First, I'd like to say that you guys, yes, you guys that read this story are way awesome. Thank you guys so much and I hope I keep entertaining you. Second… I don't have a second point. That was pretty much it.

Chapter 16

The afternoon was clear and bright at the Malfoy Manor. Birds were chirping and a blissful stillness was upon the place. The flowers turned their faces to the sun, soaking up all its glory. Each individual blades of grass danced in the breeze, swaying to and fro.

"What the hell are you doing here, Garrison?" Draco asked, scowling angrily at Alex's perfectly at ease form in the foyer.

"I do believe I'm not trespassing, Malfoy," Alex replied with a chuckle. "I informed Azalea of my visit and was let in by one of your quite adorable house elves. That's grounds for welcome, wouldn't you say?"

"You were never welcome here."

"Oh, I would have to disagree," Alex said, thoroughly blasé about having to deal with Draco. "It was your parents who invited my parents and me to the lovely ball last night. Had you forgotten?"

"No, I have not forgotten!" Draco fumed. "Do you take me for some sort of idiot?"

Alex swept an uncaring glance over at Draco and scoffed. "I prefer not to comment."

"Why, you-ˮ

"Hi, Alex."

The two men turned towards the staircase and watched Azalea walk over to them. Azalea was beamed a sunny smile at Alex. Alex gave Draco a triumphant grin to which Draco rolled his eyes.

"It's so nice for you to come and visit," Azalea said, giving Alex a hug.

"Anything for you, Zale," Alex said charmingly.

"Zale?" Draco asked and snorted with laughter. Alex frowned. "That's cute."

"Draco," Azalea said warningly.

"Right, well, the bloke's here, he's visited," Draco said, stepping in between Alex and Azalea, pushing them apart, "now he leaves."

"Actually," Alex said, stepping around Draco and back into Azalea's field of vision, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch, Azalea."

"She can't," Draco answered, totally cutting off Azalea who was about to answer. "She and my mother are going shopping in Diagon Alley and I'm accompanying them."

"You are?" Azalea asked, quite surprised by the obviously new development.

"Yes, I am," Draco whispered to her.

"What about dinner then?" Alex persisted.

"She can't either," Draco said, cutting off Azalea again. "It's my mother's birthday and we are all going out to dinner together later. So sorry."

"Tomorrow then, Azalea?" Alex continued.

"She can't," Draco answered abruptly.

"I can't?" Azalea asked, shocked.

"Why not?" Alex asked, getting quite irritated.

"I… am… taking her somewhere," Draco said with a definitive nod.

"Where?" Alex asked, attempting to reign in his annoyance.

"I… don't know… yet," Draco answered, "but I will."

Alex glared angrily at Draco. Draco glowered back. They each performed their own part in the stare down perfectly, refusing to concede to the other. Azalea looked from Draco to Alex and back. She watched the disdain and scorn in their faces as they scowled at each other. They really seem to dislike each other, Azalea thought to herself. How odd.

"Is there something here I should know about?" Azalea asked.

"Not a thing," Draco answered, not taking his eyes off Alex's face. "Like I said, Garrison was just leaving."

"Until next time, then, Zale," Alex said to Azalea, breaking his stare with Draco. "I'll owl you," he looked back to Draco with contempt. "That's acceptable to you, isn't it?"

"I'm not going to interfere with the various activities you do with your hands," Draco sneered.

Alex's glare blackened.

"Are you going to explain to me what on earth was going on in that foyer today?" Azalea asked, skimming through informal t-shirts.

"Don't worry about it," Draco said nonchalantly, following behind her, touching everything, bored.

Narcissa had gone to the second floor of the shop to browse at the cocktail dresses. Azalea opted to stay on the first floor and peruse the informal clothes. Draco stayed with Azalea, bored out of his wit. He had taken to touching every single piece of merchandise, successfully pissing off the clerks and store owners. This only made Draco do it more.

"You seem to really dislike him."

"And?"

"Well, why?" Azalea questioned, watching him try on a pair of women's sunglasses. He looked like a batty old git.

"He's a smarmy egomaniac, that's why," Draco answered, placing the sunglasses back, tossing a sun hat on his head, and unfolding a silk scarf.

"You don't even know him."

"And you do?" Draco scoffed, whipping off the sun hat and tying two long scarves together.

"I know enough," Azlaea answered, watching him try to skip rope with the scarves. She rolled her eyes and pulled it away from him. "Will you stop that? The clerks will hex you into next Tuesday if you keep this up."

"Let him try," Draco said, nodding to the store keeper who was staring daggers at him. "I can buy all this rubbish if I want."

"It is not rubbish, Draco," Azalea said, giving him a look, "it's called merchandise."

"It'll be rubbish in a year or so," Draco argued. "Why do you need so much junk?"

"I am a woman," Azalea announced. "It is my duty to keep the wizarding economy afloat by buying aesthetically pleasing merchandise."

"It's all crap," Draco muttered.

Azalea gave him an ill tempered look. "Why are you fighting with Alex, Draco?"

Draco sighed and gave her a look. Azalea raised her eyebrow at him. "You honestly don't know?"

"I'm not a mind reader," Azalea rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself," Draco said, walking past her. "And if you can't, then I'll just have to try harder so you do."

Azalea stared after him. What the hell was he talking about? What was she supposed to figure out? What will he try harder to do? How did that have anything to do with Alex? Did it have anything to do with Alex at all?

"Did you intend for that to be so confusing?" Azalea demanded.

"I'm a complicated guy," he smirked. "Aren't you lucky?"

Soft classical music floated through the room. The door was thrown open, letting the piano concerto float lazily out into the hall. Azalea sat in front of a mirror, brushing her long hair slowly and methodically. Draco leaned on the doorframe, crossed his arms over his chest, and watched her, grinning widely.

"What do you want?" Azalea asked without a glance at him.

"You've been brushing your hair for fifteen minutes," Draco commented.

"You have a problem with my hair brushing regimen?"

"A bit."

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me, Azalea," Draco chuckled.

"Do you need something," she asked, putting the brush down and turning to him.

Draco walked into the room, not taking his eyes off her. She had no reason to fancy him. She had a nice tame man waiting in the wings for her. It didn't matter that he was a no good, twisted pervert. Azalea only saw him for the sweet and charming man he acts like he is. Draco would rather lick a horse's arse before he lets Azalea go to that brute. He spied her coat tossed precariously over the back of one chair. He picked it up and tossed it to her.

"What the hell, Draco?" Azalea asked, quite annoyed.

"Come with me," he said simply.

"What? Where?"

"Trust me, come on," Draco said, pulling her to her feet.

"No," Azalea argued, resisting the tugging. "It's dark outside. You know, night has fallen."

"I'm not going to rape you," Draco rolled his eyes.

"Well, you know, I wasn't thinking of that," Azalea squealed, pulling her hands from his grasp, "but now I'm thinking you might."

"Are you mental?" Draco demanded.

"Your parents will murder us if they find that we left without telling them," Azalea reasoned.

"They won't even know we're gone," Draco grinned. "Come on. Don't you trust me?"

Azalea raised an eyebrow at him. What is he planning in his head? The grin on his face made Azalea want to trust him. What could he possibly come up with that was disastrous? It was Draco. He was technically harmless. Right?

"If we get penalized for this, I'll hurt you," Azalea warned him.

"I can't wait," he grinned.

Azalea gave him a dirty look and grabbed his arm. "Well, if we're going, let's go because I do not want to get caught."

"I love it when they get bossy," Draco sighed in a satisfied manner.

"Draco!"

Draco chuckled and Apparated away, taking Azalea with him. Azalea felt like she was being sucked through a straw while being twisted into and out of herself at the same time. It was the most unpleasant way of wizarding travel but the quickest way so she had to ignore the discomfort and wait for it to be over.

Lucius looked into Azalea's room just as the pair Apparated away. He raised an eyebrow. Should he pursue them? There was no telling what Draco was planning or trying to do. There was no telling what Azalea would do to Draco should he try something. It was a potentially disastrous situation and he knew it. A responsible parent would pursue them. He would scold them until dawn about leaving without permission or even notice. A father would make them swear never to repeat such shenanigans ever again.

Then he remembered the way Draco looked at Azalea ever since he came out of his delusion. He looked at her as if she was a wonderful jewel that he would only be lucky to be close to acquiring. It was strange to see his son so obviously smitten. Lucius thin frown transformed into a grin. He closed the door of Azalea's room and walked away, intending to head to the kitchens and brew tea.

It was dark. Green lawns stretched out everywhere. Azalea tried to figure out why Draco would bring her to an empty field.

"Why the hell are we in an empty field?"

"Turn around, princess," Draco rolled his eyes.

Azalea sighed as if she had all sorts of better things to do than deal with this. She turned around and stared at a quaint little children's play place. Swings sets beckoned to them, slides called to them, and seesaws waved at them. It seemed ironic to be there at night. The joy the place usually evokes seemed to deflate when it was dark and there was nobody around. There was a sense of aloneness seeing the place so deserted. There was a sense of despair at not hearing children's laughter that usually came with a playground.

"What are we doing here, Draco?" Azalea asked him.

"We have everything we could ever hope to have, Azalea," Draco said quietly. "Giving gifts that truly makes a person who already has everything is difficult business. But I remember being a child and feel the unending jubilation that came with childhood. I loved the playground and I think you did as well.

"We're growing older and there's nothing we can do about that. Pretty soon, I'll have to take over the tasks and jobs that my father has. Pretty soon, I'll have to start a family," he continued, looking out into the playground as if trying to memorize it. "But before I give myself up to the monotony of everyday life, I want to go back a little bit to the part of my life where a little thing such as a swing set would make me happy."

He then took a look at her. "Haven't you ever done that?" he asked. "Wished you could go back to the part of your life where you were most happy?"

Azalea stared blankly at him. The instances when Draco would get so deep and philosophical always surprised her. It almost always came out of nowhere and Azalea never knew how to respond to it. She didn't know what to say now. He was right, of course. The playground was one of the fondest memories she had when she was a child. She had once or twice gone back to the playground and just sat, watching the children run around, the look of absolute mirth alive on their faces. When her parents died, the need to go back to the time where she was happy became greater. Azalea didn't return to the playground, however. Without her parents alive, she became more aware of it as an illusion and she didn't want to accept it.

Azalea didn't have to say anything to Draco. Somehow, he already knew.

"Come on," he said and led the way to the swing set.