MILESTONE: FIRST ARGUMENT

You glance around the attic in Malfoy Manor, gathering all the old newspapers and articles, while you listen eagerly to Astoria, recounting the tale of how she fell for you. The end of the war has brought about peace and unity, the bitterness of the past being long forgotten. Unlike the other remainingDeath Eaters, you and your family have scarcely been saved a one-way trip to Azkaban, thanks to your mother, without who The Boy Who Lived would not have been victorious against the Dark Lord.

As you listlessly skim through a three-year-old Daily Prophet that you have just picked up from the floor, you come across the very headlines that have haunted the dreams of your past to no end.

"MALFOY IN AZKABAN. WIFE AND SON SHOCKED," the paper blares, below of which, you see a picture of your 16-year old self, seizing your mother's shaking wrist and desperately trying to escape from the media. You slam the paper shut, not at all eager to revive the memories of your dark days, and turn your attention back to Astoria, prompting her to continue.

You have heard her story many times before, but never seeming to lose the thrill of listening to it again and again, you are forever ready to hear her narrate, whenever you get the opportunity of doing so. Leaving the chores for later, you sit down beside her, pushing her silky, brown hair away from her temples with you hands. Just when she is at the part of how you first encounter her, you suddenly notice a brown, tawny-eyed owl flying straight towards your closed window. Hastily, you leap forward and pull open the glass shutters in order to avoid a nasty collision.

With a loud flutter and hoot, the owl draws nearer and, perching itself on the window sill, it carefully holds out a letter in its beak. Drawing forward, you reach out your right arm and take the letter from its grasp.

"Who's it from?" Astoria asks you, eyeing the letter curiously.

"We'll see," you reply, tearing the envelope apart.

Settling yourself on a comfy arm-chair, you unfold the piece of parchment and start to read. Barely before you get past the first line, your heart gives an abrupt lurch as you realise who the sender is. The contents of the letter are as follows:

My Dearest Draco,

It has been a long while since we last saw each other, and you must know how much I miss you. Time has flown fast and the memories of our stolen nights in the common room when you would dance with me and gaze out into the dark, night sky all seem so very distant.

Last week, I met with an old friend at The Leaky Cauldron, and all those very moments that you and I had shared together came back to me once more. We talked of our life before the war - the good times we used to have and so on. It was later during this conversation that I was supposed to understand that you and a certain Greengrass had got together. Words do not do justice to express how I felt then; my heart almost stopped beating.

I have always known you to be a man of wise judgement, and so I did not believe this mortifying statement for a single second. Nevertheless, to satisfy my own conclusion, I must ask for your confirmation on the account. It would do us both good, perhaps, to discuss it face-to-face, for interception of letters is fairly common these days. Would tomorrow evening at my manor be convenient?

All my love,

Pansy.

You look up from the letter, with clenched fists and see Astoria staring at you, amused. "Who was it from?" she inquires again.

"No one," you snap, crumpling the letter up in your fists.

She raises an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you today, Draco?" she asks.

"What's the matter with me?" you repeat, enraged. "What's the matter with me? I'm the one who should be asking you that question, Astoria."

"Well, Draco," she says, her tone rising. "being your girlfriend, I happen to have a right to know your nearest concerns! Who was that letter from?"

Seeing no point of arguing any further, you reluctantly hand over the crumpled parchment. "Load of tosh, really," you sigh as she snatches the letter out of your hands, before you change your mind.

She skims through the letter with a smug expression on her face and within seconds of her receiving it, she says with a disgusted tone in her voice,"So after all this time, Parkinson presumes you to still be single?"

"Actually," you say, earning a dirty glare from Astoria. "I think she's under the impression that I'm with her."

"Well then," she replies, pursing her lips. "that simplifies things. You are to go to Parkinson and tell her what she needs to be told. I will wait here for your arrival, while you do the needful."

"Astoria, you couldn't possibly expect me to go -"

"Now," she interrupts firmly.

Groaning, you pull out your wand from your robes and picturing the dull, banal-like manor of the Parkinson's, you disapparate with a loud 'POP'.

AN: Teehee. The girls always win XD. Anyway, thank you all for your reviews :)