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It was just past three o'clock on a Wednesday, and the members of Voldemort's Inner Circle were standing in what had once been the dining room of Malfoy Manor.

The dining room had been converted into a throne room by Narcissa not long after Lucius had been sent to Azkaban. Voldemort had been highly impressed, and had immediately adopted it as his official headquarters.

Meetings were held three times a week at two, and usually involved a lot of ranting about Harry Potter, Muggles, killing, maiming, torturing, and bunnies, for some strange reason.

Draco was only half listening as Voldemort gave his usual spiel of 'Muggles must die, Potter must die, Dumbledore is dead so we're all happy, etc etc'.

It wasn't that he didn't agree with it all, of course, but there were only so many times a man could listen intently to every word the Dark Lord was repeating without going /insane/.

However, today was a little different.

Today, all the Death Eaters were only listening with half an ear. None of them wanted their attention to waver from the seemingly lifeless form lying between them and their Lord's throne.

The unconscious man they daren't take their eyes from represented a turn in the tides of the war - a turn in their favour.

A sleepy murmur from the man was enough to take all remaining attention from Voldemort as the wand of every Death Eater in the Inner Circle was immediately poised for combat.

Draco had the feeling that if the Dark Lord had been less restrained, he would have been rolling his eyes at his followers.

It was understandable exasperation. Hope and leader of the light he may have been, but Harry Potter was still a regular wizard. There was no way he was waking from the sleeping curse that had been placed on him only an hour ago.

As Harry reluctantly opened his eyes and squinted at the people surrounding him, Draco was once again reminded that he hated to be proved wrong.

"Ah, Harry, so kind of you to join us." Voldemort was almost purring in satisfaction as he gazed down at his arch nemesis.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him, but made no effort to stand up. "I felt that I had been depriving you all of my delightful company for far too long, so here I am to rectify that."

Voldemort opened his mouth to respond with a doubtlessly witty retort, but froze when the door to the room opened.

Smiling serenely, Luna Lovegood sauntered in, tray in hand.

Draco blinked as the rest of the Death Eaters, Voldemort, and even Harry stared in shock. "Er, Luna..."

She turned to him and held out the tray. "You and your friends have been in here an awfully long time, Draco. I thought you might be hungry, so I made you all some snacks."

He looked down at the food items on display. "So I see. They're very...uh, appropriate, dear."

Luna beamed up at him. "Aren't they just?" She turned that smile on the assembled group of Death Eaters and offered the tray to the nearest. "Would you like one?"

As she walked towards the group, Draco snagged one from the tray to examine more thoroughly while he tried to forget exactly what was happening.

It was a cupcake. It was chocolate. It was iced in pink. And Luna, knowing the group she was catering for, had decided to decorate each one with a tiny green icing version of the Dark Mark.

He shrugged and bit into it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Draco noticed that Harry was taking the opportunity to sneak out (cupcake in hand), and he couldn't help but wonder if his wife had left the door open and distracted Voldemort on purpose.

Either way, this would probably be the last day he served the Dark Lord. He would never live this down...Harry Potter had escaped their clutches once again - and it was the fault of his wife.

He wondered if Harry would take pity on him and allow him to switch sides.

Gathering his courage, he looked up, finishing his cupcake as he did so.

Harry was definitely gone, but no one had noticed. Each and every one of the Death Eaters was holding a tiny cupcake. Most had even begun eating them.

Draco swallowed convulsively and forced himself to look at Voldemort.

The scourge of the Wizarding World was holding a cupcake and eyeing it with amusement, ignoring the absence of the bane of his existence...and there was no way that the Dark Lord could have not noticed that Harry had vanished.

Luna drifted back over to Draco and, after discarding her tray on a nearby table, wrapped her arms around his waist. "I think they are enjoying them."

"Luna...did you happen to see where Potter went?"

She gave him a tiny, secretive smile. "In the general direction of your lord's private rooms, I believe."

Draco was silent for a long time, trying not to think about that.

"It explains a lot, don't you think?" his wife continued cheerfully. "Such as why Harry was caught by Avery while seemingly sneaking out of the Manor. And why Voldie hasn't been killing as many people as usual."

"True," he agreed weakly.

"Oh, and it definitely explains why poor Severus was all shaken up last week after visiting with Voldie in his rooms."

"Yeah..."

"It's really quite sweet, actually. They make an adorable couple."

"Luna?"

"Yes dear?"

"I think I have finally gone insane."

She smiled at him delightedly. "I'm so glad you've joined the rest of us, Dray."

He just sighed and tried to take no notice of the Dark Lord who was attempting to slip off to his rooms without arousing suspicion. Draco hadn't realised that the man was so incompetent at being covert.

Luna leaned over, took a cupcake from the tray and handed it to him. She then patted him sympathetically on the shoulder (as she couldn't reach his head) and glided back out the door with the same air of serenity she had entered with.

End

This fic...did not turn out the way it was originally intended to. Was just supposed to be a sweet little thing with Luna bringing cupcakes to the Death Eaters. Harry wasn't even supposed to be there. Sigh. Ah well.

Please review!

S. Wolf