Draco felt the corners of his mouth twitch into a frown as he watched men and women flounce around the venue in their best robes. He had no idea why he even attended these events anymore. It was the fifth anniversary of the end of the Second Wizarding War.
Despite what many believed, the war hadn't ended the moment the retched half-blood died, done in by his own spell. Death Eaters tried to fulfill what their lord had not for the next six months after that day at Hogwarts. It took those six months for the Ministry to capture all Death Eaters. Most were imprisoned in Azkaban, however, some were pardoned for reasons such as the Malfoy's, defecting to the Light. After all, Draco's family had received testimony from the Saviour of the Wizarding World himself, Harry Potter. Speaking of the man, it seems as though he has disappeared from the face of the earth. The Ministry claims he is still alive. "Harry Potter's magic is still active in our archive," they say to ensure the public their Boy Who Lived is still, in fact, alive. However, it brings about speculations that circle around the members of the Wizarding World. Has Harry Potter forsaken the world he saved? The Malfoy heir sighed softly, giving a slight smile and waved politely to a young lady somewhere towards his left trying to attract his attention. He fixed his features once more before scanning the crowd for any being that might provide some intelligent conversation. He spotted Granger, who he supposed was now a Weasley, and nodded in acknowledgment when she made eye contact. In response, she gave a polite smile before turning back to her husband and the current Minister of Magic.
Draco continued observing the attendees when he spotted a most peculiar form standing by a window, waving goodbye to Luna Lovegood. He walked towards the figure at a leisurely place, examining her eccentric clothes. The young woman was clothed in what he could only assume was Muggle clothing. The boots on her feet seemed reminiscent of the shoes Nymphadora Tonks had favored. Combat boots, he decided, laced up to mid-calf. Draco's eyes took in the rest of her ensemble. A dark red and black plaid, pleated skirt reached just up to her knees and swished slightly as she shifted her stance. Draco was still quite a distance from her when she raised a hand to brush through her long, dark hair. He could not see her shirt seeing as he was coming up behind the woman. The obsidian ringlets of hair bounced lightly as she pulled her hand away. The dark hair reached just past her shoulder blades and contrasted nicely with the light cream color of her leather jacket. A glint of light caught his attention as his focus closed in on the several piercings along her right ear. All but one held simple silver rings along the side of her ear. On the lobe dangled a tiny fluttering Golden Snitch. Ah, a Quidditch fan, Draco observed. He stepped to the side and grabbed two flutes of champagne from a floating tray, making his way over to the oddly dressed woman.
"And what is a beautiful lady, such as yourself, doing standing by her lonesome on this glorious night?" Draco voiced, hoping this woman would not turn and scowl at him. After all, former Death Eaters are not welcomed with a warm hug these days.
The woman turned slowly on her heel and looked up at him with the most green eyes he had ever seen. Instead of scowling and storming off, she gave a tiny amused smiled. "Why, waiting for a handsome man, such as yourself, to grace me with his presence, of course," she took the champagne flute gently as the Malfoy heir held it out to her. "And you surely don't see this," she gestured to the chattering crowd, "as a glorious night, do you?" she continued. The amused quirk of her lips never left her face as she sipped lightly at the golden, bubbling liquid.
Draco responded with his own slight smile as he took in the front of her appearance. She wore a loose black top the exposed her collarbone and upper chest. The thin material seemed to just hang off her body effortlessly. A movement on her collar caught his interest as two pairs of black paw prints trailed along her pale skin and rested just below her jaw. The faint gloss on her lips seemed to be the only trace of make-up on her face. The nude color on her lips caused her to look even paler, but not unappealingly so. "Not my ideal of a glorious night, but others seem to think so."
The woman nodded. "Then what are you doing here?" She turned towards the crowd slightly, taking in the appearances of the older women and men.
"Merely a formality, however, I'm glad to have met someone who shares my views of this particular event." Draco was granted with a snicker. "If I may ask, why are you here? You don't seem to fit among this crowd, not to mention your eccentric state of dress." Draco was then granted another bout of soft laughter.
"Merely a formality, besides, the invitations never state the dress code. I just happened to have an irritating day at work so I didn't feel like dressing up to impress people that don't really matter to me. I look nice enough, don't you think?" She twirled around briefly, stopping dramatically with a hand on her hip. She shook her head to the side and blew upwards to rid her face of the hair the fell in front when she spun around.
"Yes, you do," he obliged, eye alight with amusement. "What do you do? I assume not at the Ministry, even if it can be irritating."
"I own a bookstore in Muggle London. I cater to both Wizards and Muggles. All magical aspects in my shop cannot be seen by anyone who does not believe in magic. It allows more convenience to people who do not want to travel into obvious Wizarding areas, also expose them to Muggle literature," she finished with a flourish.
Draco sipped his champagne and inquired more about her work before asking what it was that irritated her on this particular day. She responded with a huff and Draco wondered if it was too personal, but she answered anyway.
"A customer wouldn't leave me alone. He kept staring at me, not buying anything. I left him alone for about 2 hours but after that he decided perhaps that was the signal he needed to carry out his ostentatious attempts at flirting," she gagged and blew up at her fringe again, possibly in annoyance to the memory of her day. "He stopped just before I closed up shop, only because Orion bit him."
"Orion?," Draco inquired. The name was familiar to him. It was the name of a well known constellation and the name of one of his Uncles on his mother's side.
"Oh yes, I have a dragon. His name is Orion. He's not that big, about the size of a fully grown crup. He won't get any bigger than that, takes guarding me pretty seriously though. A friend of mine takes care of dragons in Romania and gave him to me when I first started out. I'm sorry, I've been talking all about myself this whole time. What is it that you do?" She flushed lightly when she realized she had been talking the entire time with only a few nods from Draco here and there.
Draco waved off the apology. "No worries. It's nice to have someone to talk to here and you seem to be a very interesting person. Not many own dragons, let alone train one to be protective of something other than their own eggs. I'm a Potions Master. I recently came back from my apprenticeship in France. As much as I love the French, it's nice to be home," he paused. "I'm sorry, but do you know who I am? People don't usually talk to me so openly unless they have no idea who I am." In response, he received a light chuckle.
"You're Draco Malfoy, of course. I don't care about your past, only your present, and possibly your future," she said airily, quite like the way Lovegood speaks. "You don't seem like a blood-thirsty Death Eater; you certainly don't smell like one," she laughed. "I've had my fair share of dealings with Death Eaters; I know when people change and only want acceptance from peers," she smiled sadly.
Before Draco could question any further, the woman placed her empty champagne flute on the sill of the window and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, I spy someone that may comment on my being here, looking the way I am." She turned away from Draco, heading to the apparition points just a few feet away.
However, Draco reached out and touched her lightly on the shoulder. Whipping around, her emerald eyes shone of surprise before she tried to wave goodbye. "It was a pleasure to have someone to speak to so amicably. Could we do this again some time?" He hadn't wanted to seem desperate for a friend, but at this point, he really was.
The woman cast a glance over his shoulder once more before conjuring a scrap of parchment and a quill. She scribbled on the parchment, then handed it to Draco. "Drop by whenever you want to talk." The mystery woman disappeared when Draco had looked up from the address on the scrap. He frowned slightly as he realized her never asked for her name seeing as she already knew his.
A flash of copper hair entered his vision as the youngest Weasley sibling walked up to him. They had come to sort of truce seeing as they were working together at St. Mungo's. The Weasley girl was surprisingly adept at Potions and had just received her masters as he had. "Hello, Ginerva," he greeted.
"Oh, hello, Malfoy. You hadn't have happened to see someone with dark hair and green eyes, have you? And several ear piercings? About ye high?" She asked, gesturing to a height, just at Draco's eye level. She turned her head back and forth, searching the crowd and twisting her engagement ring on her finger.
Draco raised an eyebrow, thinking back to the woman he had met earlier that evening. "Actually, I have. She just left."
The long fiery red hair bounced as she whipped her head up at the blond. "She?" Ginny then bowed her head and grumbled something under her breath, most likely in frustration. "Were you talking to her? Did she say where she was going?" She looked up hopefully.
Draco frowned lightly. "She went to the apparition point. Why do you ask?"
"Are you going to meet with her again?" She asked, ignoring the question posed to her.
"Yes, the day after tomorrow. We have the day off. She only gave me this address. I assume it's to her bookstore," he showed the scrap of parchment to the ginger hesitantly.
Ginny eyed the parchment carefully, cocking her head to the side in thought. "Oh, this is in Muggle London. Not far from an apparition point. Mind if I go with you?"
Draco shrugged. It wasn't very often he went anywhere with the youngest Weasley, but having a friend of sorts at work would benefit him.
The ginger girl grinned. "Alright, thanks. I'll see you then. We'll meet in front of St. Mungo's I suppose. Have a good evening, Malfoy," she waved over her shoulder, heading back to her fiancé, he assumed.
Draco turned towards the apparition points and scolded himself for not asking Ginerva what the woman's name is. He huffed quietly, apparating just outside the grounds of Malfoy Manor.