Chapter One

Making A Choice!

It all started at the ministry, the department of Welfare of Magical Creatures. Everything about her job had been brilliant. Luna loved it. People were skeptical about her chances of survival in there; Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy being her only co-workers off the field didn't seem to be much of help.

Being sandwiched between two absolutely detestable yet desirable ex-slytherins, Draco and Blaise, her job had begun on a rather exciting note. While some at the ministry sneered at the weird combo, some of the females envied her. Some would even befriend her just to try their luck at getting closer to the two men. Luna was taken aback at first but eventually learned to deal with such women.

Blaise Zabini was quite talkative and friendly, often earning glares from his male companion in the office. Their office was a small room on the top most floor with it's occupants being just the three of them and occasionally a couple of assistants bringing cases and reports.

The other male in her office, Draco Malfoy was rather reserved. He wasn't a bully as he had been back at school but often tended to snap at the other two. To Luna's surprise, there were no hate-speeches, no snide remarks, no complaints regarding blood status, not a single word of abuse against his job. In fact, he seemed like he enjoyed his job, learned to care about those poor creatures that needed his help. Perhaps, he was able to reclaim the true kindness he had hidden behind his pride for all these years.

The two Slytherins were composed and calm which made her job easy.

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Everything had been going smooth until that fateful day which changed everything.

It had been some good six months. Luna had entered the office, a dreamy smile on her face and greeted her two new friends. (She wouldn't mind even if they didn't consider so.)

"Good morning, Blaise. Hello, Draco."

"Hi there, Luna."

Blaise looked up at her and smiled. Gesturing her to join, he looked at Draco who was sitting in a chair across him. Draco sent him a bored look and sighed, letting his arms fall back lazily, his head angled downwards, his silky smooth hair dangling towards the floor.

"You know," Blaise began lazily, "You could snap your head that way, Drake. But nothing will change."

"What happened?" Luna spoke as she took a seat beside Blaise.

Draco jumped to sitting position at once and glared at Blaise. That didn't stop the latter from speaking though.

"Draco's bothered because he's getting engaged to Astoria-"

Draco sighed burying his head in his hands. He wanted to use one of the three forbidden curses on his best friend. He so wanted to, but his embarrassment clouded his rage. To reveal a side of him that was never meant to be before the Lovegood girl, he wanted to die.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Luna's clear voice rang in the cabin, "What's there to be so worried about? I wonder if whackspurts are behind his misery-"

"No whack-whatever Luna," Blaise smiled, "Draco doesn't wanna do it."

"Enough Blaise! You're letting your imagination run wild!"

Draco fumed. Blaise just grinned in response.

"And he's supposed to go on a date with her this weekend. His mother had asked him to and you know how he is, he just can't say no- oww OWW!"

Blaise groaned mid-sentence as Draco stood to grab a fistful of his hair

"Enough Blaise, shut up already!"

But Blaise chose to ignore the pain and went on, "and he doesn't wanna walk down a path that's been laid down for- oww- he wants to make his own decisions- outch!"

Draco yanked his hair forcefully causing Blaise to whimper.

"Now shut up before I hex you!" He yelled before collapsing into his chair once more.

"oww! Ow! That hurt! You're so mean Draco! Oww!"

Blaise groaned again dramatically.

Luna saw a flicker of concern in Draco's eyes before he snapped at his friend.

"Serves you. You were the one who went spilling my private matters to others."

With a shake of his head, Draco stood up and moved to the window.

"Others?" Luna repeated his words, "but it's just me. And we're friends, right?"

Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. He could have snapped back at her saying 'no', but surprisingly he couldn't bring himself to say so. Not when he saw her tending to Blaise's scalp.

"It's fine, Blaise. It won't hurt now...." she muttered a few spells which seem to have their desired effect and he found Blaise smiling and sighing in relief.

Soon enough, the matter was forgotten as few assistants working in the department came with some reports. The day passed uneventfully but Luna could feel the tension in Draco's posture, she could tell he was stressed. They had been immersed in paperwork but that didn't seem to take things off his mind all through the day. She would frown when she heard his sigh and her insides itched. She wanted to help him so badly.

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XX

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The following day, Luna was fortunate enough to share the elevator to the top floor with Draco. They were all alone in the cubical box and Luna couldn't stop herself from speaking what was on her mind. Swallowing her words, she paused to think. Talking to Draco wasn't always easy. She had mostly thought of him as a bully but to her surprise he came across as a reserved kind of guy post the war, keeping things to himself.

Draco watched her out of the corner of his eye. His blonde companion looked like she was about to start babbling something but stopped herself. He sighed. The journey to their office would take fifteen painful minutes and he had to share it with her of all people, especially after Blaise had blabbed some embarrassing things about him the previous day. To his utter dismay, the two of them were the only ones sharing the small space. The usual hustle-bustle from the other departments was hardly audible as it was Sunday and most of the employees had their days off.

"Hello there, Draco."

His companion seemed like she finally found the right words to speak. A good five minutes to open that pretty mouth of hers, and she wasn't even the type to ponder over her words.

"Took you long enough, Lovegood," Draco did his best to keep his voice clipped, "hello to you."

Lovegood girl amused him in many ways, her utterly disgusting cheerful attitude, ridiculous outfits, pointless babbling surprisingly cheered him up when he was down. The world hadn't been exactly kind to him the past few months and having her near was, he paused to find the right word- calming. There were days when he absolutely despised his life, hated those who jeered at him, drowned himself in self-remorse. But he was also grateful to have Blaise and Pansy by his side, to have her (Luna) tagging behind him talking about all silly things. And she never backed down even when he snapped at her; clumsy little girl always trying her best to befriend him and here she was at it again.

"Draco, it sure is a lovely day. Isn't it? Well, working on Sunday doesn't feel lovely. Not when the offices are all empty and we'll have all the fuzzbies all for ourselves-"

The what? Draco cut himself off before he could ask and leaned against the metallic wall behind him. The elevator journey seemed to go on forever and hearing Lovegood babble all along didn't help much. Lovegood girl seemed to love all the bizarre things in the world. Whatever topic she picked seemed almost foreign, maybe even alien. He continued to listen to her, utterly bored. His eyebrows shot up when he heard the name 'Astoria'.

"You always have a choice Draco," Lovegood girl prattled on, "you don't have to marry Astoria, if you don't want to. You always have a choice, remember? Like you chose to ignore all those guys jeering at you when you joined the ministry."

Draco sneered at her, "Funny, Lovegood. I don't remember giving you permission to pry into my private matters."

His sneer usually shut up almost everyone except the brazen little Lovegood girl.

"Oh but we're friends Draco," Luna continued with a friendly smile that she knew Draco would call 'shameless'.

"Are we?" Draco snorted again.

"Yes, we are. And like I said, there's always a choice."

Draco sighed, "You don't understand a thing, do you?"

Nothing could ever be that simple. He always wanted to make his own choice. Like now, but he couldn't. Not when he needed as much support as he could from the Greengrass family. This political marriage would mean upgrading his status, supporting his age-old family business and a lifeline to the Malfoy hierarchy.

"I don't want to see you suffer anymore, Draco, " said Luna quietly.

Surprise flashed in his eyes but he quickly hid it behind another sneer.

"Like the hell you do, Lovegood. Now shut up!"

But Luna being Luna went on with it.

"I wouldn't be happy if you were to suffer, you know."

Draco groaned noiselessly. So much for being trapped in an elevator with miss-goody-two-shoes!

"Even the happie-bees won't be happy. You should try to smile more. Smiling would attract happie-bees and they say they would bring you luck! I'm sure you'll find happiness eventually Draco, you will! All you need to do is make a choice!"

"That's it!" Draco yelled as he reached out to grab her arm, "I make a choice now!"

His firm voice echoed in the elevator for a while but Luna couldn't hear a thing. Her mind went completely blank because in the next moment Draco pulled her to him, kissing her firmly on the lips.

A choice was surely made?!

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FIN!

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AN: Delayed update... Look forward to next. :) Thanks for reading! Sorry for any grammar or spell errors. Will recheck soon!

:)