A/N: So, I created this because I was bored, and suffering from writer's block from my other stories.

*An Introduction and A Crab Cake from Gigi*

*The Christmas Party, Year 1*

The Malfoy's annual Christmas Party. We went every year, every Christmas Eve, no matter what. The Greengrass family (us) was very friendly with the Malfoys, of course, it was expected, as we were both the noblest of Wizarding families, purebloods, and with no record of a blood traitor, except for Andromeda Black, who married a Muggle, but she was long forgotten. Though, Grandmother on Mother's side was a half-blood, but no one knew about that. We owed a lot to the Malfoys. Mr. Malfoy had given Dad a job in the Ministry when he had lost his position at St. Mungos as a healer (one of his patients had died mysteriously, and the family had started a law suit), a couple years before I was born. It was a lousy job, the assistant to the assistant of the Head of the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee, but Dad quickly went through positions, and soon made himself the Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. All we owned, the mansion in the country, the two apartments in London, and everything in them, was due to their kindness. We scheduled everything in our year around their two parties, the Christmas one, and the Garden Party at the end of the school year.

I had watched Mother get ready that night, as I always did. She always took out her few best dresses and tried them on for me, and I would help her pick which one. Out of the black cocktail dress, the blue puffy one, and the red, sleek one, I chose the latter. It was very polished, tight around the bodice, until mid-thigh, where it fanned out like a mermaid's tail. There was black and white beading around the neck line and sprinkled around the bottom part of the dress. Mother said it was too young for her, but wore it anyway, wearing a smile. I chose my new black one that had an empire waist with a big emerald green bow, with a puffy bottom. It was too big for me on the leg, about four inches too big, so it was difficult to walk, but I just had to wear it. Daphne's choice was dreadfully simple, spaghetti-strapped and silver, with nothing remarkable about it. Dad wore a tuxedo.

We apparated and arrived at the gates of Malfoy Manor at exactly eight o'clock. The walk from the gates to the front door was probably half a mile, but as Malfoy Manor, like Hogwarts, had an anti-apparate spell, it was either apparating and walking or riding brooms and ruining our hair. Of course, we chose the walk. Finally, when we reached the door, we were greeted by a human servant by the name of Hugo. I guessed the all the house elves were busy cooking the dinner. Hugo led us to the left room, a large sitting room, and offered us drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

"Anastasia!" called Narcissa Malfoy, entering the sitting room with her arms out, Lucius and Draco following quietly behind her, careful not to step on the large train of her dress. She and Mother were very good friends, and Daphne and I were friends (or at least, good acquaintances) with Draco Malfoy, because of all the play dates they planned for us so they could go out together. Mother stood up and they kissed each other on both cheeks, while Mr. Malfoy greeted Father with a light handshake. They switched places, the men kissing the women on their gloved hands, murmuring their names. Draco greeted Daphne with the stink eye (they didn't get along that well), and me with a slight nod. I knew Draco well enough that I knew the nod meant he was happy to see me.

"Sebastian, how is the Department?" began Lucius conversationally sitting on the grand, luxurious sofa. Per usual, we were the first ones to arrive, and we would be the last ones to leave. We had a long time to catch up with each other until the Malfoy's hosting duties took them away. Like I said, our parents got along really well.

"Ana, I must tell you about this before I forget," Narcissa said, clad in a tight, sparkly blue dress that seemed to match her forget-me-not eyes perfectly. "You know that woman -" They loved to gossip together, almost as much as shopping and eating lunch at insanely expensive restaurants, where they received less than half a serving of food, which had double the amount of fat. Then they would work all the fat off together in these silly running groups, and join different clubs that they would quit after two weeks. Apparently, that was friendship.

Draco sauntered over to where Daphne and I were standing, his arm still in his sling. "Daphne," he greeted her icily. She glared at him and walked off. We both knew Malfoy Manor pretty well, so by the direction she was going, I guessed she was headed for the library. She loved books, so she probably would lock herself up in there till dinner.

"Astoria."

I smirked. "Draco." We stared at each other for a minute, raising one eyebrow and putting our lips into comical scowls, and then I snorted loudly then laughed. Draco joined me.

"So, how is your first year, Tori? Everything you ever dreamed it would be?" he drawled.

"Oh, and then some," I answered with a laugh. "No, actually, it's been quite boring. Although that Sirius Black, popping in every once in a while, really brightened things up a bit, didn't it? I can't understand it though, as I wrote to Dad and he assures me Black was never a Death Eater. I can't imagine why he would be in the castle if he wasn't out to kill Potter. He probably wants something from the Gryffindors, doesn't he?"

"How – how do you know about that? And how does your father know?"

"You forget that I, like you, am the child of the world's biggest gossip and the former Slytherin who has the most Death Eater connections, though, of course, mine never was one. Apparently it was too dangerous for such an unlikely outcome or something like that. Anyways, I can ask my parents any question about a wizard and get a correct, twenty minute answer, along with other irrelevant details. Of course, your situation is the same as mine isn't it?" Draco shrugged and glanced at the front doors. People were already coming in, and the two front rooms were beginning to be filled with Slytherin, pureblood families. I smiled.

"Are you that bored of me already? Who are you impatiently waiting for, who is the person who is obviously much more interesting than I am?" I learned this lingo from Mother, who was the Queen of Making Us Guilty, us being Father, Daphne, and I.

"No one, just a friend."

"So, how's the arm? Excruciatingly painful?" I smirked, poking the sling. Everyone knew Malfoy was faking to get the giant oaf sacked.

He scowled, and moved away from my poking range. "What Draco?" I continued. "We all know what you're doing, why bother faking your injury here?"

"Are you defending the fool?"

"Of course not. He hasn't even graduated from Hogwarts, he shouldn't be teaching. He can hardly talk, let alone teach an entire class of students. I'm just saying."

We made polite conversation until the Parkinsons and the Crabbes arrived together a few minutes later, at the same time, Draco straightened.

I gasped mockingly and bought a hand to my mouth, widening my eyes as well. "Mr. Malfoy! Do not tell me you fancy Miss Irma Crabbe II!" Irma was a plump girl that resembled a pig in both face structure and stature. Tonight she was wearing this ghastly, coral tarp that clashed horribly with her pinkish skin and orange, frizzy hair. Draco sent me a bored, unamused look. Hey, I thought it was funny. The image of thin, cold and unagreeable Draco with his arm wrapped tightly around Irma's pudgy, silk taffeta covered waist was utterly hilarious to me.

"I'm going to go see Vincent Crabbe. I'll see you at dinner, alright?"

"Fine, but say hi to Irma for me!" I called.

From behind his back, he slyly sent me the finger, but it was paired with a slight smirk. I laughed, picked up a crab cake from Gigi the server, then went to find someone else to bother.

Dinner at the Malfoy Christmas Party was a huge ordeal. They were in possession of one of the biggest dining rooms in Britain, probably even the size of the Queen's, which I would think would be quite big. Of course, the Christmas Party was the only time it was used. They had a suitably sized dining room for regular use, which was already very big dining room wise, and they just served hors d'oeuvres at the July Garden Party, so they didn't need it then. They also had a grand ballroom adjacent to the big dining room, where everyone usually danced after they ate. Sometimes the woman and the men would separate into different rooms, the men would play poker, smoke, and drink, while the ladies gossiped and drank tea. The kids were generally stuck somewhere in the middle.

But at the moment, my only problem was the kids' table. The dreaded kids' table. There were typically about thirty kids at the party, at least half of them under the age of seven, which meant a lot of screaming, crying, dirty diapers, and refusals to consume vegetables and/or anything green, and I was usually stuck in the middle of it. Not that I didn't like little kids, I mean they were OK, but (attempting to) consume a fancy, delicious meal is not the best when combining it with angry tots.

I sat between Draco and Daphne, who both sat beside with their friends, meaning, I would be no doubt lonely and ignored for the whole meal, as there were hardly any other first years here. Most of the kids in my year were either Mudbloods or half bloods, which was especially bad for me tonight; since there was really no one I could talk to that I was particularly familiar with. I sighed.

Servants brought out single plates for all of us, serving us one at a time. First was the salad course, and I had a choice between five different ones I had never heard of before. I picked one out at random, and it actually turned out pretty darn good.

"So Draco," I began, seizing an opportunity. His friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, both rather dim, chubby boys, were occupied with hunting down all the shrimp, scallops, and croutons in their salads, and were too busy to talk, "I never got the chance to ask you how your year's going."

"Well, are you going to ask?"

"Pardon me? I just did," I answered, raising an eyebrow and biting into a rather large chunk mandarin orange.

"You just remarked how you never asked me, which was a statement. I'm still awaiting your question."

"Fine," I said with a laugh, "how is your year going so far, Draco? How is it, being the wondrous Slytherin Seeker?"

He smirked his usual pleased smirk. "Quite smashing, dear Astoria," he said with a fake, old English accent.

"C'mon, you have to give me something better than that! I can hardly make fun of you with that answer! Well, I can offer you a top hat and a cane to go with your nice accent."

He laughed, but was stolen away by Goyle, asking about something unimportant, yet it required a very long, tiring answer from Draco. We ate the rest of the two courses (soup and main) without speaking, and by dessert (the formal dinner was over. Everyone could just get up, fill a plate with sweets, grab a cup of coffee and go where they wanted), he had left with them. I spent the rest of the night with Daphne and her friends, who seemed to like me, and sometimes taking a break from them and drifting around the groups of people, listening in to conversations. We had left at nearly one in the morning, the last people to leave, as I said before, but Draco was absent from the elder Malfoys.

We ended the night with the normal Greengrass Christmas Eve, with a mug of steaming hot chocolate by the fire of one of the apartments, opening one present each (I received a Pygmy Puff, which I named Boris), and heading off to bed.

A/N: So, what do you think of it? I plan for the chapters to only take place at the two Malfoy parties, but who knows? It might not turn out that way…

And yes, I am fully aware that everyone was donned in Muggle garb, and modern Muggle garb at that, and I refuse to change it. I absolutely love describing dresses and thinking up some cool ones for the next chapters. And clothes in the 90s were perfectly horrid.