Entered a contest here we gooooo....

                                                      Unexpected Encounter
The Forbidden Forest was not a place most Hogwarts students looked forward to visiting, but there were always a few odd ones every now and then that thought the place was nice. Everyone called her loony for being one of those few, but Luna Lovegood was good at ignoring it. All she cared about was that she did enjoy the Forbidden Forest, and most of all, the thestrals. They could only be seen by those who'd seen death, and since the death of her mother she'd come to make friends with the black, dragonlike horses. She pulled her jacket tighter around her as she walked towards the thick mass of dark trees. Experience had taught her that sometimes darkness was just as comforting as the light.

She glanced at the stars overhead in the clear night sky. Once she entered the woods, they'd be completely obscured. She smiled lightly. The fall breeze was chilly, but it didn't bother her. Her pale, almost white hair stood out in the dark background of the night, making her easy to spot for someone watching from the observatory...

~

Luna silently strolled through the forest until she came to a clearing. The starlight made it glow ominously silver. As she stood there silently, a large dark creature tentatively came out from the trees, it's large wings folded at it's sides. It saw her and gave a friendly snort. "Hello." She said softly, offering the thestral a piece of meat. It came right over, sniffing and chuffing in greeting. "It's nice to see you, too." She told it kindly as she fed it, petting it's neck. The thestral nuzzled her, then gave a short whinny in the direction of the trees. The rest of the thestral's herd came out, some females accompanied by foals. It was lovely to be out here, alone, away from all her troubles with friends who understood her. She turned suddenly when a twig snapped. She thought she saw someone duck behind a tree, but dismissed it as a small animal. Her thestral friend began nosing at her, and she giggled. She had nothing to worry about.

She told the thestrals all about the recent events at Hogwarts. Wether they understood or not didn't matter; she could talk to them and they wouldn't judge her. She remembered when she saw one for the first time. She'd been terrified, thinking that the creature was out to tear her to pieces, until her father calmed her down enough to explain what she was seeing. She sighed. "You're terribly misunderstood creatures, you know." She said. The thestral closest to her snorted. "It's not your fault, I know..." She said to it softly. She contemplated wether or not being able to see them was a blessing or a constant reminder of her mother's death. She settled on both. She was about to speak her mind to the thestrals on this when a twig snapped. She whirled around, but there was nothing. Silence filled the clearing, a spooky, uncomfortable silence. It was just a rabbit....I hope...

The thestrals were suddenly agitated, and began stamping and flapping their wings. Luna was knocked over by one, and just managed to avoid being trampled as the frightened dark horses ran away and took flight. A little shaken, she stood up and brushed herself off. "No, wait! Come back!" She called. She froze when she heard the growl. Turning around very slowly, she felt her heart stop.

There was a werewolf in the clearing.

It's yellow eyes burned brighter than a blazing forest fire; it's gray and black fur stood on end like the quills of a knarl. It's sparkling white fangs were bared and reflected what little light was left. Luna drew her wand. "St-stay back!" She snapped in what she hoped was an intimidating voice. But then, intimidation was never her strong suit. The werewolf snarled and lunged, but fortunately she just managed to dodge. She aimed her wand at it and cast the first offensive spell that came to her mind. "Flipendo!" She screamed, sending the wolf head over heels with a tremendous bang. With the wolf distracted, she tore off in a random direction, fleeing for her life. But the werewolf was faster than her and quickly gained. She yelped as she tripped on a tree root. The werewolf was on her in seconds, pinning her down and ready to bite. It's terrible jaws yawned wide, it's head reared back and...

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!!"

A spell hit the wolf, and it froze solid inches from her face, completely petrified. Luna looked around, feeling stiff and petrified herself. She crawled out from under the beast and stood, completely baffled that someone else was here to cast the spell and save her life. She suppressed a gasp when she saw who was standing there nearby. "Draco!?" She exclaimed, sounding quite unlike she usually did. Draco Malfoy sauntered up to her, sheathing his wand. Though he seemed indifferent to the situation, it was obvious he'd been scared witless--his face had lost what little color it had. "Hello, Lovegood." He said simply. Luna swallowed gingerly and found the courage to respond. "What are you doing here?" Draco laughed at this. "Well, I was seeing what you were doing here. And good thing, too. You would've had your throat bitten out." He said as if none of this was interesting to him.

Luna glanced at the petrified werewolf and took a few steps away from it. "Well, thank you for saving my life, Draco." She said politely, though it was laced with nervous tension. Something about the way the boy was staring right into her eyes was strangely different from his usual behavior. Draco chuckled. "I'm glad to see that my assistance is appreciated. Though, I expected it from you, you're always looking past people's flaws and seeing the good in them and all that rubbish." Luna resisted the urge to flinch. So what if she saw the good in people? That was what being a Lovegood was all about. "Well, I couldn't say the same for you." She said quietly. "Don't retort like that; you sound like Granger." Draco laughed smugly. His expression changed. "You're alright, aren't you?" Luna was slightly shocked to hear Draco Malfoy ask if she was alright. He'd never expressed concern for anyone but himself. "Terribly frightened, but otherwise, yes, I'm fine." She answered, scanning him for any other unusual behavior.

"Seeing as all your thestral friends have run off, I assume you'd like to come back with me to the castle?" Draco offered. Luna's immediate reaction was that she'd love to get back to the castle where it was safe and free of werewolves, but with Draco... "W-well, getting back to the castle would be nice, but why would you offer for me to go with you? You only care for Slytherins and purebloods." She sighed. Draco again started behaving strangely. His eyes portrayed something completely opposite his usual composure. "Er--well, I can't have you getting killed when I have the power to prevent it." He said, obviously nervous. Luna sensed a strange tension between them. "I'll go with you, then." She said politely, not wishing to make the awkward silence drag on. Draco offered his hand to her. "Let's go, then. Before another werewolf catches our scent." He said. Luna gingerly took his hand was secretly surprised at how warm and gentle his grasp was. She'd expected it to be awkward. The two started to walk towards the edge of the forest. Several minutes of silence passed.

"So you can see the thestrals, huh?" Draco asked randomly. Luna fidgeted with the buttons on her jacket. "Yes." She replied. "Who...?" Draco hesitated to finish the question. "My mother." Luna answered very quietly, becoming nervous as Draco seemed to be becoming concerned with someone other than himself. Draco was silent for several seconds. "I'm sorry." Draco whispered in, to Luna's complete bafflement, a comforting tone. "S-sorry for what?" Luna asked, feeling a strange difference in the energy Draco was giving off. "Your loss." Draco said, then he paused. "And also, everything I've said about your family. It wasn't true." Luna stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a 'what are you playing at?' look. Draco raised a brow. "What?" He asked. Luna glanced down, then met his gaze. "You have called my family loony, crazy, mad, stupid, superstitious and a number of other things, and now you stand here and apologize for it? Draco, are you feeling alright?" Draco slowly began to smile, then straight up laughed. Then it took him a while to stop and regain his composure.

"I'm fine! I just wanted to make sure you didn't get mauled by a werewolf tonight, and there's nothing wrong with that. And I am sorry about my brash insults. There's no honor in belittling others." He said. "Except Harry Potter?" Luna asked pointedly. Draco sighed and looked away for a minute. "I'm done worrying about him." He said, a little less amused. "My father kept pushing me to think he was stupid and brainless, but I decided I was done bothering him and all his companions. It's pointless." Luna glanced hesitantly down at the ground as they continued walking. "Why did you suddenly decide to lose your obnoxiousness when you've been that way since first year?" She asked, straight to the point rather bluntly, as always. Hermoine had told her to ask questions more sensitively, but where was the fun in that? And besides, you didn't get straight answers without straight questions. No matter how uncomfortable those questions might make someone....

"Because I realized I was only being that way to show myself I didn't like something that I know I actually did...and still do." Draco answered, his voice going soft. Luna met his gaze again, and realized his silver-gray eyes were reflecting her blue eyes perfectly. Her rate went up. "And what was it that you realized you liked?" She asked. Draco cleared his throat and looked around desperately. "Oh--what d'ya know-- there's the castle." He said quickly, his voice anything but what it normally was. Luna noticed they were indeed exiting the Forbidden Forest, but the way Draco changed the subject made her suspicious. Nothing more was said until they reached they reached the castle door. "You should hurry back to your common room, Lovegood. Filch will have your head if he catches you. It's way past curfew." Draco warned. Luna was about to take his advice, but she decided to make one more effort. "What did you like that made you change?" She pressed. Draco looked like a scared dog backed into a corner. "Uh--it's nothing." He said. Luna smiled a little. For some reason, she liked to watch him act this way. "Draco..." She sighed amusedly. Draco's face started to take on a pinkish hue. "Well, if you must know..." He mumbled. "It's you." Immediately after saying this, he briskly entered the castle and disappeared down a corridor. Luna was left to stare at the corridor he'd gone down, completely stupefied.

"M-me!?" She whispered to herself, her face heating up. She quickly ran down the corridor and tried to find Draco, but he was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't stop thinking about what she'd just heard. What exactly had he meant? She got a strange feeling she'd never felt before. She decided to find out more later and returned to the Ravenclaw common room. Either he's crazy, or I'm crazy, or both. She thought to herself as she made for her dormitory. Or this has been a loony dream and I'm going to wake up soon. She thought about the look in his eyes. The way his face had gone pink. As she entered her dormitory, she smiled to herself. Or perhaps he has changed, and my theory is correct

End!

Hope you enjoyed, this one shot is for SoaringEaglesClub 's contest.

And yaaaaassss I'm shipping DracoxLuna it's my precious ship I call it the #Druna ship

Because whynaught!?