Bella smoothed down the front of her dress and sighed, scrutinising her reflection. It had been 3 months since the twins were born and still her body was showing a reluctance to return to any sort of shape at all, and this was the first time since the birth that it actually mattered how she looked. She considered changing once again but knew that whatever she decided to wear she would still look exhausted and deflated, like a very old balloon. It seemed almost retrospective to be wearing green but it was one of the colours that Bella felt at home in, save for black, and black wasn't appropriate for a wedding. She turned to the side, relieved that the wrap-around style of the dress went partway to concealing the loss of the definition in her stomach. She walked to her dressing table and, sitting down, she browsed her extensive collection of jewellery. It was mostly comprised of heirlooms from her mother and grandmothers, all long since dead. For the most part the antiques were heavy and unfashionable but they carried a certain dignity with them; a sort of historical impact. Her eyes went, however, to one ring that almost seemed to call for her attention. It was, to the untrained eye, a platinum and diamond ring, goblin wrought and expensive. Bella knew, though, that it was just a near-perfect replica. Bella had given the real ring back to Draco almost a year ago, after the Final Battle at Hogwarts. When he'd found out...

Bella picked up the ring and slid it onto her middle finger on her left hand. It didn't belong on her engagement finger anymore, but it seemed oddly apt to wear it close. She put on a bracelet and neck chain that she'd had made to match the impostor-ring and wound her hair into a loose, tumbling half-updo that let a few loose curls fall over her shoulders. After a quick fresh-face charm, and speedy application of eye makeup she applied a careful layer of blood-red lipstick. She looked as good as she could manage, and better than she had in months. She took a deep breath and practiced her "I'm really happy for you, honestly" face. However unconvincing it was it would have to do. Making her way to the fireplace and taking a good handful of Floo Powder she once again considered taking Kasper and Sebastian with her but as before she decided against it. She wasn't going to cause a scene. Not if she could avoid it. Turning on the spot once inside the fireplace she waved goodbye to the twins before throwing the powder into the grate and announcing, "Malfoy Manor."

Bella arrived in a room full of very well dressed people, smiling and making small talk. Some posed for photographs while others discussed stocks. This was high wizarding society out in full force to eat, drink and be merry. Bella flicked a speck of ash off her shoulder and smoothed down her hair before bracing herself and stepping out into the room. Without much warning she was accosted by an elegant woman wearing a stunning silver sheath dress and a vast number of jewels. "Bella!" she exclaimed happily, giving Bella a bone crushing hug that made her eyes water. "I haven't seen you in months! How have you been? Where have you been?" Bella offered her a small smile.

"I'm sorry, Karen, I've been horribly busy these last few months getting the house back in order." The words flowed easily from her lips, and they weren't exactly a lie, but they weren't quite the truth either. The house had taken a while to get back into order, having not been lived in for years, but the truth was Karen hadn't known about Bella's pregnancy. Nobody had except for Draco and his family. Well, them and the Ministry of Magic Infant Registration office of course. "It was a big job, you know, seeing as..."

"Don't worry, I understand," Karen cut in, tactfully, knowing the end of the sentence and knowing that Bella didn't need to say it. Bella smiled gratefully in return. Her parents' and brothers' deaths were still raw in the back of her mind, and though it had been two years since it had happened she still didn't like to think about it, much less talk about it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask, how was the honeymoon?" Bella asked, picking up a glass of champagne from a tray that floated past her. Karen beamed.

"It was amazing. Blaise and I had the best time!" Bella's smile was starting to make her face ache. Without warning the noise level in the room kicked up several notches as the men near the door started to cheer. Bella looked over in the direction of the noise to see a man who made her blood run cold. Lucius Malfoy was being congratulated as father of the groom – congratulated on landing a Greengrass, Bella concluded. The Greengrasses were another Slytherin family full of old money, and since Lucius had lost his job at the Ministry and his vaults had been depleted by the Dark Lord, it was a perfect match. Bella smirked to herself. Despite the heartache of losing Draco there was a tiny, miniscule part of her that was glad that she wasn't a trophy wife. She watched Lucius as he schmoozed his way around the room, shaking hands and smirking. Bella shuddered and Karen looked at her. "Are you alright?" she asked, concern in her big dark eyes. Bella nodded, her plastered on smile slipping a little.

"I just... I need to get some air. Save me a seat?" With that Bella left the room, her eyes fixed on the door, not knowing whether Lucius saw her or not.

Having go through the door she closed it behind her. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the cold stone of the wall, trying desperately to pull herself together. She heard footsteps behind her, then a voice. A very familiar voice.

"Are you lost?" Bella turned around slowly, opening her eyes. He looked amazing. She always thought that the picture that she carried around in her head would be idealised, too perfect, that the reality would always fall short of what she imagined. However she always found herself astounded in front of the real Draco. He looked at her coldly and she felt that familiar breaking feeling somewhere deep inside her. It came to her that he had not expected to see her here.

"Congratulations," she said, abruptly, her voice quavering with every syllable. It was the only thing that she could think to say and it was painfully insufficient. Draco laughed hollowly.

"Thank you," he replied, curtly. There was a long, agonizing silence between them while Bella frantically thought of things to say.

"Draco, I..."

"Why are you here, Belladonna?" he interrupted her, his voice still cold but with a steely edge that made Bella's breath catch in her throat.

"You invited me, Draco, it would have been rude not to..."

"You honestly think I would have invited you? Oh, Belladonna, you're stupider than you look." Bella felt her heart beat irrhythmically in her chest, trying not to let the words hurt her.

"Then someone else invited me. Your fiancée, I'd assume." Bella didn't mean for the word "fiancée" to come out so venomous but as it was she almost spat the word, unable to hold back her feelings. She never could. Draco laughed hollowly.

"It would be just like that silly bint," he muttered. Bella's heart leaped. The way he said it wasn't as a term of endearment, or in a remotely jokey way...

"Not a big fan of little miss Greengrass, are we?" she asked, her head cocked to one side, her hands on her hips. Draco's eyes narrowed and he had a look on his face that implied that he'd said too much as he strode up to Bella, pushing her against the wall, pinning her arms by her sides.

"Shut up," he drawled, his face inches from hers. "I made myself perfectly, crystal clear. I never want to see you again, do you hear me?" Bella turned her face away from his, the intensity in his voice scaring her. "Do you understand?" Bella opened her mouth to speak and he slammed the side of his fist into the wall, a hair's breadth from her face. "Belladonna, you listen to me," he said, his voice perfectly calm and all the more terrifying for it, "If I see you darken my doorway again I will cause you some serious pain. If you see me in the street you will turn around and walk the other way. If we are at the same event you will make your excuses and leave before I get to you because mark me, Belladonna, if I get to you you'll wish you'd never come at all. Am I understood?" Bella nodded, unable to feel any part of her body but her face where his breath was gusting over her skin. It made her feel alive. But he looked at her in disgust before backing away. She looked back at him, biting back words and tears and everything that she knew she would feel if she could just get the numbness out of her blood. She watched at his eyes skidded over her from head to foot and back again. "You're not pregnant." He remarked, and Bella held back the sarcastic, "Oh, well done!" that instantly sprang into her mouth and shook her head. "It's just as well." He said, walking past her and putting his hand on the doorknob. "With you as a mother I'd hate to think what kind of monster that child would grow up to be." He opened the door and was greeted by loud cheers, and even applause. Bella waited until the door had closed before sliding down the wall and burying her face in her hands, the tears breaking out from her eyes and spilling over her skin.

She disapparated without saying goodbye to Karen – she couldn't face going back into that room. She apparated onto her bed at home, pressing her face into her pillow and bawling. She didn't even try to hold the tears back, she just let it all go. The twins joined in, howling from their crib and Bella got up from her bed to cradle the boys in her arms, holding them close, crying harder than she had for a very, very long time. She didn't blame Draco for being so hateful, but that didn't stop it hurting. She muttered another fresh-face charm, knowing that her makeup must be smeared everywhere by now. Then she kissed Kasper and Sebastian on their tiny baby foreheads, one by one. She took them back over to her bed, laying them down next to her and lying in her side, looking at them. As she stopped crying they did too and looked at their mother silently. Sebastian kicked his legs and gurgled a little half-laugh at the expression on his mum's face. Kaspar just looked at her. She reached out a hand to touch him and her did likewise, clutching at one of her fingers and holding on tight. Bella laughed, the sound cracking but unmistakeably a laugh, after a fashion. She offered her boys the weakest of smiles. "Please don't grow up and hate me, like your daddy did." She whispered the words, looking at her children, begging them, though they couldn't understand. "Please don't hate me." She sighed and lay on her back, wondering if Draco and Asteria were married yet. Then she wondered if Karen had realised that she'd left. It then occurred to her that what Draco had said as he walked away didn't make sense. "It's just as well." Did Draco realise that she had had two babies? It dawned on her that he must have thought she'd had a termination. He must have done, otherwise his words just didn't make sense. She huffed a small sigh of... of what? Relief? Oddly that's exactly what it was. She resolved then and there not to enlighten him. He needn't know. She looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and groaned. It was only 12am. How she wished the days away, hoping that time would pass by easily, without too much trouble or effort.

It rarely did.

So that's chapter 2! Hopefully you're at least wondering how Bella got herself into this mess, and panic not, it will all become clear... Between this chapter and the next there may well be a significant time jump... I'll let you know! Read and review, thanks!

xxx