Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter characters, places, things, etc., etc.

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I heard a bird sing

In the dark of December

A magical thing

And sweet to remember.

"We are nearer to Spring

Than we were in September,"

I heard the bird sing

In the dark of December.

-Oliver Herford

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If someone had told Draco Malfoy that in several years he would find himself outside Luna Lovegood's apartment past midnight with a pair of Omnioculars at hand, reputation lost and life in ruins, he would have scoffed at the absurdity of it all and hexed the person who had been stupid enough to say it to his face. And yet here he was, his car parked across the street from the complex, his eyes fixed upon the blonde's every movement in the range of her bedroom window. At the moment, Luna was reading serenely in bed. The Quibbler, Draco presumed, by the large bold print across the cover.

Draco zoomed in on her calm facial features, twirling the dials on his Omnioculars expertly as if he did this everyday (which unfortunately, he did). Luna's large pale eyes were a pearly bluish color and her soft, tousled hair fell around her shoulders and was illuminated by the lamplight, framing her angular face. He could not tear his eyes away. Still holding the Omnioculars to his eyes, he used his free hand to put a Styrofoam cup of steaming black coffee to his lips. A pick-me-up from Nemo's. It was the only sustenance he took through nights like these.

He continued to gaze at her. The longing stored in his shattered heart shone through the expression on his face. He stared at an unaware Luna hungrily. We run in different circles, she had said.

We run in different circles.

He wanted her so damn badly. The remnants of his heart ached for her. A part of Draco was apprehensive. He had never felt such strong emotions. Usually he was detached from his feelings since his parents had taught him to constrain such frivolity. He had been apathetic and emotionless for so long such feelings of yearning startled him, frightened him. This "emotion" was completely new and foreign to him. He had never known he could love with his fragmented heart. But Luna had changed all that. Hope pulsated somewhere deep inside him, his mind feeding on the warmth. Yes, they ran in different circles, but eventually the circles would interlock.

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