Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

So that was it, her fate was sealed.

"I'll go tell father that you've agreed."

Lucius was overjoyed to hear that Draco had finally been successful, and congratulated his son on his engagement.

Draco was also content with how obedient and agreeable Luna had become.

In the past few weeks when he had been trying so hard to have conversations with her he couldn't have imagined her being anymore quiet and somehow she had managed to do so now.

After a few days Lucius decided that a party would be thrown for their engagement so that they couple could announce their pending nuptials to the wizarding community. Draco was very excited to finally have some time off and relax and he felt that with the way things were going now that Luna would be more than ready to be presented to all of his friends and family. Although he couldn't decide if presenting a former ally of Potter to a room of death eaters would be easier than the next mission the dark lord had planned to send him on.

As Narcissa was ecstatic to be having a party at the manor both Lucius and Draco felt that it would be best to leave all of the arrangements up to her, it was after all one of the few things that Narcissa took pride in doing.

Luna had never met Narcissa Malfoy before, but after a few hours in her presence she felt as though she had known her for quite some time with velocity and familiarity in which she spoke with her.

"You know dear, when Lucius first told me that you were going to marry our Draco, I wasn't so sure that I was very happy with the idea."

She smiled briefly at Luna.

"I do see now your potential in being a representative of the Malfoy family. You are a pureblood after all, even if your father isn't the sanest person and Lucius does know what he's doing." She smiled again, all the while running through pages upon pages of dresses.

Through her smiles is painfully obvious to Luna that Narcissa didn't particularly care for her at all, but it didn't appear that she would be protesting against her husband any time soon.

"My my my" Narcissa's eyes glowed with delight. "I do believe I've found the dress for your engagement party, dear" She held up the picture of the dress.

The witch in the dress spun back and forth in an emerald green a line dress. The dress was very long and strapless; there were soft pleats on the top of the dress which bunched together at the side. It was indeed very beautiful and Luna had never worn something so fancy before, but it would seem that now that she was going to be a Malfoy such exquisite gowns would continue to be in her future.

With the number of servants on hand at the manor the party planning was completed within a few days.

On the day of the party Draco stood dutifully in the ballroom greeting the guests as they arrived. The number of people in attendance for the party was almost overwhelming, he couldn't remember the last time it had been so full. Every pureblood family in the wizarding community seemed to be present. Everyone was congratulating him on his engagement except a few of his friends who couldn't get over the fact that he was going to marry loony Luna Lovegood, he of course assured them that Luna was no longer the girl that they had known in their school days. Overall the party seemed to be a huge success; Draco would have to thank his mother later for planning such an excellent party. Everything looked brilliant and the food was of course outstanding, resulting in another magnificent Malfoy celebration.

Draco searched the room for his parents and found them across the room, his father speaking with a group and his mother standing dutifully behind him, smiling always and laughing when appropriate, the picturesque pureblood couple and what he strove to have one day with Luna.

As if on cue Luna emerged into the ballroom. Draco knew at this moment that his friends would no longer have any more jokes about his bride to be, regardless of how nutty she was. In this moment she was the epitome of grace, and loveliness.

Draco crossed the room to meet her and took her hand and led her through hundreds of introductions of family, friends and acquaintances. She was polite, smiled and only spoke when spoken to, but in a lapse of introductions Draco caught her eye. The coldness of her blank stare sent shivers down his back. He pulled her in and whispered to her "are you alright?"

Emotion returned to Luna's face in a very animated fashion "Of course darling, why wouldn't I be?" but her smile faded as quickly as it had appeared leaving Draco unable to shake his feeling of discomfort.

Eventually the formalities had ended and as it grew later and later it was obvious that it was time for the guests to take their leave. As they expressed their salutations to the Malfoy's everyone complimented on how wonderful the party was and how charming Luna was. Everything had gone exceedingly well, but for some reason Draco couldn't rid himself of the sick feeling in his stomach.

Once all the guests had taken their leave Draco searched the floor for Luna to take her back to her room.

"Luna."

Luna's face perked up at the sound of her name.

"Are you very tired? I thought I might take you back to your room so that you can get some rest."

Draco peered into her soft silvery grey eyes and found them to be void of any of the life that they once held and the sick feeling in his stomach began to worsen.

"If you think it is best that I rest now, then that is what I'll do."

Draco took her hand and led her up the stairs, she followed shortly behind him and he kept his eyes on the ground as he made his way through the halls, as he could no longer look at her without feeling ill. After what seemed to him like an eternity of walking Draco opened the door to Luna's room and bid her goodnight, doing his best not to make eye contact with her.

"I'll see to it that one of the house elves comes to help you undress. Goodnight."

He scurried off as quickly as he could to his own room and when finally found the comfort of his own bed he drew a deep sigh. Why did he feel so terrible? Everything was going so well now. The party was a success and everyone loved Luna, and after seeing how attractive she could look in the proper clothes his friends could no longer find fault in the Ravenclaw they used to readily mock. She was perfect.

Narcissa was buzzing with excitement at breakfast the following morning. The majority of the meal was spent with her gleaming over how many compliments she had received about the party and Luna and how everything had gone exactly the way she had planned it. The conversation being of no interest to Draco he nodded in an out, occasionally smiling and nodding to acknowledge his mother, as to not hurt her feelings.

Once her rant about Luna's dress and how she had picked it out herself she noted Luna's absence from their table.

"Draco…perhaps you could persuade your fiancé to join us for dinner." Narcissa said with a smile. "It would be nice if the whole family could eat together."

Draco chewed his food slowly so he could delay having to answer her. The truth was that sounded like a terrible idea. He had been avoiding Luna as much as humanly possible. Luna had been more of a shell than an actual person lately and her presence had made him exceedingly uncomfortable. He had barely been in the same room with her since their engagement party. He wasn't about to protest against his mother's wishes. He would just have to find a good excuse to miss all these family meals.

"I'll talk to her after breakfast."