Lucius and Narcissa's trip to Paris ended up being a short break, and the time away helped to ease their troubled marriage. However, it didn't erase the problems they were having with Draco, and once they were back home thoughts once again turned to their son. Neither of them had mentioned Draco on their break, but back at the manor, Narcissa couldn't help but raise the topic with her husband.

"My hands are tied, Cissa," Lucius said with a weary shrug. "I can't give Draco back his inheritance without backing down."

"And can't you do that?" Narcissa pressed, wrapping her arms around her husband's neck and gazing up at him with sad, blue eyes. "Can't you be the bigger man?"

"And let Draco think he can get away with whatever he likes?" Lucius retorted. "If I cave now Narcissa, Draco will never have any respect for me. He'll believe he can do as he likes and we'll forgive him and stand by him because we love him. He needs to know that the world doesn't work like that, at least our world doesn't. He had a responsibility as a Malfoy, and since he made it clear he wasn't honouring that responsibility, I took away the privileges of being a Malfoy."

"Would you reinstate him if he put his mistakes right?" Narcissa asked. "If he did the right thing and gave up that horrid club and married a nice pure-blood girl, would you forgive him?"

"I would," Lucius replied with a nod of his head. "But don't hold your breath, sweetheart. Draco is extremely stubborn and I can't see him giving in anytime soon."

"I wonder where he gets his stubbornness from," Narcissa remarked, giving her husband a slight smile. "Sometimes I think the pair of you need your heads knocking together."

"It's too late now," Lucius said sadly. "For the time being Draco isn't part of our lives. You need to get used to that, Narcissa."

Narcissa wasn't sure she would ever get used to her son not being a part of her life, but she understood that as things stood she would have to accept the situation. At least now she knew that Lucius was open to reconciliation with their son. Now all she had to do was hope that Draco eventually came round and made the first move. If he did that, maybe one day she would have her family back together where they belonged.

"I'm sorry Narcissa," Lucius said, pecking his wife on the cheek. "I wish things were different. But I really need to pop into the office for a while."

"You go," Narcissa said.

Once Lucius had gone to his office, Narcissa settled down with the papers that they'd missed while they'd been away. She could have claimed she was merely catching up on events in Wizarding Britain, but the truth was she was looking for some reactions to her son's new bar opening. She and Lucius had gone away the day the bar opened, and since it was now a few days later, she was confident that reports would have surfaced of her son's big night.

Narcissa's confidence was soon rewarded by a double page spread in The Daily Prophet, complete with dozens of photos of the evening. Despite the press not being allowed access to the actual opening, they'd clearly been present in Diagon Alley and had snapped plenty of pictures of the street part of the party. Narcissa took in the celebrities that had attended her son's opening, and read about the praise party-goers heaped on the venture.

Finally she spotted a couple of pictures of her son, looking as handsome as ever in his trademark black. It hadn't escaped Narcissa's notice that the theme of the party was red, but yet her son didn't look to be wearing even the slightest hint of the colour. Although Blaise and the party-goers made up for Draco's lack of red attire.

As she read pieces of the article, Narcissa wasn't too surprised to find a mention of her and Lucius's absence. So far the family rift had escaped the presses attention, but with neither she nor her husband at the event, questions were now being raised about the situation within the family. Draco didn't look to have commented on their absence, but Narcissa knew that wouldn't stop the gossips. Before long someone was going to find out that Draco had been cut off from the family, and the reasons why. To be honest, Narcissa was surprised that Astoria Greengrass hadn't already made a fuss over what had happened, and she knew that Lucius still hadn't managed to fix things with her father. This could be just the opportunity the Greengrasses were waiting for to strike and reveal just what had fractured the close bond of the Malfoy family.

Trying not to dwell on what was going to happen in the future, Narcissa returned to looking at the pictures and she let out a quiet exclamation of surprise when she saw a picture of her son pecking an attractive brunette witch on the cheek. However, it wasn't the kiss that had captured Narcissa's attention, it was the look in her son's eyes. He was looking at the witch in the same smitten way Lucius had looked at her when they first started courting. Draco was on the verge of falling in love, and it broke Narcissa's heart that she wasn't there to witness it first-hand.

Eager to find out more about the witch who had seemingly captured her son's heart, Narcissa located her name under the picture and read the small piece of text beside it. The witch was identified as Hermione Granger, a lawyer who was making a name for herself by defending the less fortunate and fighting for the rights of magical creatures. Narcissa had heard the name many times before, and although the paper didn't mention it, she knew that Hermione was a muggleborn. As not only was she a well-known lawyer, but she was best friends with Harry Potter, and the quidditch star wasn't opposed to singing the praises of his genius muggleborn best friend.

"What are you doing, Draco?" Narcissa whispered as she saw her dreams of a reunited family shattering before her eyes.

She'd managed to get Lucius to a stage where he was willing to forgive their son, but Narcissa knew there would be no going back if Draco got seriously involved with a muggleborn. Lucius would never forgive Draco if he diluted the family line, so Narcissa was left hoping that her son wasn't going to let himself get seriously involved with Hermione. With any luck whatever was going on between them would burn out quickly, and Draco could still have a chance to make amends with his father. Narcissa just didn't want to consider any other option, and she certainly didn't want to consider what would happen if Draco well and truly defied tradition and married a muggleborn.

{}{}{}{}{}

A week after Red Diamond's opening, Draco and Hermione were settled in a small, romantic restaurant enjoying their date. Thankfully both of their schedules had calmed down and arranging the date had been easy enough. They were also both confident that they would be able to continue seeing each other if the date went as well as they were both expecting. Fortunately so far the date was going swimmingly and they were both having a great time.

"So what do you do when you're not working, other than dating sexy club owners?" Draco asked Hermione with a teasing smile.

"I'm not sure I've tried the dating sexy club owners before," Hermione retorted. "Is Blaise single?"

"He's a serial philanderer," Draco warned. "He's had more witches than I've had hot dinners."

"Is he really that bad?" Hermione asked with a chuckle.

"Worse," Draco answered honestly. He loved Blaise like a brother, but even he had to admit that his best friend was a womaniser.

"And what about you?" Hermione asked. "Are you a serial philanderer?"

"I'm no innocent virgin, but I'm not in Blaise's league," Draco replied. "Deep down I'm a romantic."

"And here was me thinking it was just charm to get into my knickers," Hermione teased, enjoying how easy she found conversing with Draco.

"That would be an added bonus," Draco answered, flashing Hermione a sinful smirk. "Am I getting close to it?"

"Close to what?" Hermione asked, playing innocent.

"You know what I'm asking. Is my charm working on you?"

"It might be," Hermione confessed. "Tell me more about your romantic side, unless of course it's just a line."

"No line, it's the truth," Draco replied. "I'd be quite happy to settle down and devote my life to one witch."

"And why haven't you?"

"I've never met anyone I liked enough to get really serious about," Draco answered honestly. "Although that all might be about to change. So how about you, why haven't you settled down?"

"Not many wizards want an ambitious, intelligent partner who can outsmart them," Hermione replied with a self-deprecating smile. "I've dated, but most men run a mile once they realise how focused I am."

"Anyone intimidated by your intelligence isn't worth your time," Draco said.

"That's what Harry is always saying," Hermione said with a laugh. "He's convinced that one day I'll meet a wizard who can handle me."

"I never thought I would say this, but I agree with Potter," Draco laughed. "And just for the record, I can handle anything you have to throw at me."

"That sounds remarkably like a challenge, Draco," Hermione said. "Are you sure you're man enough to handle me?"

"I'm plenty man enough," Draco retorted with a saucy wink. "But I'm not exactly easy to handle. Are you up for the challenge, Hermione?"

"I am if you are," Hermione replied.

"I can certainly say that I'm up for it," Draco confided.

Hermione laughed at Draco's not so subtle reference, even as a slight blush stained her cheeks. She wasn't sure she would ever get used to the sexual references Draco peppered his flirtation with, but it wasn't as if she was opposed to them. If anything she always got a warm tingle when he got a bit racy and she could only imagine how hot he could get her if she ever let him really talk dirty to her.

Shifting slightly in her seat, aware that she was becoming increasingly aroused, Hermione swiftly changed the subject by asking about the new wine bar. After the official opening, Red Diamond had opened to the general public and every time Hermione had been in Diagon Alley the place looked to be heaving. Draco confirmed that the bar was going great guns, and both he and Blaise were confident they had another hit on their hands.

"Your parents must be proud," Hermione said. She hadn't seen either Lucius or Narcissa at the opening, but she assumed they'd just wanted to stay out of the limelight and not overshadow their son on his big day.

"Proud isn't exactly how I would describe it," Draco answered, unable to stop the wince that graced his features at the mention of his parents.

"Sorry, have I touched a raw nerve?" Hermione asked warily. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Draco, especially as their date was going so well.

"It's not your fault, you weren't to know," Draco replied with a sigh. "My parents have disinherited me."

"They've what?" Hermione was genuinely shocked at the revelation as even though she didn't really know Draco's parents, she'd always thought that they seemed like a close family.

"Cut me off," Draco said, his voice emotionless, although his grey eyes were storming with emotion. "I now have the penthouse I live in, my business with Blaise and my personal bank account. I have no access to the family's money, properties and businesses. As far as Father is concerned, I'm no longer his son."

Hermione reached across the table and took hold of Draco's hands in hers. "I'm so sorry Draco, I had no idea."

"It's only a recent development and to tell you the truth, I'm still coming to terms with it myself," Draco admitted. "Even though Father had threatened to cut me off, I never for one minute thought he would go through with it."

"What happened?" Hermione asked. "Not that you have to tell me if you don't want to," she added hastily, not wanting to sound nosy.

"It's okay, I want to tell you," Draco replied, giving Hermione a small smile. "To be honest things have been strained between myself and my parents since I left school. They never really approved of Blaise, and they were distinctly unimpressed that I went into business with him. However, I think they thought I would get bored and eventually toe the family line by joining father in the business and marrying a nice pure-blood girl. Basically my parents wanted me to be like Theo."

"He's married to Pansy Parkinson, isn't he?"

"He is," Draco confirmed with a nod. "It was an arranged marriage, and initially not a very popular one. I don't want a life like that, but it's what my parents wanted for me. For months, Father kept setting me up with witches and I kept turning them down. I eventually confronted him and asked him to stop."

"But he didn't," Hermione guessed.

"Actually he did," Draco said. "I finally thought he'd listened to me and was doing what I wanted when he set up a dinner with the Greengrasses and Astoria casually mentioned that our fathers had arranged for us to get married."

"He tried to marry you off to Astoria Greengrass?" Hermione gasped.

"Yes, and it did not go down well with me."

"I bet it didn't," Hermione muttered. She'd never understood pure-bloods willingness to fix up their offspring in mismatched marriages just to keep the family lines pure.

"I'm afraid I was rather brutal with Astoria and she bore the brunt of my anger," Draco confessed, still feeling bad about the nasty words he'd hurled at an innocent girl. "Things then got heated with my parents and I warned them not to interfere in my life. Father than told me that unless I did as he wanted, he would cut me out of their lives. We both refused to back down, so a few weeks later I was officially thrown out of the family."

"What about your mother?" Hermione asked. It hadn't escaped her notice that it seemed to have been Lucius issuing the threats and throwing his weight around, so she was curious as to Narcissa's role in things.

"For the first time in my life she wasn't there for me," Draco whispered, the pain etched on his handsome face. "She backed my father. In fact she even told me I was nothing but Blaise's sidekick."

Hermione visibly winced at the insult, knowing how such a remark would have hurt Draco, especially coming from his mother. A sidekick was the last way in which she would describe Draco, in fact he was a leader not a follower. The insult had clearly been said to hurt Draco, and Hermione could see in his grey eyes that he was very hurt by his mother's words.

"I'm so sorry Draco," Hermione offered quietly, mentally kicking herself for bringing up the topic of Draco's parents.

"What's done is done and there's nothing we can do to change it," Draco replied with a shrug.

"Maybe, but being seen with me can't be helping things," Hermione said. "Your parents won't like you getting involved with a muggleborn."

"Sod what my parents think," Draco snarled. "They've cut me off, so they've got no say in how I live my life. I'm the only one whose opinion matters, and I want to be with you. I want to see where this goes, Hermione."

"So do I," Hermione replied, squeezing Draco's hands.

"In that case let's forget about my parents and focus on more pleasant things," Draco said. "I've still got some charming to do if I want to get into your knickers."

"Yes you have," Hermione laughed. "Charm away, Draco, charm away."