Something That Happened On New Year's Eve

Draco POV

This was such a stupid idea. Everyone knows that the people left at Hogwarts over the holidays are losers whose families hate them. Besides me of course. I stayed by choice. That's it. While my friends are out enjoying parties, I'm here with these gits. By choice. Which is why I'm here at this stupid party that's supposed to cheer us, and why I'm sulking in a corner. Nobody's dancing, obviously. We are all just waiting until they dismiss us. It's almost painful how ugly all these rejected kids are. No, it is painful. Look at that Longbottom freak trying to get a funny-looking Gryffindor to speak to him. Even that thing is too good for him. I smirk to myself. I would never grovel for a girl like that. All my conquests come back; they beg for me. Ugh, speaking of conquests…

"Drakie! Why are you over in a corner? Aren't you having fun?"

I grimace. Why, oh why did Pansy have to be one of the unwanted? If my parents had wanted me to come home, and if I had wanted to go home, of course, I certainly wouldn't have missed her. I wasn't quite in the mood for a shag, and that's all she was good for. Her lack of innocence made me feel my own all the more acutely.

Without even waiting for a reply, she starts rambling on about something. Her dress, maybe? I don't care. I glance at the clock. 10:30. It's going to be a long night.

When Pansy notices I'm not paying her the merest hint of attention, she inches closer, wrapping her claws around my arm. "Maybe we could sneak out of here. Nobody would notice. We could go to that broom closet on the third floor. We could bring in the New Year our own way," she whispers in my ear. I feel something churn in my stomach, but it isn't the desire that I used to feel. Just revulsion and disgust. Stupid girl, making me feel guilt and remorse. I don't need this. I push off the wall, shoving her away as I go.

"Draaa-," she starts to whine, but I cut her off with an icy glare. She shrugs, communicating with her eyes that if I change my mind she'll be waiting, and walks off. That's the thing about easy girls, they aren't real needy. I wonder if she feels sad when I reject her…no matter. Pansy's don't have feelings.

Now that the invader of my dark corner and my peace has departed, I turn to resume my brooding position. But what was that? A spark that I hadn't noticed before. My corner hid the flame from my line of vision. I look closer and my jaw drops. I had been wrong, there are people dancing. Or a person. The red and orange dress was what caught my attention, the colors shimmering like a fire. She is spinning around with her arms spread out wide, like a bird. A smile of pure, untainted joy lights up her face. She's on her toes as if wearing the highest of heels, but her feel are bare. Her eyes closed, just enjoying her own movements is enough it seems. How can that be enough?

A crowd of students stands around her, silently laughing to themselves about the oddity before them. Something stirs in me, staring at their jeering faces. Sneering as I usually would. I want to hex them all. How could they not see how clear, how beautiful she is? She is more than they could ever hope to be. She is…Lovegood? I finally recognize the white-blonde hair and the milky pale skin. But even the newly-found label doesn't affect me as I expect. Something about the lights, the night, the Pansy-attack earlier, being left on my own by a family so impure, whatever I would blame it on later, I need to be over there, with her.

I try to control myself, to saunter as usual, but something in me wants to run more badly than I have in, well, ever. But I have to stop. It's. Just. Lovegood. I attempt to calm myself down, but watching her makes me think that maybe there was some hope, and that is a spark I cannot extinguish. Hope? Where did that come from? What is this girl doing to my head? I can't help being alarmed by the direction of my thoughts, but I cannot turn back now. I am not afraid of this vision wrapped in flames. Never!

Now I'm only feet from the angel, and everyone around is staring at us. I could stupefy them and there would be no noticeable difference. But who cares what this lot says anyway? Nobody would believe them if the tried to say Draco Malfoy approached with Luna Lovegood with civility, that he wanted to dance with her. And that was what I would do, I realize. I hadn't actually formed a plan consciously before this point, but I want to dance with her. To hold her close. I almost felt bad disturbing her in this state, but the desire to be a part of this moment is overwhelming. I clear my throat.

"Um. Would you, ah…like to d-dance with me?" This is painful. My voice just cracked for the first time since I went through puberty. And what's more, there is no response. Her eyes don't even open.

"Lovegood?" Nothing.

"Lovegood!" I vaguely recognize that I almost shout this.

"Lovegood! Open your eyes and dance with me!" She stops spinning slowly. Then blinking in the light, she looks at me. At being the operative word. It feels more like a chest x-ray than anything else.

"I'd really rather not," she says slowly, dream-like. How have I never noticed how soft her voice is? It's so-No? She said no! Nope, I can't do it, I won't lower myself to ask…

"Why?" Ugh, it slipped out before I could stop it. Now I was worse than Pansy; even she doesn't plead.

She looks at me again, her cerulean eyes piercing mine. "I was quite enjoying dancing by myself actually. I was thinking of Mom."

I wince. Everyone knows that she had lost her mom (most people said that was the reason she was so loony), and I had just interrupted a moment. I should turn around and march right back to my dark corner. No, here it comes again…

"Please?" Did I really? I did not just say please, I refuse to believe it.

It seems that she would get tired of staring at me by now, but she presses on. She doesn't even blink. I smirk to myself briefly, familiar at least with this reaction to my appearance if not my own reaction to her presence. Because as I look down at this remarkable creature, I can't even begin to think of her as "loony". All of my insults of the past flash through my mind, and something akin to shame floods in after them.

So lost in these thoughts am I that at first I think I imagined it, but she repeats the action. She nods. She nods! "Really?"

"Yes," she whispered, just a small voice in the still air. Not waiting for her to change her mind, I take one of her hands in mine. I grab her waist with my other, and we begin to sway. We don't talk, though at many times I want to. She seems content to just rest her head on my chest, and I cannot risk bringing her back to her senses. Most of the time my eyes are closed, just savoring the feel of her hand in mine, her body pressed lightly against my own. But slowly I open my eyes just a bit, glancing at the clock once, twice, dreading the time coming to end this party, this moment. 11:32. 11:47. 11:56. My hand tightens on her waist, almost of its own accord, drawing her ever closer. She lets out a small sigh, relaxing even father into my arms. I wonder about what she's thinking. Probably disappointed in my dancing skills. I don't dare to ask. The moment is pure, a purity only such as her could bring to my stained life, and I feel my soul will be lost if I do anything to tear her away.

They've started counting. This is it. My last minute in the presence of this incredible innocence. We stop moving. Fifteen seconds…

I draw my head back, looking into her clear eyes. I muster my courage, willing my voice to be firm, and then I ask, "Can I kiss you?"

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Will she even respond?

Six.

Five.

Four.

I nearly miss it again. Her nod. I lean down and our foreheads meet. I tilt her head up with my hand, and all at once I'm drowning. In her lips, her warmth, her innocence. She takes away all the darkness I've known for so long. I feel my soul on fire, burning up the impurities. I feel free.

"Happy New Year, Draco," she says with a faint smile.

We break apart, and I think to myself, 'Will this night mean anything more? Will I experience her light again? Or will it just be something to forget, something no one would believe, something that happened on New Year's Eve? What is she thinking?"

Luna POV

Finally.