"Smile!" Remus said as he took his daughter Natalie's photo with Sirius. She grimaced at the phone camera, her face slightly sweaty from sitting in the blazing sun for hours while they'd called everyone in her graduating class's name. "Okay, honey, now take one of Natalie and me together," he said, passing his phone camera over to his husband, who did as Remus had instructed him. Remus looked at his daughter's half-smile and squeezed her shoulder a bit. "Nat, just because you prefer being behind the camera doesn't mean we don't deserve a nice graduation photo," he said, and she relented, giving Sirius a nice, tight-lipped smile as the flash went off.

"Nat!" Harry called to her, causing her to whip her head away from her parents. Remus and Sirius were happy to see Harry, as always; they'd practically raised the boy after his parents, and their best friends, had passed away. "Are you coming soon?"

Remus and Sirius looked at their daughter and gave her one last hug. "Now, have fun in Vegas, and be safe. Just because you're twenty-two now doesn't mean you aren't still our little girl," Sirius said, his arms still around her. She gave them both a squeeze and laughed.

"We're just going to Vegas for one weekend. I'll be back Monday night." She gave both of her parents a quick 'I love you' before walking towards her best friend. "God, Harry, you couldn't have waited until they'd put the camera away to hurry me out?"

"Hermione, Ginny, and Ron are already in the car," he said, a bit defensively. "Forgive me for trying to make sure we don't have to sit in the middle seat."

The two locked hands and ran to Ron's slightly beat-up van, piling in with the rest of their friends. Harry had been smart to get there quickly; Natalie was lucky enough to beat Neville there by a millisecond, causing him to sit in between her and Draco. Harry, Ginny, and Luna took up the back row, with Ginny saying she was 'glad to sit in the middle' so she could sit next to Harry. Ron pretended to throw up in the driver's seat.

It was a long drive (seventeen hours and eleven minutes, to be precise) from Seattle to Las Vegas. On approximately their third gas and bathroom stop, Neville had gotten back to the car just in the nick of time to force Draco into the middle seat. Seeing him sitting next to where she would be sitting, Natalie audibly groaned.

"Harry," she whined, peeking into the backseat. "Switch seats with me? Please?" Harry answered her merely with a headshake 'no,' and gestured to Ginny, asleep on his shoulder. Natalie rolled her eyes and got in, buckling up next to Draco.

"Can't stand me that much?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. Natalie rolled her eyes in response and moved as far away from him as possible, resting her head on the window. A bit offended that she hadn't answered, he looked back at her. "You know, I'm not thrilled to be sitting next to you either, but I'm not going to make a big deal about it like you are."

"You're making a big deal just by saying that," she retorted, not making eye contact. He was silent. When she was sure that he didn't have anything else to say, she closed her eyes and fell asleep to the sounds of cars passing by them on the highway.

"Natalie. Natalie, wake up," she heard, followed by her head jostling. Startled, she sat up, looking at Draco with a mix of confusion and irritation.

"What? Are we there?"

He chuckled. "No, not even close. We've still got about five more hours."

"Then why did you wake me up?" she asked, annoyance coloring her tone.

"You were drooling on my shoulder, and it was gross."

She immediately wiped her mouth with her sleeve, giving him a dirty look. "Fuck off, Malfoy." Draco simply laughed, using a napkin he'd had leftover from one of their food stops to dramatically wipe off his shoulder.

Natalie couldn't explain why they disliked each other; in fact, they'd been friends when they first met. She and Draco had lived in the same dorm and had a few of the same classes. He had become her second closest friend when Harry and Ron had gotten close, and then one day, he was just… cold to her, all of a sudden. She'd been hurt, to say the least, but her dads had always told her to cherish the friendships she had and not worry about the ones she didn't, so she moved past it.

Still, there was always something that felt off about the way their friendship had ended.

"Bathroom break!" announced Hermione, pulling off to a rest stop on the highway. "Last one until we're there, so everyone should go."

Natalie stumbled out of the car, causing Draco to laugh at her, until seconds later he hit his forehead on the ceiling of the car. Now it was her turn to laugh.

"We made it," Natalie said from her seat wedged in between Neville and Draco. She'd

figured it was time to pay her dues and take a middle seat; at least this way she was able to talk to Neville as they drove, and could ignore Draco. The two of them had played road trip games and sung "ninety-nine bottles of pop on the wall" until Hermione had threatened to run them off the road if they didn't stop. Everyone piled out of the car, grabbed their suitcases, and headed into the hotel.

They all followed Hermione into the lobby, some bleary-eyed and some wide awake. Natalie was among the latter. After Draco had woken her up, she hadn't been able to go back to sleep. Hermione seemed to be the only other one who'd really been awake; she'd driven the latter half of the drive while Ron, who'd driven the first half, slept. The two of them got the group checked into all of their rooms and they all made their way to the elevator.

"Alright, I'll room with Ginny," Hermione said, and at seeing Ron's face fall, she cocked an eyebrow. "Would you rather I stay with you, and Ginny stay with Harry?" Eyes widening, he shook his head, and she giggled a bit. "That's what I thought. Luna and Natalie, you two can room together, and the rest of you can figure it out amongst yourselves."

Natalie took a room key from Hermione's hand as she and Luna left the elevator to find their room. Once they were in, Natalie collapsed on the queen sized bed they were sharing and fell asleep, more tired than she realized.

Luna and Natalie both woke up to a loud banging on the door. "Get up!" they heard Draco's voice yell. "We're going out!"

Natalie rolled over to face Luna and rolled her eyes. "I can't believe that's the second time I've been rudely woken up by Draco Malfoy in the last twenty-four hours." Luna laughed, and they got up and got ready.

Draco was the first face Natalie saw once she headed into the hallway. "Took you long enough," he said, his voice laced with sarcasm. She had changed into nicer clothes, some heels, done her makeup and hair, and he gave her a once over from head to toe. She didn't know what she had been expecting him to say, but it had caught her off guard when all he said was, "You'd think you'd look a little better after spending an hour getting ready."

She hit him in the chest with her purse and stormed down the hallway towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione to get away from him. Soon enough, the group of eight headed downstairs to the casino. While Ron, Harry, and Neville headed towards the slot machines, Luna and Hermione headed towards the blackjack tables, and Ginny headed towards the craps tables, only Draco and Natalie were left standing at the entrance of the casino, unaware of where to go.

"Wanna grab a drink?" she offered, starting to head towards the bar.

"With you? No thanks," he responded, but yet he followed her lead anyways and sat next to her at the bar.

"A shot of tequila, please. Actually, a double," she ordered. The bartender turned his attention to Draco, who shrugged.

"The same for me."

He poured their shots in front of them, and after a quick 'clink' of their glasses and a lick of salt, they downed the shots and bit the limes placed before them.

"Another!" Natalie ordered, and before long, she and Draco were matching shot-for-shot. The room was beginning to blur, and she stood up after her seventh (or eighth? she'd lost track) shot, heading towards a dance floor in the middle of the casino. "Let's dance, Malfoy!"

"Oh, no," Draco said, his words slurring together a bit. "I don't dance."

Natalie groaned, and grabbed his arm, yelling, "Can't you just be fun for once?" as she pulled him out towards the dance floor. She was not a good dancer; Natalie Lupin-Black was not graceful, her limbs were a bit too long for movements that flowed, and wearing heels while she was drunk? Forget it. Every ounce of smoothness that was once in her dissipated on the dance floor. Luckily, Draco was also a bad dancer, so she didn't feel too stupid.

A shot girl came by with a tray of vodka shots, and Natalie grabbed two, handing one to Draco as "Yeah!" by Usher came over the speakers. "Bottoms up!" she yelled over the music, and they both swallowed the drinks quickly, the taste of alcohol becoming more bearable with each passing moment.

"Natalie!" she heard a voice yell, and she turned around to see Harry.

"Harry!" she cried, running towards him and stumbling in the process. "What's up? How is the gambling?"

"It's pretty good," he said, leaning in close to her ear so she could hear him. "Some of us are going to get some food, do you and Draco want to come?"

Natalie glanced towards Draco on the dance floor, still grooving to the music, now drunk enough not to care about how stupid he looked. She shook her head 'no' at Harry. "I think I'll stay here with Malfoy. I'll see you all in the morning."

She walked back over to Draco, and snagged two more shots on her way, handing one to the dancing man. "What did Potter want?" he asked before taking the shot.

"Nothing," she said with a smile. "Let's keep dancing."

Natalie woke up nauseated the next morning. The last thing she could remember was that she and Draco had just bought a bottle of tequila and brought it out to a dance floor in the middle of the casino. Now, she was in her bed (she had looked around the room and seen her and Luna's belongings), and next to her was Luna. At least Draco had apparently had the decency to make sure she'd arrived back at her room alright.

She sat up in bed, gently, not wanting to wake up her friend. As she did this, the comforter fell from around her shoulders and she realized she was dressed only in her bra and underwear. Looking around, she spotted her clothes on the other side of the bed, and quietly slipped out from under the sheets to grab them. Bending down to pick up her shirt, she looked up to see Draco Malfoy in her bed, blissfully asleep and… totally shirtless. She covered her mouth to stifle a scream when she felt something metal hit her lip.

Pulling away her hand, she could see nothing other than a ring wrapped around her left hand ring finger. She looked from the ring, to her clothes on the floor, to Draco.

What the fuck had she done?