The eleven-year-old Draco waited patiently next to his mother in the foyer of the Malfoy family vacation home. The Malfoys stood there, presenting a proud family image to all who saw them. Lucius Malfoy, the man of the manor, was tall and lean with long silvery blonde hair and was accompanied by Narcissa Malfoy, a pretty witch but still rather arrogant at times. Then there was young Draco, the Heir; he looked quite excited for the coming party. Lucius had decided to throw a get together for the more respectable pure blood families with children entering Draco's year at Hogwarts in the upcoming months.

Guests began arriving, one after the other. The Goyles and the Crabbes arrived together and there were also the Greengrasses and the Parkinsons. Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson both threw flirtatious eyes in Draco's general direction. Then, Alexandrina Zabini arrived with her son and husband in tow. At this arrival, Lucius walked over and greeted the family warmly.

"Alexandrina, you look as lovely as ever. This must be your new husband, Harold." Said Lucius, turning warmly to the man with auburn hair who looked down at his female companion in confusion.

"Actually, Lucius, this is Westley. Harold died recently." Alexandrina looked up at Lucius innocently under a veil of eyelashes and Lucius responded with a curt but understanding nod.

"My humble apologies, Westley. As you can imagine it has been so long since I've seen our dear Drina and have not had much news. Blaise, my boy, you've grown so much in the last year. Draco is right over there." Lucius said, pointing over to Draco who smiled at his best friend. The dark skinned boy grinned back and walked over to join Draco while Lucius and Alexandrina spoke in hushed tones with Westley out of earshot.

"Blaise!" Draco cheered excitedly, high-fiving his friend. The boys had a whispered conversation about the latest Quiddich World Cup as their parents chatted about politics and things they didn't understand yet.

"Hey, are Parvati and Padma here yet?" Asked Blaise, raising his eyebrows. He already knew that Draco harbored a small crush on Padma Patil and was eager for the match. Blaise couldn't argue or disapprove of Draco's choice, the Patil twins were very pretty and came from a well-respected family. Well, a wealthy pure blood family with a successful business and were still kind to muggles, but the latter made up for it. Draco shook his head.

"Not yet." Draco tried to sound nonchalant but the excitement was building every second. The doorbell rang and Lucius briskly opened it, striking a bold pose to the newcomers.

There they were, the Patil family. Latif and Divya Patil stood close together, looking elegant while their twin daughters stood in front of them. The girls wore the same dress but in different colors. Parvati's was pink and she had her hair pulled back in a long plait. Padma was a vision in green with her hair out about her shoulders.

Latif Patil was the co-owner of the Nimbus Racing Broom Company, earning him a good fortune so Divya didn't have to work and was able to stay home and raise the girls. The twins were identical to most, but Draco had had no difficulty telling them apart in the past. Parvati was more outspoken and giggled a lot more while Padma was quieter and, in Draco's opinion, better looking.

Draco watched as Lucius tried to flatter Latif in hopes to find favor with the businessman.

"Latif, my friend, how are you on this fine evening?" Asked Lucius, closing the door behind the family.

"I am well, thank you. I couldn't help but notice the Vineyard on the property. Tell me, what brands of wine do you sell your grapes to?" Latif asked, already turning pleasure into work as he so often did when he saw an investing opportunity. Padma and Parvati rolled their eyes at each other before walking over to join some of the other girls at the encouragement of Divya.

"Hi Padma! Hi Parvati!" Draco waved at the girls. Parvati waved back, pleased to have found favor with the young master of the house. Padma was more unsure and waved once before striking up a conversation with her sister.

"She looked pleased to see you." Blaise said while sounding excited for his friend.

"That was Parvati." Draco said wistfully.

"I still can't figure how you can tell them apart." Blaise whispered, shaking his head.

"They just look like two completely different people to me." Draco shrugged. The boy's eyes followed the girl in green. After a few minutes, Lucius announced that it was time for dinner and the guests proceeded into the grand dining room. The room was spacious and five times the size of a regular dining room. The walls were painted gold and there was a larger than life portrait of the Malfoy family over a stone fireplace. The cherry wood table was over fifteen feet long with a long lace tablecloth extending over it. There were five main course options and over ten types of appetizers to choose from.

Although there was so much to look at, Draco managed to steal glances at Padma between bites of pasta. A few times, their eyes met and both would blush and look away. Blaise would nudge Draco with his knee whenever this occurred, making Draco blush even more.

Dinner ended and the guests were led into one of the living rooms, which led out onto a huge porch overlooking the vineyard. More than once, Draco tried to strike up a conversation with the Patil twins but the conversations were often short and containing no depth.

Draco gave up, dejected and disappointed and stayed mostly to his main group of friends: Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Draco was beginning to envision the next seven years of his life when he looked out on the porch and saw the tail of a green dress whip around the corner. He politely excused himself, throwing a second look at Blaise who began to draw the attention away from his friend with a gripping story of his experience with a boggart in his attic.

Draco slid the door open and saw the retreating figure pause for a moment and slip off her sandals and continued running straight into the field of grapes. Draco hurried after her, keeping his distance; the very last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. He saw her slow to a walk and stare at the grapes. Draco himself slowed, eyes fixed on Padma, her hair quivering gently at the wind's caresses.

"Are you alright?" Draco called, some twenty feet away from her. She jumped and looked like a dear in headlights. She relaxed as she recognized the boy and nodded. "What are you doing out here?" He pressed, abridging the distance to only about five feet.

"It got too crowded in there for me." She said, still seeming a little timid.

"I know what you mean." Draco said, looking at the grape vine next to them. "Want some?" He asked, gesturing to the grapes.

"Are we allowed?" She asked, watching as he snapped two small handfuls of grapes from the vine. Padma held out her hands in front of her as Draco deposited the grapes into them. Padma looked down at the collection of green berries in her hands.

"Did you know that white grapes are actually descended from purple grapes?" She asked, eager to show her knowledge, which greatly surpassed her sister's.

"I did not." Draco said, turning his head to the side.

"It's true. You see there are mutations in two of the regulatory genes in white grapes that turn off the chemical that makes purple grapes purple and…forgive me, I'm being terribly boring." Padma stopped herself, blushing.

"No it's alright. I didn't understand much of it but it sounded intelligent." Padma giggled and popped one of her grapes into her mouth and Draco did the same.

"Parvati would have left to go leaf through a magazine half way through." Padma sighed.

"Why?" Draco asked curiously.

"Because my interests are perfectly dull to her." Padma sighed, continuing to eat her grapes.

"What are your interests?" Draco asked, staring at the beautiful girl in front of him.

"Well I like to read and research and I can almost always remember what I read. I also like to write…poetry mostly. Parvati thinks its rubbish though so I try to keep it to a minimum while she's around."

"Well she's not as smart as you." Draco shrugged.

"Oh she's perfectly clever in other things, just not academics." Padma reasoned, thinking about her sister's skill with clothes and hair and surface details.

"Such as?"

"You do enjoy asking questions, don't you, Draco?" Padma giggled. Draco blushed a light pink.

"Am I irritating you?" He asked innocently, pulling a stray hair away from Padma's face and tucking it behind her ear.

"No, I'm just not used to so much attention from someone who isn't in the family. Most people are more interested in Vati because she's so much more outgoing and frankly, quite a bit prettier even though we're supposed to be identical." Said Padma thoughtfully.

"Not true, you're prettier." Draco insisted before turning a deeper shade of pink. Padma was blushing to and looking off into the sunset.

"You're the only one who thinks so." Padma whispered.

"Want to be friends?" Draco asked suddenly. Padma looked over at him questioningly.

"I thought we were." She said, questioning herself internally.

"Well we were acquaintances. But when Hogwarts starts we should be friends." Draco stated matter of factly.

"Well…alright…we can be friends." Padma said slowly before smiling shyly at her new friend.

"Pinky swear?" Draco asked, holding out his smallest finger. Padma giggled before stretching out her own pinky.

"Pinky swear." She agreed.

The first year students were shepherded across the lake by small boats that pulled themselves. Padma had already begun reading the textbooks and was expecting to be one of the best in her year; that was the goal, anyway. She glanced over to a boat nearby and saw the blonde boy with Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Blaise Zabini. She and Draco had kept up a regular correspondence since they had become friends. He met her gaze and gave her a little wave before turning back to the huge castle looming over them. She smiled nervously and Parvati nudged her.

Parvati had been teasing her about her "boyfriend" for weeks and never missed an opportunity to make her sister blush. Parvati had already made the acquaintance of a girl named Lavender and they were chatting away excitedly. Padma was in awe of the huge fortress that was to be her home for the next few months. She was almost sure she would be a Ravenclaw and that Parvati would be either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. She hoped Draco would join her in Ravenclaw but didn't get her hopes too high.

The students were guided through the winding corridors to just outside the great hall. This was where they were to wait until the rest of the school was ready for them. Draco walked confidently away from Vincent and Gregory, who stared at each other before following a few paces behind. At first, Padma thought he was coming to talk to her; but she was disappointed when he made his way over to a boy with messy black hair standing next to a red headed boy.

Padma was shocked to learn that the boy was Harry Potter and even more shocked to see Draco insult the red head and his family. He then proceeded to intimidate Harry. It was here that Padma lost her respect for Draco. She could feel the mixed look of reproach and disgust on her face as he passed by her again.

"What?" He snapped.

"That wasn't very nice of you." She said, looking down before glaring at him. He glared back.

"Yeah? Well the world isn't always a nice place is it?" Draco sneered as Crabbe and Goyle snickered.

"What has gotten into you?" Padma accused, summoning all her courage.

"Nothing, nothing at all." He snapped before turning on his heel. Something in Padma changed that moment. She wasn't quite so timid after that exchange with her former friend. Although one thing she didn't know was that that would be the longest conversation she and Draco would have for a few years.

Proffesor McGonnagal appeared and gestured to the Great Hall, which they all entered nervously. They learned that they would be sorted into their houses in front of the entire school. Padma gulped, she was nervous that she would trip or giggle nervously at an inappropriate time. She watched as students were shuffled off to their house tables one by one in alphabetical order. She watched as Draco walked confidently up to the stool and looked down at the floor. She heard the hat yell "Slytherin!" quickly and surely. She was sure Draco smirked at that. When it was her turn, she walked up to the stool.

She glimpsed Draco at the Slytherin table, completely ignoring her sorting. She looked to her sister who smiled encouragingly and the hat was placed on Padma's head. She heard it call out, "Ravenclaw!"

Okay, so I guess you could call that your sneak preview. BTW the story is going to take place during Padma and Draco's seventh year. It's AU so please don't hate. The idea popped into my head so I'm just kinda following my inner voice at the moment. Please review? Please please please?

Oh one more thing. Draco and Padma don't stay mad at each other through Hogwarts they just kinda fade away till seventh year when they have no choice but to talk.

Thanks for reading this far and I hope you continue!

~Bee