AN- okay, i finally got this up. i was having issues uploading it, so if there are any mistakes, forgive me! this is from the LIOLI universe, one of my other stories, but you don't need to have read it already though. This is a story about Draco and Gabrielle and how they got together/stay together, whatever. A note, Gabrielle is three years older than canon in this story, so she is three years younger than Draco. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- Gabrielle and Draco are both blond, it was meant to BE! good thing im not JKR, or that philosophy would have had to apply to everyone else too. ew.

Draco hastened across the elegantly inlaid marble floor of the Association du Magique. He was lost (again) and would be, inevitably late for his meeting. Finally finding the one-person information desk in the large lobby, he rushed over. However, the lobby of the French Ministry is rather like a train station swarming with people. Halfway across the floor, Draco slammed into someone's shoulder.

"Excusez- moi, je n'ai pas vu-" Draco blinked. "Gabrielle!"

Wincing, Gabrielle stared up at him, then forgot the lessening pain in her shoulder. "Yes? I am sorry, how do you know me?"

A slight smile graced Draco's features. "Don't you remember me?"

"No…" she tried, a small ultimately confused smile tilting the corners of her mouth. Draco studied her. She was tiny. If it hadn't have been for her short, gleaming hair, which was nearly as blond as his own, he thought he might have missed her entirely. She really came up to his shoulder, but she was just a little slip of a thing, clutching a small stack of papers to her chest.

Draco just grinned lopsidedly…sorry, grinned amazedly, the Malfoys might be less malevolent, but they were still proud creatures. Lopsided was NOT true to form.

Gabrielle gave him a smile suggesting that she didn't know who he was and didn't want to be rude but he was still creeping her out and said "Well…I am late for a meeting, I am terribly sorry, but…"

"No, no, of course, please, I am sorry for bumping into you."

Gabrielle flashed him another awkward smile and hastened off. Draco, still grinning, watched her walk away, then turned and continued towards the desk, glancing back at her several more times.

PAGE BREAK

Draco ambled to his conference room, hands in his pockets (again). How strange, to randomly meet Gabrielle. How strange that she should speak English. How strange that he wouldn't have known she would have grown up.

How strange that he was still thinking about this when he had an agreement to pretend to listen to. Gabrielle was lost in the depths of the Association, doing some menial task or other. Still…

Bracing himself and opening the door, he was instantly greeted by Gregoire LeMaire, the man presiding over the conference. The stockier brown haired man threw his arms to the sides. "Ah, Monsieur Malfoy! Come in, come in!" The rest of the group paused halfway in lowering to their chairs.

"I am sorry for being late-" Draco began, but LeMaire waved him off.

"No, no, please! Sit down, sit." The man began to sit at the head of the table himself, gesturing to the last available seat, halfway down the table.

A very pale face stared impassively at him. Draco grinned slightly. Maybe this meeting wouldn't be as terrible as he thought.

PAGE BREAK

A half an hour later, and Draco was dying. Only the mental image of his Father was keeping him from fully slouching in his chair. And Gabrielle was insanely capturing all of his attention. She was neatly scribbling away, in English, on the stack of parchments she was holding before.

Draco forlornly nudged a bit of parchment. Passing notes was so juvenile…

All the more reason to play…

Why are you translating what they say?

Gabrielle blinked. It's my job?

Aha. Why not do it magically?

I am. How do you think I can pass notes? I actually am writing it. But my wrist hurts sometimes, so I have a charm on my quill so I can stop briefly.

Oh, I see. Very clever.

Thank you. Who are you again? M. LeMaire said you were Draco Malfoy, correct?

Yes, but you can just call me Draco, both names are far too formal for everyday use.

Gabrielle looked torn between amusement and exasperation. And how do you know me again?

Hogwarts. You were at the bottom of the lake, and you are Fleur's sister.

Oh…I see…I seem to remember you…something about the king of Slytherin…

No, no, no, no, no, no! No. That is wrong. I was the prince, and that was only because of my amazing leadership skills.

Now Gabrielle has an amused smile on her face. Draco felt relieved. There were just some things he did not want to look back on. I see. Well, then, I suppose it is nice to meet you.

What do you mean suppose?

I haven't really met you, now have I?

Well, my name is Draco Malfoy, I work for the British Ministry of Magic, I was in Slytherin, but by no means are the evil house rumors true, I love France, I speak French fluently, and this meeting was very boring before we started passing notes.

Gabrielle tried to hide her smile. Ah. Draco had to admit, the slight pink tinge to her cheeks made her look especially cute. So, do you like long walks on the beach?

Draco attempted to disguise his slight snicker as clearing his throat. I'm more of a park type person.

You would be.

Why?

I don't know. You just would be.

Uh huh. What about you?

Me?

Yes you!

At that moment, people began to stand up. Gabrielle glanced at the last note on her parchment and declared "We have adjourned for lunch."

"Why, Mademoiselle De La Coeur, how kind of you to ask me."

"I didn't!" the girl protested.

"Well, I'm offering."

"Well, I'm rejecting!"

"Give me one good reason." Draco pouted. He knew it wasn't customary, but he liked to think of it as fighting the adorable by being adorable.

"I don't know you! Other than a rather pathetic small paragraph."

"What better reason! And besides, you owe me a rather pathetic small paragraph."

Gabrielle straightened. "Mine would NOT be pathetic."

"Prove it." Draco challenged.

Gabrielle narrowed her eyes with a cat-like smile, mischief glinting in her eyes. "Fine. I accept."

"Lovely." Draco said, standing and offering her a hand. Raising an eyebrow, she delicately placed her small one in his, gliding upwards.

Draco briefly gave her fingers a playful squeeze before smirking and releasing her hand. Gabrielle narrowed her eyes at his back. If that was the way he wanted to play, then fine.

Draco was taking huge strides. Well, not huge, just…Draco-size. Gabrielle quickened her pace.

Draco was immensely pleased that when she fell back and he fell forward or vice versa, their sleeves touched. Gabrielle, on the other hand, was a bit upset because he couldn't just let her get in front. She did, after all, know where they were going.

"Look, I'm all for cooperation, but I am the one who knows where we're going."

Draco smiled and gestured forward. "Lead the way."

PAGE BREAK

After they had placed their orders in a bitty restaurant that seemed, to Draco, like a very Gabrielle restaurant to go to (from his limited knowledge of her), they sat at a tiny circular table and he looked at her expectantly. "What?" Gabrielle said, not too fond of the feeling in her stomach.

"Your paragraph." Draco stated simply.

"Fine. Just give me a moment to think."

"Fair enough." Draco said, satisfied, and leant back.

Just then, the girl behind the register claimed their dishes were done, and so they fetched them and returned to their seats. After having a bite or two, Gabrielle spoke again. "My name is Gabrielle DelaCour, I am, to my thinking, three years younger than you, I have one sister, Fleur, who you know, and I work for the Association du Magique in Paris. I speak English fluently, but have only been to England once or twice. I was top of my class at Beauxbatons, and so far you seem to be worthy of my attention." she finished, looking very proud of herself.

Draco laughed. "A worthy opponent, you mean? That was nearly two paragraphs."

"I had to outdo you."

"I see." Draco took another bite of his pasta. "Well it was very informative."

"How so?"

"You are intelligent, you are sweet, you are competitive...and you're sassy."

"Beg pardon?" Gabrielle shot, turning a bit pink. Sassy wasn't an adjective she would have chosen.

"I would have said spunky but it wasn't classy enough."

"...You are a very strange person."

"I know I am, but you must bear with me. You must understand my family is incredibly aristocratic."

"Ah. Your family...meaning that you have siblings?"

That familiar freezing cold feeling returned, but only underneath Draco's skin. Outside, he remained properly impassive. "Oh, no. It's just Father and I."

Gabrielle blinked. "Oh!"

"What?" Draco said, taking another bite of bow tie pasta, still trying to calm down.

"That's a little lonely, is all."

"You only have one sister!"

"So! I have a huge family, about thirty-two cousins."

"Thirty two?!"

"Don't you have any cousins?" Gabrielle inquired, sounding much like a pitying four-year-old. As soon as she had asked she regretted it. When she had asked about family, something changed. Something Draco had tried incredibly hard (and incredibly well) to cover up. If it had been another person, perhaps they would not have picked it up, but this was Gabrielle. Gabrielle was very good at noticing things.

"Yes. I have one, but...we aren't close. At all. I didn't see her regularly until a few years ago."

"Ah. I see." Gabrielle did see. She saw that if she and Draco ever saw each other again, (that was a very stern IF) then she would let him tell her when he wanted. "Well, every family is different."

"Your family sounds interesting," Draco said, finally calm enough to tactfully swing the conversation away from uncomfortable places. "I wonder..." he stopped himself, grinning.

"What?" Gabrielle asked with a hint of a smile.

"Nothing."

"What!"

"Thirty two cousins sounds like a happy bunch."

"We are! I love my family; I could talk about them for ages, so stop me as soon as you get bored!" Draco laughed a bit. "We all grew up together, and very close to one another. You know how Fleur is a bit...stuck up?" Draco snorted in recognition. "When she is with us, she is less snooty. I have..." Gabrielle paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "Quadruplet cousins-"

"Four cousins at once?" he said, mostly for clarity masked as surprise.

"Yes, and they are a handful. They just never grew up, there are two girls and two boys and they are very silly."

They chatted on about her family, about how they have communal dinners at her grandmother's house and about her grandmother's house, etc. until Draco glanced at the time. As they stood and walked out the door, Draco smiled down at her and said "I would like to meet your family one day."

Gabrielle smiled wryly up at him with her eyes narrowed. "Hm."

Draco put his hands in his pockets and looked down at Gabrielle as they walked, smiling. "Do you think I could meet them sometime?"

"Huh. Maybe. I don't know. It depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not Monsieur LeMaire will permit to you reenter France." Gabrielle said, pulling ahead and smiling back at Draco teasingly. Draco grinned and ran at her. Gabrielle's eyes expanded and she squealed. Draco chased her all the way back to the Association building.

YAAAY! i hope you liked it, PLEASE do not hesitate to review, tell me about what you thought, put it on Alert, if you really like it! and have a Happy New Year!