Special thanks to Alice246, i like twertles & AlmostAVampire for the story favorites! It's nice to know people are actually reading this.

Disclaimer: I, of course, am not J.K. Rowling. So I don't own anything she does. Also, please read and review! I'd love some feedback. :)

Bev looked around and saw nothing but some palm trees, water, and an expanse of sand that seemed to go on forever.

"I sure hope you didn't get us lost, pretty boy." Bev said raising an eyebrow.

"We're exactly where we're meant to be." Draco said. He pulled out his wand and flicked it with practiced precision, and from the end of it came a blanket that spread itself out on the ground next to the water of the oasis.

"Have a seat, Miss Lake." He said, while bowing slightly and gesturing to the blanket.

Bev smirked. "Don't mind if I do, Mr. Malfoy." Draco cringed slightly.

"Please, Beverly, call me anything but that."

Bev lit a cigarette as Draco conjured a bottle of wine and two glasses. As he poured her a glass, she caught his eye and grinned slightly. Draco started to grin before tinging slightly pink and looking away. This made Bev smile even wider.

"Well then, Sunshine." She used her nickname for him as a jab at his distaste for the name Mr. Malfoy. "What's on the menu?" Bev played with a handful of sand as she looked at the blonde boy. His blonde hair shone splendidly in the stunning moonlight. The moon itself sat high in the cloudless night sky, reflecting off the shimmering sands and the oasis's deep pool with enough brightness for Beverly and Draco to see easily without aid. She looked around, and watched the moonbeams play off the palm tree leaves and disappear into the darkness of the branches.

Draco scooted closer to her on the blanket. "What were you hoping to eat?"

Bev took a drag from her cigarette as she thought about it. Draco sipped his wine and looked at her expectantly. She looked straight into his eyes to answer but stopped; in that mere moment, that one glance, something happened. Beverly could not look away. His gray eyes no longer seemed cold, but very alive and irresistibly alluring. The smoke slowly escaped from her partially parted lips as she stared at him with wonder. Draco had kept her gaze, his eyes piercing into hers. He noticed the smoke trail from her mouth and slowly wander up and away from her face, twisting in the air to match her wavy locks. He finally blinked and broke their stare. He was unsure of what had happened, or how to proceed. Beverly blinked a few times trying to shake off the feeling that things would never be the same.

"So..." he asked hesitantly, "What are you hungry for?"

"Well, uh, I don't know..." Bev said, her breath catching in her throat. "What about, uh, Thai food?"

Draco smiled. "Thai food it is." He snapped his fingers twice and Piggles appeared.

"What can Piggles do for Master Malfoy?" the eager house elf was wide eyed and smiling.

"Would you please prepare some traditional Taiwanese dishes for us?"

"Of course, Master! Piggles is so happy to serve." The house elf beamed as he bowed and then disappeared back to Malfoy manor. Beverly giggled.

"He's a cutie."

"I wouldn't go that far..." Draco said. Bev lightly slapped him on the leg.

"C'mon, Sunshine, he's fuckin' adorable."

"He's a house elf." Draco said, and laid on his back and stared up. The stars were crystal clear, and they seemed to jump off the vast blackness of the sky that went endlessly in all directions. He simply lay there, taking in the beauty of it all. Beverly sat next to him quietly smoking her cigarette, occasionally sipping on her glass of wine. She wondered what it was about house elves that made the blonde boy so snippy. She was curious to be sure, but as not to upset him, she didn't pry.

"Tell me about America." Draco said suddenly.

"Oh, there's not too much to tell. People there are all idiots or jerks and if they don't have their head shoved so far up their own asses that they can't see the light of day, they won't give you the time of day because you aren't important enough to them."

Draco smiled. "That's exactly how I feel about the Brits."

"Hah, that's something we've got in common then." Beverly raised her glass and said, "To an intense hatred of our own culture brought about by the stupidity of our own people."

"Cheers!" Draco said as he brought his glass against Beverly's. They each took a large swig of wine. Beverly looked at her glass and then looked at Draco's.

"Honey, you aren't nearly far enough along. You've still got half a glass and mine's almost empty!"

"I prefer to savor my drinks rather than slurp them down unscrupulously."

Beverly faked an insulted look. "Are you suggesting that I have no class?"

"I am." Draco said with his favorite smirk adoring his face.

"Well then!" She said standing up. "I think I'll be going." She shoved her cigarette butt into the sand and strode off into the palm trees. Draco watched her walk away, thoroughly confused. Had she been serious? He'd only been joking, how could she be so offended? He'd only met the girl that day and already couldn't consider a life without her. In half a day she had become the only friend he'd had in the last four years, and he was not about to let her go.

"Bev, wait! I'm sorry!" He said as he hurried to his feet and chased her down. As he reached her, he was panting heavily. Draco was shocked to see that Bev was laughing. She was laughing at him! How dare she!

"You rotten little-" But Draco didn't get the chance to finish, because Bev's arm was around his neck and her lips were pressed firmly against his. He knew she'd felt it; there was an intense connection between the two of them he couldn't put into words. He was just so unsure of everything that even something that used to make sense to him, the fairer sex, was a complete and total mystery. He wasn't sure if it was that she was a girl, or that it was this girl, but something about what was going on between them was driving him insane. He had to figure it out. He had to figure her out.

Beverly kissed him a moment longer before gently tugging on his bottom lip with her teeth as she pulled away.

"Sorry, Sunshine. This wine's going right to my head."

"No, don't-" Draco started, but before he had a chance to say anything, Bev was already headed back to the blanket. "... apologize." He finished his statement in a mumble to himself. He ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes, counting to ten. When he was fully collected and felt like his calm, usual self, he walked back over and sat next to the small, wavy haired girl.

"Cigarette?" She offered.

"Yes, please." Draco said. As he lit the cigarette with Beverly's small blue lighter, Piggles suddenly appeared holding a tray that seemed to be bigger than the house elf himself. The small creature set the tray down in front of the two humans and grinned with abandon.

"Thank you, Piggles." Draco said.

"This looks absolutely amazing!" Bev said. Piggles blushed quite furiously and shuffled his left foot.

"It is nothing, kind one, just a simple meal!" The house elf squeaked out.

"You really have outdone yourself, chap. When you get back to the manor, don't do any work for the rest of the evening and tomorrow as well." Draco said before taking a drag off the cigarette.

"Oh, no, Master, Piggles could never-"

"Oh, yes, Piggles, you can. I demand that you take a holiday." When Piggles heard this, he nearly fainted.

"A holiday, oh, Master, you are too kind!"

"You beserve it!" Bev said with her mouth full, "Dis is increbible!" Her cigarette was long forgotten, smothered in the sand.

Draco looked at the house elf with a genuine smile. "Enjoy your evening, Piggles." The house elf bowed as deeply as looked elf-ly possible, his nose nearly scraping the floor. And when he stood up, he vanished.

"You really need to try this," Bev said, holding a fork out towards Draco's mouth. He looked at it for a moment before putting out the cigarette and taking the fork from Bev's hand. His eyes widened as he experienced the flavors Piggles had so lovingly cooked into the Thai food.

"That... that really is bloody good." Draco said. Bev nodded as she continued to eat.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, enjoying the meal, before Beverly couldn't contain her thoughts any longer and asked, "So, what's the deal with you and house elves?"

Draco lowered the fork he had been about to insert into his mouth. "I'm not quite sure what you mean."

"I don't know, you just seem to have this weird thing about them."

The blonde boy thought for a long moment. He stared out at the water of the oasis as he said, "I believe it has something to do with my parents. They treated house elves like... well, like property. Not like creatures with feelings. I have worked very hard to extrapolate myself from the image my parents presented to the world, and they way they raised me, but old habits are very hard to break." They sat in silence for a moment longer before he continued, "I sometimes find myself thinking about things the way I used to and, quite frankly, it terrifies me. So when I notice myself responding to something the way my parents used to, I withdraw." Draco rubbed his arm uncomfortably before adding, "I'd rather be nothing than what they were."

Beverly nodded. "Makes sense." She took another bite. "I'm sorry I asked. I just, it's weird sometimes. You're confusing."

"I confuse you?"
"Yeah, I've only known you for like twelve hours and you're already invading my brain."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Draco asked.

"It means, Sunshine, that we still don't know who's after you or why, that I'm not sure why you brought me to the desert in the middle of no-man's-land... I don't even know how old you are, or how you feel about stupid things like cake or music or broccoli and I... I'm not sure what happened today. Why we were brought together or why any of this fucking matters. I just know that I haven't been this happy in my entire damn life."

"You're happy?"

"Yeah, dummy, I'm happy." She sipped her wine, refusing to make eye contact with the blonde boy. What the hell had prompted her to say all of that? Sure, it was true, but it wasn't as if she'd known this blundering idiot long enough to even care about him, never mind like him. Right? And that whole kissing episode earlier, that was just the wine. She knew she was deluding herself, but it seemed better than the alternative- that they were somehow meant to be here, in this place, together. Bev had never believed in fate, and she wasn't about to start believing it now. Coincidence, random happenstance, anything but fate. Anything.

Draco stared at Beverly as she actively avoided his gaze. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm... I'm happy too. Even if someone is trying to kill me, I met you in the process and I wouldn't have it any other way." She finally turned her head and their eyes met. She gave him half a smile.

"Well, Sunshine. Let's see what that wonderful house elf of yours brought us for dessert."