July 17th 2013

Every day around three or four Draco had the privilege to Floo with Scorpius. Each chat was a new adventure and he'd listen to his son tell him what happened in the last twenty-four hours since they last spoke. Usually it was about something he'd built with his Legos, or what he and his mother had gotten up to, or that his grandparents had stopped by for dinner. Today, however, Draco was met with news that was far different from the norm.

"Dad! I did accidental magic today!"

"You did? That's great!" Draco said ecstatically. He was also relieved. The longer it took for Scorpius to show signs of his magic the more Draco thought that his son might be a squib. Bullet dodged there.

"Can I go to the Young Wizard's Learning Center with Hugo and Rose?"

Draco's face nearly faltered. "What?"

"Can I, dad? I really want to be with my friends and tutors are so boring."

In a rare moment, Draco was truly at a loss for words. It didn't help any that Scorpius was waiting for a response, his face the very definition of pure joy and excitement. But what could he say? It wasn't a decision that he could easily make, nor one that he could make on his own. And yet here was his son, eagerly awaiting the answer that would make him bounce off the walls.

"I… I'll talk to your mother about it."

"Okay!" Scorpius said happily. "Talk to her fast though. Love you, dad!"

"Love you too."

Draco pulled his head out of his fireplace, his neck, back, and knees all hurting him, but it could've very well been worsened by the dilemma now at his feet.

As a doting and perhaps too giving of a father Draco had very few qualms about giving Scorpius what he wanted. His request, however, was bigger than just buying a toy or tickets to a show. If he went to school with Rose and Hugo there was no doubt that Scorpius would have to leave France. Would Astoria want to move? If not, would she agree to letting Scorpius live with him?

So many questions. So many alternatives. Scorpius had no idea what he just asked for and it was nerve-wracking. Even then, the next problem to cross his path was bigger than that. An owl had just perched itself on his lounge's fireplace, and from the brief view of the seal on the letter in the bird's beak Draco could see that it was a Ministry or letter. The French Ministry.

Draco gulped before going over to the window and taking the letter from the creature. The contents of the letter in his hand could either break or heal him, and he was terrified to find out which route it would lead him. With a deep breath he ripped the envelope open to find both an English and French version inside. Regardless of the version, the contents still made his stomach turn.

Dear Monsieur Malfoy,

At the request of the Mme. Hélène Pierre, Head of the Judiciary subset of the Department of Marriage and Divorce, please come to our offices for a meeting at five this evening to discuss your divorce proceedings.

Sincerely,

Françoise Rose

Senior Secretary, Judiciary Division of the Department of Marriage and Divorce

Draco checked his watch and found that he had a little less than an hour before the meeting. Still in good time, he took ample Floo Powder and went straight to Astoria's, making it only the second time in this past year he'd been back to the house.

"Linky!" Draco called to the air. The house elf appeared at his feet and bowed.

"What can Linky do for Master Malfoy?"

"Tell me where Astoria is."

"Dad!"

Draco turned and a smile replaced his anxious disposition as Scorpius ran down the stairs. He hopped off the last one and wrapped his arms around his father's legs once he was close enough.

"I thought I heard you," he said happily before looking up.

"You've got ears like a hawk, kid."

"You also shouted."

"True," Draco laughed. "Where's your mum?"

"Owlery," Scorpius replied as he grabbed his dad's hand and pulled him along. "An owl came for her."

Not an isolated event, it seems… Draco mused to himself as he followed his son through the house and to the owlery. When they got there the older blond saw that Astoria had the same look of confusion and anxiety that he did.

"Mum, dad's here."

Astoria looked up and sighed deeply. "Scorpius, go to your room, please."

Scorpius obeyed and ran off. Once he was out of earshot Astoria gestured to the letter in her hand.

"I'm not the only one being summoned then, hm?"

"No."

"And you rushed over here thinking that I had something to do with it, did you?"

Draco did his utmost not to feel or look offended and just shook his head. "I just came to see if you got the same notice. It's our marriage that they want to talk about."

Astoria still eyed him suspiciously, but let it go and folded the letter back into its envelope. "We'll have to leave Scorpius with someone."

"My parents are away for the week and Theo's venue shopping with Franny."

"He can stay with my parents then."

Merely hearing that made Draco's insides shrivel. He would much rather leave Scorpius with Hermione. Hell, he would even leave him with George Weasley. Draco couldn't tell if that last bit was a testament to how much he hated his father-in-law or if he was, reluctantly, admitting that the goofy redhead was a good babysitter. However, to avoid a row he went along with it and both he and Astoria gathered Scorpius from his room to take him over to the Greengrass residence. As luck would have it, Ivan Greengrass was walking across the foyer and Scorpius' joyful shout stopped the man in his tracks.

"Grandpa, hi!" Scorpius said happily. Ivan smiled at him and welcomed his hug as he always did when he spotted his grandson.

"Wonderful to see you as always," Ivan replied joyfully. "Why don't you run along to play and I'll be there soon?"

Scorpius acquiesced rather quickly and ran off into the house to his bedroom. Once he was gone, Ivan turned to the boy's parents. His gaze lingered on Draco longer than he had meant to and the blond greeted him ecstatically.

"Ivan! How's the face?"

"Draco!" Astoria hissed, but the sudden anger displayed by the man was well worth her scolding. Ivan ignored the quip and addressed his daughter.

"I didn't know that you were bringing Scorpius by today."

"It's an impromptu drop off," Astoria told him. "The Ministry summoned us."

"Oh? What for?"

"Marriage matters," Draco answered. "For your sake it better turn out in our favor."

"You mean your favor," Ivan huffed. "You're the only one who wants your marriage to end, and you seem perfectly happy with ruining my daughter's life."

"Father, stop," Astoria ordered. "I don't want a fight between you two which I'm sure would end up in a St. Mungo's trip again. Just watch Scorpius for us, please?"

It was clear that Ivan wanted to argue some more, but he relented for his daughter's sake. Draco watched him walk off before turning to Astoria who had already left his side. It wasn't until he turned fully around that he found his wife at the fireplace with Floo Powder already in her hand.

"Are you coming?"

Draco followed her into the fireplace and they went back to her house for a brief moment. Summons such as they had received allowed for Flooing from one's home, and so that's what they did. They walked out into a moderately busy atrium and took their time in making their way to the Department of Marriage and Divorce. Draco didn't know about Astoria, but being here brought back vivid memories for him. Around this time last year they had been walking through this department's doors so that they could file for divorce. Here they were yet again to discuss the same matter, although the outcome was nothing but uncertain.

"Pardon," Draco addressed the receptionist. "Je m'appelle Draco Malfoy. Ma femme et moi avons un rendez-vous avec Madame Hélène Pierre à cinq heures."

"Merci de venir. Vous pouvez s'asseoir pour l'instant."

Draco nodded and sat down on one of the chairs against the wall, urging Astoria to do the same. They waited an agonizing fifteen minutes in silence before they heard the sound of heels clacking their way down an adjacent hall.

"Monsieur et Madame Malfoy?" A woman at least a full decade older than the couple addressed.

"Yes," Draco replied in English. The woman gently smiled and cleared her throat before walking over with an outstretched hand.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Madame Pierre. You both may follow me."

Madame Pierre headed back down the hallway she had come from and Draco and Astoria followed close behind. The woman's office was at the end of the hall, and were it not for the serious matter that they were about to discuss, Draco would have engaged her in a conversation about how well-decorated her office was. A massive, dark wooded desk, high-quality royal blue curtains held with gold tie-backs, a chaise longue on the right side of the office next to an ornately designed bookshelf, and a granite fireplace to their left. Very well-decorated indeed.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice," Madame Pierre said as she sat down and gestured for the couple to do the same. "It was far more efficient to do this face to face rather than by other means."

"I assume that this is about the extension on our divorce?" Astoria tentatively brought up. Madame Pierre gave a gentle nod and cupped her hands on her desk.

"Yes, it is. Normally the matters of this office are limited to setting divorce parameters such as requiring counseling sessions before a divorce goes through. Other matters include expediting divorces and extending the process. Considering the rather…unusual circumstances that the extension of your divorce was initially filed, I've decided to handle the matter personally rather than to leave it to your marriage counselor."

Draco's back straightened and brows furrowed as he attempted to understand what he thought was happening here. "Excuse me, but when you say that you'll be handling the matter 'personally,' what does that mean exactly?"

"It means that after our meeting today I'll be the one to decide if your divorce should be extended or not."

Draco and Astoria exchanged looks with each other for the briefest of moments. From the cursory glance Astoria was as white as a sheet. Draco had no idea what his facial expression was at the moment, but he was very aware of his insides. His heart was erratic. His throat and tongue were dry. Was he even properly breathing?

"Shall we begin?"

"Yes," Draco answered, and Madame Pierre wasted no time in dropping the first major bomb in their discourse.

"I've reviewed your file, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy." Madame Pierre did, indeed, have a file on her desk and Draco could see his and Astoria's name written clearly on the side as she opened it. "The terms of your divorce process was a year separation, during the which you were to have one counseling session a month, on the first Friday of the month. During this time you were both disallowed from seeing other people in order to avoid competing emotions while attempting to work out your current ones. I spoke with Monsieur Dupont myself and it appears that your divorce was extended due infidelity on your part, Mr. Malfoy, with photographs as proof. May I ask who was the witch in question?"

With both Madame Pierre's and Astoria's eyes on him, Draco very much felt attacked. His gut instinct was to lie. He desperately wanted to say that Hermione was nothing more than just a friend to him, but even just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. However, he knew that he had to do what was necessary if he had any chance of coming out on top.

"The mother of my son's friends."

"I see. And are you two close? As close as the photographs insinuated, I should say?"

"Those photographs were doctored."

"Let's pretend that they aren't," Madame Pierre smiled gently. "If you had to describe your relationship, platonic or otherwise, with your son's friends' mother, what would you say?"

"I like her as a person, but there's nothing more than that. We communicate because my son and her children are friends. That's all."

The snort that broke the sound barrier nearly rocked Draco from his seat. Even Madame Pierre looked frazzled, and both of them turned to Astoria who had settled into a fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy, but what's funny?" Madame questioned. Astoria laughed for a few more minutes before she was finally able to answer.

"My husband is," she told her. "He and Ms. Weasley, the children's mother, may have started out platonically, but they're anything but now."

As one rarely to wear his emotions on his sleeve, Draco was coming close to breaking. Hell, he had broken. His face had shattered and his heart may have even stopped. The chair had become numb beneath him, and he swore he tasted salt at the corners of his mouth. He should be embarrassed, but he wasn't. Astoria had just single-handedly ruined his life.

"He looks at her in a way that he's never done with me, nor ever will," Astoria continued. She paused for a moment to take a deep breath before adding, "I've done the same with a gentleman I had been seeing during our separation."

Draco's eyes widened in shock, but he doubted Astoria could see him. She seemed very determined to avoid looking at him at all costs.

"You were seeing someone as well?" Madame Pierre asked, although she really didn't need an answer. "For how long?"

"At least the first half of our separation."

"I see. Well, it's pretty clear that neither one of you gave your marriage a fair shot. In light of that, it's obvious what I'll have to do. Annul the extension on your divorce."

Draco nearly fell out of his chair. Instead he tried his hardest to swallow as he choked out, "I beg your pardon?" Madame Pierre happily sighed and closed his and Astoria's file.

"I'll let you both in on a little secret: I detest the divorce process the Ministry enforces. Divorce isn't something that one haphazardly decides to do, and it shouldn't be up to us to decide whether a couple should get one. You don't love each other. If Mrs. Malfoy's admission didn't tell me that, then the way Mr. Malfoy's face lit up and fell certainly did the trick. I sincerely doubt that another year of counseling sessions will do either of you any good. In my opinion it'll harm you more than anything.

'Give me a day or two and the divorce extension will be annulled. I know that you had one more session on the books with Monsieur Dupont, but I don't think that'll be necessary. Consider your sessions officially over. Once the annulment goes through the both of you may contact your solicitor and sign the appropriate documentation to finalize everything."

"And that's it?" Draco questioned. "That's all that we have to do?"

"That's all. Unless either of you have any questions on the matter, that would conclude the meeting and you can consider yourselves unofficially officially divorced."

Astoria was the first one on her feet and heading towards the door while Draco stayed rooted to where he was. The divorce wasn't extended. No more counseling sessions. All that was needed now were two signatures and it would be over. After nothing but roadblocks one after another, things were finally going right.

"We can go now, Draco."

Astoria's voice had brought Draco back to reality. He took a moment to wipe at his face, bid Madame Pierre his goodbyes, and followed his soon-to-be ex-wife away from the office. The long hallway they had taken to make it to Madame Pierre's office seemed longer this time around, and the silence between the pending divorced couple was heavy in the air.

"You helped me," Draco said once they had passed the receptionist's desk and headed towards the main door. Once they were in the main hall Astoria shrugged.

"I don't know. I think Madame Pierre had a soft spot for you and would've pushed our divorce through no matter what was said this evening. Although," Astoria glanced at him for a moment before adding in a chuckle, "looking like you just found out someone died was the cherry on top. Ms. Weasley must be one incredible witch."

Draco knew better than to answer Astoria's last remark and so he didn't. The remainder of their walk out of the Department of Marriage and Divorce and to the lifts was quiet, but it didn't last for long. Draco couldn't quite remember the last time Astoria had been so talkative, especially when it was to him that she was speaking. Now more than ever he wished that she would stop talking considering the tangential topic she had now stumbled onto.

"We'll have to set aside a day to discuss things and also run it by our solicitor so that he can draw up the final paperwork."

"Right…" Draco had drawn out the end of his words and he could feel Astoria's eyes on him. They were down in the Ministry's main atrium now and moments later they were brushing off soot stains after having travelled from the government building and to the house along La Garonne. That same house would be Astoria's once the divorce was final. It was one of the few things that they had talked (argued) about last year.

"Scorpius told me that he did accidental magic."

His comment was random, but Astoria wasn't bothered by it. Instead, she smiled broadly and nodded as she recounted the tale. "Oh yes. We were in the middle of play time when it happened. There was a toy on the shelf that he wanted and before I could retrieve it, it floated right over to him! I couldn't have been prouder."

"Me too," Draco grinned. It was hard to keep up, however, when he continued the conversation with, "He asked if he could go to school with Rose and Hugo."

He had rushed his words, hoping that it might soften the blow, but the way that Astoria's face had crashed told a different story. He waited for countless seconds for her reaction, but there was nothing. No words. No movement. Just a blank stare so well placed that one would think she had been struck by a body bind.

"Astoria?"

"They go to school in England, Draco," she announced at his prodding. Draco anxiously rocked back on his heels and nodded.

"I know."

"Scorpius would have to live there."

"I know that too."

"What did you tell him?"

"I said that I'd talk to you about it."

"Oh, of course you did!" Astoria huffed angrily. "Tell him that you'll see what I say, and if he doesn't get to go then I'll be the bad guy!"

"That's not the reason, and you know it," Draco shot back. "It's a decision that I can't make on my own, so yes, I said that I'd talk to you about it."

"And no matter what it's still a decision that weighs more on my shoulders than yours." Astoria shook her head and stomped off through the foyer and down an adjacent hall.

"Dramatic" was what instantly came to Draco's thoughts, but considering the significance of the situation he let her have it for once. Draco followed her, not needing to have her in his line of sight to know where she had gone, and found her in a corner room where they had often entertained guests. There was a bar along the back wall, and he knew that she must be desperate for something to numb her. However, she had the same rule about drinking when Scorpius was near or going to be.

"First you're leaving me and now you want to take my son away. Thanks for that."

Draco bit the inside of jaw before moving to sit down across from her. "That's the last thing that I want to do, Astoria. You should know that. We may not have been what we wanted each other to be, but Scorpius always comes first."

Astoria sighed deeply. Yes, she knew that. Scorpius was the light of their world. They would do anything for him and give him anything he wanted. Any more pampering and he would be spoiled rotten honestly, but somehow she knew he wouldn't be. He was the sweetest boy and deserved the best that they as his parents could give him.

"We worked so hard to find those tutors," she said with a sad chuckle, her attention very deeply attached to her hands. "Do you remember those awful interviews?"

Draco cracked a smile. "I do. It was the worst five months of my life."

Astoria laughed. It died down to nervous giggles and when she finally looked up at Draco he wondered if her face was what his looked like back in Madame Pierre's office. Absolutely crestfallen. "Scorpius would have to live with you. You know that, don't you?"

"You could always move back to England."

"You say that like it's easy. There's the sale of the house and finding a new one in a location that's a respectable distance from both you and the school. I need time to think about this, and we'll have to discuss it thoroughly."

"Agreed," Draco nodded. "Would a tour of the school help?"

"Yes. I'll also need the school's ranking, a list of all professors and their teaching background, and I need to know the outline the average school day."

"Done. You know, Astoria, you may have been an awful wife, but you're not that bad of a mother."

"Thank you, I think?" Astoria said with a quirked brow. "Now, if you excuse me," she added as she rose from her seat and gestured to the door. "I'd appreciate it if you got out of my house. I'd like to enjoy it without you in it if there's a chance of my moving in the near future."

"An awful, awful wife," Draco dramatically sighed before acquiescing and leaving the home with a happy skip to his step.

Author's note: HE'S FREE! A very Draco-centric chapter and for good reason :). Things are winding down folks, so estimating from my outline...let's say chapter 30-31? Could be less since time jumps are used frequently here. I'm going to miss this!

-WP

Replies to Guests

Guest1: Thank you! I'm glad that you like the dialogue! :)

Guest2: Omg, can you just imagine Hermione being her sassy self as the stand-in does Draco's presentation LOL? Poor sap wouldn't stand a chance hahaha

Guest3: "favorite chapter so far" THANK YOU! Anything where Draco is his cunning self are favorites of mine lol

Guest4: Well done, Draco indeed!

Guest5: Omg, you were right to seethe. Mr. Nesby was awful! But yes, we can't forget our Slytherins! Always a backup plan and crazy resourceful. I can't wait for Draco and Theo to succeed with their new company :D

Guest6: Hahaha, yey surprises! Draco may have his ups and downs, but he's still as cunning as ever. And your comments about your grandmother just reinforce how I feel about talking to your kids about everything. You can never underestimate what they know, understand, or want.

Guest7: "Loved this" Thank you! :)

mega700201: Welcome!