neutral_omens | (no subject)

Current Mood: hopeful

Entry tags:

draco,
luna

(no subject)

Date: October 8, 1999
Setting: Mostly in Draco’s room.
Status: Private (Draco, Luna)
Summary: Draco invites Luna to have dinner with him.

Draco was seriously annoyed. It had been enough of a shock running into Potter in the bar. Although he had managed to make that situation work for him. However, it was hard to see how the appearance of Luna Lovegood could make his life anything but difficult. She had to be prevented from alerting anyone about Harry’s whereabouts. She also had to be stopped from letting Potter know who he really was. But how?

Come on Draco, this isn’t impossible, he said to himself. Just use the old Malfoy charm and wit. Talk things over with her, and see what comes to you. Smiling slightly, Draco sat down at his desk and started to pen a letter.

Dear Ms. Lovegood, he wrote.

It was quite a surprise to see another person from school here at the Manor. I would love to catch up with you. Would you be averse to dining with me at 8 o’clock this evening, in my room? I am by no means disparaging the skills of the Manor’s resident chef, but we would have more privacy here than in the bar, and I am also quite a capable cook. My room, located on the right hand corridor of the third floor, has been equipped with a small kitchen and a larder. It’s the door right next to the stairs. I do hope you will be able to make it. I am certain that we will have lots of things to talk about.

Hopefully,

Draco Malfoy

Draco’s eagle owl hopped up to the desk eagerly, since it hadn’t received any tasks in quite some time. Draco attached Luna’s letter to its leg, and watched as it flew out the window.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Luna was in her room re-charting the possible alignments of Saturn and Halley's Comet when a large eagle owl flew in and landed on her desk. It stuck its leg out haughtily and waited for her to remove the letter attached there. She wondered who could be writing to her - no one she knew owned an eagle owl. Hastily detaching the letter she offered the owl some owl treats, but the owl took one glance at them and gave her such a look of disdain that if she had noticed she would probably be waiting on it hand and foot. Unfortunately for the owl, Luna didn't. The eagle owl shook its wings, as if it were eager to be off, but settled down to wait with what looked like a scowl on its face as Luna opened the letter curiously.

It was from Malfoy. Malfoy. And he was asking her to dinner.

Tonight.

Luna blinked as she read the letter for the third time. It seemed genuine enough, and unless it was Malfoy playing a trick on her*... On the other hand, he had seemed quite nice when she encountered him on Harry's 'bloog'-thing, and indeed he seemed to be quite genuinely concerned about Harry's well-being, so she supposed he might have changed from the time he was in school. She shrugged, and pushing aside her calculations and star-charts, scribbled on a fresh sheet of parchment -

Dear Malfoy,

Sure, why not?

Yours,

Luna Lovegood

Looking pensively at the small amount of space her reply took, she decided to add a few curlicues to her signature that spanned the entire sheet of parchment, and, satisfied, she tied it to the waiting owl's foot.

As she watched the bird fly off into the distance, a thought floated across her brain. Was Malfoy asking her on a date?

*She didn't really think it was Malfoy playing a trick on her - he didn't seem the type. Outright jinx someone, yes. But Malfoy did not play tricks. Now Fred and George on the other hand...

Draco smiled happily after he read Luna's reply, and immediately started crafting the dinner in his head. A suitable wine was needed, of course. He sighed at the memory of the excellent selection available at Malfoy Manor. However, he was in posession of a very nice 1916 Manet Chandon. It was ready to be imbibed. All he had to do was remove the stasis spell that had been placed on it in 1962, when it had peaked, and pour. It would be most palatable with a lamb dish, if Draco recalled correctly. Hmm. He had the materials and time for a nice gigot d'agneau à la provençale, if he hurried! It never occurred to him that Luna might not be wanting or expecting these preparations. After all, she was a pureblood too, although her bloodline had a decidedly odd history, with all those crackpots and explorers and experimenters, and the rumor of a werewolf for a great aunt... Well, he wouldn't hold that against her tonight. Draco entered his kitchen.

Drawing his wand, he heated up the recently installed oven and lifted the potatoes over to the cutting board, where a knife immediately began slicing them into perfect half-inch slices. Draco applied olive oil to the pan and fresh leg of lamb by hand, since he couldn't remember the spell for it. Draco was a bit of a traditionalist* when it came to cooking, and preferred to do things by hand anyway. Next, he arranged the potatoes on the bottom of the pan in overlapping slices, and applied salt, pepper, and just a touch of garlic. He delicately placed the lamb leg in the exact center of the pan, and put it in the oven.

Draco smiled smugly. It had been done in a hurry, but it was perfect. He took a quick shower, reduced the heat in the oven, and left it to roast for another hour, after basting it with the rest of the olive oil.

At 7:30, the meat was carved, the parsley was sprinkled, and everything was arranged perfectly on the dinner table. Almost. Draco realized that he had no garnishes! For once, he didn't panic. All of the great cooks were great improvisors, after all. Glancing around, he spotted some very nice marigolds, which formed a pleasing arrangement on the plate when Draco was through with them. There. Now everything was ready for Luna. Draco only hoped that she wouldn't be wearing anything made from butterbeer corks. However, he was still confident that the evening would go smoothly.

*Except for the bit about rich purebloods not doing their own cooking. Cooking had fascinated him as a small child, and he used to secretly sneak down to the kitchens early in the morning and banish all the house elves from the kitchen, so that he could prepare breakfast all by himself. Even today, the scent of frying eggs made him remember irritating, shrill voices saying things like, "Master Draco, it is not proper for you to be doing this!"

Luna looked doubtfully at herself in the mirror. She missed wearing her Butterbeer cork necklace, and her new 'Save the Snorkacks!' flag, but had decided that Malfoy would probably not like it if she had. She was wearing the same set of spangly silver dress robes that she had worn to Slughorn's party that fateful year at Hogwarts. It was the only nice-nice thing that she owned, and she hoped that it would be enough.

She decided not to put on any makeup because she didn't own any.

She sighed and brushed herself down, craning her neck around to see if the robe still fit properly behind, Luna ended up turning around on the spot until she felt a little dizzy, after which she stopped. Humming along to the Muggle band on the wireless in her room, she tucked her wand behind her ear and stepped out of her room.

Moments later, she re-entered her room, and slipping her feet into her spangly silver heeled slippers, Luna exited her room again.

-----

Luna thought that her room was on the fourth floor, but apparently it was not. Due to a trick in the architecture of the building, it was on the fifth. Hence when she went down one floor she was actually on the fourth floor of the building - however, she thought she was on the third.

Going to the right-hand corridor of the floor she was on, she was surprised to find that there wasn't a single door in that corridor.

Oh dear. Was Malfoy really playing a trick on her? Luna sighed sadly and walked down the corridor to the main staircase. She guessed that she could get a meal from the restaurant downstairs (or at least what had seemed like a restaurant when she had passed it on her way to her room from the lobby). It was a pity, though, to have to break in her new pair of heeled slippers on a lonely dinner in a strange restaurant.

Walking down the main staircase, she came to the actual third floor landing. Luna noticed that there were doors on this right hand corridor, and a distinct smell of cookery? was wafting down the corridor. Walking down this corridor, she followed her nose till it led her to - Malfoy's room. It was unmistakeably Malfoy's room. Luna did not know how she could tell, but she could. She knocked hesitantly on the door and waited for someone to answer.

Draco hurried to the door and prepared to put on his best winning smile. He suddenly felt a knot of tension in his stomach. Glancing around, he noticed that one of the marigolds in his display looked slightly askew. After rushing over, he fixed it, and fixed his hair as well for good measure before returning to the door. Okay. Everything was going to go smoothly. He opened it.

"Luna," he cried mirthfully. "So good to see you again. Sorry to keep you waiting just now, I hope you don't mind. I haven't yet got a house elf to take care of arrivals. Anyway, do come in. I think you'll find everything here to your taste." He stepped aside and gestured for her to step in, noticing as he did so that she was looking presentable. Surely that could be taken as a good omen.

"Um, hello, Malfoy. Or do you want me to call you Draco?" said Luna hesitantly as she stepped over the threshold of the door, careful not to trip on the Numblerkling vine that Malfoy didn't seem to notice growing there. The room smelt of money. Rich money. And just now, a very nice roast.

"It was really nice of you to invite me to dinner even though we didn't know each other that well in school. So what would you like to catch up on?" she asked, turning to face Malfoy. Suddenly noticing the dinner table set for two, Luna nearly stepped on Malfoy's foot as she took a step back in surprise. "That's nice. The dinner table, I mean. Oh, I'm sorry." she said a little contritely.

Draco smiled. "Draco is fine, if I can call you Luna. And please, dinner was no problem at all. I enjoyed making it." Oh bugger. He hadn't meant to let it slip that he had made it. Oh well, a Lovegood was probably unlikely to look down upon him for preparing his own meals. She might even think it was charming, especially since the lamb was filling the room with a delicious aroma "Er, that is... Well, cooking is sort of a hobby of mine." He decided not to ask about her hobbies, since he didn't really want to hear any more about those non-existant beasts that she loved to stalk.

"Anyway," he continued brightly, "I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about just from our common experiences at Hogwarts and this place, and we can get to know eachother over dinner. Please, have a seat." He pulled out her chair for her.

"Oh thanks, Draco. Dray-co. Draco." said Luna as she sat down. "Sorry, just testing out how your name feels." she smiled apologetically as he sat down. It seemed that he was a tad apprehensive, but she couldn't tell what about.

"Wow. You cooked this? I can only ever cook pasta dishes. And soups. Luckily my dad knows how to cook, well, meat dishes. But I never ask him what kinda meat it is. Sometimes you don't want to know." she said with a bemused look on her face.

"Oh, this looks really nice. You must have spent a lot of time preparing it." Luna said, eyeing her plate. "What is it?"

Interrupting Draco before he could answer, however, she said, "It looks like mutton. Or beef. It definitely smells like mutton though. It couldn't possibly be poultry, now could it?" she enquired happily as she prodded the mystery meat with a fork. "Or fish - no, it couldn't be fish - it's the wrong colour, for one." A pause. "I thought your family always went in for snails?"

Draco was devastated. He consoled himself with the possibility that Luna might not be particularly well-versed in French cuisine, but still. Draco didn't cook for others often, but his results had never been declared a mystery meat. Especially on important occasions such as this.

"Well, I, ah, erm," he stuttered. "Actually, it's roast lamb with seasonings. And what do you mean by my family and snails? My father paid good money for that to be hushed up before he landed in Azkaban, so..." I've said too much, thought Draco. "Ah, anyway, I could probably whip up a snail dish for you next time, if you'd like." He watched Luna nervously, hoping she wouldn't prod the meat again.

"Oh, no, I never eat snails myself. You never know when the Umnugublar might turn up." she replied, happily prodding the meat. Now that she came to think of it, it did look like roast lamb.

"Well, it smells marvelous. And I'm sure that it'll taste great too." Luna spotted the glass of red wine on her right, and immediately put down her fork. "Ooh, and is this wine? I've never had wine before - my Dad only ever let me drink Butterbeer, and occasionally Firewhiskey." So saying, she picked up the glass of red wine and downed it in one swallow.

"Not bad. At least it's better than Muggle beer. Urgh. I had that once accidentally when I didn't know what to order at this Muggle cafe and just randomly pointed at something in the drinks menu. It was really unpalatable." She placed the empty glass back in its place before picking up her fork again, ready to start eating, when she noticed that Draco seemed to be looking at her with a flabbergasted expression on his face. "Er, Draco, is something the matter?"

This scenario hadn't been covered by the Malfoy Code of Conduct, even though that exhaustive text gave instructions on everything from the proper length of hair for males between the ages of 13 and 15 to how a Malfoy heir with more than two prosthetic limbs should go about courting a bride seven years his senior. His ancestors had probably never had to face anyone with no knowledge of wine. Draco felt like this must be an entirely new situation, with no precedent to guide him. Travesty though this was, it was probably in everybody's best interst if he didn't follow his natural first instinct to lunge across the table at Luna screaming, "You don't quaff fine wines, filthy commoner!"

Instead, Draco took a deep breath and said, quite calmly, "I'm sorry Luna, I'm just worried that you won't enjoy the wine to the fullest extent if you drink it all at once. It comes from an awfully good year, and I'd love to appreciate it properly with you."

Luna thought that Draco looked a bit red in the face, and that was never good - it was highly attractive to Gladblatter beetles. "Oh, um, I'm sorry?" said Luna, absently fingering the stem of the wineglass. "I don't really know much about wines, you see. I just know that there's red wine and white wine, and there are lots of different kinds of red and white wines. Maybe you could teach me? You could tell me what wine this is, and we could go on from there?"

"How are your friends, Grabbe and Coyle, then?" she said suddenly.

"Well, this is a 1916 Manet Chandon," Draco informed her, taking a tiny, tasteful sip. "Its flavoring is very subtle, and takes a lot of concentration to identify. I might test your palate with simpler, fruitier wine later." He paused momentarily, so caught up in his mental perusal of what wines were available that his anger was forgotten completely.

"Anyway, I haven't really kept in touch with, er, Grabbe and Coyle. We were never really close. The only person I'm in contact with from Hogwarts, apart from you, is Harry. We're pretty close these days. He's going to be moving in with me tomorrow, actually. I can tell you that he's fine, although he's in a very delicate stage right now. He wants to escape his old life, for a while."

"Oh. Oh. So that was why you both got so defensive when I tried to talk to him on his journal." Luna pondered the situation a little, before continuing. "So he's really moving in with you? And I must say that his 'amnesia' ruse is really working very well. As a matter of fact, I really thought that I was mistaken, and that he wasn't Harry." she paused, and blinked, as if thinking back on what she said. "Oh dear, now I'm confusing myself." She smiled mistily at Draco. "Yes, I can see why he would want to escape his old life for a while. But, um, do you have any idea when he'd be back from escaping from his old life, because from what Hermione has owled me, the situation is really getting somewhat out of hand. Ron and Ginny have been constantly moving, and well..." she trailed off, not sure how much to say. This was Malfoy, after all.

Draco took another sip of his wine and considered his words carefully. "I know the situation is getting pretty dire, but Harry really needs this vacation. He's spent nearly a decade burdened with the knowledge of who he is and what he has to do, and it's hurting him. In his new identity, he's purposefully forgotten all of his old friends, but still created reasons to stay away from them if they manage to track him down. They probably won't though, unless someone alerts them about his location. Think about it, though. The effort he's put into all of this is a pretty clear indication of how much he needs to get away from them for a while. It might seem strange, but it's what he needs. Everyone has needs, I guess. I'm sure you need something as well."

Draco was apprehensive, but not very. Strange as she was, Luna was a Ravenclaw, and should be able to recognize a bribe when she was offered one. And since it was in the name of helping Harry in his time of need, she would probably leap at the bait.

"Well, I guess it'll be up to him. I just hope that the others can cope. Aguamenti!" Luna sipped at the water that had appeared in her wineglass, imitating Draco unconsciously. "I never really thought about how all this is affecting him though. I mean, I knew that he disliked being the Boy-Who-Lived, but to go to such an extent." She paused, and shook her head, sighing. "Well, best of luck to him. And you. To you both." she said, raising her glass in a salute.

I'm sure you need something as well. Turning over the phrase in her mind, Luna detected a tinge of... something in the words. She couldn't recognize it though. "Well, yes. What I need is a bit of luck. My Crumple-Horned Snorkack expedition hasn't been going too well - we need more money to buy ceolocanth eyes and the intestines of a sturgeon in heat, and although the Quibbler has managed to cover for the expedition so far, my father has been having trouble raising money for these. But that's life, I guess." Even with scrimping and saving, they were still a few hundred Galleons short. And worse, Luna had detected from her father's owls that obtaining ceolocanth eyes might be potentially illegal. They really needed all the luck they could gather.

Draco was overjoyed. She's utterly willing to sell Potter out! She's not even being bashful! he thought exuberantly.

He's such a nice boy. Even though we didn't even know each other in school - I didn't even think that he knew my name - he's still so concerned. Perhaps we've all been mistaken about him all this while. thought Luna wonderingly. I'm just glad that Harry has him to turn to now.

To be honest, Draco was just slightly taken aback by the promptness of Luna's response. Not that he wasn't grateful to have Luna turn out to be such a cheap friend, but it was still surprising. After all, she had been friends with Potter at school. Oh well, she hadn't been brainwashed into living out some set of ideals like the Gryffindors. That was probably it. Still, better to keep talking as if it was all for Potter, just in case. Draco had been paranoid for most of his life. In some ways, growing up in the Malfoy Manor was like being in Hell, because they really were out to get you.

"Well, I'm helping Harry out right now, and I wouldn't mind helping you out as well." Helping. That was a good way to put it. "It really isn't a problem. You may have heard about some financial problems I've had in that rag, the Daily Prophet," that's right, slam her competitors, "But I've sill got quite a bit of excess cash, and I'm all too willing to donate to the worthy cause of any friend." Draco raised his own glass, and clinked it with Luna's.

Luna was a little surprised - well, make that a lot surprised - when Draco called her a friend. That really was very nice of him. She was slightly startled when he clinked her glass, but figured it was an aristocrat thing. Actually, in a certain light, she could see why some of the girls in her dorm had been swooning over him.

"Well, I guess then I'd be happy to accept, friend." She smiled, and clinked her glass against Draco's. It would be such a load off Daddy's shoulders. she thought. Then she had another thought. "Oh, and um, since we're friends, and I heard that there's going to be a Halloween party at the end of the month, I was wondering if you'd like to trade costumes?" At Draco's puzzled look, she continued. "It's sort of a Ravenclaw tradition among friends, that they get to design each other's Halloween costumes, and surprise their friends with their Halloween costumes on the day of the party. You see, I'd never been part of that tradition, because, well, I didn't really have any friends in Ravenclaw who were that close." Perhaps closer to the truth was that Luna didn't have any friends in Ravenclaw - just acquaintances. "Would you mind? I mean, if you don't want to we don't have to, really."

"Great! Just let me know the exact amount, and I'll send an owl to Gringotts for you."

Draco felt slightly uncomfortable when Luna directed a gaze that he wasn't willing to describe as 'ardent' upon him, but quickly forgot his discomfort as he considered her offer. On the whole, Slytherins didn't like surprises, but he didn't want to offend Luna and make her back out on the deal. Also, he felt the tiniest bit sorry for her for having to miss out on a House tradition. Tradition was very important to him. Also, he'd just gotten the most brilliant idea for a costume for her...

"No, I don't mind at all," Draco said, smiling reassuringly. "It sounds like a nice practice. You can drop my costume off here before the party, and I'll have yours ready by then as well. Sound good?"

"Oh, thanks. That sounds great. I'm sure that I'll have your costume ready for you by then. I've had the most marvelous ideas for costumes; it's just that I never had the chance to realize them. I'm so glad you agreed." Luna said happily, finally taking a mouthful of lamb. Draco did not want to think about the costumes ideas Luna had had; he held the stem of his wineglass pointedly, then realised that the gesture was wasted on her.

"Well, here's to us!" said Draco, lifting his wineglass. "Oh wait, let me pour you some more wine first." He emptied her wineglass of water, and filled it halfway with the Manet Chandon, taking great care to follow protocol. Then he lifted his wineglass again, saying, "To us!"

Luna hastily swallowed her mouthful of lamb and lifted her wineglass, saying, "To us!" and followed Draco in drinking just a mouthful. However, she couldn't quite discern just what was going on in that mouth. Suddenly, he swallowed, and she followed suit. Luna looked up to see Draco gazing enquiringly at her. Blinking, she said, "I was trying to follow your method of drinking wine, because I don't know anything about drinking wine, you know."

Draco's features cleared. "Ah, yes. Well, you see, the thing is, to truly appreciate fine wine, you have to start by learning how to discern the aromas, and of course the taste. Generally, women tend to like white wines as they are sweeter, so this Manet Chandon might come on a little strong." They lapsed into small talk about wine appreciation, with Draco instructing Luna as to how to choose a fine wine, and the little tips and tricks, such as that little spell that had been placed on this particular bottle of Manet Chandon. Then Luna turned the conversation to her Crumple-Horned Snorkack expedition, and all the other animals she hoped to find, especially with regards to the Blibbering Humdingers. Draco gave a small inward wince. I hope she doesn't want me to pay for all that! he thought. She's really cunning though; worthy of being a Ravenclaw after all. She didn't even mention a single word about money!

They had nearly finished the lamb when Luna, having eaten a little quicker than Draco, started on the marigolds on her plate. She thought that it was a little odd that people would eat marigolds, but decided to try them gamely anyhow. Upon noticing Luna spear her first marigold and eat it, Draco's hand instinctively went out and held back her hand. "Luna, you're not supposed to eat the marigolds;" he said pleadingly, "they're just garnishes!"

"Oh. I'm sorry." Luna put down her fork contritely, feeling an unfamiliar heat rise through her face as Draco withdrew his hand. Draco shook his head, rising, and Luna made to stand up to. She thought she had probably botched this 'friends' thing.

"No, you sit down. I'm just going to get the dessert." said Draco, walking towards the kitchenette. He brought out a really nice dessert that Luna couldn't remember the name of, and set it afire. She gasped as he smiled in pride.

Over dessert they discussed the costume trading tradition, and Luna finally got Draco to give her his robe measurements. As Draco saw her to the door, she thought that he had never looked more handsome. Oh dear, he really is very nice, but the expedition must come first, she thought resolutely. After that, well, we'll see.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only