Chapter 5

"Penny for your thoughts?" someone uttered softly behind Draco. Startled, he whipped around to see who the voice belonged to. His shoulders sagged in relief to see Hermione Granger staring at him with a small, nervous smile on her face.

"Penny?"

"Muggle saying."

"Ah." he turns around again, back to looking down the lake. "So.." he starts.

"I'm sorry."

Brow furrowed in confusion, Draco turned to her. "What for?"

"Everything, I guess." at Draco's look, she continued. "For not trusting you. I'm really sorry, Draco. I-"

Giving her a small smile, Draco opened his arms. "Come here."

Hermione all but flew into Draco and hugged him tightly around the waist, head resting on his chest. "I love you, Draco." she whispered.

Inhaling sharply, Draco's heart sped up and a warm sensation spread over his body. Making his small smile turn into a full blown grin. "I love you, too."

"Well, well." they both turned to a new voice that joined them. Theo. Why does it always have to be Theo? "I guess this means you two kissed and made up? Having fun over there?" he says with a huge smile on his face.

"We were until you showed up." clearly annoyed, Draco directed a half-hearted glare at his best friend.

"Only him?" came from another voice. It was Blaise. "I'm here too."

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Draco groaned. "I could include you in my torture list too, Zabini."

"Draco." Hermione scolded, but her expression of amusement told them otherwise. "That's not a nice thing to say to your friends."

"Cock blocking isn't nice either." this earned him a whack on the arm from Hermione.

"Guys!" they all recognized that dreamy voice anywhere. "We've found them!" Luna ran straight towards the small group, with Padma in tow. They seem to be wearing Spectrespecs. "Here, use this." fishing out some glasses in her tote bag, she handed each one of them a pair.

"Where'd you get this many Spectroscaples, Lovegood?" Draco asked.

"Spectrespecs." Luna corrected. "And it's free from The Quibbler's 1996 issue. You didn't get one?"

"Nope."

"Oh,"

"I wanted to but this lady in the shop kept bugging me to buy all of the copies. Saying they were selling for weeks and nobody intended to buy them."

The other five looked at Draco as if he grew another head. The younger Malfoy didn't seem to notice this. "Hmm." was all Luna said.

"Anyway, I saw that there were cool things inside it. You know, really interesting topics like, 'How to catch a Nifler' and 'Fantastic Crumpled-Horned Snorclocks and where to find them'."

"It's Snorkacks, Draco." Luna pointed out. Beaming, she added, "And I wrote those two articles! I was practicing."

"Really? But I never had the chance to read them though, unfortunately. 'Cause when I bought them all,"

"You seriously bought them all?" said a disbelieving Padma.

Rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing to do, Draco answered anyway. "Yes, I did. Moving on," turning his attention back to Luna, he continued. "When I got to the common room, all the younger Slytherins wanted a copy. It seemed your Spectascopes-"

"Spectrespecs." Luna chastised.

"Spectrespecs, caught their you know me,"

"No we don't." Theo interrupted.

Glaring at him, Draco carried on. "You know me, as being generous and all, I gave them all my copies."

"That's so nice of you, Draco." smiled the small blonde. "I'll give you a copy later but first, I wanted you all to see the Wrackspurts! Come on follow me!" with the energy of a bunny rabbit, Luna ran ahead and was followed by Theo, Blaise and Padma. Before trailing behind them, the other witch murmured a 'Thanks' to Draco before walking away.

"That was a really nice thing to do, Draco." Hermione says, smiling slightly.

"Meh," Draco walked with her. "least I could do. And I'm not kidding about that old hag."

"Old hag?"

"You know, that old woman who kept bugging me."

Eyebrows shooting up to her hairline, Hermione suddenly stopped walking. "You mean-"

"What?" baffled by her astonished tone, Draco also stopped.

"You mean you didn't make that story to cheer up Luna?"

Scowling and unamused, Draco started walking. "You think I would make some lie up to make Luna feel good about herself? Honestly, she's already perfect."

"Wow, and here I thought you made that up for your slip about The Quibbler not selling for weeks."

Still scowling, he stopped walking again. He then stared at her. Hermione was shocked by the intensity in them. "Did you really think I was that smart?" at her giggle, he continued. "And if I was, she deserves to know the truth. If it was you, and it was Patil's paper you would have told her. Lovegood isn't some fragile little creature we all have a need to feel sorr-"

He was cut off by Hermione's lips on his.

"I get it." she says softly. "I'm sorry." grabbing his hand, she entwined her fingers with his. "We should hurry up. Luna and Padma already found them." tugging at his hand, she led the way.

A slow easy smile crept its way up to Draco's face.

"Buggering hell!"

"What the fuck?!"

"Is THAT what I think IT is?!"

"Luna! What in the world-"

"KILL IT!"

"No!" swivelling around to glare at her friends, Luna stood between the wrackspurts and the other five. "Don't hurt them!" pointing an accusing finger at Blaise, Luna jabbed the air for emphasis. "I won't kill them Blaise Zabini!"

"Luna, I was merely surpised, I didn't mean-"

"Of course you meant it, you twat!" Draco exclaimed. "Look at them!"

"Shut up, Draco!" screamed Luna.

Gesturing widely with his hands and shaking his head, Theo started backing away. "Seriously, what the FUCK is that?!"

"Theo, you moron! What do you think it is?!" Padma shrilly shouted.

"What do YOU think it is?"

"GUYS!" Hermione bellowed, obviously frustrated. "I know they aren't pleasing to look at-"

"-understatement of the year-"

"-more like hideous and repulsive-"

"-uglier than a grindylow-"

"You're hurting their feelings!" Luna, losing her cool for the very FIRST time, was on the verge of tears. Blaise was immediately by her side trying to calm her.

"Luna, my love. Calm down-"

"I will not calm down!"

"Did he just-"

"-call her love?"

"It's either Zabini's going soft or-"

"-you know..."

"Shut up you useless pricks!" Zabini roared, throwing a rock at them.

Theo, looking like he got a present he really wanted for his birthday, was grinning like an idiot. All traces of horror gone from his face. Draco was in a similar state.

"Not. A. Word." Blaise practically growled the words out.

"Ooooh." the both of them said and looked at each other at the same time. This earned them another rock being thrown in their direction.

"Seriously, just stop it, the three of you!" Hermione berated them in a manner that reminded them of Professor McGonagall. "I haven't seen Luna this frumpy! You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Both Draco and Theo stopped sniggering and Blaise just looked defeated. Still glaring at them, Hermione turned to Luna. "Luna, do not mind them. They're just a bunch of childish mean Slytherins."

"Hey!" was heard from Malfoy and Nott. Zabini narrowed his eyes.

Pretending not to notice, Hermione went on. "You know, we should get going.. The wrackspurts look a little put out to be seeing us here-"

"Another understatement from the brilliant Miss Granger-"

"-brightest witch couldn't even see they're about to eat us-"

"-looking like dinner came in early-"

"Shut it!"

Padma, who stayed silent for a while, finally spoke up. "Err.. Hermione?"

But Hermione did not hear her. She was too busy consoling Luna to notice Padma, Draco, Blaise, and Theo started backing away. By the time she noticed they were farther from Luna and her, the wrackspurts were already a foot apart from where she stood. "What-"

"Hermione, RUN!" screamed Luna, grabbing Hermione's wrist and sprinting faster than you could say 'Hogwarts'. Their four companions ran when they saw the two heading towards them. Draco checking if Hermione was okay, and Blaise looking back every now and then to see to it that Luna was unharmed. They were not injured.. yet.

"Stop looking back and hurry up!" scolded Hermione. They did.

Theo couldn't stop screaming. "Why are we running?!"

"They're going to eat us!" answered Draco.

"No!" Luna denied. "Well, technically they won't eat us! Just our brain cells!"

"Brain cells?"!" says Draco and Theo.

Padma started explaining, "A nerve cell, called neuron, that function-"

"We know what brain cells are!" Draco said. Slightly insulted. "Honestly, you're worse than Hermione!"

"Well, wrackspurts go into your ears! That's why you get extreme headaches because they are eating your brain cells!"

"Eating our brain cells!" appalled, Blaise expressed his extreme distaste by the fact.

"Am I the only one wondering how on Earth the wrackspurts could fit into our ears?!" Hermione, horrified, asked them.

Yes, the wrackspurts were enormous. Well.. about twelve feet tall to be exact.

"I thought wrackspurts were supposed to be tiny!" Padma shouted.

Luna cried a high pitched 'oh!' "I forgot to tell you! Those are baby wrackspurts! I guess these are their parents!"

"They're getting closer!" Theo picked up speed and was now the first one in line. Draco tried to grab his cloak.

"Nott, you coward!"

"Try running away from ugly looking brain eaters!"

"Brain cells!" Padma and Hermione said in unison.

"You're not the only one running away, you extreme, to the highest level, moron!" exasperated, Draco wrung his hands together, imagining it was Theo's neck he's strangling. "It's not like you're in danger! You don't have a brain!" Draco had the gall to joke about that in a time like this.

When they reached the castle gates, Theo opened them as wide as possible to let the others in. Once the last one, namely Luna, was inside, Draco and himself closed the doors faster than the speed of a snitch. "That was close."

"Too close!" Draco rephrased.

Just then, the double doors of the Great Hall opened, revealing the full and satisfied students of Hogwarts. That's when they remembered they had missed dinner. The students didn't notice their six late schoolmates at first, but eventually they did. Looking curiously, albeit suspiciously, at the people who were wearing funny magical glasses, which looked liked they were made out of cardboard cutouts, and started whispering.

There was silence.

And more silence.

Awkward fidgeting.

Head scratching.

Eyebrows raised.

Narrowed eyes.

"Hermione? Where have you been all day?" a person voiced out. It was the famous Harry Potter. The crowd parted to make a walkway so that the boy-who-killed-Voldemort could pass. "And why are you with these people? You said you were in the library. You weren't there."

"More like why are you, Luna, and Padma, hanging out with Slytherins?" Ron said, disgust, not the kind of disgust like before, present in his tone.

"With matching eye glasses, no less?" Ginny agreed. It was a rare occurence the only female Weasley child agreed with her brother.

That was the moment questions were being fired at them. Ridiculous assumptions the likes of Lavender Brown would only ask.

'Were you in a triple date or something?'

'I always knew Patil would choose Nott!'

'You finally found the courage to ask Granger out, eh Zabini?'

'Lovegood! You and Malfoy together?!"

'I didn't know you were into Loony girls, Malfoy, you sly snake!'

'Granger's with Malfoy and Lovegood with Zabini! Right guys?!'

'Oh, Hermione! That's so sweet! You and Draco!'

'Drakie? What is the meaning of this?!'

'You led me on, Blaise! How could you?!' this one was surprisingly from Ginny. Harry and Ron stared at her as if she was somekind of owl that could talk.

'Padma! You chose that idiot Nott over me?!'

"That is quite enough!" boomed their Headmistress. "I'm sure there is some kind of reason why your Prefects and Heads are late for dinner." that shut them up.

"But we're also prefects, Professor!" Ron shouted. The other prefects nodded their heads in agreement. But with one look from McGonagall forced them not to pursue the matter.

"We will discuss this in my office, Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini, Miss Lovegood, Mr. Nott, Miss Patil, come with me at once."

But despite all of this, Draco, Hermione, Luna, Blaise, Theo, and Padma were still glued to their places. Not moving an inch from their spot since they laid their eyes on their schoolmates. Looks of terror, extreme HORROR in Theo's case, were present on their faces. Though it was unclear because half of their faces were obscured by the Spectrespecs.

"Hermione?" asked Harry, clearly concerned.

Voice slightly shaking, Luna was the one who spoke for them. "Uhm.. Right. Alright Professor. We uhm. We-we'll go with y-you."

"Miss Lovegood, are you alright?"

"O-of course, sh-she is, Headmistress!" Hermione defensively answered. A more obvious tremor present in her voice.

"Are you all, alright?" Professor McGonagall

Seeming to gather his wits, Blaise composed himself and cleared his throat. "Yes, we are Professor. We're just slightly.. exhausted from our detention with Filch."

Although still suspicious by the behavior of her best students, (yes, including Nott), McGonagall let her theory go. Ignoring the slightly aghast 'Detention?!' from the youngest Weasley male, their Headmistress sighed. "Very well. Off to bed all of you. You six, my office now." Not waiting for their Transfiguration Professor, the six students fled to McGonagall's as if Death was on their heels.

The crowd of students slowly dispersed until Ron, Ginny, Michael, Pansy, and Harry were the only ones left. Looking worriedly at the direction their friends went to.

"Children, I told you to go to bed. I will handle this."

Pansy wasn't convinced. "Professor, those three are the only ones I have left. If anything happens to them, I will never forgive myself."

Ah, Miss Parkinson. Another poor soul that is affected by the war. With both parents in Askaban and shunned by the rest of the school, McGonagall noticed that the only ones who were always by her side were Draco, Theo, and Blaise. She could not blame the girl if she was still here.

"Hermione's our best friend too, Professor. We need to know if she'll be alright." says Harry. Ron and Ginny nodded their heads in second motion.

Harry was the most affected, of course. No doubt about that. He lost everything because of the war. He lost his parents, all of his relatives, close friends, mentors and the fact that the Wizarding world depended on him. What a great burden for a seventeen year old teen. Poor boy.. But she could see in Harry's eyes that there are still some things that he could lose. Hermione was one of them.

Of course Ron was also scarred by the war. He lost two brothers. Percy and Fred. But fortunately, he still has a family. Unlike his other two friends. And Professor McGonagall could ascertain that this Weasley is in love with the Head Girl. Unfortunately, Miss Granger is already smitten with someone else.

"And Luna, Headmistress. I hope she'd be okay." Ginny Weasley added.

Just like Ron, Ginny also lost loved ones. Her closest friend being the young blonde Ravenclaw and Hermione, she can understand why she chose to stay. And the fact about her little confession earlier regarding a certain Mr. Zabini.

"I'm here for Padma." Michael stated firmly.

McGonagall knew it is not nice to label and stereotype students especially if you are a teacher. But Minerva McGonagall wasn't known to be nice. So she was one of those who labels the children into categories.

There are six kinds of students according to the Headmistress. First, there's The silent ones. That is, if you don't pay enough attention, you wouldn't feel their presence in class. Luna Lovegood, Blaise Zabini, and Padma Patil are in this category.

There's the loud but responsible and brilliant students. Just like former head boy Percy Weasley, most students from Ravenclaw, and Hermione Granger.

Another kind, were the neutral students. This is the category where the likes of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley belong to. Only studying if there's an actual quiz. And, they do it the last minute. They focus more on gossips, rumours, and Quidditch matches.

There are also jolly and playful and optimistic kids. Most, if not all, Hufflepuffs fall in this subgroup. Students who look like they don't have any problems. Just like Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, and half of the Gryffindors, including Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.

There are the impossible to handle students. Just like Draco, Pansy, and Theo. They are incorrigible, noisy, sometimes irresponsible. But they have redeeming qualities. Although rule breakers, they do this not only to benefit themselves alone. It's also for their loved ones and people they care about.

You know what they say, not all Slytherins don't know how to love.

The last kind were the 'selfish, coward, and judgmental students'. It may sound cruel, but it's unfortunately true. Michael Corner falls in this category. Even though they already lived in the new age, students like Michael still have prejudices. Corner is one of the people whose families fled during the war. In McGonagall's perception, it is far better to fight in what you believed in, although bad, than to cower away during battle. That's not only cowardly but also selfish.

Wait. Before you think about prejudices, it's not towards Muggle-borns. But towards Slytherin. The belief that Syltherins are evil and support the Dark Arts. That kind of racist thing.

Corner, in Minerva's observation, despises Slytherins. One time, she saw Corner and Macmillan using a jinx to trip Astoria Greengrass, a fifth year Slytherin, and laughed. Not the amused laugh. But the 'evil' laugh. Oh, the irony. That earned them a week's detention.

It was safe to say that Minerva McGonagall did not like Michael Corner.

Sighing, McGonagall shook her head. "I'll handle this." she said with finality. "Go back to your dormitories."

"Would you mind telling me why on Merlin's beard, have you missed dinner?" McGonagall asked the students sitting across from her desk, occupying the same spot they sat the last time they were there.

"Not at all, Professor." came the witty retort of Draco Malfoy. The headmistress seemed to be unimpressed.

"Why is it, when something happens, it is always you six?"

"Believe me, Professor, I've been asking myself the same question for the past weeks." Draco answered.

McGonagall just shook her head in exasperation. "And what on Earth are you all wearing?"

That was the moment they all forgot they were wearing Spectrespecs. Once the last word in McGonagall's question left her mouth, they instantly removed their glasses. Theo, a millisecond faster than the others.

Minerva heaved a big sigh. This does not look well. Whatever they did or saw earlier, clearly stirred restlessness in them. She did't even entertained the idea that Miss Granger could be this quiet. There really was something wrong. "Very well, if you are not going to tell me what's the matter anytime soon, best be getting some tea from the back. Stay here." with that, she stood up and went behind a door that the others assumed was her private quarters.

Blaise, who checked that McGonagall is now far from hearing distance, immediately launched into a terrified ramble. Well, well. What a rare sight.

Theo just sprawled face down on the carpet and started muttering obescenities that could even make The Dark Lord blush.

Hermione, bit her nails. Padma looked like she was having an anxiety attack. Luna, though the calmest of them all, was nervously fidgeting.

Draco looked worst. His usually pale complexion was even paler, and he was shaking like a leaf. "Did you fucking see that?!"

"Do you think I'm BLIND, Malfoy?!" Blaise answered back, throwing a pillow at Draco. "They were fucking EVERYWHERE!"

"Shut it!" Hermione exclaimed.

"They were so many-"

"-they look hungry enough to eat-"

"-mandrake resemblance is uncanny-

"-staring at us like they know we can see-"

"-the other's foot's already stuck inside Finnigan's ear-"

"-terrified blood would suddenly ooze out-"

"-tongue threathing to rip Corner's ear-"

"SHUT. IT!" Hermione stood up, trying to silence her companions. But to no avail.

"-McGonagall had the ugliest-"

"-the other one already knocked out Flitwick-"

"-do you think that ugly purple thing stayed here-"

"-it probably followed McGonagall-"

"-Merlin's pants please don't tell me it stayed here-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Oh my gods, it's taken over Hermione!" Luna exclaimed, horrified. She was wearing her Spectrespecs.

"No!" roared Draco. This made Theo and Padma wear their pairs. Draco and Blaise closely behind.

"Get it away from her!" Blaise bellowed, pushing the two couches away to make space. Padma jumped up and tried tackling the wrackspurt, but missed. Causing her to hit one of the sofas and brought it down with her.

"Ah! I can feel it! Get it out, get it out!"

"Immobulus!" all movement suddenly stopped.

Theo was in the middle of raising the pillow high above his head, Blaise looking like he was training for the ballet, Draco hugging Hermione by the waist, Hermione's mouth opened wide, kind of resembling a banshee. Luna and Padma sitting on the floor hugging, what seemed to be, the wrackspurts legs.

Professor McGonagall was wearing another pair of Spectrespecs and holding out her wand. A look of worry and surprise marring her features. "What on Godric's robes-" she transfigured the wrackspurt into a galleon, and put it in her pocket before releasing her spell from her students. Once the spell was lifted, they began talking altogether

"Professor it was awful-"

"-it was going to eat Hermione-"

"-was this close to knocking it out-"

"-deflecting my curses like a pro-"

"-it had hairy legs, Professor-"

"-it was about to stick its tongue in-"

"Enough!" said McGonagall. "Children, please, one at a time."

It turned out that it was really Wrackspurt season. The only peculiar thing was that this had been the worse break out of the wrackspurts in 50 years. At the end of the night, they found out that it was because the tree they had crashed landed on, was the main nest of the wrackspurts. That was why instead of babies hunting for brain cells, it resulted to the parents doing it.

The next morning, McGonagall did not mention that it was Luna's and the others' doing, destroying the queen wrackspurt's home. And she gave them another month's worth of detention.

Padma and Hermione felt like fainting.. Luna was the most guilty among all of them. But the others made sure to texplain to Luna, even though it took hours to convince the blonde, that they were not angry with her.

Blaise, Draco, and Theo, did not tell Pansy what had happened. Instead, Draco confirmed that all three of them were dating someone and Pansy should find herself a man too. To the surprise of the three boys, Pansy was not at all in the slightest bit mad. 'Oh, I already knew.' she had said. 'I just waited for you to tell me yourself.'

Theo and Padma surprised everyone one morning, by arriving in the Great Hall together and holding hands.

Luna and Blaise did the same a week later.

It took time for Draco and Hermione to do what the other four did. But they found the courage to reveal their relationship the following week.

Entering the hall, they didn't notice Professor Flitwick handing Professor Sprout a pouch of coins. They also did not notice Seamus giving a galleon to a triumphant looking Dean.

"This isn't so bad." muttered Draco from the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "There's no cussing yet."

"Are you FUCKING kidding me?!" came from Ron.

"Spoke too soon." Draco whispered. Hermione grudgingly concurred.

"Well," she says, standing up straighter. "it's showtime."

FIN. :)