A/N: Thanks for all your continued support. I appreciate all your comments - both good and bad. :) There will probably be a sequel - not positive yet though. Have a great week!

Disclaimer: All characters (except Caroline) belong to JKR.

*****

Chapter 37

Narcissa was getting worried. She found Snape talking to one of the other guests and pulled him aside to speak with him privately.

"Have you seen Draco or Hermione? And where is Caroline? I'm afraid I've lost track of her," she said wringing her hands.

"No, I'm sorry, Cissa. I haven't seen any of them for a while."

"Would you mind helping me look for them? I have a bad feeling something isn't right."

Snape nodded and followed Narcissa down several hallways, peeking in various rooms along the way. They turned the corner to go down yet another hall, when voices were heard and a loud crack exploded. Someone screamed.

Rushing down the hall, they came to the double doors to the billiard room. Narcissa didn't want to open the doors afraid of what she might find.

Just only a few moments ago, seeing Blaise and Caroline about to kiss, Draco pointed his wand at his best friend and stupefied him causing him to fly backwards and hit his head on the side of the billiard table. When Snape and Narcissa opened the doors, they found a lifeless Blaise lying on the floor unconscious and bleeding, Hermione yelling at Draco, Caroline crying and screaming, and Draco about to cast another spell.

"Lower your wand," Snape said n a measured tone as he pointed his wand at his godson's head. If anyone other than Snape had done that, Draco would tell them to sod off. But since it was Snape at the other end of that wand, Draco knew he had better obey.

He lowered his wand and said, "I don't need a wand to murder this son of a bitch – I can do it with my bare hands." Hermione and Narcissa rushed to his side holding him back by his arms. Snape bent down to see if Blaise was still alive.

"Is he dead? Did Daddy kill him?" asked Caroline.

"No, just unconscious," said Snape. Blaise started to wake up, his vision fuzzy. He was desperately trying to focus but kept drifting in and out.

Draco was struggling against Narcissa and Hermione. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill him," spat Draco. He was livid, and he was frightening Caroline.

"I'll give you one good reason," said Hermione. "I will not have the father of my children sent to Azkaban. I raised Caroline on my own for four years, and I'm not about to raise two children without you."

"Two children?" asked Narcissa surprised. "What are you trying to tell us? Are you…?" Hope spread across her face.

Hermione smiled at her soon-to-be mother-in-law. "Yes, we're going to have another little Malfoy running around soon." Narcissa squealed and hugged Hermione. Caroline squealed as well and starting jumping up and down clapping. She was slightly tipsy from the champagne and almost stumbled sideways.

"Shut up everyone, we need to focus on the task at hand…killing this s-o-b. And what did I tell you about bouncing, Caroline?" warned Draco.

"Daddy, please. Don't hurt him."

"Shut up, Caroline. You've caused enough trouble tonight."

Blaise's foggy brain heard the words 'daddy' and 'Caroline.' He opened the one eye that didn't have blood dripping in it from a cut on his forehead.

"Daddy? Who's your daddy?" mumbled Blaise puzzled.

The young lady in blue said, "He's my daddy," as she pointed to Draco.

"Huh? Sophia? I'm confused."

Caroline bent down closer to Blaise. "No, not Sophia. Caroline."

"Ca…Caroline?" He passed out once again.

"Yeah, you stupid bastard, you were snogging my daughter." But Blaise didn't hear him.

"We weren't snogging, Daddy. Our lips just touched, that's all. We didn't even get to the kissing part."

"And what else were you doing in here? Where did he touch you?" he demanded.

Caroline thought a moment. "Well, let's see. Our hands touched, he touched my waist when we danced. And my lips just a little. Oh, and he tickled my neck." As she spoke, she pointed to the areas that Blaise touched. Draco was relieved when those were the only places he touched. Knowing Blaise as well as he did, he was surprised and thankful that more private areas weren't invaded.

Blaise awoke once again. "Caroline? Sophia?" He sat up slowly and leaned against the leg of the billiard table. "Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"As if you don't know, Zabini."

"He really doesn't know, Malfoy," said Hermione. "Why didn't you tell him who Sophia was? Blaise of all people should have been warned."

"Because I figured Caroline would tell him," Draco explained. "She such a blabber-mouth, I just knew she couldn't keep this a secret."

"Hey, I did good at pretending I was Sophia." Caroline folded her arms over her chest and hiccupped.

The hit on Blaise's head made him a little slow. "So there is no Sophia? It was Caroline all along?"

"Let me recap, shall I?" asked Draco condescendingly. "After you left earlier today, Caroline stole one of the bottles of aging potion from Snape's bag. Before we could stop her, she drank the potion and became…this." He pointed to Caroline. "So who you thought was Sophia, was actually four-year-old Caroline."

Hermione went up to her daughter and waved her wand, making Caroline's hair turn back to white blond and her eyes turn back to blue-gray.

Blaise put his head in his hands. "No, no, no, no, no. That can't be true," he said in denial. "Oh, holy fucking Merlin, please tell me this is a joke." His heart dropped. Not only was the girl he was smitten with not real, but she was actually a child. All of a sudden he felt dirty and disgusted with himself.

He stood up and slowly walked to the bar. He poured a drink, looked at the glass, set it down and lifted the whole bottle to his mouth and started chugging the fiery liquid.

Draco walked over to a table by the sofa and picked up an empty champagne bottle. "This just keeps getting better and better," he said sarcastically.

"It was really yummy. And I only had one glass, Daddy."

"By the look of things, you kept refilling it. You're drunk!"

"No, hic, I'm not," Caroline giggled.

"I'm curious, Blaise, what where you planning on doing with this pretty, drunk blond? Hmmm?"

"Video games," said Blaise.

"Video games? You came in here to play video games?"

"He's telling the truth, Daddy."

"No, Caroline. He didn't bring you in here to play video games. That was just a lie to get you in here alone. Remember what I said about guys wanting to get into your knickers?"

"It was my idea to come here to play games. Oh, and you don't have to worry guys getting in my knickers, Daddy; because I'm not wearing any."

Blaise looked up to the ceiling. "Merlin's balls, I did not need to know that."

Draco clapped his hand over his eyes and groaned. "Just kill me now. Would someone please take her to her room?"

"No, I want to stay so I can make sure you don't kill my Blaise."

Draco grabbed her by the shoulders. "He is not your Blaise. He could have really hurt you. I wish I could make you understand what could have happened."

Large tears formed in Caroline's eyes. "Blaise would never hurt me. He's my friend."

"Not intentionally, sweetheart. But things should have gotten out of hand – things you're too young to understand," said Hermione as she hugged her and wiped away her tears. "Here, let's go upstairs and get you into your jammies." She started to lead Caroline away.

Caroline turned and ran toward Blaise. She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him. He couldn't bring himself to hug her back and gently pushed her away from him. He shook his head and gave her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry I got you into trouble." Her lower lip was trembling as she was about to cry again. "I love you, Blaise." She turned and was about to leave when she went up to Draco and got in his face.

"If you do anything to MY Blaise, I will hate you forever!" She hissed at her father with eyes as cold as his. Hermione put a comforting arm around Caroline's shoulder and led her out the door.

Draco looked around at the others. "Malfoy Enterprises will not be marketing and selling the de-aging or aging potions. It's too dangerous. Look what it's done to us." He ran his hands through his hair. It had been a hell of a day, and he would be glad when it was over.

"That is a wise decision," Snape drawled. "After your daughter is back to normal, I will destroy all the remaining potions."

"Well, maybe you could give me a little to use for maintenance purposes," said Narcissa with a wink. "I need to get back to our guests." She walked up to Draco and gave him a hug. "I suggest you two work this out like adults. You've grown up together like brothers. You know that Blaise didn't realize she was Caroline. He doesn't have it in his heart to hurt anyone, especially her. When you were a child, I always hoped and prayed that you wouldn't end up like Lucius – full of hate and spite. Please don't disappoint me."

After Snape and Narcissa left the room, Draco bent down and picked up his wand. At the same time, Blaise bent down and picked up the blue sapphire barrette that Caroline/Sophia dropped and put it in his pocket.

Blaise sighed, opened his arms wide and closed his eyes. "Give me your best shot."

Draco shook his head and pocketed his wand. "My mum is right. I know you wouldn't hurt Caroline deliberately. Let's just leave this behind us and move forward."

"Aw, come on, Draco. Don't give me that bullshit. You and I both know you want to hex me. Get it out of your system. You'll feel better."

Draco was just about to leave when he spun around and punched Blaise square in the jaw. Blaise, already weakened by the stupefying spell Draco cast earlier, fell down easily. Draco shook out his hand trying to get rid of the pain.

Draco offered his other hand to pull his best friend up. There was blood on the corner of Blaise's lip which he wiped away with his thumb.

"Feel better?" asked Blaise.

"Much. And you?"

"I'm getting there. You pack a good punch." He moved his jaw back and forth with his hand.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Draco walked to the bar and poured each of them a drink. Blaise took the glass Draco offered and downed it in one gulp. He then lit a cigarette and sat down on one of the bar stools.

"It's been a hell of a fucked up day," said Blaise.

"Yeah, you can say that again." They both sat there in silence, neither one uncertain of what to say. Both just sat and continued drinking.

Finally, Blaise broke the silence. "I've gone over the Thompson contract."

"Yeah? Do you have any good news?"

"There are several loopholes you could walk through. Whoever drew up that contract had shit for brains."

"That's why you're the best, Blaise. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, about that…" Blaise hesitated because he didn't know how to say what he was about to say. "Stefan has been bugging me to travel around with him. Visit different countries; maybe spend some time with our grandmother. I think it's a good idea…to leave here for a while - especially with what happened tonight."

Draco didn't know what to say. The fact that Blaise would ever leave him was a surprise. He just took it for granted that Blaise would always be there.

"Oh," said a disappointed Draco. "You will stay for the wedding, right? I can't just have anyone be my best man."

"Wild hippogriffs couldn't keep me away," he said as he patted Draco on the back. "Well, I'm calling it a night. Oh, and congrats on your new little ankle biter." And with that Blaise left Draco to his thoughts.

*****

In the hallway, Blaise ran into Stefan and Padma and Parvati Patil. When Stefan looked at the injuries on Blaise's face he whistled.

"Wow, look at you. I guess Sophia has a boyfriend, huh?"

"Worse. I'll tell you all about it later."

Padma examined Blaise's face and withdrew her wand to heal him. He gave her a small peck on the cheek in gratitude and then put his arm around her. All four left the party to go to Blaise's house to continue with their own little party.

*****

After all the guests were gone, Draco slowly climbed up the stairs. He met Hermione coming out of Caroline's room.

"How is she?"

"She cried herself to sleep. She thinks she's in love with Blaise. I hope we can give her the de-aging potion soon. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"Snape said he'd come around tomorrow. Hopefully he's found a way to change Caroline that won't cause too much harm." He snaked his arm around her waist and led them to their bedroom.

"I'm almost afraid to ask this, but how is Blaise?"

"He'll survive. Let's not talk about him and Caroline anymore tonight." The only thing on his mind at this moment was lying in bed and making love to the mother of his children.