Draco Malfoy had single-handedly led to Hogwarts' destruction.

Single-handedly?

Single-handedly?

"Well, at least she called you handsome."

Draco scowled as he looked up from the newspaper. "Be serious, Blaise."

Blaise grinned as he popped a sweet into his mouth. "I was."

The blond's grimace worsened as he threw the Daily Prophet into the fireplace. He watched his and Hermione's photo burn until it was gone completely. "Do you think Granger saw it?"

"The woman doesn't live under a rock, Draco. Of course she saw it."

Was it possible for him to frown any further? Draco was in the process of finding out when he felt Blaise's presence at his side rather than in the chair in front of him.

"You have nothing to worry about." He told him. "Granger's not going to ditch you just because the public is questioning her sanity. I promise you that."

Draco looked up at him with an appreciative and then an inquisitive stare. "You promise, huh? Is that what she told you, more or less, when you two spoke earlier today?"

"Not telling," Blaise shot him down. "Unless, of course, you're willing to spill a few details on what you and Liliana-?"

"Not happening,"

"Then my lips are zipped."

Both men were all smiles at that when Daisy the house elf appeared before them. She bowed before addressing them in her timid voice.

"Forgive the intrusion, Master Malfoy. Mistress Malfoy requests your presence with the other guests."

The elf's ears twitched some as though she was hearing something –probably Narcissa calling for her. That assumption was pretty much confirmed when her face set up in a small frown before she disappeared from their sight. Draco shook his head.

"That poor elf," he said. "My mother's going to run her to the ground."

"I beg your pardon?" Blaise nearly stuttered. "Is Draco Malfoy caring for the well-being of elves? Granger must be so proud."

Draco scoffed as he stood. "I'm not about to free them. But my mother's been using Daisy and the other elves as her wand since her home confinement began. No one should be under that kind of punishment –elf or not."

Blaise agreed, knowing first hand of Narcissa's need to put a wand to everything. He followed Draco out of his personal study and they went down to the main dining hall where the Christmas dinner had been held last year. The graduation celebration had been a surprise to Draco when he, Blaise, and Liliana made it to Malfoy Manor. He had specifically asked –no, begged was more like it –for his mother not to make a big deal of things. Naturally, she wouldn't listen. She loved hosting, period. She'd throw a party just because the roses bloomed. Since her only son had completed his schooling (against all odds, no less) a celebration was warranted.

Draco supposed that the party was a blessing in hindsight. With no one at home they wouldn't see the Daily Prophet article that arrived just over a half an hour ago until they all left. And then…chaos? Anarchy? He was already privy to the backlash that Hermione had received from her own lot. He could just imagine his own and finally understood how his life could get so much worse.

And speaking of worse…

"Someone up there hates me." Draco groaned as he looked out into the mass of people. Blaise followed his gaze and a devious smirk filled his face.

"Either that or they have one pleasantly wicked sense of humor." He said as he spied Pansy handing over her robes to a house elf. "Good luck ducking and dodging, mate. Throw some zigs and zags in there."

That was the second time Blaise left him to fend for himself at the hands of that grabby witch. Draco really was going to murder him one day.

With a sigh Draco meandered through the partygoers. He gave shallow hellos to some, engaged in conversations with others, and sipped champagne with a few. He hoped that with the constant moving that he would be able to escape Pansy. It had been working fairly well, surprisingly, but he knew that he couldn't outrun her forever. She eventually did catch up to him, but contrary to her normal behavior she didn't immediately maul him. That had been refreshing, to say the least, but also concerning when he took into account her serious disposition.

"Can we talk, Draco?" She asked him. Draco resisted the quirk of his brow and nodded. They went out to the balcony –catching Narcissa's eye along the way and the curve of her lips. He would have to debunk every thought that she was currently having before they spun out of control.

"What is it, Pansy?"

"Is it true? What the Daily Prophet wrote –is it true?"

She did just arrive. Obviously with enough time to read that horrid article. Perfect.

"It is." Draco admitted. "What of it?"

Pansy's mouth dropped. "What of it? What of it? You're-" her voice dropped to a whisper although it was hardly necessary, "-sleeping with a mudblood!"

Draco's eyes narrowed and his lips turned into a snarl. "Don't call her that."

"Fine," she said hesitantly, taking in his demeanor. "Muggleborn then. But the fact remains that you've lost your mind! What on earth are you thinking?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I think she's a wonderful woman and I enjoy dating her very much."

Huh. Dating. Did they even use that word with each other? Well, Granger did say it once when she was yelling at Weasley, but did she mean it? They still hadn't labeled anything. Not that I'm in a rush to, but it would be nice I suppose…

"You're going to ruin yourself with her." Pansy grumbled.

Draco chuckled as he leaned gracefully on the balcony's railing. "Oh really? And my life was all unicorns and fairy dust this whole time?"

Pansy stomped her foot. "I'm serious!"

"So am I." Draco said sternly. "And don't for one second stand there and try to get me to think that you care anything about my social standing. You're just upset that someone else has captured my attention." He smirked some when he saw how red her face became. It didn't come close to how lovely the color looked on Hermione. "I'm happy to say you can stop trying to dig your claws into me now."

"I admit," she said slowly, attempting to hold her anger in, "that I had envisioned a future for us. But this is bigger than you and me." She took a step towards him and crossed her arms. "You lost your footing with the wizarding world after the war."

Draco's jaw clenched at the mere mentioning of it, but Pansy trudged forward.

"And you lost it among the pureblood society –the ones not directly involved with the war because they were smart enough not to get involved with a maniac."

Draco resisted the urge to bear his teeth like a predator. "Like your family?"

Pansy snootily raised her chin. "Yes, but that's not the point."

"What is your point then?"

"My point is that your mother's done a very good job of turning everyone around –well, the ones that matter. It certainly helps that your father isn't here-"

"Watch it, Parkinson."

"I'm sorry, but it's true." Pansy continued. "If you continue this association with that mud-," she paused, "That muggleborn, it won't be looked on favorably. Everyone just may abandon you."

Draco let his snarl show. "Well, if they'd be so quick to leave then they're not very loyal."

"They're not Hufflepuffs, Draco."

"Never said they were." He shrugged as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Moving away from my mother and myself after the war, understandable. But simply because I'm seeing someone not like them? I suppose it'd do wonders to show me who my real friends are. So," he said to her with a gesture of his head. "Are you?"

Pansy stared at him curiously. "Am I what?"

"My real friend,"

She scowled. "I thought you didn't want my claws digging into you."

"And I don't." Draco stated surely. "Nevertheless, you had always been a good friend before you realized that all other prospects were getting snatched up. So, are you my real friend or not?"

Pansy continued to stare at him for several passing seconds before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Yes. I didn't leave you after the whole You-Know-Who fiasco and I'm not going to do it now although your taste in women baffles me. Stupid git…"

Draco smiled. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off. "Just so you know, if I end up old and alone with nothing but mangy felines for company I'm blaming it all on you."

"No need to get cruel." Draco said as he began to lead them back to the party. "I can introduce you to a distant cousin of mine. Jacques,"

Pansy let a brow of hers rise. "A Frenchman?"

"Yes,"

"A rich Frenchman?"

"Yes,"

"Well, by all means, take me straight to him. If things go well he and I can have lunch at the local boulangerie in London. And then…"

Pansy continued to talk on and on about future dates with a man she'd yet to meet. Draco was getting a migraine and regretting this already.

Poor Jacques.

Later on that evening when all of the guests had gone –Blaise and Liliana included –he had gone in search of his mother with a copy of the Daily Prophet. With the help of a Speed Owl, Blaise had sent over his own copy since Draco had destroyed his in roaring flames.

With everyone now at home from the festivities, that meant they all had access to the article that had officially outed him and Hermione to the world. Letters of confusion and downright outrage would start making their way to Malfoy Manor soon and Draco didn't want his mother to be blind-sighted. Even more than that, she deserved to hear it from his own mouth and not from black and white print.

The blond man of the house took a deep breath when he finally found his mother in one of the main studies. Narcissa sat, poised and polished, sipping on tea and doing what she did after every celebration –decompressing. She was probably making mental notes as to what went well, what went abysmally wrong, and when and for what reason the next event would be.

He took a deep breath.

"Mother,"

"Oh, Draco, don't do that!" Narcissa exclaimed with wide eyes. "Sneaking in like that…" She tutted. "You startled me."

"Sorry,"

Narcissa stared at her son curiously and set her tea aside. "Something's wrong."

Draco's brows furrowed. "What makes you say that?"

"Everything about you." She said pointedly. "You're as rigid as a board. Not to mention you're holding that paper as though it was a lifeline."

Draco's eyes followed her gaze to his hand. In truth the Daily Prophet paper was clenched so tightly that if it were a living thing it would've bled out by now. Was he nervous? Perhaps that wasn't the right word… It was just that…well, hell, this was his mother. He had never truly been one to let other people's opinions get to him. Since the war that had changed drastically. But whether before or after, his mother had always had that effect on him. She was the one person (one of two now that Hermione was involved) whose opinion mattered a great deal to him. That wasn't to say that once she found out about his…thing –relationship? –with Hermione that he was going to back down just because she didn't approve. Rather, her reaction would be another patch on his quilt of depression, and he hoped that Hermione would be able to unstitch it like she had done with so many others.

"I have something for you to read." Draco said. He walked over and sat in the armchair next to her, handing her the Daily Prophet in the process.

The headline had immediately caught her attention. He watched as her eyes flickered over the tip of the newspaper to look at him and he encouraged her with a nod to continue. Narcissa took a deep breath to gather her bearings, opened it, and went to the designated page that discussed her son and Hermione Granger's love affair.

The silence that followed ate at Draco like a crow at a dead body. Each second that ticked by was another stab at his wild thoughts as well as his impatience. He heard his mother scoff, saw the narrowness of her eyes, and how her fingers wrinkled the paper. He assumed she was reading about the part where he had single-handedly handed Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world on a silver platter. His reaction had very much been the same.

Eventually his mother did finish the article. It had taken her so long Draco assumed that she had read it twice.

"Wild accusations or truth?"

"Truth,"

"For how long?"

"Since January. Initial attraction in December."

"Is it serious?"

"I…" Draco's voice trailed. "We haven't labeled anything."

Narcissa quirked a perfect brow in the air. "It's been months and you haven't labeled anything?"

Draco sighed. "It's complicated."

"How so?"

"How so?" He asked, astonished. "How so? Did you not read about who I'm seeing?"

Narcissa nodded. "I did."

"And you have to ask why it's complicated?"

"You and…Miss Granger have a troubled history, I know. That, however, is no excuse to completely ignore rules of courtship, Draco. What you have just described is casual dating and it's abhorrent."

Draco sat with his mouth slackened and completely agape while his mother continued to regard him in her mother-est of ways.

"Rules of courtship?" He repeated in disbelief. "How in Merlin's name can you talk about rules of courtship? This is Granger! Hermione Granger! You should be cursing up a storm right now."

"Now, now, a proper woman never curses." Narcissa said with a wrinkle of nose. "And as for your expected reaction from me, is that what you really want? For me to be angry? For me to drone on and on about how you should be taken with a pureblood witch instead of a mudblood-?"

Draco flinched.

"-About how the both of you will have a horrible time together due to the public eye breathing down your necks at this unholy union?" Narcissa sighed and picked back up her tea. "I could say all of those things, Draco. I can mean every single one of them because yes, that is what I think and how I feel.

'However, you are your own man and allowed to make your own choices. Your father," she added with a slight quiver in her tone, "he made and forced many decisions upon you and look where it has landed us. Perhaps were it not for such hairy events you would be with a pureblood witch.

'At least I can be pleased that Miss Granger isn't a dimwit and with her prestige she can help lift the Malfoy name. She can help…" Her eyes softened as she stared at her son. "She can help lift you. Does she do that, Draco? Does she help you to cope?"

"She makes me feel like I'm not a failure, yes." Draco smiled. "And more,"

Narcissa nodded, giving a small smile of her own. "Then that is what is important."

Author's note: So, more than just Draco's reaction here! I probably liked Narcissa's the most. Such a motherly one, if I don't say so myself :).

So, let's see. We've dealt with enraged friends, getting blasted over the newspaper, heartfelt conversations…. I think some fluff is in order. Maybe a lemon?

Until next time!

-WP