Satisfied that Draco was in competent hands, Hermione and Harry left to continue the rounds of small talk with important people, but more importantly give Draco some time with the friends he didn't realize he still had from his childhood.

Daphne introduced Draco to Jean-Christophe Chastain, her French pureblooded husband, after shaming Draco for not recognizing him from their nuptial announcement in the paper immediately following the Battle of Hogwarts. Draco didn't have it in him to remind her that he was on the run trying to broker his way to freedom in her beau's homeland so he apologized with heavy sarcasm instead and all was well.

That Daphne was gay went unmentioned.

Theo took over the conversation from there, catching Draco up on news that the Golden Duo wouldn't have known or thought to share – who left after the war and cut all communication (Blaise), who had died (Goyle, who took his own life after losing Draco as well), who went to prison (pretty much everyone from their parents' generation, minus those who died in battle), who was married (that list was even longer) – and it was then that Draco noticed how Astoria leaned in to Theo's arm as he spoke.

"Including yourselves, then," he remarked, earning a blush from Astoria, his once-upon-a-time betrothed, and a smirk from his once-upon-a-time roommate. I'm glad she didn't wait around, she and Theo are a good match.

But all Theo said in response was that "A lot's changed in three years."

He went on to tell Draco about his work at Gringott's, having taken a reprieve from the magic world to pursue a degree in finances and come back ready to take the magical world by storm through investment banking. But at that exact moment Draco, who would have normally been interested to learn about security capitals, was distracted as a group of men walked into their general view and he was finally able to ask the question that had been lingering in the back of his head all evening.

"So help me to understand here, Potter dated the youngest Weasley while they were trying to get me out of prison, but he also dated that guy?" Draco asked, pointing discretely to Marcus, who was laughing and looking every bit the part of a French lover from across the lawn. Theo said nothing, but quirked an eyebrow at the shift in conversation. Astoria however took the bait and, having had a front row seat to the whole thing, began explaining.

"Harry asked Ginny to be your sponsor in the spring when he was rejected and she was absolutely opposed to it and refused. They tried to stay together after that but in early June they split. It was really public and absolutely terrible," Astoria recounted, having been in Diagon Alley that day in the crowd surrounding the pair and their very public separation.

"Harry and Marcus met at a Bastille Day party and hit it off. They went out once or twice if I remember, but that would have been mid-July and then all of the pieces started falling into place for getting you released, and Harry was too distracted. Didn't help that Marcus was probably his rebound," Astoria concluded, echoing something Hermione had said the last time the two had discussed it.

"So Potter's gay?" Draco said, almost slipping and referring to Harry by his first name. He turned to Daphne for this question, trusting her to know for certain one way or another.

"Alas, no."

It was Jean-Christophe, Daphne's husband, who chimed in there. It was then that her earlier reaction, the shrug and the wink, made sense. He's gay too! Pleased to have made sense of that, Draco nodded and continued examining Marcus.

"He's not your type, Jean," Daphne joked in a quiet voice, earning a snicker from Theo and Astoria who knew very well what type their brother-in-law was. Draco felt somewhat outside the moment but he would get the references and the hidden meaning again over time. Being with people who wanted to have him back in their lives made it all alright.

. . . . .

Jean and Daphne stayed a bit longer but a cousin of Jean's came into sight and the two had to leave in the other direction, lest said cousin try and join them for the evening. Draco promised to write with a quick kiss to Daphne's cheek and then she was gone.

"You know, I had kind of hoped to see Pansy here tonight," Draco admitted to Astoria, who might have some idea where his best friend was. Astoria looked at him confused, said "She is though," and pointed over towards the main house.

Draco starred into the crowd until finally after three unsuccessful scans he found a black head of hair he had missed so much, even if it did make owning white furniture impractical. Astoria took his arm and beckoned to Theo, walking the pair of them up the lawn towards the riotous laughter that could come from only one woman.

"We all got back from Paris the night before last," Astoria was telling him, detailing how they were touring Europe as part of her engagement party and how Draco had better be at the wedding rehearsal because now that he was a free man there was no escaping being part of the wedding party now.

Draco nodded absentmindedly, more excited to see Pansy after all the time apart. That her father had so publicly condemned him at his parole hearing had him worried that she wouldn't want to be anywhere near him but Draco had to know.

"Get back here you minx."

Draco stopped walking and breathing as he watched with eyes as wide as saucers Ron fucking Weasley pick up his best friend, twirled her around and kissed her face. Astoria was saying something but Draco couldn't hear it over the rushing in his ears and the thousands of questions swirling around his head. It wasn't until Hermione suddenly appeared at his side and gripped his hand tightly to pull him out of his own head that Draco could vocalize his confusion, although it came out as more of a squawk.

"How?"

Hermione laughed at the tiny voice that Draco used, which caught the attention of Ron and Pansy. Without any hesitation, Pansy untangled herself from Weasley and threw herself into Draco's arms. Hermione backed away to let the two friends reconnect and joined Ron at his side, her hand open. He grumbled and slipped a galleon into it.

"Bloody tosser couldn't have just yelled at me?" Ron muttered, watching his girlfriend hugging his childhood bully with a half-hearted scowl, crossing his arms in fake protest.

"Oh, I'm sure it will come," Hermione assured him, patting him on his elevated forearm in mock reassurance.

. . . . .

Hermione hugged Pansy briefly before dragging Ron off to find Harry, again giving Draco privacy to reconnect with his friends. He would have to be sure to thank her in the morning.

"Really, Pans? Weasley?" Draco asked, pulling his proffered arm into his and escorting her around the lawn, watching her as she responded. She looked good; she'd been spiraling badly into anxiety during Draco's sixth year, aware he was doing something but never fully clued in to his plans. Back then, she had deep lines under her eyes hidden by makeup no one else could see under but him.

Now, he couldn't see the demons in her eyes or under them.

"He's a darling so you shut it."

Draco needled Pansy into telling him more, how she could possibly settle for the youngest son of the poorest pureblooded family in the Sacred 28 but she merely replied that given his parole conditions, Draco might not be one to cast stones for money's sake.

Well, fuck if she isn't right.

"It was bad after you left," Pansy whispered, her usually smug disposition faltering slightly. Draco squeezed her hand and gave her the smile he only used for her, and she smiled back. "We lost Crabbe during the Battle and after we lost you to Azkaban, we lost Goyle too. It was really hard to be a Slytherin in the aftermath. Daphne signed up for an arranged marriage just to escape the country. Blaise just disappeared one day, moved back to Italy and doesn't keep in touch."

Draco nodded softly, having heard most of this already, encouraging her to keep going.

"At first I figured there was no hope for me, no one for me. You'd sneer at the volume and variety of men I took to trying to hide my pain after everything was said and done," Pansy said in a challenging tone. Draco though, from years of friendship with the witch and now weeks of shared living space with Hermione, refused to take the bait.

"And Weasley?"

Pansy sighed again. "He knew Hermione and I had become somewhat friends after Hogwarts, and one night we had drank too much in muggle London to apparate home. She called Ron because he lived nearby in their old flat and asked him to drive us home. I was so jealous that her best friend was still there, the best friend she dated and loved but wasn't with any more, but mine wasn't. After Ron dropped Hermione back off to her flat, I told him as much."

Draco could just imagine it, too: Pansy, make up running down her face because she always cried when she yelled because her body just couldn't not do both. Her hair askew because of course she was probably waving her arms around like a lunatic because she's never been a very good drinker, despite her adamant belief to the contrary.

"I woke up in his bed the next morning, a hangover potion and some water on the bedside table. Turns out I yelled until I cried and cried until I fell asleep in his car. Not knowing what to do with me, he gave me his bed and took the couch. I insisted on repaying him with brunch, if only to assuage my guilt for acting like a complete loon. I really have gotten better at holding my alcohol though," Pansy added, convincing no one.

Draco smiled softly as she started recounting her first visit to the Burrow ("Such an awful name for an ancestral home, it pretty much confirms your poverty for anyone uncertain") and Ron meeting her parents ("He admitted later that Hermione stayed up with him the whole night prior, drilling him on proper eating etiquette and pureblood traditions she'd learned from your mother"). Pansy may have chosen the poorest man she could find but she found someone who made her smile that smile only Draco used to get, and as much as it bothered him that it had to be Weasley, Draco would get used to it because Pansy deserved it.

"And so help me if you make things difficult Draco Lucius Malfoy, I will cut your manhood up like sashimi and feed it to you."

Draco winced, gulped and nodded, not doubting that she might actually try if he did.