The Best Mistake

Chapter Twenty- Four | What Must Be Known

"Oh, that's nice, but we're just trying to find them? Why don't you use the bond, Draco?" Lovegood asked, her moony eyes ever wide in questioning.

Draco stared at her, opened mouthed, mind refusing to work and process what she'd said.

"What are you on about now, Luna? What bond?" The weasel asked while the remainder of the room seemed to be frozen in silence.

"Draco and Hermione, two who had been pining, in denial of such feelings, made love underneath the soft flowing beams of the brightest full moon on the night of your nuptials," Luna said, staring right at the weasel whose mouth was open in horror. As all the heads in the room turned to him, Draco's neck and cheeks suddenly felt quite warm—he didn't feel comfortable talking about 'making love' in front of his mother, estranged aunt, and former transfiguration teacher.

"Right here in the Manor," Luna continued, voice soft and airy but commanding their full attention, "where Hermione—may magic bless her—had a rather difficult experience during the war, and where generations of Malfoys have left their marks. Their magic sings here in every floorboard, every doorway, every room. Her blood, pure and powerful, met with the Malfoy magic, and the song they made was great and true—a perfect match. When Draco, the Heir, and Hermione, the one whose magic paired so beautifully with that of the House, met as one, a child was conceived and a bond was formed to protect him, who is the future of the House."

"Er, right," said Potter, scratching his neck and looking flushed. "Thanks for explaining all of—that, Luna."

"Yes, yes, we all either know or don't need to know all of that now," Draco said, gesturing as if wafting the words away with his hands. "But how can the bond help us find Granger and Theo?"

Lovegood's head tilted to the side, eyebrows scrunched over wide blue eyes. "Have you not been reading the books I gave you?"

Draco's jaw clenched, and he breathed slowly through his nose, just to stop him from spewing obscenities and abandoning this absolute farce of a rescue team and going to sulk in his room. "We've read the books, most of them more than once," he finally said. "There was nothing in any of them about being able to find a lost bondmate."

Luna sighed and waved her wand. Moments later, a thick book came tumbling through the doors the Weasley matriarch had left open and flew right into Luna's open hands. She placed the book onto the dining table, and waved one of her hands over it. The book opened, pages turning on their own, shuffling back and forth, until they stopped with a sense of finality.

She tapped her wand to the page, and the book read a passage aloud for the room.

"For some Bonds of Circumstance, that which has been created will create. Magic flourishes in overabundance when a bond is strong, as was seen in the 1035 when the tether between the Bold and his bondmate of Normandy changed the very structure of the Earth at their feet. Water poured and nature sang, a great lake created where many came to make their homes in the presence of such pure magic. Still, Bonds of Circumstance are known to bring forth what wasn't there. Life in any form may arise and thrive should a bond be formed from powerful love and magic."

"What the fuck does any of that nonsense have to do with—" Draco began, exasperated. Luna squashed him with a look and pointed at the book which continued.

"When life has bloomed from the Greatest of Bonds of Circumstance, and the two tethered souls have strengthened such a bond with love and magic most pure, connection will be made over time and distance. The gold string of fate now ties them together. It cannot be broken, not even by Death."

Draco shuddered at the final word, trying to understand exactly how Luna expected him to use any of that to find Granger. The book closed with a resounding thunk, finished with its purpose. The assembled either stared at it, as hoping it would provide a better explanation, or looked at one another in confusion. Draco was sure he could see a vein popping up on Longbottom's forehead, the man was thinking so hard.