Chapter 3
Harry sat in the train compartment, somewhat on edge about something that took him too long to realise. He was having a good time with Ron and Hermione in the compartment. Over the summer, the three of them had gone to Australia so they could help Hermione get her parents back. After that it had become quite the adventure. Snakes were easy to deal with because of Harry's parseltongue. There were often frogs in the toilet. Ron barely survived the number and variety of spiders they encountered there. It was not uncommon to hear shrieks in the hotel room they shared, and Ron jumping up onto a desk or bed shaking and wide-eyed, begging Hermione or Harry to kill it.
It was all black material now. Ron sat sullen as Hermione and Harry teased him relentlessly, telling Ginny everything about it as Harry had his arm around her and watched her laugh.
Harry, however, realised at some point that he was waiting for something that never showed up throughout the entire train ride.
Malfoy never showed up.
Good riddance, Harry thought to himself. He was glad, he thought.
His eyes wandered as he got off the train. He did not see white-blond hair, grey eyes and a poncey little suit anywhere.
"Harry?" Harry turned to Ginny who stared at him worriedly. "You got lost in thought there."
"I'm fine. I'm just thinking about the year ahead, that's all."
Harry remembered the words he said to Malfoy. Frankly, he meant them. The less he has to see of Malfoy, the better he thougjt his year would go. It seemed Malfoy did take his words to heart. He knew Malfoy was only one compartment behind him because he saw him pass by in the window and heard the door of the compartment slide open and close shut.
Few minutes later as he was standing in the crowd with other students, he saw Malfoy come out of the train, as if he was perhaps waiting for Harry to be far away enough before he could come out. Despite that their eyes ended up meeting across the space between them. Harry looked away quickly, not sure why he was looking that way in the first place.
He felt Ginny's head rest on his shoulder as they wait for the thestrals. Harry rested his cheek to her hair. Something in his chest felt uneasy, for some reason, after whatever that was with Malfoy. He tried to ignore it.
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In veelas with rejected mates, all emotions related to their mates were extremely heightened.
That meant that meeting Potter's green eyes briefly sent a jolt of joy through his veins that nearly burst his heart.
It also meant seeing Potter so close to that Weasley girl felt like his insides were on fire. He could have thrown up from the intensity of it.
This was his suffering as a rejected veela. It was the worst thing in the world to see Potter, living his life without him, loving someone else and being loved. It would be the worst thing in the world, also, if he couldn't see him at all. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Draco cleared his throat, trying not to grip his stomach and make anything obvious about how nauseated he felt just from that brief interaction that felt like another stab of rejection somehow. He focused instead on his environment.
He could see Neville Longbottom join up a crowd of Gryffindors. Beside him was Luna, who was in fact staring right at Draco.
Draco couldn't tell if that was a bad stare or a good stare. A bad stare would be perfectly justified considering what she was put through in the basement of his Manor. Draco carried food and water to her in secret. Lovegood had thought he was under orders until they heard footsteps of a Death-Eater coming down the stairs one day while he waited for her to finish eating. In a panic, he took the tray from her and hid away behind the door with it, terrified and unable to breathe. It was then Lovegood realised he was not doing it under orders. They never said a word to each other ever.
He heard footsteps nearing and looked up.
"Hello," Luna said with a dreamy smile.
Draco blinked at her in confusion. Being approached by her was the last thing he expected.
"It's nice to see you here," Luna said despite his lack of response.
"You too," Draco said, almost warily. Luna continued to smile pleasantly at him. Somehow it put him a bit at ease, enough for him to ask only because he doesn't know what else to say, and because she is the first and quite possibly will be the only person now who will talk to him nicely this year, "How are you doing?"
"I'm good. I'm eating loads now and I think I've gotten very healthy again."
He did not expect that. Her blunt admission was a clear pointer towards what had happened, now so clearly in the air that it took Draco some time to find his voice enough to respond.
"Ah, that's good."
"Yes. And how are you? You looked quite sickly and thin too in the manor... you look rather pale right now too."
Draco tried his best to keep his eyes away from where Potter was.
It started off rather awkwardly. Luna was far too straightforward about things that were difficult to talk about for Draco but oddly enough it eventually ended up being good at letting him open up, just because Luna was opening up so easily. They talked about a lot of things, including the war, even if Draco skimmed over it because there were too many things he wasn't entirely ready to delve into with someone he started talking to only day.
But in a bizarre twist of events it didn't take very long for Draco to feel like they could be friends. They could be really good friends.
There was someone willing to be around him. The year ahead seemed a little less bleak, lonely and terrifying.