Hallows Game || HP X Squid Game (Draco Malfoy)

17 - Harry and Luna

It was like a sharp blow to her chest. Anything but this... anything.

Trembling, she looked up at her partner, at the raven haired boy whom she respected and admired so much during their time at Hogwarts... her first date... her first friend.

"Harry?"

******

"Right," Harry said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's do this."

He had a good feeling about this. Ever since he'd stepped inside the game hall and discovered it was a replica of his birth town - the place his parents died to keep him alive - he knew it was a sign he was meant to win.

But for some reason, Luna was looking up at him as though she had just witnessed someone kicking a fucking puppy around.

"Harry," she trembled, her voice barely a whisper, "playing means one of us will die."

Well... duh.

"Kind of what we signed up for, though," Harry shrugged, trying not to click his tongue in impatience. They were wasting valuable playing time by having this pointless conversation. "Now, are we just going to stand around and die together, or do you want to die on my behalf?"

Luna just stared at him.

"So..." Harry said, wanting to get on with it. "You've played Marbles before, right?"

Mutely, Luna shook her head.

Well, this was a promising start. At this rate he should be back in the dormitory in time for a quick power nap before dinner.

"It's easy. You just have to guess if the number of marbles in my fist is odd or even." Harry mansplained.

"That's all?"

"Yes. Now give it some thought and bet your marbles on either one. I'm going to suggest you start small whilst you get your head around the rules."

It was a good job this game relied heavily on luck, Harry thought wryly. Because it may perhaps be the only way he will be able to beat a Ravenclaw.

Turned out, though, Luna's luck was very much in.

"Even."

Damn. Harry opened his hand, revealing two marbles. But thankfully, Luna only bet one. She only ever bet one.

Sighing, he went to hand her the marble, but she refused to take it, tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"I don't want to do this with you." Luna whispered, before standing up and whirling round to face the pink guard behind her. "Please, sir, I want to play with someone else. Harry and I, you see, we go way back. We are friends- good friends. He even came to rescue me one time when I was captured and locked up in the Malfoy's cellar-"

"Stop talking nonsense and take the marbles." Harry hissed, feeling embarrassed. She was talking about him as though he were some kind of hero. He wasn't that at all, he'd always just been someone trying to survive, too much of a coward to walk to his death during the Battle of Hogwarts when Voldemort had summoned him to the Forbidden Forest.

Maybe in another life he would have done exactly that... another life where Harry Potter was indeed a hero and had sacrificed himself to save the world from Voldemort.

But not in this one. In this life, he would do anything to survive.

So, on he and Luna played, with Harry silently pleading to his dead parents to save his backside once more.