An ordinary day began in the streets of London, muggles caught their trains and headed into work for the usual nine to five. In a seas of grey and black a platinum blonde head bobbed up and down with the moving crowd.
Draco Malfoy was making his way to his weekly tea with his mother, but he was going to stop in to see his best mate Blaise first. Blaise Zabini was currently in charge of the gossip section of the Daily Prophet and Draco really only got to see him when he stopped by the office. Draco had made his way to the the theaters of muggle london. Nestled between two prominent theater buildings there was a door marked "Stage Door P". The door only opens to those of magical blood and it opens up to a bustling wizard newsroom.
"Draco, my boy what are you doing here?" Blaise said, pulling his old friend into a hug.
"Long time no see Blaise." Draco said jokingly while giving his friend a warm smile.
"Scand never sleeps, what can I say?" said Blaise "How about you and I arrange for a boys night sometime?"
"I'd Really like that." said Draco.
"Well pull up a chair in my office and stay awhile." said Blaise "Nothing beats the excitement of the newsroom."
"I wish I could , but I was only stopping by to say hello. I'm on my way to see mother." said Draco.
"Well that's too bad. I'll send world along for our boys night." said Blaise "And hey mate, good luck with Narcissa."
Draco gulped then let out and all knowing sigh. "Thanks man, I'll need it."
Draco made his way from Blaise's office waving goodbye to his friend. When Draco turned the corner he ran square into someone with a much smaller frame than him. The collision caused both of them to fall to the ground. Draco locked around to find a mess a papers scattered across the floor. He then looked over to find a familiar frazzled woman looking back at him.
"Granger? What are you doing here?" Said Draco handing back the papers from the floor.
"I work here, Malfoy" said Hermione Granger as she straightened her shirt. " Now if you don't mind, I'm running late for a meeting."
"Sorry I didn't mean to mess up all your papers." Said Draco giving her a short bow.
Draco quickly made his way from the newsroom and back out to muggle London. Hermione remained stunned in her spot from Draco's kindness. Until a harsh scream came from the other side of the newsroom.
"Granger! Get in here!" Yelled Marcus Delton, the Editor-in-Chief of the The Daily Prophet.
Hermione collected herself and made her way to the office. Inside an impatient overweight man with a bush of a mustache waited for her.
"What disappointing pitches have you brought me today Granger?" he growled at her.
"Well I was thinking about doing a piece about wizarding environmental causes, or the amount of education outsourcing we've been doing due to the fear that Hogwarts brings to parents….." said Hermione
"I'm going to stop you right there Granger, you keep coming in here and giving me blah blah boring blah, you need to give me something dark, something with juice." he said after a drink of coffee.
"Isn't that the job of the gossip department sir" Hermione said while trying to not roll her eyes.
"Granger the gossip section is what makes this paper money. When sad sob stories about dragons losing altitude make me money then we can talk." He grunted. "Come back when you have something worth my time."
Hermione picked up her things and made her way back to her desk. When she arrived she was surprised to find an orchid sitting on her desk and a golden speckled owl waiting with a card. Hermione picked up the card and gently fractured the seal and pulled out the parchment it encased.
Dear ,
I apologise for my clumsiness in your work place shortly ago. I do hope you forgive my rudeness.
Draco Malfoy
P.S.: I hope you find the orchid to your liking.
Hermione looked at the flower in awe. She shook off the weird feeling she got in her stomach and got back to work. The thoughts faded away as Draco's were just starting to throb.
Draco's weekly teas with his mother had become quite a headache. It was quite unusual for a Malfoy to reach the age of 25 and not be married. So their teas had become qutie the matchmaking sessions. Each week Draco's mother had been bring girls she hoped her son would take an interest in. She would drone on and on about their accomplishments and their status. Draco was rather tired of the the whole charade. The girls his mother kept bringing him were no doubt beautiful and came from prestigious families, but they tended to be rather dull.
Draco arrived at the Lantern Tea Room and handed his coat the the attendant in the lobby. The room held a stiffness to it, that could only be matched by the smile of the girl with red hair sitting next to his mother. She peered at him with hungry eyes and determination that could be admired,but it just made Draco find her even more desperate. He approached the table with a lot of caution and greeted his mother.
"Good Morning Mother." Said Draco as he bent over and kissed his mother's cheek
"You're late Draco, you kept me and waiting." said Narcissa with and disappointing tone that Draco knew all too well.
"I'm sorry mother, I stopped off to see Blaise at the prophet and it took longer to get out then i expected." Draco said with an interesting sort of smile.
While Narcissa would think the smile came from seeing his good friend she would be wrong. Draco was actually finding amusement in how Hermione had reacted to his kindness. He had not seen Granger very much since graduating from Hogwarts. They had both chosen to go back to complete their seventh years. Draco was in large part only allowed to come back to Hogwarts, because of Hermione. She was the member of the Golden Trio during the post war trials that defended him and his mother. It was because of this second chance he'd been given in life that Draco had chosen to turn over a new leaf or at least attempt to.
"Well I hope Blaise is well." Said Narcissa. "Draco dear this is Madison Raveno."
"Hello " said the attractive redhead extending her slender hand.
Draco kissed the hand very cordially and took the seat on the other side of his mother.
"Madison was just telling me how she was free for the Christmas holiday, because her parents will be attending a conference in America." said Narcissa.
"That's too bad, Christmas is an awful time to be away from family and even worse to be alone." Said Draco trying to shake of his mother's hinting.
"Well that's was something I was telling her we could help with." Said Narcissa with a sense of giddy. "Since you are currently going to attend our Christmas ball unattended I was thinking that you can take her, and she could spend the holidays with us."
Draco started to get a panicked feeling that ran straight down to his toes. Spending Christmas with the Malfoys was no small affair. Press would be there and it would look bad if Draco dropped the girl he had home for Christmas before New Years the press would be awful. as much as he knew Blaise would try and help control it, the Malfoy name was just getting around to being respected once again. This was his mother's way of trying to force him into a more serious relationship.
"I uhhhhhhh I don't know mother" stuttered Draco
"Draco there is no reason for you to be objecting to 's company, and I find it very rude and…." Narcissa was going on to list everything that she found wrong about Draco's behavior.
Draco was struggling to figuring out what to say when he suddenly blurted out.
"I know mother ,but I'm not sure how my girlfriend would feel about me having another girl over for Christmas, since she was planning on accompanying me." said Draco rather quickly
Narcissa sat there stunned and quiet fell over her conversation that Draco didn't know was possible. Madison looked around awkwardly and fiddled with the clasp on her purse.
"Since when do you have a girlfriend and who is she?" Narcissa said rather sternly,but she did not appear unhappy. After all, her goal all along had been to see Draco married as soon as possible.
"Umm" Draco said realizing he had not thought this plan through very well
"Well Draco who is this young lady who has finally got my boy talking about something serious?" Said Narcissa who now was looking a bit skeptical.
"Hermione Granger" blurted Draco without thinking. Hermione was the last woman he had really been in contact with so her name just came to mind.
" I think it would be well advised for you leave us." Narcissa said with monotone voice.
Madison Raveno excused herself without saying anything and rushed out of the building. Draco didn't blame the girl for bolting, it was about to get really interesting at the table.
"Now Draco tell me how long have you been seeing ?" said Narcissa
" Um…" Draco gulped."We've been seeing each other in private for around six months, I was planning on introducing you at the Christmas ball next month We would also go public at that time."
"Well now this is just delightful!" exclaimed Narcissa
"It is?" questioned Draco shocked by his mother's delight in him dating a muggleborn. Even if it was a lie.
"Why yes, is highly regarded in the wizarding community and I could never thank her enough for protecting you and me in the trials. I know there was nothing to be done for your father, but because of we have each other." Said Narcissa. "Well you simply must have her over for dinner this Saturday night. I insist."
"Mother I'm not sure either of us is prepared to go public with our relationship quite yet. Can't this wait till next month at the Christmas ball?"
"I'm not asking you to go public Draco. I'm asking to meet the girl that my son has been seeing for six months. You don't have to go public until the ball if you really want to keep it that private." said Narcissa "I'm not sure why you would hide this though, this is quite splendid news."
"Well she might be busy this Saturday mother." said Draco.
"Well then give me a date that she is available and I will make it work, but I want it done this week Draco you hear me?"
"Yes mother." said Draco
Draco Malfoy had no idea what he had gotten himself into it or how he was going to make it all happen. One thing was for sure though, after tea with his mother had ended, he would be heading back to the Daily Prophet.