Fictional vs. Reality

Chapter 6 - Goo a little dance!

"O-oh, God!" Bella screamed. "Why? Why must everything come after me?"

"Because you're there," Freddy growled.

"Why?" she asked again.

"Getting a bit dramatic, aren't you?" the monster said, a sneer of disgust playing on his lips. Four hours he had to 'baby-sit' Bella so far, and he was getting annoyed by her whines and complaints.

"Oh!" She paced the room, holding her hands to her eyes. "Why? Why? Why?"

Freddy leaned back in his chair, threw his head back, closed his eyes, and growled. She didn't stop repeating why, and it was getting on his nerves. What possessed him to agree to look out for this coward while Narcissa went out shopping at Diagon Alley, and Voldemort and Severus had a meeting to attend to with the new arrival?

He smirked and chuckled. New arrival. It sounded as if Voldemort and Severus are happy parents of the little doll. They were always fussing about him. Voldemort wouldn't congratulate him anymore on all the people he killed anymore. His killings doubled since the little runt came along, and Voldemort didn't pay the slightest attention! It wasn't fair!

He growled again, louder this time, causing Bella to stop repeating why and shriek, jumping away from him. She backed away as far as she could as he stood up. He glared at her.

"Doesn't it bother you the least bit that Voldie doesn't pay much attention to you anymore?" he growled at her.

Bella gulped, shivering, and shook her head. She slowly slumped down on the chair she had backed into. "I know he has business to take care of, and I'm fine with that," she said, her voice quivering.

"It doesn't bother you the least bit that he is now having more 'loyal' servants, so he doesn't have time for you?"

"Well, I-"

"And it doesn't bother you that he put you in my care?"

Bella stopped shaking. He was right! The freakishly ugly monster was right! The guy that tried to kill her and that she is now afraid beyond all reason - though Bellatrix LeStrange never was scared of anything - was right!

"It doesn't bother you that he doesn't care for you anymore to leave you with me alone?"

Bella gasped and looked up at him, something she never would have dreamed of doing just five minutes ago.

"Because it damn well bothers me!"

---

"Uhm, what is all this stuff?" Draco asked, looking through the pile of fictional stories Harry, Ginny, and Ron had collected.

"What does it look like, smart ass?" Harry growled. "It's everything you asked for!"

"Not everything," Hermione said. "You can't gather every single piece of fiction in the universe-"

"Speaking of universe," Draco muttered, cutting off Hermione. She glared at him, and he gave her an innocent look. "What? Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt you!"

"Whatever. Go ahead, what were you going to say?"

"Are you sure? Oh, right, anyways." He cleared his throat and scratched his cheeks, trying to make it look like he had a very bad scratch that was turning his face red, and not blush, making everyone wonder. When he was done, he picked up four books and handed them to her in the order he spoke them. "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe, and Everything, and So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."

"I've heard of these books!" Hermione exclaimed. "They're supposed to be really funny! Where'd you get them?"

"Dudley," Harry said, shrugging.

"Tell him I'll have them back tomorrow," she said, putting them in the big pile of books she already started.

Draco and Hermione began flipping through the books, trying to find something appropriate, loyal, not so funny, serious, and anything worthy of taking orders of five teenagers, four of whom had already graduated school, and two of whom are taking Auror training. Ginny, Harry, and Ron left, getting bored at watching the two flip through the books - that took them so hard to find - and discard them in the "unworthy" pile.

"There isn't anything worthy in here!" Hermione said, exasperated.

"You've gone through that pile already?" Draco asked, flabbergasted. "I'm still on my fifth book!"

"Regardless, there isn't anything that fits the requirements."

"How do you know? I haven't gone through my pile yet."

"I did while you were looking through Who Moved My Cheese?"

"It's a great book about change."

"I know what it's about."

The two of them sighed as a hoot of an owl was heard. Draco looked at Hermione, and she was smiling.

"Uh-"

"Finally!" Hermione said, standing up. She made her way to the window, tripping on a few books that were scattered everywhere. She opened the window and took a package that Hedwig had for her.

She thanked the bird and sat down on one of the beds, tearing at the paper. Draco stood up, carrying Who Moved My Cheese, his finger book marking his spot, and sat down next to her.

She opened the box and discarded other smaller boxes with pictures on them. 'Not moving,' Draco observed.

She gasped and squealed as she pulled a box, larger than the others, with a man who had messy brown hair like Harry's, his face was covered in dirt, he was smiling forward, and holding a green glob in his hand. Under the picture read, "Robin Williams in: a Walt Disney Production: Flubber".

"Uh, Flubber?" Draco asked questioningly, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure!"

Draco gave her a blank stare.

"You have to watch it to understand it," she said. "It's funny, and Flubber is an awesome super hero who is worthy."

"And Flubber is..." he waved his hand to allow her to finish his sentence.

"Flying rubber."

"Flying rubber?"

"Yes, flying rubber. It's Flubber!"

"It's going to get stuck to my hair."

"Oh, please!" Hermione said, grabbing the box from him. "Now, what did Ron say?" She put the movie box on a small table and pointed her wand at it. "Make the fiction rise or I shall curse it into oblivion?"

"Uh, no. Let the fiction rise."

She nodded her head. "Let the fiction rise!" Nothing happened.

"Okay, English is out," Draco observed. "Try French."

---

"So, you want me to tell you a student, any student, and a professor, any one of those, so you can go have fun at Hogwarts?" Bella asked, counting on her fingers for no apparent reason.

"Something like that, yeah," Freddy said, looking at her.

She shook her head. She grabbed her wine glass and took a sip. She offered it to Freddy, who declined it, once again, and she set back on the ground by her feet.

"Why do you want my help?" Bella asked. She leaned back, tilting her head back so it rested on the back of the couch, and looked at him.

"I told you, ten other times before, I want to know what it's like to terrorize teenage wizards," Freddy said, copying her action. "I've already had the fun experience of what it is like to terrorize an adult wizard."

Bella raised her eyebrows and lowered them in an instant. She sat up. "So, why are you asking me?"

"Because, you're the only person I've seen for five hours straight."

"And you managed to lose your mind in the first four."

Freddy nodded.

Bella sighed and sipped her wine again. She was sitting on the couch, right next to Freddy. What had possessed her to allow him to sit by her she didn't know. Why she allowed herself to be possessed at all was also out of her league.

"Well, there is Draco Malfoy," she said. "He's a student. A professor would be our very own Severus Snape."

---

"I thought you knew Italian!" Draco growled.

"I thought I did, too! I must be using the wrong order of words."

"What are your exact words, if you were to translate them into English?"

"'Rise up the fiction let'?"

"Well, that isn't exactly what we want, is it?"

"GINNY! What are you doing in here? Trying to use magic whilst your underage!" Hermione came bounding in the room with a large, dusty book in her hands. "Out!"

"Awe! But Hermione!" Ginny whined, standing up. "You just want Draco for yourself!"

"What?" Hermione shrieked. "You have gone way over your head, Ginny Weasley!"

"I sure hope so," Draco mumbled.

The three of them stood in awkward silence, until Ginny couldn't handle it any longer.

"I'm leaving."

"There goes our Italian faker," Draco growled as Ginny shut the door behind her.

Hermione sighed and sat on the bed next to him, the box and the book between them.

"What is this?" Draco asked as Hermione began flipping through the book.

"A translator book. I just need to find Italian...Ah! Here it is!" Hermione opened up to a blank page with 'Italiano' written on the top. She pointed her wand at the center, and whispered, "Let the fiction rise."

Draco blinked as words formed onto the page.

"That's it," Hermione said, moving towards the box with her wand. "Ready?"

Draco nodded, his eyes glued to the writing on the book, daring it to disappear at any moment.

"Lasci l'aumento di romanzo!" Hermione said.

There was a blinding flash of light, and the two had to turn their heads away and shield their eyes. Suddenly, just as quickly as it had come, the light disappeared.

Draco looked at the book, and cursed at missing the words disappearing. Hermione gasped at what was on the floor at their feet. He looked at her, then at the floor. He jumped, expecting to see some really large, goopy thing pounce at him. Luckily for him, it was just a steel cylindrical container.

Hermione smiled as she knelt down beside the container.

"Uh, Hermione?" Draco said, slowly and cautiously.

"Shh! Of course we'd get its container as well. We'd have nowhere to put it." She tapped on the steel.

Draco jumped, once again, as there was a tap that responded. She tapped again, and there was another.

After about five minutes of tapping and responding, Draco got agitated. "Open it, will you!" he shouted.

Hermione looked up at him, smirked, and grabbed the handle. "Don't freak out if it starts running amuck," she whispered.

"What does that - "

Draco was cut off by Hermione opening the lid, which resulted into a large puff of smoke. She looked in and smiled.

"Flubber," she cooed.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Is it a baby?" he asked.

"It could be. I don't know."

She reached in, avoiding Draco's cautious looks, and felt something cold and felt like Jell-O.

"It feels funny," she said.

"Well? Take it out! I want to see it!"

"Hold up!"

Hermione began lifting her hand, the goo willingly following her hand. She held out her hand, and the goo rolled on.

"Wow!" breathed Hermione.

Draco got down next to her. "What is that?"

"It's Flubber!"