Author's Notes: Written for a prompt left by simply_aly on portions_forfox's "Grammar of Cinema" ficathon.

Draco/Luna, she sees something in him no one else does

)O(

Luna didn't fancy herself any sort of brilliant, insightful observer. She certainly didn't think she was cleverer than anyone else. But she did pay just a little bit more attention than anyone else seemed to. If anyone had bothered to take a few minutes, to glance over their shoulders just once, they would have seen him. Face-on, Draco was as brave as ever, but as soon as he thought no one was looking, he crumbled.

Luna knew because she looked. She never spoke, only saw - glanced to her right while walking down a corridor and saw him slumped behind a pillar, or looked over at the Slytherin table while everyone else was listening to Dumbledore's speeches and an expression that was all dejection and worry, or looked at him from the Quidditch stands and waited for the moment when the activity moved away from him so she could see his mouth sag down out of its sneer and into a weak frown.

If it has been Harry Potter who saw the way Draco seemed to collapse every time eyes were not on him, he would have made some grand assumption about what it meant: Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater; Draco Malfoy was planning something; any interpretation at all except Draco Malfoy was sad.

Not that that was the interpretation Luna made: indeed, she refrained from interpreting anything at all. That was not her place. She did not infer, she only observed.

When she overheard Harry speaking in hushed tones to Ron and Hermione about how he was sure Draco was up to something, she looked away and pretended to look for Nargles so she wouldn't be caught up in the conversation. They never pressed her for an opinion, for which she was grateful, because she wouldn't have shared her observations of Draco with them if they did ask.

Occasionally, she wondered if she really was the only person who noticed the change that had come over Draco, or if others noticed but they all kept as silent as she.

Later, she wondered if keeping silent had been for the best.

)O(

Fin