Be Careful
17: Who You Sing With
By Anne B. Walsh
From the Slytherin dorms, Draco continued his explorations, discovering that most doors and door-like creations were permeable to him in this form. The Hufflepuff dormitories, down the same hall as the kitchens and behind a similar painting of a table laden with food, felt surprisingly homey to him, with their long and low-ceilinged common room and their tan and yellow decorations. Neville and Jonathan Beauvoi were asleep in their respective dorms here, which surprised Draco only a bit.
I guess just because you’re an Heir doesn’t mean you have to be sorted into that House. Come to think, hasn’t Hermione said something about Ravenclaw?
The thought led him upwards towards the Ravenclaw tower, with its bronze-beaked sentry eagle. The great, airy common room with its huge silk-hung windows gave him a touch of agoraphobia, but he was sure the Ravenclaws would have felt the reverse in his own dorm under the lake, which to him was cozy and safe.
Though I like it better how they have it set up here. It doesn’t have so many edges and shadows.
To his surprise, the only person in the dorms he recognized from the party at the Beauvois’ was Meghan Black. Hermione, of course, was still in the hospital wing, but someone else who should have been there was unaccountably missing.
Is she a Gryffindor here? No, she can’t be, I was there with Abby, and I saw Harry and the Weasleys coming in, she’d have been with them unless she stopped somewhere along the way…
"So where is Luna, then?" he asked aloud, stepping back through the door into the hallway.
Faint music caught his ear, a piano playing. As he listened, a girl’s voice began to sing.
I’ve never been so certain
I’ve never been so sure
Drawn by the sound, Draco turned to his right and started down the hall.
We’re on the side of angels
If we believe this love is pure
It led him into a tight spiral staircase, which he started to descend.
Is it so hard to trust it
’Cause we’ve been wrong before
After a few rounds, he sat down on the banister and pushed off.
There comes a time in every life
We find the heart we’re waiting for
The voice soared as in ecstasy, growing louder every second.
After all the might-have-beens
The close and distant calls
After all the try-agains
Don’t be afraid to fall
Draco came to the bottom and jumped off just in time.
We’re on the side of angels after all
The piano played an intricate interlude before the voice came back in.
Every time you touch me
Don’t you feel it too?
Getting his balance back with the help of one hand on the wall, Draco followed the voice along the corridor.
The gentle hand that’s guiding us
You to me, me to you
Once more the joyous launch upwards, as though the singer could not contain herself any longer.
After all the might-have-beens
The close and distant calls
After all the try-agains
Don’t be afraid to fall
He came to a half-open door. The singing was coming from within.
We’re on the side of angels after all
Draco stuck his head inside as the piano played three strong ascending chords.
Luna Lovegood sat at the instrument, accompanying herself as she began to sing again.
Heaven only knows
Why this took so long
But only heaven knows
A love is right or wrong
She played a chord sharply, held it out, and struck a very low note, then threw her voice higher than Draco had yet heard it go for a third repetition of the chorus.
After all the might-have-beens
The close and distant calls
After all the try-agains
Don’t be afraid to fall
Piano and voice got quieter together.
We’re on the side of angels
On the side of angels
She was barely audible now.
On the side of angels
After all
A rippling chord upwards on the piano, and the song was done.
"Wow," Draco breathed.
"I’m glad you like it," Luna said, turning around and smiling at him. "Won’t you come in?"
Draco stared at her for a moment. "You heard me."
"I can see you too." Luna tilted her head to one side. "I’m glad you’re not dead. It would make Healer Black very upset if you were."
"Yeah. I guess it would." Draco came into the room and sat down on the small couch in the corner. "Will I be putting my sanity in danger if I ask why you seem to be the only one in the castle I don’t have to touch to tell them I’m there?"
"No, not at all." Luna turned back to her music, starting to flip pages. "I’m a Seer. I have been since I was nine, when my mother died. She was trying to decant a Seeing potion into a glass bottle, but it wasn’t properly made. It exploded, and some of the shards killed her. They might not have, except that she pushed me down before she dodged herself." Her tone was as matter-of-fact as the one she routinely used to announce her belief in ridiculous creatures. "The glass cut me on my arm, and it had some potion still on it, so the potion got into my blood. Ever since, I’ve been able to see things other people can’t."
Draco nodded. This, unlike some of Luna’s explanations, made sense.
"And I’m not the only one in the castle who can See things." Luna placed a gentle emphasis on the word. "Lady Danger has dream-visions sometimes. She used to tell them to us as stories when I would stay the night with Neenie, back when we were little. She may have told us a story from your world, but I can’t recall it. There were so many."
"I think I see a pattern here," Draco muttered.
"You’re very astute, then." Luna found whatever piece she was looking for and began to play a gently swung introduction. "You may have noticed that Potters like to marry redheads?"
"Er. Yeah."
"Beauvois are the same way about Seers." The introduction slipped a note higher at the end. "It’s been like that for a long time. The Beauvois were sure that Seeing must be in their blood by now, but they never seemed to have a child who could See. That was because the dementors were stopping them being born, because they knew that the Beauvois held the prophecy about the end of their time to be strong, so as soon as there was a Seer child in the Beauvoi family, she would See the prophecy coming true and it would."
Draco nodded again, mentally filing this under R for ‘ridiculous’.
"But then Lord Albus and Professor Riddle found the trick to making wards strong enough that dementors couldn’t get through at all, and Mrs. Potter and Healer Tonks and Healer Black found the right mix of potions so Lord Moony and Lady Danger could have a baby, and it turned out to be two babies, and the Healers were able to take some of their blood and put it together and cure Lord Moony’s lycanthropy, and then of course he and Lady Danger could have more children, and they lived because of the wards, and the third-born turned out to be a Seer after all, because three is a magical number."
Sorting through the welter of names and implausible statements (lycanthropy wasn’t curable—though Moony had made that one remark about not biting anymore, and certainly no one seemed to be afraid of him), Draco finally found the information he was looking for. Third-born Beauvoi is a Seer. Ray and Neenie count as first-borns together, I think. Jonathan is second. So third would be…
He inhaled sharply. "Luna, can you give me a name?"
"For the Beauvoi Seer?" The introductory line repeated yet again. "But you know her already."
"Humor me."
"Silly." Luna giggled. "It’s Abby. I thought you knew."
She played the introduction one last time and started to sing, something about songs and rainbows. Draco wasn’t listening.
Abby is a Seer. Supposed to See the ending of the dementors’ glory days. I first showed up in this world in her bedroom, and she follows me around like a puppy.
Why is this starting to make me nervous?
He considered refiling Luna’s statements, then left them where they were. R was for ‘ridiculous’, but it could also stand for ‘right’.
And if they turn out to be ridiculous after all, I won’t have to move them.
Smiling at his own silliness, Draco lay down on the couch. He wasn’t sleepy, he couldn’t be sleepy, he was already asleep… but Luna’s music was so soothing, maybe he’d just close his eyes for a few minutes…
The lovers, the dreamers, and me…
Luna let her last note trail off into silence and turned around. Draco was fast asleep on the couch.
He’s so lonely. He has his mum and Abby and all of us while he’s here, but he’s very lonely in his own world.
I think maybe I can help change that.
She knelt beside him and held her hand where his cheek would be, feeling the slight chill on her skin as her body reacted to the nearness of a spirit. Within her soul, she loosed the bonds on her Sight. Go to the world where this spirit came from, she told it. Find what I’m looking for there.
Her magic shot off through the worlds, seeking, seeking…
Finding. A sleeping mind roused half to wakefulness, startled at first, then curious, then amazed and joyful. Luna meshed easily with it, more easily than she had ever meshed with anyone, even Neville or Ray. See what I See, she willed. Know what I know. Tell me what you think.
The other mind flowed through her thoughts, following them with ease, and looked through her eyes to see the shape she was seeing. Are you sure…? it asked doubtfully.
I am sure. Luna blinked twice to bring her Sight into play. Look here, and here. You can see how he is healing, and growing. He will be very wonderful, with the right help. But I can’t be that help; I’m already promised. She smiled at her left hand. So can you? Will you?
A long pause. I will try, the other voice said. But only if he will try too.
Luna’s smile grew. I know he will try. Will you let me teach you some things I think he will like?
Yes, please. The other mind snuggled down in the back of hers, settling itself firmly into her consciousness, preparing to take in fully whatever she offered it.
Luna returned to the piano and flipped again through her magical music book, settling at last on a song for two voices. I will sing the woman’s part the first time through, she told the other. That is what you will need to learn. Then I will sing the man’s and you can sing the woman’s against it, to practice.
All right.
Luna hummed her note and began.
Draco roused from a confused dream of dancing among dementors, keeping them back solely with thoughts of the people awaiting him on the other side, to hear Luna half-shrieking a line of music.
And the angels proclaim…
She held the last note for a long moment, then dropped her voice so far it was almost inaudible.
It’s a dangerous game
"What was that?" he asked, sitting up.
"It finishes with the title," Luna answered, turning to face him. "Not many songs do that. It’s a duet, really. I usually sing it with Ray, but he’s asleep. Would you like to learn it?"
Draco looked at her for a moment. She’s not trying to flirt with me, he decided finally. She’s just offering honestly. I think.
"Yes, please."
Though if I’m trying to keep from falling for her, spending time alone with her learning to sing a duet together might not be the wisest move.
"You need to be here by the piano, then." Luna smiled at him. "I can’t teach you from way over there."
"Coming." Draco did as he’d said. A gleam of light caught his eye from Luna’s left hand. "What’s—oh." There were only a very few reasons girls wore gold bands set with gems on that finger. "Congratulations. When did he ask you?"
"At the ball, just before the alarm went off. I’m glad it wasn’t before. He could have asked just as well on the skyship, but it’s traditional for it to be at a ball, with everyone watching to make it official."
Draco filed that piece of information away for further use.
In case I actually do find some way to stay here, and I ever meet a girl who’s worth looking twice at, and who’ll look twice at me…
"All right, teach me this song," he said, peering over Luna’s shoulder at the music. "Where do I sing?"
"Not for a few lines. I’ll sing both parts to begin with, so you can hear how it’s supposed to sound." She hummed a note, giggling through a bit of it. "It’s perfect for you right now."
"How so?"
Luna began to sing.
I feel your fingers
Cold on my shoulder
Your chilling touch as it runs down my spine…
"Ha ha, very funny."
"Thank you," Luna said before returning to her singing.
Draco rolled his eyes and leaned closer to listen.