The following afternoon, students began to arrive back at Hogwarts, and the halls began filling with chipper commotion as everyone greeted their friends with stories of their holidays. Draco was nowhere to be found, which did not surprise his fellow Slytherins as they exchanged knowing looks and eye-rolls with one another in the common room. They had become used to his increasingly distant and brooding demeanor.
After a few short hours of restless nightmares, Draco had wrenched himself from his bed, trembling and covered in a sheet of icy sweat, just as the sun began to creep its way up over the horizon. He forcefully shoved all thought of the previous night out of his brain. He refused to lose his sanity and become the next Loony Lovegood. As far as Draco was concerned, everything that happened last night had just been part of his nightmares. He angrily refused to let himself believe otherwise. He had a job to do, and he failed to do it last night. He needed to get a hold of himself! He needed to succeed. He could not face the consequences of failure.
Face set with tense determination, Draco silently snaked through the early-morning-quiet castle, away from the Slytherin dungeons and up towards the seventh floor, finally finding the blank stretch of wall that he had set out to see last night. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard, as he paced back and forth three times in front of the wall. Upon re-opening his eyes, his vision was greeted with a darkly familiar door, magically appearing into the wall in front of him. With a loathsome sense of sickening relief in the pit of his stomach, Draco looked over his shoulder at the empty corridor, and then walked through the door. Just as he vanished into the room, so did the door, safely concealing Draco Malfoy in the secret room behind a blank wall, where he stayed for the remainder of the day.
Early evening came, and Draco found himself for once satisfied with the progress he had made throughout the day. He hadn't felt so confident about the outcome of his task in months. He finally left the room for the day where he had spent countless hours since September, feeling rather pleased with himself as he strutted his way down to the Great Hall for some dinner. Anxieties in his chest were scarce as he strode into the Hall, sneering at some Weasleys as he passed them, seating himself at an empty section of the Slytherin table. He was one of the first to arrive for dinner. He helped himself to large mounds of mashed potatoes and ham, stuffing food into his mouth, looking slightly like an animal. It had been far too long since he had last been able to eat like this; paranoia usually greatly suppressed his appetite. Draco hardly took notice of Crabbe and Goyle as they heavily seated themselves near him and began loading their plates, or of Pansy as she tried to capture his attention by loudly flirting with Blaise.
He was just finishing up his last bite of food, aware of Snape's black eyes piercing into the side of his face from the table at the top of the Hall, intending to linger in the room longer than necessary because he knew Snape could not interrogate him here, when he saw something that made his stomach drop. Barely taller than the seated students at their tables, a glowing, blonde head was floating toward the Ravenclaws serenely, radish earrings bobbing along with each step. Draco had successfully managed to entirely rid his mind of the previous night, completely convinced that it must have just been an extremely strange dream, and had not given it any more thought than that since he first woke up that morning… until now.
Visions of the strange and wonderful meadow avalanched into his head, filling his mind's eye with splashes of periwinkle and silver and Luna's naked body. He could not take his eyes away from her as she neatly sat on an empty bench at her table and began inspecting the food in front of her as though she had never seen it before. Draco's heart began racing as his mouth suddenly became too dry to swallow the food he had been chewing. He grabbed for his cup of pumpkin juice- it almost slipped right through his now sweaty palm- and forced the food down his throat along with the gulp of his drink, still staring at the strange girl. His breathing became shallow as the memory of last night continued to dance around his brain, taunting him, daring him to try and forget about it again.
Upsetting the table slightly with his long legs as he abruptly stood, Draco ripped his eyes away from Luna Lovegood, willing himself to tighten his grip on sanity as he rushed out of the Great Hall, fast as he could. He did not have time to go insane. He did not have time to take a vacation from his Death Eater duties in Loony Ville, tempting as it may be. He felt a pang of horror in his chest upon realizing that he was tempted to join Loony Luna in the land of the terminally insane. His pace quickened to a trot. Last night was not real. It did not happen. It was just a dream. A strangely good dream… Draco shook that dangerous thought aggressively away. He burst through the abandoned bathroom's door, feeling tightness in his chest and throat. Lip quivering, Draco ran to the sink, jerked at the handle, and then plunged his face into the small pool of ice cold water, screaming into it. Several moments later he came up, gasping for air, gripping at the sides of the sink with shaking hands. Against better judgment, he glanced at the mirror hanging above the basin and forced himself to look at his own reflection. Dripping wet, dark circles under his slightly red, swollen eyes, he looked like a stranger to himself. His face was thin, his body looked on the verge of skeletal. He was pale as a ghost. His eyes looked haunted. He turned his back on the mirror, hastily entering the nearest toilet cubicle and locking himself inside. He sank to the ground, hugging his knees to his chest, and cried.
Weeks passed. At first it took all of Draco's self control not to think about that Loony night, but as the days went by, it became considerably easier to almost completely forget about it again. He carried on avoiding people as usual, though a bit more thoroughly now, always peering around a room before entering it to make sure he would not be lured into insanity by any blonde headed girls with radishes in their ears. His mind quickly became completely consumed by his previous predicament, and he spent all of his time that he wasn't in class up in the Room of Requirement, laboring away.
January was dying out now, along with any amount of confidence that Draco ever temporarily felt, and Snape was becoming unbearable, constantly breathing down his neck. Draco was glad to see the end of the school week, although it meant he would be facing a long, agonizing weekend up on the seventh floor. The last Friday of the month, while the rest of the school was headed for dinner, Draco decided to stretch his legs outside the cluttered castle and try to clear his mind for once. He had been working so hard; he could afford just one night of freedom.
Crisp winter air nipped at his face as he exited the castle unnoticed, broom in hand. He shivered slightly at the chilly wind, deeply breathing in the deliciously fresh air. It was dusk, the sun sinking behind the trees of the Forbidden Forest. Draco felt lighter than he had in ages, appreciating that the only sound he could hear was the quiet breeze that pleasantly stung his ears. Happily being the only person in sight, he mounted his broom and took off, getting lost in the thrilling sensation that only flying could bring.
Draco flew high through the air feeling invincible, diving low through the forest and shooting back up again, racing as fast as he could around the castle until everything around him became a blur. Hours passed before Draco took notice of how very dark it had become outside. A large, yellow full moon hung overhead, casting a faint glow over the castle and it's surroundings. He slowed to a near stop, level with the school's highest towers as he peered up at the night sky. He felt calm in the presence of the beautiful moon; his surroundings somehow managed to suck all the stress out of his body. He wasn't Draco Malfoy in that moment. He was simply part of the air, floating around into the sky. It almost didn't faze him when he saw wild, bright blonde hair flowing freely above the trees of the Forbidden Forest, because there was something so natural and perfect about Luna Lovegood hovering alone in midair at that moment in time.
His neck nearly broke as Draco snapped his head back towards the trees in disbelief. Staring in complete shock and wonder at the incredible sight, Draco began drifting towards the girl on his broom, unable to even begin to sort out the jumble of confusion now clouding his brain. Loony Luna, floating around in the sky with no broom? Should he go catch her before she fell? How was she doing that? Did somebody put a curse on her? She was seated in the air as though she were riding an invisible horse… Something registered in Draco's mind at that last thought. Invisible horses. Thestrals. He vaguely remembered learning about them during the previous year. Before he had a chance to try and recall the lesson on thestrals, Luna was diving gracefully through the air, disappearing back into the sea of trees. Draco could not help himself; curiosity got the best of him and he sped towards the spot in the forest where Luna had vanished.
Dipping low, barely brushing the tops of the trees as he quietly circled around, he could catch glimpses of Luna through the branches. She had her hand outstretched, apparently petting some invisible creature. She ran her hand along gently through the air in front of her and Draco found himself wondering what it would feel like to pet a thestral. He found himself wondering what it would feel like to be that thestral which Luna was tenderly stroking. His heart ached horribly as he deeply and truly wished that he could swap lives with that thestral.
Luna's hand fell to her side, staring intently at the creature that Draco could not see. Her large, curious eyes seemed to be following something as it backed away from her. Draco, much to his astonishment, could faintly hear rustling leaves on the ground as the invisible horse moved. Slowly, Luna's bright blue orbs carefully followed along some invisible line from the apparent beast in front of her all the way up through the trees, to where her sight fixed upon Draco. She stared up at him for a long moment, wide eyed yet calm, while Draco's heart skipped a beat as though he had been caught doing something that he was not supposed to be doing. His mind buzzed as he tried to decide on what to do. Should he just fly away and pretend he never saw her? Should he say hello? Should he be afraid of big, invisible beasts flying around him without him even knowing it? Were they dangerous? He shivered at the thought and was racking his brain about whether or not he should rescue Luna from the bloody ominous, winged monsters when her dreamy voice floated up to him, freezing all traffic in his mind and capturing his undivided attention.
"Hello again, Draco Malfoy. This is a peculiar place to find you on a night like tonight. Do you come to watch the thestrals often? You're scaring them away, you know. Can't you see them?" She continued to gaze up at him, now with an expression of polite curiosity.
There were a few long moments that stretched by before Draco was able to find his voice. "No," He managed to say. His tone was that of a vulnerably curious child; he sounded nothing like the Draco Malfoy he normally was. Draco's newfound innocent side of himself went unnoticed by either one of them for the time being. His usually unyielding emotional guard had been completely forgotten in this mystifying moment. Draco descended to the ground beside Luna without thinking about what he was doing, landing with a soft thud onto his feet.
Luna's gaze shifted back towards the place where Draco assumed the thestral was standing.
"They're rather beautiful creatures. Gentle and kind; very sensitive, thestrals are. Quite peaceful beings." Her head tilted slightly as she studied the animal unseen by Draco, her eyes full of loving fondness. Draco watched Luna intently, feeling something warm spread through his chest as he saw the compassion oozing from the girl beside him. A light breeze swept past, gently blowing a few stray hairs around Luna's porcelain face. Draco had never seen anyone look so beautiful; much less a person who stood in the moonlight, admiring some eerie death-horse as though it were the most wonderful thing to ever grace her presence. A nasty, inner voice told Draco to get the hell away from this bizarre girl and her creepy oversized bat-mules. But there was something else inside of Draco that overpowered that voice, killing it.
His heart felt free and at ease here, standing in the forest with Luna Lovegood under the moonlight. It had finally broken free from the chains that had been holding it down for so long, buried deep under miles of the anger and fear and insecurities that had merged together over the years, forming his seemingly tough barrier. Draco's insides were split in a fierce battle: fiery voices were hissing warnings at him to leave now before its too late, before he lost control of himself, while more powerful forces within him were working to extinguish those flames of hatred. Through all the inward controversy, Draco felt as though he were outside of his own body. He was not concerned with his insides anymore; right now, he was too busy relishing the carefree feeling that was washing over him as he admired the electrifying girl he was in the company of.
Somewhere, deep in his subconscious, Draco desperately wanted an escape from his horrible path towards murderous ways, now more severely than ever. The urge within him to resist escaping to Loony Ville was dead. He didn't have it in him to fight it anymore. He didn't want to fight it. In that moment, Luna's shining eyes peering into Draco's once more, he wanted nothing more than to run away with her and get forever lost in Luna's world.