AN/ Well hello there. Thank you for picking up this story. I want you to know just giving it a chance means a lot! You wouldn't even know how much. I must urge you to Review. This is how I get pushed to write and how I find the inspiration to continue. If you have come here after reading Nomad (my other fic), then I truly hope I don't disappoint. All rights go to JK. Rowling of course, as I am only playing with her universe, but never invented it. Thank you. Remember to R&R xxx DN

Magic

Don't we all just want a little magic in our lives? I know I did. When I stood at work in the pub called 'Seven Flakes', listening to my friend and colleague bashing my now ex-boyfriend, as of a week ago, and I really wished magic was real. I wanted to go back in time and wait another day to tell him how Oliver had cheated on me for a month. I had caught him red handed so to speak, when I walked into his flat to surprise him. I thought he had been at work, and I wanted to make dinner for when he came home exhausted. But I finally understood why he'd been so tired for the last month now, having been exhausted from having to hide a relationship from me and also make ours work. So…single again. I had of course cried for three days straight, lying in bed all curled up with movies and chocolate. But now I was back at work. I was an artist…a struggling artist to be more precise. I had to work part-time at the pub because my artwork hadn't really taken off yet. I still had high hopes though.

Anyway. Matt was calling Oliver a twat saying I deserved better. I knew he was right and I knew it was mainly my pride that was hurt. I had always kind of known it wouldn't work, but I had always believed he at least had the decency to break up with me before finding someone else.

"Honestly, you just need to get back out there like ASAP," Matt said while we were drying some glasses. It was a slow night.

"I don't know Matt, I think I might just have a bit of a break for now, boys are shit...no offense" I responded in a glum tone which was very unlike me.

"Non taken…all guys can be dicks. I imaging my ex-boyfriends think I was one too, but life goes on, and he didn't deserve you!"

Matt was gay. But unlike his last boyfriend he wasn't camp at all. I think that was what ruined it in the end. He once said to me that if he wanted a girlish boy he'd just date me, cause I was tomboy enough. We had laughed at that. I had changed my style a lot since then. I now actually wore dresses when going out and make-up daily. I also took very good care of my raven coloured hair that had grown to reach my lower back.

"Maybe it's a good thing to be single for a while now? Just focus on my art and reaching my dreams?" I said, searching for his eyes that had found something behind me. I turned my head to see what he was looking at, and found an incredibly handsome man sitting down at one of the more secluded tables in the pub. I hadn't seen him before. He looked very dapper in a dark grey suit with an emerald green tie, a crisp white shirt and a very serious look on his face.

"Dear god please let him be gay!" Matt whispered in a joking tone. I laughed.

"I didn't think blondes were your type," I said teasingly while getting a notepad and a pen from my apron.

"Looking that good, he could have purple hair and I wouldn't care," Matt winked at me.

I shook my head smiling and made my way over to the man. The closer I got the more it became clear to me that he couldn't be more than 25 years old.

"Hello Sir, what can I get you?" The man looked up at me with a bit of a surprised expression that changed within seconds to a neutral and almost hard demeanor.

"I didn't think barmaids took orders at the table in pubs." He said. It didn't sound like a question, just kind of like a statement, and I didn't like his tone.

"Yeah, well…it's a slow night. So do you want anything?" I said matching his tone.

He cleared his throat and ordered a whiskey on the rocks and at no point did he say 'please' or 'thanks'.

"Gay or not, you can have him," I said to Matt when I came back to the bar haven taken his order.

"That bad?"

"Just a bit posh I think."

I watched the man from the bar discreetly while he drank his Whiskey and read some sort of paper I'd never seen before. Something about him really irritated me. He had sounded really snobbish, and having grown up working-class, I didn't like it. He was clearly upper class and proud of it. Once he was done he left money at the table and got up to leave.

"Is it just me or was he kinda strange?" I asked Matt.

"Well…you sure couldn't take your eyes of him," Matt smirked at me.

"Ha-ha very funny…but seriously what do you think?"

Matt looked like he was considering it for a moment.

"I think he was hot enough to get away with it," another wink.

I shook my head annoyed and said 'forget it' under my breath.

The next day he was back. Only this time he wasn't alone. He was there with another man with black hair and round glasses. They were both wearing what looked to be clothes they wore at work but the man with glasses looked a little less official. They came to the bar and ordered beers and then sat down talking.

Once again it was a bit of a slow night, and I had plenty of time to spy on them. I knew it was kinda bad spying on them, but I couldn't help it. They seemed different.

Matt was off on that day and I had Rob on-call in case it got busy and of course Mark the owner was upstairs like usual but otherwise I tended the pub by myself.

'The glasses" went to the loo, and I was wiping tables near their table when I heard a voice behind me.

"Excuse me miss?"

I turned around and realized it was the blond man so I braised myself a bit.

"Yes?"

The corners of his mouth tugged slightly.

"I just wanted to extend my apologies for my behaviour yesterday. I was rather short with you, but I can assure you it had nothing to do with you."

I was really taken back by this for so many reasons. First of all the fact that he apologised, secondly the fact that he spoke like he had come out of a Jane Austen novel or something.

"Oh, that's okay…I guess we can all have days like that…don't worry about it," I finally mustered and smiled shyly at him beginning to turn around. I was stopped by his voice.

"May I ask for your name?" He asked, his grey silvery eyes searching mine as if he could find it there.

"Faye…Faye Langdon." He nodded while smiling and held our eye contact.

Just as he opened his mouth presumably to tell me his, his friend came back into the room and interrupted.

"Mate I have to go home, Ginny's back from her mum and dads and she needs help with-" He stopped when he reached the table and saw that he had interrupted our interaction. I could feel my cheeks get warmer and I muttered a quiet 'excuse me' and went back to the bar. They spoke shortly and did a little man-hug, you know, the one where they start of shaking hands but then hug as well? Yeah, that's the one. And shortly after "the glasses" left, so did the blond. The interaction played on my mind for the rest of the night, but when I closed the pub it was forgotten.

Today was my day off. On days like that I usually took care of the domestic things that usually got neglected during the week. But one thing I loved doing on my days off, was going to the market. I loved how it was buzzing with people and you could disappear in the crowds while observing others. I used to look at families with their children and smile quietly to myself, looking at their happy faces, skimming through the different stalls. People rarely came to the market unhappy and if the did, it was my experience that they would at least leave happy.

That day I was walking through the market wearing a light summery dress in a pastel blue colour, passing people minding their own business. And that's when I saw him. He was out of his usual formal attire, now wearing black jeans and a shirt with his sleeves rolled up mid-underarm. He looked a lot more relaxed and a small smile even played on his lips. My feet were itching to get closer to him, and my curiosity won over my senses. I was just about 6 meters away when he suddenly looked up and made eye contact with me. I gasped and felt my cheeks blush. I had been caught red handed and didn't know what to do. He was too far away for me to say something and walking over to him would just be awkward. So I did the only thing I felt I could do at the time and turned like a bolt of lightning to the stall to my left, pretending to be occupied by it's items, which turned out to be jams and marmalades. Even from here I could hear a chuckle. Not long after I felt a tap on my shoulder, and now I had two choices. I could pretend I hadn't seen him before, which would inevitably backfire, as it was less believable than claiming butterflies were made of sugar, or…I could just say that I thought I had seen him somewhere and had been standing there wondering where, but felt embarrassed for having intruded.

"Miss Langdon?" A smooth and controlled voice said from behind me.

I took a deep breath.

"Yes?" I turned around.

His eyes where shining clearer than in the pub and his skin looked flawless.

"Oh, it's you," I continued "I wasn't sure earlier" I said with a polite smile.

He looked down for a split second and smiled before saying: "well, yes it is me. I'm afraid I never had the chance to introduce myself the other night. My name is Draco Malfoy."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Malfoy." I said, and for some incredibly embarrassing reason my head did an involuntary nod. Almost like a bow you'd do in front of royalty. I wanted to slap myself across the face over and over.

"Sorry… I don't know why I did that…" I said panicking with a nervous laugh.

He laughed too, but more under his breath, like he thought it was cute.

"Do I make you nervous miss Langdon?" he asked. Which was a bit forward I thought.

"I…yes…apparently." I smiled and bit my lip a little.

"Well…perhaps being on a first name basis would help?"

"Sure…"

I turned my attention a bit more towards the jams again.

"So…Faye. Not working today?" he asked as he picked up some raspberry jam. It was my favorite.

"No…I have the day off today." I picked up a blackcurrant one.

"That sounds nice. What do you usually do then?"

It felt weird have small talk with a man I had only met twice before.

"Just the boring stuff like cleaning and…shopping food. What do you do?"

"The same…but sometimes I go to museums and galleries too…do you enjoy art?"

"Yes, very much actually…" I extended a 5-pound note to the seller, wanting to pay for the jam. Not that I actually wanted it, but it felt weird having looked for ages and then not buying something.

"Allow me," Draco said, paying for it instead.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," I said embarrassed.

"It's no trouble." He smiled. A little reserved, but the kindest one yet.

We started walking slowly together through the marked. It felt so…awkward? No, uncomfortable…no, that wasn't the right word. It felt surreal.

"So, what do you do for work?" I asked, trying to come up with a safe topic, having somehow ended up on what felt like an almost-date.

"I'm a lawyer. I handle different…unique cases," he shot me a sideways glance; matching the one I keep shooting him.

"I figured it would be something like that."

He chuckled at this.

"How come?"

"I don't know…you just seem like the type," I chuckled back.

"I see…so I'm a type?"

Damn. What did I get myself into? I couldn't exactly say that he looked rich and upper class, now could I?

"Sure…we're all types, aren't we?" I said trying to avoid answering.

"Well…not you…you're nothing like anyone I've ever met before."

I stopped and looked at him.

"You don't even know me?"

I searched his eyes. The liquid silver caught my attention once more.

"I know enough to know that you're one of a kind." Smooth, I thought. Smooth.

I had to get out of there.

"I should get back home."

"Boyfriend waiting?" he titled his head a little to one side.

"I…don't have one."

"Ah…cat then?" I could hear he was teasing a bit, so I laughed.

"No…I just have to go."

I thanked him for the jam and wondered if I should shake his hand goodbye, or what the protocol was for saying goodbye to a "non-date slash accidental meet-cute". He beat me to it though and extended his hand. As I took it he said: "I hope to see you soon, Faye Langdon."

"Sure…me too."

He hadn't let go of my hand yet.

"Perhaps we should meet on purpose then?"

My hand was getting damp.

"What like…a date?"

He smiled.

"Yes…there is a gallery opening on Friday, if you'd like to come? The artist is a friend of mine."

"Uhm…sure, that sounds nice."

I gave him my number and said goodbye.

Walking home I felt my skin tickle with anticipation and my mind was clouded. How could a person affect me this much, when I didn't even know him?