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Draco took the stairs up to Ravenclaw tower three steps at a time. He stumbled once or twice, not used to his young, unbelievably short legs. How was he ever this small?
When he reached the entrance, he waited for the riddle with bated breath.
The bronze eagle door knocker suddenly sprang to life.
“I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?”
Letters. Words. Sentences. Questions.
If you put them in the right order and said them the right way, it could mean all the difference in the world. A conversation was like creating a potion or a spell. If you performed it just right, you could make something beautiful, powerful, and perfect.
This was how Luna and him became friends ten years from now and two years ago. They’d said all the right things while sequestered in that stupid Order safe house.
Boredom was extremely prevalent in quarantine, especially for Draco who had refused to talk to anyone for the first month of his time there. He had hulled himself up in a corner of the sparse library and read every book that even looked remotely interesting.
And then, one morning, Luna Lovegood sat down across from him. He tried not to notice her presence, but she was hard to ignore with her giant eyes and serene smile.
“What?”
The question had slipped form his mouth, unwanted and unwelcome. He didn’t want to engage with these people. He’d come here for safety after the death of his parents and that was all. He didn’t like these people. He just liked them more than the Death Eaters who turned on his family.
Luna looked at the space above Draco’s head for a moment, and he glanced around warily, like there was a pitcher of sour milk hanging above him ready to be tipped in some horrible semblance of a prank. But there was nothing there.
He glanced back at the blonde girl again, sneering and raising an inquiring eyebrow.
After a moment, her grin widened a fraction and she returned her attention to Draco’s face.
“How many seconds are there in one year?”
He’d been so unbelievably startled by the simplicity of her question that it took him over a minute to process it entirely. But Luna had simply sat there with that untroubled smile on her lips, waiting patiently for him to answer.
Draco loved word puzzles. He loved the way they folded and twisted and changed your perception on the English language. He loved the way they accessed a part of the brain that hadn’t been considered for ages. He loved their perfect simplicity and gorgeous complexity.
Draco smirked at the blonde, leaned back into the seat that had become his this past month, and returned his gaze to the book in his lap. “Twelve,” he answered. Over the top of his page, he saw Luna’s smile widen another fraction, and he could feel the smirk on his lips lighten into a grin of his own.
Luna twisted in her armchair until her feet dangled over one side and her long blonde hair fanned out over the other like a halo. “What are you reading?”
“Something dull,” Draco replied. “You guys need better stories in here.”
Luna laughed. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard her laugh. She had a nice laugh. It was comforting.
“Well,” Luna said to the ceiling. “If there’s no good stories to read, we’ll just have to make some up.”
And they had. The story of Draco Malfoy and Luna Lovegood was an odd one. But it was also like a good conversation— beautiful, powerful, and perfect.
Draco was the only person alive who knew their story now, and he was currently at the door to the Ravenclaw common room to rectify that situation.
“The letter ‘E’.”
The door swung open gradually and Draco bounced on the balls of his feet with a nervous energy. Finally the entrance widened enough for him to slip inside.
The Ravenclaw common room was a little awe-inspiring, if Draco was being honest. The circular room was large and airy, the dozen windows that overlooked the campus were capped by semi circles of blue and bronze eagles in stained glass. The carpet was a deep midnight blue dotted with stars and it matched the night sky that pierced through the skylight above. The room was spattered with tables and chairs and bookcases with no discernible pattern, and next to the staircase that presumedly led up to the dormitories was a white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.
Bloody hell. Draco suddenly wished he’d been sorted into Ravenclaw. His father would have disowned him, but still…
“Can we help you?”
The boy was small, but he sneered at Draco as if he were the size of Rowena’s marble statue behind him and Draco was a mere ant.
Draco snorted out a humous chuckle. Draco was a full-grown adult being mocked openly by someone who couldn’t be older than thirteen. What kind of ridiculous situation had he gotten himself into when he took that pendant from Weasley? For Merlin’s sake!
“Oh, are you here to take someone to the Ball?” asked a girl in dark blue pajamas, her eyes wide with excitement.
“The Ball? Oh—“ Draco looked down at his dress robes.
He was transported back to the time his mother had bought them. If he remembered correctly, they had been really expensive, only the best for the Malfoy heir. His mother had them lined with silver and added an emerald silk tie to the order for a pop of color.
The lining was the color of Draco’s eyes.
The tie was the color of Potter’s.
A wave of emotions washed over him as he realized that his mother was alive. And Potter was alive. A lot of people were still alive.
And that was why he’d accepted that pendant from Weasley. He was here to keep these people alive. Well… the people that mattered anyway. Draco wasn’t a God. He couldn’t save everyone.
But he could save Luna.
“You know what,” said Draco. “I am here to pick up someone. Where’s Luna Lovegood?”
The girl’s dreamy smile slipped easily into a disgusted scowl. “What? You’re here for Looney?”
Draco was taken aback by the insulting nickname. He hadn’t heard it in years, hadn’t remembered its use. He’d forgotten how awful children could be, how awful he had been.
His poor, sweet Luna. He hadn’t known that people in her own house had thought her mad, too. She didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. Luna Lovegood was the greatest person he’d ever known.
Draco’s grin was tight and he stood taller in the frame of the Ravenclaw common room entrance. He was Draco Malfoy and he did not get treated this way by some pissant third year who’d just disparaged his best friend.
He felt his nose scrunch up with open repugnance. “Get her.” When no one moved, Draco raised a derisive blond brow. “Now.”
The girl seemed to flinch under his penetrative gaze for a moment, until finally recovering enough to look somewhat annoyed. She huffed indignantly but did as Draco bade, stomping up the stairs to the dormitories and out of sight.
“You can’t just—“
Draco’s sneer flashed to the boy who immediately silenced himself.
Good.
Draco took a breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. He was suddenly exhausted. It had been a bloody long day, year… decade? He strode to the closest armchair and collapsed into it, his legs landing with a dull thud on the coffee table. He sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. Draco sniffed, picked up a nearby book, and tossed it onto a neighboring table without bothering to read the title. He stared blankly at statue of Rowena, his eyes glazed over and unfocused.
If Luna didn’t come down soon, he was going to murder everybody in this room. He was sure of it.
“I don’t understand,” came a soft voice from the stairwell. “Someone is here to see me?”
Draco shifted his gaze slightly to the right just as Luna Lovegood appeared at the top of the staircase. Her long blonde hair was pulled into two low ponytails that started just at the nape of her neck and she wore a soft pink nightgown with ruffled cap sleeves. On her feet were silver and gold fuzzy socks with little reindeer on each ankle.
She looked absolutely perfect.
Draco stood from his seat, a giant smile blooming across his face. He cleared his throat. “Yes, I asked for you.”
Her eyes were the size of the moon as her gaze fell on all his nervous, tired glory. “Oh.” She blinked a couple of times, glanced around the room, focusing on the ceiling just above Draco’s head for a moment, before returning to his face. “I see.”
He knew they had an audience, knew he looked a fool with his stupid bloody grin, but all he saw was Luna, with her big eyes and serene smile.
“Hi,” he said.
Draco flushed scarlet at the one word greeting, but Luna’s lips kind of twisted up at the corners and her eyes had a strange gleam in them that hadn’t been there before. Emboldened by that look, Draco continued.
“Can I— do you— would you accompany me into the corridor for a moment?”
Luna blinked, but her gaze never strayed from Draco’s. “Okay,” she replied. “Hold on.” Luna twisted around and glided back up the stairs, brushing past the girl in the dark blue pajamas who gaped at her retreating form with utter confusion. It didn’t take long for Luna to return, her fuzzy sock clad feet stuffed into a pair of thick brown slippers.
She looked absolutely ridiculous.
Draco grinned at her as she crossed the common room and sidled up to stand at Draco’s side. It was where she was supposed to be and Draco physically relaxed for the first time since they’d parted ways outside the Order hideout. Before hearing that she died at the hands of Dolohov on February 7th, 2006. Before he was thrust into the past.
His breath stuttered in his chest and he had to glance away from those wide eyes that seemed to see right through to the very heart of him. Draco stumbled back a few steps and pushed open the common room entrance. “After you,” he said, ushering her with a wave of his hand.
Luna exited the room with a grace no thirteen-year-old girl should have. On his way out, Draco turned back one last time, pulled out his wand and leveled it at the girl in dark blue. “Volatilis Lutum.”
The girl’s nose suddenly erupted with bats and he grinned as the stone door closed behind them.
“Why did you do that?”
Draco glanced over his shoulder at Luna, unashamed by his actions. “Because she’s not very nice.”
Luna’s brows furrowed and she looked at the door behind Draco for a long time. “Oh. Will she be okay?” she asked, retuning her gaze to Draco.
“Well the bat-bogey hex isn’t pleasant. I know from first hand experience,” —bloody she-Weasel!— “but she’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
“Okay then,” Luna replied airily. She began drifting down the corridor and Draco joined her. “I’m afraid I’m not really dressed for a dance.”
“A danc— Oh, right! The Yule Ball. I keep forgetting.”
“So… you haven’t come to take me to the Ball in my nightgown?”
“Well… no,” he admitted. Luna hummed politely and they continued their stroll through the halls in silence. He stared at this girl that would become his best friend and after a contemplative moment, he asked, “Do you want to go the Ball with me?”
Luna looked at the ceiling above Draco’s head pensively. It was a long time as the two continued their quiet walk, before she returned her gaze to Draco’s face and replied with a simple, “Yes.”
Draco let out an amused huff, smiling at this wonderful girl. “Okay. Well…” Draco ran a hand through his short blond hair (he was finding that everything about him was shorter at age fourteen) and shrugged his shoulders easily. “Sure, why not? I’ll take you to the Yule Ball. But first I need to explain some things.”
“Oh good. I’d love to know what’s going on.”
“Heh. Yeah, I’m not really sure how much my explanation is going ease your confusion, if I’m being frank. But…” Draco licked his lips and took a stuttered breath. “But if anyone could understand, it would be you.”
“Because I’m looney and believe in creatures that no one can see?”
Draco stopped in his tracks and furrowed his brows at the back of Luna’s head. “You’re not looney, Luna. Or maybe we’re all looney? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Look—“ Draco rested a nonrestrictive hand on Luna’s forearm just to halt her progress. “How people treat you is wrong. How I treated you was wrong. But you still managed to believe in me when you had no reason to. You literally might have saved the world because you believed in me. And I— I don’t know if I can do this alone, so I need you to be your amazing self and believe in me again.”
Luna stared at the wall behind Draco’s head for a long moment. Draco swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat. He hadn’t meant to spring all the world-saving shite on her like that. He’d meant to ease into it. Her wide blue gaze shifted back to meet his silver eyes and Draco tried his best to give her a pleasant grin.
“This isn’t a trick, is it?” She asked it like she suddenly realized it wasn’t and just wanted confirmation.
“I would never do that to you, Luna,” Draco rushed out. “I could never come up with something this elaborate anyway. Trust me, this is going to sound made up. But I assure you, it is not.”
Luna nodded her head, her serene smile twisting into something a little more determined. “We should sit then.”
Draco legs gave out on the spot and he stumbled to a seat at the top step of the sixth floor staircase. Luna settled peacefully beside him.
He ran his hands over his face trying to figure how to start this. “Where do I begin?” he mumbled into his palms.
Luna’s delicate fingers wrapped around his wrists as she gently pried his hands away from his face so she could look into his eyes. “Start from the beginning.”
Draco exhaled a little chuckle. “It’s going to be a long story.”
Luna’s smile was small and delicate. “Then you better make it a good one.”
Draco told her as much as he could remember.
***
It was well past midnight as Draco led Luna to the center of the Great Hall. The place had emptied out quite a bit but there were a few stragglers just about to head back to the dorms to catch some sleep before the trains took them home in a few hours time.
Two of those stragglers were Neville and Ginny.
Draco waved at them as they passed. Thet stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. He couldn’t really blame them.
There was no music, but Draco gathered Luna into his arms and began swaying in time to the beat of his heart. Luna in all her pink nightgown glory lit up at they way they glided across the floor as if walking on air.
“We’ve done this before, haven’t we?”
“More than once,” Draco agreed. He glanced down at the girl in his arms. Luna was staring up at the false night sky above Draco’s head with wide eyes. He smiled sadly. “Hey— does it feel odd not remembering a future with me?”
“A little. I imagine it’s odder to remember a future that no one else will ever be able to, though.”
Draco laughed, startling a few couples that had stuck around to meet the members of the Weird Sisters as they packed up their instruments. “Yeah, probably.”
“So, what will you do now?” Luna asked as he spun her in a tight circle before bringing her back to his chest.
“Well, I suppose I’ll go home and try not to freak out my parents too much. Then… I’ll come up with a plan to save Potter, I guess.”
“Will you write me about the plan?”
Draco smiled. “I’ll write you as soon as I get home.”
Luna’s returning grin turned her cheeks a rosy color. “So you are okay with being friends with a thirteen-year-old?”
“Luna Lovegood, I will be your friend however and whenever you’ll let me. For however long you want.”
“And just friends.”
Draco nodded, eyeing the girl curiously for a moment. He spun her again and watched her gold hair fly out around her like a halo. Her comment had been just that: a comment, not a question.
But still he answered.
“Just friends,” he reiterated. “Hope that’s alright. I was always under the impression that you didn’t find me very attractive anyway.”
“Oh, I think you’re very handsome.”
Draco felt his face flush. “I— well— hey, why do you always look at the ceiling right before you say things like that?”
“I’m not looking at the ceiling,” Luna said, scrunching her face up with confusion. “I’m looking at you.” She stared again at the spot just above Draco’s head, her eyes squinting as if trying to figure a difficult problem out. “And I see that you prefer brunettes.”
Draco blinked, taken aback by the statement. “You’ve said that before,” he whispered, thinking back to a time eleven years form now and one year ago when Luna sprung that on him as they sat across from each other in the safehouse’s library playing muggle chess. They’d had a conversation afterward where Draco had spilled secrets he’d never told anyone before. He huffed at the girl in front of him now. “How do you—“
“Brown hair… and green eyes.”
Draco’s breath hitched in his throat and strangled his words.
Oh.
Slowly, Draco’s heart returned to its steady rhythm and the two returned to their dance. He smiled shyly as the girl met his gaze.
Luna had never needed him to tell her his secrets. She already knew them. She’d seen them in the place just above his head.