Versatee - A Druna fanfic

Versatee

"Aaaaarrrgh!" Draco clenched his fist, crumpling the construction manual between his fingers. He had been so sure that he'd done everything right this time! He had read every line three times over before he had done what it said, and still the vanishing cabinet refused to work. Frustrated, Draco slammed his fist into the side of what looked like a wooden telephone box. He heard a sharp crack and felt the wood give way under his knuckles. A long splinter bored into the back of his hand. Draco stared apathetically at the trickle of blood that ran down his fingers, then he collapsed onto the icy stone floor.

He was never going to make it.

Tears sprang to his eyes as he leaned his head back against the broken wall of the cabinet. He might as well start digging his own grave. He was running out of time, only this morning he'd received an owl from his mother with a frightened plea for speed – He  was getting impatient. Draco shuddered to think of his poor lady mother, imprisoned in Malfoy Manor together with Him, and his father, locked up in Azkaban surrounded by dementors. He had to get them both out of there, he had to!

But his stupid plan wasn't working. Or rather, it couldn't work. It had been such a brilliant idea, the fruit of countless nights spent rolling around in his bed without closing an eye. He'd really thought he could do it, that day at Borgin and Burkes when he had read the construction manual for the first time. Repairing the vanishing cabinet had seemed so easy – but he couldn't do it.

He couldn't do it, and He would kill him, and there was no way his parents would ever be free again. Draco pulled his legs up to his body and wrapped his arms around them, resting his head on his knees.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there, sobbing quietly, when he heard soft footsteps approaching. He froze. Had he been discovered? Had somebody found out, Potter maybe – what if they'd told Dumbledore? Or was that Snape, trying to "help" him again?

"Hello, Draco." At the sound of the dreamy voice, Draco's heart became light, so light. "Luna," he said, his voice hoarse from crying. "How did you find me in here?"

"Oh, I walked past the door and it practically screamed for me to come in," Luna replied happily. "It is the Room of Requirement, after all. It knows what you need." She smiled at him.

Draco looked at her, and she sat down next to him, taking his hand. She didn't ask any questions. She didn't want to know what he was doing in the Room of Hidden Things, or why he was crying, or why he looked as messed-up as he knew he must. She saw that he needed comfort, and comfort she provided. Without questions or conditions.

Right now, she was scrutinizing him with her clear blue eyes. Her gaze, normally vague and unfocused, seemed sharp now. Draco wondered how he could ever have thought her silly, or stupid. Her eyes showed clearly that there was a quick mind beneath that dirty blonde hair.

"What is it?" he asked, as Luna continued to stare at him.

"You've been attacked by a Versatee," she said matter-of-factly.

"What is a Versatee?" Draco asked, amused. Luna always knew how to distract him.

"They feed on tears," Luna said. "They make you bottle up all your emotions until you break down and start crying." She looked around. "This room is full of hidden emotion. No wonder they like it here."

She reached into the breast pocket of her robes and took out a tiny velvet swan. "My mother made this for me when I was six," she said, idly turning it over and over in her hands. "It protects you from suppressing your feelings. Helps you to let go." She regarded the swan for a moment. Then, with a decisive tightening of her shoulder blades, she held it out to him. "Take it," she said earnestly.

Draco looked at her. The gesture touched him more than he cared to admit. All his life, his parents had given him everything he wanted. There was no toy, no expensive broomstick, no trinket his father wouldn't buy him. But he had never received a present like this. A present that was dear to the giver, something she didn't want to let go.

"Don't you need it?" he asked. He was suddenly hesitant to take the swan from her. Her mother had made it. Why did she offer it to him?

Luna smiled, that sad, happy, carefree smile that was so unique about her. "Oh, I'll be fine," she said airily. "Versatees affect some people more strongly than others." Her smile faded, and her sapphire eyes seemed to look right into his heart. "You are one of those who are deeply affected."

Draco looked away. He wasn't used to having people see through his carefully maintained façade. It was... comforting.

He turned the swan over in his hands, ran his finger gently along its soft body. And as he did so, he realised what the present truly meant, what every heartfelt present truly meant. Luna had given him the swan, although she'd been reluctant to let it go. Why? Because he was more important to her than the toy her dead mother had made.

Draco looked up at her. The thought that someone valued him that much, someone who didn't even know what he was planning, what he was forced to do – someone who didn't just follow him because his parents were powerful, but someone who liked him – really, actually liked him... The thought brought tears to his eyes again.

He wiped at his cheeks angrily, embarrassed at crying over little things, but Luna stopped him, taking his hand in hers.

"Don't," she said gently. "It's the swan, see? It's taking effect already. Just let it all out."

Draco looked at her through the veil of tears that clouded his vision. Strangely, the blurred view seemed to make her even more beautiful. Her hair was shining, providing him with light and orientation like the moon in a starless night. "Luna," he whispered. "Moon."

She smiled, and put a hand to his cheek to catch one of his teardrops with her finger. "There," she said mildly. "Now the Versatees can't eat it."

She looked into his eyes, and he lifted his hands to run them through her luminous hair. His whole world seemed to shrink until there was nothing left but the gold and blue of Luna's hair and eyes. He bent to kiss her, and then he was gone, lost in a whirl of light and emotion.