Title: Catching the Fallen

Rating: PG-13

By: Casserole and Pie

Disclaimer: No we do not own Harry, we do not own Draco, we do not own Ron, we do not own Hermione, we do not own Voldemort, we do not own Anything, except for maybe our word processors. And since we would like to go to college some day maybe you could not sue us?

Two

Fireside

"The better part of one's life consists of his friendships."
- Abraham Lincoln

The fire cast a warm glow into the room, making it feel cozy and warm despite the rain falling outside. Big cushy chairs were set around the fire, the focal point of the room. One of them was taken up by two young men, arms and legs happily intertwined, contentedly resting against each other and back into the comfortable overstuffed cushy-ness of the chair. The other chair was occupied by a young woman of their same age, her face was still slightly damp and her hair was less so, but not it's normal bushy state, and she had a little orange kitten on her lap, playfully batting at that not-so-bushy hair. She looked up from the kitten and there was a soft smile on her lips.

"She reminds me of Crookshanks."

"She has a similar attitude too." The blond haired boy replied.

The boy with black hair and his arms wrapped around the blond smiled, remembering Crookshanks, Hermione's old cat.

"Remember when she attacked you while you were sleeping on the back porch when we stayed at Hermione's house that summer?"

"I remember," The girl with the orange kitten smiled wider "Probably a good thing, you would have gotten a worse sun burn if you had stayed out there any longer!"

"I fell asleep!" the blond protested.

"Yeah right, Draco. You were just trying to find a way to convince me to give you that sunburn cream stuff." Harry laughed

"I was not. I really did doze off." Draco protested, sticking out his lip in a pretend pout that made Harry smile.

"You two told me there was nothing going on between you when you first showed up at the summer house. But I could tell!" Hermione grinned. "Harry's never been very good at hiding his feelings."

"We weren't together." Harry protested.

"Well, walking in on you two erased any doubts from my mind." Hermione smirked slightly, "you certainly didn't take long if you weren't together when you arrived." Harry's face went bright red in a blush, even after being with Draco for five years he was still prone to blushing.

"Of course it didn't take long. With me on his tail how could he?" Draco snickered, enjoying the color of his beloved's face.

"Oh yes I'm sure, how could Harry not submit to your prowess on sight and prostrate himself at your feet." Hermione quirked an eyebrow, her smile twitching at her lips that she was in-vainly trying to keep straight.

"Oh, well, that was part of it. My immense sexiness might have something to do with that. All though I'd much rather had him prostrate on my-"

"Draco!" Harry's face was a bright red indeed. Some people might have mistaken him for being a tomato, if you subtracted the eyes, glasses, and hair of course. "What was I supposed to do when you showed up on my doorstep? I didn't know you liked me. I thought you were just running from Voldemort."

"My enemy's enemy is my friend, as the saying goes." Draco offered.

"Is that all I am to you?" Harry pulled sad puppy-dog face. Draco laughed at his antics, leaning back further into the chair and resting his head against Harry's neck and titling it back to see Harry's amused face.

"Of course not." He said moving slightly upward as Harry's head came down towards his, lips slightly parted.

"Ahem." Hermione called their attention back from eye locked marital sappiness.

"Right, well anyways," said Draco moving his head to look at her, still resting back against Harry, "Was I supposed to tell you everything? A guy can have his secrets, right"

Hermione shook her head, "didn't stay a secret for long. Either it wasn't much of one to begin with, or you two flaunt it a bit too much."

"Envious of our happy marriage?" Draco prodded with a devilish grin. Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but then subsided. Silence fell over the room, the kitten took this to be a cue to settle down and take a nap.

"I wonder how Ron is doing." Hermione said eventually, bringing the conversation back. Harry thought a moment, he hadn't heard from Ron in a while.

"Maybe we should call him. I think he was supposed to be there today, I didn't see him." Harry stood up and extricated himself from Draco who sighed and snuggled back into the chair, soaking up the warmth in Harry's wake. The phone was on a table in the hall by the living room. Harry picked up the portable and brought it back, dialing as he came. He held it to his ear and waited while it rang. On the tenth ring he gave up.

"It's always like this. He's never around anymore. I hardly ever hear from him." Draco reached for him, pulling him back down in the chair.

"I'm sure Ron's alright. He'd call us if something was wrong. He knows our number right?"

"Yes." Harry admitted. "I worry sometimes I guess."

"It's one of the reasons I love you."

"Yeah right."

"Awe come on, don't you believe me?"

Hermione watched their banter. They really were like an old married couple sometimes. Except that as she watched they began leaning closer to each other, it was like two magnets. She decided to let them be. She pulled herself out of the chairs deep embrace, kitten protesting sleepily at the movement, and took herself off to bed.

A/N: I like writing dialog, especially between Draco and Harry. What do you think so far? The story is building, if a bit slowly. So much to do and so little time!