September 2000

"What are your plans tonight Draco?" asked Narcissa.

Draco looked up from swirling the brandy round in the glass and gave his mother a small smile.

"It's Daphne's party tonight so I said I'd go." Draco replied.

Narcissa returned her son's smile, "I'm rather pleased that you're socialising again. The ministry keeps you rather busy."

"I like being kept busy."

"I know darling. Will Pansy be going?" asked Narcissa.

Draco nodded, knowing full well that his mother's intentions were. His parents wanted to see him married, not for the sake of continuing the bloodline and having an heir, they wanted him to marry someone to bring a bit of happiness to his life. He had dated Pansy from his fourth year until his nineteenth birthday, he could honestly say that whilst he had feelings for the girl, he had never loved her. He loved the attention that she gave him and she was pure-blooded which then he had considered of great importance.

He was no longer the person who he once was, no longer the favourite of Severus Snape. No longer was he the leader of his Slytherin gang who were horrible to the classmates they deemed lesser than them. At sixteen he had been made a Death Eater, at the time he thought it an honour. But over the course of his sixth year he had come to realise that it was a punishment for his father's mistake and his mother was the one who had suffered the most. During his seventh year, he was rather grateful to escape from home, for Voldemort's presence was constant there. Although his presence was also at Hogwarts, he felt some sort of escape from the Dark Lord at school.

When Voldemort had been killed for good, his father had become distant. All of them fuelled with regret at what path they had chosen. Lucius had been taken into custody and Draco felt a sense of gratitude towards his enemy for helping them all receive a pardon, this was only due to his mother's lie. His father had become a heavier drinker than normal and he knew that although his parents still loved each other, their marriage was strained. He had never seen his parents argue as much as they did now, he had always believed that their love was strong.

"Mother, can I ask you something?"

Narcissa smiled, "You can talk to me about anything Draco, you know that."

"Was there ever a point apart from now where you and father had a strained relationship?"

Narcissa's smile faded briefly before she gestured for him to follow her to the study. He obeyed silently, wondering what his mother wanted to show him. He got his answer when she pulled out a photo album and blew off the dust before opening it to show him a picture of her, his father and a brunette boy from their school days. Draco's eyes widened as he saw his father smiling and the brunette boy kiss his mother's cheek, this was evidence enough that his mother was the brunette boy's girlfriend.

"His name was Charles Robert Flint. He was my first love."

Draco looked at his mother, "You've never mentioned him before."

Narcissa closed the book and placed it back in its place on te shelf.

"He was your father's best friend at school. In his seventh year, two Gryffindors had taken a liking to me. They drugged me and Charlie found out about it. Your father and Charlie dueled the other two and your father doesn't know whose curse killed him, but Charlie died during that duel."

"But you married father."

Narcissa smiled, "I loved Charlie so much and for six years I blamed your father for his death. Eventually your father and I grew closer and I fell in love with him. So yes Draco, we have had a strained relationship but we work our hardest on our marriage. We do not want to divorce for I still love your father despite his selfishness, his putting the old cause first and neglecting us and his tendency to drink heavily these days. He taught me that it was okay to move on and love again." she replied.

Draco nodded, causing Narcissa to frown.

"Are you considering reuniting with Pansy?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know. I liked her enormously and I know she loves me, she's still hurt at my decision to end our relationship last year. If she was willing to get to know the man I am now then I would consider a reunion between us." Draco answered.

Narcissa stroked her son's cheek, "Draco, I want you to be with someone that you could love just as much as I love your father. As much as I loved Charlie. You deserve to be loved by someone who can accept your past and know that you aren't that person anymore, but if you believe that Pansy can then I believe that you can work on your strained relationship as hard as I work on my own."

Draco hugged his mother briefly before saying his goodbyes and apparating to the Greengrass residence. He knocked on the door of the three story townhouse and smiled when he saw that it was Daphne's younger brother Richard who had answered the door.

"Nice to see you Draco." Richard greeted, taking his cloak.

"It's nice to have a change of scenery." Draco replied.

"Surely you get quite a lot of that?"

Draco nodded, "I meant it's nice to see more of my home country for a change."

He went into the kitchen and helped himself to a bottle of beer, searching through the crowds to look for Daphne. Draco walked through the crowd when he finally spotted her, only to be interrupted by his ex-girlfriend.

"Hello Draco." Pansy said brightly.

"Pansy." he greeted curtly.

"How have you been?"

"I've been well, and you?" Draco asked politely.

"I miss you." Pansy answered.

"I know, Daphne told me that you still mention me."

"Is that bad?"

Draco shrugged, "We spent a lot of time together and what happened has changed me deeply, you know my reasons for ending our relationship. It wasn't fair to either of us to pretend to be something that I once was Pansy, you deserve better than that." he replied.

Pansy nodded sadly, "Is there any hope for a future for us?"

Draco shrugged again, he didn't know what he wanted and he didn't want to have this conversation at an old friend's birthday party.

"I'm home for three weeks, write to me when you are available and I'll take you for a coffee and we'll discuss it then." said Draco.

Pansy smiled, "I'll look forward to it."

Draco left her and carried on through the crowd, tapping Daphne on the shoulder and giving her a brief hug.

"I'm glad you made it." said Daphne, taking his hand and leading him out into the back garden for some air.

He took a swig of his beer, noticing as they stood by a lamp that Daphne was rather tipsy. She had never been one to give away her drunken state in slurring of words or being incapable of walking, it was always in her eyes. Her green eyes were bloodshoot and staring at him in a dreamy way, many people had teased him in the past that she looked at him like that because she fancied him. Draco knew this was nonsense for she had always had a thing for Blaise Zabini, she only saw him as a friend.

"Did you have a nice day?" Draco asked.

Daphne nodded before taking another swig of wine from her glass.

"Mum and Dad bought me new dress robes and some new jewellery. Tori and Rich took me out for lunch."

"That was nice of them."

Daphne nodded again before placing her wine glass on the garden table and led Draco back inside.

"Tori's been dying to see you all day."

Before Draco could respond to Daphne's statement, she stopped them both in front of a girl with their back to them. Daphne tapped the girl on the shoulder and the girl turned, causing Draco to feel stunned. This couldn't be Tori.

He had always remembered Astoria Greengrass as a little girl with long brown hair and the same green eyes as her mother and sister. Her front tooth missing and grazed knees as Tori loved to climb up trees as a child. She had also had freckles on her nose. But now her ivory skin was freckle free, her brown hair fell just past her shoulders and her green eyes complimented her smile. She was utterly beautiful.

"Tori, you remember Draco?" asked Daphne.

Astoria nodded and smiled at Draco, shaking his hand.

"Lovely to see you Draco."

"It's been a long time Tori."

"She's been desperate to see you all afternoon, kept going on about it during lunch." Daphne teased.

"Daphne." Tori complained.

Her sister merely grinned, "I'll leave you two to catch up." said Daphne and disappeared into the crowd of dancing people.

Astoria led Draco back outside and the two sat at the garden table, both telling the other about their lives since they had last seen each other. Tori was rather impressed with Draco's travels and he felt rather glad to know she was enjoying her job in Madam Malkin's. It was when Draco said that he had to travel to New York in three weeks time that Tori sighed.

"I'd love to travel, you're so lucky you get to do so much with the nature of your job."

"Due to the business deal, sometimes I don't even get to see the sights."

"I still think you're lucky." Tori stated.

"Well perhaps you'd like to accompany me one time? I am allowed to take someone with me depending on the location and how much notice I give." Draco offered.

Astoria's eyes widened in surprise, "You'd take me with you?"

Draco nodded, "You're an old friend, I've known you since you were born. Besides I could do with the company."

"You're lonely?"

"What makes you think that?"

Tori leaned across the table and gently squeezed his hand, making him feel like his guard was being let down. He had never had these types of conversations with Pansy, he had never felt the need to. But Tori was completely different.

"The look in your eyes Draco." Tori sighed.

Draco cleared his throat and she released his hand, settling back into her chair.

"I'm home for three weeks, would you like to get lunch sometime? You could tell me more of the places you'd like to visit and I'll see when I'm next going to that country or city?" Draco asked.

Tori's eyes lit up gratefully as she smiled widely at him.

"I'll owl you during tomorrow if you like?"

Draco returned her smile and nodded, having something to look forward to whilst he was home. Lunch with Astoria was going to be interesting.

A/N: As I said in the last chapter, this story references back to my stories A Change of Heart and it's sequel The Malfoy Family, so sorry if I've confused anyone. I hope you liked this chapter and please leave a review to let me know what you think :)