Nearly three weeks after his run-in with Hermione, Draco was beginning to regret not setting up a proper meeting with the pretty brunette witch. After their lunch, he'd fully expected to see her at Black Diamond, and as such he spent more time than usual at the club so he didn't miss her. However, so far there'd been no sign of the former Gryffindor and Draco was beginning to think he'd misinterpreted their time together. Maybe Hermione wasn't interested in him and her flirtations were all in his head.

Draco also had other things to worry about other than Hermione not making a further appearance in his life. On the plus side the new bar was shaping up nicely. The major structural changes had been finished, and Draco had handed the baton over to Blaise for his partner to turn the space into a classy wine bar. Draco now hadn't been to the new bar in over a week, but Blaise reassured him everything was running smoothly and he had everything under control. For the time being, Draco was happy to leave Blaise in charge, although he was keeping an eye on the invoices to make sure Blaise wasn't overspending.

However, there had been a down side to the last few weeks of Draco's life. It had all started innocently enough when a witch in the club had introduced herself and started flirting with him. Even though he'd been hoping to see Hermione, Draco had still been flattered by the attention and he'd had a drink with the witch. That was when he discovered she'd been sent by his father in another attempt to interfere in his life. The second Draco had worked out what was going on, he politely made it clear to the witch in question that he wasn't interested.

Draco had hoped that would be the end of it, but over the last few weeks it had become a regular occurrence for his father to send a suitable witch into his life in one way or another. With each passing witch the set-ups were becoming increasingly annoying to Draco, and he was ready to confront his father. It was one thing for Lucius to think it was time for Draco to settle down, but it was quite another for him to take it upon himself to find his son a wife.

When Draco first decided to have it out with Lucius, he did think about bringing his mother into things to help him talk sense into his father, but he eventually decided against it. He was an adult now and he was more than capable of dealing with his father. Besides, this issue was between Draco and Lucius, so there was no need to bring Narcissa into things.

With the decision not to involve his mother in things, Draco decided to go and pay his father a visit at work. Not wanting to disturb his father's work, he'd timed his arrival to coincide with lunchtime. Unfortunately, he'd also happened to pick a day when Lucius had a lunchtime meeting, so when he arrived at the office, his father wasn't in residence.

"What time will he be back?" Draco asked his father's long-time secretary, Betty.

"He's got no more appointments this afternoon," Betty replied as she flicked through Lucius's diary. "To be honest, I'm not sure what time to expect him back. He might not even be back in this afternoon."

"Where is he?" Draco asked, wondering if he should just go to wherever his father was having lunch.

"The Oaks," Betty answered, without even having to check the diary.

The Oaks was a member's only gentleman's wizarding club which Lucius held a membership to. Draco's grandfather, Abraxas, had been one of the founding members of the club and when Lucius had turned seventeen he'd been given a membership. Draco himself even had a membership and while he'd been to the club several times in his life, he detested the place. When he was younger and Lucius used to take him, he would watch his father hobnob with the other pure-blood wizards and wish for the day he would belong to the exclusive club. However, these days he could see how elitist the club truly was and he'd never used his membership. No witches, even pure-blood witches, were allowed membership to the club, and anyone other than a pure-blood had to be given approval to enter the club.

When Draco heard where his father was, he almost decided to wait and talk to his father another time, but since he'd braced himself for a confrontation with his father, he decided to just head to The Oaks. It wasn't until Draco arrived outside of the large, Victorian building that he remembered the club's dress code. Robes were the preferred attire for members, but certain people, like the Malfoys who had strong connections with the club, could get away with smart business attire. Unfortunately for Draco, he was just wearing black trousers, a casual shirt and no tie or jacket.

Hoping bribery would get him inside, Draco walked up the steps and into the marbled reception area. Leading from the reception area were several doors, each leading to a different part of the club. There was a restaurant, a lounge and a room for card games from what Draco could remember from his youthful visits to the place. There was also another couple of rooms, which Lucius had never taken him in so Draco wasn't entirely sure what else the club had to offer.

In the reception area stood two wizards, both decked out in black dress robes. One of the wizards gave Draco a distasteful look as the blond approached the two men.

"Hi, I want to see my father," Draco said. "I understand he's here."

"And just who would your father be?" The wizard who'd given Draco the distasteful look asked.

"Lucius Malfoy," Draco replied, wondering if his father's name would have an effect on the two wizards.

Sure enough, both wizards stood up even straighter when Draco mentioned his father's name and the one he'd been talking to, shed his disapproving expression. Instead it morphed into one of respect as he inclined his head in Draco's direction.

"Of course, Mr Malfoy," he said respectfully. "Mr Lucius Malfoy is in the lounge."

"And will I have to change to go in?" Draco asked. "I know I'm not dressed to standards, but I just want a quick word with my father."

"Technically, you're not suitably dressed," the wizard admitted, looking at Draco's attire.

"It will only be for a few minutes," Draco said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few galleons. Leaning forward, he subtly slipped the galleons into the wizard's pocket.

"I'm sure it will be just fine for a few minutes," the wizard replied. "Your father is in the lounge, which is the first door on the right."

"Thank you," Draco replied with a polite smile as he turned and headed towards the door the security wizard had pointed to.

Entering the lounge, Draco found himself in a stuffy room with walls lined with dark, wooden book shelves. Dotted around the room were round tables, with various numbers of armchairs around each table. Scanning the room, Draco found his father sitting at a table in the far corner. Lucius seemed to be alone, a glass of amber liquid which was most likely fire-whisky sitting on the table in front of him as he read the paper.

Making his way over to Lucius, Draco slid into the chair opposite his father. As he sat down, Lucius looked up from his paper, the surprise evident in his grey eyes. However the surprise quickly changed to disapproval when he put the paper down and got a good look at his son.

"What are you doing?" Lucius hissed at his son, glancing around to find a few other people were also giving Draco disapproving looks.

"We need to talk," Draco answered.

"How did you even get in here like that?" Lucius demanded. "You're not dressed correctly, Draco."

Lucius himself was in a set of deep blue robes, and underneath was his normal smart business attire so even if he removed his robes, he would still be perfectly in line with the dress code. However, Draco looked distinctly casual with his dark green shirt and black trousers. There was no tie or jacket, and even the shirt had a few too many buttons open for Lucius's liking.

"It pays to be a Malfoy," Draco replied with a casual shrug. "But don't worry, I won't be staying long. I just need to set things straight with you in regards to the witches you've been sending my way."

"You mean the ones you keep rejecting?" Lucius retorted. "Honestly Draco, you can't keep turning down every decent witch."

"I plan on turning down every witch you send my way, which is why I want you to stop," Draco said calmly. It would be easy to blow up and lose his temper with Lucius, but he figured his father might be more inclined to take him seriously if he was calm and acting rationally.

"I only want to help, Draco," Lucius said with a sigh. "You're not getting any younger, and neither am I."

"What does your age have to do with anything?" Draco asked with a frown. Lucius was approaching his fiftieth birthday, but in Draco's eyes his father was still a young man. He certainly didn't act old, and in no way did he look middle-aged.

"One day I'll want to retire," Lucius answered. "One day it will be time for me to hand the business and the manor over to you. I can't do that until you're married and have a family of your own."

"Firstly, I don't want the business, I've got one of my own," Draco said snappishly. "And even if I did want to inherit, why do I have to be married with a child to do so?"

"Tradition," Lucius replied as if the one word explained everything. "The Malfoys are built on traditions, Draco, and you're sailing close to the wind with breaking them."

"You need to move on," Draco said softly. "The world has changed, Father. I've changed. I have no intention of being the good little boy you want me to be and marry a pure-blood witch you pick out for me. I will chose my own path in life, and right now, marriage is not on the horizon. Just do me a favour, and stay out of my life. I can handle my own life."

"Yet you're still single," Lucius retorted as Draco got to his feet. "I'm sorry Draco, but I won't back down. You're a Malfoy, and it's time you had a wife and son. It's time you grew up and accepted your responsibilities."

"And it's time you realised you can't run my life for me," Draco shot back. "Don't do something you might regret, Father."

"Right back at you, son," Lucius retorted, a challenging glare in his grey eyes.

Shaking his head, Draco issued one more threat for his father to stay out of things, before he stalked off out of the lounge. As he left the lounge he almost collided with Jasper Greengrass, father of one of his old school friends, Daphne. Mumbling an apology, Draco carried on out of the club, not realising that Jasper had joined his father and the pair were about to make an arrangement that would change his life forever.

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The day after his confrontation with his father, Draco had a meeting with the wizard whose company supplied Black Diamond with their liquor. The meeting was to arrange for the same company to supply the wine bar as well, and to keep the wizard he was dealing with sweet, Draco had arranged for them to spend a few hours in one of the V.I.P sections of Black Diamond.

While the deal was still being sorted, Draco briefly left the wizard flirting with one of the waitresses as he checked everything was running smoothly with the rest of the club. In a second V.I.P area, Draco was rather pleased, if not a bit surprised, to find Hermione in residence alongside her friend, Ginny Potter. Like her husband, Harry, Ginny was a quidditch player and while she wasn't quite the star Harry was, she was still pretty famous and more than warranted admittance to the V.I.P area.

Wishing he had more time to spend with Hermione, and that's she'd picked a night to come into the club when he wasn't busy, Draco went to the bar and grabbed a bottle of the most expensive champagne and two glasses. He then headed over to where the two witches were sitting in one of the best corner booths.

"Ladies," he greeted with a dazzling smile as he placed the champagne and glasses onto the table.

"Malfoy," Hermione returned. "What's with the champagne? We didn't order any."

"Compliments of the management," Draco replied.

"Thanks," Ginny breamed as he popped the cork and began to pour two glasses of the fizzy liquid.

"Are you joining us?" Hermione asked, looking up at Draco expectantly.

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid I'm in the middle of an important meeting," Draco replied apologetically. "You really can pick your moments, Granger. I wait for three weeks, and then you pick the one night I'm busy to show up."

"I guess my timing sucks," Hermione chuckled. "I'll just have to keep trying until I manage to get your full attention."

"You can have that whenever you want," Draco replied, his grey eyes locked on Hermione's. Even though Ginny was sitting beside her, he was barely conscious of the red-headed witch.

"Next time I'll have to let you know when to expect me, then you can clear your diary," Hermione said.

"Sounds good," Draco said. "I've got to dash, but enjoy your evening ladies."

"I'm sure we will," Hermione replied as she picked up her champagne glass. "And thank you for the drinks."

"Anytime," Draco called as he reluctantly tore himself away from Hermione and returned to his business meeting.

Now all he had to do was hope that next time Hermione turned up he was free to give her the attention she deserved. With Lucius sorted, he could focus on his love life without interference, and ironically he could well end up with a girlfriend. Granted, Hermione would not be the witch his father pictured him with, but Draco would jump over that hurdle if it ever happened. First he had to at least have a date with Hermione, before he even thought about worrying what his father would think. However, that was all in the future, right now he had work to do and for the moment Red Diamond was the most important thing in his life.