I don't own Harry Potter! JK Rowling does!

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~-~Alice means Truth~-~

It was mid-February, so, naturally, London was freezing cold. Draco didn't mind. He wandered around muggle London in a thin black coat and the icy wind was only cold for a few minutes before his whole body was numb. Draco had been feeling numb for a while now. Ever since the end of the war in fact. That was almost ten months ago now.

Draco liked to wander aimlessly around muggle London. It didn't surprise him at all that he had developed an almost fond feeling towards the muggles. After all the horrible things he had watched happen to muggles (sometimes he'd even helped), he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of remorse. Plus, now that everywhere he went in the wizarding world, people went out of their way to avoid him and sent him fearful or disgusted looks when he walked past, the calm, oblivious muggle world was a relief… an escape.

He sighed and continued wandering, trying to block out all the sounds around him, and not noticing the girl calling out to him from behind…

~-~-~

Alice was walking down the street hurriedly, trying to reach her friend's flat as quickly as possible to get out of the cold. But when she was halfway there, she spotted a man, probably around her age, walking past.

She slowed when she saw him, because something about him just caught her eye. Probably his hair. It was white-blond and the winter breeze was blowing strands of it across his pale, pointed face. His expressionless eyes stared straight ahead, and he didn't seem to know where he was going. He must have been freezing, since his clothes looked pretty thin, which made Alice frown.

Then, something slipped out of his coat pocket onto the ground. He didn't notice.

"Excuse me!" She called out to him, walking towards him from behind. He didn't hear her. "Excuse me!" She repeated loudly, "Sir!" She called. She ran forward and picked up what he had dropped. "Sir! You dropped your… stick… thing." It was a smooth, dark brown stick that had been carefully polished. One end was pointy, and the other was tipped with a silver handle. The man still didn't hear her, so she ran after him.

"Excuse me!" She said, tapping his shoulder. He turned around sharply and reached for him pocket. He was a lot taller than her almost two feet taller, in fact. His icy grey eyes stared down at her penetratingly and she instinctively shrunk back. "Um… you dropped this." She said quietly. The man looked down in surprise at the stick thing. His eyes widened fearfully and he snatched it from her hand, shoving it in his pocket.

"Thank you." He said icily, before turning away and walking off.

Alice stood still in the middle of the path, despite the cold. After about three minutes, she shook herself and walked away. But she didn't stop thinking about the man. In fact, she thought about him all week.

~-~-~

One Week Later…

Draco had just had an argument with his father. This wasn't uncommon, but this time, when Draco stormed out of the house, he wasn't coming back. He grabbed a suitcase, shoved everything he might need into it and left Malfoy Manor. For good.

The only problem was, he didn't know where to go next. He wandered aimlessly around muggle London with his suitcase until he found himself on the same street he'd been on about a week ago. Strange.

He glanced around, wondering if there was a pub or something where he could stay for the night. In the muggle world, where no one would ever find him. Because honestly, who would think to look for Draco Malfoy in the heart of muggle London?

He spotted a pub and walked towards it, pausing in the shadows to shrink his suitcase to pocket size and slip it into his pocket. Then he went inside the pub, took out some muggle money and bought himself a muggle beer. He'd been at the bar for a few minutes when a group of girls, around his age entered the pub. He didn't think anything of it until about a minute later, when one of them approached him.

"Hey, it's you." She said in surprise. He glanced at her; it was the girl from last week: The muggle girl who'd picked up his wand. She was quite short, with brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her skin was pale and sprinkled with freckles, and her eyes were an odd hazel colour that sparkled almost yellow in the dim light.

"Oh… Hello." He said, nodding politely. The girl sat next to him.

"My name's Alice." She said confidently, offering her hand. Draco frowned slightly, wondering why on earth she might be talking to him and shook the hand.

"Draco." He said. The girl tilted her head curiously.

"Draco? That's an odd name." She said. Draco stared at her blankly. He wasn't used to people just talking to him so casually, without fear. Especially since in his world, everyone knew and despised the name Draco Malfoy.

"It's Latin." Draco said.

"Oh, cool." The girl smiled. "Do you know what it means?"

Draco grimaced. "It means dragon." He muttered.

"Wow, that's a lot more interesting than my name." She said admiringly. Draco looked at her and saw that she was genuinely impressed. He felt a small smile creep onto his face.

"What does your name mean?" He asked her.

"Truth." Alice said, rolling her eyes. Draco looked at the pure, innocent look in her eyes and found himself smiling wider at her.

"That's not any less interesting than my name. I think it tells people a lot about you." He said solemnly. She rolled her eyes, but blushed and looked flattered.

"It is just a name." She said with a shrug.

"You can tell a lot of things about a person through their name." Draco said seriously. Alice looked at him curiously and smiled.

"Do you want to join me and my friends?" She asked him. Draco glanced at her group of cheerful muggle friends and frowned.

"No thank you." He said politely.

"Oh. Okay." Alice said. Draco waited for her to get up and leave, but she stayed put.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Draco asked.

"No." Alice said simply. "I want to talk to you." Draco smiled at her. And they talked for the next three hours.

Her name was Alice Fordyce. She was from Scotland, but she no longer had an accent. She lived on her own in a flat in town. She was actually interested in Draco. Not his money, or his blood status or his surname, but him. She was the most honest person Draco had ever met and Draco found himself completely drawn in by her.

At the end of the evening, Alice announced that she should probably go, but she'd like to see Draco again. Draco agreed and said he was free tomorrow. She was busy but she suggested the day after, and Draco agreed.

Just before she left, Draco caught her arm and looked her straight in the eye.

"Alice." He said. "If I asked you a question, would you answer truthfully?" Alice smiled almost cheekily.

"Of course."

"Would you mind if I kissed you?"

Alice blushed and looked up at him solemnly. "I wouldn't mind at all." She said quietly.

So Draco kissed her. And it was perfect.

~-~-~

Draco and Alice dated for a year in secret. Draco lived in a small flat in muggle London, and never visited the magical world. He lived like a muggle. Then, on the one-year anniversary of their first meeting, Draco showed Alice his wand and told her he was a wizard. He told her about his past and how he'd been living as a muggle. He told her everything... because he knew he could trust Alice. And Alice held him and looked him in the eye and told him that she didn't care. She loved him anyway.

They were married six months later. They had three children: Abigail and Isabelle (or Abby and Issy- they were twins, and Draco chose their names because they were normal, pretty names, like their mother) and Scorpius (which was a Latin name that Alice chose because it was magical and interesting). Only Scorpius got a Hogwarts letter, because only Scorpius was magical.

And Draco no longer lived in secret, to try and hide away from his world. Because this was his world. And he was happy.

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A.N- For Alice, the best friend and sister in the whole wide world!! I love you :)

I hope you all enjoyed this- feedback appreciated!
Toff.x