The next morning Hermione woke early. Sitting up she grabbed her head, which seemed to be spinning. Or was it the room. Had all of those things actually happend last night. Had she met Draco Malfoy; decent human being. Had he really kissed her. Things were far too confusing this early. Coffee was needed, this was true. From the looks of things, the house elf staff had drawn back the large curtains, flooding the room with warm sun light. Looking over at Ginny, she smiled. Since Ginny was little she always ended up reversed on the bed in the morning, this time she was hanging half off of it. When Hermione stood up, she stepped on her own shoe, causing a small creak, immediately waking Ginny up with a snort.
" What? What time is it?" Ginny said, her hair all messed up and in front of her eyes.
" 8:30. Come on Gin, lets go get food." Hermione said, throwing her silk robe over her nightgown.
Ginny jumped up and tried to get her hair back to normal , with limited sucess.
The two girls headed down the hall, to the grand staircase. Decending to the lower floor. When they reached the kitchen, it was completely empty. Hermione had half expected house elf to be slaving away at breakfast, but there was nothing, not a single sign anyone had been in here. Ginny walked over to the table, throwing herself down into her hands.
" Don't you dare go back to sleep girl." Said Hermione, walking to the sink to fill the kettle with water.
" I'm resting my eyes,damnit." Ginny replied back, still with her head in her folded arms.
After filling the pot and placing it on the stove, Hermione walked over to the grand window above the sink. It faced the south end of the land, where the great garden was. The sun was kissing all the flowers, who were opening for the morning. Beautiful purples, and pinks. Yellows, oranges all hugged by bright green. It was magical looking. It was hard for her to accept that something so beautiful and wonderful could be hidden away here, at the Malfoy Manor. In fact she was so in awe of it all, she never heard him enter the room.
When Draco said goodnight to Hermione that night, he intended on finishing his project. Instead he simply cleared off the bed, shoving all the books and stuff to the floor. Looking at the picture of her with her "bush" hair. He finally slept, the first time in a long time. When he woke up a few hours later, he laid there for a long time. Recounting the nights events over and over again in his head, all he could do was smile. At one point he actually tried to convince himself he was crazy, that none of this had happened. It would have worked too, if his head house elf Rahnk hadn't asked if she should make breakfast for everyone. He quickly got dressed and hurried down to the kitchen. Peeking though the door way, he saw Ginny first, and it looked like she was fast asleep on the table. He laughed a little to himself. Turning he saw that Hermione was leaning on the sink, gazing out at the garden. Checking every direction out, he slipped in as quiet as possible. Walking right up behind her, he slowly slipped his hands around her waist, as to not scare her.
The moment she felt his touch, she melted away,relaxing back into his arms.
" Goodmorning" She said, smiling.
He kissed the top of her head, " morning."
She squeezed him tightly then walked to the stove to retreave the boiling kettle.
" So hey, did you say anything?" Draco asked, motioning to Ginny with his arm.
Hermione turned around to see what he wanted. With a stiff back she shook her head no.
" No. She was asleep when I got back to the room.And I didn't want to spring it on her this morning" .
" ahem!" Draco and Hermione both jumped a little as a noise erupted from Ginny.
" I wasn't asleep then, and I'm not asleep now!" She said, standing up, still looking extremely disheveled.
Ginny walked to the kettle that Hermione was still holding and began making coffee.
" I know what's going on. I'm not going to say anything, so I don't want either of you to worry. I think it's cute, and good for the both of you. And just so you know, if you are trying to be sneaky, you're not so good at it." Ginny walked over, added some sugar to her coffee and put her cup on the table.
Seeing the muffins on the counter she got back up for one. Draco and Hermione just stood there and looked at her in sheer surprise, unable to speak. Once Ginny had her muffin she walked back to the table, passing Draco she looked up at him and gave him a sleepy smile, patting him on the head. Draco looked up at Hermione, both smiling as well.
About an hour later Harry and Ron had finally come down and they were all sitting around the table, having breakfast and chatting.
" Make any head way last night?" Harry said to Draco, sipping his coffee.
" EH? Oh no. No I didn't." Draco said, putting down his cup.
" Well you must have some information right?" Asked Ron, " What do you have so far?"
Draco put his finger up to say hold on, and went into the study to get the red document folder with the gold emblem. He returned moments later, placing the folder on the table with a thump.
" So as far as I can tell, this is how it goes. When Voldemort was defeat last year by you Harry his powers were instantly transfered. Here's were it gets tricky. So Bellatrix was already dead by then. Harry and myself talked about this and we both agree after her, my father would be next in line. Now whether or not he knows he has this power coming to him, we don't know. But what I could figure out is that he doesn't have this power just yet. He needs to release them I think. But that's about all I can make out of it as of yet. It's so hard to read the language." Draco said, his face slighty cocked and staring into space.
For a few minutes they sat there, looking over the papers. This strange dialect was all over it. It looks a little like troll but at the same time, slightly mermish. They were all completely confused at to the next step.
" Luna..." Ron said.
He was looking down at the floor, at a broken tile.
Ginny looked up, " What Ron?" He turned his head to the window and stood.
" Luna. You want someone who knows a little about a lot don't you?"
Harry leaned back in his chair, placing a hand on Ginny's back, rubbing it in circles gently." ok Ron, but why Luna?" Harry felt he knew where Ron was going with this, but first, he wanted to know if Ron did too. Ron turned and came back to the table.
Leaning his hands on the top he bent down towards them all, " This is something completely left field for all of us. We're out of our league on brilliance here. So maybe," He paused, scratching his head, " Maybe it's time we find someone out of our league. Can you think of anyone else who would know something like obscure languages?" Ron looked at Harry, almost pleading with his eyes for him to understand what he meant.
Harry smiled. Turning to Draco he said " He's right. We need Luna. But it's your house, so it's up to you." Draco took his hand and ran it through his hair, " If you feel like she can help, then by all means, contact her."
Ginny suddenly stood and instantly was gone, off to retrieve Luna.
" Harry.." Draco said, looking down at his hands, " I don't want you to think about this house as mine. While you are here, you are not guests. This is as much your home as it is mine." Looking up, he saw Harry smiling,giving him a nod in appreciation.
It seemed to take forever for Ginny to return with Luna. They apparated to the from hall, then entered the kitchen, were they all remained to wait. Draco wasn't sure how Luna would recieve him. He wasn't mean to her like he was the rest of the group, in fact it was the opposite. He didn't even act like she exsisted. The moment she walked into the room with Ginny was an electric one. She seemed so please to see everyone, but oddly, especially Draco. Dropping the bags in her hands, she ran to him, hugging him tightly. Looking over her shoulder he saw everyone smiling at them, sorta of laughing. Harry even mouthed the words, " That's Luna for you" with a shrug.
Very quietly she whispered," thank you for being the man we all knew you could be. We welcome you to our family. Just make sure you don't step in any mud, it's not fun to be dirty." Draco's eyebrows scrunched a little.
He had no idea what any of this meant, but it was so heart felt, so loving. He gave her the tightest hug he could. The general love that this girl had for just..people, was out of this world to him.
Luna released herself and walked over to the empty seat next to Ron. "So", she said, " you need my help, how wonderful to be needed".
Draco spoke briefly about the things they already knew, getting Luna up to speed. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.
" Well, it's not going to be easy, but I can do this, no problem. I will need a few things of course, to help me." Draco replied, " of course, anything Luna." She smiled " I will need some quills, some parchment, a glass of water, yarn and a piece of cabbage! Yes that will do!" Draco looked around and Hermione gave him the " Don't ask" look, as Luna skipped away, humming to herself.
A/N YAY for LUNA finally showing up! I love what she says to Draco when they hug. It's just so...so Luna :) - Dazen