Upside Down

Eee hee hee!! You guys are loverly. THe reviews were AWESOME. THe bunnies were fed, and I was emotionally boosted. I'm sure there will be more hot scenes like that...bit there has to be a bit of space....c'mon....what kind of Author would be if I put smut in every chapter. I guess I would be a PWP Author...and personally...I like plot.



distinctlyME - I'm glad I sparked a bit of something between you and your fiance. It makes me proud to know people react that way to my stories...^_^



smurphy - was your shower enjoyable? I know Draco's was...



PotterEntourage - an interesting idea. Ruby and Ron...but you know...they're not that far apart in age. Ron is 22, and Ruby's 16. That's a six year difference. My mom and dad were married for thirty years before my dad passed away, and they had an eight year difference. We'll see how the card play out...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Hermione had at first been unsure how to react to Draco when he had emerged from the bathroom fully dressed. When she caught sight of him, she blushed crimson, and refused to meet his gaze. Just before she had gone to wake Ruby from her nap, Draco had pinned her against the wall. She gasped softly.



“What are you doing?!” she gasped, her face once again blushing pink. He reached up and stroked her face.



“I don’t want you to treat me any differently. What we shared was….interesting…but I don’t want you to feel strange around me.” He said softly, running his fingers through her ringlet curls. She looked up at him.



“What are we doing?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow.



“What do you mean?”



“Are we….an item? Or was I just a random fantasy?” she asked. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead.



“You are not like any other girl I have ever met. We started off with a very rocky past. Both of us have done some serious maturing over the years. We are adults, and very capable of making decisions based on what we want, and not on the opinions and beliefs of others. With that said, I’ll ask you this: do you want to be an item?” he asked. HE lowered his head, and nuzzled her throat with his nose. She closed her eyes, and sighed softly.



“I think…we should take it slower…” she mumbled. He chuckled against her.



“Do you? Are you sure that’s you talking, or is it the opinion of your friends talking?” he asked softly. She gasped when his tongue swiped at her throat.



“What will your parents think?” she asked. She was barely able to make cognitive thoughts with his tongue lapping at the junction of her shoulder and neck.



“Father has already given me blessing to pursue you if I so wish. And mother has never been as strict as father. Stop making excuses. Do you want to be my girlfriend? I must say…I wouldn’t be averse to it…” he said, and nipped her throat. She gasped.



“I…I….yes….I’ll be your girlfriend…” she groaned.



Ruby cleared her throat behind them. Draco glanced over, and saw Ruby standing in her doorway, an eyebrow raised.



“If you’re gonna go at it like wild bunnies…don’t do it in front of my door…” she said. The remark would have been funny if she hadn’t had a completely serious look on her face.



A few minutes later, they were all ready to go back to Grimmauld place.



Draco, Ruby, and Hermione arrived at Grimmauld Place with only a few minutes to spare. As they walked towards the kitchen, Draco began to mumble about becoming Molly’s slave. Hermione bubbled with laughter, trying to ignore the blonde walking next to her. Ruby walked behind them, still rather forlorn from her meeting with Betty Jean. Both Draco and Hermione had tried to cheer her up, but it seemed the young American was stuck in low gear, and wasn’t keen to be budged.



Draco opened the kitchen door for Ruby and Hermione. Ruby entered first, and as Hermione walked through, Draco followed behind, placing his hand on the small of her back.



Hermione paused, and looked up at him. He looked down, and the corners of his mouth tugged upwards.



To be absolutely honest, Hermione had missed this. When she was with Ron, there was a strange, inexplicable feeling of safety. Even though he was as sharp as a marble, with the same depth of emotion, he had been loyal to her. He had once defended her against an overly friendly clerk at the mall. Although…he had also ‘defended’ her against a few of her old classmates that had just wanted to talk…



But the feeling had waned when she had broken off their relationship. She had once wished he was there when a man had practically accosted her inside of a bookstore because she ‘sent mixed signals’ when she had answered his question about a book.



But she could feel that safety returning, and it was welcome.



Molly was already at the stove, stirring up something that smelled promising already. The only other person in the kitchen was Sirius, who was sitting at the table playing Muggle chess against himself. He was winning.



Molly turned when the kitchen door opened, and grinned at the group.



“Well! My help has arrived. Draco, dear, you can work on cutting up those carrots right there. Mind the knife, now…it’s sharp.” She said, and turned back to her pot. Draco rolled his eyes.



“And here I thought knives were supposed to be dull….my life is a lie…” he mumbled. Sirius looked up from his game up chess, his iridescent eyes shining in the light. He raised a dark eyebrow at Draco, who shrugged and went to the sink to wash his hands before tackling the vegetables. Ruby silently went over to the table and sat down in front of Sirius, mutely adding herself to the game of chess. Sirius sat back, welcoming the company.



“Anything I can do to help, Molly?” Hermione asked. Molly tilted her head.



“Yes, dear. Why don’t you help Draco? I’m sure he would appreciate some help on those vegetables.” She said. Hermione washed her hands, and fetched another knife, and stood beside Draco, starting in on some celery.



Draco looked over at her, a grin on his face.



“Well, well. We’ve just turned domestic now, haven’t we?” he asked. Hermione grinned, and bumped her hips against Draco’s, and he laughed softly.



“You will never domesticate me, Draco Malfoy. I am a free radical.”



~~



The last to the dinner table were Lucius and Narcissa, both of whom looked slightly…disheveled. They sat down quickly, and Bellatrix sneered.



“Eeew. If you two are going to hold everyone up shagging like seventh years, at least wipe those stupid looks off your faces.” She snapped. Truth be told, she was a bit bitter. Narcissa and Lucius were husband and wife, but they were also lovers and friends. She could only claim Rodolphus as a man she had married and had sex with a few times. And not even very good sex, either. Some people had all the luck.



Sirius grimaced. “Really, Bella. No one wants to know about their evening romps. We all know they do it, but we’d prefer not to talk about it…” he said. Bellatrix looked over at him.



“Crawl back to the Veil, Sirius. No one wants to hear your whining…” she said angrily. Harry frowned.



“Don’t talk to my Godfather that way, Lestrange.” He said.



“I’m sorry, St. Potter. We can’t all crawl out of the veil of Death on technicalities, can we?” she asked. Molly slapped a clean serving spoon against the table, causing the people to jump.



“Enough! You all fight more than children!” she snapped.



“Actually…I’ve seen first graders fight less.” Ruby piped up. She had gained back some of her cheer when she had kicked Sirius’ arse in chess.



Hermione sighed. “Can’t we all just get along?” she asked hopelessly. Draco chuckled.



“That’s like asking the Dark Lord to put on a pink kilt and sing ‘God Save the Queen.’” Draco mumbled. Ruby snorted through her potatoes.



“I don’t think you should all have to get along.” Ruby said. All eyes were on her. “But I think you all need to suck it up and pretend. You’re all in the Order of the Phoenix. For the love of Bob stop arguing amongst yourselves. Geez…” she said, and shoved some roast beef in her mouth.



Narcissa looked down at the food, and turned a bit pale. The smell of it was making her mouth water…but it wasn’t the good ‘yummy mouth-watering.’ It was more like ‘I’m gonna blow chunks any moment mouth-watering.’ She pushed her plate away, and scooted back her chair. Molly looked over, her brow crinkled. Narcissa was actually a fan of Molly’s cooking. She wouldn’t turn away a meal for no reason.



“Are you all right, Narcissa?” Molly asked. Narcissa shook her head, and swallowed.



“The food looks l-lovely, Molly…But I’m afraid if I eat I might….I…..might….” she stood from her chair, and walked with poise from the room. As soon as her feet touched the hall outside of the dining room, she took off into a run and rushed upstairs. Lucius sighed, and stood as well, following behind his wife to make sure she was all right.



The people at the table were silent for a few moments. Ruby looked over at Sirius.



“So I’ve heard about this Veil of Death. Scary stuff. How’d ya get out?” she asked. An eerie smile broke across Sirius’ face.



“It’s a bit of a long story.” He started.



“I like stories.” Ruby returned. He nodded.



“Well, there was a battle between the Order and the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic, down in the Department of Mysteries and in the chamber where the Veil is hidden. Curses were flying everywhere, and all sorts too. I happened to be standing in front of the Veil when my dear, sweet, cousin Bella hit me with a Stunner. I fell backwards into the Veil. Everyone thought I was dead. Hell, for a while I thought I was dead…



But I also thought I was dreaming. I could hear voices. They were all around me, but they were dull and muffled, and I couldn’t make out what they were saying. All I could think about was getting back and helping with the battle. What felt like a few hours later to me, I heard a voice loud and clear. It told me I hadn’t come to the Veil properly. I shouldn’t be there. And just like that I felt a falling sensation, and was tossed on my back in right back into the chamber where the battle had gone on.



A few Unspeakables were in the room at the time. Apparently the Veil had been buzzing like it was no one’s business. They cleaned me up and fed me, and then took me to Shacklebolt, who was the new Minister. I was disoriented and confused, but I was quite happy when I found out my name had been cleared a few years earlier when Peter’s fat arse had been captured after a battle. I came here, rededicated my loyalty to the Order, and have been fighting with them ever since.” He said.



The story had been a bit long, but it was interesting nonetheless. So apparently, because he had been unconscious when he fell through, he had been spit back out later.



Harry had been sitting quietly, listening to his godfather. He had felt a guilt trip the moment Sirius mentioned the chamber of the Veil. It was his fault Sirius had been put through that. Sirius sensed his discomfort, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.



“Don’t worry about it, mate. I never held it against you. And I never will…” he said to him. Harry gave a small smile. Bellatrix cleared her throat.



“Can we talk about something else?” she asked in her best ‘polite girl’ voice. Sirius smirked.



“Why? Are you feeling a modicum of remorse?” he taunted. She snorted.



“Hell no. I’m just bored of hearing about you and your ‘rise from the grave.’ Pick another subject.” She said, a sour look on her face.



“So, Bella, have you maimed anyone lately?” he asked sarcastically.



“Ask me that in the morning, after you’ve gone to sleep tonight.” She said, and flicked a pea in his direction.

Draco looked over at Hermione, and gave a mischievous grin. He stood from his place.



“Everyone. I’d like to have your attention.” He said. Hermione paled slightly. What was he doing?



“I’d like to make an announcement.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Uh oh...what is that silly scamp up to? I don't know. You'll have to tune in next chapter.