Seventeen
"Luna, where are your shoes?"
"Oh!" The Ravenclaw girl smiled knowingly, as she twirled on her heel to look upon her Gryffindor companion. "They're around here somewhere, I'm sure. They all mysteriously disappeared again recently."
"Nargles, I assume?" the Higurashi sighed.
Luna nodded, "I'm afraid so, yes."
Kagome did not have the heart to tell Luna that the other students in the Ravenclaw house found it amusing to hide her personal items around the grounds. She always suspected that Luna knew, really she did, but she could not help but give the Ravenclaw girl a lopsided grin with her natural response. It was always refreshing to see her friend so determined to learn more about the world around her, even when it was something that no one else believed in.
The world had always seemed so black and white to her, after all.
Her grin slowly began to disappear with the thought, as she found herself drifting back to the moment when her hand struck Malfoy across the face. Her grip tightened on the books she had chosen to hold close to her heart instinctively. Why had he asked her that question? How had he come to the conclusion that her vision had involved him?
No, that was stupid.
It was obvious how he had come to that conclusion, since they had been completely alone inside the Room of Requirement. There had been very little, with how focused she had been upon him, that could have triggered her to drift into the future. And with how many times she had done so in the past, he had to recognize the look that overcame her by now.
"…gome?" Luna's worried voice barely penetrated her sudden seclusion, and her mind easily wiped it away with her newfound worry.
How long had he known?
Her pace quickened a little bit in her panic. She wanted to avoid the worry beginning to eat away at her thoughts as much as she wanted to avoid the Slytherin himself nowadays. It was not healthy, she tried to tell herself. He meant absolutely nothing to her. Draco Malfoy was the boy that had tormented her for most of her adolescence. There was simply no possible way that her foresight was correct. There was no future between them!
Luna's hand landed gently upon her shoulder in that instant. Her voice was little more than a whimsical whisper within her ear, but her tone of understanding greatly outshined how quietly she spoke. "Kagome, wait," the Ravenclaw called. "This is the wrong floor."
Luna always had a way of knowing every little detail just through observation alone, and when the Gryffindor girl finally glanced up from her feet, she understood why her friend had been attempting to bring her back to herself.
The third floor.
She was on the third floor.
Already she could see it. It was not a vision of foresight, no, but a memory. She had buried it deep within herself and swore to never tell anyone. Not when he had acted so different in that single moment. Not when he had given her that look.
Oh god, was that why she could not stop thinking about him?
It had angered and embarrassed her when he cornered her after she had fled from the Great Hall the previous year. The vision that she had experienced within her goblet had not properly warned her away from the Slytherin, and she had quickly found herself pushed up against the wall. His mouth had been next, demanding that which she did not wish to give to him, and she had tried so desperately to push him away.
But it had not been the kiss that had tormented her, no.
It had been the gentle look in his eye when he pulled away. As if he had cared. As if he had seen her for more than just the Gryffindor that he had taken upon himself to torment for four years. The mere memory of it caused a light blush to spread across her cheeks.
He had confused her more, though, when he had told her to be safe.
What did that mean? Was he in trouble, even then?
"Kagome." Luna pulled her back from the brink almost immediately, as she asked, "What's wrong? You know you can tell me anything."
"Nothing," she whispered. She could not bring herself to tell Luna, even if she tried. "…nothing."
They both knew it was a lie.