For the last Friday of the Easter holidays, Dumbledore had planned a party. Slughorn, who had returned a few days early to 'get prepared', had used his contacts to invite some of the past members of the slug club and the great hall had been decorated in a cheerful, slightly gaudy but still uplifting manner. There had been no choice of attendance for those staying at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had made it quite clear at breakfast that Thursday that all were required to attend, to the annoyance of most. Luna of course was overjoyed at the idea. Draco seemed to be less enthusiastic.

Since their meeting at the pond in the first week of the holidays, Draco had been less reluctant to spend time with Luna. Their meetings brought relief and peace into his world of chaos and he found himself looking forward to them. But today was the last day he had without the pressure of lessons or extra people to contend with and he wasn't going to waste it. No thanks to Dumbledore he had already lost the evening. It would be too easily noticed if he wasn't there and he was determined to keep on the good side of the headmaster in an attempt to avoid suspicion. So Draco had decided. He was not going to see Luna today.

But as he stepped out of his dormitory and into the Slytherin common room he realised his day was not going to go as planned. Because standing, her face pressed against the glass that looked into the black lake, was Luna.

'How in merlin's name-'

'You had the password written on your hand.' Luna had detached her face from the glass and turned her attention on the clearly agitated Slytherin.

'Something's troubling you, otherwise you'd be able to remember the password without writing it on your hand.'

Draco rolled his eyes and flopped down on one of the leather sofas.

'observant, aren't you, Lovegood?'

Luna shook her head, sitting on the floor next to one of the tables and absent mindedly scanning over the scattered papers that covered it.

'Stress happens when you don't think you are capable of accomplishing what you perceive needs to be accomplished.' Luna's airy voice broke through the silence.

'Your point is?'

Luna held up one of the scattered sheets.

'None of these essays are finished.'

'I don't think Voldemort is really interested in my school work. What grade I got in charms class is hardly going to matter. And since it's unlikely I'll live to see another school year if I fail...' Draco drifted off, looking uncomfortable. When Luna continued to study the essay in her hand, he got up and, taking hold of her wrist, he pulled her to her feet and marched her towards the common room door. He placed one hand on the handle and began to turn it just as Luna's own hand landed on top of his and tried to turn it the other way.

'I'll finish the essays for you. Just don't...'

Draco's hold on the handle loosened slightly at her sudden change in expression. She seemed to be mirroring his own desperation but Draco could not think of any possible reason that would cause her to look as she did.

'Don't send me away.'

Draco let go of her wrist in defeat, snarling slightly that he wasn't getting what he wanted like he was used to.

'I have one day left Lovegood and you're making me waste time. What if I fail and my entire family are murdered? Could you really live with that on your conscience?'

Luna, now free from Draco's hold, tore her eyes from his and marched back to where she had been sat before he disrupted her.

'I'll just finish your essays and then I'll go.'

Before Draco could protest, she picked up the nearest piece of paper and a quill and began to read. Accepting his defeat, Draco grabbed his wand from the table and sat down, spell book in hand, to do some research.

'Fine. But keep quiet.'

There was silence with the occasional hiss from Draco's wand as he attempted new spells.

'These are good!' Luna placed the last essay down on the table and turned to look at a startled Draco.

'Don't sound so surprised, Lovegood. I'm not Longbottom.'

'But they're really good, better than some of the Ravenclaws'

Draco snorted. 'Everyone says Slytherin's the stuck up house but you Ravenclaws just think you know everything, don't you? How do you expect to finish my essays anyway, you're not even in my year, idiot?'

Luna scribbled a final sentence on the page, tapped it with her wand and handed it to Draco with a smile.

'I do a lot of reading. I like books, they're like friends that you're never in danger of losing.' She had begun to daydream as she spoke and a quick shake of her head brought her dizzily back to reality.

'Sometimes people ask me to write for them. I can imitate writing styles and handwriting almost exactly now but I still use the hand writing spell just to make it perfect.'

Draco scanned over his now finished essay and realised there was no way of telling where his work had ended and Luna's had begun.

'Handwriting spell?'

'I made it up. It's fun having a spell that no-one else knows about.'

When Draco didn't reply, Luna went back to her writing and waited for Draco to say whatever he was thinking so deeply about. There was a deep crease in his forehead and his eyebrows were almost touching in concentration. Eventually he spoke.

'If something was broken and you had tried everything but you couldn't fix it completely, what would you do?'

Luna put down her quill and turned to meet Draco's eyes.

'I would wait. Because things that are the most damaged take the longest to heal.'

And that was their last conversation that day. Luna finished the essays and left, just as she had promised she would and Draco had sat, pretending to read but in fact contemplating Luna's words. Her expression as she spoke was still clear in his mind, even when he was getting changed for the party.

She had meant him. She had meant that he was broken. Was he broken? And if he was, could he be fixed?

I've not updated in sooooo long! I'm so sorry. It's getting quite close to the end of HBP now so I'm facing a dilema. Should I continue with deathly hallows within this title or do it in a kind of 'volumes' thing with the next book as a seperate story?
Next chapter will be up tomorrow as I only have to proof read it.