The Stars That Lie (Druna ☾)

Chapter 2

Draco proved to be a rather fine partner to have for Astronomy. He pulled his weight, wrote his own work, and didn't touch her charts. He didn't blather in her ear either about things she didn't care about.

On the third night of their hesitant partnership, he said her name for the first time aloud. "Your notes are slipping, Luna."

She dove for them just before they fell over the railing to the courtyard below, then puffed out a breath at the stray curl that had fallen in her face.

I'm surprised he even knows my name, she thought to herself. He'd been acting like she didn't exist for so long that she truly believed he didn't have a clue who she was.

Apparently she'd been wrong about that.

On the fifth night, he came to class looking a little worse for wear. Still in his school robes despite them not being mandatory for the late class, he had loosened his tie and undone a few buttons, clearly frazzled about something. With his hair more unkempt than she'd ever seen in her life, he looked positively on edge. The Slytherin boy was usually so put together with his hair slicked back and his robes in immaculate condition. Far be it for a Malfoy to ever have so much as a loose thread.

The question burned on her tongue. Are you okay? But she bit it back, swallowing it bitterly before she made a fool of herself.

That night, they were tasked with watching a specific sector of the sky, charting, and making notes of any anomalies. They were nearing the date of the first autumn meteor shower, so she wouldn't be surprised if they saw a few falling stars that night.

Nonetheless, the night's assignment was brutal on the neck. They had to stare up at the sky for at least an hour, though Luna planned to stay out longer and finish up the assignment ahead of schedule.

Draco rubbed his sore neck for the tenth time in the last ten minutes of class, striking a chord of pity in Luna's chest. If he'd already had a rough day, adding muscle pain to the mix couldn't be pleasant.

She pulled her wand out from behind her ear and cast a simple Accio, summoning plush wingback chairs from the classroom below the observation platform. Two chairs came flying up the stairs, their legs scraping against the wooden slats, then came to a halt right at their feet.

With a pleased smile, Luna set aside her stool and cast herself into the more comfortable chair with neck and back support. She sighed blissfully, then motioned for Draco to take the other chair.

"Are we allowed to do that?" a Hufflepuff to her left asked.

Luna shrugged. "Professor Sinistra never minded before." Sinistra wasn't even present. She had given them all their assignments, then went back to her office for private study of the heavens at her window.

Draco didn't seem to mind if it was allowed either way, for he took a seat without comment. Out of the corner of Luna's eye, she watched him relax, the tension leaving his shoulders somewhat.

Harry and the others would hate her for showing Draco an ounce of kindness... But was it really a kindness when she had done it for herself too?

As the night wore on, other students packed up their things to turn in early. "We have till the holiday to get our hours in," they said to each other as they cut the hour short.

Luna stayed, and Draco said nothing. He sank further and further into his chair, growing so quiet she had to keep sneaking glances to be sure he was still awake.

Or breathing.

An hour into their gazing, he suddenly lurched forward, making her jolt from the fright of it. "Did you see that?" he asked breathlessly.

Luna wasn't sure what he meant, but she understood when he pointed again, excitedly exclaiming, "There!"

A meteor streaked across the sky, there and gone faster than a blink.

"We're coming up on the first meteor shower of the fall," she said, smiling softly. "If you're out here this weekend, you might see hundreds."

Draco raised his brows. "You're saying falling stars aren't rare at all?"

"Not particularly."

He slumped back into his seat, looking like she'd just told him something earth shattering.

Feeling a bit bad about it, she leaned forward in her seat, adding, "But it's rarer for people to have the patience to sit out long enough to see them. We're the only ones left, aren't we? Everyone else is missing the shower. Why, we might be the only ones at all who saw them tonight. Isn't that something?"

Draco rolled his head to the side, staring at her drily, clearly not impressed with her attempt to remedy his disappointment.

"If you don't have your head tipped back to the heavens all the time, you'll miss a lot," she finished.

They lapsed back into silent stargazing for the next half hour. Luna vaguely wondered if she should have brought blankets, for the night was growing colder, and her Ravenclaw sweater wasn't doing much against the breeze up in the tower.

Draco stood with a sigh at the end of the hour. "I ought to get to bed. Got Potions in the morning."

"Oh, how is that class going?" Luna asked as she started packing up her notes and books as well. "I'm technically signed up for it, but I just can't seem to get up in time."

Draco gave her another raised-brow look, like he was baffled by her existence all over again. "It's fine."

"Worth getting up for?"

"Not particularly," he said, echoing her earlier sentiment. "Potter's the golden boy of the class, big surprise. Slughorn is obsessed with him, but no one knows how he's doing so well when everyone else is already failing the class. Even Granger is barely making it through."

"Really?" Luna couldn't believe that. "But Hermione's always the top of the class." When Hermione had taken Astronomy, even Luna couldn't keep up.

Draco shouldered his school bag. "I know. It's ridiculous. A little amusing to see her flounder, but something's up."

"You don't think Harry would cheat, do you?"

"Of course I do. He's cheated everything in his life so far."

Luna opened her mouth to disagree, but then she stopped. In a sense, Draco was right. Harry cheated death first, then cheated fate countless times through the years. He used whatever he could to his advantage, even if it wasn't fair to others. She wasn't saying she blamed him for it, nor would she call him a cheat when there were better, nicer words to describe his situation, but Draco wasn't exactly wrong.

"Right, well... Goodnight," Draco said curtly as he backed away.

"Goodnight," she called after him softly. Luna wasn't sure what just happened, but if she had to describe it, she was pretty sure she had a rather pleasant evening with Draco Malfoy.

Dare she call it enjoyable?

As she wandered back to her room in the Ravenclaw tower, she made up her mind to finally show up for Potions.