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“Theo!”
Theodore Nott looked up as Luna ran down the corridor, her hair a golden wave streaming behind her. He could see her battered converse sneakers as she hiked up her robe to run. Luna Lovegood. A chaotic mess, but Theo couldn’t help how his heart clenched at the sight of her. His breath caught when she came to a sudden stop at his feet.
“It’s a catastrophe,” she urged in that lilting, sing-song voice. “The signs. The signs are pointing to something dire.”
He let his hands rest on her arms and tried not to think about how close she was.
“How can I help?”
Luna took a deep breath. “I did a tarot reading today and it came out with the Lovers, an upside down Chariot and the Prince of Swords. I have been seeing green apples all day. I found out the Gryffindors and Slytherins are holidaying at the same place and – ” she held up a finger to illustrate the point, “Hermione read out the line ‘Journey’s end in lovers meeting.’”
Theo waited until she nodded her head expectantly. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
She sighed. “Something disastrous is going to happen on the trip if Draco meets his lover.”
“I don’t think he has a lover right now,” frowned Theo. “The bastard’s been grumpy for months.”
Luna leant forward, grasping Theo’s forearms. “He doesn’t now but he will, and we need to stop it from happening until the last night or both trips will come to an end. We deserve this! We need a little bit of happiness.”
As Theo looked down at the quivering girl in his arms he had to agree. “Alright. How do we stop it?”
Day 1
“Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Henry Hatebad. My cousin.”
Theo gestured at Luna, standing beside him in a baggy sweatshirt and jeans. Her hair was bound up underneath a pageboy cap, and she was wearing a bad moustache. Blaise and Draco instantly gave him doubtful looks. Greg however shyly stepped forward and offered Luna his hand.
“Hello. My name is Goyle. Gregory Goyle.”
“Jolly good to meet you, Greg.” Luna had made her voice comically low and shook Greg’s hand vigorously.
Greg smiled widely as Blaise cracked up. Theo could see Draco’s lip curl up into half a smile before he hammered it back down into submission. Miserable bastard.
He stepped forward and handed Theo a key. “I took the liberty of checking us in while we waited for you. As the addition of your cousin was a last-minute thing to our boys trip, they couldn’t organise another room, but I assume you’re fine with sharing.” He smirked.
Blaise guffawed behind Draco. Luna shrugged. “Of course, we sleep together all the time.”
Theo felt the blush rising up his neck as Blaise broke into howls of laughter. It was going to be a long week.
Day 2
Theo had not slept. He had spent a great deal of time the night before looking longingly at the girl curled up beside him, her blonde hair spread out over the pillow and her hand grasping tightly at his own. She seemed completely unfazed about the sleeping situation, which Theo found sweet yet utterly maddening. Sweet because she was comfortable in his presence. Maddening because after an entire year of getting to know her he still had no idea whether she saw him as anything other than a friend.
The night before had been relatively uneventful. They had gone to dinner at a restaurant outside the resort, then spent the evening drinking down by the beach. Luna had disappeared for a while but she came back with more alcohol, so he hadn’t given it a second thought.
That was until Draco didn’t show up for breakfast that morning.
They’d bumped into the Gryffindors finishing up at the buffet as they walked in. None had questioned the introduction of his cousin Henry. Luna filled her plate with eggs and toast and chatted with Harry whilst Theo fielded questions from Hermione and Ron.
“What’s going on?” Hermione demanded; arms crossed.
Theo grimaced. “It wasn’t my idea.”
Ron narrowed his eyes. “You’re here by yourselves?”
At that point Blaise and Greg came into the room. Greg instantly joined Luna at the buffet while Blaise sidled over.
“Sleep well?” He asked, a shit eating grin plastered across his face.
Theo groaned and pressed his palms into his eyes. “I’m going to need so many pepper up potions today that I’ll clink when I walk.”
Blaise giggled as Hermione cleared her throat. “Well, whatever is going on just know I’m keeping an eye on you.” Theo lowered his hands and Hermione turned away to yell at the Gryffindors, “Come on everyone! We have to go, or we’ll miss the tour bus!”
The Gryffindors all moaned as they filed out of the room.
About five minutes later Draco stormed in, his face white with fury.
“Who did it!?”
Blaise and Theo looked at each other with bemused expressions. “Did what?”
Draco leaned in so that his voice could not be heard over the low rumble of the other guests.
“Someone charmed all my underwear red,” he hissed. Blaise and Theo cracked up. Draco waved his hands in the air dramatically. “When I tried to charm them back, they turned pink! And when I tried to fix that they became covered in hearts!”
Blaise was laughing so hard he was struggling to breathe. Theo didn’t know how she had done it, but he knew she had. As he looked over at the tiny little Ravenclaw in her ridiculous disguise talking animatedly with Greg he felt a sense of quiet admiration. She was always exceeding his expectations and kept him guessing at every turn.
Draco grunted in frustration and when Theo looked back found him looking straight at him. “You are so gone, you can’t even keep your eyes off her for a second.”
Blaise clapped him on the back. “Well. You’ll never be bored. That’s for sure.”
Day 4
Theo had never been so tired. It was torture, lying awake every night hearing her soft breaths. She had no self-consciousness. No shame. She gave as much thought to wandering around their room dressed in only in a towel as she did to making sure their room was clean. Which was to say she gave no thought to either of those things. He had turned away with burning ears and pretended to be fascinated with the window until he heard her slide in between the sheets.
That didn’t erase the image from his mind though. Her slender pale legs ending just before her arse as the towel barely covered her. Again and again, he closed his eyes to find it was the only thing he could think about. Worse still, was that she insisted on holding his hand when she slept. It meant that he couldn’t even try and forget she was there. That one point of warmth burning between the sheets.
It was of small comfort that Draco was having an equally rubbish time. He had been late to breakfast every day. Yesterday his clothes had been mysteriously soaked when he’d gotten out of the shower. It had taken him several tries to get the drying charms to work on the strangely resistant fabric and even then, had to live with slightly damp cuffs. This morning he had been locked into his room. When he tried Alohomora it turned the doorhandle into a duckling which popped off and began to wander round his room quacking. It took him half an hour to catch it, transfigure it back into a doorhandle, and finally leave the room.
After two full days of touring, they were taking the time to lay by the pool and enjoy the sun. Luna had chosen to simply read on a lounger as the rest of the group played around in the water. In a surprising turn of events, she had been joined by Greg who seemed to enjoy Luna’s presence. Theo was glad. Luna was talented at healing the broken ones and after the trauma of seventh year and the death of Vince, Greg was more broken than most.
Theo, Draco and Blaise were grandstanding by the pool when Theo felt a sudden burst of magic and Draco sailed backward through the air. However, instead of being followed by a splash of water what Theo heard was a decidedly strange squelching sound. When he turned to look back into what was supposed to be cool blue water, he came face to face with Draco furiously trying to work his way out of what appeared to be red jelly.
As Draco hauled himself out of the pool he screeched, “What was that!?”
Greg came over to hand him a towel, “You just missed Hermione and Ron. They were looking for the sauna. Henry offered to show them where it is.”
Draco glared at Theo. “He did, did he?” He threw the towel down on the ground where it made a sad wet slop sound. “How long is this going to last!?”
Theo grimaced, “One more day?”
Day 5
They had finally found peace. Luna had removed the Cornish pixie that she’d hidden in Draco’s room after he’d gotten down on his knees and pleaded for her help. This was after he’d turned up at breakfast with bright red hair to which Greg had exclaimed, “You look like a Weasley!” A fact which had made his cheeks turn red as well.
They had met up with the Gryffindors by the pool side and were all settling down to enjoy their last night on holiday.
“We did it.” Luna had whispered to him as they sat together watching their friends.
“We’re no longer afraid of the catastrophe?”
She shook her head. “The catastrophe will still happen, but it can no longer destroy the joy that we’ve had this past week."
Theo winced. He wasn’t sure that Draco would agree with that statement.
Ginny held up an empty wine bottle and yelled, “We’re playing spin the bottle!”
Theo’s eyes darted over to Luna, and he gulped, “Do you want to play?”
Luna frowned making the pageboy cap dip over her face, “What is spin the bottle?”
Theo cleared his throat and looked anywhere but at her. In the background Draco and Ron were playing an intense game of chess their eyes studying each other intently. They’d been at it for hours and had yet to find a clear winner.
Theo finally looked back feeling his cheeks burn. “It’s a game where people spin the bottle and have to kiss who it lands on.”
Luna screwed up her face. “But what if you don’t want to kiss them?”
He grimaced, “You still have to.”
She was silent. With a sigh Theo stood and got up to move toward the group trying not to let the sting of rejection get to him.
Before he could get any further a small hand shot out and grabbed his sleeve. “Where are you going?”
He sighed, “To play the game.”
“But.” Luna bit her lip. “Can’t we just play with you and me?”
Theo stared at her. “What did you just say?”
“Can it just be us?” she asked looking down at her feet.
He surged forward and grabbed her face in his hands, and after five whole days of longing, kissed her. It was everything he had hoped for, apart from the fake moustache scratching at his face.
He could hear Greg’s voice in the background, “But that’s his cousin!”
As they ended the kiss Theo ripped off the moustache and cap, letting Luna’s hair cascade down her back.
“Luna?” Greg exclaimed.
Suddenly the Volcano at the centre of the island erupted with a bang.
The friends all looked around at each other as Hermione yelled, “Where’s Ron!?” and Greg yelled, “Where’s Draco!?”
Luna looked over at Theo with a smug smile, “See. Catastrophe."