Chapter 4

She was sitting in silence, pondering these strange events when Harry, Ron and Hermione burst into the room, wands in hands. She looked at them in surprise and once they saw that Malfoy wasn’t in the room anymore they relaxed, Ron and Hermione putting their wands away.

“Hello Harry, Ron, Hermione,” she greeted each of them.

“Where is he?” Harry growled his wand still at the ready.

Luna looked at him confused for a moment, “oh, you mean Malfoy; he left a little while ago.”

Harry reluctantly put his wand away as well, “we were looking for you, once I found Ron and Hermione,” he explained, “someone told us that Malfoy dragged you off to this room.”

“So naturally we thought he did something bad to you,” Hermione said.

Ron butted in, “did he do something bad to you?”

She shook her head, “don’t worry, he just wanted to talk.”

They looked at her suspiciously, “talk about what?” Harry asked.

Normally she’d tell them, they were the closest thing she had to friends, but she felt like she needed to keep the conversation a secret. That conversation was just for her and Malfoy’s ears.

“Different things,” she shrugged.

Hermione didn’t look convinced, “Luna, you can tell us.”

“Well... he might have mentioned a prank,” she said truthfully.

Harry swore, “I knew it! I knew he was messing with you! Don’t worry Luna, we’ll deal with him.”

“Wait! Thanks for the offer Harry but I can deal with Malfoy myself,” she said, not wanting him to get hurt... what troubled her the most was, she wasn’t sure if she was afraid Harry would get hurt or Malfoy.

She could tell Harry was having conflicting emotions; he looked like he wanted to let her handle this on her own but also like he wanted to step up and be the hero.

“Don’t worry about me Harry,” Luna said softly, “I’ll be fine.”

He hesitated but nodded and with a parting smile, left the room. Ron and Hermione followed and once again Luna was left alone with her thoughts.

The next few days were uneventful, which meant no more strange meetings with Draco Malfoy. Luna was sitting alone, reading from the Quibbler, when someone approached her. She put the magazine away and motioned for Ginny to sit next to her. Ginny shook her head, hands on her hips, with a determined look on her face. Luna could just tell she was about to be interrogated.

“Harry told me that Malfoy was planning on pranking you,” she said.

Luna nodded, “and I told him that I could handle Malfoy by myself.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell them anything else? Even if you did want to handle Malfoy by yourself, which you don’t seem in much of a rush to do, why didn’t you let them know the details?” Ginny questioned.

Luna smiled, “I’m glad that you and Harry are worried about me Ginny, but some things aren’t meant to be told, and this is one of them.”

Ginny had no intention of dropping the subject, “Luna, you don’t have to keep Malfoy’s secrets!”

Luna sighed, “Ginny, have you ever thought that maybe it’s my secrets I’m not telling you?”

Ginny gaped for a minute before regaining her composure, “there are rumours Luna... can’t you tell me the truth so I can tell people they’re wrong?”

“There are always rumours, a lot of the time they involve me. They have never bothered me before, why bother me now?”

“But these rumours are different!”

“How so?”

“The girls in my dormitory are gossip freaks and they’ve been telling people that you and Draco were... I’m not going to say it...”

Luna looked at Ginny confused, “Ginny, tell me.”

“They-they said you and Malfoy were.... well... oh come on Luna, don’t make me say it! He pulled you into a spare classroom, put a silencing spell on it and you two were in there for hours! What do you think people are going to say about it?” Ginny was blushing bright red.

Luna thought for a second then it hit her and she blushed as well, “they don’t think...”

Ginny nodded, “now can’t you see why I need to get rid of these rumours?”

Thoughts whirled around Luna’s mind; how could they think that!? She would never do anything like that with Malfoy! What was wrong with these girls, thinking she’d lose her virginity to the likes of him!?

“Luna? Wait... that wasn’t what you were doing in there... was it?” Ginny asked, hesitantly.

“No!” Luna snapped, “We were just talking! I swear!”

Ginny sighed in relief, “okay... I’ll try to kill these rumours but if you’re seen alone with Malfoy too much there’s no way the gossip will stop. Be careful Luna,” she warned and ran off to her dormitory to start dispersing these crazy rumours.