Things start to heat up for our characters… ;) Also, a side of Luna that nobody has seen before. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Day 5

Winning the golden snitch his second quidditch match... beating Goyle at a long game of wizard's chess... seeing Pansy Parkinson in her beautiful green ball dress at the Yule Ball... getting a good grade on a Potions exam and having Snape pat him on the shoulder... running into his mother's arms when he went home for each holiday... producing his first patronus with the strangest girl at Hogwarts…

These were the memories that came to Draco's mind after he went to bed and forced his mind to block all the horrible, negative memories as Luna instructed, and in came the good and happy memories like melted butter.

Draco awoke with a smile on his face. Never before, even in the manor and at school, has he had a better night's sleep. He got up, transformed his pajamas into his suit and walked out into the morning air, taking a big whiff of the morning freshness.

He sat on the front step as he looked over the grass fields, and conjured up a piece of toast. He looked over at the dirigible plums. He plucked one off and ate the sweet, juicy fruit and threw the pit off into the grass.

He felt great! But where was Luna? Still asleep?

Draco immediately stood as he noticed movement in the distance near the forest. He spotted blonde hair.

He cursed under his breath as he ran down the steps and watched Luna enter the forest. His heart started to beat harder. What if the Death Eaters show up and find him alone? They would take him and leave Luna in the forest, and later would go back to find her after gagging him to tell them where she was. And what if they were in that forest waiting for her already?

Draco huffed through his nose, and with no second thought, rushed through the grass towards the forest, wand in his hand.

Luna left early in the morning when Draco was still asleep, and sun was not even up yet. She heard the shriek of the crumple-horned snorkack and immediately bounced out of bed, changed, and headed downstairs. She saw a sleeping Draco on the bed he conjured up for himself. She took a moment to gaze at his calm, sleeping face, a hint of a smile on his lips, and his blonde hair falling over his forehead.

"He's beautiful…" Luna quietly whispered, and tiptoed to the door and shut it behind her silently. She headed off into the grass, and danced across the fields until she reached the forest. She heard the shriek again, and her heart sped up with excitement. Maybe she finally could capture that cat-like creature!

She high-tailed it into the forest, shoes on this time, stepping on sticks and fallen branches and leaves as she went. She stopped immediately when she heard her name being called somewhere in the distance, as if on the wind blowing through the trees. She let it go, thinking that she was hearing things.

Her name was called again. She knew that voice. It filled her dreams at night now.

"Draco?" she called, but was not nearly loud enough over the rustling trees.

"Luna!" she heard closer, realizing this was the first time that he has said her name aloud.

"Draco, is that you?" she asked loudly, and she found a tall, thin form making his way through branches and brush.

"Who else would I be?" he asked as he stepped over twigs and leaves to get to her. She smiled, but his expression was nothing more than a scowl. "What were you thinking, coming in here alone?" he demanded. "You know Death Eaters could come any time, right? And snatch you and me? And who knows what they would do to us!"

"I know," she said lightly. "Every day, I expect them to come."

He gave her a confused look.

"Being in the presence of a Death Eater is bound to bring more Death Eaters," she said. "But you don't even seem like one."

"What? But I am one."

"I know. But you just don't seem like one because you have good inside of you."

He stared at her for a moment with a thoughtful expression, then a shrill shriek filled the air around them, making Draco flinch.

"Blymee, what was that?" he demanded.

"A snorkack!" Luna said with glee.

"I really don't think those things are real, Luna."

"Of course they are. We both heard their shriek."

"Maybe your father was making it all up as a fun children's story."

Something erupted inside of Luna, something that she hasn't felt in a really long time. Her brows furrowed and she scowled at him. "They are real, Draco. You heard it."

"Yes, I heard something. Not a made-up animal. I've looked though all those book at your place, and I've read countless books on magical creatures from my own home library. They're not real, so let's get outta here! That thing is probably close."

The shriek sounded again, which startled Draco, but Luna didn't budge an inch. Draco was taken aback a bit when he saw tears form in her gray-blue eyes, and those same eyes glared back at him.

"They're not made up, Draco. I've seen one. Just a few days ago."

It was his turn to glare at her. "What? Then you must've seen something else. Like a bobcat or something."

"No!" she shouted, and it echoed through the trees. "I've seen one! Exactly as my father described them!"

Draco stared at Luna. Her face was flushed with frustration, and her eyes sent daggers his way.

He huffed through his nose. He said as calmly as he could, "Look, Luna, your father probably played this snorkack thing off of some other wild cat. What you saw could have been one of those. Now let's get out of here, alright?"

Luna huffed through her nose now, and tears fell from her eyes. She met his hard gaze. "You just don't understand, Draco. I need to find one and capture one and bring it home. Look, I've seen them, and my father has as well. He vowed to find one after my mother died… it was literally her dying wish that we find one and name it Pandora after her…"

She saw his jaw clench together as he viewed her in her current state. "Okay," he breathed. "What if you find this shrieking animal, and it's not this snorkack thing that you're looking for. Then what?"

She thought for a moment. "Then I'll keep looking."

Draco let out a long, heavy sigh. "Okay. Fine. Look for them. But not today. Maybe when all this craziness is over… you know, the Death Eaters, the Dark Lord, the imminent war…"

Luna looked around her at the forest, the sunlight coming through the canopies of the trees. A moment passed as she mulled his idea over in her head. She nodded and took a deep breath, releasing the irritation. "Okay."

She walked over next to him, and they were about to leave, when they heard the shrill, ear-splitting shriek again… only it was right next to them.

Both jumped at the sound, and Draco, in terror, spotted movement in the bushes. Then a large cat-like form. Luna spotted it as well, and her heart lifted.

"The snorkack!" she said happily.

Draco's stared at the glowing yellow eyes through the bushes. "Luna," he said in a shaky voice, "that's no snorkack."

The animal growled and then shrieked again, causing both Draco and Luna to cover their ears. The animal came out of the bushes, but Luna noticed that Draco had already grabbed her hand and started running before she had a chance to see it.

"Draco!" she shouted. "That was a snorkack!"

"No, that was a wild cat who is now chasing us!"

Luna looked behind her as they ran through the trees and bushes, and sure enough, the large-cat animal was on their tail, bearing its fanged teeth, and growling.

Luna saw Draco pull out his wand and cast a spell that caused a tree to fall, blocking the beast for a time, and pulled Luna on, until they came to a clearing, one with feathery green grass, flowing in sync with the wind.

A loud growl sounded behind them, and both turned to find the large cat walk out into the clearing. Luna heard Draco gasp when he saw the beast, standing as tall as him, and glaring at them both with large yellow eyes. The ears of the beast were tall and horn-like, but bent over when it growled. Luna found herself being pushed behind Draco as she gazed in wonderment at the animal. She has never seen it up close like this! Draco faced it and cast a powerful spell that repelled it backwards into a tree, making a limb of the tree crack and fall to the ground. This only angered the beast more. It sprinted to them, but Draco cast another spell which repelled it back again to the forest, only with more force.

The thing shrieked and Luna felt her eardrums pulsate. She screamed from the loud noise. Draco cast another spell, and another, battling with the beast until it pounced and Draco was soon looking up at a furry belly. Luna found herself being pushed to the ground and being covered by Draco's long body as he cast a spell that sent the beast hurtling back into the forest. She waited a moment, as did he. They both heard paw-steps dissipate.

A calm and peaceful silence suddenly filled the clearing. Luna kept her eyes squeezed shut.

"Luna!"

Her eyes opened and she found herself looking directly up at Draco's blue eyes, some of his blonde hair tickling her forehead. Her heart leaped. His face was so close to hers…

She felt her cheeks fill with heat as both of their chests rose and sunk with one another. She felt his strong lullaby heartbeat, his hot breath hit her mouth, and she smelled that pine scent. A very new and strong feeling wove through her body as she noticed that one of his legs was sandwiched in between hers as they lay in the grass. He was crushing her, but… she didn't seem to care. In fact… she actually… liked it.

Draco suddenly got up from on top of her and sat in the grass beside her. He let out a long sigh. It took her a moment to get up, calming down whatever emotions that were swirling inside of her, but not being successful. She sat up and looked over at Draco and saw that his pale cheeks were a deep red, and he stared at the grass in front of him. She looked forward at the clearing.

"Lovely, isn't it?" she asked, her own cheeks heated.

"Yeah."

Minutes passed in silence as the leaves in the treas around rustled, and birds chirped. Luna gathered the courage to say something. Her light voice seemed to glide on the warm wind blowing in the clearing.

"Thank you, Draco. For saving both of us."

"Yeah."

"If that was a crumple-horned snorkack, then I wouldn't have been able to bring it back on my own." She chuckled sadly. "I guess I really am 'Loony' Lovegood, as everyone says."

"Sometimes you can be. But… sometimes you're just plain brilliant. So brilliant, it makes my teeth grind with irritation."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really." He turned his head and met her gaze. "And I'm not an idiot, either. I knew why you wanted to do the patronus thing. Trying to make me happy…"

She nodded and smiled. "I guess it was obvious. It worked, didn't it?"

"I suppose."

A few moments passed as the wind blew through their hair. Luna closed her eyes and took it in.

"Luna," she heard, "about your mother… did she actually want you to capture that creature and take it home?"

She nodded. "Yes. My father and I have been trying to capture them since, with that huge net that I lost the last time I went into the forest. But they never came close to us."

"Then I ruined your chances of capturing one." He chuckled. "At least that one."

"No. Like I said—I never had a chance. My father will understand." She eyed his pale, handsome face. "Let's wait here a while so we know it's gone. Then we can head back."

"Alight."

The two sat in silence in the soft grass. Luna looked up at the clouds and attempted to get her mind off of not the large cat, but… the feelings she felt outside and inside of her body as Draco was on top of her… What in Merlin's name were they? She's never felt them before.

"Shall we go?" she heard Draco ask.

She looked at him and met his blue eyes, pools of water. Then her eyes darted to his left arm. He followed her gaze.

"What? Is something there?" He held his arm up and examined the sleeve.

"May I see your tattoo again?"

His eyes dilated and his brows pushed together. "What?"

Luna didn't say anything as she waited for Draco to do something. He huffed and pulled off his suit coat and rolled up his sleeve after unbuttoning the wrists.

Luna stared at the beautiful tattoo on his arm. She knew it was evil, she knew what it did, and she knew what it made Draco. She scooted closer to him and took his arm gently in her hand and moved a finger from her other hand over the mark, over the smooth skin of his arm. Then several fingers. She felt him twitch and she looked up at him, meeting his blue eyes. His face was expressionless, and flushed.

"You are a good person, Draco," she said softly. "This mark doesn't change that."

He stared at her, holding her gaze as the warm wind blew through their hair and the grass. He pulled his arm that her hand was secured to, bringing her forward until her face was inches from his. She held her breath and her heart pounded as his blue eyes darted from hers to her mouth...

He backed away, releasing his arm from her hand. He stood up and grabbed his suit jacket. "Let's go back," he said, and started walking to the forest.

She scrambled up and walked next to him, through the forest, and then through the grassy fields. As they walked, nearing the house, Luna said,

"That clearing that we were in… that is where I fell asleep and the snake let me use his body as a pillow. I had to feed it first or else it would've had me for dinner."

Draco noticeably shuttered. "Lovely. I'd rather take that massive cat."

She chuckled lightly and they made their way back to the house.