A/N Welcome to the last trip to the past. I know many of you have been waiting for this chapter. I hope it doesn't disappoint!

Also an update for my followers, my husband got a liver today! All is going well, he should have a full recovery. That just takes time. I have proof read this chapter 3 times, but hey let's be honest, it's not where my head is. I am sorry for the mistakes I am sure are there. Three chapters to go, I will try to write when I can, but it may be several weeks before you get chapter 38 as I will be helping my husband with his recovery. But at least we got Theo and Daphne back in each other's arms where they belong.

Chapter 37: I Will Change, For Her!

This chapter starts the night Draco and Astoria meet, at the party Draco and Blaise were hosting at their flat about 9 months before Theo returns to London.

Daphne had reacquainted with almost everyone she had gone to Hogwarts with. Blaise seemed to have made friends with everybody, no matter their Blood status or house. Even though Blaise and Malfoy's flat was full of people, people she knew and should want to talk to, Daphne felt alone. Astoria had stayed by her side as long as she could, but had gotten tired and went off to find a place she could sit and relax. Daphne's boyfriend of the last three months spent his time at the party as far away from her as he could and flirted with every girl at the party, except Daphne.

Daphne didn't really mind if Marcus didn't stay beside her. Truth be told, she hadn't really wanted to start up a relationship with him. Her father had insisted on it when the family moved back to London a few months ago. Daphne didn't like to admit it to herself, but the only reason she agreed to date Marcus Flint was because she had no way to contact the person she did want to date. She hadn't seen him in over four years now, since she was almost sixteen.

She took a sip from the glass of wine she had carried around with her for the last hour and wondered to herself what Theo was up to now. Daphne had heard threw the grape vine after she returned to London, Theo had left right after Draco's trial and hadn't been back. Daphne swallowed hard and looked around the party. She knew not to expect to see him here, but she couldn't help it as she looked around the crowd of people who drank and danced. Daphne found she really did hope to see the head of messy dark brown hair she was in search of.

She had already asked a few people if they knew of his whereabouts, people who might know, but no one did. Greg had only just been released from Azkaban less then six months ago, so he wasn't at the party for her to ask. Blaise said Greg and Millie had gotten married and moved to Muggle London. The couple wanted to start over and keep a low profile within the Wizarding world. Daphne smiled to herself as she thought about how happy for Millie she was. Who would have thought, of the five Slytherin girls in their class, that Millicent Bludstrode would be the first to get married.

Daphne hadn't mustered the courage to ask Blaise about her long time beau from Hogwarts. Perhaps she was afraid of what he would tell her.

Draco and Theo used to be best mate's, but Daphne was scared to death to talk to Draco, besides, she hadn't seen him all night.

Ernie Macmillan might know something, but when she ran into Sally when she first arrived at the party, Sally said Ernie was at law school, to get his credentials and become a prosecutor and wouldn't be done for another month. Daphne didn't think she could keep Marcus at bay for another month. He already pushed at every opportunity for them to take things to the next level. So far she had been able to keep him out of her bed, but that wouldn't last. Her father was insistent on the relationship and with out good reason, she couldn't end it. Not without upsetting her father anyway.

Right now, at this moment she didn't have a good reason. If she could rekindle things with Theo, that would be good reason wouldn't it? Daddy had always liked him, hadn't he? She knew her father had hated what Theo's father stood for, and it had always concerned him. His father had been a Death Eater, one of the worst. But Theo hadn't, she just knew he hadn't. Her father had spent the year that lead up to and the year of the war trying to convince her, Theo would have followed in his father's foot steps. If only she could find him, and prove her father wrong. If she could prove Theo hadn't joined the Death Eaters she just knew her father would be ok if she ended things with Marcus to get back with the man she had never stopped loving. If he still wanted her, that is.

Sure Daddy really liked the idea of her and Flint. Marcus was a international star. His brother was an Auror and their father sat on the Wizengamot. All in all Flint was good match, on paper. Daphne heard him laugh across the room and looked up to see Marcus lightly pat some witch she didn't know on the bottom. She sighed heavily, yes, Marcus was a good match on paper, but in reality?

He did have some nice qualities she reminded herself. He was handsome, and fit. He was a star and that was good for her career, wasn't it? Marcus didn't really care much about Daphne's fashion career and therefore stayed out it. That was a good thing, right? He had helped her get her own place. Marcus told her, he understood her desire to be out on her own, away from her father. But lately Daphne wasn't so sure if the real reason he helped was because he wanted sex, not because he understood.

She took another sip of her wine, walked in the opposite direction of Marcus and looked around the room again.

"He isn't here." Blaise said as he sauntered up to Daphne's side.

Daphne raised her eyebrow at Blaise. "Who, isn't here?"

"The person you're looking for." Blaise gave her a knowing look.

"I have no idea who you're talking about Mr. Zabini. You will need to be more clear." Daphne sipped her wine again.

Blaise laughed at her. "You don't need to be coy with me Daph. No one can hear us over the music and noise."

Daphne shrugged her shoulders and looked around the room again. "I could be looking for anyone you know. I haven't seen most of these people in years."

Blaise knocked back the rest of his drink. "But you're looking for Theo." He looked her in the eye. "Tell me I'm wrong."

Daphne shivered a little at the sound of Theo's name. "You always were far to perceptive Blaise. Is it really that obvious I was hoping to see him tonight."

"To me." Blaise put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "But I knew both of you very well in school. Not everyone here did. Don't worry, pictures of a heart broke Daphne Greengrass pining for Theodore Nott, will not be on the front page of the paper in the morning."

Daphne pulled away and playfully hit Blaise on the arm. "I am hardly pining."

"Riiiiiight." Blaise chuckled at her.

"I happen to have a boyfriend." Daphne smugly said, then took another sip of her wine.

"Yes, Marcus Flint. The international Quidditch Playboy." Blaise scoffed. "He is a brut."

"He is not." Daphne wrinkled her nose when she heard Marcus's laugh again. "Perhaps he is a bit unrefined, but we can work on that."

Blaise nodded and poured himself another drink. "He will take a lot of work. Tell me Daphne, would you really not run across the room and throw yourself in Theo's arms if he walked in through the door right now and announce he still wanted you?"

"Does he!?" Daphne cleared her throat when she realized how excitedly she had asked the question. "I mean, have you heard from him?"

Blaise shook his head no. "Sorry, not in a while. The last I heard from Theo was several months ago, he was in some place called Des Moines Iowa. But he is always on the move, so it's hard to write back. I can try, if you want."

Daphne let out a deep breath. "I am sure he has moved on Blaise. I can't imagine Theo is wondering around the US, still thinking about me."

xXXx

Astoria cursed herself as she walked down the hall. Only an hour at the party and she already felt tired. Most days her illness didn't get the best of her. Other days, always on the most inconvenient days, it took its toll. Blaise had said to go down the hall and turn left. Draco's bedroom was the door was the only door to the right, if she turned left she would find Blaise's room where Blaise said she could lay down if she wanted to. She looked down the hall to the left. Two doors, she hadn't expected two doors. Was Blaise's room the first door or the second door. The first door was closed, the second open slightly. She decided to try the second. An open door was less intrusive. If she was wrong and it was a bathroom or something else, she could always come back to the first.

Astoria ran her right hand along the wall to steady herself as she made her way to the second door and pushed it open. She realized as she peered inside, it wasn't a bedroom after all. It wasn't a bathroom either, or was the strangest bathroom she had ever seen. To the right of the door and all along the adjoining wall were shelves full of books. Books about everything, tons of books. She looked at the titles for a moment, books on Wizardry, biographies, fictional novels, some of the titles were even Muggle. There was an entire section on healing magic and Muggle medicine.

Astoria turned to her right and expected to find more books but on that side of the door was a small bar, mostly stocked with different types of water and tea. The outside wall had a small fire place. Above the mantle were pictures. Astoria leaned forward to look at the pictures then gasped slightly when she recognized who the people in the pictures were. Pictures of Draco and his parents. A few pictures of the Slytherin Quidditch teams over the years. Pictures of Draco's class at Hogwarts. Astoria bit her lip when she noticed Daphne not in the older ones. As she reached out to touch the one of the class during what must have been their seventh year she heard a voice behind her.

"Are you lost?"

Astoria spun around to see Draco Malfoy stand there. He had a mug in his right hand, left hand shoved in the pocket of his trousers. His blond hair perfectly styled. He wore a dark grey dress shirt, with the two top buttons undone, and his black tie hung loose around his neck. Astoria couldn't help let her gaze travel his body from his loose tie, down what she could tell was a slightly chiseled stomach, past his silver belt buckle, down his black trousers to his shiny dress shoes and back up. Her gaze lingered a second to long where it shouldn't. But damn, Malfoy had grown up. He was only sixteen or so, the last time she saw him, and tall, but not filled out, no not like he was now.

He asked his question again and it pulled her focus back to his face, where it should have been. "I asked, if you are lost?"

"No." She shook her head. "Sorry, maybe. Blaise said his room was down this hall, but didn't say which door."

Draco smirked at his intruder. "Well, you found my office. His room was the other door."

Draco walked behind his desk and set his mug down. He picked up a stack of papers and began to study the top page. After a second he looked back up at the young woman who hadn't taken his cue and left his office. She looked familiar but he couldn't quite think of her name. The first name that entered his mind was Daphne. But no, Daphne had hair the color of the sun, and bluest eyes. This woman had dark raven hair and the dim lighting in his office made it hard to ascertain the color of her eyes. They looked darker then Daphne's, but that could also just be the shadows in the room. He could tell they weren't a dark brown, but other then that, it was mystery. He almost walked back around his desk to figure it out. But then she spoke and he was suddenly taken by how full her lips were.

"Sorry I didn't mean to bother you. I will go."

Draco was to involved in a day dream of what her lips tasted like. Even though he saw her lips move, he didn't hear a word she said. He watched as she slowly turned around and started to walk for the door. His gaze landed on her hips and the curve of her bottom. Suddenly he didn't want her leave.

"Please wait." Draco said, and felt his cheeks fill with color as he realized he sounded harsher then he had intended.

Astoria turned around and look at him. She remembered Draco's features in school being very sharp. Now his cheek bones, chin and nose looked more smooth. Still square the way a mans jaw line should be, but no longer so sharp. She felt her heart flutter a little at the thought of what it would feel like to reach out and touch the stubble on his cheeks.

Draco cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just wanted to ask your name. You look so familiar, but I apologize, I can't place your name." His heart raced when she smiled at him. Her smile lit up his office. He imagined it could light up the entire night sky.

Astoria pushed a piece of her hair behind her right ear. "Greengrass. Astoria Greengrass. You most likely remember my sister."

Draco couldn't stop the smile that crept on his face. Greengrass, he had been right. Well, sort of. "Yes, I do remember Daphne well. She and Nott were glued at the hip. I always had competition for my best mates time."

Astoria laughed and walked closer to his desk. "Most people call me Tori, whether I want them to or not." She offered him her hand, the way a man would for a hand shake.

Draco looked down at her hand for a moment. He softly took it and lifted it to his lips. Instead of a hand shake, he gently brushed his lips on her knuckles. "Then I will call you Astoria." She blushed at the sound her name on his lips. For the first time in her life, Astoria liked the way her name sounded. Draco gestured to one of the large leather wing back chairs in his office. "Would you like some tea, that is what I am having?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "You must promise to keep my secret, it's peppermint."

Astoria giggled and sank into the large chair. "I promise, no one will ever know but me that you are not drinking Earl Gray. I would love some Draco. Thank you."

Draco picked up is mug and walked over the bar and prepared her a mug of tea. "So tell me, Astoria, why were looking for Blaise's room?" He turned and handed her the mug. "I hope you weren't going there to wait for Blaise to join you later."

"No, not at all." She sipped the tea and closed her eyes to savor the flavor. "This is divine."

"I am glad you like it." Draco sat in the other chair, after he pulled it a little closer to her.

She took another sip. "No, unfortunately, I tire easy, and needed to rest. Blaise offered to let me rest in his room, so my sister could remain at the party instead of having to escort me home."

"Oh." Draco sipped his tea then gave her a curious look. "Don't tell me Blaise is after Daphne, if Nott finds out there will be blood."

Astoria pulled her legs up and tucked them under her. "No, I think he just wants her to have a good time. This is our first real outing since our return to London. I don't suppose Theo is here. Daphne would be over the moon to see him."

"Sorry, no. He is still amusing himself in the US, as far as I know." Draco loved the way Astoria's eyes sparkled when she spoke of her sister and Nott. He was finally close enough to her to tell they were green. He wanted to see them in the morning light, so he could tell just exactly what shade of green.

Astoria looked at her mug and her smile softened a little. "Oh, that's too bad. Daddy is pushing her to date that brut, Marcus Flint." She looked up at Draco and her breath was taken away for a second when she locked eyes with him. She let her gaze fall to his lips when he said something and wondered what it would feel like to have them pressed against hers. To have them trail kisses along her neck, and down her cleavage to pull her hardened...….she was pulled out of her daydream when he said her name.

"Astoria."

She cleared her throat. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Draco's nose scrunched when he laughed. "I said, I am sure Daphne is not liking being forced on Flint, not again."

Astoria shrugged her shoulders and allowed herself to relax into the chair. Talking to Draco Malfoy was much easier then she ever thought it might be. If she could keep her mind on the conversation instead of places it shouldn't be. "No, she doesn't like it. Truth be told Draco, she is still in love with Theo. Although you will never get her to admit that openly."

"I am pretty sure he is still in love with her. Although, I must admit, he and I are a bit estranged. So I am only going by my memories of them, and what Blaise tells me." Draco felt embarrassed about his relationship status with his former best friend for the first time in a long while. He suddenly felt the need to explain things to Astoria, he didn't want her to think anything bad about him. "We had a bit of a falling out back in school. Back when I was...well an idiot. I am afraid of all the amends I have made thus far, that is one I haven't brought myself to do just yet."

Astoria nodded and sipped her tea. After a moment she looked up and watched him as he stared at the tea in his mug. She could see the pain in the little creases that formed by his eyes and how heavily his chest moved up and down as he breathed. Astoria wanted to make him feel better suddenly, take away the pain of having lost such an important friendship. She reached out and put her hand on Draco's knee. "You still can, you know, make amends with him. It's never to late Draco."

Draco's eyes darted from his mug to the soft delicate hand on his knee. He wanted to hold that hand and never let it go. He slowly lifted his gaze from the hand to the beautiful witch in his office with him. "I don't know how to begin." He suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He stood up and walked back behind his desk. "It's funny, I wronged so many people back then, and the ones you would think would be the easiest to make amends to, like your friends, seem to be the hardest." He looked up at Astoria and expected her to give him some rude comment about how stupid that sounded. But instead she stood up and walked over to his desk. She reached across the desk and took his hand. Draco looked at his hand in hers and laced their fingers together. His breath caught when she didn't pull away. "I don't know why telling you this is so easy, but it is. I have been able to write letters to Weasley and Granger and even had coffee with Potter once, but can't bring myself to write to Nott." He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. "Why am I telling you this?"

Astoria tightened the grip on Draco's hand. "I don't know, but I do understand. Saying your sorry to those who you're expected to say it to, is easy because it's expected." She reached out with her other hand and lifted Draco's chin so he had to look at her and not their hands. "But saying your sorry to those who we think will always be there, like good friends and family is harder because it's unexpected. It's unexpected that we would ever be in the position where we need to say we are sorry. But those are the most important amends to make Draco. I can help you, help you write to him, if you want."

Draco suddenly wanted to kiss her, badly. The Draco from a few months after the war would have, would have taken her right there on his desk. But the Draco of today would typically say something hurtful so she would leave. But this women, oh this women he didn't want to push away. So instead of the hurtful words he would have said, he bit his lip, hard. "I would like to write to him. Blaise hears from him once in while, I would like to have a letter ready to include the next time Blaise writes back." But he shook his head and pulled his hand away. "I don't know what to say Astoria. How do you tell someone your sorry for hating them, when who you really hated was yourself?"

"You tell him that Draco." Astoria walked around his desk to stand beside him and stroked his cheek with her hand. She looked into his steel grey eyes lifted up on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Why don't we start with Hi Theo, how are you?"

Draco watched in awe as the witch who invaded his office found parchment and a quill, pulled out his chair and indicated for him to sit down. She sat on the edge of desk and helped him for the next hour write to his once best friend. After several tries and five horrible attempts from Draco to give up, they finally had a letter for Blaise to include in his next one to Theo. When ever that was. Draco and Astoria were seated across from each other in the large leather chairs with a wizard chess set between them when Daphne came to find her sister so they could go home. They had barely played any of the game instead the game they played was a flirtatious one where each of them found ways to touch the other. A brush of their fingers, her hand would linger to long on his knee. He would brush his hand against her cheek as he pushed her hair out of her face so she could see the pieces. She would brush her hip against his elbow when she got another mug of tea.

Now Astoria stood at the entrance to his office to say goodnight, while Daphne and Marcus waited in the Livingroom. "I had a nice night Draco, thank you for not kicking me out of your office. I hope I didn't keep you from anything."

"Not at all. You saved me from reading boring reports my father sent over." He smiled at her and thought about a kiss goodnight, but was too scared of rejection.

Astoria wondered if she should kiss him, since he hadn't moved to kiss her. "Well, Daph is waiting." She pushed hair again behind her ear and looked up at him from under her lashes. "Good night Draco."

He swallowed hard. "Good night, Astoria." His heart started to pound.

She turned to leave and let out a disappointed sigh. Draco put his hand on her shoulder suddenly to stop her. Astoria turned around quickly and found they were toe to toe, her silk blouse brushed his dark grey shirt. Draco bit his lip again, took a deep breath and asked. "May I see you again?"

Astoria smiled up at him devilishly. "Only if you kiss me goodnight."

Draco let out the breath he held while he waited for her answer. He smiled at her. "You are something, Astoria Greengrass." Then he pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers gently at first, but then he pressed much firmer and sighed. Draco pulled away with only a tiny nip at her bottom lip, he didn't want to ruin this. He didn't want Astoria Greengrass to be just another witch who ended up on the front page of the prophet after a romp with former Jr. Death Eater Draco Malfoy. He wanted so much more.

xXXx

Friday night had finally arrived. Draco stood in his bedroom and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Astoria Greengrass and he had written to each other at least four times a day, every day since she had accidently walked into his office last weekend. He had savored every word the young witch had written to him. He found it easy to tell her everything and anything she wanted to know.

Draco had told her about his dream to be a healer, and how he had taken all the courses he could remotely. If he wanted to continue he had to enroll in a six month course where he would learn hands on practices at the end of which he would have the chance at an internship. She had tried through the letters to convince him to go for it. So far Draco and stood pat against the idea. He hadn't yet explained to her why though and he knew it would come up while they were on their date tonight. The truth was his father didn't approve of him being a healer and hounded him every chance he got to move home and work with him instead. Well that, and Draco was scared. Scared he wouldn't be accepted by the Wizarding community as a healer. Scared he wouldn't complete the cutthroat course. Scared he would fail at the internship. Remote classes where he didn't have to face people were easy and he had passed the classes with top grades. But this would mean he had to sit in a classroom with other people, to be seen by them and work with them, be judged by them.

Draco was to pick Astoria up at six sharp. He thought about a fancy restaurant, but didn't want to expose Astoria to the rude comments and hexs he encountered at Wizarding venues. It wasn't all the time. Over the last year people had gotten bored with the game of 'torment the tormentor', just as Blaise had said they would. But it did still happen, and when it did, it was usually pretty nasty.

No instead of the possibility of her exposure to that part of his world, he settled on a street fair Blaise had suggested, in a nearby Muggle village. Draco had khaki trousers on, casual loafers, an off white dress shirt and opted on no tie. He felt a little out of his element in the casual Muggle clothes. Were the colors to plain? Did he look like a fool? He normally dressed much classier, suits every day. But he wanted Astoria to see even Draco Malfoy could have fun. Now as he looked at himself in the mirror he wondered if he even knew what fun was. His idea's of fun had changed over the years.

Five year old Draco thought fun had been when he played with his toys.

Eight year old Draco thought fun had been the ability to boss around the help.

Eleven year Draco thought fun was when he was the center of attention.

Thirteen year old Draco thought fun was when he found ways to torment Harry Potter.

Fifteen year old Draco thought fun was when he did something he thought would impress his father, and sex with Pansy.

Seventeen year old Draco didn't have fun, fun was dangerous and could get you killed.

Eighteen year old Draco had survived a war and somehow avoided incarceration in Azkaban. His idea of fun once he convinced himself to leave the Manor and live, was to bed every witch who made eyes at him. After he learned they weren't interested in him, only the fifteen minutes of fame an evening with him gave them, he decided fun, didn't exist for him.

His next year was spent in a bottle, till Blaise pulled him out and forced him to sober up. He spent the last year or so with his head down and buried himself in classes and work, no fun was to be had. Now at twenty, what was fun? He had forgotten what it was, or more he had forgotten how to have it.

But that night in his office, he had fun with Astoria. Draco had smiled more that night then he had the last four years of his life. He had more fun in one night with Astoria then he had in almost five years with Pansy. Even the letters he had shared with her over the last week had been fun. Fun to read, fun to write. Even the feeling in his stomach while he waited for another letter to arrive had been fun. He didn't want it to stop. So before he could second guess himself, he grabbed his navy blue blazer, his wand and wallet and headed out the door.

Draco found Lord Greengrass to be a protective father. The man had spent almost forty minutes with questions about what Draco planned to do with his life and his intentions with his daughter before he finally allowed Astoria to come in the parlor and meet her date for the night. Draco had been nervous before in his life. Nervous the first time he took a test, nervous before his first Quidditch game. He had been nervous when he meet the Dark Lord the first time and the first time he had sex. He thought he had been nervous as he stood there and pointed his wand at Dumbledore on the night that changed his life forever, but not compared to this. This was a nervousness he couldn't put into words. His hands sweat, his heart pounded, even the bottoms of feet were sore by the time Astoria and he left for the Muggle village. As they walked to the end of the property to apparate away, he felt as though he just run a several kilometer long race.

Astoria and he walked along the street fair with the noise and bustle all around them. Draco had been away from her father for twenty minutes now, but still his hands shook and he couldn't gather the courage to take her hand in his, no matter how badly he wanted to. Finally Astoria started to point out things to him. Different foods and rides she would like to try. He would nod and try to smile, but it never quite reached the corners of his mouth. Draco was certain from the questions he had been asked by her father and the mans tone, that he was on his first and only date with Astoria Greengrass.

Astoria could tell Draco was out of sorts and knew the reason was because of the third degree her father had given him. She had gotten the same all week. Her father asked her an endless line of questions about the former Jr. Death Eater who was to take his daughter out. Why him? What is he like? Will he treat you well? Does he know about your illness? Are you prepared to be treated poorly by people in society? How can I change your mind? Astoria had answered his questions over and over, and stood her ground. She liked Draco Malfoy and wanted to see where this could go.

She knew she would have to do something to pull Draco out of this funk her father had put him in, if she was to have a good time and for the evening to continue. She slipped around him from his right side to his left and put her arms around his left forearm. Astoria slipped her right hand in his left and laced their fingers together and then gently held onto his left forearm with her left hand and rubbed back and forth with her thumb. She felt him tense and look at her hand. She forced herself not to look up at him but instead laid her head on his bicep and gave his hand a squeeze. She knew full well what lay underneath the sleeve that covered up his left forearm and wanted him to know, she didn't care.

Draco looked at her and his first instinct was to pull his arm away. He didn't want anyone touching, 'that'. If he could remove it, he would, but he couldn't. The contact felt good though and she was smiling! She was holding his left arm in public, and smiling! Draco took a deep breath and willed himself to relax. This was a good thing, something he wanted, hell needed. After a moment he kissed the top of her head lightly, then asked what she would like to do first.

Astoria lead Draco all over the street fair and pointed out vender after vender whose merchandise she loved. He bought her whatever she asked for, no matter how silly a trinket he thought it was. Draco had already fallen in love with her smile and would do anything he could to see it. Together they sampled Muggle food and drinks he never thought he would and he decided he really liked something called coke. You could find it at Wizarding places also, which was why he tried it, but since it was a traditional Muggle drink, his father never let him have it.

The two of them held hands and rode rides, and before Draco knew it, she had him on the Ferris wheel after convincing him, if he could ride a broom stick and chase a tiny golden ball around at high speeds, this wheel would be nothing. Now he was high above the ground on the Muggle contraption he was certain it would be the end of them both, at least until Astoria slid close to him and nestled herself into his arms with her head on his chest. As Draco wrapped his arms around her he relaxed and decided if the Muggle wheel of horror was to be his end, at least he was with the most beautiful women in all of England. He ran the fingers of his left hand through her hair and looked down at her, and forced him self not to blink. He was afraid if he closed his eyes for any reason, when he opened them again, he would find it all had been a dream.

Astoria looked up at him as they reached the top the second time around and sat up so she could look at him better. The wheel suddenly stopped to allow the cart at the bottom to change out its passengers. A slight fear nipped at Draco and she could see it in his eyes as he looked at the ground to see when they would start to move again. She smiled at him, leaned forward and pressed her lips to his firmly. It only took a second for Draco to relax into her embrace. He pulled her close to him and nipped slightly at her bottom lip to ask for entrance. When she parted her lips, he slipped his tongue in her mouth and she took his breath away by how intently she kissed him back. Draco moaned and gripped the back of her dress tightly, and held her as close to him as he could. Only the need for air made him finally pull back, that and the fact that they had started to move again.

By the time the evening was over and Draco stood outside Greengrass Estates to say goodnight, he was enraptured by Astoria. He kissed her goodnight over and over until her father stood on the front porch and interrupted the couple. Lord Greengrass instructed Astoria to go inside and told her, she could see Draco another day. Astoria reluctantly let go of Draco's hand and promised to write first thing in the morning. Before she turned to walk away Draco grabbed her hand and quickly asked if she would be interested in a second date. He sheepishly looked at the ground while he waited for the rejection he was certain would follow. He had already pressed his luck with a first date. Girls never agreed to a first date, he was sure she wouldn't want a second.

The smile on her face relaxed him however and she said yes without a second thought. Draco was still on cloud nine when her father started his questions again. Lord Greengrass held nothing back when he let Draco know just exactly what he thought of him and his father. Draco stood quietly once the high of Astoria and their date wore off from Lord Greengrass's attitude. He wrung his hands together and pulled on his left sleeve afraid it would raise up and show Lord Greengrass everything the man thought of him was true.

He felt bile in the back of throat as the realization hit him, no matter what he said or did Lord Greengrass would never approve of him. Draco told Lord Greengrass he would find a way to prove himself no matter how long it took, nor what he had to do. He would change, for her. As he turned and walked away he felt the warm tears hit his face and the pain in his chest that told him he was already head over heels in love. Draco knew to tell Lord Greengrass he would prove he was worthy and to do it, were different things. One was easy, words always were. The other felt impossible. Just five years ago Draco Lucius Malfoy had a Pure-Blood pedigree any man in Lord Greengrass's position would kill for his daughter to end up married to. Today, most father's saw him the same way Lord Greengrass did. As unfit, a failure, a cancer on the Wizarding World.

By the time Draco got home, he had made up his mind to enroll in that six month healer course. He was still scared as hell of the idea of taking a class along side other people. But this was something he had to do. Passing the class with the best grade and securing the internship for himself would be a great way to show Lord Greengrass he was worthy. A great way to show himself, he was worthy.

A letter from Astoria arrived the very next morning before Draco even got out of bed. He was so excited to hear from her, he didn't think even for a second the letter may contain bad news, not until he ripped the seal off and started to open it up. Suddenly the idea, it may be a dear John letter hit him hard and he couldn't focus on the words at first. Draco had to set the letter on his bed and take a few deep breaths before he picked it back up and read it. To his delight, the letter told him what a wonderful night she had and how she couldn't wait to see him again. Draco's heart beat nearly doubled when he read the ending, 'Love always, Astoria.'

Love! She had signed the letter love. She could have said, sincerely, cordially, yours, anything. But she had said love. Could she? Could this witch truly one day love him? There was only way to find out. Draco picked up a piece of parchment and wrote her back. That amazing feeling was back in his stomach and he loved it.