled, "Please tell me you don't intend to take that much time."

"I'll admit that I've had many lapses of judgment in my life, Aunt Andromeda," laughed Draco, "But I can assure you that even I'm not stupid enough to wait that long."