Artists and Arrogance (A Draco Malfoy love story)

Chapter 1

Luna Lovegood was skipping through an empty corridor in Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was humming a tune that she had just created and kept stopping to listen for Wrackspurts. She didn’t hear any so she continued skipping. Draco Malfoy watched from behind a statue, rolling his eyes at her. Loony Lovegood was a piece of work that was for sure. He was waiting for Crabbe and Goyle to finish up the trap, he hoped that those blubbering idiots would finish before Loony left the corridor. She stopped again, looking around for some sort of made up creature probably. He grinned, this was just perfect! He saw Crabbe crawling over to him with Goyle following close behind. They both had goofy grins plastered on their faces which he took as a sign that the trap was set up correctly. The three watched as Luna continued to skip into the library. Draco suppressed a laugh as she opened the door, triggering the bucket of Flobberworm mucus to fall. It splattered across her face and robes, and she froze, letting the bucket clatter to the ground beside her.

Draco, Crabbe and Goyle burst out laughing. They had stolen the Flobberworm mucus from Hagrid’s hut and set up the trap in less than half an hour. It wasn’t his most original prank, but it was hilarious all the same. Loony turned to face them, hearing their laughing. She couldn’t see them though, as they were still hiding. Her hands were clenched into fists and she was shaking in anger and humiliation. She wiped Mucus off of her face and it stuck to her hand, Draco laughed harder. The look on her face was priceless; she looked disgusted, angry, embarrassed, upset and hurt all at the same time. He wished he would have brought a camera. Things just kept getting better and better, out of the library came Donec Vruce. Donec was said to be the hottest, most wanted guy in all of Hogwarts, he was even in Luna’s year.

Donec paused as he passed Luna and said, “Uh... you have something on your... all over you...”

Luna’s cheeks glowed and Donec continued walking. Draco smirked, this was too good. Tears began to roll down Luna’s face and she glanced around, making sure no one was watching. When she didn’t see anyone she sat on the floor and cried. Watching her sit on the floor, crying and covered in Flobberworm mucus tugged at Draco’s heart. Crabbe and Goyle continued to quietly laugh their asses off but Draco wasn’t laughing anymore. He wondered why, it was definitely a good prank so why did he feel so... guilty? What was wrong with him? He pranked people all the time and didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty but he pranks Loony Lovegood once and all of the sudden he has a conscience? He shook these odd thoughts away and turned to Crabbe and Goyle.

“Come on, you two, let’s get out of here,” he said.

Crabbe looked at him confused, “aren’t you gonna talk to her? Let her know who pulled the prank and make her feel even worse about herself than she already does?”

That was the last thing Draco wanted to do at the moment but he didn’t want them to think he’d lost his touch so he nodded as if Crabbe had simply reminded him, “of course.”

He stepped out of the shadows, faking an amused smirk. Luna looked up and, realizing she wasn’t alone, quickly wiped away the tears. Draco approached her with Crabbe and Goyle falling into place behind him.

“Hello Looney Lovegood,” he sneered, putting an emphasis on ‘Loony’.

“Hello Malfoy, it’s a coincidence seeing you here,” she said being clueless as usual.

He rolled his eyes, “it’s not a coincidence you dolt, I’m here because I did that,” he pointed to the mucus that was caught in her dirty-blonde hair.

She reached for her hair impulsively, feeling the gooey substance and looking even more depressed than she was five minutes ago.

“Oh,” she said sadly, “well, it was a very good prank but I’d appreciate it greatly if you wouldn’t use it anymore.”

He tried for a smirk but wasn’t sure how real it looked. It was difficult to insult her, she was either too nice or too simple-minded to take any offense. He wondered how she ever managed to get into Ravenclaw.

“Of course we won’t use it again,” he smirked, “we’ll use a different prank, if we use the same prank twice, you’ll see it coming.”

She looked him over, “you’re lying,” she said calmly, not changing her tone of voice at all, “you’re not going to pull another prank on me... I can tell by your eyes.”

Draco blinked. She was right, he wasn’t planning on pulling a prank on her but now he knew he had too. If he didn’t Crabbe and Goyle would think him weak, especially after she called him out.

“Ah, now you’re closing off your true feelings so I won’t be able to read you anymore,” she said looking into his eyes.

How did she know!? He had to say something, preferably something clever and insulting. Crabbe and Goyle were starting to look at him funny and he knew he had to get out of here soon before Loony started telling him anything else about himself.

“There’s a reason people call you Loony, you know. Maybe you should keep your psychotic thoughts to yourself,” he scoffed.

She frowned but didn’t say anything else. Draco led his cronies out of the corridor and Luna stayed sitting where she was, thinking about what he’d said. He’d definitely seemed a lot more uncertain about himself that he usually was, she noted. Not wanting to scare away any Wrackspurts, she decided to go take a shower and attempt to cleanse herself of the gooey Flobberworm mucus.