Narcissa and Lucius found Draco some minutes later sobbing on the path, her shoe still in his hand.
Lucius carefully lifted his son and half carried him back to the Manor, bringing him straight into the warmth of his study and pouring two large glasses of Ogden's Finest. Narcissa instructed the house elves to ensure drinks flowed and music played without interruption before dashing off to join her husband.
Minutes later, she sat on the couch beside the young man who was staring into the fire, tears still streaming down his cheeks. He never touched the glass his father had set before him, he just held onto one high-heeled coral and rose gold shoe.
"Draco? Darling, what has happened?" she asked tentatively, looking up at Lucius who stood on the other side of Draco with his hand on his son's shoulder.
Silence.
"Draco, please, tell us."
"She's gone."
"Who is gone, Son?" Lucius sat down on the couch.
"She's gone."
Draco started to shake violently.
"Pippy!" Narcissa jumped up as her house elf appeared. "Calming Draught, as quickly as you can!"
Lucius held tightly to Draco as his shaking continued; there was no end to his tears and the older man felt useless in those few moments. A look of panic swept between the two as they watched their child suffering without understanding why. It was torment.
Pippy popped back with the potion in a little silver vial. She gently poured it down Master Draco's throat as his parents kept him as still as they could. Seconds passed agonizingly slowly before the shaking began to subside and, eventually, Lucius and Narcissa were able to settle their son down and cover him with a blanket as he fell into a deep sleep on the couch - still clutching the shoe.
.
Draco dreamt of dark eyes and tears, of Trojan wars and winged messengers.
He awoke to find his parents asleep in the armchairs across from the couch, still in their outfits from the ball. For a moment he couldn't understand why they would all be in his father's study.
The events of the previous night startled him back to reality and he felt the tears well up in his eyes again. He realised he was still clinging to her shoe.
In a few hours, he had loved and lost. It was almost too much to bear.
.
"It was a marvellous night!" Astoria exclaimed over breakfast. "What an event!"
"Are you talking about the dancing? The money raised for St. Mungo's? Or the fact Draco Malfoy is no longer England's most eligible bachelor?" Her sister laughed before picking up her dragon fruit juice.
A crash in the corner of the room had both girls leaping out of their seats in fright. The tea tray was strewn all over the tiled floor with hot steaming liquid flowing in all directions.
"Where did that come from?" Daphne wondered aloud, grabbing her napkin to begin mopping up the mess.
.
The girl ran back to the kitchen and crawled into her cubby hole. There, she curled in a ball and sobbed.
She had promised herself the short time with him would be enough but she had been so wrong; her broken heart was shattered beyond all repair. She would never have him and the realisation was beyond agony.
.
Stirring uncomfortably in the armchair, Narcissa woke to find Draco sitting up and staring into space.
"Draco? Are you alright?"
He didn't answer.
Narcissa moved stiffly over to the couch and, as she sat down, Bunty appeared before her. The tiny elf was moved to tears at the sight of her master and she curled up in a ball at his feet and held his shoelaces. Pippy appeared with a pot of coffee for the family before setting off to clean the ballroom, a worried expression on her face. The smell of coffee reached Lucius and soon he too was sitting beside his son, trying to encourage him to talk.
They were just about to give up hope of ever getting any sense out of Draco again when he closed his eyes and sighed.
"I don't even know her name."
"Can you tell us anything about her?"
"Why didn't I ask her name?"
"Son, what happened?"
Slowly, through many tears, Draco explained what had happened from the moment he stepped out onto the terrace. All the time he talked, he held her shoe.
.
"Are you sick?" Marianne demanded of the girl. "You look horrendous!"
"I-I-" she couldn't speak for fear of breaking down again.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, get out of my sight!" The older woman exclaimed. "And stay out my sight until you can stop snivelling."
Grateful for the opportunity to hide away, the girl returned to her misery.
.
Blaise and Theo were called to Malfoy Manor shortly after Draco finished telling his story to his parents. Lucius addressed them in the library.
"He is becoming ill and we are worried, as you can both imagine. We need to find this girl and figure out what in the name of all that is magic has happened! Someone must know who she is! Do either of you have any suggestions?"
The young men were just as baffled.
"Tori didn't recognise her," Theo began. "I don't think Daphne did either."
Blaise nodded in confirmation.
"The guys were just as confused as we were," he offered, referring to their circle of friends - Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Lavender, and Luna. "The girls could talk of nothing else but they had no clue as to who was dancing with Draco."
Lucius swore.
"Then we search every bloody house until we do find her! Starting with last night's guests, then we will see. Can we rely on the two of you to assist us?"
"Of course."
"Definitely! It'll be quicker if we have more help though."
.
An hour later, Theo and Blaise stood with Harry, Ron, and Neville in the library. Narcissa had joined them at this stage, having changed from her ball gown into a plain navy robe.
"What are you all planning to do?" she enquired of her husband, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
"We will find her, my love. I promise." Lucius placed his arm around her and held her close. "The boys and I have divided up a list of all the guests we had here last night and we plan to interview as many as we can straight away."
"How will any of you know who she is? I know we all saw her but not for long. Could any of you honestly recognise her?" Narcissa was almost frantic.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"I guess we just ask if any of them are missing a shoe," Neville half-joked.
"Mr. Longbottom, you are a genius!" Lucius exclaimed, much to the surprise of the young men present and the absolute bewilderment of one Neville Longbottom.
Following Lucius out of the library, the party made their way to his study. There, he knelt in front of his son and placed a hand over the shoe that Draco refused to let go of.
"Son, please let me take this. Just for a moment," he spoke gently to the broken young man in front of him. "We're trying to find her for you."
Carefully, Lucius lifted Draco's fingers from the small shoe and quickly cast a duplication spell. Handing each of the young men a shoe, and keeping one for himself, he tenderly placed the original back in his son's hands. Taking one last look at, what he firmly believed, was his proudest achievement, he apparated away leaving Narcissa and a little house elf to keep him safe.
Hours passed before Ron apparated back, followed quickly by Theo and Neville. Blaise, Lucius, and Harry all returned soon after. Pippy had more coffee waiting in the library and they each reported on how they had got on.
"Can you believe Millicent Bulstrode insisted the shoe belonged to her! You'd want to see her trying to get her ogre feet into it. The smell alone - ugh!"
"Dennis Creevey claimed it was his! I didn't know he was gay."
"Tracy Davis' mother tried it on, in front of her father!"
"The Patil twins started ripping each other's hair out to get to the shoe first. It was hot! But very disturbing," Ron added upon catching Lucius' threatening glare.
"A complete waste of time!" the older man growled, slamming his hand down on the desk.
Narcissa entered the library, looking worried.
"He won't eat, Lucius. Bunty has tried everything! I don't know what to do," she sobbed.
Harry, who was standing nearest to her, put his hand on her shoulder.
"Narcissa, we may have visited every house and questioned every possible guest but, if she is out there, we will find her. Even if I have to get the Auror Division onto it."
Theo stood up. "I'm going to visit Tori and see if she can help."
"Actually that's the last house on my list," Blaise commented. "Although there's no point checking there. I'll go with you anyway."
.
Marianne gripped her teacup with menace as she listened to the two men repeat the events of the previous night and the fallout that followed.
Astoria sat with tears in her eyes as she and Daphne offered their help in the search for Draco's lost love.
"They looked so happy," she cried. "Why did this have to happen to him?"
"Some slag trying to get her hands on the Malfoy money, that's all it is," Marianne practically snarled.
"She looked so beautiful, Mother. Remember her hair, Tori? The style!" Daphne went on to describe in detail the fashionable attire of the mysterious guest, oblivious to her mother's rudeness. "Her dress was simply stunning too - light coral with the deepest grey. It's a bit of a useless shade I think, neither dark nor light, but grey was certainly her colour, wasn't it, T?"
Grey?
Marianne saw red.