Silently

"Luna," she heard a deep voice calling softly. "I need you to wake up for me." She whimpered in disappointment; it would be a terrible thing for this feeling to end. She was reveling in the contentment that she felt in his arms. She was warm, and she wasn't often warm in this drafty castle. And she felt safe; she rarely felt that, either.

"Luna, are you with me? There's no time for a lie-in," she heard him scold teasingly.

"Mmmmm," she hummed sleepily.

"I know you've only been asleep for about an hour, but I need you to wake up."

"An hour?" Panic started to clear the fog of sleep from her head. "Crumbs! You'll get in trouble! It's after curfew," she managed to mumble.

She felt him chuckle. "Curfew is about the least of our worries. You more than likely have a concussion, for starters, so you need to be woken every couple hours to make sure your brain hasn't gone wonky on us. I'd hate for you to forget who I am and wake in a panic, thinking you're wrapped in the arms of an evil assailant, and try to hex me. Plus," he continued, trying to keep his tone light, "even though your housemates probably aren't too worked up about your absence, since they never know where you are in the first place, my housemates are probably a bit curious about me carrying a girl into my bedchamber tonight. And I really don't want you reappearing from my care with a nasty bruise on the side of your head. Then they might think I was an evil assailant and try to hex me."

Luna tried to turn towards him and found it impossible since she was plastered against him. She leaned away and realized that she was damp with sweat. She found a way to wiggle slowly and painstakingly over so she was facing him, but the bed hadn't gotten any bigger, so she was rather pressed up against him again. "I'm not cold anymore," she said, pushing the covers down to their waists. Draco had remained lying exactly as he had been, so she resumed her position cradled on his arm with her head tucked under his chin. "Thank you," she mumbled sleepily into his chest, her breaths tickling him. She had wrapped her sore arm in front of her, across her waist, and it was pinned between them, but she hadn't found a place to rest her other arm, so she slung it across him. When her hand made contact with his bare skin, the intimacy of feeling his bare skin beneath her hand startled her. She froze in place, and her breath left her in a rush. "Draco, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"You're okay. Sshhh, settle down." He pulled her to him with his free arm, and she relaxed. She lay alongside him but not pressed flush against him; it seemed she didn't need all his heat anymore. It was a relief since he felt like he was about to succumb to heat stroke. He was able to roll onto his back and keep her tucked against him. The effect of this transition was that her hand dragged along his body from his back, where it had lain lightly across his rib cage, to rest on his chest as he turned. He rested his hand on her arm, drawing little petting designs on the back of her hand as they lay there.

"Luna? What do we want to do about people seeing me bring you in here?"

"Well, are you sure they knew it was me?" she asked reasonably.

"No, not necessarily. Blaise knows you're here, but not who you are. But Kate, Liselle, and Mary know who you are even if they don't know yet that you're still here. But soon enough people will get to talking and figure it out. Slytherins are great ones for gossip."

"I see. And how did . . . you know about those girls?" She had woken to find Draco in the same position in which he had laid down next to her. He hadn't left her, so how did he now know about the three girls?

"You dream pretty loud, birdie," he lied softly.

She sighed. "Well, you've saved me the indignity of explaining myself out loud, I suppose. What else did you see in my dreams?"

"Uh, not much." In an effort to obscure his uninvited invasion, he had already allowed her to think she was responsible for him knowing her memories. He hoped to redeem himself by at least admitting the truth about all that he had discovered. He launched into the awkward part of the conversation instead of hedging around it as he was oh-so-tempted to do. "I know you were coming to me as a sort of test to see how I would receive you." He nearly choked on the words because he feared he probably would have handled the situation poorly.

"I'm sorry if that hurt you. I don't mean to doubt you. That's not it, exactly; I don't doubt you and who you are. I've seen inside you. But I've never felt this way before, and I want to know before it gets away from me that you do want me to...fall for you." She smiled gently. "It feels like nothing else in the world matters when I'm with you. But I don't want to be something you're ashamed of in front of other people. So, since I had to come find you anyway, I thought I might find the answer to my questions."

"Why did you have to find me?" he asked evenly.

"Oh, no!" she shouted. "I forgot all about it. You got an owl!"

"An owl? This late at night?"

"It did seem strange. And the elves were afraid to bring it to you, so I said I would. Well, I didn't know it was for you when I said I would do it. She just looked so afraid, and I thought what could be the big deal about delivering an owl post, for goodness' sake?"

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"What did the owl bring?"

"Oh, here. It's in my robes." Slowly, she got up and retrieved the scroll from her robes for him. As if to give him privacy, she remained standing and tried to move around a bit, testing her body for soreness.

Draco looked grave when he saw the seal on the scroll. He sat up in bed and held it silently, as if lost in thought. Rather than opening the scroll, he set it aside and looked up at Luna with the utmost seriousness.

With a pensive expression he got up and walked over to face her, his eyes begging her to understand what even he himself couldn't quite sort out. "Luna, I love the way you're honest with me. But I'm just not as transparent. You know I've spent my whole life keeping my feelings to myself."

"It's okay, Draco. Just because I'm ready to ask the question doesn't mean you're ready to answer it. I'll wait for you to figure out how you feel. No pressure." Her serenity was beguiling as she placed her hand gently on his chest.

Draco placed his hand over hers and breathed in as much air as his lungs could hold. Turning his head to the side, he closed his eyes and let all the air rush out of him, hoping it would carry his inhibitions away with it. "Luna . . . this is how I feel." He placed his fingers on her forehead as lightly as snowflakes falling and traced the side of her upturned face until he cupped her chin. He leaned slowly towards her, and her breath caught in her chest. She stilled, waiting, enchanted by the sight of him moving towards her. His eyes offered a confession that words could not express. Draco saw her, he truly saw her, and he wanted her. He was tormented by her, and afraid of her, and afraid of himself and that he might frighten her away. He was trying so hard to do this the right way, but he was as unsure as she about what that way was.

Luna's mind reeled until he caught her lips with his. He kissed her chastely, but so intimately that Luna thought she might understand the reason people had invented kissing. It was a portal into the other person. It was just as telling as the thoughts they had shared, but silent and profoundly more emotional. His kisses strayed to the corner of her mouth, to her jawbone, cheek bone, and eyelids that remained closed under the shower of his kisses. He kissed the tip of her nose. His hands cupped her face and he returned his mouth to hers. Luna was basking in the gentle adoration he had just shown her.

When he kissed her again, he offered more than his compliments; he offered his need for her. He pressed his lips to hers more urgently. Only seconds passed before he was advancing into the delicate delights of her deepened kiss. Startled, she welcomed him, trying to discern what he meant to do. He meant to possess her. He meant to take all she would offer him. He was hungry for her. He devoured the taste of her as if he were committing it to memory, as if she were precious to him. He moved his tongue against hers in an invitation as old as time. He was making himself vulnerable to her in the only way he knew how. He was begging her to understand and to accept him.

Luna glowed and tingled and kissed him back. Slowly withdrawing, Draco returned to the gentle kisses he had first offered her. When he straightened, she melted into him, leaning against his chest where he had cradled her in her sleep. He pressed his cheek down on the top of her head. She kissed his skin just once, nipping gently at him before she stilled. Minutes later he released her and stepped back. He had composed his face back into the Malfoy that was imperious and unreachable. He faced her, waiting for rejection. How dizzying it was to her that she'd come to find out whether he wanted her, only to confront his painful need for her to accept him.

Her eyes held more silver magic than unicorn's blood. She nodded minutely and reached for his hand. When she slipped her hand into his, Draco's eyes showed that his mind was racing to interpret her actions. When he hit on the meaning of it, he looked surprised at first. He smiled a crooked smile, much like his smirk but full of happiness instead of contempt. He nodded back. If they could manage this communication without words, he wouldn't be the one to break the silence. The late-night scroll was the farthest thing from their minds.