Just Keep Reading

'Draco? Draco!'

Oh, no. He wipes his hand hurriedly over his eyes, blinking hard and taking a deep breath. Don't go red don't go red don't go red. Calm and collected, that was right.

He's just got into the position that seems the most nonchalant – leaning back with his elbow propped on the arm of the sofa, instead of huddled into a tense ball – when Luna puts her head around the door, beaming. She does a little hopping dance on the spot. 'Guess what I found in the garden!'

'No, what?' he says, in a bright voice. Too much? No, just enough.

Luna puts her head on one side and looks at him quizzically. 'Draco…'

Maybe a bit too much then.

'Yes?'

She comes over to him and pushes his face up gently with her fingers. 'Draco, you were crying, weren't you?'

'No! Of course not! Why would I be crying?'

'Thou dost protest too much, methinks,' she says, and then she reaches over and tugs at the book in his hand, flipping it closed to read the title. 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle. Draco, you can admit it, you know. I won't tell anyone.'

'Fine!' he bursts out. 'I was crying, OK, because it's – because…' Oh, no, no, no, no. His voice is going all choky and thick. He swipes a furious hand across his face. 'The Horses. They – shot the Horses. Go ahead, laugh! It's very funny!'

Luna bends down and gives him a half-hug, pressing her face into his neck for a moment and then turning her head so she can kiss his jawbone. He flushes, because it's so undignified to be sitting here foolishly crying over a group of fictional characters, and also because he just snapped at her and he shouldn't have. 'Sorry,' he mutters.

She just smiles softly. Of course - of course Luna doesn't mind, she's the sort of person who thinks that crying about books is good. She was the one who gave him the set of the Chronicles of Narnia, after all, and told him to keep a few handkerchiefs around. He recalled that he had found that advice quite amusing, at the time.

'Just keep reading, Draco,' she says gently, and flits off. And he opens the book, and takes a deep breath, and falls back into Narnia.