Stuck with Me [Harry Potter]

Chapter 6 - The Huge Secret

Day 3

Draco made his way down the stairs and to the path outside the house. He gazed around as the early morning sun shined over the vast horizon, casting a gold haze over the sky. He surprisingly had a good night's sleep since he conjured a rather comfortable bed, not a cot, in the living room half of the circular room inside. He decided to be out of the elements this time.

Going to his spot in the grass, he realized that he hadn't seen Luna since the day before, after he saw her dancing around her house. She seemed drunk on something. Or she was just herself.

Where was that blasted girl?

No matter. Why should he care about where she was or what she was up to? She literally danced to her own beat and didn't have the slightest care about what other people thought. She was a free spirit.

Draco felt a tinge of jealously grip his heart. He wished that he could be that free and not confined in his depressed life.

He thought back to when he came around the house and saw her dancing around her yard, flailing around like some crazy twirling bird or fairy, humming a different tune than what he heard before. He stared at her, noticing how carefree she was. Didn't she have a clue that she was in the presence of a Death Eater, and that her father was in the worst possible prison on Earth, most likely awaiting death? It made him grit his teeth, how naïve she was.

Were the Death Eaters, the Dark Lord, or even his parents, worrying about where he was, now that he had been gone for over two days? He looked around the yellow planes again. He surpassed trying to figure out where in the blazes this was because it would result in innocent people getting hurt. He didn't want that, especially if it was his doing.

He plopped down on the ground. He had to fend for himself the day before, and just earlier, not bothering to touch the food in the house, he conjured up his favorite dishes just to put himself into a somewhat better mood. He looked forward to when he would be able to fend for himself when he would eventually move out of the manor after he graduated from Hogwarts. But he wouldn't be completely free. The Dark Mark ruined that for him.

He sighed in irritation and raked a hand through his hair. He thought back again to Luna dancing around her yard and remembered the picture of her mother which he had looked at the night before and in the morning for some time. The two females definitely resembled each other. Luna's long blonde hair and triangular face and her form were similar to her mother's, and he even noticed the feminine curves that her mother had in the picture.

Draco felt heat creep up his neck. He shook his head, displacing the blonde hair over his brow. He would not allow himself to think that Luna Lovegood was actually pretty. No way.

Suddenly, he saw movement near the forest in the distance. Quickly leaping to his feet, he pulled out his wand toward the form, thinking it an animal of some sort. It was too far away for him to take any action, so he waited until it came to the small tree half-way between the house and the forest. Then he saw long blond hair. He relaxed. It was only Luna.

She was skipping, making her hair bounce behind her. He put his wand away as she came closer. He stared at her in slight disgust at her appearance. She stood in front of him, a smile on her dirt-stained face, and her hair full of twigs, leaves and dirt. She also smelled of... toad slime. He felt his breakfast come up a bit. How did he think this girl pretty?

"Hello, Draco," she said in her light, airy voice.

"Where've you been?" he demanded, holding the side of his hand to his nose.

"Looking for crumple-horned snorkacks."

His brows furrowed. "For what?"

She walked past him, and he had to step away from the putrid fume that she radiated. "Crumple-horned snorkacks," she said matter-of-factually. "They are cat-like creatures who make a loud shriek when they know a friend is nearby. My father and I would go out and look for them. Sometimes we would be gone weeks on end."