March 2001

"Je suis désolé Monsieur Malfoy, mais votre secrétaire réservé une chambre avec un lit double, pas avec deux lits simples et nous avons actuellement pas d'autres chambres disponibles."

"Cette femme est sanglante stupide! Pouvez-vous ne pas vérifier, j'ai besoin de deux lits simples dans notre chambre pour la dame qui m'accompagne n'est pas mon amant."

The receptionist looked apologetically at Draco, "Je suis désolé Monsieur, mais il ya pas d'autres chambres disponibles."

Draco banged his fist on the reception and nodded his head stiffly at the receptionist who handed over the key card. He turned to Tori and sighed.

"My bloody secretary booked a room with one double bed and the receptionist claims they have no other rooms available."

Astoria frowned and the two went up to inspect the room that they couldn't exchange for two singles. It was a rather small room, with an adjoining small en-suite with a shower. It wasn't the best hotel that Draco had stayed in but he had a feeling that everywhere else was booked up. He turned to Tori with an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry about the room, you can have the bed."

Tori smiled, "It's fine Draco, we can share. I can trust you."

Draco frowned, "You trust me to share a bed with you?"

She nodded, "We've shared a bed before, you've seen me in my nightclothes before."

"I suppose-

Sharing a bed with Tori for a whole week, that should be interesting. The bed itself wasn't as big as he'd have liked it to have been, but it would have to do and he was sure that he could sleep as close to the egde as possible to allow her more room. The two unpacked their cases into the wardrobe provided and went down to the restaurant to eat dinner. They sat and ordered ratatouille for their starters and Draco started the subject which he had been dying to find out about since Valentine's day.

"Are you still dating Tobias Flint?"

Astoria gave him an amused smile, "Toby is a great guy but it was only ever a one time date. I'm single but still looking."

Her answer made him feel satisfied but it was oddly annoying at how she was smirking at him. As if she were hoping or knowing that he would bring up the subject of her date with Tobias. They finished their ratatouille and both were surprised when they ordered boeuf bourguignon- beef cooked in a red burgandy wine and served with mushrooms and carrots.

Their waiter filled up their wine glasses with another bottle of Bordeaux and the two continued to talk and reminsice about things that had happened during their childhood. They even ordered profiteroles for dessert and consumed some more wine. Draco could feel himself becoming tipsy and he hoped that Tori wasn't becoming too drunk, he didn't want her spending the rest of the night in the bathroom.

Draco added the meal to their tab and he and Tori returned to their room, helping themselves to another bottle of wine from the minibar. Tori opened the bottle and clumsily fell onto the bed giggling loudly. Draco laughed too, this was a side of Tori that he had never seen before. She had always been the type of child who liked to climb a tree and barely made a fuss if she fell and cut her knee, she had always been carefree. But seeing her now she was still carefree but there was like a wild charge in her, like she just wanted to go crazy and have fun. Draco admired this side to her, maybe Daphne and Richard saw it more often; he didn't know.

He sat in the middle of the bed and took a swig from the bottle, both not bothered about finding a glass. They kept eye contact, both filled with enjoyment as the night wore on.

"Have you ever played I have never?"

Draco shook his head, "No, how do you play?"

"You start off saying 'I have never..." and say something that you have never done or experienced. If the other person has then they take a drink."

"Sounds like fun."

"Shall I start?"

Draco nodded.

"I have never seen a Thestral."

Draco took a swig of the wine, having witnessed many deaths during his time as a death eater and having finally come to terms for what had happened. He had watched those deaths happen and still hadn't quite managed to forgive himself for his part in those deaths. But he had come to the terms that whilst under Voldemort's control, those deaths could not have been prevented.

"I have never had a close friend whom I would call a surrogate sibling."

He was surprised when Astoria didn't take a drink, for she had had many friends at school and had always been quite popular like her sister Daphne.

"Why didn't you drink?" he asked.

"Because I already have a brother and sister who mean the world to me and I wouldn't wish for a surrogate sibling." she replied.

"Fair enough, your turn."

Astoria hesistated for a few minutes longer before saying, "I have never kissed a red headed person."

Draco chuckled, "Neither have I."

"Alright your turn."

"I have never been in love."

Astoria blinked and took a swig from the wine bottle, causing Draco to widen his eyes in surprise. Who had her heart? he was beginning to panic, why? She was just Tori after all. Little Tori with scraped knees and a laugh like wind chimes, he had always been her lifelong friend.

"Who is he?"

Tori shook her head, "It doesn't matter and I wouldn't call it love anyway, I'm not even sure what love is."

"Is it little Toby Flint?" he teased.

Astoria slapped him on the arm playfully.

"No it's someone who I've always cared for deeply but I don't think he sees me in that way."

Draco's heart hammered with hope. The hope that he had a chance. But why? he thought to himself.

"Tell me."

He hadn't realised how close they were, merely inches apart and he noticed a warmth in her green eyes; a warmth which made him want to be as close as he possibly could to her for her eyes were like hooks for the soul.

"I think you know who it is."

"I-

Draco didn't have the chance to even probe her for more information, she had passed out on his shoulder and was snoring lightly. He wrapped an arm around her back to support her and placed the wine bottle on the floor. Gently, he lay backwards and pulled Astoria with him, resting her head on his chest with one arm wrapped around her still. He closed his eyes, hoping that the hangover wouldn't be so bad in morning.

The next morning Draco woke up to see that Tori was still snuggled into him, breathing slowly. He liked watching her sleep, she looked so peaceful and it made him feel calm. But as much as he would like to look at her for a while longer, he had a meeting at half past nine. Draco gently lifted Astoria off of him and laid her down onto the pillows to which she gave out a sleepy sigh.

He crossed to the en-suite and had a shower, hoping the whole time that the noise of him showering wouldn't wake Astoria. Draco eventually stepped out of the cubicle and dried and dressed himself before tiptoeing back into the bedroom, seeing that Tori was still sleeping. Quietly, he pulled out some parchment from his suitcase and decided to leave her a note, just to remind her of his business.

Astoria,

I hope you slept well and don't have a hangover like mine. Last night was rather good but unfortunately had to leave early for my meeting with Edourd Rosier, I'll deliver the package to him and fingers crossed that will conclude my business with him. In the meantime, why don't you shower and go down to the hotel restaurant for some breakfast? I shall meet you outside Notre Dame at midday and we'll go sightseeing?

Yours,

Draco.

He left the note on her bedside table before quietly slipping his shoes on and placing the package inside his robes. Draco exited the room and made his way down to the lobby. Last night was still a bit of a blur to him, but he had only been up for forty minutes so he gathered that it would come back to him when he had woken up a bit more. He jsut wanted to get this artefact handed back to it's original owner and spend the rest of the week alone with Tori. He recalled her saying that she was single and that Toby Flint had only ever been a one-off date. He remembered feeling relieved when she had said those things, but what he didn't understand was why he had felt that? Astoria was just his friend, his childhood friend who he hadn't really spoken too much during their time together at Hogwarts for he was always enjoying Pansy fawning over him and the rest of the Slytherins his age following his leadership. Tori had never belonged to a crowd like his, sure she had always been popular but he was two and a half years older than her so he had his crowd and she had hers at school. She had said not long ago that she had always seen a different side to him, a different side from the proud bully that he had been and with her help he had made amends with those three boys he had lost his friendships with. He had cut down the amount he drank on a daily basis, only enjoying firewhiskey a few times a week and the bad dreams had ceased; them only occuring every now and then. But there was still a lot more he had to do, he had to speak with his father about their troubled past and he wanted to talk with Potter at some point. Until then, he couldn't say that he had fully made amends for what he had done.

After making his way across the lobby and out of the front doors to the hotel, he apparated into an alleyway that wasn't too far from the Lourve Museum. It was still quite early as he made his way across the road and stood by the museum entrance. Draco looked around for a few minutes until an elderly man stood before him. The man wore brown aged robes that looked like they had been owned for many years, his hairline receeding rather badly and his blue eyes stared at him rather chillingly.

"Draco Malfoy?" the man asked, in a strong french accent.

He nodded, "Monsieur Rosier?" he questioned.

"Please, call me Edourd."

Draco shook the man's hand before allowing Edourd to lead him round the back of the museum into another dark alleyway. They stopped and stared at the brick wall before Edourd pulled out his wand and tapped the bricks three times. Draco was reminded of The Leaky Cauldron when he had to tap the brick wall in the back yard to gain entrance into Diagon Alley. The bricks rearranged themselves until a doorway revealed itself, Edourd lit his wand and led the way down a steep staircase. Draco followed, this must have been the vault that Olivier had said Monsieur Rosier would take him too. At the bottom of the stairs, a young looking wizard greeted them and opened the steel gates to allow them into the vault. All Draco could see were high cabinets which he guessed contained ancient artefacts which belonged to Rosier.

Edourd stopped in front of a drawer to one of the cabinets and flicked his wand, the drawer opened and Draco saw that it was empty.

"The artefact if you please."

Draco nodded curtly and pulled the package out of his pocket before handing it over to the old man. Edourd ripped off the packaging before smiling as he held the gold and jade shell which contained the elixir of life.

"Have you ever heard of the fountain of youth?"

"Vaguely, my father told me it was a myth told by superstitious muggles."

Rosier chuckled, "It exists Monsieur Malfoy but only a select few know of it. This artefact which you have returned to me, holds a vial which contains some of the liquid from the fountain of youth."

"May I ask why you are keeping it here?"

Rosier looked at him darkly, "If it fell into the wrong hands, it could be dangerous." and placed the artefact into the drawer before flicking his wand once more.

The drawer closed and sealed shut, which made Rosier smile in satisdfaction.

"I am the only one who can open the drawers in these cabinets for they contain many dangerous and impressive things of magic. If Lord Voldemort had ever discovered the Rosier vault, he would have wiped out my entire bloodline just to get to it."

"I suppose it is a good thing then that he was killed and has no way of coming back this time." Draco sneered.

Rosier studied him closely, "I did not seek to cause any upset by the mention of the Dark Lord."

"I guess our business here is concluded."

"For now."

Draco blinked, "What do you mean, for now, Monsieur Rosier?"

"There may be a time when I shall need your services again Draco Malfoy."

"Monsieur Rosier, you are very old so I shall bear that in mind of your forgetfulness, I am under Minister Shacklebolt's employ. No-one elses. The Minister was approached by Monsieur Olivier who requested that I return the item that the Ministry were trying to return to you in the first place to which I accepted. I have other matters to attend to this week so I'll bid you goodday."

He went to turn but Rosier flicked his wand and Draco was frozen to the spot.

"For a man trying to forget about his past, you are still the rude and proud Malfoy who doesn't like being told what to do. You are definitely your father's son."

"You know my father?"

Rosier nodded, "Your father worked at the Ministry at one point and our paths crossed. He was just the same as you were at your age. You also forget that your grandmother is a distant cousin of mine. I requested you to return my artefact to me because of the blood we share, you and I are distantly related Monsieur Malfoy and you shall do well to remember what family means."

The old man undid the freezing curse and allowed Draco to leave. As he climbed back up the steep staircase, Draco was left wondering if he would ever expect another dealing with Edourd Rosier.

He apparated from the alleyway and back to the hotel, having concluded the business quicker than he had anticipated. First he checked the restaurant and was rather glad that he had for he saw Astoria sitting alone at one of the tables eating some croissants. Draco smiled as he walked to her table and took the seat opposite her.

"I thought you wouldn't be done until much later?"

"The business matter managed to get settled rather quickly."

"What was he like?"

"He expects me to carry out some business deals later, to which I told him that I worked for the Minister and not for him."

Tori smiled amusingly, "Never afraid to tell it how it is, are you?"

"Of course not."

"So now that you're finished a little earlier, what do you want to do today?"

Draco shrugged, "Why don't you pick?"

"How about we start with doing some shopping on the Le défilé de la sorcière for shopping and lunch?"

"Does a day usually have to start with shopping?" he groaned.

Astoria smiled, "I am a woman after all and I have never been shopping in Paris. We have a week and I am determined to make the most of it."

"Fine. As long as we don't spend the whole week with me carrying your various shopping bags."

"Well I have to put you to good use." she teased.

Draco rolled his eyes, this week was going to be a good one.

The two finished their breakfast and apparated to Le défilé de la sorcière which translated into English was The Witch's Parade. Le défilé de la sorcière was a cobbled village concealed from the muggle eyes just outside of Paris. It was sort of like Hogsmeade in a way, the only village in France that was kept away from the muggle society and protected just like Hogwarts was. When muggles would look in direction of it, all they would see is ruins of stone cottages with warning signs to stay away. There were various restaurants which specialised in french cuisine, three wine shops which only bought their wines from one area of France. Book shops with books entirely written by French authors, clothes shops which were like Madam Malkin's and would only make robes to order in the French fashion. French chocolate and sweet shops. The more shops that they passed that specialised only in the French way, Draco had Astoria confirm that the Le défilé de la sorcière was purely a village that was loyal to France.

Astoria bought her family some chocolates from one of the chocolate shops that they had stopped in and Draco went into a neighbouring book shop and bought his mother a book by a French wizarding historian which he thought she might enjoy. He even went inside on the wine stores and bought his father a bottle of wine, which he couldn't decide was a good or bad thing giving his father's heavy drinking habit.

They ate at a restaurant called Devereaux's to have their lunch. They both opted to not drinking wine until dinner that evening, they didn't want a repeat of getting drunk like they had the night before, especially as Tori was still complaining of feeling slightly hungover. Once they had finished their lunch and were satisfied with their shopping, they apparated back to the hotel to change for dinner.

"Where would you like to go tonight?" Draco asked, as they entered their room.

"I honestly don't mind, but I would like a change of scenery. There's only so many times that I can eat at the hotel's restaurant." Tori replied, dumping her shopping bags on the bed.

Draco got to thinking, the sun was already beginning to set and most places would be starting to get busy by now. He excused himself and left Tori to change into her dinner outfit and went down to the lobby. Speaking with the receptionist, he smiled in satisfaction as his surprise for dinner out with Tori was arranged. He couldn't wait to see her face when he took her to where he was planning.

He arrived back at the hotel room to see that Tori had changed into a white flowy dress with short sleeves that zipped up at the back. She appeared to be struggling with the zip. She hadn't noticed that he had come into the room until he stood behind her, moving her hands away from the zip and began to delicately pull it up. She shivered as his cold hands came into contact with the bare skin at her neck. Astoria turned to smile at him and he returned the smile before saying he had arranged their dinner reservation and took his suit out of his drawers. They were to be walking through a muggle part of Paris and had packed a muggle suit instead of dress robes in case of eating out at a restaurant where muggles ate too.

Draco and Tori left the hotel at half past six sharp and walked through the muggle part of Paris, enjoying the views of many historical landmarks. They walked down one street and Tori stopped, looking at a house on the left. Draco turned and frowned at her, reading the placque on the wall.

"Someone famous?"

Tori nodded, "A seer by the name of Michel de Nostredame, later known as Nostradamus. He was a physician and apothecary who had even gained the admiration of Queen Catherine de Medici in the seventeenth century. Some of his works I've found extraordinary."

"You remind me of my mother, she quite likes history too."

She smiled and wrapped her arm around his and the two continued to walk until they came to the side of Notre Dame and walked down some steps onto a boat. Tori felt breathless when she saw that candlelit table for two had been set up for them, with a waiter holding a bottle of champagne for them. Draco helped Astoria onto the boat and tucked her chair in once she had sat down. The waiter poured them a glass of champagne as Draco took to his seat and served them bouillabaisse as a starter.

As the night wore on, the buildings around them lit up and stood breathtakingly under the clear navy sky. They were served Poulet a la Grecque, a dish of flour coated chicken pieces that were browned, then stewed with tomatoes, white wine, shallots and garlic and then seasoned with saffron threads, sugar and curry powder and served with white rice.

After dinner, the waiter waved his wand and the table was gone. Another man came out playing a violin and Draco stood from his chair and helped Tori to her feet. The boat began to move down the river Seine and Draco wraped one arm around Tori's waist and kept hold of her hand.

"What are we doing?"

"Dancing, enjoying the beautiful sights of Paris at night."

"You arranged all this for me?"

Draco nodded, "You said you were determined to make the most of this week, what's better than sightseeing from the river on a dinner cruise?"

Tori giggled as they began to sway on the spot, twirling around the small space that they had on the boat. The setting was rather romantic, which is something that he hadn't thought about. Tori sighed as she rested her head into his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck. He held her tightly to him, finding that he had missed holding her since the two had shared a kiss last Christmas.

Their boat ride came to a stop and Draco paid the men for their cruise before bidding them goodnight. Draco helped Tori off the boat and the two walked back to the hotel in the moonlight.

"Thank you for tonight Draco, it's been amazing!"

"It was my pleasure."

The two stopped a few feet away from the Eiffel Tower, both smiling a the lit up tower and both understanding why people called Paris the most romantic city in the world. Tori looked at Draco and he moved his head closer to hers, knowing that he couldn't ignore the moment much longer. The moment where they both wanted to kiss each other. He pressed his lips to Tori's and kissed her slowly, cupping her face as her fingers ran through his blonde hair.

After a few minutes, they pulled away from one another and smiled. But Draco didn't know where they stood now, he still had a lot of making amends to do and he wasn't ready for a relationship right now when he needed to focus on himself. He wasn't sure how he even felt about Tori, he liked her enormously; more than he had ever liked Pansy. Tori was beautiful and good company and he felt better when he was around her, just her prescence made him feel better.

"So do we continue the friendship or do we take things further?"

Draco sighed and stepped away from her, "I don't know Tori."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

He turned to face her again, "I'm confused. You're supposed to be Tori, the little girl with long brown hair and a missing front tooth. The girl who cut her knees and didn't even cry at the dirt and gravel in the open wound. The girl who liked to slide down the banisters at Hogwarts without a care in the world. I'm supposed to be your lifelong friend, like an elder brother figure. Us could be a mistake, we aren't supposed to see each other in that way."

Tori blinked, "But I've always seen you in that way."

So that was who she had been on about last night. The boy she had feelings for was him and he had been blind this entire time.

"Why? I'm nothing more than a man who tortured innocent people. I'm a laughing stock of the wizarding world and doing Shacklebolt's trading work. What could I possibly have to offer you?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes and he felt instantly bad for reducing her to such a state.

"Do you think I care about all that? You were forced to torture those people Draco-

"Stop making excuses for me, it doesn't make either of us look any better." he sneered.

"I am not making excuses for you. I've always seen the good in you, behind the Slytherin bully was always a decent person scared to come out. I get that you are messed up and have things that you need to do so if you want to sort yourself out and have me wait for you then I will! I'll help you, I'll do the journey of recovery with you. I just want to be with you on every step of your road to forgiving yourself. I'll be your friend or something more, whatever you need, I just want to support you."

Draco sighed again, "I'm not ready for a relationship just now, there's still some things that I need to do before I can move forward with my life. When I am ready to move forward, how about we have a first date and see where it goes?"

Astoria nodded and hugged him tightly, "Whatever you need, I'll be here."

Draco didn't reply but returned her hug, he felt bad asking her to wait for he didn't know how long it would take him. He recognised his feelings for Astoria now and wanted to move forward with her, but he didn't know when that would be.

A/N: So long chapter alert, apologies if you got bored with the length. I hope you liked it and more to come soon :)