Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter Three

A couple of days later I was hard at work drawing out the new configuration for a spell when a knock on my office door broke my concentration.

"Come in." I called out, as I leaned back in my chair and threw one last glance over the configuration before setting it aside.

"So there's something really important that you haven't been telling me about."

I turned around in my seat to find one of my closest friends, Portia Breslan, leaning against the doorjamb looking rather put out.

"Why would you say that?" I asked innocently enough, hoping that some gossipmonger hadn't informed her of my, hopefully soon to be cancelled, engagement. If anyone should tell her, it should be me, but I didn't have the heart to tell anyone outside of my family circle. In some denial-ridden part of myself, I truly believed that if I never talked about the situation, then it didn't exist. However it was coming to the point where the rumor was beginning to spread and there didn't seem to be much I could do to staunch it.

"Because Draco Malfoy is sitting in the waiting room asking if you're available for a chat. And last time you and I talked you weren't on speaking-terms with the wunderkind of Slytherin. He was just Draco Malfoy, the boy who graduated four years before us at Hogwarts. Now he's Draco Malfoy, the boy who sits in waiting rooms wanting to see you."

"Yeah about that…"

"Are you having a torrid affair with him?"

"How can I have an affair with him when we are both single?"

"Semantics."

I sighed, "Is he seriously sitting out there?"

Portia nodded her head enthusiastically. "So are you two dating? You've been very stringent with the dishing out on the details of your love life lately. Is it because this whole time you've been sleeping with Witch Weekly's number two most sought after wizard?"

"Who's number one?"

"The Boy Who Lived, of course."

I couldn't help but laugh a little, "He came in second best against Potter; oh I wish I had been around to see his face when that was announced."

"You're ignoring the question."

"No Portia, I have never slept with Draco Malfoy, nor do I ever intend to. We're just engaged."

"What?"

"Yeah no biggie…" I self-consciously rubbed the back of my neck.

Portia stared at me open-mouthed and I secretly wished that I was anywhere but here. But instead of her berating me for being a bad friend or yelling at me for not sharing more of my life with her after nine years of friendship, all she could do was screech: "And you haven't slept with him yet?"

"How long did you say he's been sitting out there?"

"Don't try and change the conversation Astoria! And about ten minutes."

I glanced down at my watch, "I'll let him stew out there for about five more minutes, just to make sure that he's been tenderized by his impatience and indignation."

"I bet he'd just melt in your mouth." Portia purred.

"Gross!"

"I realize that you're probably not used to being told that you're wrong Astoria, but in this case you are 100% erroneous, mistaken, and incorrect. Oh Merlin have you gotten to see him shirtless?"

"Nope."

"I can't believe you haven't slept with him yet! And I thought that I taught you so well. Draco Malfoy is just so…"

"Diseased?"

"No… sexy. I'd let him poke me with his wand any day."

"Ew. I actually think his presence would be more bearable than to listen to you wax poetically over him." I got up from my seat and tried to run away before Portia could spout off anymore unhelpful nonsense about my fiancé running around shirtless and whatnot.

I walked into the waiting room to find Draco uncomfortably seated, his impatience was evident through his furrowed brow and annoyed grimace. As I approached him, he looked up at me and if anyone had eyes that rivaled the Basilisk it was Draco Malfoy when he was pissed off.

Suddenly I felt a little tinge of regret for having purposely left him out here longer than was necessary. I apologetically gave him a timid smile that I hoped hid the fact that instead of coming out straight away to meet up with him, I had stayed in my office and listened to one of my best friends describe him in various states of undress. Wait. That sounded way worse than what I meant it to… It's not like I participated in the descriptions, I was merely a discomforted spectator to the entire affair.

"I'm sorry you had to wait so long. I just had to finish up some preliminary work on a new spell."

Instead of answering, Draco dug through one of his cloak's pockets before coming across what he had been searching for.

"Think fast." He said as he tossed me a small black velvet box. Quizzically I peered down at the box in confusion until the realization of what it was hit me.

"I can't believe you just threw me my engagement ring you prat!" I whispered furiously at him, trying to make sure that none of the people in the waiting room overheard our conversation.

Draco nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, "I don't see the problem here."

"You're supposed to get down on one knee and come up with some gallant speech about how much you love me, and how you know we are meant to be together."

Disbelief was etched across his face and his voice dripped with sarcasm, "You can't be serious."

I looked down at the velvet box in my hand and I could feel the denial that I had built up in response to this entire ordeal begin to be overtaken by sadness. It had suddenly struck me that I was never going to have those moments that little girls dream about. The dreams that don't go away when you get older and you realize your parents are never going to get you a unicorn, no matter how much you try to convince them.

Draco's face marginally softened as he saw the reaction his words had, had on me. "Listen Astoria…" His voice didn't reflect the usual scorn or irony that I had come to expect from him. It was almost tender…

I mentally shook myself at the mere thought of Draco Malfoy speaking to me tenderly. I timidly peered up and caught the nervous look that briefly flickered across his face. He unconsciously raked a hand through his hair as he glanced down at his watch. One could almost perceive him mentally doing the calculations if one looked close enough; and if I wasn't so pissed off at him for lacking any sort of empathy I might have admitted to myself that Draco was kind of cute at this moment.

He threw one last look at his watch, "I'd take you out to lunch or something but I need to get back to the Wizengamot. We have a big vote in thirty minutes. If you'd gotten out here sooner we might have been able to grab a quick sandwich or something." He said this teasingly, and not in his usual caustic tone.

I grinned a little at his friendly jab, "I'm sorry that I made you sit out here and wait all of five minutes. I'll make sure everyone knows from now on the Mr. Draco Malfoy gets priority attention whenever he visits the Department for the Advancement of Magic. If it makes you happy I'll even make a list with just your name on it and pass it around the office, so that no one has an excuse for ever keeping you waiting."

"Psh five minutes, try twenty-five minutes. And I see no point in apologizing for lunch since it's entirely your own fault."

"Don't worry I made myself a salad this morning anyways, and it's made exactly the way I like it."

"Which means?"

"With an absurd amount of black olives, oh the world would be such a dark and dismal place without the natural wonder that is the black olive."

Draco rolled his eyes, "And on that note I'm going to leave and do something more useful than being a part of this conversation."

"That's your loss then, I was about to begin my Ode to the Black Olive."

"Somehow I don't feel like my life will be lacking anything by skipping this heartfelt moment between you and your… olives."

"Now that just sounds dirty."

Draco shrugged, "Oh by the way that ring that I gave you is a family heirloom so it's preferable that nothing bad happens to it." And with that he turned around and left the room. Reminded of the ring, I looked down at the box and felt the heaviness fall upon me again. I shook my head at my thoughts trying to dispel them. As I turned to go back to my office I gently pocketed the box in the pocket of my lab coat. There was no point in getting sad over this, because it didn't change anything. At least Draco Malfoy wasn't boring I thought to myself.

A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. I was hoping to get more writing done over break but that didn't really go as planned. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Reviews mean so much to me and I greatly appreciate all of them. I hope everyone has an amazing 2011!

1/30/15 A/N: Hello everyone! I've decided to revisit this story after a 2.5 year hiatus. I'm going through and cleaning up my writing in the meantime before I start writing some new chapters. This chapter has been re-edited.