The Talent Show

Chapter 4 - The Meeting

Draco Malfoy was quite certain that he had never seen anything quite as magnificent as Loony Luna Lovegood's retreating back after delivering the most innocent sounding sexual innuendo he'd ever heard. He was also very sure that he had never been so annoyed or embarrassed in his life.

He wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that Luna - she had definitely earned the right be to called by her first name - had made him feel so unsettled. Because in the midst of his annoyance and embarrassment was fierce admiration and perhaps the barest touch of adoration, and Draco was caught between deciding which emotion he should ignore first.

Slowly, the sound of Pansy wheezing and Blaise chuckling returned and Draco realized that he was going to have to ignore all the emotions for the time being. So, instead of chasing after Luna, he shook his head and faced his friends with a blank face and one raised eyebrow, "What's so funny?"

Blaise answered, "Just the fact that Loony Lovegood made it sound like you two are having a tryst later."

Draco didn't think his eyebrow could go any higher as he said, "What makes you think we aren't? Maybe I want to see what she's like."

Pansy gasped, still trying not stop laughing, "I'm pretty certain that since you shrieked like a banshee that you would never do that with her, it's safe to say she isn't your flavour of the week."

Draco made a mental note to never ever speak to Pansy again and go glue her socks to the bottom of her trunk.

Just then, Blaise seemed to remember that he was a cold-hearted Slytherin bastard who could not be seen laughing unless it was cruelty at some younger student. He pulled himself together and asked, with an almost straight face, "So?"

Draco's tone was distinctly annoyed, but the fact that he was staring st the corner Luna had disappears behind kind of ruined his look as he growled, "So, what?"

"So are you going to meet up with her?"

Before he could stop himself, Draco murmured, "I don't know."

Pansy's eyebrows shot up and she grinned, "Does ickle Drakey have a crush?"

Draco snorted, "Hardly. Just some unfinished business."

Pansy and Blaise shared a look, but they let Draco believe that he was fooling them. They waited a few moments for Draco to realize that chasing Luna down right away would seem too desperate, but he didn't seem inclined to play hard to get, so Blaise announced that he had an essay due the next day, and Pansy casually mentioned that she had a clandestine rendezvous to get to.

And just like that, Draco was free to run after Luna. Except, of course, he did not run. That would be ridiculous.

But not as ridiculous as losing sight of Luna, so Draco picked up the pace to a steady trot and rounded the corner just in time to see Luna slip behind a statue.

Unfortunately for Draco, the fact that he saw which statue Luna was behind did not mean he knew how to follow her. He casually wandering around the statue, which was of a particularly ugly witch, for a solid four minutes before realizing how dumb he looked. So he left, muttering to himself under his breath the whole way.

• • •

Seven feet in the air, Luna was crouched in an alcove of the statue, behind the witch's floppy hat. She watched Draco shuffle away, wondering why he was at the same statue as she. Maybe he had been looking for hobb goblins too? That was probably it. Well, she wasn't going to worry about him missing out on seeing them. Luna returned to her small field notebook and settled back down to wait for her goblins.