Desperation

Chapter 17

The wizards who had created the Manor had shaped it with magic, imbued it with their own powers. There were layers and layers of spells built into the place and all of them were meant to recognize only one master. The initiation spell that Draco had to perform to tether himself to the Manor called for his blood. Blood magic was generally regarded as Dark magic, but much of the truly old magic used blood. Blood tied the wizard to the spell or enchantment, it imbued the object with part of his life force, and in this case the object cast its magical protection on the spell-caster. When Draco ascended as the head of the family the Manor's power rushed into him like a tidal wave. He fell to his knees as the place identified the ring he wore and poured into him the ancient Malfoy magic. He sensed the consciousness and antiquity of his home and began to understand how the magic, his magic now, worked.

Draco felt like the tip of a wand during a Lumos spell: he absolutely glowed from the inside. He was drunk with the power of the Manor. He was confident in a way he rarely felt. He was the man of the Manor now. And he was on his own; Professor Snape had hurried away. With a mischievous smirk, Draco summoned his house-elves. He arranged for two of them to meet him at the school after he returned so they could finish Luna's detention for her. By the time he made his way back through the forest to the castle Draco was sublimely pleased with himself. He had thought of a way to do something good. He had ingeniously devised a way to turn his family name into something helpful, a blanket of safety. It was an admittedly dark blanket, but one he was sure was strong enough to protect Luna.

The Malfoys were descended from a long line of cautious wizards who fiercely guarded what was theirs. Draco had only to include Luna in the Malfoys' circle of protection and his family magic would do the rest. He just needed to know how to get Luna inside the protection of the Manor and the Malfoy magic. He could spill her blood as he had his own. He could kidnap her and secret her in one of the tower rooms like his ancestors had the witches they desired for their own. But those were not his ways. He wanted to protect Luna out of caring for her, not for the sake of possessing her. He wanted to invite her under his magical protection. As a young wizard he had been given a talisman that marked him unquestionably as being under the protection of the Malfoys. All he had to do was give something to her and then Luna, too, would share in the Malfoy magic.

Draco and Luna headed out to the Quidditch pitch. It was deserted, he had missed practice, but he was glad of it. He wouldn't have been able to concentrate on Quidditch at all tonight, not with everything that had happened in the past couple of days. He could barely keep up a casual banter when such an important thing was on his mind. The pair found themselves wandering the stands hand in hand.

"So, my little Slytherin, what hijinks have you got planned next?"

"Oh, I meant to tell you about that. It was all a misunderstanding. Blaise saw that my robes had the Slytherin emblem; I had forgotten to change it back. It all just ran away from me from there," Luna explained with a giggle.

"You are a calamity," Draco said affectionately.

"Am I? And what are you?"

Draco breathed deeply but did not answer. In the most innocent manner Luna asked, "Do you want to tell me what is bothering you, or shall I act as though I don't notice?"

There was the bluntness that he treasured in her. He smiled almost sadly. "Luna? I . . . my father . . . I—aaargh! Luna, something happened today that changes everything."

"Yes, being in the same House will make things very different. For both of us, I imagine," she said cautiously. She knew Draco's father was financially supportive of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and as a philanthropic supporter of Slytherin House he had been known to use his influence as a tool for manipulation. Was Draco concerned about his father finding out about the two of them?

So embroiled in his own thoughts was Draco that he rushed to ask the question that had tortured him. "But it doesn't have to be in a bad way. You don't—look unfavorably on us—do you?" Merlin's teeth, she had battled his own father; how could he expect her to accept the Malfoys' protection? But it was the only way.

"No, each person's actions are his own. The group need not be held responsible. Do you feel pressured to look after me? I don't want you to feel obligated." She didn't want him nervous as a nursemaid and at her elbow all hours of the day and night. Now if he were at her elbow with his lips on her neck . . . that she might like better.

"I don't feel pressured, Luna. Not by you, anyway. And I want you to feel welcome. It's just that I'm aware of our . . . reputation. I know there are wizards, classmates of ours, who judge us harshly. Wizards you have spent time with." He was trying to lead her, to get her to let him know how she felt, but he was a bit tongue-tied. He didn't know how to find out what he needed to know.

With crinkled brow Luna continued, "Each person's opinions are his own as well, not the group's. You cannot infer such things from either proximity or association." Just because she had lived in Ravenclaw and been in DA with Gryffindors didn't mean she bore a prejudice against Slytherin House.

Draco clenched his jaw. She was being evasive. Or was she? She always was sort of cryptic, and he wasn't being very clear. "I'm trying to find out how you would feel about being—look, I have to step up and take care of some things, but it has given me a great deal of authority."

She looked at him quizzically.

"I'm the Head now."

"Oh, I didn't know." Head Boy, was he? He had told Pansy he would get her chores reassigned. It could explain his and the Professor's whispering and why they had left her during detention. "Well, I don't plan to cause any trouble for you, Mr. Malfoy." She smiled reassuringly.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "I don't think you plan any of the trouble you cause."

"Maybe not." Her eyes twinkled in the light of the moon.

"Okay, Birdie." He laughed, the tension he had been feeling drained away. "This is for keeping you out of trouble."

Draco reached up and tugged at his loosened tie knot and unbuttoned his collar. Behind his neck he began fiddling with something. He drew his hands up behind his head and pulled a pendant from inside his shirt. He unclasped it and set it just below her collarbone. Meeting her eyes, he said softly, "This will protect you from 'ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night'." A sad smile touched his lips as he recited the children's rhyme.

Luna gathered her hair up and out of the way to allow him access to her neck, wincing a bit as she moved a still-sore shoulder. Draco clasped the chain behind her, letting the cool silver slide down her blouse. Bending down to lay a kiss on the side of her neck, he whispered lasciviously, "You'll be safe from everything but me." She was very still and he took the opportunity to run his tongue across the tender skin of her neck before he leaned back to look at her again. She shivered from the touch of his tongue and dropped her hair. The place he had kissed felt cool in the night air and the chain felt oddly heavy.

Luna felt a comforting wave of old magic sweep over her. It must be a charmed pendant. What a sweet generosity he was showing, to welcome her into Slytherin. It felt like a powerful charm. He hadn't had time to make a new charm, so maybe it was one he already had, something of his own. The thought delighted her.

Draco looked down at her, so radiant in the moonlight, and ached for her. He would do her more good by protecting her, even if it meant bringing her into his dark and dangerous world, than by abandoning her and hoping she fared well without him. And he would do better knowing she was safe with him. Draco had been given a grave new set of responsibilities, and with them came new dangers but also a heady array of power. His body still thrummed with the magic that he had been a part of earlier that night. Malfoy magic. He was drunk with it and it emboldened him. Surely the magic he had taken in tonight would be strong enough to protect both of them. In that moment Draco made a decision, a passionate and desperate decision to keep Luna.

With Luna, Draco felt better than in any other dark corridor of his life. As much as he didn't want to drag her through that, she was his light in the darkness. He was exhausted from the tension of stumbling blindly; it felt so good to have something good in his life. When he might have given up on himself, he knew he would keep fighting for her.

She gazed at him for what must have been an hour—or two minutes at least—and after biting her bottom lip a moment in indecision she leaned up onto her toes and kissed him. It had been a very emotional evening. And a very frustrating evening for Draco, and he did not have his wits about him to stop her. She kissed him senseless and it was as if she could tell his weakness because she persisted, turning him back towards the seat behind him and coercing him to sit. Her hair was falling all around them as she showered him with her kisses.

And then she had an idea. A wonderful, terrible idea. She remembered how it had felt when he had kissed her neck with the hot wetness of his mouth and she decided to go after his neck the same way. She slid her hand behind his head so she could have better access and she nibbled and licked at his skin, tasting the saltiness of him. Draco was quite sure he'd go mad.

He didn't even realize he was making noise until she sat up and looked down at him like the kneazle that had gotten the cream. "You're growling again," she said when he blinked up at her.

He must have looked as though he didn't know why she had stopped. "Yeah," he said, a little breathless, "you were doing that too right." He reached up to trail a finger along the side of her jaw. She remained still, looking down at him with the moonlight shining in her eyes.

"Well? Don't stop," he whispered. So she didn't.