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“Are you heartless?” Luna asked Draco one time they were alone in the hallway of Hogwarts. Because Draco was alone he did not stop to taunt her as he walked past her, there was just no reason to if he was completely alone and nobody would see it.
“Excuse me,” he said and turned around.
“I asked, are you heartless?” She stared at him with a dreamy expression that she always seemed to have.
Draco wasn’t sure how to reply to such a question, it wasn’t as if he had ever expected someone to ask him that. “Don’t you know who I am?” he said, wondering if the girl hit her head and forgot all about ranks.
“I know,” she said with the same tone as before, not bothered by his attempt to push her down.
“Then why would you ask me such a question?” he said.
“Because,” Lovegood said in a sweet voice as she took a few steps closer to him. “I always hear people saying you have no heart, and therefore I thought I might ask, in order to sort things out.”
Draco wasn’t able to stop himself from laughing when he heard the reason for the stupid question. “I trust you know well enough that every living human being needs a heart in order to live, or do you lack a brain?”
“I know we need hearts, as well as I am sure you know I have a brain, but there are many people who live and have no heart.”
“Like who?” he asked, curious about her reason.
“I believe you know of one wizard who I’m sure lacks a heart,” she said rather smugly.
“Are you implying I know him personally?” Draco asked, knowing fully well who she meant.
“You don’t need to know someone in order to know they are no good.” Her expression was as dreamy as before even though her questions were far more serious, which made Draco nervous.
Instead of continuing the discussion about the Dark Lord, Draco decided to answer her question in hopes that she would stop. “I do have a heart, is that a pleasing answer, or would you rather open me up in order to make sure I tell the truth?”
“I believe you,” she said with a faint smile as she crossed the space between them. Then she did a thing he had not expected at all, she placed the palm of her hand on his chest, right above his heart.
His first instinct was to slap her hand away, but he wasn’t able to move as he stared at her. There was something in the way she acted that intrigued him.
“I can feel your heart,” she whispered before pulling her hand back. They continued to stare at each other before she smiled and skipped away like everything was perfectly normal.
Draco continued to stand in the hall a long time after she was gone, still confused. He wondered why she did what she did, and why his whole body was warmer than normal, especially when he thought about her.
Convincing himself it must have been a spell, or maybe something he ate, he continued down the hall to the Slytherin common room, trying to put her out of his mind.