Can't Fight the Moonlight

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters appearing in the series of 'Harry Potter' films, created by author J.K. Rowling. Original characters are copyrighted to the original author (Rupert). This series is posted to Girls Loving Girls with full permission of the author. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.

Feedback: Every author in his or her own way makes it a point to ask for feedback when posting a story, well me I don't usually. But there are several reasons as to why a reader should consider taking the time to give it. The simple fact is that giving some form of feedback is truly the most important thing a reader can do after reading and enjoying a story. Hopefully in the process providing that author with at least one viable reason as to what you liked about the story. This small amount of time spent will no doubt inspire the author to write more and possibly at a quicker pace, knowing that they have a fan base who are waiting on their next works. So thanks for the feedback and please keep it comin.

Summary: None

Original Airdate: April 21, 2009 @ 9:00 p.m.
(following an ALL NEW 'Pinch Me)

Story Codes: no sex

It was a dark and rainy evening. It was one hell of a late fall thunderstorm outside with frequent lightning and thunder. Hermione’s mood however was very sunny. She was curled up on the couch under a blanket with Luna wrapped in her arms. They were watching a somewhat interesting documentary on the animal life in the Galapagos Islands on TV. More importantly however was just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.

It had been a week since Hermione had left her job at the Ministry of Magic. For the first time, in what felt like an eternity, had Hermione been completely relaxed and at ease. There was literally nothing that she had to worry about now that she no longer had any responsibilities. She had managed to start on her book, but that didn’t feel like work at all. While it did bring back some unpleasant memories, Hermione could comfort herself with the fact that it was all in the past.

“I think we should get an animal.” Luna suddenly said.

“Well, we already have Crookshanks.”

“Yes, but he’s out all the time. We barely see him.”

“Yes, he is very self sufficient. I was very neglectful too him and he started roam freely. He does bring me the occasional dead rat though, so I guess he still likes me.”

One of the first things Hermione had done when she moved in with Luna was to install a special cat door for Crookshanks. It allowed him to come and go as he pleased and that he did. Neither Hermione nor Luna knew what he was doing all the time, but seeing as he was no ordinary cat they didn’t have to worry about him.

“About other animals, what did you have in mind?” Hermione asked.

“I don’t know that. I can’t know that until I meet the animal in question.” Luna answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well, I suppose we can do that as long as it isn’t dangerous.”

“All animals are dangerous if you don’t know how to handle them properly.”

“Really?” Hermione asked sceptically.

“Yes, when I was in Africa I heard a story about an Aardvark that was trained to kill lions.”

“Aren’t aardvarks like this big?” Hermione asked and held out her hands

“Yes, but they can be very fierce. I heard that an aardvark once saved an entire village from a group of lions.”

“And exactly how did that happen?”

“It roared and scared the lions away”.

To illustrate her point Luna roared and scrunched her face together in what was supposed to be a scary look. Hermione couldn’t help but think that Luna was being incredibly cute and gave Luna a quick kiss.

“So, do you really think that happened?” Hermione asked.

“Well, perhaps not, but if magic was involved anything is possible.”

“I guess so. So to sum up, we should get ourselves a magical aardvark to scare off lions?” Hermione jokingly asked.

“Yes, but only if it is a nice aardvark.” Luna retorted.

“A nice aardvark it is.” Hermione confirmed and gave Luna a kiss.

The kissing was just about to heat up when they could suddenly hear screaming from Diagon Alley below. Listening more closely Hermione realized that it was not in fact screaming, but singing. Drunken singing to be more precise. Normally Hermione wouldn’t have cared, but there was something familiar about the voice. Luna had also heard it and they both went to investigate. A few weeks ago they had added a balcony to the apartment and now they went out on it and looked down at the street.

“But I would walk 500 miiiiles
And I would walk 500 moooore
Just to be the man who walked 1000 miiiiles
To fall down at your doooooor”

The singing was quite awful and it was quite obvious that the person singing was drunk, very drunk. Another thing that gave the drunkenness away was the very unstable walk. The person in question was ever so slowly walking away from where they were standing, so they couldn’t see who it was. The rain was still pouring down and Hermione couldn’t understand why someone would be out walking in this kind of weather.

“If I get drunk yes I know I'm gonna beee
I'm gonna beeeee the man who gets druuunk next to youuuuuu
And if I haaaaaver yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's haaaavering to you”

Hermione was frantically searching her memory, trying to remember who that voice was belonging to. It was Luna however who got it right.

“Draaaco!” Luna shouted.”

The person looked around in drunken confusion before he saw the two young women on the balcony. As he looked up Hermione could now see that Luna had indeed been right. It was none other than Draco Malfoy. Before Hermione had a chance to react to this highly surprising development, Luna grabbed her broom and flew down to Draco.

“Luna, what are you doing?” Hermione screamed.

Luna didn’t answer, but she did send the broom back to Hermione. Getting on a broom all on her own was not a thing Hermione liked to do, but there was no way she was going let Draco be alone with Luna. She mounted the broom and made the short trip down, albeit not as gracefully as Luna. The very first thing she did after dismounting was to draw her wand and point it at Draco.

“One wrong move Malfoy and show you pain that will make Cruciato seem like a walk in the park.” Hermione threatened.

It wasn’t just residual hatred of Draco that caused Hermione to act in such a way. More importantly it was about protecting Luna who had not drawn her wand. Draco was very slow in reacting, but once he finally managed to focus his eyes and see the wand he started to laugh. It wasn’t an evil sneering laugh, merely a drunken giggle.

“I don’t even have wand anymore.” Draco said with a drunken slur.

“What the hell are you doing here? You should be in Azkaban.”

“Got out for good behaviour. I was the nicest little model prisoner. No wand though. I can apply to an appeals court in about ten years and following due process I may get my wand back.” Draco regurgitated.

Draco didn’t seem to be in a state were lying was possible, but Hermione of course didn’t trust him one bit. She sent a patronus to find out, and still kept her wand firmly directed at Draco.

“I think he’s telling the truth.” Luna said.

“Yes, but I sure as hell am not gonna take his word for it.” Hermione answered between clenched teeth.

Hermione was worried for a brief moment that Luna had thought Hermione’s anger was directed at her, but with their mental connection Luna could conform that she wasn’t offended. Luna understood that Hermione was just being protective, and thanked her for it. Hermione gave a Luna a brief smile, but made sure that she kept an eye on Draco. Just then a familiar silvery weasel emerged.

“Draco was released from Azkaban due to good behaviour last week. His wand is still confiscated and he will not be able to get it back in the next ten years.” The weasel said with Arthur Weasley’s voice.

Hermione lowered her wand somewhat, but still kept it in her hand. Draco looked mightily unsteady and was just about to topple over when Luna grabbed him and prevented him from falling.

“Ok, listen up Draco. We’re gonna help you home, Ok?” Hermione reluctantly said.

As far as Hermione was concerned they would be better off just leaving Draco in the gutter, but Luna would never accept that.

“Draco, where do you live?” Hermione asked.

“Borgin and Burkes.” Draco muttered in response.

“Ohh, great. We’re neighbours.” Hermione uttered in disgust.

“I can water the flowers when you’re gone.” Draco answered with a drunken smile.

“Whatever, let’s just get you home.” Hermione said with a sigh.

It didn’t take long until they reached Borgin and Burkes. Or rather what had used to be Borgin and Burkes. The sign was gone and the building was showing clear signs of neglect.

“It’s gone?” Hermione said in surprise.

“Yeah, it’s not exactly good for business having pretty much all of the customers and the owner locked up in Azkaban.” Draco answered.

Hermione looked around and saw that a similar fate seemed to have befallen all the stores in Knockturn alley. It was the first time she had been here in years, despite the fact that she now lived so close. Meanwhile Draco clumsily tried to open the door. He twisted the keys around in the keyhole, but had no luck getting the door to open. Hermione rather brusquely pushed him aside and easily opened the door. The shelves in the front room were empty, except for a layer of dust, some old boxes and plenty of cobwebs. Draco led them through the store and into the back. It was a small and dank space with a bed, a table and a small kitchen. The walls seemed to be in a state of severe decay and pools of water had gathered in the floor.

“This is horrible.” Luna exclaimed.

“Yeah, it isn’t exactly Malfoy Manor.” Draco slurred.

Draco suddenly put his hand over his mouth and started to stumble towards the sink. Hermione quickly calculated that he wouldn’t make it and that there soon would be a very nasty spill on the floor.

“Expellio Alcoholi!” Hermione shouted and pointed her wand at Draco.

Draco fell to the floor clutching his head in agony.

“Ohhhh, fuuck that hurts. Why the hell are you torturing a defenceless man?” Draco screamed.

“Torture? Really? You want to bring up torture with us two?” Hermione angrily shouted in response and pointed her wand at Draco.

Hermione was going through some really nasty spells in her heads, but Luna put her hand on Hermione’s arm and instantly made her calm down. Hermione took a deep breath before she spoke.

“I wasn’t torturing you. I just expelled all the alcohol from your body. That pain you’re feeling is just a bit of a hangover, it should be over in a few minutes.”

“I don’t suppose you know a spell for hangover?” Draco asked irritably.

“No, I don’t. I really don’t think there is one. My guess is that hangover is around to balance the fun of drinking.” Hermione theorized.

“Fun, yeah obviously I’ve had tons of fun tonight. No friends, no family, and next to no money.” Draco replied.

He sat down by the table and rested his head in his hand. For the first time Hermione had the chance to study Draco more closely. His clothes were in pretty much the same state as the room they were in, dirty and tattered. He looked much older than he should have, with lines in his face and thinner hair. If Hermione hadn’t known, she would have guessed that he was in his late 30’s not early 20’s.

“Why do you live here?” Luna asked.

“Malfoy Manor was confiscated and sold in order to pay compensation to those who lost family members in the war.” Hermione explained.

“A marketing executive lives there now.” Draco said in a neutral tone.

“I’m surprised you even know what that is. Must be hard, having a muggle in old, glorious Malfoy Manor. ” Hermione gleefully said.

Again, Luna put her hand on Hermione’s arm, stopping her from inflicting more pain on Draco. While Hermione still felt a fervent hatred for Draco, she didn’t want to be so nasty in front of Luna.

“What’s the deal with you two by the way? I wouldn’t think you two would keep in touch after Hogwarts.” Draco asked.

“We are girlfriends. As being in love with each other. Do you have a problem with that?” Hermione challenged and drew her wand.

“No, no. Whatever floats your boat. I don’t care.” Draco said and defensively threw his hands up in the air.

“Good.” Hermione said and lowered her wand.

“Anything’s better than that git Weasly.” Draco said and gave Hermione a weak smile.

“Well he might be a git, but he’s still a hundred times the man you’ll ever be.”

“Whatever.” Draco said with a deep sigh and buried his face in his hands again

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Hermione was just about to suggest that she and Luna would leave, but Luna had other plans. She sat down on a chair opposite Draco and spoke.

“I don’t think you should sleep here tonight, you might get a cold.”

“Yeah, probably. But what else can I do?”

Hermione didn’t like where this was going and sent these thoughts to Luna. Unfortunately Luna promptly ignored Hermione.

“You can stay with us, we have a spare room.”

Hermione were sending daggers with her eyes towards Luna. She had never been so furious with her girlfriend. She could tolerate almost anything when it came to Luna, but she could tolerate nothing about Draco. Luna however had made up her mind.

“You are going to stay in our apartment and then tomorrow me and Hermione are going to help you fix up this place. I’m sure Hermione can look up some helpful magic, can’t you Hermione?”

Hermione was seething with silent anger and couldn’t think of anything to say. Draco looked up and saw the look on Hermione’s face and it filled him with fear.

“No, really. It’s ok. I’ll stay here.”

“No you’re not. Technically it is my apartment and you will be there as my guest. I will make sure that Hermione doesn’t hurt you in any way.”

Being talked about while she was in the room made Hermione even more furious, but she managed to control it. She realized that Luna indeed could bring anyone she wanted to the apartment, but that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it.

“Ok, you go and pick up whatever you need and we’ll wait here.” Luna said and Draco quickly obeyed.

Hermione tried to communicate her feelings to Luna, but realized that it wasn’t working at the moment. There was too much anger in the way. Instead she erected a bubble of silence around them so that they could have a discussion without Draco hearing it.

“Of all the fucking lowlife scum in the world, you managed to find scummiest bloody scumbag and invite him to our apartment. Short of resurrecting Voldemort there is nothing worse you could do.” Hermione screamed.

“Draco has not been a very nice person, but even he deserves a second chance.” Luna answered with complete calm.

“Ok, I’ll give you that, but why should we get involved?”

“Right now he doesn’t have anyone else. I’m not going to let him sleep in these unhealthy conditions when we have a nice and warm spare room.”

Hermione took a few deep breaths. The mere act of screaming had had a cathartic effect and she felt a bit calmer.

“Luna, one of the many, many things I love about you is that you have so much compassion. However I really do wish your compassion wouldn’t include him. I don’t trust him, I don’t like him, I can’t stand him. The mere sight of him makes me sick”

“I promise it will be just one night and then at least I will help him fix this place. After that you’ll never have to see him again.”

“Except for the fact that he’s our neighbour.”

“Well, I can’t do anything about that.”

“I know.” Hermione said with a sigh.

Hermione was starting to feel really bad about screaming at Luna. Their mental connection started to come back and they both send out thoughts about a need for contact. They embraced in a hug and all the harsh words slowly washed away. Hermione realized that having Draco in her apartment one night was a small price to pay for being with such a wonderful girl as Luna.