"… so it turns out it wasn't the nargles at all, it was people. I almost feel bad blaming them all these years. But who could have known? I mean nargles are terrible thieves so it seemed like the most logical explanations…"

Draco stopped without a word when they reached the transfiguration classroom. Luna just kept walking, talking to herself without realizing it. It had become a habit for Draco to just walk up to her and then walk away whenever he felt like it, Luna didn't seem to mind; apparently she found it funny: "I get equally surprised every time I turn around and realize you're not there. It's quite amusing actually!" she had told him the other week.

It was five minutes left until the lesson started so with nothing better to do Draco leaned against the wall to wait. The corridor wasn't empty, there where students walking past the classroom every now and then and some of them stopped outside, waiting for the class to begin just like him. Then there was this one group of young Hufflepuff students standing a few feet away from him. They were all looking at him, pointing their little fingers and whispering to each other. He didn't really care. Since he decided to be Luna Lovegood's friend these things didn't happen as often, but it still happened. He actually kind of enjoyed it, his presence alone making the younger students anxious; it kind of reminded him of the good old days. Not 'the good old days' as in the days when he was a deatheater. Draco couldn't help but slightly shiver: No, those were definitely not 'good days'! But the days before that: when he, Crabbe and Goyle used to walk the corridors of the school as if they owned it. Though lately he'd been starting to question if even those days had been particularly good… Draco glanced over to the Hufflepuffs again and realized that something was different about this particular group of students, they didn't exactly look terrified. Not really angry or hostile either, more… nervous actually. He watched with suspicion as one boy was pushed out of the group. The boy gave his friends a glare but then walked up to Draco with big eyes.

"Are you Luna Lovegood's friend?" the boy asked, his eyes still wide open with awe. Draco glanced between the boy and his friends in suspicion.

"Guess so…" Draco answered, too curious to understand what was going on to ignore the boy.

"Wow!" the boy exclaimed in admirationand the he started spitting out one question after the other: "That must be so cool! Tell me… how is she as a person? Is it true she has her own pet nargle? And if so, is it named after Harry? And is she really dating Neville Longbottom?"

Draco rolled his eyes, now that he understood why the boy was talking to him he was immediately bored with the situation. He did however feel confused about the last question, why the hell would they think she was dating Longbottom? Luna had told him just the other day that he was dating that Hufflepuff-girl.

"No… I'm pretty sure he's dating some girl who used to be in Hufflepuff!" Draco muttered. The boy starred at Draco with his mouth wide open in shock.

"Neville Longbottom… is dating… A HUFFLEPUFF? Who?"

"That blonde one who used to have pigtails I think!" Draco answered waving his hand in indifference. Then he realized he was discussing Neville Longbottoms love life with a stupid little Hufflepuff and went from bored to aggravated. He pushed himself of the wall and glared at the boy. "I don't know! Why would I? And why are you even talking to me?"

"I… I just figured that you're Luna's friend so you must be nice."

Draco rolled his eyes again and sighed. Great! Did being friends with Luna make stupid little huffpuffs think that they could just come up and talk to him? He was starting to reconsider his plan.

"Well, could you just tell her that Pete Summerby is her biggest fan and that he would like an autograph?" the boy said with a sad look on his face.

"Whatever!" Draco murmured.

"I'll tell her!" A voice was heard from behind Draco and the boy's eyes grew even wider then they had been before.

"Or better yet, tell her yourself next time you see her. I'm sure she'll give you a hug AND an autograph" Draco turned around to see Hermione Granger smile at the boy. Draco had seen her around the school but up until now they had just ignored each other. He didn't want to talk to her and he was sure she was even more unwilling to talk to him. The little Hufflepuff-boy was now getting an autograph.

"So… you're known as Luna Lovegood's friend now?" Granger asked as soon as the boy had run off to his friends. "What happened to prince of Slytherin? Or the dark lords apprentice?"

"Well you can't really be the dark lord's apprentice when he's dead, can you?" Draco muttered. "Are you just here to remind me that I'm a bad person who should be sent to Azkaban to suffer for a hundred years or do you actually want something?"

"No, I don't need to remind you what others think of you since I'm pretty sure you already know that" Granger answered in her matter-of-factly way. "Besides, if everything that has happened the last eight years has taught me anything…"

Draco snickered at her words: as if Granger was short on things she had learned! Granger glared at him but didn't stop talking.

"… IF it has!" Hermione took a deep breath before continuing.

"It would be that life is too short to waste on things like hate and vengeance. I don't really care what happens to you Draco, what I do care about is Luna! I've talked to Ginny and she thinks you're up to something and that's what I want to talk to you about." Granger took a dramatic pause in her little speech.

"If Ginny is right, if you are up to something, and that ends up hurting Luna in anyway, I will not only care about what happens to you, I will personally make sure it's something bad!"

A/N: Just wanted to explain a few things: As I see it our old friends are now heroes but I don't think they're being worshipped as heroes by their classmates or/and friends. Most students at the school were either in the battle of Hogwarts or lost someone they know in it so I don't think they would glorify what happened. I think it just creates this kind of respect and solidarity. But then there are the occasional younger students (particularly first-years) who are not a part of that.

I also couldn't stop myself from giving a nudge to the movies pairing Neville and Luna together.