Happenstance

Chapter 6: A Not So Quick Bite to Eat

Surprisingly, Luna's afternoon out with Draco had proved to be quite enjoyable. So much so, that their 'quick bite to eat' had turned into a day long excursion that ended with the new parents and their son enjoying a delicious supper at the very same bistro where she and Draco had fought a day earlier. It was well after eight o'clock when they finally finished their dinner, and after noticing that Landon was looking quite tired, Luna announced that it was time for them to head home.

"You two could come stay at my house, if you want," Draco offered, as he pushed the stroller that his infant son slept in. Draco wasn't ready to part with the boy just yet and planned on doing everything he could, so he didn't have to. "It would give you a chance to see your new home before you actually move in."

"I don't think that would be a very good idea," Luna said, declining his generous offer. "My Dad's probably worried out of his mind with it being as late as it is and our not being home yet. Besides, I've got to break the news to him. I don't think he'll be too happy about Landon and my leaving so soon. He'll be terribly lonely in that big house all by himself." Ever since Luna's Mum had died, her father hadn't even attempted to date, so chances were, if she and Landon left, the only person he'd have to talk to was Gwennie and that was only for the few hours she was there every week. More and more, Luna started to feel bad about making so hasty a decision without even consulting her father. He had done so much for her and had been so understanding and supportive through out her entire pregnancy and she couldn't help but feel like she was turning her back on him.

"Maybe he'll start dating and find someone new," Draco said, uncharacteristically optimistic about the prospective outcome. The last thing the young father wanted was for Luna to change her mind and decide to stay at home with her father instead of moving in with him. If that happened, they were right back at square one. "It's almost been nine years since your Mum passed, he should be ready to move on."

"I don't think you understand just how much my Dad loved my Mum. He was completely smitten with her the moment he saw her. When she died, I didn't think he'd ever stop crying. He took it even worse than I did, and I saw it happen.

"You did?" Draco asked, not having known that Luna had been with her mother when the accident occurred. Luna nodded, a sad look taking over her usual cheerful disposition.

"It was really terrible. But I'm pretty sure that she passed away instantly, so at least she didn't suffer," Luna replied, offering him a weak smile. "You don't have to see us home, Draco."

"I want to," he replied, peaking down into the stroller to see his son, a small grin pulling at the corners of his lips as he gazed at the boy. "Do you think you'll be ready to move in tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Luna asked, her mouth wide in shock. "That's a bit soon, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think it's too soon," Draco replied. "My house is too quiet with it just being me there. I'm eager to get you guys settled in so I don't have to put up with the eerie silence anymore."

"How about next weekend?" Luna asked, having to raise her voice as they entered the train station that, even at so late an hour, was still packed full of people and quite loud. "I think that's the soonest we'll be able to move."

"Well, if that's the soonest than it'll have to do," he replied, gesturing for her to take the stroller while he went to the ticket counter. "I'll be back in a sec."

Though it took nearly ten minutes to get their tickets, eventually Draco, Luna and Landon were all settled into their private compartment on the train, the atmosphere having improved ten fold now that they were able to speak to one another without having to shout over all of the noise. Even though the train station had been quite rowdy, little Landon's eyes didn't open once. Instead, the tiny infant remained asleep, gently sucking on his pacifier. Granted the ride to Luna's house was only thirty minutes long, it seemed like it took forever. Draco and Luna had spent the entire day talking about just about everything they could think of in hopes of steering the topic away from the issue at hand. Neither really wanted to address what was really bothering them but after spending so much time together, they had exhausted all other topics. So much so, that the first twenty minutes of the ride were spent in complete silence. Luna had even resorted to feigning sleep.

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" Draco asked, knowing that she wasn't really asleep. "And I want a real answer; I want the truth."

"Why does it matter?" she asked, giving up on avoiding the issue. Sitting up and opening her eyes, Luna prepared herself for what was sure to be an interesting conversation. "I've given in and agreed to let you be in Landon's life, so why bother asking questions?"

"Because I missed the birth of my child and I'd like... I think I deserve to know why," he replied, choosing his words very carefully. He couldn't, for the life of him, understand why she was so hell bent on avoiding having to explain her actions. It wasn't like she had done something that didn't affect him, so why she thought she'd get off scot-free, he didn't know. For several moments, Luna just stared at him, silently thinking how best to answer his question.

"Well, it's not like you were the nicest person in the world... least of all, to me," she finally replied, a defeated look on her face. "Every word you ever said to me was either just plain cruel or some clever taunt aimed to make me cry. What was I supposed to do?"

"We got on quite well that night, to which Landon's existence is evidence of," Draco said, gesturing towards the infant who lay atop his chest, quietly sleeping.

"Yes, for that one night, you were really sweet and kind. But that was one night, Draco. One night out of six years doesn't really count for much. I was embarrassed and scared. Would you really expect me to give you even more ammunition, even more of a reason, not to mention endless opportunities to drag me through the mud? People may have called me a lot of names, but stupid wasn't one of them."

"What were you so afraid of?" he asked, not exactly thrilled by what she was telling him. He knew he had been a cruel jerk to her, there was no denying that, but to actually hear how he made her feel, that killed him.

"I was sixteen and pregnant!" she exclaimed, unable to believe he would ask so stupid a question. "Pregnant by someone who spent six years tormenting me and who's Father tried to kill me not even two years prior. Why do you think I was scared?"

"Okay," he replied, softly. "I see what you're saying, but when I came to you and asked you if I was Landon's father you didn't have to lie to me. I think it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to make fun of you. We'd even managed to have a civil conversation not even twenty minutes before that. So why would you lie?"

"Because I didn't want you anywhere near my son. I didn't want to have to spend my life trying to un-teach everything I was sure you'd expect him to learn," she replied, honestly, knowing that her words would most likely hurt the young wizard. "I didn't want my son to end up like you. You were horrible to everyone, even your friends, you were sure that you were better than any and everyone, and you were so hateful towards everything. What sort of mother would I be if I didn't protect him from that?"

"I'm not the same person I was before," he whispered.

"How was I supposed to know that?" she snapped, getting angrier by the second. Luna couldn't believe that he was honestly making her sit there and defend her actions, to defend her method of protecting her son. "It's not like I heard from you after we left Hogwarts or anything, so how would I know that you underwent some sort of metamorphosis?"

"Oh..." Draco whispered. "I get it, you're pissed because I didn't write or come see you after we shagged. That's what this is about, isn't it?"

"It most certainly is not," she scoffed. Truthfully, Luna knew that if he had made some attempt at contacting her over the summer she probably would have confided in him and, at least, given him a chance to prove that he was willing to be the sort of father that she wanted Landon to have. But he didn't need to know that. "Only you could turn around and make this about you."

"Admit it, Luna," Draco said, that damn smirk making its first appearance of the evening. "You were hurt because I swooped in, took your virginity and didn't even send a thank you note." The instant Draco said those words he regretted them. He regretted them even more when Luna's eyes started to tear up. Somehow knowing that he had been correct in his assumption, didn't make Draco feel any better. Instead, he felt like an ass. After they had slept together, Draco had to admit that things had been really awkward. He didn't know what to say or how to act towards her because he didn't know what she was thinking, and with her mood the way it was that evening, he didn't have a clue how to figure out what was going on in her head either. They only thing he could think about was getting out of there as fast as possible; which he did.

"So what," she said, her voice cracking due to her fighting the urge to cry. "It doesn't mean anything. It just would have been nice if you'd had the decency to see if I was alright. But you got what you wanted, so in typical Malfoy fashion, you couldn't spare a thought for anyone else."

"Don't act like that," Draco said softly, not wanting to argue with her. Besides, she couldn't be any further off base. "Don't think I didn't think about you afterwards, Luna, because I did. I just wasn't sure how to handle the situation..."

"So, you decided to just not handle the situation," she accused.

"More or less, yes," he agreed. "I didn't know why you slept with me or why you were willing to let me be your first. I figured you were just upset and you needed an outlet and since I was standing there, you decided that I would fit the bill. I honestly didn't think you wanted to hear from me."

"We both know you're not that daft, Draco."

"I'm not being daft, I'm being honest," he said, laughing. "Believe it or not this is how guys really think. It doesn't make much sense but hey, what can you do." Luna couldn't help but laugh. "I really did think about you a lot. I was really excited when I bumped into you yesterday."

"We should start getting Landon ready to get off of the train," Luna said, changing the subject to something a bit more neutral. She knew where Draco was headed, and she really wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. "Can you put his hat on him? It's a bit breezy." Draco nodded and busied himself with dressing the baby.

It only took the three of them ten minutes to get to Luna's house from the train station. Just as Draco had feared, their conversation once again drifted to unimportant topics, ranging from Quidditch teams to what it was he was doing at his father's company. He had to admit it; Luna was really good at manipulating a situation to fit her needs. If she didn't want to address something, she didn't and it would be a while before you noticed that she was avoiding it. In no time, the young parents were standing on the front steps of Lovegood Manor, awkwardly saying goodnight.

"So, I'll owl you tomorrow and we can arrange a time for me and Landon to get together," Draco said, his hands shoved in his pockets because he didn't quite know what else to do with them.

"All right," Luna replied, lifting Landon out of his stroller. "Goodnight."

"'Night..." Draco said, as she was opening the door to go inside. "At some point, we're going to have to address what's going on between us."

"Draco, I thought I made it pretty clear that there won't be anything between you and me. The only reason we're even speaking is because of Landon," Luna replied, sounding tired.

"I don't believe that and neither do you," Draco assured her, before apparating to his own home. With an annoyed huff, Luna went inside her house; the prospect of revealing her new living arrangements to her father causing her to wish she weren't home just yet.

Quietly, Luna tiptoed up the staircase and headed towards Landon's nursery hoping to avoid her father until the morning. Unfortunately, he was inside of Landon's room when she got there. It was well after nine o'clock and her poor father had begun to think that maybe she hadn't been able to stop the Malfoy's from taking the baby. At the sight of his daughter and grandson returning home safely, Mr. Lovegood was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Without a word, Luna lay her son down and gestured for her father to follow her before turning off the nursery room light.

Just as she had expected, her father hadn't taken the news of her and Landon leaving all that well. He had cried a bit, which made Luna cry, and apparently wanting to join in on the festivities, Landon decided to wake up and cry too. After a few minutes of feeling sorry for himself, Mr. Lovegood was able to admit that Draco's idea of living together made sense. He had always hoped that Luna would change her mind about allowing the baby's father to be involved in his upbringing, so when he found out that she had, and had done so without court order, he was quite pleased. Unfortunately, that meant that he would have to get used to spending a great deal of his time without the only two remaining members of his family, but if that meant that his grandson was able to have his father, than he was fine with that. The more he thought about it, the more he actually started to liked the idea. Perhaps Luna was right, maybe he would start dating.

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