The Whimsical and the Worried

Chapter 1

Draco Malfoy found himself entering platform 9 and 3/4 for the unexpected 8th time headed towards Hogwarts. This unexpected venture was a rather unwilling one on his side of things - However here he was because his mother, his dear sweet mother, had all but insisted, laying a very hard guilt trip on her striking blonde son.
Her intentions were well meaning in their nature in that she felt he had experienced so much trauma and had to deal with things way beyond his age bracket with the war, his father now being in Azkaban, oh and not to mention literally having the dark lord living in his house and sending him on a death mission at the ripe old age of 17. A time when he should have been, in her opinion, spending time with friends, developing silly crushes and most importantly getting a proper education to help him in going forward with his adult life.
The last point was the one Narcissa really drove home to Draco, saying that he would never be able to become a Healer at St. Mungo's like he wished if he couldn't even boil a proper Calming Draught. And she pointed out that he would never be able to raise the standing of the Malfoy name, which was of course highly sullied by their families actions during the war, if he was to be working at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of his life as a regular bar maid. 
This had begrudgingly lit a little flame within Draco as somehow his scattered ego and pride still seemed to be slightly in place despite the constant bashing it had been taking as of recent in the forms of leers and jests pointed directly at him without worry that he was actually around to hear them.
This had however made him realise to some extent how his past bullying in school might have affected people more deeply than he'd had the scope of imagining.
But this revelation was just another guilt to add to the bucket load on his already weighed down back and probably wouldn't be the first thing he was addressing as his post-war self.
So in short this was why Draco was headed back to the place where he would no doubt be hated and ridiculed, perhaps rightfully so, and was the last place he really wanted to be... Hogwarts.
Narcissa had not gone with her son to send him off as Draco had strictly prohibited her from doing this.
One, he really didn't need to give the students any other ammunition for bullying him like his mother forcing hugs and kisses on him, the ex-death eater, in front of them and him losing the last ounce of respect he had worked so hard to build up over the years of attending hogwarts... but he also couldn't take the almost certain looks and possible name calling of his mother.
He wanted to protect her. Towards him he could take it, but towards his mum, his promise of trying his very best not to get into any physical altercations and keeping a low profile would surely get broken very quickly as he'd punch any guy in the face who said something derogatory about his mother in a heartbeat.
So Draco entered the platform alone in his tailored black suit. Or one of his many tailored black suits. It had sort of become his uniform as of late... along side a countenance that seemed to be a combination of the fine combing of pure blood refinery and snobbishness imparted on him by his raising, and also a sort of depressed lull of not wanting to be noticed, although he was sure this was a futile wish.
He was proven right as when he pulled his trolley over and left his trunk in the proper place to be taken to the school with the others the stares were palpable. The expression you could have cut the tension with a knife definitely could have been applied to this situation.
The murmurs were kept to a fairly polite volume however he could make out a few.
One daughter with auburn hair who looked to be about a third year whispered to her mother 'what is he doing here?', another boy who he knew as a Gryffindor the year bellow him... or he supposed the same year now as he was repeating his seventh year after all... quite clearly said to one of his mates 'a lot of balls he has showing his face back here' and he didn't have to hear the view of an otherwise round and friendly looking mother just shaking her head in his direction while gathering her children in closer to her as if somehow Draco had contaminated the air around him and she didn't want them to breathe it in.
Although Draco did notice all this he feigned unawareness and simply placed his trunk haphazardly and entered the train with a rather defiant look on his face.
However, on the inside it did hurt. None of his friends or cronies were here like they used to be. This cut Draco rather deeply as it reminded him of Crabbes death. The others, probably sensibly, had decided not to return this year.
This left Draco all alone where once he was the center of attention and among doting friends who would mostly hang off his every word and laugh in chorus at his every joke or jeer.
Of course in the past two years at Hogwarts Draco really hadn't been making so many jokes, in fact he was incredibly unhappy and under the thumb of his father and the dark lord.
Draco Stalked the hall of the train looking for an empty compartment. These stupid students weren't going to get the best of him. He'd been through much worse, if they thought they could frighten him away they were bloody well wrong. He was a Malfoy after all and Malfoys don't take well to being told what to do, Draco thought defiantly.
But after going back and forth three times Draco just could not find an empty compartment. He'd even awkwardly checked the ones he couldn't see into because the curtains had been drawn. They weren't empty.
He wanted to kick himself for choosing this section of the train and for leaving so little time before the train left off. He'd thought this was a good idea earlier as he'd supposed allotting as little time as possible for being gawked at by the concerned parents was appealing... he was wrong to though because now he was being forced to finding someone who would agree to let him sit with them.
The extra numbers of seventh years had evidently filled up the train more than was usual even though there weren't that many of them repeating.
On his fourth go up and down the hall with now the resolute understanding that he was going to have to sit somewhere and soon because the train had already left off and the trolley witch would be coming by soon and he really didn't fancy having a conversation with her about why he hadn't already found a seat as it would be pretty obvious him still holding his bag... He took a last look through the windows.
He had seen through one compartment window some obvious first years, who would surely not speak up about wanting him not to sit with them, but he didn't want to frighten them to death so he decided against it.
A few doors down from them he spied a compartment with only one person in it.
It was a girl with long golden blonde hair. She was reading some colourful magazine that was covering up her face but she seemed definitely older than a first year, although she was rather petite...and there was something quite beautiful about her Draco noted.
The fact that he still noticed such things came as a bit of a surprise to him as nothing of late seemed to really peak his interest. Perhaps it was that he was paying close attention due to him looking for someone who would share a compartment with him.
The sun was shining down in on her through the window and her golden hair seemed to be reflecting the light. She was already wearing her robes. A Ravenclaw.
That was good. A Gryffindor would have been too hard to contend with and he just didn't think he could take a whole train ride with an annoying Hufflepuff... as for the Slytherins, they probably wouldn't want to be associated with him, as being a Slytherin already was not ideal in this post war climate, they'd be trying to show they were willing to get along with everyone and that not all of them were... well like him. Ravenclaw was good. It was perfect.
He slid the compartment door open and considered not even asking the girl and just taking a seat so she couldn't say no, surely she wouldn't refuse him... but then she placed the magazine down on her lap having heard him enter.
He looked at her. He was right she was beautiful. She had big blue eyes, a former fancy of Draco's before he realised such things didn't matter anymore. She had soft looking clear pale skin and with the light behind her she really seemed almost to glow... but once the glow faded from Draco's eyes he realised he knew her. She was definitely familiar to him but somehow he just couldn't place her... and then after a few seconds of the two blondes looking at each other with no words it dawned on him. Looney Lovegood!
He didn't know her that well but she was rather infamous around the school. He remembered trying to tease or prank her a few times in the past but he'd soon lost interest as her reactions were so boring.
She never got mad like Potter or Weasley, or upset like some of the little first years. She'd just accepted it happening and he remembered feeling slightly bad for calling her names once. She'd just looked at him, not seeming to care at all. Once he even remembered her laughing along with him and his mates after pranking her. She wasn't meant to find it funny too.
He'd really left her alone after that, favouring some students who he could rile up a bit more.
It's funny that he'd never noticed how pretty she was really Draco mused now looking at the girl properly.
It might have been because she was always wearing very distracting and stupid clothing items... oh wait no, now that he was noticing she was wearing some very strange earrings even right now. They looked like radishes... who wears radish earrings? Draco thought bemused and a little amused as well.
And that's when he realised that he'd been looking at the girl for probably much too long without saying anything. This wasn't a good start. He coughed trying to cover up the awkwardness.
"Can I sit here Looney... Uh.. I mean Lovegood?" Draco asked accidentally calling her the nickname the school had given to her not so kindly... he thought he might have been part of rather spreading that around a bit actually. Old habits die hard.
He knew it wouldn't do him well right now to be rude to this girl as he wanted something from her at the moment, he wanted her to just let him bloody well sit down already. His legs were getting tired and it had been a trying time getting onto this train.
Luna straightened up at being addressed by him but didn't seem too offended by the slip up. She raised a curious eyebrow, thinking how strange it was to have Draco Malfoy wanting to sit with her. She'd never have thought such a thing would happen. And people say she was crazy for thinking that Nargles hung around mistletoe. Well there are stranger things she quipped to herself jollily.
"You're quite welcome to Draco" she said motioning towards the seat in front of her.
Draco heaved a sigh of relief and finally put his bag in the above shelf and sat down gladly resting his legs. He noticed that she called him Draco and not Malfoy like her goodytwoshoe friends, like Harry Potter and Ginny Weasely did... actually practically everyone at school called him Malfoy.
It almost affronted him really that she thought they were on such friendly terms but he let it slip just this once as he was so pleased to have found someone who wouldn't kick him out as soon as he entered.
Luna watched him as he put away his bag and sat, but then quite quickly went back to her magazine. It was obviously some very interesting article Draco thought sarcastically as he watched her skim the pages so enthusiastically.
Something in him was obviously bitter about her lack of reaction to him wanting to sit with her, it being a bit of an anticlimax after all his worrying over it. He thought back to only a year ago when his presence would have flattered a lot of girls at the school and they would possibly have gone all giggly and demure. Luna certainly wasn't doing that. She was not even paying attention to him at all... and that annoyed him.
Because of this he watched her thinking his gaze might have distracted her at least a little bit...but no, she just continued reading and once in a while flipping a page or giving a little smile at whatever it was on the page obviously finding it amusing. She had a nice smile Draco noted. white teeth and pink lips, she had dimples when she smiled.
After a little while of this Draco gave up on his attempts at making her uncomfortable and resignedly brought out his own book. After all it was exactly what he'd wanted, to find someone who would just leave him in peace.
His book was a non-fiction about the life of a famous healer named Mungos Flout. He did find it interesting to a point but he couldn't help but keep looking over every now and again at the blonde girl.
Once she had finished her magazine she brought out a flowery notebook and begun to look out the window wistfully and scribbled down something in it. He couldn't make out if she was in fact drawing or writing, but whatever it was it really seemed to have spiked Draco's interest.
He wanted to know what was so great that she wanted to copy it down so noisily... ok well not really noisily, but it seemed so to Draco as he was feeling rather highly strung at the moment.
He tried his best for a while to just ignore it and get on with his book but there was something very distracting about the girl. It must have been the radish earrings.
So eventually Draco broke annoyed and asked "Just what are you writing down in that book of yours Lovegood?" quite brashly.
Luna looked up surprised. "Oh, just my thoughts and feelings on things, as well as a few etchings" she replied honestly in the high rhythmic voice that she had and while taking in the boy in front of her.
He'd gotten even taller she noted. He was skinny as well. He'd obviously not been eating properly. But his face was as handsome as ever and he still had that wicked charm about him. That thing that you couldn't put a name to. She could see why a lot of her peers had fancied him so much, well at least looks wise. But she herself never really took to the fancies of others.
It just wasn't in her character to be so concerned with who was good looking and who was not. It didn't seem very relevant to her anyway... although she supposed if she was being honest with herself his appeal hadn't fully surpassed her notice, but she shook any thoughts of these to the back of her mind as she had learned to do.
Draco snorted "What point is there in doing that?" Draco asked rather pleased at having taken her focus away from solely the stupid journal, he was bored after all and it was a long trip that they'd mostly spent in silence. It was so something a girl like Lovegood would do, to have a book full of her 'feelings' and silly pictures he thought.
"Well I suppose just to get them out and order them a bit. Feelings can be so scrambley I find... especially after all of... well you know... now the war is over" Luna explained to Draco. "It's also good for keeping memories, I can look back at it later you see" she added more cheerfully.
Draco was rather surprised at her sensible answer. He couldn't really remember ever having a conversation with Looney but he'd thought he'd heard from others she had a few screws loose in her brain.
He wasn't sure what he thought that would mean, whether she'd just literally be saying 'goobldeegoopgobbledeegooop' or what but she seemed rather sensible despite being a bit soppy or hippy-ish, or at least she made more sense than he had thought she would.
However, that didn't mean he was now going to continue on this stupid conversation with her and watch as it fell further down the rabbit hole of insanity. He'd gotten her attention which was all he wanted, now he could just ignore her for the rest of the trip... or at least he thought he could.
He replied "right" with raised eyebrows and then re-looked at his book feeling rather pleased with himself that it was him cutting off the conversation.
Luna didn't add anything realising that he obviously wanted silence. Draco continued to every now and again look up at the girl for the rest of the trip but continued on no further interaction and before the trip was fully over he went and got changed into his robes, luckily bless Merlin, without encountering any aggressors.