The Astronomy Tower < #wattys2016 >

A New Guest

January 23rd, 1996

All that Draco could hear were the screams. Those seemingly useless snatchers had finally caught somebody, and they had decided to bring them to the Malfoys, because apparently their basement worked so well as a holding cell.

From what Draco could tell, the screams were female. He found that he took little interest in who they belonged to, because they didn't match the ones that haunted his dreams. No, he knew those screams all too well, and these did not match.

After a few more minutes, Draco couldn't take the screaming anymore, so he cast a silencing charm on his room. Much better.

Later that day he finally left the solitude of his room to go and eat diner with his parent. The meal was quiet, and surprisingly not awkward. He took a large bite of his food, and chewed it thoughtfully.

"Who was brought in today?" He asked his Father after he swallowed.

"Xenophilius Lovegood's daughter. Luna I think her name is?"

Draco froze, his fork hull of food, halfway to his mouth.

"Why?" he aksed, lowering his utensil back down to his plate.

"Xenophilius had been running his mouth again. He owns a newsletter called The Quibbler. Ever hear of it?"

Draco nodded. Back when he was in Hogwarts, Luna used to hand them out on the train. Draco and his friends used to take on just to mock her. Later they would crack it open, and make fun of the Ludacris stories. Luna stayed completely oblivious to their true motives.

"Well," continued Lucius. "Then you would know that the Quibbler is sympathetic to Potter and his cause. Resistance sympathizers must not be tolerated. So we swept his most precious possession out form under his nose. His beloved daughter. That will teach him not to write about such rubbish."

Draco smiled and nodded to his father. He seemed calm on the outside. But really, his mind was going a million miles an hour.

Draco remembered Hermione mentioning Luna a few times. They were friends. She had been kind to Hermione, she had shown Hermione friendship. Draco felt as if he was going to be sick.

"I'm not feeling well, can I be excused?"

"Yes darling." Said Narcissa. "Stop by the kitchen on your way out, and get the house elves to whip you up some tonic."

"Yes mother." Said Draco as he stumbled out of the room. Draco didn't stop in the kitchen. He went straight to his room and threw himself onto his bed.

Being a bad guy isn't as easy as one would expect.

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"Hermione!" She could hear Harry calling to her. Panic swept threw her. Was everything alright? She fell ungracefully out of bed, scrambled to her feet, pulled on her boots, and jogged from the tent.

"Harry!" She called. She saw him jog out of the brush and run up to her. "Is everything ok?" She breathed, relieved at the sight of him.

"Everything is fine." He assured her. "Actually its better that fine." He said turning around.

Behind him stood Ronald Billius Weasley.

Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing. She slowly approached him, afraid that if she moved too quickly, he would disappear into a cloud of smoke. She kept walking until she was just inched in front of him.

He smirked at her, and held out his arms as if he wanted to hug her. That was Hermione's boiling point.

She launched herself at him, punching every inch of exposed body that she could find.