Chapter 3

"... So then it was quite easy, really, to recapture and medicate the chimera. Once you knew what had been bothering him, you just had to offer him a..." Luna's tale had stretched out like an oversized scarf that had no end. Draco could almost feel his eyes crossing in boredom. He didn't give two figs about chimeras, hinkypunks, nargles, or whatever other creature this silly girl insisted on prattling on about with the greatest enthusiasm. If she cared so much about them, then why wasn't she off pestering Hagrid? Wait, was Hagrid real?

Draco sat up and cleared his throat rather rudely. "That's very interesting, Luna." Clearly a lie. "I was hoping that we could talk about me." The truth, if a little blunt perhaps.

Luna blinked at him, drawn away from her thoughts of ailing magical creatures in need of her unique brand of assistance. "You? You weren't there, Draco."

"Yes, I know," he snapped, "but I am now, and I need your help. Could we get back to the topic at hand?"

Luna nodded. "Of course. What do you want to know?"

Draco held his breath and counted to three. Losing his temper would not help him. "Well," he began carefully, "I am not on a vacation here. I do have a job, you know. I have to get back to my real life. How long is this going to take? And, more importantly, how much do I owe you? I..." He broke off. This was not easy for him, but it had to be said. "I am not rich anymore, you know," he finished quietly.

"Oh, I wouldn't take advantage of you, Draco! We'll settle on a fee later. I don't even know if I can entirely cure you, so let's just wait and see, okay? As far as time goes, we will have to have sessions. I can't cure you all at once. This is going to take time. A long time. Perhaps months." Luna looked over his head thoughtfully. "It shouldn't interfere with your work, though. If I am doing it right, you will be getting better after every session."

Draco had stopped listening after she had said the word months. "How long?" he fairly screeched. His head was beginning to throb again, but he barely noticed. "You are trying to tell me that I need to see you weekly for several months?"

"There's no need to shout," Luna interjected.

"There most certainly is!" Draco shouted. "Do you know what you are suggesting? Therapy! With you! I won't do it!"

"Well, I don't see why not. I will be doing most of the work," Luna reasoned. "You'll just be lying there."

This further entrenched the idea of a head shrinker in Draco's mind, and he began to feel panicked. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't abide the thought of coming to see Luna every week, as simple as that, like making a doctor's appointment to be cured. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that she was no psychiatrist. "I suppose you want me to call you Dr. Lovegood, right?" he sneered, miserable. He had no good reason to lash out; he just didn't want to be nice to anyone right then.

"If you'd like," Luna said mildly. "I am a healer, you know."

"No!" Draco exploded. "I most certainly would not like! Don't you even recognize sarcasm when you hear it?"

Luna shrugged. "I guess not. Do you want to get started?"

Draco just stared at her. She was totally crazy. He was lost. "Yeah." His shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Okay, just go sit in that chair. You seemed pretty comfortable in it before. That's the point. To relax," Luna instructed him.

Draco began to feel nervous, but he wasn't about to admit it. "What are you going to do to me?"

"I have to remove the poisonous influences first. I began that process last night, but the toxins have already heavily invaded your whole system. It is a vigorous process, but you shouldn't feel a thing. There is a certain stain left by the poison, sort of like ink after you have cleaned it up." Luna was gesticulating as she spoke, as if this would help to clear up what she was saying. "Then we have to address that issue of reconstruction. I think we should cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?"

Draco was beginning to be sorry he had asked.

"Just lie down and relax, please," Luna repeated patiently, waiting.

Draco settled into his chair and tried his best to get comfortable. He was jumpy in his own skin. The words toxin and reconstruction were not exactly conducive to relaxation. When he felt Luna's fingers at his temples, he nearly jumped a foot out of the chair and sat up. "What do you think you're doing?" He glared at her accusingly.

Luna looked back at him. She had taken a position behind the chair. "Healing you."

"Well, fine, then, but you don't need to touch me to do it. Just... use your thoughts or something," Draco bit out. He was a private person. He didn't like just anyone to be intimate with him.

"That's silly!" Luna laughed. "How do you expect me to do that?" She began to giggle.

Draco narrowed his eyes, and a dark look came over his face. "That's your problem, Dr. Lovegood."

"Oh, Draco, I'm not going to... to... violate you, for Merlin's sake! Just lay back and stop this nonsense! You are being more unreasonable than a blast-ended skrewt with a case of the rash fungus!" Luna sounded more amused than exasperated, though.

Draco could feel a blush stain his cheeks. "You should be the one worried about being violated, not me!" he spat out snottily before he realized exactly how that sounded.

Luna's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Silence hung in the air.

If Draco had been blushing before, he had to be crimson now. He laid himself down without another word, inwardly cursing himself as a fool. When did he lose his edge? If his days of insulting people with flair were at an end, he might as well give up now. He fervently hoped that if Luna got around to erasing memories, she obliterated this one.

He steeled himself for the feel of fingers on his temples and so was able to restrain himself from flinching when the contact came. He kept his eyes stubbornly open, staring at the ceiling above, focusing on nothing. He was determined not to enjoy what was feeling like a pleasant massage. He chanced a quick look upwards at Luna. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be concentrating on something else, as if he were not even there. Her fingers left his temples and began stroking across his brow, over his nose and cheekbones. He found that he had to close his eyes, because eventually she stoked his whole face, even his eyelids, forming a kind of a mask with her fingers, tracing patterns over and over.

Draco began to be lulled against his will. It wasn't a trance, exactly, but he did feel a warmth, and a tingling, and then the glow of magic on his skin. He felt something being drawn from him, through him, and he struggled with it, tried to fight it, but it drained out and away. He opened his eyes and the world felt lighter and cleaner.

He didn't move for a moment, just experienced. It did seem as though there was a slight difference. He could feel quiet in his head, where before there had been a buzz that he hadn't even noticed until the blessed lack of it. Colors looked sharper to him; everything just didn't seem so bad. He couldn't explain it; it was subtle, but he felt like himself, for the first time in a long time. Maybe there was some truth to what Luna had told him, after all. Maybe he had needed help.

Draco sat up and turned around. Luna was slumped in her position behind his chair. Her skin looked grayish, her blue eyes dull and her yellow hair lank. Had this been the price of healing him?

She seemed to understand his question and didn't make him ask. "I am fine, it is always this way right after. Yours was just a strong dose. I have the capacity to filter this. Don't worry about me, Draco. I just need some time. Why don't you come back in a few days, and I will have devised the next step. I think I got all the toxin, so we can begin the reconstruction work."

Draco had been a little worried; she looked terrible, after all, but he couldn't admit to that. Guilt would mean that he was either at fault or that he cared, and neither of those were true or acceptable. He shrugged instead. "It doesn't matter to me, Lovegood. I feel fine; why should I come back now? I think I'll be on my way, if it's all the same to you."

"Wait, Draco," she reached out, but her voice was hoarse. "There is more. I can't explain now." Her head was nodding in exhaustion, her eyes closing. "It's important...." She stopped, almost gone. "...Come back again...." That was really it; her body folded in on itself and she slipped to the floor; asleep or in a faint, Draco didn't know.

He looked at her with disgust. This was not a mess he wanted to clean up. An unconscious girl on the floor because of him. He just wanted to leave, to get back to his place, shower and forget about this whole encounter. He felt better already. His headache was gone.

He was about to do just that, but when he took one more look at her, something stabbed him in the area of what used to be his gut. Her neck was at an awkward angle as she lay on the floor. She would have a nasty headache when she woke up if he left her like that. Maybe she wouldn't finish the job, then. And if he wasn't all the way healed, he would be in serious trouble. A Malfoy never burned his bridges for sport.

With that sound reasoning to assuage his conscience, he picked her up and laid her in the chair. She was as light as a feather. She reminded him of a bird, all bony and angled. He found the fringed blanket and made sure it was tucked in around her.

And if he couldn't find a self-serving reason for that kindness, then he blamed it on his altered mental status.