Okay, here's chapter two! I got a review and a few other alerts, so I hope that's a good sign. By the way, I re-wrote the second half of Chapter 1, so you might want to check that out and see what changed. Announcement over. Here you go.
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or My Happy Ending.
"Dear Draco," Draco read, his mother's neat handwriting making him smile. "I'm already starting to miss you, and it's only been a day! I really hope you're okay, Draco, and I'm not saying this to be annoying, as you so often seem to think. You saw the looks we got at the platform... and I'm sure there are more where those came from. And this morning, your father returned with the Daily Prophet saying you have reconciliation partners or something of the sort. How is that going? Are you alright with your partner? And, Draco, I'm running out of parchment so I have to say this fast, but PLEASE don't do what your father is writing to tell you to do. I'm sure it's something to do with these partners, and I'm not entirely convinced he doesn't want you to see what the Order is doing - as if it matters anymore. You know how's he gotten lately; he's convinced he can bring back the Dark Lord. And I'm not entirely sure that I want him back... Have a great time, Draco. I'll write again soon. Love, Mum."
What did his father want with the Order? The Order was just doing rebuilding work at the moment - there were currently workers at Hogwarts trying to fix certain magical aspects that had been damaged. Like his mother, Draco thought that Lucius Malfoy had gotten a little crazy since the war had ended. He seemed to want nothing more than to resurrect the Dark Lord, and was trying to convince Draco to join him.
Confident that this letter would be complete garbage, Draco tore open the parchment his father had sent and read, "Dear Draco, I hope you are well. I know your mother is very worried about your well-being at that school. I am, as well, for I know that none of the other students understand how pure the mission of the Dark Lord is." Draco shook his head in derision at the "is." "I know that you and your mother don't agree that the Dark Lord can return, but I believe that if we all band together and BELIEVE, we can succeed. And I know you don't want to bring back the Dark Lord, but imagine all that we've worked for. Wizard rule, Mudbloods and Muggles abolished... Draco, you and I have very similar minds." God, I hope not, thought Draco. "And despite your doubts, I think that if you get inside this partner of yours' head, you can tell us a lot. Come on, Draco. For your dear old dad? My sources at the Ministry - where conditions for me are still tense, I might add, - say that you're partnered with the Lovegood girl. Loony is her name, I believe? She is perfect, Draco! Become her friend, or better yet, her lover." Draco shuddered slightly at that plan of his father's. "Help me, Draco. Just give me another chance. Sincerely, Dad."
Draco looked up at Pansy, who was staring at him in concern. "Are you okay, Draco?" she simpered.
"Yeah, fine," he mumbled distractedly. Should he help his dad? Probably not. But there was a part of him that longed to prove that he had been right all along, and that he deserved the glory and power that Potter and his buddies had now. That part of him was telling Draco that no matter how unlikely, there was a chance - a tiny little chance - that the Dark Lord could return and give him everything he'd wished for.
And then the rational, stronger part of him was saying, No! You do not want to do this, Draco. Remember how he made you torture and kill? Remember how you hated it? Remember how he wanted you to die, just to get back at your father? Your father, who went back and groveled at the Dark Lord's feet, begging for forgiveness. Your father, who only cared for himself, and not for you or your mother. Why do you want to do this? He didn't. Draco didn't want to help his father in his delusional schemes, and he most definitely didn't want to help in this particular one. Seduce the Lovegood girl? Yuck. Not that he couldn't do it, but he didn't want to, now that he actually had a choice.
The girl in question was waiting at the entrance to the Great Hall, grinning broadly, and looking rather too happy. "Good morning, Draco!" Loony Lovegood exclaimed, waving enthusiastically.
"Loony Lovegood," Draco muttered in reply with a groan. "Um, look. I now we have this whole partners thing, but I have to get to Potions, so if you could -"
"But I have Potions, too," Lovegood told him, her voice returning to its usual dreamy state. "I moved up to the seventh year with you. Professor McGonagall did that to some of the exceptional students."
"But -" Draco began, but realized he didn't know what to say. "Er, alright, I guess, if we have to..."
"So, Draco," Luna began seriously, her hand reaching into her bag and pulling out a copy of that crazy magazine of hers, The Quibbler. "Do you think you can comment on Daddy's article about your and your father's plans for the rise of Voldedort?"
Draco's heart skipped a beat and he stared at her. Was it possible that she had learned about his dad wanting to raise Voldemort from the dead, with his help getting information from her? But then he replayed what she had said in his head: your and your father's plans for the rise of Voldedort. Wait, Voldedort? "Who is Voldedort?" he asked, almost curiously.
"You-Know-Who's twin, of course!" Luna exclaimed. For a moment, Draco thought she would start laughing at the joke, but she appeared to be quite serious.
"The Dark Lord's... twin?" Draco queried, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably. It seemed horribly hilarious that Lovegood thought he was planning the rise of the Dark Lord's twin. The Dark Lord's twin, of all things!
"Oh, yes," Loony said seriously, nodding energetically as they approached the Potions dungeon. "There is overwhelming evidence that Voldemort had a twin, and that he is a vampire."
"A vampire?" Now Draco was full on laughing, his snickers echoing off of the dungeon walls. "A vampire?" It seemed even more ridiculous to him than it really was, but in the moment, with all the worry about his father's more dangerous schemes, this was a very good excuse to laugh.
"What's so funny, Malfoy?" Draco groaned at Potter's voice.
"Apparently, I'm plotting with my father for the rise of Voldedort, the Dark Lord's vampire twin," Draco responded seriously, the grin slipping of his face as he adopted a very somber expression, perhaps appropriate to a funeral.
It was a mark of how much Weasley cared about Luna, Draco realized, that the redheaded boy didn't give in to the obvious mirth on his face. "Go away, Draco," Weasley ordered. "None of us want you here."
Draco smirked back at them, but joined Pansy, Blaise, and Theo at the other side of the room. He was actually glad to leave them, for there was a nagging feeling in his chest that was practically begging him to give into his father's wishes. Why would he do that? Why would he want to? Draco couldn't answer either of these questions, but that voice in his head wasn't going to leave it at that.
"Draco? Draco? Have you been listening to anything I've said?" Pansy complained in exasperation, her bottom lip out in a pout, as all of the students entered Professor Slughorn's classroom.
"Sorry, distracted," Draco muttered as Slughorn started to speak.
"Welcome, welcome," the fat man bumbled cheerily. "No, no, Harry m'boy. We're all going to sit next to our reconciliation partners! Such a brilliant idea that Minerva's concocted, don't you think?" The silent mutiny of the students as they positioned themselves next to their much-hated partners was answer enough.
"Hello, Draco," Luna greet him, smiling, as always.
"Do you ever stop being so happy?" Draco finally snapped.
Lovegood looked at him appraisingly, looking not at all offended. "I think it's much more use to the world if a person smiles than frowns. You may have noticed that you don't have very many real friends. Maybe if you were nicer, you would."
Draco snorted. Smiling isn't doing you much good in that area, he thought. Then he smiled as a surprising thought occurred to him. Luna wasn't so bad to spend time with. She was nice and pretty, if eccentric. The things she said made him laugh, at least. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to help his dad - it would be a laugh, after all. Besides, who could he possibly hurt?
Too bad there was no one to answer that question.
Yes, too bad. A lot of this could have been avoided. Wait, you don't know what "this" is...=P Review/alert if you want chapter 3! A review or two will buy you chapter three!