A/N: As the end of the school holidays draw nearer, I will be updating less and less. Sigh.

*A Contest and Some Old, Gossiping Ladies*

*The Garden Party, Year 1*

The Malfoy Garden Party was totally different than the Malfoy Christmas Party. For one thing, it was during the summer, so it was usually warm and outside, but the whole atmosphere was unlike it as well. The Christmas party was dark and warm, almost with a kind of richness to it. The Garden Party was light and airy. Anyways, there was swimming, and outside games, and no sit down dinner, just servants running around with plates of hors d'oeuvres. Plus, it was in mid-afternoon.

Mother and Daphne dressed very similarly, both of them in 50's style dresses. Mother wore this beige two piece one with a rose pattern, the blouse short sleeved and collared, with a black ribbon around the waist. Daphne wore a red polka dot one with a thick red band at the waist and a full skirt with a thinner band round the middle of it. I preferred a simple white knee-lengthed one, with a sweet heart neck and thick, lacey straps. I also did my hair up in a braid that reached the middle of my back.

"It's a shame your father couldn't come," said Mother, putting on her dangly, diamond rose earrings. "Think of all the fun he'd have had." My father was currently at work; staying over-time because of all the paper work that piled up during the weeklong vacation in Ireland we had a few days earlier. Mother regretted not having the vacation until after the party, as she thought Mrs. Malfoy would find it 'unforgivably rude' (an actual quote from Mother) if there was one missing from our number.

I laughed. "Yes, Mother. Father would sure love sitting by a pool, eating mini tuna sandwiches and listening to groups of women discussing the horrible, egotistical neighbors they have and what the woman down the street said about so-and-so, and so-and-so's reaction. He just might 'accidentally' fall in the pool, after tying a sack of heavy rocks to himself." Mother gave me a stern look. "What? He wouldn't have any fun! There are hardly any men that he could talk to there!"

She ignored me, placing a floppy hat with a pink rose perfectly on her head, just touching the delicate bun resting on the nape of her neck. "Well, I'm already to go. Where's your sister?"

Again, we apparated, but as the party was taking place outside, we just went around the back, following the stone path through a maze of trimmed bushes, trees, flowers, and the occasional bridge over the bubbling, winding brook the passed through their yard. At last, we reached a gate, which led to the pool area and patio.

Narcissa, who was sitting on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced pumpkin juice, saw us and stood up. "Oh, Ana! So glad to see you, how long has it been? And the girls! How are you? I got your owl yesterday, such a shame Sebastian couldn't make it, think of the fun he's missing out on!" Mother sent me a hardly-hidden, I-told-you-so look. "Come, come, and sit down. What can the servant get for you? Iced pumpkin juice with a splash of Blishen's Vodka? It's absolutely marvelous." Mother gave an affirmative and sat down on a matching chair, and Daphne joined them. Narcissa, seeing me standing there awkwardly, exclaimed, "Oh, Draco is just in his room. Go see him, if you'd like." She turned to Mother, "Did you hear what that horrid woman down the street said to me -"

I went through the Manor's many rooms to find the staircase in the parlor (I didn't really have to, I mean, they had several closer staircases, but I loved the way my heels sounded to the marble), then wove my way throughout the upstairs rooms to find Draco. His bedroom was at the end of the left wing, so it had many shortcuts to it. I chose the easiest one, through the game room, past the third library, cut across at the blue office, through many, many bedrooms and finally reached his door. I knocked, then without waiting for him to say anything, walked in.

His room was by far the biggest I've ever seen (I always guessed that Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy's bedroom was bigger, but I had never seen it). Draco's was white, with silver and green furnishings, Slytherin colors. A four poster bed on one side, a sitting area with a grand stone fireplace on the other, and a large desk in the middle, along with book cases filled with thick, musty copies of history books. He also had a huge bathroom, and two closets.

"Hello Draco," I said, flopping into one of the chintz, emerald green chairs that sat beside the fireplace. Rockwell, his Crup, ran out of the bathroom at full speed and flung himself on my lap, then snuggled up against me. Crups were known to be a bit nasty, but Rockwell adored me. And since Rockwell never left the property, they didn't sever his forked tail off, though it was rather painful if he accidentally poked you with it.

Draco looked up from his book. "Oh, I didn't hear you come in."

"Well, I did knock," I said. "So, why are you being so anti-social?"

"I'm not being anti-social!" he protested. "I'm just not in the mood for a large crowd of gossiping, hormonal women." I laughed, then walked over to him and looked over his shoulder. Rockwell jumped off the chair and followed me, barking. I sighed and picked him up, stroking him. The Crup somehow managed to roll over in my arms, so that his belly was up. The thing was such an angel around me, but according to Draco, it was completely evil when it was just them together. That was weird, as Crups were usually extremely loyal to wizards, and hated Muggles.

"So, what are you reading?" He shut the book firmly and shoved it in his book case, but I caught the title and a couple words on a page.

"Why exactly, are you reading about the Triwizard Tournament, Draco?"

"No reason, just curious about the whole thing." Draco was very good at lying. He looked you right in the eye, perfectly serious all around, but he couldn't fool me. I mean, he hated all those history books. He wouldn't pick one up on a whim, simply because he was bored. He had better things to do than read, as he put it. That was one of the main reasons he and Daphne didn't get along. She spent all her time with books, she couldn't understand why he disliked them so much.

"Draco, I'm not asking again," I said firmly. "What, are they going to revive it or something?" He was silent. "They are! How do you know?" The Triwizard Tournament was something all Wizarding kids have heard of, but never actually knew what it all meant. We never really got many details about it, so it was very confusing. It would be so cool if I could witness it.

"My father told me, it's starting again this year. They're still going with the usual rules and everything, but only seventeen year olds get to compete. It's completely unfair, don't you think? Everyone should get the chance to compete, even if it is a small one. Well, except for the Mudbloods."

I sighed. "Draco, are you daft? It's not unfair, it's logical. I mean, with all the dangerous things the competitors have to do, it makes perfect sense. Can you imagine a first year attempting to put a frilly cocktail dress on a Chimaera? Which, from what I gather from your book, was the second task in the 1592 Tournament. Only someone who is ready for the challenge should be able to compete." I looked down on him, rubbing Rockwell's tummy. I felt like an evil villain. I smirked at the thought.

"You know Tori, I usually hex people when they talk to me like that," said Draco severely, scowling at me.

"If you had the guts to actually hex me, it would've been done by now." I smirked, then glanced out the window. "Anyway, I see the Rosier family outside; we should go and greet them, as you are the co-host to this party."

It was obvious that Draco wasn't pleased with me at first, but he soon forgot my comment and we enjoyed ourselves, or at least, had the best time we could surrounded by old women, complaining about this lady and what she said last week. There weren't many men at this party, and normally Draco was one of the eldest males there. I always wondered why he didn't just go to a friend's house or something, but whenever I asked (which was quite frequently), he would change the subject.

"Oh, happy belated birthday, by the way," said Draco, sitting down by the pool. I joined him. "Why wasn't I invited to the party? I was quite hurt you know, the day of your birthday when I didn't get an invitation."

I smiled cheerfully. "I didn't have a party, I was in Ireland, remember? All I got was a piece of a dry old spice cake at a pub with one stinking candle stuck in the side of it and one present, though it was pretty fabulous. I got my own Crup. She's awfully fat and hates Daphne. I named her Olga."

"Olga?"

"Yes, Olga," I said, swallowing my mini chocolate éclair whole. "It suits her."

We were silent for a few moments. I suddenly got an idea. "This is incredibly boring. We should do something fun – we should have a contest." A contest was perfect to pass the time, if we did it right, the whole party could be done by the time we finished.

"What are you, five?" he asked maturely. I snorted.

"I'm six, actually." He smirked. "C'mon, it'll be fun," I begged. "You can pick what we have do. Just make it so it lasts a long time."

"How about –" he thought for a moment, "- eating contests are out, right?" I nodded. It would last about four minutes, and I would probably ruin my white dress, not to mention getting in trouble and embarrassing Mother in front of all her friends. "How about we see who can annoy the most waiters?"

I laughed internally. I annoyed waiters on my spare time; I was an expert at it. Of course, the servers the Malfoy's hired were most likely super good at their job, and didn't irritate that effortlessly. No matter, I'd still win. "Okay, so what counts as annoying them?"

"Anything from them saying something rude to them quitting. As long as they're angry. Then we count them all at the end of the party, and no cheating Astoria."

"Why do you assume I plan to cheat?" I said, pretending to be insulted.

"Because I know you, and you'd cheat if I didn't say anything."

"Hey, why d'you think that you saying something would prevent me from cheating?"

He laughed. "Anyway, we start now, and no cheating whatsoever."

We walked off in opposite directions, and I went towards the first waiter I saw, a tall, tanned, bald burly guy holding a couple of glasses of champagne on a sliver tray.

"Hey, baldy!" I called, walking over to him. I hoped that this guy was a bit insecure about his obvious lack of hair, and he didn't shave it because he thought (in some mad way) it was attractive. As I walked over to him, I noticed a rather scary, large tattoo that just peeked out from his collar. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what would bother him enough to yell at me.

He turned. Crap, he was well acquainted with the nickname. "Hey, Baldo, what's up?" I reached for a glass of the bubbling liquid.

"I'm sorry, miss, but I think you're a little young to be drinking any alcohol." He laughed, lifting it up higher. I raised my eyebrows.

"Excuse me, but aren't you paid to serve me? I wish to be served. Do you want me to go talk to your boss, Narcissa Black, about your incompetence? This is utter rubbish!" I hoped a rant would make his cheese slip off his cracker. "This party is for important people like us, and we're supposed to be served by people like you. Stupid, useless, lazy people like you and all your other stupid, useless, lazy friends working with you! I can't believe this! You're denying me food? I am here to have fun, and to eat and drink what I wish! That is what the party's for! This is absolute anarchy! You're poor and I'm rich, you are supposed to clean my shoes and kiss my hand, not deny me of something that is my right! I can't believe this!"

One of his eyes twitched. "Pardon me, miss, but your shoes are already clean, and your hands are much too dirty for my lips to touch them." He left without another word, shaking all over.

I laughed, mentally thinking, that's one! in my head. Man, I made him pissed. And my rant hardly made any sense. I wondered if Draco was having any success. I giggled again, and then went in search of another servant. I found one, a rather pretty blonde woman, probably about thirty, sitting on a bench by a few trees, almost completely hidden by a canopy of leaves.

"Hey, I'm Astoria, what's your name?" I said, joining her.

"Oh! I think I should get back to work," exclaimed the girl, standing up.

"Don't worry; I won't tell Mrs. Malfoy, I promise. Just hang out for a bit. Isn't this party dreadfully boring?" This one was going to be harder. What would she get upset by? She was pretty and well aware of it . . . maybe I could work with that. The woman smiled and sat down with me, twirling her hair around her pale fingers. "Your name?" I repeated.

"I'm Georgiana Lockhart." She shook my hand.

"You know, you look really familiar. Have I seen you before?" That was true, actually, but it was also part of my trick.

She smiled. "Well, my brother taught at Hogwarts last year. Gilderoy Lockhart, did he teach you? Or I suppose you could have some of his books as well, he was quite famous with the witches, he made lots of galleons, still is, even when he's in the nuthouse, but of course, he shares none of it with me…" She grin turned into a deep frown.

That was it; she looked like the female version of that git who accidentally erased his own memory. "No, that was my first year." Bitter, wasn't she? "But sorry about the whole memory charm thing. It, er, must be very painful for you to talk about him." I sighed dramatically. "No, I just can't put my finger on it. You look so familiar. Are you sure we haven't met before? I never forget a face."

"No, I don -"

"I know! You look exactly like –" I paused for dramatic effect, "- Bathlida Bagshot!"

Her eyes widened and she scowled, tossing her hair behind her shoulder angrily. "Care to repeat that?"

"You know, that super old witch that wrote A History of Magic? The one with the gray hair and that ghastly, big wart on her nose? She has a picture of herself on the back of her book. I mean, you're like twins; it's actually kind of freaky. Are you related to her or something?"

Her eyes turned to slits. "I beg your pardon, you- you, cheeky - gormless nutter! I do not look like some old hag! Now excuse me, I have work to do!" And with that, the woman ran off with her serving tray under her arm. Wow, I really didn't expect her to react like that, all angry and rude, but at least I got her to go back to work.

Draco won the contest, unfortunately. He did what I considered cheating, but according to him, it was only fair, because I always cheated at everything we did when we were little. He simply would go up to one of the servers, and as he was the hostess's son, he could just say they were sacked for doing something they didn't do, like spitting in the drinks. They, naturally, would get angry, Draco would set them straight, and then he would go on to the next one. He beat me by 5 people, he with 11, and I with 6. Luckily, we didn't bet or I would be broke.

At least the contest did what I intended it to do. By the time it was over, two hours had passed and it was nearly time to leave. After tallying up the results, Mother asked me to say good bye to everyone, so I did, and then after the usual incredibly tedious half-hour parting conversation between her and Mrs. Malfoy (I talked about the Quidditch World Cup with Draco. I never really liked Quidditch that much, but I was still jealous he got perfect seats in the top box, and got to be the Minister's guest. Father got some for us in a smaller box on the other end of the stadium), we left for the country house.

A/N: What didyou think of this chapter? I'm not sure it included more or less of Draco, but it's certainly longer.

Just in case you haven't read Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Crup is a dog very similar to a Jack Russell Terrier, only it has a forked tail, which is supposed to be cut off at about six to eight weeks in case a Muggle sees it, but since the Malfoy's go by their own rules, they, of course, didn't.