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When Draco Malfoy made the decision to return to Hogwarts and complete his education, after a little persuasion from his parents, he never expected to make any friends during that final year. Not after everything he’d done. Not even after Potter had publicly forgiven him and helped his family stay out of Azkaban. He wasn’t even expecting anyone to be friendly with him. He was pragmatic like that.
Then the snow arrived with December and, as the castle was decorated for Christmas, it brought colds and slippery accidents.
Draco sat on the bottom steps of the grand staircase in the Entrance Hall with a book that he wasn’t really reading. It was a good place to hear tidbits of conversation as students came and went into the Great Hall for lunch; he would sit to the side, leaning against the large, stone newel post, and people would barely notice him. He happened to peer up for a moment as the doors opened, bringing in some seventh-years who’d been in the greenhouses, Luna Lovegood being one of them.
He laughed under his breath at what she was wearing – a large yellow scarf was wrapped around her neck, almost hiding her face completely and took over the top half of her black robes, and a pair of bright yellow wellington boots. Draco shook his head, she looked like an idiot, but she was the only who was probably dry from the brief walk back to the castle. Her classmates were looking a bit worse for wear in their normal black shoes and thin scarves.
A nearby second-year Gryffindor sneezed violently as they walked into the Great Hall, pulling Draco’s attention to them. It sent them off course, causing them to stumble head first into the thick, wooden door before slipping on one of the puddles from wet clothes and shoes. They lay groaning on their back before two students helped them up.
Draco sniggered as he dropped his eyes back down to his book.
“Is something funny to you, Draco?” Luna’s soft voice asked.
Draco looked up at her, a little surprised to find her stood over him; he hadn’t heard or seen her coming his way, which was incredible considering the boots should’ve been squeaking on the floor and the colours were hard to miss.
“Do you enjoy the misfortune of others?” Luna’s voice held a hardness to it with that question.
Draco snapped his book shut, not breaking his gaze or dropping his smirk. “Schadenfreude,” he stated simply.
“Just because the Germans have a word for everything does not make it okay to laugh at another person’s misfortune. Go apologise to them for laughing,” she instructed.
Draco let his smirk grow into a wide smile. Slowly he opened his book, not looking away from her, stretched his legs down the bottom step, crossing them at the ankle, and continued to not read his book. “I shan’t,” he said lazily, keeping his eyes moving across the page without taking in a word.
With a waft of something floral mixed in with the scents of the outdoors, Luna sat down next to him. She was so close she’d pushed him a little into the newel post. Draco reluctantly pulled his eyes from the book to find her neatly tucked by him, her knees up by her chest with her red hands clasped on them, her blue eyes were the only thing he could see of her face after the scarf had been shoved upwards.
“You look ridiculous.” Draco tugged at a tassel at the end of the scarf.
“Does it make you want to laugh at me?” She stared at him. He hated it when she did that. It felt like he was being read like the book in his lap.
“I did laugh at you, Lovegood. When you walked in.” If there was anything Draco had learnt over the last two years was he hated lies and had vowed never to lie again.
Luna didn’t leave the step, but she did take her scarf off and jammed it roughly into her satchel hanging across her body. Draco watched as the thick woollen item went in with ease. It didn’t even leave a bulge in the sides of the leather where it would’ve been.
“Has Granger been teaching you some tricks?” He tried to poke at the bag but Luna slapped his hand, the iciness of her hand making the contact hurt more than it should have.
“That is not your property to do that with, Draco,” she said simply.
Draco frowned, rubbing the back of his hand against the side of his thigh, the rough material of his trousers easing the sting already. Luna looked around at the hall; it was almost empty now that most of the students were in the Great Hall for lunch.
“Do you never find it funny when a friend trips over?” Draco found himself asking.
“No.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but her blunt and short answer made him pause for a second. “Never?”
“It’s not kind to laugh at people,” she told him, her eyes still looking at the ceiling of the hall, like she was searching for something.
“What if the friend is laughing as well? Would you not find that funny?” He wasn’t even sure why he was asking her these questions. Maybe it was niggle of guilt in the pit of his stomach she was making him feel. He’d never felt guilty before for finding amusement in someone else’s downfall.
“Then that is not laughing at them, you are laughing with them. It makes all the difference to laugh with a friend.” Her eyes found his unexpectedly and it froze all his thoughts for a moment. “What if that person falling" -she pointed towards the Great Hall- "was having a really bad day and then you laughed at them instead of asking if they were okay – what if your laughter was the last thing they could handle? What if your kindness changed everything for them?”
“You don’t think I know what difference someone’s kindness can make?” he snapped. Luna didn’t even flinch at his tone, let alone drop her gaze from his. “You know, Schadenfreude isn’t just laughing at someone else’s misfortunes. It means you take pleasure from it and that you’re grateful it isn’t you having to suffer through it. So tell me, Lovegood – did you never take any pleasure in the knowledge that you’re not me?”
They sat in silence for a moment, looking at each other, listening to the chatter coming from the Great Hall. Luna reached a hand out and slowly placed it Draco’s forearm, her contact gentle but the iciness from her fingers still came through his jumper.
“You’re right. I have found myself to be grateful that I haven’t endured your misfortunes. I’m sorry, Draco,” she said sincerely.
Draco shook his head as he laughed softly. “I’m not asking you to apologise. I don’t care.”
Luna smiled sadly at him as she took her hand back. Draco watched her hands for a moment before reaching into his pocket, leaning a little into her as he did. He gave her the amethyst rock, the warmth of it already rushing through his own hand. He silently pulled both of her hands around it and made her close her fingers around it.
Luna looked up from their hands, smiling brightly at him as she felt the effects from it, the redness already disappearing from her fingers as they warmed up again. "Thank you, Draco."
“Granger’s not the only one with tricks.”
Like she had been summoned, footsteps raced down the steps behind them, Hermione Granger the owner of them. No matter what time of day it was, she always looked like she was late and harassed. When she reached the bottom step, she started to turn to Luna but slipped on an unseen puddle and landed heavily on her backside by Luna.
Draco automatically sniggered and he caught a slight lift in Luna’s mouth as she held onto Hermione.
“Now that I’ve made you all laugh, are you coming to lunch, Luna?” Hermione asked, not looking at them as she hauled herself back up, brushing roughly at the back of her skirt.
“Schadenfreude,” Luna said quietly, her smile not hidden anymore.
“Indeed,” Hermione said, a reluctant grin on her lips. “Come on.” She held her hand out to Luna, who took it and stepped down, giving Draco his amethyst back.
Draco quickly pocketed the stone before opening his book, expecting them to leave.
“You too, Malfoy,” Hermione said firmly with a grudging smile. “You’re clearly Luna’s next project and there’s no saying no to her once she’s sat by you – it effectively means you have been chosen.”
“I’m not anyone’s project,” Draco muttered, shuffling away a little from them at the idea of it.
Hermione snorted. “Okay.”
As she walked off to the Great Hall, Draco turned his attention to Luna, who was smiling at him. It looked a little demented. “That was Hermione’s Schadenfreude moment.”
“Go and eat your lunch,” he instructed, cursing himself silently for laughing at that.
“Come with us, Draco. You can’t sit on the stairs, listening to everyone’s secrets, and hope you can use them one day. We all need friends.” She held a hand out to him. “How about we start with one lunch together?”
Draco stared at her hand, not taking it. He wanted to take it so much, to have a moment where he wasn’t lonely, but his pride… his mother said the Malfoy pride would be his downfall.
“Would it help if I give you permission to laugh if I have any misfortunes from now until the end of the school year?”
Draco grinned, taking her hand as his answer.