The war's coming to an end... what will our characters do?

Chapter 16

Courtyard filled with rubble, the remaining Hogwarts students stood on the stone in the morning daylight, watching Lord Voldemort walk up to them with his posse, along with Hagrid, who was carrying someone very limp in his arms.

Luna's heart sunk as she focused her eyes on the body in Hagrid's arms.

"Who's Hagrid holding in his arms?" Ginny demanded, shoving passed people. "Hagrid, who is that?"

"I have killed Harry Potter!" Lord Voldemort shouted.

"NO!" Ginny screamed, and someone had to hold her back. "No!"

Luna felt tears come to her eyes as she looked at Harry's lifeless form, her heart hurting for the loss of one of her very good friends. Her head became fuzzy, and her body ached from the battle.

"Come and join me!" Lord Voldemort said in a slithering voice. "Come, join so we can have more forces to take on the wizarding world! You will have infinite power!"

A great silence overcame the courtyard. No one wanted to join the being who had made everyone's life, even the wizarding world, a living hell.

"Draco!" someone suddenly said, and Luna's heart jumped. Who said his name? Luna moved through people so she could get a better look since she was on the shorter side. She saw Lucious Malfoy's hand extended.

"Come, Draco," he called again.

Luna, as well as everyone else, looked in the direction Draco's father had his arm extended, and her pulse rose when she spotted Draco standing on the rubble, a frown on his face.

"Draco," his father hissed.

All eyes were on him as Draco stepped down and walked to his father, and his mother put an arm around him and turned him away from the crowd. Luna took a step, wanting to go to him, but she stopped herself. Draco and his mother turned around. His eyes darted to exactly where Luna was. His eyes widened.

Luna took another step forward, and Draco definitely noticed. He took a step in her direction, but couldn't go farther due to his mother's hold. Luna noticed the look of longing in his blue eyes. It took all the rest of her strength in her to no run to him. What would happen if she did that?

"Harry is gone," someone said, and Luna looked to see Neville Longbottom standing in front of the Dark Lord, "but we will still fight! We will defeat you once and for all, and you will do no harm to the wizarding world no more!"

Lord Voldemort laughed, but immediately ceased when Neville suddenly pulled a magnificent sword out of the sorting hat, and Harry jumped out of Hagrid's arms. Several people gasped, and Lord Voldemort shouted in disdain and shot curses at him but missed. Luna covered her mouth as this went on, utterly shocked that her friend seemingly came back to life!

Luna ran, along with all the other students who scattered in all directions as Harry and the Dark Lord fought. Luna hid behind a stone pillar and watched in amazement the one-on-one battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort.

Luna's eyes darted around. Draco was nowhere to be seen.

"Congratulations, Neville. That was amazing."

"Thanks, Luna. I didn't know I had it in me."

"Sometimes we are stronger than we originally think ourselves to be."

"Yeah…" He held onto the handle of the Gryffindor sword, with which he destroyed the last horcrux that killed Lord Voldemort—the snake Nagini.

Luna sat next to Neville in the Great Hall as others around them were talking together, healing each other, and crying for their dead. Luna's gaze lingered on the Weasley family who lost Fred, and another group around Tonks and Lupin. Luna felt her heart pinch. She will miss those friends of hers dearly, as well as others like Collin Creevey and Lavender Brown.

She continued to circle the room with her eyes, and her gaze landed on Lucious and Narcissa Malfoy, standing over by a window, and looking around at what was going on around them. They had unsure expressions on both of their faces, like they were not sure what to do, or just felt out of place among Luna's friends.

Then she looked next to them at the blonde young man sitting on a bench, head down, with his arms resting on his knees. Draco.

Her heart leaped as she said to Neville, "Neville, it was lovely sitting with you, but there is someone that I would like to talk to."

"Alright," he said, and continued looking over the sword.

Luna wove her way slowly over to the Malfoys, and some people whispered as she passed. She heard her name, as well as the Malfoys' names. She didn't blame them for wondering. Why was 'Loony' Lovegood going over to talk to the wealthy and powerful Malfoys? What business did she have with them?

When Luna approached, Lucious saw her, and his eyes widened. He nudged his wife, who looked up at her. She gasped and covered her hand with her mouth. Luna wondered why they were so surprised to see her, but she'll think about that later. She went over to Draco, knowing that his parents were watching. She sat down next to him.

"Draco?"

His head popped up and he looked over to her. His eyes widened. "Luna."

"Hi."

He looked around him at people who were staring at them with strange and confused expressions. "You shouldn't be talking to me here," he whispered.

"Yes, but I wanted to." She shrugged. "Plus, there are people who know about us, anyway."

His eyes dilated more. "What? Who?"

She looked over to where Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny sat, close to the Weasley family, and Draco followed her gaze.

"Hermione and Ginny are the only ones who know," she said.

It looked as if Hermione was talking, but was inaudible to them because of the distance. Suddenly, Ron and Harry looked over at them with shocked expressions. Ron's was more a look of disgust.

"Looks like Ron and Harry know as well," Luna said.

"Lovely," Draco grumbled. "Now they'll blab it to the whole school, knowing them." He paused for a moment, and said cautiously, "Do they know about…?"

Luna nodded before he finished. "Yes. At least Hermione does. I told her everything. But she wouldn't know about the kiss that happened earlier unless she was in that corridor."

Draco's face suddenly flushed a deep pink, and he looked around him frantically. "Don't say stuff like that out loud!" he whispered.

Luna smiled and looked back at her friends. They were still talking and looking at her and Draco. Luna pulled out her wand and muttered a charm that would allow what they're talking about to become audible to her ears only.

"I just don't get it," Ron said. "Luna and Draco? There couldn't be two people more different from one another."

"I know," Hermione said. "I couldn't believe it when she told me back at the sea cottage. But she sounded serious. I mean, look at them over there. Obviously something is going on. Draco's face is flushed pink."

"Could be out of annoyance that Loony is talking to him," Ron said.

Ginny smacked her brother's arm. "Don't you have a shred of respect? She's your friend, and ours. Plus, Luna told me that he's a good person now, as unbelievable as that is."

"C'mon, Ginny," Ron enthused. "He's a Death Eater. Or was, I guess. He bullied us our whole Hogwarts career!"

"Maybe he's changed."

"People like Draco Malfoy don't just change, Ginny. Especially not for a girl."

"You changed for a girl," she quipped, and he turned away from his sister, cheeks flushed.

"Oh, stop it, you two," Hermione quipped. "Apparently she saw something in Draco that no one else has, or even bothered to see."

"Yeah, through rose-colored glasses," Ron said under his breath, and his sister smacked his arm again. "Hey, stop it, will you?"

"Then be nice!"

"It's hard to believe that those two actually snogged," Harry said, and Ron shuttered.

"I'll admit, that is rather… unbelievable," Hermione said. "Especially since he was the one who instigated it." She slapped her leg. "But I want support her in this. I saw the way Draco was looking at her when we entered the Great Hall just thirty minutes ago. And look at the way he's staring at her now. Golly, the war is over. We all need a new start."

"Whatever floats your boat, Hermione," Ron said, not looking.

Luna decided that she would stop the charm there. She put away her wand and looked at Draco, who, like Hermione said, was looking at her. The soft look in his blue eyes made her heart speed up.

"I need to talk to you," he said. "And not in here."

Luna nodded and stood up, walking in the direction of her friends. She smiled at them as she walked on out of the Great Hall, and out to an empty corridor. She waited. She looked through a window, and marveled at a marvelous view of the Black Lake. The sky was clear and blue, and the sun shined on the dark water, making is shimmer.

"Beautiful," she said, then looked to the sky.

"Yeah, beautiful."

Luna turned at the sound of that familiar voice. Draco stood there in a dirty white dress shirt and black slacks, and his hands in his pockets. A soft smile played on his lips. He walked up to her, never leaving her gaze.

"You know," he said in a quiet voice, "it's kind of odd that I feel something for you, but… I like it. I suppose it's not hard since you're beautiful."

Luna smiled, and her heart fluttered. "Thank you, Draco."

He took a few steps to her. "It actually kind of drives me mad. I didn't know what do to about it back when we were at your place. It's... actually quite shocking when I think about it."

Luna blushed and looked down at her tatters pink sneakers. She felt a finger lift her chin and her gaze was brought back to his. He leaned in just a little and pressed his soft lips against hers in a sweet kiss, which caused her heart to fly. When he drew back after a few seconds, she saw that red started to fill the whites of his eyes.

"I thought you died," he choked out. "The Dark Lord lied to me and said that you were killed by a Death Eater after I saw you at the manor… saying that was my punishment for abandoning him."

Luna brought a hand up to his dirty cheek. "I'm not dead, Draco. I'm here."

He leaned in a bit until their foreheads touched. "And thank God. My heart nearly burst when I saw you there outside the Room of Requirement. Alive."

"Mine, too."

Luna put both hands on his broad shoulders and took in his presence. His hot breath hit her mouth like the calmest of sea breezes. She shut her eyes. She felt his arms wrap around the small of her waist, and he pulled her closer to him.

Their mouths touched in another small kiss, then he said, "There's something you need to know."

"Alright."

"Since the Dark Lord is gone… my family has to figure a few things out, like what we are going to do next. Our whole lives revolved around what the Dark Lord wanted us to do. Now... Well, it might take a while to get back on our feet. I might not see you for… who knows how long."

"I understand." She backed her head away just a smidgen. "There's something that you need to know, too."

"And what's that?"

"When you came into the dungeon when you ran away from the battle in your living room, I was so incredibly happy to see you."

She felt his brows crease. "Me? Why?"

"Because I recognized you. That gave me a whole lot of comfort seeing someone—anyone—from school. And every time I saw you after that, or just saying your name, it brought me more happiness than I could ever imagine."

He smiled. "I think you're over-doing it."

"I'm not."

The two chuckled, and he said. "Well… I'm flattered."

Luna wrapped her arms completely around his neck, which brought their faces closer.

"You should get in to your friends," he whispered quietly.

She nodded. "Yes. I probably should."

"Okay."

The two didn't release one another until they heard a door shut near them. They stood apart, but both had their eyes on each other.

"I'll miss you," she said, and started to walk away, but she turned her head to him, making her hair swish. "And just a thought… I think you're an incredible wizard, who has come such a long way. You're a good person, Draco." She smiled. "You're also really handsome."

Draco smiled at that as he watched Luna enter the Great Hall. She didn't hear his confession he muttered when she was out of sight.