A/N: It's been almost a month, eep! Sorry for keeping you waiting, but I worked extra hard to get this finished by tonight so that I could upload it on Draco's birthday! I hope it's compensation that this chapter is a little longer than normal.
Enjoy! (And if you did kindly review/follow/favourite, I'm really thankful to all of you that have so far :)

Chapter 9

Draco woke up with the feel of Luna's kiss still lingering on his lips, and the taste of sweet serenity that accompanied it. He sat up and leaned against the oaken headboard, letting the covers slide down to his waist and smiled to himself, grateful for those moments in the morning when he could indulge in beatific isolation within the cocoon of green velvet curtains. He sat peacefully for a while until a hardening realisation struck him. Tomorrow he would be going home, but it wasn't the home he knew anymore; there was no cheerful ambience or convivial games. The Dark Lord has torn apart the life he knew, as he had torn apart the lives of so many others. He couldn't help but think that tomorrow could be the last time he saw Luna, or anyone else he had burgeoned a minor fondness for in the school in the past few months. He felt that his approaching rendezvous with Voldemort was not going to be pleasant. Draco could already sense the sickening feeling coursing through his veins, not quite being registered in his mind, but still noticeably there. So was the feeling of fear. Of anxiety. Of cultivating panic.

He slipped out of the growing heat of the covers, wiping the thin layer of sweat from his forehead. Once he was quickly dressed, he silently slipped out of the room, not wanting to alert his roommates. He padded rapidly down the stairs, his robes billowing out behind him; a soaring bird's wingspan in hues of emerald green and black. In the common room he was greeted by a rather unwanted sight, his heart dropped.

"Er, hi Pansy." Draco forced a smile onto his face, his mind battling ferociously with his morose emotions.

"Hi! I didn't see you yesterday evening, where were you?" Pansy said.
The image of his flight through the air on the exquisitely embroidered carpet with Luna wormed its way to the surface of his mind and he impulsively grinned.

"Enjoying yourself then?" Pansy said, standing up and taking hold of his arm.

"Not exactly, I just think I'm close to succeeding in the task." He replied, attempting to shake Pansy off of him, but failing.

"I'm glad. I don't see you very much anymore, especially since you betrayed us for Potter." There was a note of inquisitiveness in her voice, as if questioning his motives.
"They're just too stupid to realise that The Dark Lord would be glad of a friendship with Potty, Weasel and…" Draco's voice faltered. "Mudblood Granger." The word only just managed to roll off his tongue; he never imagined that one word could make him feel so awful. He felt as if he was betraying Luna, and the kindness Potter, however much they still hated each other, had shown him. He instantly wanted to take the word back but knew he couldn't change what he'd said.

"I understand." Pansy said, a little more quietly. She fought to meet his eyes and then pressed her lips to his. Draco immediately pulled away, stepping backwards and tripping over one of the elegant, ivy coloured chaise lounges. "Don't." Draco said, perhaps too harshly. He fumbled over words to explain himself, as if hoping he could pluck one from in the back of the chaise lounge he was currently stranded on. His thoughts were all on Luna, and kissing her, and the feeling it gave him. The feeling that made him think he would never have anything to worry about again, and he knew what he had to do. "Look, Pansy, I don't know if I should be telling you this. But I trust you." Compliment her to make her feel as if you still care about her, he thought to himself. "The Dark Lord is going to be at my house over the holidays, and he'll probably be searching my mind. If he discovers how I feel about you, he could use you against me and I can't have that. I don't want to put you in danger. I want to keep you safe. So you see, we can't be together." Draco almost smiled at how easily the lies flowed from his mouth in a stream of idyllic simplicity. However, there was lingering, ailing thought in the back of his mind telling him that he would probably have to say something like this to Luna one day.

"You are so kind and caring, Draco! I will fulfil your request, but it'll be hard to just be your friend." Pansy said, taking one of his hands in both of hers. He noted how callous and thick her fingers were compared to Luna's soft and gentle hands.

"I'll try not to make it too hard for you." He attempted a reassuring smile but it was careening on a snigger. Pansy wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly, like an over-affectionate boa constrictor. Draco eventually pulled away from her, "Let's not make this too hard. Now, I'm going down to breakfast." He felt the corners of his mouth twitching, being triggered by the applause at his own wit which was happening in the confinement of his head. "Okay, I'm going to go back upstairs." Pansy sniffled, and as she scurried up the stairs Draco thought he heard a sob escape her quivering lips. He felt a little sorry for the clearly infatuated girl, but the thought of not having her attached to him like an irritating limpet was enough to diminish this immediately.

Luna skipped down to the Great Hall, not able to assuage the grin that had diffused across her lips as soon as she had woken up, in memory of the prior evening. As it was really early, even for a school day, there were not many students scattered across the four extensive tables which stood sturdily in the cavernous room. She had hardly been able to sleep, still buzzing from the feeling of elation and exhilaration palpitating inside her. She settled at the Ravenclaw table and set to showering her cereal with a profusion of milk. "Hi Luna." A shy voice mumbled behind her, making her jump which in turn led to a contemporary decoration of splattered milk on the table top. She turned around to see Madeline stood diffidently on the stone floor, and couldn't help but notice there was something different about her appearance. They hadn't really spoken since mid-October when Madeline had used the love potion on Draco. "Hi Madeline, how are you?" Luna smiled brightly, using her wand to eradicate the milk dilating from her bowl.
"I'm ok, I was just wondering if I could possibly, you know, if you don't mind-" Madeline took an intake of breath and her features calmed slightly. "Could I sit with you? No-one else is up yet." Luna was quite shocked at the idea that Madeline would be so scared to ask to sit with her. The girl could be a little irritating sometimes but Luna would never deny her the privilege to sit where she pleased.

"Of course! I'm quite in need of a breakfast buddy too." She said, patting the seat next to her. Madeline gratefully sat down, and Luna realised what was different. Hanging from the younger girl's elfin ears was a pair of radish earrings. "I love your earrings!" Luna grinned. Madeline opened her mouth to say something but then abruptly immobilised, her eyes the sole appendage of her face that seemed able to move. They flitted to just behind Luna's shoulder. "Not only do they look appealing, I hear they keep away the nargles." A familiar resonant voice drawled.

Madeline nodded eagerly in response and said, "I know I read about it in The Quibbler!"
"As did I." The voice said again, Luna could almost hear the laugh in his throat. She finally looked up and saw Draco stood grinning behind her, his eyes full of mirth and amusement.

He sat next to her on the bench and after shooting a fleeting look at the almost vacant Slytherin table, pecked her on the cheek. Madeline giggled and a sizeable smile crept onto Luna's face. "Are you joking? About reading the Quibbler?" She said.

A look of mock horror swept across Draco's features. "Of course not!" He then looked more serious, and admittedly a touch embarrassed. "No, I'm not joking. I decided to read a few copies after our impromptu meeting with Fenrir Greyback outside my house and I wanted to find out more about the strange Luna Lovegood." He ruffled her hair playfully at this.

Suddenly the Great Hall doors swung open and a hefty duo donned in black and green waddled through the door, expressions of fury on their faces. "Oi, Malfoy!" Crabbe shouted as soon as he saw Draco at the Ravenclaw table. "Did you know our dads were in fucking Azkaban?" He growled. Draco instantly shot up, and after giving Luna's hand a squeeze, he strode confidently towards Crabbe and Goyle.
"Honestly, your inability to do tasks as simple as reading really astounds me. I assume you have only just discovered the fate of your fathers, when the event actually happened about a week ago." Draco said drily.
"Hey! It's not our fault we don't want to read The Daily Prophet, it's mainly rubbish anyway!" Goyle muttered.
McGonagall walked past and shot a tempestuous glare at Crabbe, having heard his outburst as he entered the Great Hall she said, "10 points from Slytherin for your inappropriate use of profanities."
"As if I care about house points." Crabbe sniggered quietly. Although not quietly enough.

"And detention with me as soon as you get back from the holidays!" McGonagall announced shrilly, making her way to the teachers table at the front of the hall.

Crabbe groaned loudly.

"I hear Fenrir Greyback is in Azkaban as well." Goyle said. "And rumour has it, Potter's behind the whole thing."
"Bloody Potter, it's always Potter." Draco said harshly, receiving looks of approval from his Slytherin comrades.
"You didn't seem to think that on our trip to Hogsmeade." Blaise said, his lithe figure striding silently through the open doors of the Great Hall.
"You again?" Draco questioned sardonically.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Blaise growled.

"If I so recall, you spoke to me first, Zabini."

"I think I'm going to eat in my dorm, the idiocy in the room compels me to believe I could lose a few brain cells from just being near you three. Goodbye." Draco said, plucking a golden pastry from the nearby Slytherin table. He proceeded to leave the hall, not indulging in the satisfaction of their predictably shocked faces by refusing to look back.

That evening Draco had his final Occulemency session of the term with Snape. He felt it was much needed considering the company he would be greeted by when he got home. He was finding it extremely difficult to concentrate, as most of his attention was focused on blinding fear for the next day. This led to Snape getting tremendously annoyed with him and launching into a tirade about the requirement of concentration in occulemency. "If you want to hide things from Voldemort-" Snape began, and then seemed to realise his mistake.
"Who said anything about that? I am a…faithful death eater. I can't believe you would think otherwise." Draco almost shouted, rage palpable in his quivering voice. He wasn't angry that Snape simply knew, he was angry that he had been so obvious in his disloyalty to the Dark Lord. Snape seemed to take this as an opportunity to attack the weak defences of Draco's mind and found his way immediately to the memory of Draco using the cruciatus curse on Greyback, and then the image of him holding Luna so tightly she might burst and apologising over and over again for putting her in danger. "What the hell are you doing?!" Draco yelled at his house leader. "I'm leaving."
"You are a death eater, Malfoy. It is too dangerous for you to have people you care about."
"I don't want to be a death eater! I want to be a sixteen year old! Don't you want me to be just the tiniest bit happy?"
"Being a follower of the Dark Lord means your happiness can only lead to sadness."

"As if you know anything about what I'm feeling! As if you know what it means to lose someone."

"I know more than you will ever know about what it's like to lose someone! I lost her twice. Once because of my own stupidity, and once she was taken by death himself."

Draco found he couldn't say anything in response to that and chose to storm out of the room in a flurry of despondency and comprehensive ire.

The next morning came all too quickly. Draco was not looking forward to two weeks away from the kindness and revitalising safety of Hogwarts, and the people who occupied it. He wearily dumped his trunk onto one of the carriages, which seemed to pull themselves, beside some Slytherin seventh years, who he had talked to a few times, and who respected him for his immaculate pureblood heritage. Pansy had given him a sympathetic look as she clambered into another carriage alongside Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode; Blaise still hated him and Crabbe and Goyle had taken Zabini's side after seeing him supposedly befriending Potter. The carriage began rockily towards Hogsmeade, and Draco once again wondered how the carriages were able to move by themselves with such ease.

Clambering off the carriage, Draco collided with a platoon of running first years. He swore under his breath and then shoved them unceremoniously out of the way with the force of whirring helicopter propellers. They stumbled and a couple of them shot him dirty looks, before realising who he was and cowering under his drilling glare. He stepped onto the train and realised he had lost the seventh years who he had been trailing after. He sighed deeply; hoping the intake of breath would somehow overcome his feeling of annoyance and loneliness, and looked for an empty carriage.

"You can sit with us, if you want." A kind and familiar voice said. He looked down and saw Luna smiling up at him; he felt his heartbeat quicken, spurred on by the knowledge that at least someone cared about him. And what made it better was that it was someone he actually cared about too. "I don't think your friends will want to sit with me." Draco said, a flame of realisation rising up within him and desecrating any hope that resided there. "Oh no, it's only really Harry and Ron that have a problem with you, and they're sat in a different compartment anyway." Luna replied, now taking his hand and pulling him gently towards what he presumed was the compartment where she was sitting.

"Why?"
"Have you not noticed? Ron and Hermione are still having a terrible row. I think it's over Lavender Brown. I don't blame Hermione, I'm not too fond of the girl myself, she seems to be infested by roseates."

"And what are those?" Draco inquired blithely. He had become genuinely interested in the magical creatures which Luna was mildly obsessed with.

"They increase your love of pink and make you giggle an annoying amount. Most girls become infected at some point in their life but it rarely lasts. They're not dangerous, but I'd prefer not to have them." Luna's voice became gradually more fervent as she spoke; Draco smiled to himself at the comforting familiarity and put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Luna reached out and slid open the door to a compartment which held Ginny, Hermione, and Neville. He nodded at them in greeting and Luna slipped out from his arm to sit beside Ginny. Hermione looked a little shocked to see him but said hello in a quiet voice. "Hi Draco!" Ginny said cheerfully; she had been the most accepting of him so far other than Luna and Draco was grateful for her kindness. He sat down next to Luna, but didn't really talk during the journey unless he was talked to. He finally spoke properly when Ginny said, "So is everyone looking forward to the holidays?"
"Not really, you-know-who is staying at our house and he's almost definitely going to look into my mind. If he sees what we did at Malfoy Manor then he might, you know." He drank in everyone's shocked faces and shrugged. "So this is going to be a bloody festive Christmas isn't it." He tried to joke. Everyone stayed silent for a moment. It was Neville that responded first.

"I'm no expert on He Who Must Not Be Named but I think you'll be alright. He's got you right where he wants you, sparking a friendship with Harry Potter. No other Death Eater, or whatever you are to him, is going to have that opportunity."

Draco sat silently in shock for a moment; it was the most insightful thing he had ever heard Neville say in his presence. Neville, however, took the silence as a bad sign and looked down in embarrassment and mumbled tacitly, "Well that's just what I thought anyway."

"No, that's great Neville. Thankyou." Draco said emphatically. "I feel a lot calmer now, seriously."

Neville's face reddened, and he opened his mouth to say something; a barricade seemed to instantly form between his lips so no words could escape, however, and he just nodded vivaciously instead. He had never heard Draco say a kind word before and was shocked by the lack of sneering tone or formerly compulsory insult that accompanied any sentence the Slytherin had ever spoken to him. He finally said, "S'alright, mate. He-Who-Must…Voldemort is a pretty creepy guy, I'd be worried too."

Draco relaxed in the presence of the Gryffindors, he had never really felt comfortable with them before and Luna had been a lone jewel of support around them, clad in blue amongst their red.

"I'm just going to see Dean." Ginny said abruptly, rising from her seat; the rumbling train was about a half hour to its destination. "I just want to say goodbye to him, I didn't get chance back at the castle."
"Fighting again?" Hermione queried softly.

"Yeah." Ginny sighed, looking mildly exasperated.

"That's unfortunate." Luna murmured.

Ginny chuckled awkwardly and slipped from the compartment.

Draco realised that he needed to get on with his self-set task before the journey ended and asked Luna to come outside of the compartment with him.

"Are you ok?" Luna asked concernedly.
"Yeah, fine. Er, I got you something. You know, because it's Christmas and all." He said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"Oh! You didn't have to." Luna said, but she looked very pleased nonetheless. Her excited smile spurred Draco on.

"Avis Optivus." Draco said, and a beautiful bird emerged from the tip of his wand. Its wingtips were royal blue, and amalgamated with the fiery orange which spread over the remainder of the tiny bird's body; like an ablaze sunset sinking into an azure ocean. That wasn't all though, as Luna caught the miniature bird in her hands she gasped, recognizing it at once. "A lilcean! It's beautiful! How did you know about it?"
"Your dad did an article on it in the Quibbler, and I thought it was perfect. You know, I heard that nargles keep stealing your shoes and if this bird can keep them away, then hopefully that will stop happening."
"With you around I think they'll be scared to come near my anymore anyway." She said, still looking at the bird. "Did you know they change colour and glow when they sleep, so they are also helpful for people who are scared of the dark." She finally tore her gaze away from the bird and greeted Draco's eyes with a fiery look of excitement. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

"I got you something aswell." She ginned feverishly, and plucked something from her robe pocket. A pebble.

Draco tried not to let the look of confusion onto is face, but was apparently unsuccessful, because Luna laughed her musical laugh, and began to explain. "This is a special type of rock which stores your memories so that you can play it back in your head perfectly, and if you wish, it can reflect onto walls so that you can watch a video of your memory to share it with others. You store the memories by holding the pebble tightly in one hand, closing your eyes, and thinking of the event. If you have memories that you want to shield from someone who will be searching your mind, you can deposit them in your pebble and they will no longer be a part of your mind. You recall these memories by tapping the pebble and saying, 'meminisse'. The memories will be safely back in your mind. Is that too complicated?" Luna bit her lip, hoping Draco would like the present; she hoped so hard she thought the cogitations might burst from her mind in a display of Luna-esque fireworks.
"It's wonderful." Draco murmured, and he brought her towards him so close that they moulded perfectly against eachother, and kissed her softly but heatedly. She felt his warmth against her lips and their happiness was bouncing back and forth between them, each high on elation. Luna reached up and entwined her arms around his neck, the bird finally flying from her previously cupped hand and flew around them, singing a melodic tune. Draco leaned down to deepen the kiss, his arms wrapping around her waist.

"What have we got here then?" Someone laughed kindly from behind them. Luna stumbled back in disorientated surprise and was guided back to her feet by Ginny. "Who would have thought? Well, well, lovebirds, I suppose I'll leave you to it."
"No, we're coming." Luna said, fighting the urge to laugh herself.

"You sure about that?" Draco smirked, his cheeky humour harmonising sublimely with Ginny's.
"Yes." Luna said, reaching out to grab his hand and tug him into the compartment after Ginny. Her heartbeat was still expediting way past her bodily enforced palpitation speed limit. She beamed happily, and looked up to see Draco resisting a grin himself.

The train finally pulled up at Platform 9 3/4, and the group left the compartment and merged into the slew of students which was resounding with a buzz of chatter and cheerful goodbyes. Draco kissed Luna one more time on the mouth and whispered goodbye into her ear just before they stepped off the train. He couldn't risk her being seen with him by whichever death eaters had come to pick him up. Luna tried not to get upset over the fact that this could be the last time she would ever see him, and although she gave him a supportive smile before he retreated in the opposite direction, a lone tear wetted her cheek in an undulating route down her face. "Silly wrackspurts." She whispered to herself, and forced a smile as she wrapped herself in the comforting embrace of her father.

"Hello Draco." Narcissa smiled, as she squeezed his arm with her long fingered hand, her ruby red fingernails a beacon of colour amongst her black clothing. She hugged him slowly and whispered in his ear, "I can't speak to you now because they are watching." And then smiled at him kindly. It all seemed very enigmatic and secretive. Two figures dressed also in black escorted the pair from the platform silently and when one of them spoke, Draco jumped in surprise. "We are going to be apparating from the station. Hold my arm." Draco clutched the angry looking, broad-shouldered man's arm and was immediately whisked from the train station, landing in the immaculately manicured front garden of Malfoy Manor. Draco's head was spinning, pain licking precariously at the edges of his skull. "We've never apparated home before." He commented questioningly, looking at his mother.
"Yes, well, you're not able to apparate from platform 9 ¾ and then outside of that there's always the risk of muggles seeing us. However as the Dark Lord is here, we've taken special measures to be quick getting you home." Narcissa took a deep intake of breath, and Draco noticed her wringing her hands nervously. They walked briskly towards the manor, and as they did, Draco cautiously slipped the pebble from his pocket and closed his eyes. He thought of the events at Malfoy Manor when he was there with Harry and the others, of teaching Harry dark arts spells, and of kissing and being with Luna. Especially his memories of Luna in fact; he wanted nothing more than to protect her from the wrath of Voldemort. However, he kept some of the memories of casual conversations with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and some of the trip to Hogsmeade. He felt as if Voldemort would approve of these things, as it would help in his task.

"Are you ok, love?" Narcissa asked Draco putting a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw that they were in the aged entrance hall of his home. But it didn't feel like home. It was cold, dark and bereft of happiness. The manor had never really been the happiest place but he had joyful memories here with his mother and father. He couldn't imagine any happy memories happening here in the future. He sighed and nodded. "Do you want to get a glass of water from the kitchen?" Narcissa said, an urging tone in her voice and a look of seriousness in her eyes. Draco realised she wanted to speak to him alone. She looked over at the two death eaters who had escorted them to the manor and smiled sweetly, "We'll be five minutes." They nodded, and Narcissa took Draco gently by the arm towards the kitchen.

As soon as they got there, she started whispering rapidly and desperately. "They think something's going on in our family. Ever since that night when we freed the muggle-borns they've been suspicious. And then as Fenrir Greyback was taken off to Azkaban he said your name, I assume you had something to do with it. Be careful, Draco. Please."
"The Dark Lord wishes to speak to Draco now. Mrs Malfoy, go up to your room, it has been requested that he is seen alone." One of the men said robotically as he arrived at the door

"I do not wish to be ordered around in my own house." Narcissa said coldly, brushing past the man.

"But you live to serve the Dark Lord, so you will do as he asks. In your own house or not." The man said.

"Of course." Narcissa said, with a falsely saccharine smile over her shoulder. She flounced up the stairs, her blonde her bouncing up and down as she went.

Draco put his head down and walked after the man into the large hall where they held dinners and parties, and which was also the favourite place of Bellatrix's to torture people in.

"Draco." Voldemort said raspingly, giving him a serpentine smile. "So good to see my youngest death eater." Draco wasn't fooled by the false kindness, he knew the dark lord was suspicious of everyone and would soon be searching his mind. Just as he thought it, he felt the presence of the Dark Lord in his mind. He immediately tried to think of the memories he had just embedded in the pebble, but they were gone from his mind completely. He felt Voldemort sifting through memories of him talking to Harry, giving the cursed necklace to Katie Bell and various unimportant memories. He tried to keep his thoughts calm, even though franticness was racing through his veins and sparking his nerve endings. Finally Voldemort withdrew from the confines of Draco's skull.

"I see you have been trying with the task I have set you. But it has not been enough."