Draluna - Draco's Assistant

Chapter 7

The next day Draco thought Luna might have visited him again despite his insistence that she not. But he was actually wrong. She didn't come. He didn't know why, he was so sure she would. Throughout the day he went through a rotation of thoughts on the matter. When he went downstairs to get water he thought 'surely she'd want to check up on her 'little patient'' quite derisively; then while reading an old book in bed he thought 'surely she'd want her things back, she'd just left these bloody potions there for him, if she thought that he would be bothered to bring the bottles into work to give back to her she was thoroughly mistaken'. 

The thoughts got grumpier the longer the day went on, with some more sensibly cultivated ones along the lines of: 'it's bloody great she isn't here to annoy me' interspersed.
'Finally she's stopped acting like we're friends.'
'She better not have gone into the office alone.' 
'What if he'd gotten worse and he really needed help? didn't she think about that?'

... And then there were the waves of embarrassment he felt at the weird exchange they'd shared when she was leaving and he'd asked her to put a cloaking spell over herself. But why should he be embarrassed? It made sense that since she'd so stubbornly stayed the night and that his neighbours were nosy... It didn't mean anything about her, or, well, them, he would have said that to any witch who'd had the idea of leaving his house looking in the state she was. Anyway, would it be so bad if they thought he'd found himself a girlfriend? what business of theirs was it anyway?... But these thoughts were strange and dangerous. He tried to keep his mind off his silly little odd assistant for the rest of the day. It didn't work. It was especially hard to monitor himself and his thoughts when it was all clouded with mucus having flu brain. 

At lunch Draco had some of the food Luna had left and even dared to take some of her home brewed potions. He was pleasantly surprised, and rather relieved, that no boils began growing on his handsome aristocratic face. Instead it did actually seem to make a difference to his health. He felt a lot more spritely afterwards and a warm feeling filled his body that reminded him of sitting out in the sun in spring. 

He supposed Luna was actually a Ravenclaw after all, so it made sense that she did know something of potion making. He had no idea how she'd become a good cook however. He'd expected the soup to taste like some weird swap like concoction mixed with radishes, but instead it was pleasantly warming and felt homey and comforting. The flavours were even well balanced, no crazy spices used, although he did note hints of cinnamon. In fact, later in the day Draco ventured back to his kitchen for another bowl of the stuff. He wouldn't be mentioning this to Luna. 

Luna had made efforts to stop herself from her true instincts which were saying she ought to go check on Draco at his home again. But he was so insistent that she not, and besides she'd already given him the potions and food. That would certainly last him a few days. All she would do would be annoy him and prevent him from getting the rest he needed. He was already looking a lot better when she'd left him. And the thought of the moment she had left him made Luna wiggle and re-adjust on her window seat where she was sitting and trying to read a book. He'd be fine. She'd only just recently come into his life anyway, what did she suppose he did when he was sick before? he was perfectly capable of looking after himself. 

In Luna's book that she was reading there was a romance playing out, although that certainly wasn't the genre of the book or the main point of it. The guy who was the love interest was sweet and polite, he was the female leads friend for a long time but the two of them had never got together because they were hopelessly both always going for the wrong people. They obviously were going to get together, and even though Luna did want this to play out, she wondered if she was lacking some of what the readers were meant to feel. She couldn't help but be slightly detached from the idea. The guy was just unattractive to her. She pondered whether it was a bad thing to not want someone like that. After all shouldn't that be what everyone was searching for? someone who was nice and someone who loved them? She knew she should. But life wasn't really like that anyway. In real life, Luna pondered, you can't help who you're attracted to. An image of a sleepy and groggy, snotty looking Draco with mussed up hair popped up in her head and she smiled.