It was a small dream,

Two people, hands entwined.

I consign it to the flame

Spread its ashes across the sky.

Can you tell me where to sing?

Joy and rage and everything?

Mirrors reflect so falsely,

I should strike and break them all.

In the destruction would be peace.

But the timetossed journey's long

And the winding road beckons me on.

I'm a long long way from home.

I may run but never roam.

Like blood my journey's set

I just don't know quite yet.

Is it so terribly wrong

To want to rest my weary head?

Draco Malfoy was sitting in the hospital wing, having managed to catch a severe case of the scratches. Hermione Granger was a few beds over (the nurse knew enough not to put Gryffindors close to Slytherins, lest the peaceful air of the infirmary be rent with screams and possibly hexes), her hands moving over books that she couldn't truly read. Her franticness was as adorable as it was illuminating. Artifacts had limits, and Hermione Granger's movements strongly implied that she had an artifact that would only give her so much... "free time."

Spells tended to be relatively free of rules, but artifacts? Their rules shone bright and clear, perhaps as compensation for their ability to be used by squibs and people with less magic in general. And Hermione Granger was behaving exactly as she would, if she knew she was falling behind, and probably couldn't grab back enough time to do it.

So, an artifact. Something that makes her duplicate, or something like that. And a limited use one, though probably not charges. It wasn't something that would exhaust itself. Possibly... just possibly... it might be something that would twist other things, and everyone knew that too much twisting caused knots that you could never untie.

Later, after a few hours of time spent in the infirmary (to be sure that Granger wasn't just a bit befuddled into studying frantically...), while the nurse healed much more severe Quiddich injuries, Draco Malfoy made his way where the winds led him.

Well, if by winds you meant sylphs, which Draco most definitely did.

Draco relayed his observations, as did Luna, and then they both presented their conclusions, which were surprisingly similar.

"I want that artifact." Luna said, her eyes glimmering in the greedy way Severus Snape's did when he saw a phoenix feather. "It is soo shiny, and it will come in handy too."

"Yes, I can see that." Draco Malfoy said, not certain what plan the air-headed Ravenclaw was spinning, but able to grasp the strategic implications of this artifact.

"I think..." Luna said, cocking her head to one side. "Yes, the krumplehorned snorkank says that we can wait. That it was in a box, under lock and key before it was given to Granger."

Draco Malfoy looked at Luna and asked, warily, "You already knew what it was, when I first noticed something was strange, didn't you?"

"Of course. But a riddles no fun if someone tells you the answer." Luna Lovegood said, smiling in that annoyingly vacant way, "And you had fun, didn't you? Isn't that what friends are supposed to do together?"

Draco Malfoy shoved both hands in his pockets, pressing his back against the wall as he tried to look nonchalant, "I wouldn't know. Probably, though."

"You'll learn," Luna said, in a voice that sounded eerily certain.

[a/n: Luna Lovegood, everyone. Now playing in theaters across the multiverse, spreading cryptic hints and conveying vague wisdom.

Reviews?

I would like to recommend that everyone listen to Manten, from Fate Stay Zero. Even if you cannot listen, at least read the lyrics. So. Awesome.]