A/N: Today is my last day at home. Starting tomorrow, I'm officially I college girl! But, I've almost finished writing this story, so I promise I'm coming through for you. I've mapped out the rest of the story. And, since you're not going to be happy with me, I will give you one tiny spoiler. The story ends with a wedding :)

Astoria Greengrass tried her hardest not to be upset that Draco couldn't come back on the third. She doubted he even remembered that it was her birthday, and even if he did she knew his hands were tied. Having him arrive the day after her birthday was present enough. Still, when Maggiore asked her to spend the day with him, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she should refuse. It wasn't up to her really anyways, her mother made her accept instantly.

Astoria's mother had fallen absolutely in love with Maggiore Montgomery. Astoria knew her mother tried to present a non-biased image when she went out with some of the others, but it didn't really matter. Astoria could see right through her mother, and she honestly didn't mind. Ever since she'd been home, waiting for August so she could begin her work at Mungo's, she knew she'd been a bit of a mope. Plus, with Apollo and Nicole going around all over London, she knew her mother felt like she was losing control. That was why, the evening before her birthday, she found herself picking out something casual in blue, which was Maggiore's favorite color.

When Astoria woke up, the only thought in her head was that Draco was her favorite birthday present. Sure she'd have to wait another day to see him, but the fact that he was finally coming home was enough. Even an awkward breakfast, during which her mother alternately pressed her for details on Apollo and Nicole and urged her to make herself presentable for Maggiore, did nothing to spoil her happiness. Simply put, she felt like she was literally on top of the world.

If she was being honest, she knew it was ridiculous to think she could have fallen in love with someone through a series of letters. Meanwhile, she'd been out several times with Cyprus Rosier, Engel Rizzio, and Maggiore Montgomery. All of them were real, tangible men who'd shown a very clear interest in her. She thought that she could easily fall in love with one of them. She told herself she hadn't been waiting a year for Draco to come back. That she was only excited to see him because he'd come to mean a lot to her as a person and as a friend. It was a waste of her time; she knew it was a lie.

It could be seen clearly in her face. She had not stopped smiling since she woke up. That was the state she greeted Maggiore in when he arrived at her house at two o'clock.

"Well, don't you look lovely? Don't tell me I've put that smile on your face." She'd gotten used to the fact that Maggiore loved to put his arms around her. She didn't normally mind, and she was too happy to care that day.

"Happy birthday, darling." He smiled. He led the two of them leisurely to the safe zone, at which point he whisked them away with a pop. Apparating was hardly comfortable, but somehow Maggiore always made it seem dramatic and romantic.

She was giggling when they got out on the other side. She knew she should be concentrating on Maggiore's presence, but she was so giddy. Of course, he took that as a sign that she was pleased with him. There, on the streets of Diagon Alley, he leaned down and kissed her on the spot. Every kiss with Maggiore was the same, a fact Astoria had realized long before. He was always, always gentle with her. He would envelop her in his arms, lean down, and ever so gently press his lips to hers. Even when the kiss deepened, and it did deepen, Astoria always felt like she was made of porcelain. That kiss was no exception.

Still, when she pulled back she was smiling that same smile. Absolutely nothing that happened on her birthday could compare to what was happening the day after. She felt like she was drowning in the anticipation.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

Draco Malfoy was not used to luck being on his side. Of course, luck always came through for him when it counted. But first, luck always liked to make him stew for a bit. So, when his director had told him that the earliest he could leave was July 4th, he was not honestly surprised. However, for once luck seemed to have come through.

The old man who was supposed to be leaving to England had gone ill, and suddenly the spot was open. Draco showed up exactly at two, ready to floo to the Ministry. At the ministry he ignored the odd, sometimes even hostile looks he got from everyone. After all, he was about to see Astoria after over a year, and he had a message to deliver.

He knew he was being somewhat melodramatic. But, it'd taken all of his willpower to resist tacking his message onto the end of every letter he wrote to her. Still, he was going to do things right. First he had to find her the best present possible.

Nothing in France had been right, not that he'd had much time to shop. He knew she'd probably made other plans during the day, but he was counting in her being at home that night, ready for him to surprise her. He apparated directly to Diagon Alley and set about on the streets. He was pleasantly surprised when the crowd gave him absolutely no room, jostling him along just like everyone else. However, at a familiar flash of blonde hair he stopped, nearly getting run over as he stared.

He didn't recognize the man with his arms around her, but he'd recognize Astoria anywhere. He knew it was unreasonable to expect that she'd have spent her birthday alone, but the kiss was so completely intimate, and so public. One did not make public declarations like that unless they were serious. If he'd had any doubts before, all it took was one look at her face afterwards to confirm what he'd already suspected. Never, in the time he'd known her, had Draco seen Astoria Greengrass that happy. He kept looking, with a dull sort of horror, as the man presented her with some sort of gift that made her eyes light up. In that moment he couldn't handle it. He needed time to think. He apparated home, nearly splinching himself in his haste. He surprised his mother and father, dodged their questions, and played at being thrilled to be back at London. He made sure to hug the both of them before retiring "to bed."

Late that evening he apparated back to the ministry. He managed to convince once of the apparition directors that it was an emergency, and for once luck was on his side. He was back at the orphanage before the kids had even woken up, and signed on for another year. He dodged everyone's questions about it, and that night he lay in the exact same bed he'd woken up in. He was too upset to sleep, and trying desperately to convince himself that he hadn't, in fact, run away.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

Astoria did not like being stood up. She'd gotten ready early, and went to the ministry, only to be told that Draco Malfoy had arrived the day before. She didn't know what to make of that, but it occurred to her that if he didn't know it was her birthday it wouldn't have mattered to him.

She was not ashamed to admit that she went to his house to try and find him. However, Narcissa was just as confused as she was. The two searched the house, but he was nowhere to be found. Of course, Narcissa was convinced he was looking for a gift for Astoria, and he'd be by later. She asked the girl to stay for tea, which turned into dinner. Everyone did their best to ignore the empty spot where he should have been.

When she finally returned home, the first thing she did was ask her mother if anyone had been by for her. Apparently one of her great aunts had come by to bother her about something, but that was it. Astoria looked so stricken at the news her mother didn't even bother to ask why she'd missed dinner without writing first.

However it was when, a week later, Narcissa owled her that Draco was back at the orphanage, that she finally got angry. Furious, she penned a scathing letter, demanding to know what he thought he was playing at. Without even pausing to think, she sent it off in the mail.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

Draco tossed the first letter simply because he couldn't handle writing to her. He knew that he should be fighting for her, but he couldn't get over how happy she'd looked. He hadn't seen her in such a long time, but he was sure he'd never made her that happy. He had tried his best to seem excited when his mother mentioned all of the things she loved about Astoria. He hadn't even planned on returning to the orphanage initially, but after lying in bed picturing her there, he left. Not even his mother found out until a week later when he was settled back in France. He felt terrible for the short letter he'd written, but he hoped she'd eventually understand. Jasper took one look at him and guessed that Astoria had broken his heart. Thus began Jasper's mission of getting Draco to date Eloise.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

That letter would give Astoria nightmares for quite some time. If she had done something to offend him, she realized, that angry letter wasn't going to do anything to solve the problem. Now that Krum had finally met Chloe's parents, the two of them were becoming inseparable. However, it was Apollo and Nicole that she really envied. Everyone in her life who knew about Draco pitied her, she could tell. Apollo and Nicole had begun the annoying habit of trying to include her in everything they did. All that it had done was change her mind about them. They actually got on better than anybody she'd ever seen her brother with before. He was good for her too. Around him Nicole wasn't so flighty. She'd calmed down some, and Astoria was shocked to see that while she'd been at Healer training her friend had grown up.

About a good month after she'd written the first letter she started up at Mungo's. It was there that she was reunited with Catherine. It took her all of one hour before she'd broken down to Catherine and told her everything that was wrong. Catherine told her that she had to immediately write him, so she did. She apologized for being angry, and told him what was going on. She knew Chloe had attempted to write him and that letter had gone unanswered too, so she updated him about everyone's lives. She even found out what some of his old school friends were up to and wrote him about them too. She hoped he wouldn't be too angry to respond to this one.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

The next letter he tossed because he didn't know how he could ever apologize for not responding. It had been a month; he'd had plenty of time to write something. Instead, he did nothing. It was late August anyways. It occurred to him that she would be a fully-fledged healer by then. He was so proud of her for getting that job at Mungo's, although he wasn't even a bit surprised. Even if she wasn't one of the brightest witches he'd ever met, he seriously doubted she would have been denied the job. Meanwhile, he'd decided not to take the children to Hogwarts again this year. Jasper accused him of avoiding London, but he claimed he was merely trying to give someone else the opportunity. Jasper was still encouraging him to date Eloise, and he was still finding every reason not to. One day he broke down and told Jasper the truth about Astoria. She hadn't broken his heart on purpose; it was sort of his fault as well. It was very releasing to have Jasper hear everything, until Jasper called him an idiot. That was it. No advice was given, although Jasper did stop telling him to date Eloise. He was a bit ashamed to admit that he wondered if she would bother to write again.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

Astoria waited a long time to see if he would respond. By the time November rolled around, however, she couldn't resist. There was too much to tell him. Her job had picked up beautifully, and she absolutely loved it. She and Catherine had been assigned to the third floor, dealing with Potions and Plant poisoning. It was definitely the floor that saw the most children: apparently every child was either a Potions Master in training, had parents who mislabeled bottles, or simply consumed everything they got their tiny hands on. However, because she was good with children, Astoria would occasionally be called to other floors to deal with a particularly frightened or sickly child.

She didn't include it in the letter, but she'd received her first proposal, from none other than Aladdin. He'd written her privately to say that his mother was on her last straw, and if one more girl rejected him he'd be able to marry the muggleborn girl he fancied. Astoria was not too keen on going to the dinner but, as she couldn't tell her mother why, she was forced to go. It wasn't terrible, although she could tell Aladdin's mother was desperate. Eventually when the time came and he got down on his knee, she nearly fainted instead of telling him no. She managed to mutter out a half-hearted apology, ignore his mother's pleas to just give it time to reconsider, and get out quickly. That was one person she'd never talk to again.

Of course, her family was less than impressed by her one proposal. Astoria had gotten used to it, and it didn't bother her as much as it would have the year before. Daphne, it seemed, had already been proposed to by three of her former Hogwarts classmates. She'd done the gracious thing and gently told two of them that she was flattered and would consider it, but one of them she'd said no to on the spot. Still, Astoria had a feeling she knew Daphne wanted to marry, as evidenced by the fact that she and Pansy still spent time with Millicent. Daphne had asked Astoria if there was any way she might set Millicent up to go out with Apollo, which set Astoria into a fit of laughter so terrible she half considered checking herself into Mungo's. Needless to say, Astoria and Daphne were no longer speaking.

Chloe and Krum were once again in an awkward position, as Chloe's parents were pushing her to settle down. They liked Krum, of course, but they wanted her married as quickly as possible. It was the downside of being an only child. Meanwhile, now that the International Games were over, Bulgaria having placed third overall, Krum was being pushed to renew his international contract. He was being offered yet another raise, but his schedule would determine his location. It meant, of course, that any team Bulgaria played would determine how far away he was from Chloe. She was trying not to be selfish, but she hated the thought of him being all over Europe while she was stuck with her parents in France.

Draco's friend Blaise Zabini was now the poster boy for the Nimbus line of brooms, despite the fact that he was not on a Quidditch team. Astoria knew Daphne was still playing the field, and was almost glad they were in a fight so she didn't have to hear Daphne talk about how eager she was to be dating him. His friend Gregory Goyle had been released from Azkaban, despite the protests of half of the magical community. Still, Astoria knew several of Daphne's Hogwarts friends were absolutely thrilled at the news, and the chance to marry into the Goyle family. She wasn't sure why, when she'd met him he seemed entirely too dull and rather dim-witted.

However, it was Apollo and Nicole's news that finally put Astoria over the edge. Apollo had been acting really dodgy for most of October, and Astoria was sure he was going to break it off with Nicole. However, one evening he told his mother that he wanted to invite the Medina's to dinner. Nobody had any doubts about what that meant. Sure enough on November 4th, after a lovely dinner during which everyone got along fabulously, Apollo asked Nicole if she would marry him. She said yes before he'd even stood back up. Michelle had burst into tears, and Astoria had been surprised to find her own cheeks damp. The ring was absolutely beautiful, and fit Nicole perfectly. Then, while everyone else was celebrating and settling down to choose a month and location, Astoria snuck away to her room to write and send the letter. She figured that, if nothing else, he'd be happy to hear about his friends' release from prison.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

The third letter was the longest yet. When Draco tossed it, it made a considerable thump in the wastebasket. He had a moment of regret right after, and wanted to go back for it, but a little girl named Noelle promptly vomited into the basket and the thought was put from his mind. When Draco had finally broken down and asked Jasper for advice, the only thing he got from his friend was "Don't date Eloise." Frustrated, he vowed to try and put Astoria out of his mind and move on. At first his mother had written him weekly, but now even she was angry with him. He'd asked her to stop mentioning Astoria in her letters, so she'd simply stopped writing. She still sent him sweets occasionally, and she'd promised to deliver the same sum for Christmas that year, but that was it. So, things moved on for Draco. A few of the children had been adopted recently, and as things died down there were a lot of disappointed people to console. It was well known that once children reached schooling age their chances of being adopted were slim to none. The few ten and eleven year olds at the orphanage were considerably sadder than everyone else, and there was nothing really for Draco to do.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

Astoria hadn't visited the Malfoys for a while, nobody expected her to, but one day in early December she decided to stop by. Narcissa was very careful not to mention Draco, and Astoria found that she'd missed Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy tremendously. They treated her like she was family, even though it had become clear that their son had no intention of making that a reality. She controlled herself, stopping herself from asking them if it was something she'd done. She doubted they'd know anyways. Apparently, it wasn't only her Draco was done speaking to. It was on that day that Astoria became a part of Narcissa's charity by making her first donation. They celebrated; after all it was Astoria's hard-earned money she was giving. However when Astoria got home she cried. She'd missed them, but she missed him too. She clearly needed to do better to shake him from her system.

A few days later Astoria was speaking to Catherine during one of their breaks when she realized something. Catherine may have been nosy and a bit meddlesome, but she was also the sweetest person Astoria knew. Catherine was currently single and lonely. Her parents had sent her off to the Salem Witches' Academy for school, so she knew nobody in London. She hadn't had a season or anything, and she was having trouble meeting people. That day, as Catherine was describing her perfect man, Astoria immediately thought of Engel. It was strange, her playing matchmaker. She didn't like it much, and she fervently hoped that she didn't have a daughter so she'd never have to do it again. But Astoria knew she was right. Two weeks later Catherine was thanking her for the best date she'd ever been on. However it wasn't until Engel awkwardly thanked her a few weeks later, before breaking it off with her, that she felt gratified.

She was in a good mood when she wrote to him. It was right before Christmas, so she knew he'd already gotten the money from his mother. She hoped he'd read the note and see that she'd helped his mother raise it. She wrote about Chloe and Krum trying the whole long-distance thing, about how Ulysses Bulstrode had recently taken to writing her despite the fact that Daphne claimed they were in love, about how Nicole and Apollo were getting married in March, and even about Blaise and Gregory and their goings on. She asked him how he was, and if anything exciting was going on. She warned him that this was absolutely the last letter she was going to write until she got a reply. She knew that he probably wasn't going to reply. She resigned herself to the fact that he wouldn't reply. But a small part of her hoped that he would.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

Draco had every intention of reading the next letter, if she ever sent one. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. It wasn't Draco Malfoy that received the mail that day, but Eloise. Eloise Jardine had not meant to read Draco's mail. She was simply curious. She knew Jasper had been trying to help her get together with Draco, however something had changed one day and he'd told her it wasn't to be. She didn't understand why until she read the letter. Whoever Astoria was, she was clearly important to Draco. Eloise knew the right thing to do would be to confess. She should give him the letter, and let everything be. However, Eloise Jardine was tired of being second best. She knew that if she could only make him forget about this Astoria, he'd come to realize that he had other options. Besides, if Astoria had broken his heart, she'd had her chance and wasted it. So, when she was bringing the mail in, she accidently let that letter slip into the bottom of the orphanage's little pond. Within hours it was an indistinguishable, soggy mess.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

To everybody except Chloe and Nicole, Astoria Greengrass was entirely over Draco Malfoy. She had moved on completely, and had clearly narrowed down her options to Cyprus and Maggiore. It was clear that she was simply waiting for one of them to propose. Meanwhile, she had thrown herself full throttle into her brother's wedding. Michelle might have been Nicole's Maid of Honor, but it was Astoria and Chloe who were sharing the duties of the role. As a result, it was Nicole and Chloe who watched Astoria break down over the smallest things. She would never say it out loud, but she missed him terribly. At first, whenever she'd seen anything that reminded her of him she'd excuse herself to cry. However, as time passed she'd begun to merely get quiet. Only those two, who'd known her the longest and knew her the best, could tell the difference.

The invitations were sent out February 14th. It wasn't as if everybody didn't already know the date of the wedding. The invitations were miniature valentine's that danced when they were open. It suited both Nicole and Apollo's personalities perfectly. However, it was Astoria who chose to put them in the classiest of envelopes, lined with beautiful silver trim. It was also Astoria who was in charge of addressing and sending all of them as well, as Nicole had terrible handwriting. And, it was Astoria who sent an invitation to Master Draco Malfoy, hoping against hope that it might finally inspire a response from him.

~~~~Delicate~~~~

The fifth letter came in a beautiful envelope. It was addressed

To Master Draco Malfoy

He knew what came addressed that way. Wedding invitations. It was tradition for the bride to address the envelopes, and he would know her handwriting anywhere. He didn't just toss that one. He burned it.