Chapter 8

Disclaimer: This all belongs to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: This is the last part! Thanks for reading it; I hope it doesn't disappoint. Many thanks for the tireless work of my beta, Melisse.

Once Draco had made up his mind to return to the wizarding world, there was no turning back. It seemed as if there was no other decision, and he had no qualms at all about wrapping up his Muggle life. In fact, it surprised him how little time it actually took to unravel so many years of living; it took only a matter of weeks to get his affairs in order to depart from this place, as if he had never existed at all. Instead of making him sad, though, he simply looked forward to being gone and beginning a new life in the place that really mattered to him.

As the date for his departure approached, Draco felt a strange reluctance descend upon him. He first noticed it after the initial flurry of his preparations were made; now, his inertia of excitement was slowing. This was most unlike him, to be deterred in his enjoyment by anything like subtle conscience. Draco did not want to think about what might be bothering him. Yet he couldn't ignore the nagging sensation, the tugging at his gut that became his constant companion. It began to wake him up at night and haunt his every motion. At this rate, he would soon not even want to go!

The morning before the day he had chosen for his return to Malfoy Manor, Draco leaned over his bathroom sink. He hadn't gotten a decent night's rest in far too long. His thoughts were conflicted. He looked at himself in the mirror. His skin was pale; his eyes were starting to get bags. This was ridiculous. He rubbed his nose. It was time to admit it: maybe he should say goodbye to Luna. It wasn't like he missed that crazy girl, but he had left things rather abruptly. A Malfoy did not like loose ends, either, and that was what this situation could be termed. Yes, it was the right thing to do. He had to finish this off. It was the prudent course of action here.

Draco was galvanized into action. He got ready to go in record time, ignoring the fact that a meeting for closure should not bring a twinkle to his eyes, nor make him leap forward in anticipation. He had a purpose, and nothing seemed more important right now than finding Luna and talking to her. How long had it been since he had seen her? All of a sudden, it seemed like ages since he had listened to her ramble on about some random problem, getting distracted and correcting herself, the non sequiturs piling up too fast to keep up with. Draco longed to just sit and listen to her gentle voice. After all, who did he know who cared about things the way that she did? Luna cared about everyone.

Draco stopped in his mad dash, struck by the sudden truth. Luna cared about him. They were friends. He had never had a friend before. He had had people who pretended to be, who had wanted to be for the wrong reason, but no one who had ever seen his flaws and still liked him and asked for nothing in return. Not money, not status. Luna had only asked for his time.

Draco cringed. He had not even seen it for what it was. He had been so blind, so far gone from what people were like, that he could not even sit and be a friend. He had actually asked what he owed her.

Draco realized that the feeling he was experiencing was missing Luna. Well, he had messed it up, but perhaps it wasn't too late. He would go over there right now and spend the whole day. He would have her breakfast, made by her strange neighbors, ask her what she wanted to do. Maybe Draco could be her friend. Surely she would see that he was worth keeping.

Draco grabbed his wand. He couldn't be bothered with walking at a time like this. He Apparated.

As soon as he got his bearings back, he realized that he was in the street outside of her shop. Draco frowned. He had intended to Apparate inside, but perhaps his aim had gone off in his haste to get there. Draco pocketed his wand and strode forward.

He nearly stumbled as his weight hit full force against the door. The knob was cold in his hand. It didn't turn easily like it usually did. Draco frowned. Perhaps this would be harder than he thought. Luna must be a grudge holder. Well, he hadn't thought her the type, but he'd had plenty of practice in charming women out of a snit, imagined or otherwise.

"Luna," he called smoothly.

No answer.

It was then that he noticed the dullness of the brass on the address. Usually it gleamed in welcome, as if it was winking at him. Today it was just dim, covered in a slight scrim of rust. Draco's brows drew together. Something was off here.

He stood back from the door, and noticed that everything on the whole street was dark and uninhabited, like usual, but that this building was no different. The door was old, the paint scratched... it looked totally deserted. Draco's heart beat faster. Was this a spell, or something more? Time to find out.

He drew his wand. "Alohomora!" he shouted at the door, with perhaps more vigor than was necessary. It clicked obligingly. Draco opened it. There were no other wards, so he entered, wary of what he would find.

The place was a mess. It was as ramshackle on the inside as it was on the outside. It looked as if a good stiff wind would blow the whole thing into nothing more than a pile of timber and bricks.

Draco let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding. There was nothing remotely resembling the overstuffed chairs, the warm place he had come to look forward to being in. There was nothing here that looked like Luna. There was no magic in this place. His shoulders slumped.

Draco had the strangest feeling, as if had just lost the most important thing, though he hadn't known he had even had it until a few minutes ago. He turned around a few times, unseeing, until he realized that this was real, not some sort of fake scenario. He couldn't just fix this by doing the right thing and winning the game. He felt bereft.

A sharp sound startled him as the door blew open, and a little old man hobbled in. "Who goes there?" the man wheezed out, before breaking into a fit of coughing.

Draco was at a loss. "Sorry. I was here to see a... friend. I must have come to the wrong place. I apologize for disturbing you. I was just on my way out."

The old man, who was ancient and resembled a gnome, got his coughing under control and bent up to look at Draco. "You here to see her?"

Puzzled, Draco narrowed his eyes. "Probably not. I'm just leaving. Good day."

"Hold on, not so fast, sonny. Luna. You here for Luna?" The old man chuckled. "She said you be an impatient one, as impatient as you be good looking. That be you, then."

Draco felt both ridiculously pleased and irritated. "Do you know where Luna went? Did she leave me a message?" He was embarrassed by the eagerness in his voice.

The man laughed. Actually, he cackled. Draco was beginning to see how Luna came by some of her more outlandish stories. By the time this was through, he felt that he would have a few whoppers to tell himself. "She be gone, son. She be gone these last few weeks. Not an ardent suitor if you not be noticin' that fact, eh?"

Draco, to his dismay, blushed. "I am most certainly not her suitor. I am merely a friend, as I stated earlier. I did come to see to her welfare, however. Can you tell me her whereabouts?"

The man was unimpressed. "That girl not be needin' another friend, friend. Get me?"

Draco glared. "Be that as it may, I am a friend. And how that comes to concern you, I still have yet to guess. However, I would be grateful for your assistance in locating her." He felt his impatience starting to reach epic proportions.

The old man laughed gleefully. "Oh, I've hit a sore spot, have I? The high and mighty Lord of the Manor be needin' somethin' from me, and don't want to be waiting on it? Well, how's about you be using your best manners and give me a pretty little please with some sugar on top? And don't forget that cherry."

Draco's mouth fell open. He stared at the old man, who was grinning in enjoyment. Draco's temper flared up, but he did his best to hold onto it. How much did he really want to find Luna? He closed his eyes for a moment. Was his dignity worth this insult? He drew a measured breath, and with a glare that nearly set fire to the old gnome, said in his iciest voice, "Pretty please. With sugar on top. Kindly reveal what you know about Luna."

The gnome shook his head. "You forgot the cherry, Your Highness," he mocked.

Draco put every bit of venom into his words that he could. He was wrong, it wasn't an old gnome; he must be a troll. "With a cherry on top," he spat. Luna had better appreciate this!

With those words, the old man stopped laughing. He looked Draco in the eye. "I was wrong about you, then. I didn't think you would do it. Sorry, son, just having a bit of sport with you. I've lost my bet."

Draco cocked his head. The man's voice sounded funny. His accent was gone, and he started changing, metamorphosing into a tall form. When the transformation was complete, the creature before him was so luminously beautiful, Draco could hardly stand to look at it. Although he had never seen one before, he recognized it for what it was: a fairy.

"I know you, Draco Malfoy. You need not fear me. I will not put a glamour on you. This time," the fairy said. Her voice was musical, her skin like ground diamonds sparkling. She was tall and thin, her gossamer wings wafting behind her delicately.

Draco was dumbfounded. He had never been in the presence of anything so powerful before, including the Dark Lord. This being was sheer magic, her knowledge old and strange. If she wasn't even trying to enchant him now, he was grateful, because he felt his mind reeling anyway. He could barely stand to look directly at her, and he made a mental note to heed more carefully the magical creatures he might come across in the future, in case they were anything like this one. This wisp of a thing could crush his mind and will into powder with a flick of her finger. He thought she may have asked a question, but he couldn't gather his wits, so he nodded respectfully, hoping to gain time.

The fairy laughed, used to her effect on humans. "You wish to know about Luna. Luna was friend to me, for her part. I took a liking to her, although she declined to come to Faerie. She is... different from your kind in some ways. Although still disappointingly perishable. You humans, so finite. Your minds are incapable of grasping the enormity of the evanescence of which your entire reality is comprised. Knowing that, what is the consequence?"

Draco looked back. "Are you really asking me?"

The fairy laughed musically. "Our days are full of ennui. I lost a bet in guessing your capricious nature. Perhaps I can win it back again," she explained cryptically. "Go ahead, enlighten me."

Draco thought hard. There were things at stake that he couldn't fully comprehend here, but he thought that there might be enormous problems...or benefits...depending on his answer. "You think that we mortals don't matter because our lives are too short? That nothing we do matters next to the eons in which you have to walk the Earth, learning, playing, everything. So you're asking me to explain why we bother doing anything at all if we're just going to expire in what to you amounts to the blink of an eye? What to us would be a season?" He looked up to confirm.

The fairy nodded, starting to look bored.

Draco thought for a moment. She had a good point. Why, indeed? He had struggled with that himself. Why bother doing anything at all? "Because!" he almost shouted. "Because it does matter what we do, who we love, no matter how brief it is. Perhaps the briefer it is, the better. Meaning does not need to be ages long to have quality. The length of your life doesn't matter; the way that you live it does. You have to be happy. To be happy, you have to make others happy. I think that's what Luna was trying to teach me. Maybe we humans learn it faster than you fairies do, that's all. Maybe it takes you that long to get it right!" The understanding and the words were out before Draco realized who he was actually talking to. He winced.

The fairy pursed her lips. "You are foolhardy, Draco Malfoy. To be Fae is not a curse, but a gift. To be human is a curse. However, I shall not strike you down because I have been amused and not bored, and precious few humans can manage that. Your gift from me shall be to go unharmed. Go." She turned to go herself.

"Wait!" Draco nearly kicked himself for being the fool she had called him, but he had to know. "I need to know about Luna. I did say 'please,' after all." He tried to crack a somewhat winning smile.

The fairy was starting to drift off, her attention exhausted. "She is gone, Draco Malfoy. You shall not find her here. It is not my place to tell you where she is, nor shall I, though it is within my power. Know that she has a gift for healing humans, and she goes where her gift takes her. That gift brought her to you, as it has taken her away from you. Do not seek her."

Draco stared, unseeing. He had expected to hear a place that he could go, to find her. This was just... nothing. He was surprised by how bad he felt hearing that.

"Draco Malfoy?" The fairy turned back. "One more thing. Luna has a heart full of forgiveness and kindness. You will meet her again someday, and when you do, you will both be happy and fulfilled. There is no anger in her heart against you. Now go into your own future and be at peace." With those words, the fairy faded out.

Draco sighed. He did not like hearing that verdict. He wanted to find Luna himself and thank her for all that she had done for him. He had no choice but to hope that wherever she was, she was okay, and that she knew that he wished her well. He took a minute to think about how much he regretted; then he breathed out and let it go.

There was nothing left to do except leave this grim shadow. There was nothing here for him now. His future was ahead of him. It would be what he made it. Draco opened the door of the shop and stepped out into the fresh air. The sun was shining, and for a minute, it brought tears to his eyes after the darkness. He looked up and saw nothing but the clear blue sky above him.