A/N: I hope you're still with me! If so, I hope you're enjoying the story. Thank you, Mcal for all your help beta'ing. I'm going to figure out how to punctuate dialogue one day!

Of course I don't hold any rights to Harry Potter, just happy JKR seems cool with letting us fiddle with her characters.

Chapter 9

Returning to England was a completely reasonable idea when standing in Caroline's picturesque orchard. Actually being back was a exercise in psychological torture. He tried to live in the flat they had together… but she was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It tore at his soul. Narcissa insisted he move back in with her. He knew the suggestion wasn't just for his benefit, but hers as well.

So with the utmost care he packed Hermione's things into storage boxes and moved them to the Manor. He returned for his belongings and sent the box only through the floo. He stood in the sitting room, his risotto spoon in his hand and surveyed the empty flat. He needed to clear his head. He shrunk the spoon, pocketed it, and walked out the door; the soft clicking of the latch feeling somehow final.

The afternoon sun painted the street with a golden glow and people hurried about paying no attention to the forlorn wizard as he strolled through the lively neighborhood he'd enjoyed with Hermione.

Distracted by two small children chasing a training snitch down the sidewalk he collided with a woman coming out of the market.

"I'm terribly sorry. I wasn't watching…" He'd steadied the woman by the upper arms, but his apology died on his tongue as she looked up at him, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Pansy?"

"Hello, Draco, " she purred.

He released her from his grip and took a step back. "I didn't know you lived around here."

She waved him off with and shook her head playfully, "I don't actually. I was in the neighborhood, visiting a friend, so I thought I'd just pop into the market for a few things before I head home."

"You've found a place. that's wonderful. I wasn't sure… with your parents…" He cringed at the unsavory topic, but she waved him off again.

"No bother. I found the most darling cottage. Really precious. You should come for tea sometime."

He politely agreed that he should, but hoped that the invitation was rhetorical, much as his acceptance had been.

"Oh, it's just so good to see you, Draco." She pulled him into a hug. He felt awkward and returned it, patting lightly on her back and hoping she would release him quickly. She held on longer than he expected, and he hoped it was just his imagination that she rubbed herself against him before pulling away.

Tucking his hands into his pockets, he cleared his throat, "Well… you look good, Pansy. I'm glad things are going well for you."

"Oh, they certainly are. You have no idea." Her eyes glinted with something mischievous, a look from their childhood when she was carefully planning one of her schemes, but a look he'd not seen on her face since the war ended. Perhaps she was getting some of her old spirit back. That was good, someone should have things work out for them.

He smiled at her, a genuine smile, one he'd not felt on his face since Hermione went missing, "That's great, Pans. I'll see you around, yeah?" He nodded and continued down the sidewalk as he heard her call out. "I'll owl you about tea. You should bring your mother." He waved once more and then ducked into an alley to apparate to the Manor.

"Draco, darling." His mother's arms were around him before he had fully materialized and she squeezed him with a strength that belied her size. She pushed him away to inspect his person fully; patting over his cheeks and arms, she smiled in approval of his fitness. "Come, let's get you settled. Then we'll have tea in the solarium" And with that she dragged him off toward his old suite of rooms.

The joy radiated off Narcissa as she threw open the double doors leading to his suite. The ebony wood furniture was the same, but she'd clearly overhauled the room in preparation of housing her adult son. Gone were the requisite Slytherin green walls festooned with tatty house banners and quidditch posters. Instead the walls were a soft grey and accented with clean minimalist art. On the bed, the once gaudy silver duvet emblazoned with the Malfoy crest had been replaced with a rich indigo covering and boasting numerous pillows. If Draco felt he could find sleep, he would have fallen onto the bed and cocooned himself in its downy embrace, but as it was, he was terrified of what he may find once his mind had reign to drift in the freedom of slumber.

"...Don't you think, darling?" Draco looked at his mother, just realizing she'd been talking the whole while. "Draco, don't you think it was high time I redecorated the manor?"

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Yes. Yes, mother. It looks lovely."

Narcissa made a very ladylike noise of amusement, "I've only just begun really, but now that your back, you could lend me your assistance."

"Of course, mother. Happy to help." He felt the corners of his mouth pull apart, but definitely not in an upward trajectory.

Laying a soft hand on his cheek, Narcissa smiled. The smile of a person who knew his pain and wished nothing more than to take it away, even for a moment; and although she couldn't relieve him of its burden completely, she could help him carry it. "I'll just let you get settled while I sort tea." And with that she left him in the quiet of his room.

He mechanically unpacked, muscle memory from years of coming home from Hogwarts guiding his way. He stepped in to the en suite and lined his toiletries along the shining counters. There was an extra bottle in his kit. It was Hermione's bath oil.

Before he could stop himself he opened the top and inhaled the sweet fragrance of orange blossom and jasmine. The pain of it tore through him like a knife. He replaced the cap and hastily stowed the bottle in the back of a cupboard. Gripping the edge of the counter he forced ten measured breaths in and out of his lungs and then splashed his face with cool water, hoping to project a semblance of composure. He took in his still sallow complexion and tired eyes, he decided it would simply have to do.

Narcissa's house elf was setting the tea try on a low table in the solarium when Draco entered. "Thank you, Sprocket," she bade and the little elf flapped its ears happily at Narcissa and then popped from the room. Turning over her shoulder at the sound of his shoes, her face lit once more at Draco's presence. "Come, darling." She motioned toward the chair at her right. "I made some of the shortbread you love."

"Thank you, Mother." He gave her a genuine smile for her thoughtfulness as he lowered his weary soul into the chair.

Narcissa set about pouring tea and offering nibbles as she nattered on about her plans for the garden and for redecorating other rooms in the Manor. Draco sipped tea and offered noises of approval at her ideas only half listening, but his mother's beaming face warmed him to his core and he thought that he might find some peace in this house after all.

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