Happenstance

Chapter 20: Rectify

Draco couldn't believe how daft he'd been. For the past few months he'd spent a great deal of time trying to convince Luna that he'd make a suitable significant other, and the first time she'd actually come to him when she needed someone to talk to, he'd been too blind and self involved to notice. Draco knew that he'd have a hell of a time convincing her that he'd make a good husband now, but he also knew that his father was right. If he ever wanted to settle down and expand his family, Luna was his only real option. Children from multiple women was a big no no for any member of the Malfoy family, and Draco wasn't about to piss off his ancestors anymore than he already had. Not for one second did he doubt that he'd get an earful from them when he passed on, for breeding with a non-Pureblood, like Luna. The last thing he wanted to do was add more fuel to the fire.

As he entered the foyer of his home, Draco found that all of the lights were out, and due to it being early evening already, the house was quite dark, making it difficult for him to see. Several times he bumped into various pieces of furniture before deciding to stop being lazy and just light some candles. Once able to see, Draco continued through the house in search of some sign of Luna.

The longer it took him to find her, the more worried he became. He'd searched nearly the entire bottom two levels of the house and he still hadn't been able to locate Luna. Dashing upstairs, Draco headed straight for Luna's room. Originally, he'd thought it was far too early for her to have gone to bed, but since he couldn't find her anywhere else he figured it was worth a shot. Not even bothering to knock, Draco stormed into her room. He'd hope to find her nestled in her bed, but that too was empty and didn't show any signs of having been disturbed. Scanning the room, Draco saw a bit of light shining underneath the crack of her lavatory door. Rushing over, he burst inside.

To his relief, Draco found Luna lying in the bubble filled porcelain claw foot tub, the large space filled with the dim light of several strategically placed candles. Softly, Draco whispered her name, not wanting to startle her. When he didn't get an answer, he called out to her a bit louder; still there was nothing. Assuming the worst, Draco rushed over to the tub and wrapped his arms around Luna's limp body, pulling her up and out of the tub. Startling the poor girl half to death, Luna's arms and legs began flailing about, trying to wretch herself from the intruders grasp.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Luna shouted, after realizing that the person who had so rudely disturbed her bath was Draco. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Remembering that she was naked, Luna quickly grabbed hold of a big fluffy towel and wrapped it around herself.

"Nearly gave you a heart attack!" Draco snapped, standing to face Luna, his jeans and shirt soaked with water from when he pulled her from the tub. "What about me! I thought you'd killed yourself or something!"

"Killed myself!" Luna said, laughing incredulously. "Why would I do that?"

"Because of what's going on," Draco said, feeling completely justified in his worry. "With the baby and all."

"I wouldn't kill myself because I wasn't pregnant, Draco," Luna informed him. "It's not like I had my heart set on having another baby just yet. The medi-witch made a mistake and yeah, I'm sad about it, but I'm not suicidal, stupid."

"Alright," he conceded, an embarrassed smile creeping onto his face. "Maybe I jumped to conclusions, but I'd been looking all over the house for you and I couldn't find you anywhere. I just got really worried, that's all."

"Where did you think I would have gone Draco?" Luna asked, as she released her still dry hair from a clip and began brushing it. "Its a big house, but there are only so many rooms that I bother to use. My bedroom and lavatory should have been the first place you looked."

"I know," he muttered, sitting down on the edge of the tub, his head resting in his hands. "I just wasn't thinking straight."

"Long day at the office," Luna said, a hint of snideness to her voice that didn't go unnoticed by Draco.

"I wasn't at the office," he confessed. "I was really upset about... you know... and I really just needed to see my Mum. So, I lied. I went home instead of going to the office, like I said. I'm sorry."

"I knew you weren't going back to the office," Luna replied, waving off his apology with a flick of her wrist. "I was pretty sure you were either going to go see your Mum or to see your friends."

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered, looking up at her for the first time since confessing that he'd lied to her. "I was only thinking of myself. I should have picked up on the fact that you needed to talk to someone about how you were feeling about this, but I didn't. Hell, my Father picked up on it before I did. I'm sorry, Luna. I should have been there for you and I wasn't. I can't tell you how awful I feel about that. You shouldn't have had to go through this by yourself."

"No, I shouldn't," Luna agreed, her eyes welling up with tears. "But, its over and done. No sense in dwelling on the past."

"If its still making you want to cry, then it's not over and done with," Draco replied, standing and approaching Luna, who stood with her back to him so that she could see herself in the mirror while she brushed her hair. Wrapping his arms around her, Draco pulled Luna against him and forced her to turn around and face him. Doing as he knew he should have done all along, Draco comforted Luna while she cried, whispering in her ear that everything was going to be okay. Try as he might, he couldn't help but keep himself from crying a bit too, even though he'd spent a great deal of his afternoon doing just that with his Mum. For some reason, the sound of someone he cared so greatly for being upset, broke his heart.

After nearly twenty minutes of standing on the hard marble bathroom floor, both of their backs began to ache, so Draco ushered Luna into her room so that they could be more comfortable. Once she was settled in bed, Draco offered to get her some tea, but Luna declined. Instead, she just wanted to go to sleep. Taking the hint, Draco blew out the candles that cast light on her room and headed for the door.

"Will you stay in here with me tonight?" Luna asked, softly, just before he shut the door. "I don't really want to be alone."

"Sure," Draco said, without even taking the time to think about it. Quickly, he divested himself of his clothes and settled down into bed next to Luna.

"Thanks," Luna whispered, snuggling up next to Draco. "You sure your girlfriend's won't mind you sleeping in here with me?"

"Funny," Draco laughed. "But I don't have any girlfriend's. It's just you... Looney."

"Funny," she mocked. "Ferret."

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The next morning, Luna and Draco settled back into their usual routine, minus getting Landon ready to head over to Gwennie's, since he was over at Luna's fathers house. Though neither mentioned it, both noticed that something was different about their relationship. Whatever it was that had changed between them was subtle, but it was enough to make a marked difference. Instead of their usual friendly banter during breakfast, that was usually centered on Landon, Luna and Draco found themselves talking about each other and various other things that had absolutely nothing to do with the only real thing that was forcing them together; their son.

"So, how are things at work?" Draco asked, as he poured syrup over his pancakes. Luna had apparently tired of either cooking omelets or eating them, because that morning she had forced Draco to eat something else for breakfast besides her egg creations.

"Great actually," Luna replied, as she cast a spell on the dishes in the sink so that they would begin cleaning themselves. Settling down next to Draco with her own breakfast, Luna went further into detail about her work situation. "My father's pretty much letting me run with whatever ideas I've got, so its been really nice. I haven't been working on anything that people would normally associate with the Quibbler, so I'm pretty interested in what people will have to say when the next issue comes out."

"So you're happy then?"

"Couldn't be happier," she assured him. "How about you?'

"Miserable," he groaned. "I'm not exactly sure what it is I'm supposed to be doing anyway. I kind of just sit around telling everyone else what to do. It's terribly boring."

"Why don't you tell your Dad that you don't like it and you want to do something else?" she asked, as if doing so was as simple as that.

"You have met my Father, haven't you?" he asked, pulling a face. "I can't just tell him I want to do something else. This is what I'm supposed to be doing."

"But you don't actually know what you're supposed to be doing," Luna laughed.

"Exactly," he agreed, laughing along with her. "I guess I'm just doomed to be miserable in my professional life. But that's okay, because personally, I couldn't be any happier... Well, I could, but this is good for now."

"For now?" Luna questioned, her tone failing to hide her being taken aback by his statement.

"Eventually, things are going to have to change between us, but for now... until you're ready, this is good." Luna knew that Draco had chosen his words carefully, and he'd fully intended on not telling her exactly what he'd meant. Instead, he made sure that his words could be taken to mean several things. "Listen, I was thinking that maybe we could set aside a night or two each week where we were able to go out or something."

"What, like a date night or something?" Luna asked, sipping her orange juice.

"Yeah, I mean we may be parents but that's no reason for us not to have a social life," he explained, his words slightly garbled because he had pancakes in his mouth. Luna shot him a look, one that said, 'don't talk with food in your mouth'. After swallowing his food, Draco continued, "It would be nice for us to get out every now and then. How are we supposed to ever work on our relationship if we're too busy fussing over Landon? I think it would be good for us."

"Oh, you meant that you and I would be together on those nights," Luna said, finally on the same page as Draco. She'd thought that he meant that they would be able to go on dates with other people on those nights, not that they would go out together.

"Of course," he said. "I certainly don't want you out with anyone else. So, I guess what I'm asking you is, will you go out with me tonight?"

"Cheesy, Malfoy," she laughed. "Really cheesy, but yes. I'll go out with you." Just as Draco was getting up to kiss her, they heard a knock at the door. Grumbling under his breath, Draco went to answer it while Luna put their plates in the sink, so that the spell could take care of washing them. A few moments later, Draco returned to the kitchen with their guests in tow. To Luna's surprise, the person at the door had been the one person she'd been going to great lengths to avoid all week long; Neville Longbottom.

"You have a guest," Draco said, an amused smirk on his handsome face. "I'll leave you two to it then." With that said, Draco left for work, so that Luna could do what she should have done all along; end things with Neville. Part of her wanted to dash out the door with Draco and just hope that Neville would catch a hint, but she knew that if he was going to put two and two together, he would have done it already. Taking a deep breath, Luna turned to Neville, ready to finally end their short lived relationship.

"Neville, we need to talk..."

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SORRY THIS CHAPTER WAS SO SHORT AND TOOK SO LONG TO POST. IT'S ACTUALLY THE REST THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, BUT SINCE THAT ONE WAS SO LONG, I JUST SPLIT THEM UP. I'VE FINALLY GOT THE MESS AT WORK SETTLED SO IT SHOULDN'T TAKE SO LONG TO POST THE NEXT CHAPTER. UNTIL THEN, BYE AND THANKS FOR ALL OF THE KIND REVIEWS : )

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