A/N - I'm sooooooo sorry I left this story hanging for TWO years, I feel terrible! I even had half of this chapter already written (since legit July of 2016) so honestly I don't know what happened. But hey, on the bright side I'm back and excited to continue this story along with my other story I just started - A World Upside Down. Thanks to all of you have reviewed in the past, I appreciate your support so much. I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter!

Narcissa sat at the table drinking her cup of tea while looking over the paper. She sighed and prepared herself for whatever hell storm was about to occur as soon as Draco read this. She folded the paper back up and sat it down by Draco's plate before returning her attention to her breakfast.

Soon Draco stepped into the dining area looking perfectly put together like he did every morning, not a single hair was out of place. Narcissa noted he seemed rather chipper for such a day, he had obviously not seen the prophet yet this morning. Draco took his spot in his usual chair, their house elf, Mipsy, poured Draco his coffee and served his usual breakfast.

"Good morning Mother," Draco said with a nod while picking up the paper.

"Good morning darling" she replied, "Did you sleep well?"

"I did actu-" he started while picking up the newspaper. Draco's eyes widened with disbelief, "Are you fucking kidding me?" he growled out.

"Draco, language." Narcissa chided.

"Sorry Mother, but this is preposterous, who the hell would even want to pass this?" he muttered throwing the paper down on the table. "There must be something we can do mother, there's no way in hell I'm letting that damn ministry decide who I'm spending at least the next ten years with." he said with the shake of his head. "We still have some contacts there, and I'm sure with the right price this whole disaster could be solved. I could marry one of the Greengrass girls, Astoria's still single."

"Draco," Narcissa commanded, "give it a rest. You very well know we no longer hold an ounce of power in that ministry, and even if we did, you read the article. You will most likely be paired with a half blood or muggleborn if anything. It's out of our hands and you best come to terms with that."

Draco looked at his mother and sighed knowing she was right. Their family no longer held the status it did before the war, Lucius was in Azkaban and while he had taken over the company he still had lots of work to do to better their name.

"How are you so calm about this?" Draco wondered. "You spat the muggleborn hatred just as much as father did." Draco no longer held his old beliefs, he knew now that he had been blinded by his upbringing. Muggleborns blood was the same color as his, Hermione Granger sure proved that, right in this very manor. He just couldn't understand how his mother was being so flippant about him possibly being married off to one, there wasn't an ounce of outrage.

"I know, and I apologize greatly for that. But times have changed and I've realized now that those prejudices are more dangerous than anything." she sighed. "I'm not sure if I ever even believed them, not completely. It was just easier to go along with it then fight my family. Especially after 'Dromeda left." She did truly regret following her family's ways and then Lucius's the way she did. It had brought nothing but pain and heartache. Oh her poor boy she thought solemnly.

"I forgive you Mother, you know that." Draco sighed, "Sorry to dredge up the past, I know you'd rather not discuss it."

"It's fine darling, and you never know maybe this law could bring you some happiness." She smiled softly, "It could be a blessing in disguise." Draco had to hold back the snort at that one, yeah right he thought. He read over the paper once more, it looked like he would receive his letter with the name of his intended sometime in the next week. He massaged his temples and excused himself from the table giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek. He needed to go see Blaise.

Draco came through Blaise's floo to see him eating breakfast with Pansy. They looked sickenly happy, he could puke. However, he was glad to see that two of his oldest friends had found love with each other, they deserved it. He just hoped this law wouldn't ruin it. He threw the newspaper on the table between them, "Have you seen this yet?"

"Yeah, we were gonna stop by after breakfast and see how you had taken the news." Blasie sighed, "I'm sorry man, it blows."

Draco sat down at the table, "It does, but it's gotta be worse for you guys though. What are you gonna do if your not matched together." Draco missed the look Blaise and Pansy shared. "It even says they're trying to pair different blood statuses together, aren't you guys worried?' When neither of them said anything Draco was confused.

"What? Am I missing something?" Pansy continued fiddling with her left ring finger and that's when Draco saw it. A silver band covered in small diamonds with a large emerald in the middle, under that ring laid another silver band encrusted with alternating diamonds and emeralds. He didn't know how he had missed it in the first place.

"When?" Draco choked out, "and why the hell did you guys not tell me?"

"Last month," Pansy said quietly. "The law was getting mentioned more and more and we started to get worried."

"You know that business trip I took to France last month?" asked Blaise scratching his head awkwardly, "Well Pans came along and we decided on a whim that we might as well, especially with the law becoming more real. We didn't mean to hide it from you, but we haven't told anyone yet. We're really sorry, Drake." Draco was annoyed that they hadn't told him, but understood their position.

"It's fine, I mean it sucks you guys didn't tell me but I understand. I'm just glad you'll be exempt from this whole mess." He gave them a tight smile, "When are you gonna announce it to the public then?"

"We were thinking of just sending a small announcement into The Prophet, say we didn't want a high society wedding and that it was a small private affair we had planned for months. We don't want to make it seem like we just snuck off to defy the law ya know?" said Blaise with a slight shrug.

Draco nodded, it was a smart idea. The ministry tended to get antsy if you went against their plans. If they made it obvious they eloped for that reason some may start getting ideas and the ministry wouldn't like that, they'd probably blame the couple and cause all sorts of problems. It was better this way.

"Just make sure you tell my mother before you put it in The Prophet. Mother looks at you guys like her other children and she'll be very upset if she finds out about your marriage from the newspaper." Draco chuckled then, mother was still going to be pissed she was left out of the wedding anyway. "She's still going to be mad though, so good luck." Blaise chuckled but Pansy let out a groan at the thought, an angry disappointed Narcissa was never good.

Draco smiled as he watched Blaise and Pansy interact, he wanted what they had some day. His smile quickly turned down when he remembered the law, but who knows, maybe his mother was right. Maybe everything would work out for the better.

A/N - I hope you liked it! Don't forget to leave a review and if you want go ahead and follow my (mainly) HP tumblr dracomalfxy