Something was wrong with him.
Draco Malfoy wasn't gloating. He wasn't smirking or sneering, or even teasing.
He was just sitting there, picking at his plate of food mindlessly.
Blaise studied his housemate with narrowed eyes.
What had happened to him? What had happened to the once proud Draco Malfoy?
"Mate," Blaise shoved the blonde in the side, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Draco looked up, his usually molten grey eyes almost lifeless. He shrugged.
"Nothing."
Blaise quirked a brow, "Come on. You've been like a walking corpse for almost a week now."
Draco couldn't say anything. He didn't want to.
He wanted a hole to suck him up.
He wanted to leave school and never come back.
He was sick and tired of having to see her, of having to watch Luna from afar.
Draco shuddered; he had become so weak since meeting her.
"It's Luna, isn't it?"
Draco watched as Blaise waited expectantly for an answer.
"Luna?" He choked out, "Of course not."
"Come on mate, I'm not stupid." Blaise rolled his eyes, "You fucked it up. And now you like her."
Like her. Draco couldn't believe it.
He liked her; a Ravenclaw, a fucking loony Ravenclaw! He liked her. It was absurd.
"Ginny told me she's in love with you," Blaise added casually, "So all hope can't have been lost."
Draco's eyes widened, "In love?"
"Yeah. She said that's the reason why she had sex with you," He shrugged, "You'll have to talk to her."
"The Weaslette?"
"Don't call her that, Malfoy," Blaise's tone dropped dangerously.
"Sorry."
He nodded briskly, "Ginny's over there," Blaise pointed her out of the Gryffindor crowd, sat between Granger and Potter.
"I am not going over there."
"Then you've lost her mate."
"I haven't lost her," Draco argued indignantly.
Something painful was digging itself into his chest.
"You either get over yourself and ask Ginny to help you, or you've lost Luna forever."
"I can confront Lovegood alone," Draco pressed, "I don't need the Wea- I mean Ginny, to help me."
"Of course, because Luna hasn't been avoiding you like the plague right?" Blaise raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"I'll force her to listen."
"Malfoy…"
Draco sighed. He knew he was being childish; after all, it was his fault that Luna didn't look at him in the hallways anymore in the first place.
But he couldn't face the thought of actually having to ask someone for help.
Especially Ginny Weasley.
Draco shivered at the thought.
"Look I'm going to win Luna back on my own terms," Draco answered with more confidence then he felt, "You watch."
"Alright," Blaise held his hands up in surrender, "Do it your way. But when you need help, don't come crying to me."
Draco scoffed and opened his mouth to say something when the bell rang, signalling that lunch was over.
….
Luna stared at herself in the mirror.
Still the same straggly blonde hair and big watery blue eyes.
Her nose was still a little too big for her face, and her lips were still a little too pale for her complexion.
She was still herself, right?
No. No, no, no. She wasn't herself.
Something hadn't been right since that night she had spent with Draco.
She'd lost her innocence and her pride; but she'd lost something else too.
A part of herself died when Draco walked out on her.
She was being dramatic.
Luna sighed and turned away from her reflection, picking up her things and making her way towards the library.
She ignored the whispers and stares; by now nearly everybody knew about her affair with Draco.
"Well, well, well if it isn't Loony Lovegood."
Luna's blood ran cold. She spun around quickly to be faced with a snarling Pansy.
"How've you been Lovegood?" Pansy asked, her dark eyes narrowed into slits.
Luna shook her head and turned to leave, but was pulled back abruptly.
"Excuse me," Pansy spat, "I was talking to you."
Luna cleared her throat, "I was on my way to the library."
"And I care because?" Pansy rolled her eyes, and without a second thought pushed Luna back, sending her flying across the stone floor.
Luna blinked back hot tears as she crashed against the ground, her things scattering around her roughly. She wouldn't give Pansy the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
No, no, no.
"Aw, is the poor little Ravenclaw going to cry?" Pansy growled, bending down so that her eyes were level to Luna's, "Like I give a shit."
"Why?" Luna whispered, "Why are you doing this? You won, you've got Draco!"
"It's Malfoy to you bitch," Pansy scoffed, "And I enjoy making your life a misery, Lovegood. You're too easy a target; no friends, no life, nothing at all to live for really."
A sob caught in Luna's throat as everything turned hazy with tears.
Oh damn it! She was crying.
She wiped at her cold tears harshly, picking up her things and scrambling to her feet, her hair sticking to her wet cheeks.
"You look like shit." Pansy laughed almost manically, "No wonder Draco fucked you and left, he probably couldn't bear the sight of you in the morning."
"Leave me alone." Luna looked up through her tears.
"Or what?" Pansy chuckled darkly, "You'll tell your precious little Gryffindors? News flash Lovegood nobody actually cares."
Luna turned away from Pansy and all her spite, but was once against pulled back.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going Luna?"
"To the library," The Ravenclaw tried to keep her voice steady.
"I'm not done here!" Pansy pushed Luna again, this time causing her to bump against the stone wall.
"I think you will find that you are done, Pansy." A crisp voice cut through the air.
Pansy turned around quickly finding a very annoyed Draco Malfoy.
"I told you if you ever touched her again I would kill you," Draco snarled, "And I meant it." He shoved Pansy out of the way and bent down, grabbing Luna's shaking hand and pulling her up.
"What the fuck is your problem Pansy?"
"HER!" Pansy screamed, hot tears now running down her plump cheeks, "MY PROBLEM IS LUNA FUCKING LOVEGOOD!"
"Are you that jealous that you would physically assault her? Make her feel worthless to edify your already low self esteem?" Draco's eyes flickered hotly, "You're pathetic."
"Draco - "
"Save it." He scoffed, "Don't ever even look at her again, let alone touch her. Do you hear me Pansy? I will keep to my promise next time."
Draco's hand curled around Luna's much smaller palm as he tugged her away, forcing her into his dormitory.
"What are you doing?" She demanded as he closed the door and then locked it.
"Helping you?"
"I could've helped myself," Luna rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I don't need you to help me Draco. Especially since this is all in essence, your fault."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything."
A beat of silence passed between them.
"Sorry is definitely not good enough Draco." She spat, "Do you know how humiliated I am? I feel like leaving school! Even my own friends don't look at me the same anymore."
"I made a mistake," He stepped towards her and groaned when she stepped back, "I fucked it up."
"You fucked me up." Luna chuckled darkly, "And you fucked me too. Literally. Come on Draco, seriously what the hell am I supposed to do? Say that I forgive you?"
"No."
"Then what? What do you expect me to do?"
"I don't know."
"Exactly," Luna scoffed, "I don't have time for this."
"Luna please, just give me a moment."
"A moment to do what, Draco?" She rolled her eyes, "There is nothing you can possibly say that will make everything you did alright."
Draco stared at her.
Her long, silky blonde hair.
Those eyes; oh those eyes. They sucked him in like a vortex.
And that little rosebud mouth that always curled up into a smile whenever he pressed his own lips against them.
"I made a mistake," He strangled out, "A huge one."
Luna's crossed arms dropped. She stared at Draco through narrowed eyes, though much of her hostility had disappeared.
"Luna will you come sit with me? Please?"
"No I think I'll stay here," Her voice was quiet, but still strong. She refused to let him break down the thin walls she had carefully constructed around herself.
"Are you in love with me?"
A beat of silence passed between them.
Luna stared at the ground for a long time, watching as a tear dropped onto the tiled floor.
She looked up finally, into those stormy grey eyes, and nodded gently.
"Yes." Her voice was barely a whisper, but Draco heard it.
"Oh." And then he crossed the room and in one swift movement, wrapped her in his arms.
He pulled her close and ignored her resistance.
"Draco." Her voice wavered, "Let me go."
"I can't."
"Yes you bloody well can." Luna tried to sound angry, she really did, but being in Draco's arms left her weak.
"I can't believe you love me," He whispered, his breathe fanning out across her face.
"Go on then," She answered viciously, "Use it as bait against me. Gloat all you want."
But one look into his eyes and Luna knew that Draco wouldn't be doing any of that.
She watched as he closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, before finally connecting his gaze with hers.
"I'm going to kiss you," He told her, "Please don't resist me."
And then he leaned down towards her, and claimed Luna's mouth as his own.
….
Something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
Ginny was sure of it.
She was supposed to have met Luna at the library half an hour ago, and the blonde haired Ravenclaw was nowhere to be found.
Now, Ginny knew Luna was ditzy but she wasn't absent minded when it came to her studies.
Nevertheless, she went looking for her friend at the Ravenclaw common room, and was not at all surprised when everyone told her they hadn't seen her for a long while.
Ginny felt nauseous. Something had happened.
Something very, very, very bad.
And when the red haired Gryffindor came across a crying Pansy Parkinson, her heart dropped.
"Pansy." Ginny pulled at the girl's sleeve.
Parkinson looked up through tear stained eyes, "What the bloody hell do you want Weaslette?" Then she sneered, "Are you looking for your precious friend, LUna?
She nodded slowly, feeling her chest tighten.
"She's with Draco." Ginny's worst fears were confirmed at Pansy's words, "Don't ask me where they've gone because I haven't got a bloody clue." The Slytherin pulled herself away from Ginny and turned away from her viciously.
"What did you do?"
"What do you mean, what did I do?" Pansy's dark eyes narrowed into slits.
"Something happened," Ginny spat, "I'm sure of it."
"I'm sick of you bitches thinking you can do whatever the fuck you want!" Pansy shrieked, her voice resonating off the stone walls.
Everybody stopped to stare at the two girls, and Ginny's cheeks heated up.
But not from embarrassment. Oh no. She was far too furious to be embarrassed.
"You know what Pansy," Ginny snarled, "Nobody likes you. Everybody's just scared of you, so they do whatever they can to please you. And I'm sick of that! I'm sick of you thinking you can do whatever the fuck you want. It's over," She spat, "Malfoy doesn't want you. He never has. You're just a parasite that won't leave him a lone. A lonely bitch who has nothing better to do than bring down people like Luna." The Gryffindor's nose was now almost touching Pansy's, "Grow the fuck up."
And with that, Ginny turned away from the bully, sick and tired of having her trying to make everyone else feel like they had to bend at her every whim.
Well not Ginny. Oh no.
She wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.
"He's going to fuck her again." Pansy said from behind her.
"Don't you ever," Ginny whipped around, pointing her wand at the Slytherin, "Use that word when talking about Luna again." She pushed the tip of her wand into Pansy's neck, "Do you hear me?"
Pansy nodded, gulping harshly.
"Where is he?"
"In his room," The Slytherin's voice was much smaller than Ginny's, "To your left."
Ginny took her wand away from Pansy's neck, and narrowed her eyes, "You'd better watch yourself, Parkinson. Or next time you'll lose an eye."
And then, she turned around and began to run.
She had to find Luna, soon, before it was too late.
….
"I can't believe you love me," Draco breathed against Luna's neck as he peppered kisses across her skin.
She arched into his touch, wanting more than he was giving her.
"I know," She whispered, "I can hardly believe it myself."
Draco's hands inched up her school robes, touching her warm skin with his fingertips.
She felt just as soft and supple as she had last time. He groaned, as she thrust her hips into his.
"Bed," She panted, "Now."
He nodded, picking her up and throwing her onto the mattress.
As she had the last time, she giggled when they touched the bed, "I like it when you're aggressive."
He smirked and straddled her waist, "Don't you mean you love it?"
"Mmm," She smiled, "I do."
Her hand reached up to tuck a strand of his mussed up hair behind his ears, and Draco's heart lurched at the tenderness of her fingers.
She loved him.
Against all odds, against everything, she had fallen in love with him.
She, who was so pure and innocent. She, who made him want to be a better person.
"I don't deserve you," He whispered, nuzzling his nose against the base of his neck, "I don't deserve this."
He moved up her neck, feathering her chin with kisses, until finally he pressed his lips to hers.
He felt her smile into the kiss.
"I love you." She whispered, as his hands ventured beneath her robes, "I love you so much it hurts."
Her words caused a dull ache to form beneath his heart.
How could she love him?
"How?"
"I don't know." He pulled back and watched as she smiled at him; that pure, dreamy smile, "I just do."
"You just do."
He stroked her face gently, "I'm going to prove myself to you Luna. I'm going to prove that I deserve you."
"You don't have to," She shrugged, "You already own me."
He groaned at her words.
"You're killing me," He whispered, bending down to press a hot kiss to her mouth.
"I know the feeling."
"Let me make love to you." Draco whispered, "Please."
She bit her lip, looking up into his stormy grey eyes.
But it was no use. She knew she was going to say yes either way.
"Okay." She nodded gently.
Tonight it was all about her.
Tonight, he would make her happy.
Tonight, he would prove that he deserved her.
….