"Happy Halloween, Draco!" Camera smiled when I entered work that morning. The office was decorated with floating candles and artificial ghouls that said hauntings. "Let me guess? You're a workaholic cynic?"

"Funny." I spat, looking at her outfit. "A hooker?"

"No silly, Cher!"

"Who?" I questioned, confused.

"She's a Muggle singer from my Mum's era." The curly haired blonde told me. I noticed a purple mark on her throat but didn't comment. "So the Bulstrode trial's coming up and then you're taking a two week vacation?"

"Yeah." I told her, picking up a biscuit from the open tin on her desk. "I'm going to need a break after that bloody mess and Mexico City is lovely this time of year."

"Is Greengrass accompanying you on this trip?"

"These biscuits are dry." I told her, smirking.

She threw her head back and laughed as I walked away. "Okay, I get it!"

I sat down at my desk and saw a flier from a reporter wanting an interview. Astoria came to my mind, making me sigh. She'd spent the last couple of nights crying herself to sleep at my flat while her apartment was getting a leak fixed, trying to hide it but failing miserably.

"Gerald, your wife just had a child a year back?"

"Yes Sir." The long haired, Muggle hippie looking wizard told me. "Why do you ask?"

"Did she ever have fits of tears for days on end while she was carrying?"

"You bet."

"Is there a way to stop it?" I asked, desperate.

"Nope."

So much for paying it to go away. I rubbed my face tiredly, hoping it would end soon. I was losing so much sleep over not knowing what was wrong with Astoria that it was going to kill me during the upcoming trial.

"Malfoy." Derrick walked up, looking at me. "How's it going?"

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to ignore him. I had checked the animagus registry at the Ministry and found out the man was one. A Persian, white feline at that. I couldn't necessarily prove it, but if the git ever broke into my flat again I was going to murder him.

"I wanted to apologize on behalf of my family for our actions concerning the Laureen files."

"I don't know what you're talking about. If I did, I wouldn't discuss it here because it's a personal matter and we are at work. I suggest you follow that piece of advice, Boy."

He strolled away sheepishly, obviously intimidated. That's how I wanted it. I walked to Sebastien's office to give him updates on the Gisele Case when my eyes fell on another man sitting in a chair. I had met Andrew Wathen once before when he had practically run me down after a rape case we had won based on circumstantial evidence. I found out afterward the victim had been a cousin of his and the only reason he'd gone into the field was to attempt to get her justice. Sadly, we were on the rapists side. The large framed, older Scottish male looked, his eyes cold.

"Speak of Morgana, here's the devil now."

"Draco, close the door." My employer ordered nonchalantly. I followed his orders, hesitant. "Take a seat. Wathen came by for a visit about the article I'm attempting to get Greengrass to write for our charity ball."

"Really? She hadn't mentioned it to me." I stated truthfully. Astoria hadn't told me much the past few days. I sensed an arse kissing coming from my boss but didn't look like I expected it. Wathen just glared at me as if I were at fault for everything in his life.

"Yes, well, apparently she hasn't yet agreed to it and I'm hoping to get particular interest in it this year." Sebastien tried to appear cool but I knew he was freaked out. Gerald had already screwed Sumner's Case up so much he was resorting to convince Astoria's readers that he was the good guy. "I see you've applied for two weeks vacation after the Bulstrode Case. I was going to deny it but I might be able to make an exception if you were to persuade Greengrass a little? Mister Wathen said you two were dating"-

"Where he gets his knowledge is beyond me." I stated unwisely. Apparently arse kissing was out-of-date and black mail was the chosen weapon for this interrogation.

"I have a liable source saying that you two are romantically involved." The thick accented man stated.

"And how can you be sure your source is right?" I shot, not wanting my private life to make the papers. My parents were already angry enough with me.

"Because her sister is as reliable as your going to get." The man spat, annoyed.

"Anyways," Sebastien began, trying to stop the oncoming argument. "Could you mention it to her? It would make my life simpler. If I'm happy, you're happy."

"I won't be if this is going to upset her." I spoke smoothly, sensing that Astoria's bad mood was caused by her employer. "And I don't know how she'll take it since she's been going to bed early every night this week from the stress load at work."

"You would probably be aware of that since it's been at your flat." Wathen spat, rising. "I need to go. I have a job to do."

"Hopefully it doesn't include harassing the mother of my child anymore." I stated, staring him in the eye. "I don't know what you did to her but it needs to stop, Wathen."

"Draco, no mixing personal and business!" Sebastien hissed, seeing any political truce he had negotiated go down the drain. I could care less.

"That isn't going to happen soon if she keeps opening her legs for the likes of you." The Scottish man snapped, silencing my employer. If I didn't hate the man I would have congratulated him. "I'm shocked she's allowing a filthy bigot to have so much control over her. I'll respect the fact Tori's carrying your kid but that's no excuse. She deserves better than a Death Eater that works too much to please one of his own."

Wathen walked out of the office, slamming the door behind him. His words stung like Polyjuice Potion. I pulled my left sleeve down subconsciously as Sebastien sighed.

"There goes a week of lying my arse off. Good job, Malfoy. We defiantly needed Wathen to have a reason to hate this firm. I thought you knocking up his prized writer was enough." The red head man looked at my face, reading my thoughts. "You should have seen it coming, Boy. The Greengrass's may be bigots but they are reputation caring people. I'm glad you're finding out how the little slag plays now and not later."

My face went red as he spoke the words. "Am I allowed to differ from the thoughts of the firm for the fact she's carrying my child?"

Sebastien sighed and looked me in the eye. "There is a difference between shagging and love making. Chemistry, hormones and territorial claims may go into both, but the final determination is knowing if you can live without that person or not. If Greengrass wasn't sleeping with you and carrying your heir, would you give a damn about her?"

"I don't know." I answered truthfully, my voice shaking as the answer formed in my head.

He leaned back, pulling out a bottle of Scotch and making two glasses appear. He filled them both and slid one to me while taking the other one for himself. "Second thought, take the vacation time whether Greengrass does the report or not. I have a feeling you'll need it."

I choked the liquor down and left the office before my pride could crumble down at his feet like it had so many times before.

*HarryPotter!*HarryPotter*!HarryPotter*

Blaise and Astoria were playing a game of Gobstones. The female's robes were soaked with ink from the game, her brow furrowed as she made a hit. Another squirt of ink was flung at her and she sighed, leaning back and catching me at the door. Her eyes were red as if she'd already started crying for the night and her skin sickly pale. It reminded me of the look I took on during sixth year and the one's the Foresters wore so well.

"Hey, it's eleven o'clock." She told me. "Long night?"

"Trial's about to begin so I'm going to have a lot of long nights." I noticed that she'd recolored her hair. Copper and black strands weaved throughout her long ponytail now, adding a jaundice appearance to her skin. "How's the leak at your flat yielding?"

"It's not. They said repair could take any amount of time. Bloody hell, Blaise! How do you keep winning?"

"I was on the team all seven years of school, Tori." My Mate told her, smirking. "Want to freeze the squirting and add a new rule? Loser strips an article of clothing each turn?"

I grabbed a bottle of Fire Whiskey from our liquor cabinet, already needing it just from being in the room with her for three seconds. "I'm going to put some files up and then head to bed."

"I'll head out then." Blaise announced, taking a last shot. "Amy's meeting up with me at the Retro Club again. I'll probably be at her place tonight so don't wait up for me."

"You act like I ever do." I told him coldly, unhappy about him deserting me.

I unloaded the paperwork onto my desk and began to sort through it, scratching at my left wrist. I stopped and glanced at it, sitting back in my chair as I pulled the sleeve of my robe down. The skull stared at me in reminder, making my head hurt. This thing had caused me so much trouble with my career in the past eight years that it was unbelievable. I had been turned down by nine firms before Sebastien accepted me, fortunately unbiased to Death Eaters since his top magical clients were.

And now it was causing me problems in my personal life. It shocked the hell out of me that Astoria had been so bold with her opinion on the mark the second night we shagged. Pansy hadn't even shown so much acceptance to it and her father was one. But finding out what exactly she was dealing with because of a stupid, naive decision made me doubt my judgment on the action. Was Astoria unafraid of the symbol or that determined to keep a decent relationship with me for our child's sake? And where exactly was this relationship headed any bloody way? Was it just physical attraction like Sebastien had said? And what about our child's life? It would bear my name and the burden of letting everyone know what it's father and previous lineage was guilty of.

"You look exhausted." Astoria looked at me, her loose hair wet from a recent shower. She had on a green, silk camisole and black bed shorts. Despite her skin tone, her flesh looked warm and inviting.

"Give me a few minutes." I said in monotone, refusing to look at her eyes. She went to take a step into my office but I stopped her. "The last time you were in here, you almost cost me my job."

Her face went tense at my words. "Funny, I could have sworn you were over that. At least enough to shag me."

"Can you really just drop the melodramatics? I already have enough on my plate."

Astoria mouthed the word 'melodramatics' and her face went red. "Draco Malfoy had a bad day like everyone else in the bloody world! Someone publish an announcement in the Prophet! Instead of brushing it off like the rest of the world, everyone must know! It's no different than my first year when you provoked that hippogriff into attacking you and Lucius responding by wanting the thing executed! It's petty and naive and so is the way your speaking to me right now. "

"Says the woman that conveniently allowed herself to get knocked up so she can show it off at her sisters wedding? Sort of like you shagged Travis when Daphne took interest in him in school?" If looks could kill, I would have been a corpse on the spot. Instead a mirror in my office broke. I looked at Astoria and her tear filled her eyes as she stormed from my office doorway. I heard panes in my widows shatter and a vase Blaise's mother had gotten us for Christmas exploded. I followed her to my room to find her pulling on pants and a tee-shirt. "What the bloody hell was that for!"

"Since I'm such an childish nag, I won't burden you any longer!" She grabbed her bag and pushed past me, heading for the door.

"And what that hell is that suppose to mean?" I bellowed as Astoria opened my door. Part of me wanted to stop her but my pride welled to push her away.

She looked at me, the look of rage and hurt so intense that it made my chest hurt.

"It means I'm done! Obviously you haven't changed at all. You're just like you were in school. The stupid, ignorant school boy who had his Dad buy his House brooms to get on the Quidditch team. You're arrogant, cruel and evil for protecting horrible people like Sumner and Bulstrode for your employer's reputation! How you could have convinced me that you had any decency or chance of raising our child is beyond my knowledge! If nothing else, I'm glad I found this out early on!"

The woman walked out of my doorway and bumped into my roommate, who had returned early. He looked at me, confused. "What was that about!"

"Apparently I'm an evil shrewd that isn't viewed as worth a damn by her political writings." I spat, feeling my eyes begin to water with anger.

"Well duh! But when did that matter to you two any before now?" Blaise shot, looking at me incredulously. "Go after her!"

I stormed to my room, ignoring his order. I turned off my light as my head began to hurt and laid on my bed. The smell of Astoria's body soap on my sheets made me want to double over as a knot formed in my stomach. I went to my office in an attempt to avoid it. I sat down at my desk, popped the bottle of Fire Whiskey on my desk opened and chugged as it burned my throat. When I was finished, I turned to my work and plan on pulling an all-niter and sleeping of my couch. An hour passed when Blaise opened the door and looked at me.

"What happened?" I held my hand up for him to wait a minute and hurriedly put up all of the Bulstrode files then motioned for him to come in."You and your bloody pride. Do you always have to be right?"

"I don't love her and I'm not marrying her. Why should I put up with the slag?" I spat, rubbing my face. "This isn't a court case, Mate. You can't use bad character against the woman carrying your spawn!" Blaise's jaw tensed as I spoke. "Go find her and talk it out!"

"Since when were you Cupid?" I shook my head, my face burning as the tears streamed down her face.

"She's been incriminating my law office for years, broke into my apartment and manipulated me. I don't need to deal with this right now."

The man crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. "Is that what dear Sebastien said?"

"He made me see the bloody light." I told him matter-of-factly. "She's not worth it."

"Really? So if I find a dame that shags well I should be able to connect with her how you two do? I'll get that sparkle in my eye that you do every time you see Tori?" Blaise shot. "Draco, I was your friend in school and an now your roommate. I know you past the dress suites and overtime that Schwinger sees. Apparently, so does she or else she wouldn't have put up with a two week separation due to work. You're right, I'm the last bloke to tell you about relationships. But don't throw this thing away unless you're certain you don't want it!"

"I don't want it." I wiped my face and stared at him, the alcohol making my mouth move. I lifted my wrist and shook it at him. "I don't want her to spend another week crying because she's trying to convince Wathen that I'm not a savage bigot. I don't want her to drop all of her opinions over my position at Sebastien's office. I don't want it... to put so much into it again and then lose all of it in a bloody second!"

A thick silence filled the air as I admitted my fears. Blaise looked at me and sighed.

"Pansy was a bitch for what she did, and Tori's as hurt in that department as you are. Hell, the bloke that cheated on her married the witch! Draco, don't throw it away because of what one slag did to you. Slow it down if you need too but don't scratch it out completely unless you're sure you want to throw it away."

My headache gained strength when he finished and I moaned, rubbing my eyes. Blaise pulled me up and walked me to my room, ordering me to 'fix my bloody messes' in the morning. I laid down and inhaled, the smell of vanilla and honeysuckle filling my nose. If it wasn't for the alcohol I was sure I wouldn't have gotten any sleep that night.