Luna gently closed the heavy brown door behind her. It was just after midnight and the Ravenclaw common room had been emptied early for once. Usually it was filled with first year students rewriting their homework for the fifth time or later years sneaking revision in early for exams but tonight the exhaustion of the week had won and by midnight everyone was inside their own dormitories save for Luna, unnoticed as she sat pretending to read a book upside-down.

She made her way down the spiral staircase stopping every few seconds when she was convinced she could hear someone following her. And each time it was a moment before she realised it was the sound of her own heart racing. She had broken rules before. Never big ones but like everyone else she had returned books late to the library and drunk firewhiskey before she was meant to. But meeting up with a boy after dark in a bathroom she wasn't even meant to know the password to was pretty big in Luna's opinion and even the slightest noise made her leap several feet into the air out of sheer terror.

She was so terrified in fact that when she finally reached the bathroom, she whispered the password so quietly that the door didn't open. It was only when the sound of Mrs Norris' meow met her ears that Luna plucked up the courage to speak more loudly. The door opened and she stepped hesitantly inside.

The bathroom, in Luna's opinion, was not much different from any of the other Hogwarts bathrooms. True, it was more visually appealing but it still only held the usual facilities of any other bathroom.

She scanned the whole room but there seemed to be no sign of Draco. He emerged moments later from behind one of the toilet stalls and Luna's first thought was that he had forgotten half of his school uniform. He was still wearing his shirt and trousers much to Luna's relief but she could see his tie and robes in a pile next to the huge round bath. As he walked towards her Luna could see him buttoning up his shirt and the thought suddenly struck her that if she'd entered when she first said the password, the meeting could have been a lot more awkward.

'You took your time, Lovegood.' Luna only nodded dreamily, her eyebrows scrunching as she pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes.

'Your hair's soaking wet, Draco.'

'Well surprisingly enough, Lovegood, I don't only use this bathroom for midnight meetings with girls.'

Luna walked over to the pile of towels next to the bath raising her eyebrows for permission to use it on Draco's dripping hair. He nodded and sat down on one of the benches, letting Luna gently pat his sopping hair dry. She stopped for a second, her hands hovering above his head as she spoke her thoughts.

'But you do use it for that.'

Draco shrugged.

'Of course. It's the most secure place. Only a minority know the password and of those that do, there's only the Slytherins who are likely to break the rules. The other house prefects are too good.'

Having finished in her quest to dry Draco's hair, Luna sat down, placing the towel down next to her. The benches had no backs to them so whilst she was sat on the other side of the bench, she was still level with Draco.

'You wanted to talk to me?'

Draco began to reply but a piercing giggle drowned out any words he was speaking. Draco's eye grew wide but there was no way he would be able to hide Luna before Myrtle emerged from the toilet. And sure enough the giggling ghost was soon upon them, inspecting Luna jealously.

'Who's this one, Draco? She's not one of the usual girls. They all have dark hair.'

Draco stood up as Myrtle floated round to talk to him.

'I liked that Daphne girl. The one who didn't tell me to go away. I don't like Pansy, she is always perfectly horrid..'

Myrtle flew in circles round Draco, rattling off the list of girls she'd seen him with and growing more and more irritated that she wasn't getting a reaction out of him. She finally stopped and turned her attention to Luna.

'You're not as pretty as the others. Draco usually has better taste than this...'

She was about to continue with her attack on Luna but with one threat from Draco concerning the Bloody Baron she zoomed away at a speed Luna had never seen any ghost fly at before.

'You shouldn't be so cruel to her. She's just lonely.'

Luna scolded Draco as he returned to his seat.

'If she wasn't so irritating, perhaps she would make more friends.'

'The same could be said for other people, don't you think?'

'I didn't ask you to come so I could be insulted.'

'So why did you ask me?' Luna turned her head to address him but, given their seating arrangements, they were a lot closer together than she thought. She felt Draco's breath tickle her face as he replied.

'Because I wanted to see if you'd be stupid enough to turn up.'

He was refusing to break eye contact with her, she could see the challenge in his eyes for her to be the one to look away first.

'The real reason, please?'

When he didn't answer Luna scuttled around the bench and sat next to him, an understanding smile spreading across her face.

'I have three suggestions. One: you're worried about Voldmort's mission, two: you've got a million and one thoughts going round in your head and once and none of them make sense and three: You haven't slept properly since Saturday.' She finished her analysis proudly. In the past few moments she had noticed a change of power. Luna had the advantage of understanding which gave her knowledge and when dealing with a conflicting Draco Malfoy, knowledge and certainty were power. She didn't have to ask if she was right, she knew she was.

'If you were going to suggest that I should stop trying to help you then don't bother.'

Draco looked about to protest but Luna got in there first.

'Because I will keep trying to help you until you don't need me to. No-one deserves to face Voldemort alone, no matter what side they're on.'

'I'm not challenging Voldemort, you imbicile, I'm working for him.'

Luna shook her head. 'By name, maybe, but not in practise. If you were, you wouldn't be here with me now, looking for any way out of completing your mission. Every second you spend with me is a second of not doing what Voldmort has asked of you. That doesn't sound like you're for him at all.'

As Draco placed his head in his hands, Luna sighed. 'I've not done what you wanted me to do at all, have I?'

'It's more complicated than just not doing what he says. There's consequences.'

'There's consequences to every action, Draco. That doesn't mean we should not do the right thing.' Luna was trying her best but Draco had begun to shake and cry and Luna for once couldn't find the words to comfort him.

'Merlin Lovegood!, Why don't you understand?'

Luna sank to her knees in front of him, gently lifting his head so he was looking her in the eye.

'There's something my mother used to say to me when I was frustrated. She used to say "you cannot expect anyone to understand you until you understand yourself."'

Draco removed her hands from his face.

'And what's that's supposed to mean?'

'I think it means if you don't know what you're trying to say, no-one else will either.'

'Your mum was as crazy as you.'

'Not crazy, just open minded. She wanted to find out things that no-one ever had but she never got the chance.'

Luna stood up, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to stay awake. 'It's late, Draco. I think I'm going to go back to bed. I'll see you at the quidditch match.'

Draco didn't even bother to tell her he wouldn't be there. She was so tired, she probably wouldn't have remembered. Any spring in her step was well and truly gone as she walked out of the door.

It wasn't long before Draco followed her example. Confused as he was, something about Luna's presence always managed to convince the part of him that prevented him from sleeping to shut up and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was finally asleep.

This was a bit of a weird chapter to write. I'm not completely sure if I'm happy with it but there you go. As always, if you like it more than I do, please review!