"Alright, well your parents would not have been the only ones in the room when you were born" Draco said, more than a little uncomfortable at the bomb shell she had just dropped. He was never very good at comforting anyone in times of crisis. Blaise or Theo he could just hand firewhiskey to, Pansy demanded he hold her and hand her his handkerchief. Merlin, Granger would not want that would she? Firewhiskey he could do… he began searching frantically.

When she did not make a sound he dared sneak a peek at her. She was just staring in to the fire. What she had just told him would have shattered most women, hell, most men too, but she just seemed determined to hold it all in.

Was it Gryffindor bravery? Or something else? And did it make him a complete lecher to be standing there admiring the way the fire light brought out gold highlights in her hair?

He noticed he was staring and continued searching for the firewhiskey bottle. Why could he never find alcohol when he actually needed the damned stuff?

"Granger?" he dared continue handing her a glass of the firewhiskey he had finally found stuffed behind one of the couch cushions. Damned Theodore Nott. That was where that arse had been sitting last. They would be having a long conversation about where alcohol was to be replaced next time he visited.

Nodding her thanks she said "Doctors. Nurses."

"Fleebles. Sleeznols. I can make up words too Granger. What are you on about?" He sat across from her with his own drink.

"No, doctors and nurses are muggle healers. They would have been present at the hospital when my mother gave birth to me." She looked at him amused.

"Well then, all we have to do is locate the hospital you were born in, find the healers who were present and prove the circumstances of your birth. Just like that your bow becomes a birthmark and the issue is laid to rest." She rolled her eyes at how smug he looked.

She did not have to wonder at why he was so eager to assist her. The matter of the mark on her hand had clearly unsettled him. IF it was a soul mark and IF it was a match to his… no… the ramifications of that were enough to forge a temporary alliance of convenience.

"In the meantime," she suggested "I would find out who your actually match is, that will settle your situation."

He nodded "How will you find out information in to the circumstances of your own birth? Do muggles have their own Ministry?"

"Of a sort, but I will start by going to my muggle home. I kept everything there. My father's home office should have all of our paperwork, and it is time I settled our affairs. Harry has been after me to make some final decisions anyway, and now is as good a time as any." She stared in to the now empty glass.

He was glad he was not having to make final arrangements for his own parents. His father was a an aresehole, loser tosser who had sold them out to a madman, but he was still his father. And his mother was the light of his life. One he now had to protect from any further machinations of the aforementioned arsehole, loser tosser. It would have been better for them all if his father had served a nice long stint in Azkaban but the Ministry had decided against it in light of their defection at the end of the war.

Not wanting to examine why the thought of Harry Potter assisting her with this bothered him, he ignored it and refilled her glass. It really wasn't any of his business, he reminded himself. Which is why it surprised both of them when he said "I will take you, Harry is out of town on Auror training and the quicker this gets handled the better."

Nodding, she said "Alight, we can go this weekend."

If she thought him a madman for wanting to go with her she at least had the good graces to keep her thoughts to herself. Or maybe it was the firewhiskey. Or maybe she thought it was the firewhiskey he had consumed.

Whatever, he would take it.

With a plan in place they both went upstairs to bed.

The next day Draco owled his mother asking to meet with her regarding the mark on his pinky.

He received an almost immediate response asking for him to meet with her at a restaurant for dinner to discuss it that same night.

As Narcissa was not known to do anything immediately, this struck Draco as extraordinarily odd. Nothing was an emergency to the woman who made plans weeks in advance for something as simple as shoe shopping.

Narcissa insisted on meeting in an establishment known not only for its exclusivity, but also for protecting the privacy of its patrons. Each table was protected by the best silencing and darkness spells. Narcissa embraced and kissed her only child, pleased to still be able to do so. There was a time in the very recent past when she had not been so certain she would see him live to adulthood. That he would ever have his own children to love as fiercely as she loved him.

"Draco, why the sudden interest in your mark? You have never shown the slightest interest before now?" she asked after pleasantries had been exchanged.

"I have met someone with the same mark mother, but… it is unlikely, I am trying to prove it is not the mate to mine." He knew he was babbling, but could not seem to help it.

Narcissa had never seen her son look so flustered. But in this she could at least set his mind at ease. "I can tell you, Draco, it may look similar, but there can be no doubt it is not the mate to yours, the child born with the mate to yours died as an infant. She was murdered in her cradle. That is why I wanted to meet here. It was a highly publicized affair. There is no gain in bringing up that very painful event again. Her parents would not thank us for it."

Gain, of course his mother would couch it in those terms first. That was after all the pureblood way. Well, the aristocratic pureblood way, he corrected, thinking about some of the lower class purebloods he knew. He doubted the Weasleys thought that way. Or that Loony Lovegood.

Still… murdered as an infant… Draco was stunned by this news. Then there was no possibility Granger, even if she did turn out to be some long lost pureblood princess was his soul mate. "Who… who was she?"

"Draco… it really no longer matters, the mark is now no more than a curiosity. You are not bound by it any more than any other birthmark, I suggest you put it behind you. This other young lady and her soul mark, she has a young man, or woman, these things can go either way you know, who she is the perfect mate for, waiting for her. You are off the hook so to speak. Leave it alone." Narcissa patted her son's hand fondly.

"I... won't go stirring up trouble mother, I just wish to know."

"Oh, very well" Narcissa never could deny her son anything "The young lady who was murdered was the twin of a young lady in your year, Daphne Greengrass, her name was Astoria Greengrass."

Draco could not get Astoria out of his mind. The woman who would have been perfect for him. Smart. More than smart. His intellectual equal in all ways. She would challenge him. His thoughts, his ideals. She would be beautiful. With long wavy brown hair. Snarky. Brave. He stopped when he realized he was describing and picturing Hermione Granger.

Not his soul mate. Someone else's. His was dead and buried.