Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat at a study room table earnestly scratching their quills away at a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay which was due the next day when Ginny and Luna Lovegood entered.

            Ginny purposefully sat herself across from Harry next to Dean, who looked up and smiled at her. She returned his smile and took out a roll of parchment to begin her own coursework.

            Luna didn’t have anything with her besides her wand tucked behind her right ear. She walked straight over to Seamus saying, “Rwyt t’n dod oiwerddon.”

            Seamus looked up from his studies with a confused look on his face. “What?”

            Luna merely smiled at him and continued, “There’s prefect meeting in half an hour. Spread the word.” She looked past Harry to Ron and Hermione who acknowledged her.

            “Let’s go, Ron! I don’t want to be late,” said Hermione, nearly pulling Ron from his seat.

            Seamus tossed Luna another perplexed look before following Ron and Hermione out muttering, “She’s so bizarre.”

            Luna turned to leave saying, “I’ll catch up with you later, all right?”

            “Sure thing,” Ginny replied without taking her eyes off where her hand was entwined with Dean’s.

            It was nearly four now as fifth-year Luna made her way past empty classrooms, headed for the meeting. As she passed one of the classrooms she’d assumed were empty, she heard a familiar arrogant voice berating someone.

            “I didn’t ask for excuses, Nadar. I don’t care how many galleons your father rakes in annually.”

            Luna peeked through the partially open door and recognized the ferociously blonde Slytherin seventh-year. The other student’s face was practically visible from her position, but he looked absolutely pale with fear. No prefect had the right to talk to a student like that! She moved to intervene when she noticed the younger student was wearing Slytherin robes.

            “…It doesn’t give you the right to skive off lessons!” Malfoy was saying.

            Had she heard him right? Was Malfoy actually reprimanding a student about missing class? She herself knew more than a handful of Ravenclaw fourth and fifth-years who felt they didn’t need to attend a particular course because they already knew everything, but they always realized how many points they could earn for Ravenclaw by attending.

            Malfoy then did something that shocked her even more.

            “Five points from Slytherin.”

            “But prefects can’t dock point!” the younger boy complained though fear was still etched in his face.

            “But I will report this to Professor Snape.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Who do you think he’ll listen to?”

            This was like a Quibbler article unfolding before Luna’s very eyes…unless he was merely trying to scare the younger Slytherin.

            A moment later, the boy plodded out of the room followed by a cross Malfoy.

            Luna backed away from the door to let him through.

            Startled to see the dirty-blonde Ravenclaw standing there, Draco stopped in his tracks. “What—”

            Luna folded her arms under her breasts, looking at him with her wide, silvery grey eyes.

            “Lovegood…” he said once he’d recognized her.

            “That’s right,” she replied plainly.

            Draco waited another moment for her to say something, but the silence was unnerving. “Well?” Regaining his composure, he lazily enquired, “Did you want something?”

            “Prefect meeting at half-four,” she stated without blinking.

            “It’s already half-four!” he exclaimed. “Felt like having a bit of fun at the sight of me walking in late, did you?”

            Luna smirked and turned away from him, briskly walking down the hallway towards the meeting.

            “Oy! I asked you a question you loony bint!” he shouted.

            Luna refused to turn around and disappeared around the corner.

            Draco stood there for a moment longer, barely able to comprehend what had just happened. Luna ‘Loony’ Lovegood had bested him. That was not how things worked at Hogwarts. “Oh she is going to pay!” he muttered, stomping after her.

It wasn’t until Monday after lessons when the prime opportunity presented itself. Draco wandered into a study room with Crabbe and Goyle on his heels and made his way over to a Slytherin-filled table. Sitting on top of the enormous oak table, laughing shrilly, Pansy was entertaining a group of younger Slytherin boys. She looked up when Draco entered.

            “Draco!” she warbled. “I was just telling them about the time we cursed those Hufflepuss after the Quidditch match Saturday!”

            Draco’s cronies sniggered.

            Draco made eye contact with the younger boys as he slid an arm around Pansy’s shoulders, sitting next to her on the table. “You should take notes, lads.” He met Pansy’s adoring eyes. “Tell ’em about the song I wrote about Weasely’s horrendous Keeping skills last year.”

            “That’s classic!” she said, beaming that he was paying attention to her. Her hand daringly roamed up his bicep under his robe and she leaned in to kiss his neck.

            Draco moved so all the boys could see him rolling his eyes at her attentiveness. That was when he noticed the batty Ravenclaw prefect sitting across the way.

            While reading extracurricular text, Luna absentmindedly curled her hair around her wand.

            Sneering, Draco said to whoever was listening, “For example…” He sauntered over to her table and arrogantly sat across from her. She didn’t look up from her text or made any motion to acknowledge his presence. “Best watch where you point that thing, Lovegood. Wouldn’t want to accidentally kill yourself or something…”

            The attending Slytherins chortled maliciously.

“I didn’t know!” Luna sobbed. She hadn’t stopped crying since her mother’s death.

            Mr. Lovegood held his dead wife in his arms.

             “I didn’t mean to, Daddy! I-I didn’t meant to!” Her mother’s wand dropped from her hand onto the wooden floor.

“Isn’t that what happened to your mum?” Draco continued since she hadn’t reacted to him yet. “

            Luna’s head slowly rose to find Malfoy’s face beaming with vindictiveness. No words came to her mind in response to his goading.

            Draco’s smile slowly departed as he watched her eyebrows twitching. He saw the tears welling in her eyes and wondered why she hadn’t slapped him, threatened to curse him, or ran away from him. She simply sat there as the tears streamed down her cheeks from her unblinking silver eyes.

            The other Slytherins continued laughing, making comments about her, but neither Draco nor Luna could hear them.

            Something twinged inside of Draco. He didn’t feel contrite just strange because he didn’t know what to make of her reaction.

            “Why isn’t she leaving?” a fifth-year Slytherin wondered.

            “Loony’s a glutton for punishment,” Pansy tittered.

            The tears perpetually fell, but she didn’t budge. What the hell was wrong with her? Why wasn’t she leaving? More importantly, why the bloody hell didn’t he feel justified?

            The taunting from the other Slytherins continued until Pansy tired of it. “Come on, Draco. Let’s leave the Raving-claw to her snivelling.” She tugged on the sleeve of his robe.

             Glowering, he sneered at Pansy.

            Pansy knew that look. Not one to mess with Draco when he wasn’t in a playful mood, she turned to her devoted younger male Slytherins and chatted them up instead.

            Draco remained sitting in front of the fifth-year Ravenclaw awaiting what she might do next. It was the longest he’d ever sat waiting for something in his life. He didn’t know what compelled him to do so, but she was interesting this Lovegood person, more than a bit odd, but interesting all the same.

            Luna’s head fell into her hands as the tears shifted to wracking sobs. She vividly recalled her father explaining to the Ministry that his wife had accidentally killed herself. No one blamed Mr. Lovegood because everyone at work vouched his presence during the time of her death. He didn’t want his only child sent away to Azkaban for an accidental crime.

            Without thinking, the words escaped Draco’s lips. “I-I’m sorry…”

            She lifted her head at his words. “You,” she breathed with a catch in her throat. “You have no idea…no idea…”

           She hadn’t sworn at him, threatened to curse him, slapped him, ignored him… Draco did not understand this woman. He didn’t know how to react to this. There were no words of spite or biting maliciousness to counter her simple statement. “Look, I didn’t mean…” But he did mean to, didn’t he? He wanted a reaction of some kind and he got it. What the bloody hell was he doing apologizing to this…freak? It was as if she was winning by making him witness to the consequences of his malice. “Stop crying!” he commanded.

            She blubbered. “Or what? What more can you possibly do to me?” Her tears were unceasing. “Go away, Malfoy. Just—just go. Find someone else to harass.”

            It took him another moment longer before rising from his seat and exiting the study lounge. When he got to the doorway, he turned around to see the poor girl ferociously wiping her eyes, sniffing loudly. No one had come over to ask if she was all right. Not even Ginny Weasley, whom he’d figured she was friends with, bothered going over to her. Weasley was too caught up with her newest fling to notice Lovegood. Draco finally identified the feeling wrenching inside: Guilt.

The new feeling of guilt weighed heavily on Draco’s mind for the next few days or so. When he wasn’t sidetracked with Quidditch practice or lessons, he found his mind wandering into the realm of this vexing emotion. Why her? Why Lovegood? This idiotic, upside-down Quibbler reading, bottle cap necklace wearing Ravenclaw who tucked her wand behind her ears for safe-keeping…what was so special about her?

            Draco found it hard to concentrate on his studies and wandered the hallways aimlessly on prefect duty one evening. He eventually made his way from the Owlry towards the Astronomy Tower and on his way, he ran into the very girl he was trying to desperately hard not to think on. “Watch where you’re—oh, Lovegood. Didn’t see you there.”

            Luna picked up the Astronomy notes he’d accidentally, but she assumed on purpose, knocked out of her hands.

            Draco unexpectedly reached down to help her gather her massive amounts of notes. He thrust a handful to her. “Here.”

            “T-thanks,” she quickly responded, not quite sure what to make of the gesture.

            Before she had a chance to flee in the opposite direction of the Tower, he said, “Look, I’m sorry about the other day. I just wanted to get you back for humiliating me at that prefect meeting. I didn’t think it was that serious.”

            Her face hardened and she moved to turn away.

            Draco caught her arm that was full of parchment. “You said I have ‘no idea’ about something. What is it?” He glared intently, ordering, “Tell me.”

            “I don’t believe any of what the Quibbler publishes, you know. I know it’s rubbish. It just means the world to my dad and after Mum died, it was the only thing that made him happy…the possibility of the unknown, that she was with us or could hear us or that there was someway we could bring her back…” Her silver-grey eyes met his, unwavering. “And I was the one who killed her, Malfoy. So I suppose I should be thanking you.”

            Confused beyond measure, Draco could only mutter, “What?” in response. “What for?”

            “For so graciously triggering memories I’ve struggled for so long to forget.”

            He couldn’t tell if she was serious or not, so he just waited for her to continue. The last thing in the world that he’d expected she’d do, she did. Before he knew what hit him, Luna was stepping closer to him and placing her lips on his.

            It was a brief, passionless kiss, but it hung between them all the same.

            Luna’s sad, truthful eyes poured into his and without warning, something within him awoke.

            The parchment and class notes dropped from Luna’s hands as Draco Malfoy pinned her against the wall near the steep staircase leading up to the Astronomy Tower, kissing her with urgency.

            The brutal honesty that allowed her to reveal such an enormous secret to him caused his newly recognized guilt to melt away as he was overcome with a new desire to please her. Somewhere inside of him, he liked this new feeling of wanting to make it up to her. This was the only way he knew how.

            Only just a few moments ago, Luna’s past was violently ripped from her subconscious into the present. She hadn’t thought about it after so many years of denial and reconstructed memories. Though it was horrible, it had felt so good to finally let it out even though it was to Draco Malfoy of all people. She could finally come to terms with her mother’s death.

            “You didn’t know what you were doing then,” he said between kisses as she caught her breath.

            She shook her head though she knew he wasn’t looking for confirmation of this. He didn’t think she was a murderer; he was merely trying to make her feel better.

            “You were just a little girl trying to grow up too fast. You wanted to be just like her.”

            A few more tears escaped her lids and he wiped them away as she admitted, “I did… How did you—”

            He cut her off with another kiss. When he broke away, allowing their noses to remain in close-contact, he told her, “I nearly did the same thing.”

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Disclaimer: All characters have been borrowed with love, but not permission. No copyright infringement is intended.