Say All I Need

Say All I Need

          Okay this is my ALL TIME favorite song, so I decided to dedicate a Fanfiction to it.

Pairing: DracoxOC

Written For: Plain inspiration, and of course, reader’s entertainment ;)

Do you know where your heart is?

Do you think you can find it?

Or did you trade it for something,

Somewhere better just to have it?

Do you know where your love is?

Do you think that you lost it?

You felt it so strong but,

Nothing’s, turned out how you wanted.

*~*~*~*

          The war was almost over, and the sounds of debris falling to the ground with loud thumps filled the air. Screams, shouts, sounds so loud they were worthy of gunshots. The sky was dark, both with night and ash from the raging fires at every turn. People from both sides falling, people from both sides shooting spells like their lives depended on it—which it did.

          Of all these people however, there was a group of six that were the most important. Their names were Harry Potter, a tall, lanky boy with black hair and startling green eyes hidden behind round black wire glasses. Hermione Granger, shorter, with brown hair and matching brown eyes, considered the Brightest Witch of Her Age. Ron Weasely, Taller and more muscular, with flaming red hair and blue eyes. Neville Longbottom, shorter and chubbier, with brown hair and eyes, and very clumsy. Draco Malfoy, a tall, skinny boy with platinum blond hair and blue grey stormy eyes. And, Rain Potter, Harry Potter’s twin sister, although shorter.

          Rain was currently fighting Yaxely, one of Lord Voldemort’s closest servants. Shouting spell after spell, Rain came close to death many times.

          “You’ll never win this battle, Potter!” Yaxely spit out. “We outnumber you.”

          “Well we have a whole school that’s still unsure of their powers, anything can happen,” Rain replied, calmly shooting a stunning spell, but missing and hitting a different Death Eater in the background.

          “We’re more experienced, and besides, you’ve still got to up against the Dark Lord. What chance do you have?”

          Rain’s eyes narrowed, “More chance than someone with no real allies.”

          This must have been the Death Eater’s breaking point, because he shot a powerful stunning spell, which grazed Rain, but knocked her over and made her dizzy. She tried to get a good grip on her want but her fingers felt like jelly and she couldn’t move them correctly. She looked up at Yaxely in defeat, knowing she was done for.

          “Avada Kedavra!” A distant voice shouted, and Rain winced because she knew it must be directed at her. But the blackness or pain she had been expecting didn’t come. She had now overcome the disorientation of her previous state, and was staring in shock at the Death Eater in front of her. Then she realized, that the Killing Curse wasn’t directed at her, it was directed at Yaxely. But looking around, there was no one on the Light Side that was anywhere near her. Shaking her head, she slowly got up to her feet and grabbed her wand. She heard some distant shouts, and ran in the direction of them, coming to a stop when she reached a group of people. In the center were Harry and Voldemort in what seemed like an intense staring contest.

          She ran down and joined the group of people surrounding them, pushing her way to the front, and watched in a strange fascination. Harry and Voldemort seemed to be having some sort of a conversation in their heads, and no one could hear what they were saying. At one point, Harry looked her way and sent her a small smile. Rain guessed that that was his big mistake that night. Voldemort had raised his wand, and by the time Rain had shouted “Harry!” and he had turned around, it was too late, and the killing curse hit him straight in the chest, and he fell.

          “No!” The whole crowd of people screamed. Their savior was gone, and there was no way to bring him back. People started to cry, or faint, or lean on each other for support. The war was over, and they were all officially under Voldemort’s control. But that wasn’t enough for Rain. She ran over to Harry’s body, and grabbed the wand laying beside it. She recognized it from the Malfoy Manor, Draco Malfoy’s wand. She picked it up and turned towards Voldemort, holding the wand high, prepared to fight with everything she was worth.

          “What’s this?” The Dark Lord’s scratchy whispery voice said.

          “This isn’t over!” Rain shouted, then spat, “You killed my brother. That’s crossing the line. It’s time to go through me. You aren’t taking control of anyone here!”

          “Rain!” She heard Ron and Hermione shout. “Don’t do it! It’s too dangerous!”

          “Yes,” Voldemort drawled. “Listen to your friends, they are wise enough to abide by what I say.”

          “No! I’m not giving up. This can’t be the end of this!” Rain shouted. “It’s not good enough. It doesn’t honor anyone who died for this!”

          “Alright,” Voldemort said. “Let’s have one final duel, it’s not like it will cost me.”

          He gestured towards her small frame and all the Death Eaters laughed. Rain shifted uncomfortably while holding the wand, turning the wood in her hand a couple times.

          She locked gazes with Voldemort, staring him down the best she could, but starting to feel uncertain. What if she couldn’t win? What if she died too and let everyone down? She looked around her and saw all the people she had went to school with. Everyone was staring at her with a mixture of fear, sadness, and admiration, and she knew she had to do this. Even Draco Malfoy was watching, and she wasn’t about to let herself break in front of her arch rival. After meeting her friend’s eyes, she looked back at Voldemort.

          “Avada Kedavra!” She screamed. And it was over.

*~*~*~*

Do you know what your fate is?

Are you trying to shake it?

You’re doing your best and

Your best look.

You’re praying that you’ll make it.

*~*~*~*

          It was now Rain’s “eighth” year, and she was spending this particular Saturday locked in her room working on homework she really could care less about, she just didn’t want in indulge in the only activity that made her happy these days.

          She put her essay down for a moment and walked over to the mirror, studying her reflection. She had taken to wearing black ever since the final war, and Harry’s death. She was currently wearing black shorts, and a black t-shirt. Her black hair had grown out so it was down to the middle of her back, and it was wavy. She didn’t bother to work at making it look as good as it did before. It seemed silly that she had even worried about stuff as simple as hair before. She had stopped wearing her glasses, after finding a spell that made your eyesight perfect, so she no longer needed them. She had started wearing thick eyeliner around her eyes and painted her nails black as well.

          Looking out the window, it was dark and rainy, her ideal day. She had always loved the rain, because it made a day seem peaceful somehow. Deciding that she had to something other than sitting inside all day with nothing but homework to keep her company, she headed over to the door, and stepped into the common room. Thankfully no one was there. She didn’t think she could stand another round of people giving her sympathetic looks. She was no longer ‘Sister-of-The-Boy-Who-Lived’, she was now ‘The-Poor-Girl-Who-Lost-Her-Brother’.

          In one of her leather boots, she kept three wands. Hers, Harry’s, and Draco Malfoy’s. She had never gotten around to returning it to him, and he had never come up to her asking for it back. She knew she would have to give it back someday, but she wasn’t up to facing him just yet.

          As she stepped out into the rain, she was surprised to find that it was warm, not cold like it usually was. She relished the feeling of the warm water on her skin, the feeling of being alone. She recalled how she used to hate being alone for more than ten minutes at a time. Now she dreaded company. Amazing how so much could change after one event.

          Rain walked down to the lake, sitting down by a tree onto the muddy ground. The rain continued to fall around her, making it seem like she was under a canopy of water. The lake was forming little puddles where the multiple raindrops were hitting it with small splashes. She felt as though she could sit there forever.

*~*~*~*

          Rain was sitting in the Great Hall for breakfast. Of course, she was surrounded by her friends. But she never felt more alone than she did in that moment. Ron and Hermione were completely wrapped up in each other, and Ginny was busy talking to Luna and Neville, who were now a couple.

          Over the past weeks, Rain had felt more and more depressed. After she lost Harry, she didn’t just lose a brother. She lost a best friend, someone to confide in, someone she truly cared about since the day she was born. He was gone, and she had no one. No one to call her beautiful when she was fretting about what to wear to the next dance. No one to reassure her when she felt as though she had lost hope. No one to love.

          Rain picked at her food, feeling more and more sullen from her thoughts. She didn’t have anyone to talk to, period. Her friends all stopped trying to talk to her when she would have one word responses or just a shake of the head. Really, she just wasn’t in the mood to talk about Quidditch, or the new Prophet worthy scandal. She wanted to talk about the war, what happened, who died, who they missed, but everyone else wanted to move on. Rain wanted nothing but closure, and she didn’t get it.

          As the mail owls swept into the Hall, Rain didn’t notice a black eagle owl flying straight towards her. She jumped when a small white envelope was dropped in front of her. Picking it up, she scanned the Hall for any signs of anyone watching her, but found no one. Shrugging, she opened the envelope, and was shocked to see what it said.

          I think you’re beautiful.

*~*~*~*

          Rain was once again sitting in the Great Hall, this time for dinner. She piled her plate with pulled pork, roast beef, and mashed potatoes, but knew that she wasn’t hungry. She has spent the whole day trying to find out who had sent her the note at breakfast, but she couldn’t find even the slightest hint.

          This time, as a lone owl swept into the room, Rain wasn’t surprised when it dropped a note in front of her, but was surprised when she read what it said.

          I lost my mother in the war. I understand you, and saved you from that Death Eater, Yaxely. I will be out in the garden at midnight tonight. If you’re interested, come.

          Smiling, Rain folded the note and tucked it into her pocket for safekeeping.

*~*~*~*

          It wasn’t raining by the time she made it out into the garden, and had started walking down the winding stone pathway. She was both excited and nervous. She wanted to know who had been sending her the notes, but she also didn’t want them to be someone she hated, although she seriously doubted that someone she hated would send her a note saying she was beautiful…

          When she reached the middle fountain of the garden, she saw a figure sitting on the edge of it, tossing what looked like Knuts into it. Feeling slightly elated, she walked over to the person and softly cleared her throat. When he turned around, however, her eyes widened and she took a step back.

          “Malfoy?” She said. “Y—You’re the one who’s been sending me the notes?”

          Draco looked unsure. He glances around awkwardly for a second before meeting her eyes.

          “Yes,” he simply said. When she raised her eyebrows, he added, “You’ve been by yourself all this time after the war. Why didn’t you talk, eat, sleep, anything?”

          Rain blinked. “You’ve really been watching me that closely?”

          “I’ve watched you closely ever since I met you and your brother in Madam Malkins.” Draco said, as if it was supposed to be an obvious fact.

          “You never told me.”

          “Of course I never told you! What could I do? Come up to you and say ‘Hey, I know we’re enemies, but I thought it would be nice for you to know that I watch you!’” Draco scoffed. “You really think that would go over well?”

          Rain shrugged. “Okay, you have a point there.”

          She took a deep breath and continued.

          “Why tell me now?”

          “I don’t know,” Draco shrugged. “I’m tired of lying and telling myself that I don’t care about you, and that I hate you. Because I really don’t.”

          “I never hated you either,” Rain said. And at his skeptical look, she said, “I just thought you were an extreme git sometimes.”

          Draco smiled slightly, “Well, it’s a start.”

          He held out his hand, “Friends?”

          Rain stepped forward and grasped his hand in hers. “Friends.”

          He smiled and pulled her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, relishing in the clean smell of his jacket.

          “You really think I’m beautiful?” she asked.

          “Always.”

Okay, just realized that this sucks, but whatev.

Nargles

Once again, DracoxLuna

Nargles

          Draco Malfoy stood in the corner of the Great Hall. It was the night of the Winter Formal, and he was scheduled—by McGonagall of course—to help with the decorations. At the moment, he was watching Hogwarts students from various houses set up trees, streamers, mistletoe, etc.

          Draco, on the other hand, did not want anything to do with the decorating, so he just stayed along the edge of the room, hoping no one noticed that he wasn’t actually contributing. Although he had to admit, the Hall was looking pretty darn good. There was tinsel hung around the walls in rows, wreathes along every door and in the corners of the room, mistletoe hung occasionally over fireplaces that were placed there by magic, and a giant tree off in the corner by the entrance. The tree was covered in glittering ornaments and garland and seemed to glow by itself.

          Along a couple of refreshment tables, there were lights, and there was an assortment of sweets. Cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream, anything you can name, was on the tables, and the Hall was filled with the delicious smell coming off of each of them.

          But still, as great as it was looking, Draco wanted nothing more than to just get away from this Hall, and sleep for the night. There was no way he was coming to the Formal that night, and he imagined that he wasn’t invited anyway, being a former death eater and all. The school still hadn’t fully accepted him back, even though he proved himself to be truly remorseful for all the pain he had caused. They still blew him off and treated him like a piece of trash.

          The only person in the school who Draco thought didn’t judge him, was probably Luna “Loony” Lovegood. She, of course, was just as crazy as ever, and didn’t respond to the criticism that she still got from those certain girls who stole her shoes and schoolwork. Luna, of course, blamed it on some crazy creature that she believed in, but everyone knew better than to believe that.

          Then, the subject of his current thoughts, entered the room. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and black sweatpants, and had bare feet—no surprise there. She had a dreamy look in her large, blue eyes and was smiling slightly. When she entered, one of the students who was working on the decorations—a Hufflepuff, Draco recognized—went over to her and handed her a handful of garland, tinsel, and mistletoe and pointed to the places that he wanted each one hung. Luna happily nodded and walked over to where she was to hang the tinsel.

          Draco watched as she used her wand to guide the tinsel to a high place on the wall and secure it. He examined her while she worked. She had her platinum blonde hair down, and it fell just past her shoulders in loose waves. Her eyebrows were scrunched together in concentration, and she held her want delicately in her right hand. She worked slowly, making sure that each piece of décor was in its perfect place before moving on to the next one.

          He was so caught up in watching her, that he didn’t even notice when she was right in front of him.

          “Hello, Draco,” she said in her dreamy voice, startling him. “It’s a lovely set up isn’t it?”

          “Huh, what?” He said, sounding utterly undignified. “Oh yeah, it’s pretty nice I guess.”

          “You seem in a better mood than usual, the wrackspurts aren’t anywhere around here are they?” She asked, blue eyes wide and innocent.

          “Wrackspurts?”

          “Yes, you know the creatures that float into your brain through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. Surely you’ve heard of them!”

          Draco shook his head. Luna sure was loony.

          “Anyway, I don’t want to seem rude but I’m afraid that you’re standing in the way of where I need to hang up this garland,” She said.

          “Oh,” Draco said, quickly moving. Luna nodded her head in thanks and started to attach the garland to the wall with her wand. Just as Draco turned to walk away, she spoke again.

          “Are you planning on going to the Formal tonight? I heard it’s supposed to be quite spectacular.” She said.

          “Oh, no,” He said. “I’m not really into that kind of thing.”

          He actually did like dances. Especially the winter ones, as winter was his favorite season. He loved the snow and the cold, and drinking hot cocoa by the fire, and Christmas most of all. Not that he would ever tell anyone that. No need for anyone to think that Draco Malfoy was a softie.

          “Oh that’s really too bad,” Luna said. “I heard that there’s going to be real falling snow and everything.”

          Draco just nodded and listened to her talk.

          “You know, when I was little, my father used to take me out in the snow to look for Snowgarbles. They’re little creatures that live in the snow, and they like to cover up footprints after you walk through it. They like to make sure that the snow is clear, you see, because they value the winter. They’re okay with the other seasons, of course, but winter is their favorite.”

          “I believe I met one before, when I was about three or four. They’re really quite nice, despite what some people might think. A lot of people think that their vicious because they sometimes trip them while they’re walking through the snow. They don’t mean to do that though, they’re just really busy, because there are a lot of people who walk in the snow. But some people don’t believe in them at all, can you imagine?” Luna shook her head and worked at hanging another piece of garland.

          Draco sighed. Luna sure had a vivid imagination. Draco didn’t think she was crazy per se, but he thought that she might suffer from hallucinations, or just dreams. He highly doubted that there was such a thing as Snowgarble.

          Just then, the Hufflepuff who was talking to Luna earlier ran over with a handful of ornaments.

          “Hey, Luna! These were left over from the tree decoration box, and we were wondering if you could find something to do with them.” He said.

          Luna smiled brightly. “Of course! I could suspend them in the air without their hooks, and make them shimmer! And of course Draco here will be helping me.”

          Draco looked at Luna in shock. Helping with all this was exactly what he was trying to avoid. Luna, obviously not sensing this, just smiled at him as the Hufflepuff walked away. Once he was gone, Luna handed Draco all the rest of the garland.

          “Draco, can you please hang all these up for me?” She asked, her eyes big and pleading.

          Draco sighed. Not those eyes. He could never resist the puppy dog eye look, and Luna’s big blue eyes just amplified the effect.

          “Alright,” he said.

          “Great! So just like I’ve been showing you, hang them up with your wand and add a little shimmer to them.” She said, and then she skipped to the middle of the room where she did a spell on an ornament to make it float in the air.

          Draco shook his head and pulled out his wand. Doing the spell that he hoped was the one Luna had used, he sent the garland up to the ceiling and hung it against the wall, and did the same with all the other pieces, until it was done. Once he was finished, he stood back to admire his handiwork. It was perfect, except for one piece, a little up the wall wasn’t hung correctly. He tried a spell, but the darned thing wouldn’t budge, so he grabbed a double sided ladder and put it by the wall. Climbing up the ladder, he fixed the garland and was about to climb back down, when he felt the ladder shake slightly, signaling someone climbing up.

          Looking down, he saw it was Luna, carrying something in her hand. Once she reached the top, she smiled warmly at him, and he found it somehow taking his breath away. Who would’ve thought, Loony Lovegood was actually somewhat… pretty.

          Caught up in looking at her, he didn’t notice when she had hung something above them, and was staring at him with an intense look. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

          “You know, you shouldn’t stare so much, because someday someone could get highly offended by that,” she said matter-of-factly.

          “I… uh… I wasn’t staring!” Draco spluttered, though Luna saw exactly what he was trying to do.

          “It’s okay if you were, Draco,” She said. “And you better be careful of your shoes.”

          Draco looked down at his feet. His shoes looked fine to him. He looked back up at Luna, puzzled.

          “What?”

          “I said, you’d better be careful of your shoes. The Nargles might take them.”

          “Nargles?”

          Luna smiled and pointed above their heads, as if that solved everything. Looking up, Draco saw that there was mistletoe hanging right above their heads. He was confused for a minute, but then it hit him. He was under the mistletoe with Luna Lovegood. He looked at Luna in shock, but the shock quickly melted into a different feeling he couldn’t quite describe. Looking at her, he realized that she was a lot prettier than he thought she was, and that she didn’t need make up to make herself look that way. The dim lighting in the room made her hair look shinier than usual, and lighter. Her eyes were big, blue, and sparkling, and seemed like they stared right into his soul. Her lips were parted in a small smile.

          Before Draco could comprehend what he was doing—or rather care enough to—he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. They were soft, and warm, and tasted like cinnamon, as if she had eaten one of the desserts that were on the tables, though Draco had the feeling that she hadn’t. She was kissing him back, which was a good sign, and Draco found himself to be kind of happy.

          They pulled away, and Draco was in kind of a dazed state, and Luna was chuckling quietly at him. And once again, for the who knows how many times that night, Draco did something unexpected.

          “Luna, do you want to go to the Formal with me?”

          She smiled.

          “I would love to.” 

Broken Pieces

Broken Pieces

          Luna Lovegood was used to being called crazy. Every day it was something new, her quills, bag, shoes, papers, everything would be stolen from her. She was able to cover it up by saying that she “suspected the Nargles did it”, but she knew that that wasn’t really it. She was sick of all this pointless ridicule. People calling her weird, and of course the all famous “Loony Lovegood”. She knew it was slightly her fault, but she considered herself a bit eccentric, and different. Was it really so bad to be different?

          People were so judgmental at Hogwarts. Luna didn’t really know what to do to fix the mess she’d gotten herself into. She grew up her whole life, with her father encouraging her, and telling her how proud he was of her, and that they’d go and look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks together. She wasn’t, however, used to people calling her rude names, stealing her things, and making fun of her every chance they got.

          Eventually she had gotten so sick of it all, that she rarely came out of the Ravenclaw dormitories. She asked the house elves to bring her meals, her friends to bring her homework, etc. The only time she really left was in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep. She would go up to the astronomy tower, sit on the window ledge, and stare off into the night. She would count the stars, and find her favorite constellations. Her father had shown her them when she was little. She had first learned a few of them from her mother, who was—if that was possible—even more eccentric than she was. After she had died, though, her father took over the role of explaining them to her.

          Luna had always been fascinated with the stars, which was why Astronomy was her favorite subject. She wasn’t really that into Quidditch, though most people thought she was, since she always wore those creative hats to the games. But she would rather be looking at the stars, and making corresponding charts and writing stories about them.

          But now, she was starting to lose interest in the little things like that. She didn’t watch the stars anymore, she didn’t leave her room anymore, and rarely left her bed. She had slipped farther and farther away from any friends that she had, any contact that she had with anyone. There was a pile of letters on her bedside table from her father, all unopened. She didn’t want to read his words of concern, the worry that had no doubt flowed from his quill as he wrote.

          Luna sighed and threw back the covers that were over her and sat up. It was about midnight, and the castle was sleeping, except for probably the Gryffindor tower, as they had won that day’s Quidditch match. She turned to her bedside table and grabbed a small silver object from inside the drawer and put into her pajama bottom pocket. She had made her own pajama pants, flannel fabric with stars all over them. She had taken care to put her radish earrings in her ears, and kept her butterbeer cork necklace around her neck.

          Putting on one of her heavy winter robes, as it was January, and the castle often got very cold in the winter, she walked out of her room for the first time in many months. She hadn’t put any shoes on, not seeing the point as they wouldn’t matter after what was going to happen that night.

          The floor was cold under her feet as she padded softly down the stairs and into the common room, which was thankfully empty. She quietly exited, and was quiet enough to not wake up the portrait outside, and began her trek to the Astronomy tower.

          The hallways seemed longer than they usually did, but that may have been just because she hadn’t been outside of the Ravenclaw tower in quite some time, and just wasn’t used to it. As she passed by the stairs that went down to the Slytherin dorms, she was unaware of a pair of silvery eyes watching her.

          Reaching up, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, leaving a few loose strands in the front. She had always loved her hair, thinking that it looked luminous and shiny in the moonlight. She took special care of her hair, because her mother had always brushed it when she was little, and told her what beautiful hair it was. It was now a very sentimental thing to Luna, and she treasured it.

          Before she knew it, she was at the Astronomy tower. As she started to head up the stairs, she heard a small rustling sound behind her, and she turned around, startled. She looked around for a while, but after she was satisfied that it was all just her imagination, she turned and started back up the stairs, her bare feet making no noise on the metal. Once reaching the top, she headed over to the telescope that was perched by one of the windows and lightly ran her fingers across it. She had missed this, the serene feeling that always overcame her when she was up here.

          Luna looked up at the stars, and was pleased to see that they were exceptionally bright that night, twinkling down at her as if in greeting. The moon was full, and as if on cue, a long howl was heard in the distance, and Luna smiled, knowing that it was one of the werewolves that inhabited the Forbidden Forest. Her smile quickly vanished however, as she remembered what she came here to do.

          She turned and slid down the wall, eventually sitting with her knees to her chest, and her back against the cool stone. Shrugging out of her heavy robe, and wanting to prolong this, and make it so it wasn’t too fast, she closed her eyes and just sat for a moment, drinking in the perfection of this night, and how it seemed as though it was just for her, so she could experience it one last time.

          Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the small object she had taken from her bedside table. Since she was wearing a short sleeved shirt, her arm was bared, and ready for what was to come. Luna took a deep breath to steady herself, gripping the object in one hand tightly. She sighed, almost in relief, as small streams of blood ran across her fingers from the fresh, light wound the razor had imbedded in her skin.

          Sighing, and knowing that she couldn’t wait any longer, she made three small slits in her left wrist, right along the vein. She winced from the sharp pain that followed and closed her eyes, though they still leaked out tears.

          Luna was tired of the criticism, tired of the lies, the craziness, the complete messed up world she lived in. She was tired of life and all the sorrow it brought her every day. Tired of the pointless laying around, when she obviously had no place left in the world. No one cared enough to notice she was hurting. No one cared enough to follow her, to stop her, to anything. No. One. Cared. And she was sick of it.

          She was alone, and this was the only way out. The only way to solitude, to her mother, to peace, to quiet. The only way to escape from the craziness she called her life.

          She knew that if she just sat there, just let the blood flow freely and not stop it, she would die. And that was exactly what she wanted. Who would’ve thought? Luna Lovegood, the crazy girl, the “loony” girl, the girl that deflected any insult. Luna Lovegood, was committing suicide. And no one cared.

          She let the razor drop to the ground with a slight clinking sound, and let her arms rest on the ground beside her, and rested her head on the stone behind her. Her inner feelings distracted her from the pain in her wrist, and she felt almost at peace. The broken pieces of her heart piecing back together and she knew that soon, she would be with her mother, at peace. Soon, she would finally be okay. She was broken, but not for long.

          Then there was a gasp. Luna’s eyes flew open and she looked around, but she couldn’t see anyone, even when she looked where the noise had came from. She instinctively covered her wrist with her hand, but I was no use, as the blood leaked around her fingers and dripped to the floor with an audible sound.

           Then a person stepped out of the shadows. Luna’s eyes widened as she saw who it was, the very last person she expected to see.

          “Draco?” her voice was just a whisper, and he wasn’t sure if he could even hear it.

          They had never spoken, except for just a “Hey Loony.” And an occasional sneer. Someone that she could have sworn hated her, had followed her here. Of course, he could’ve had just been coming up here because he couldn’t sleep, but Luna could always hope.

          For a while it was still and silent. Two people locked in what felt like a staring contest, forever without a winner. Looking into Draco’s eyes, Luna saw that he was just as broken as she was. She knew it must have been hard for him, to be a Death Eater by force, to be rejected by the whole school because of it. She could see the remorse in his eyes for all the people he hurt, all the lives he was forced to take. She could see that underneath it all, he was just as hurt as she was.

          Draco was the first to break the eye contact, his eyes flicking downwards to look at her hand covering her wrist, now covered in blood. He then looked back at her, a confused bewilderment overcoming his expression, before he walked over to her and knelt down in front of her. She regarded him warily, not knowing for sure what he wanted, but then he gently removed her hand from her wrist, and lifted her arm up, examining it. Quickly, almost without thinking it seemed, he whipped out his wand and healed the cuts before Luna could even blink an eye. After cleaning up the blood on the floor, it was almost as if Luna had never had the razor with her in the first place. Draco sank down onto the floor beside her.

          “Why?” His voice was quiet, distant, but it was there. The only genuine concern that she had ever heard come out of his mouth, was directed towards her. She only shrugged, not sure how to answer that question in a way that he would understand, and not drift away from her. She finally had someone who cared, she wasn’t going to scare him away with her depressing stories.

          “No, don’t give me that, Luna,” She jumped at the sound of her name, when he usually called her loony. “I know something’s up. People don’t try to kill themselves for no reason.”

          “I wasn’t—” She protested feebly but he cut her off.

          “I saw those cuts. They were lethal, and on purpose.” He said. He turned his head to look into her eyes, and she found herself unable to look away. “I just want to know. Why did you do it?”

          Luna sighed and broke eye contact, letting out a long breath. “I’m sick of everyone calling me crazy, making fun of me for every last thing I do, every little thing that makes me different, that separates me from them. I’m sick of them saying that I’m not normal, that I’m a freak. I just want to be accepted. To be cared about.”

          She fell silent, waiting for his response. Half of her was anticipating his reply, hoping that it was something non-critical, and understanding, and the other half dreaded it, because she was sure that it would be something judgmental, something that would break her even more.

          “You know that no one means what they say about you don’t you?” Draco said in a quiet voice. “I, for one, am quite jealous.”

          “Jealous?” She scoffed. “Why would you be jealous of me?”

          “Because you deflect any mean comment that someone sends your way. If someone calls you crazy, or loony, then you just smile at them and continue on your way as if it didn’t bother you at all. Whereas I, I either insult them  back, hit them, or lash out at them, and then it all goes straight to my head, and I think I’m just a worthless pile of nothing that doesn’t deserve happiness.”

          “Draco, listen to me.” Luna said. “You don’t need to worry about that stuff! People still will like you, they’ll get over what you’ve done in the past. It’s all in the past after all. With me though, they think I’m truly crazy. Just because I believe in Nargles or Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, they think it’s a reason to ridicule me, and it happens every day, because I don’t have the ability to be  normal. I don’t deserve you helping me. Why did you come anyway? Why did you save me?”

          She looked over at him, big blue eyes begging for the one response that will either rip her apart, or piece her back together, broken piece by broken piece.

          “I don’t know,” Draco said. “I guess it’s just because I know what it’s like to have been there. I know what it’s like to give up.”

          Luna looked at him startled. He was staring back at her with an expression that she couldn’t understand, and all of a sudden, so fast that she was sure she had imagined it, he leaned in and pressed a small kiss on her left cheek. She stared at him at shock, but had no time to react because he had already gotten up and walked out of the tower, and away from her.

          So that’s how Luna Lovegood ended up on the Astronomy tower, late one cold January night, pressing a hand to her still tingling cheek, a small smile on her face. 

I really hope that you liked this story! It's my second DracoxLuna fanfiction but it's just the first that I ended up posting. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to comment! :D

Insomnia: Chapter One

Okay this is my first post of a story chapter! If you get confused about anything having to do with my blog please just comment or look at any of the posts I have posted at the beginning of the blog! But for now... Enjoy!
I will come back and edit this stuff someday, but not today. 


Insomnia: Chapter One

Zachary

            I sat in the corner of the nearly deserted café at midnight, drinking a cup of coffee—black with strictly one cup of cream—and reading a standard paperback novel to pass the time. There were only a couple of people left in here, strewn out among the tables. They were frequent visitors, an older guy, probably in his sixties, named Rob sat in the other corner. We’ve spoken once, he was nice you could say, but he wasn’t the most talkative, and mostly kept to himself. There was a girl, about my age, named Leah, sat in the middle of the room, drinking a soft frozen mocha, and staring at the wall. I’ve never actually talked to her, she kind of intimidated me. She was so serious. She had stick straight blonde hair and light blue-gray eyes that seemed to stare straight into your core. There were also some people that didn’t come often, that I didn’t pay much attention to.

            I had been coming to that café for about two years. The first time I came, I was twelve. Yeah I know, a little too young to be coming to a restaurant in the middle of the night, and in the worst part of the neighborhood no doubt. Whether I was trying to escape my increasingly depressed mother, or my plethora of younger siblings, I can’t say. I just know that I needed to be alone for once, in a place that no one would bother me.

            It wasn’t as though I didn’t love my mom, of course I did. I just wish she hadn’t lost herself so completely when dad died. She had been a wreck. That much I could understand at least. She had spent at least a month straight in her room, crying. Leaving only me to care for my two younger sisters and two younger brothers. My mom had always wanted a big family, it was a dream of both my dad and her. They did a good job of caring for us. Until I was eleven, when my dad died. My youngest sister, Sarah, was only three at the time. My mom just lost it. I had to give her credit, since she lost the love of her life, but she detached herself from all of us. It was like one second everything was fine, and I was part of a wonderful family, four happy siblings, two parents happily in love, and then it was all ripped away. My dad lost his life in a car accident, my mom shut herself away, my nine year old brother at the time, Jack, wasn’t as happy anymore.

            Jack, luckily, never became a reckless kid like everyone expected him to be. He was loyal to me, and our siblings. He still loved our mother, no matter how insufferable she could be at times. He was the most enjoyable twelve year old to be around, such an energetic kid. There was also Rico, our little seven year old brother. And Rachel, who was nine. And of course Sarah again, who was then five.

            Of course I loved my family. Each and every one of them, I just wished that I had at least a little help taking care of them. It was when I was twelve, about a month before I started coming to the café, that I became an insomniac. At least at night. I often found myself falling asleep for an hour or two during the hours of the day when everything was calm, but I could never get myself to fall asleep during the night. For the first month, I just laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling, and then I’d gotten into reading. I’d buy more and more books getting engrossed in the lives of fictional characters. Fictional characters that seemed to have worse lives than mine, but then they would get better, and I would be transported to another world, temporarily taken away from the mayhem that I called my life.

            “Are you all finished dear?” A voice asked. I started and looked up into the smiling face of Sally, the waitress that worked the late hours at the café. She was forty at most, and was always kind, and talked to me daily.

            I nodded and slid my cup and saucer over to her and she picked it up. She must have noticed the frown on my face because her brow furrowed and a concerned look came into her eyes.

            “Is everything okay?”

            “Yeah,” I replied slowly, forcing a reassuring smile into my face. “Everything’s fine thanks.”

            “If you’re sure,” she said looking skeptical. I just nodded mutely and she turned to walk away. “I’ll bring you a refill, free of charge. You look like you need it.”

            “Okay, thanks Sally.”

            She walked away and I dropped my eyes to the wooden table of the booth I currently sat at. I then proceeded to trace the patterns in the wood until I felt someone’s eyes on me. I looked up confused as to why someone would even want to look at me, I mean I wasn’t much to look at, and met the piercing blue-gray eyes of Leah. I jumped. Leah usually never looked at anyone. Never talked to anyone, never even interacted with anyone if she could avoid it. Maybe this is the reason I didn’t look away, or maybe it was because she was regarding me with an expression that looked almost like… pity. I didn’t have time to ponder exactly why she was looking at me that way, because just then Sally came and handed me another cup of coffee and when I thanked her and looked back at Leah, she was staring at the wall again, leaving me to wonder if the whole exchange had just been in my head.

            I shook my head and picked up my book again. It was called The Giver. Normally, this kind of book wouldn’t be my kind of thing, because it was about this isolated community and they had the strangest way of going about different things, but I decided to give it a chance. It wasn’t the most interesting thing, I admit, but it was nice to have something different after a while of the same thing over and over again. You get bored every once and a while.

            The bell over the door sounded, and I looked up to see another boy, roughly my age, maybe a year or so older, walking over to the counter. He ordered his drink in a very quiet voice, and he seemed timid. He had reddish brown hair, and he was tall and very skinny, as though he hadn’t eaten in while. As he got his drink and turned around, he saw me, and I gave him a small wave which he returned, and he sat in the table closest to the door and pulled out a Mac laptop. As he started to type away furiously, I turned my attention back to my book, and read for about ten minutes, before I got bored and put my bookmark in it and set it down. I pulled my now cool coffee towards me and added a small cup of cream and taking a sip. It was a little too cold for my liking but it would do, as I didn’t want to trouble Sally by asking for another cup, as she was talking animatedly on the phone behind the counter in hushed tones.

            I sighed and looked up at the brown haired boy again. He had stopped typing and was staring straight ahead of him, like he was pondering something extremely important. After about five minutes of staring, I realized what I was doing and blushed and looked down. I wasn’t one to stare, I usually kept my attention away from people, as I was home a lot and taking care of my brothers and sisters, my social life had gone downhill. I wasn’t popular by a long shot, and was constantly ignored. It was better than being made fun of, but anything would be better than people acting like I didn’t even exist. So, with nothing better to do, I immersed myself in school, keeping my grades up and being the ideal student. I answered questions when I was called on—which was very little—and I always turned in my homework on time. But it was a lot for a fourteen year old boy to handle. I was just starting high school, where being part of the inner circle, the “In Crowd” was everything. It didn’t matter if you were smart, or were even a good conversationalist. It only mattered about looks and confidence and how you carried yourself. If you were like me, you were a lowlife.

            Jack was always telling me how if any girl in his grade even walked by our house, they would look for me, saying they loved how I looked, like I had that “Mysterious and guarded” vibe or whatever girls say about guys they had crushes on. I for one would’ve been clueless as to what the heck they were talking about if I hadn’t read so much. Sometimes I would think about what they said about me, and look in the mirror. I would see my way too long dirty-blonde hair that hung in my eyes and just reached my shoulders, my smoldering green eyes that burned with intensity even when I wasn’t trying. I didn’t see how I would be considered mysterious though. I only saw myself as everyone else saw me, the shy, scrawny kid that no one paid any attention to. That wasn’t even worth anyone’s time or effort.

            I was pulled back to the present when I accidentally spilled some of the coffee down my shirt. I cursed softly under my breath and quickly got a napkin off the table and wiped it off, thanking whatever outside force that had compelled me to wear a black shirt that day. Once my shirt was dry, I looked up and met the eyes of the brown haired boy again—they were also brown—and saw that he was watching me with amusement. I stared at him blankly for a moment before finishing the last of my coffee, and putting the now crumpled up napkin into the cup and returning it to its place at the end of the table. When I looked back up, I saw that he was still staring at me, before he beckoned me over with a twitch of his hand.

            For a moment I just stared, dumbfounded. There was actually someone that was willing to invite me to sit with them, inviting me over of their own accord. At first I thought that I had imagined it, and that it was just my mind playing tricks on me so that I wouldn’t feel like such a loner, until he did it again and shot me a meaningful look. I nodded and put my book in my backpack that was sitting in the chair next to mine, and walked over to his table and sat down across from him.

            If I were to sum up the first minute that I sat there in one word, it would be awkward. Neither of us said anything to each other, and the boy had returned to typing on his computer, giving me a chance to really look at him. Up close, I could see that his eyes were hazel, not just brown, and that he had freckles all across the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, and a pair of old sneakers. Eventually, he looked up and stuck his hand out to me.

            “Hi.” He said. “I’m Mac.”

            I hesitated a moment, trying to make sure that he was serious, and not just pulling my leg, and when the situation continued to look promising, I reached over and clasped his hand in mine and shook it.

            “I’m Zack.”

            “Nice to meet you.” Mac said and then he returned to his computer.

            “So, you have a thing for computers huh?” I asked, trying to make conversation, it was one of the few things that I had always been good at, except now, in the face of a situation that I actually had to use it, it was proving to be considerably harder.

            “Not really, my dad’s the one who’s always been into them. He works for the apple company.” He replied looking up at me. “He’s actually the one who suggested the name for the Mac computer, and of course, my name.”

            I nodded. “Yeah, I was just wondering since you seem to be pretty engrossed.”

            “Oh, I’m just writing. I’ve been getting more and more into English, you know, starting to write short stories and such. I’ve actually just started to work on a full length novel, and I’ve been unable to stop writing it.”

            “So I’m guessing that you must love school then,” I said.

            “Oh yeah, definitely.” He said. “A lot of people make fun of me for it, but I try not to let it get to me. I don’t know if you’d understand though, you look like you’d be one of the popular kids, although most popular kids would be out with their friends at midnight on a Friday night, and not in an old café drinking coffee and reading.”

            “Me? Popular? Are you kidding? I couldn’t be popular if I tried.” I said laughing humorlessly. “I’m actually ignored most of the time. Even by teachers. Sometimes I feel as though I don’t even exist.”

            “Same here, even by my own family,” he said. “My dad is always at his job, working late nights and usually not getting home until around two or three. And my mom doesn’t live with us anymore, they got divorced a couple years ago. It’s why I come here, just to get the time passing.”

            “So you must live around here then,” I said.

            “Yeah, down the street actually. I go to Northfield HS.”

            “Me too,” I said. “What grade?”

            “Freshman, I just started. I actually moved here a couple months ago, so it’s all pretty new for me. What about you?”

            “Same.” I said. “I’ve lived here since third grade.”

            “Wonder why we never ran into each other.” Mac said.

            I shook my head, “I don’t know, I guess I just don’t pay attention to the people at school, as most of them don’t feel like they need to stoop low enough to pay attention to me.”

            “Yeah I know how you feel, its hard transferring. No one really makes a move to get to know you, and you just have to get by and just barely make friends or anything.”

            “Have you moved around a lot?”

            “Nah, this is the second time. The first time was only a couple years ago, so it wasn’t like it was much of a drastic change. I’ve never had many friends, so it’s not as it anyone’s going to miss me.”

            “So why do you come here so late then? Can’t sleep or…” I trailed off waiting for him to talk.

            “Usually I come here in the middle of the day, that’s probably one of the reasons that we never ran into each other.” Mac said. “I guess I came at this time tonight because I was sick of coming during lunch, while all the other kids went in the other direction and I knew that they were going somewhere cooler than I was. It’s so much easier coming in the middle of the night, when everyone’s sleeping.”

            “Yeah I agree.” I said fingering the fray thread on the hem of my shirt.

            “So why do you come here?” he asked me, closing his laptop and putting it on the table next to him and giving me his undivided attention. “I told you a bunch of stuff about me, it’s your turn.”

            I sighed. “I’m an insomniac.”

            “Oh,” he said looking surprised. “Since when?”

            “Since I was twelve. My mom sort of went all… distant… I guess you could say. She stopped talking to me and my siblings. She started going out more, and when she would get home, she would head straight to her room without a word to any of us, and I guess it just seemed like we didn’t have a mother anymore, and we just had to deal by ourselves.”

            “Wow. That’s a lot worse than I’ve got it. How many siblings do you have?”

            “Four.” I replied, not really wanting to talk about my life anymore. I didn’t need to bore him with tales of woe about my family, when it was more than likely that he didn’t care anyway.

            “Oh.”

            “Yeah.”

            We didn’t talk much after that. Occasionally, Mac would ask me a question and I would respond, but we never really got much of a conversation going. Sighing, and giving up any hope of conversation, Mac pulled out his laptop and once again resumed typing, as if we had never talked at all. I sighed and shook my head, getting up. It was clear that we were most likely never even going to speak to each other after this.

            “Zack, wait,” Mac said just as I had grabbed my backpack and turned away.

            “Yeah?” I said turning around.

            “You have a cell, right?” he asked, pulling a phone out of his pants pocket.

            “Uh, yeah, I do,” I said, getting my own phone out of my backpack. He took it out of my hands unexpectedly and started fiddling with it, and when he handed it back, I saw that he had put his number in, so I proceeded to do the same with his and after we had put our phones away, he held his hand out for another shake.

            “So, I’ll see you here tomorrow then?” he asked, shaking my hand.

            “Uh, yeah sure,” I replied. “See you.” And with that, I walked to the door, and out into the summer air. I was glad that there was no school at the moment, even though we would be starting up again in a couple weeks.

            My thoughts strayed back to Leah and how she had looked at me. Almost like she was sorry for me for some reason. What she had to be sorry for me about, I had no idea, but you could bet I was about as curious as you can get. Leah was the kind of person who kept completely to herself unless she was ordering a drink at the café. Even Sally—one of the most persistent people I had ever met—had given up on making any eye contact—let alone a full conversation—out of her. I never heard her speak, never saw her do anything except sit and stare at nothing for hours. If I thought that I was shy, it was nothing compared to her.

            I sighed as I walked down the sidewalk, kicking pebbles and stones as I went. It was going on one in the morning, and I had no idea of what I would do until the morning. Sleep was obviously out of the question, but I wasn’t in the mood for reading at the moment. My house was still several blocks away, so I at least had an activity for about twenty more minutes before I was confined in the bland walls of the place I was expected to call home. The day before had been chaotic, Sarah wouldn’t stop crying because Rico wouldn’t stop taking her toys away from her. Eventually I just got so sick of it all that I sent Rico to the room that he shared with Jack and kept Sarah happy for the rest of the night. Jack just kept to himself and played his DS in the corner of the living room. Jack always knew when things were too crazy, and he would try his best to stay out of my way so that things weren’t even harder for me. Rachel spent the night holed up in her and Sarah’s room, doing whatever it was that nine year old girls did these days.

            I thought back to Mac and our conversation. He certainly seemed friendly enough, and he had wanted my phone number, but I still had a reason to be wary. No one, no matter how unnoticed they were by everyone else, usually wanted to be friends with me. It was also probably due to the fact that I kept to myself. I never talked to one, never interacted with anyone, and did my schoolwork in silence, not paying attention to anyone my age. Until that day that is. Mac certainly had the potential of being someone who I could finally be friends with, and I wasn’t about to pass up that opportunity. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I was surprised to see that it was a text message from Jack. I opened it.

            Where are you?

            I shook my head before replying.

            I was out. I’m coming home now. What are you doing up so late?

            It was a couple more minutes of walking before I got a response.

            I’m waiting for you. I saw you leave. We’re all worried about where you go at night, except for mom of course.

            I quickly typed back a response.

            It’s fine, don’t worry about me, I’ll be home soon. Go back to sleep.

            I turned my phone off after that and put it away. I was surprised that my siblings had even noticed that I slipped out every night. I had always thought I did a good job of being discreet and quiet. But now that I thought about it, I realized that I had never really checked to make sure that they were all asleep before I left. Except for my mom, I always had to make sure she was asleep so I could avoid unnecessary confrontation. The first time I had tried to sneak out, she had yelled at me so loud that every kid in the house, except for Sarah, had raced downstairs to see what the problem was. I had doubted that any of them remembered the reason that she yelled at me, but they must have if they noticed that I left the house every night.

            After about five more minutes of brooding and walking, I found myself walking up the worn driveway up to our house. After my dad had died, my mom stopped taking care of the house. Our worn out, wooden front door was close to hanging off the hinges, the foliage outside had grown up the side of the house, the driveway that was made of stones had gaps of dirt where the stones had come up. I sighed and shoved my key in the lock and forced the door open and had to work to keep it steady, before walking into the living room to find the television on and Jack sitting on the couch watching it. He looked up when I came in.

            “I thought I told you to go back to sleep,” I scolded halfheartedly and sat next to him. Truthfully, I was glad to have the company of my brother.

            He looked at me with laughter in his eyes, “Since when do I ever listen to you?”

            I lightly shoved him and chuckled lightly.

            “I just wanted to make sure that you made it back,” he said. “Usually you don’t come back until the morning. Where were you anyway?”

            “Just at this café down the street,” I replied passively. “I go there and get a coffee usually, the waitress is nice and she keeps me company. Or I read.”

            “Why do you leave?” he asked, looking at me with his brow furrowed. “You don’t ever sleep do you?”

            I sighed. “It’s complicated.”

            Jack sighed and nodded turning back to the TV. He always knew when I was going to talk and when I wasn’t.

            “Why do you risk it anyway? After what Mom did that first time?”

            I shrugged and considered that before I answered, “I don’t know. I can never sleep and I guess I just get too tired of being stuck inside. I just need to escape once and a while, so I can pretend that I don’t have a depressed mother.”

            “I’m sorry about Mom you know. I’m sure she doesn’t mean it when she gets mad at you, and I’m sure she still loves us.” Jack said, still staring at the TV.

            I put my arm around his thin shoulders, “Of course she still loves us, Jack.” I said. “She’s just trying to get by. She’s not really succeeding, but she’s trying.”

            Jack nodded and put his head against my shoulder. “You’re the best brother I could’ve asked for.”

            “Thanks, bud,” I replied.

            We sat in silence after that, and I listened to his breathing as it because slower and deeper as he fell asleep. I spent the next hour or so surfing through channels on the TV until about two-thirty in the morning and I knew it was time to put Jack in his room. I turned off the TV and picked him up carefully so I wouldn’t wake him, and carried him up to his room. After I laid him down, I took in his appearance. He had dirty-blonde hair like mine, except his was slightly darker, his normally soft blue eyes were closed and his childlike features were peaceful in sleep. I felt a pang of jealousy at the fact that he could sleep and I couldn’t, but it quickly disappeared when I thought about how hard his life already was, and I couldn’t with sleep deprivation on him even if I wanted to. I sighed and brought the blankets up to his chin. I then turned off the light and after tossing another quick glance to his sleeping form, I walked out the door and towards my room. I was the only one in the household besides our mother that had their own room. It was probably because I was the oldest, but I could never see my mom’s motives, or anything about her anymore.

            I dropped my backpack on the floor of my room and heard it land with a muffled thud on the carpet. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair and closed my eyes in exasperation. My room was a mess leftover from the school year, papers were strewn across the floor along with clothes from when I had tiredly threw them out of the closet in the morning. My desk was in the corner by my closet, and my dresser was against the wall at the end of my bed. With yet another sigh—I seemed to be almost incapable of anything other than sighs lately—I laid down on my bed and just stared at the ceiling thinking. Sure, our life was a mess at the moment, but we were okay, and I just had to enjoy it while I could.

            Eventually, I just let my mind drift, and I can’t recall thinking anything important for the rest of the night. 

Each different book/story/fanfiction will be a different color (or I will try until I run out of colors lol)

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