A/N 1: I am so sorry for the delay! I was unable to finish this chapter before I went away on holiday and then I didn't have access to a computer.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! :)

Scenario Five: The Debutante Ball

Astoria couldn't believe this was actually happening to her. Here she was, walking around in a frilly and, by her standards, much too revealing white dress while a bunch of wizards she had never met practically drooled all over her.

Why had her parents decided to host a stupid debutante ball? Oh, sure, because it was so important to be presented to wizarding society…this was the most stupid idea ever! And they should have learned their lesson after the fiasco that was Daphne's ball!

Daphne had flirted with every single wizard present at her ball but by the end of the night performed a Sonorus charm to tell everyone that not one of the men had attempted to take her to the broom closet, which was an indication that they were obviously not risqué enough for her. After shocking everyone with this declaration, she led Theodore Nott outside to the garden and proceeded to snog him like there was no tomorrow.

Astoria had still been in school at the time and only knew what happened because Daphne had bragged about what she had done. Astoria was now 18 and fresh out of Hogwarts, forced to endure the hell that was her own debutante ball.

She had never felt so uncomfortable in her entire life; there were just a few other females present and she felt as if she were dangling enticingly in front of dozens of hungry crocodiles, eager to tear her into pieces.

Pleasant image, she thought grimly to herself.

How was she going to get out of this?

I should just Accio my broom and fly out of here. Or pretend to have an allergic reaction to the floating fruit cake. Or –

Her plotting came to an abrupt halt when she spotted a platinum-haired wizard leaning against an open window, looking like boredom incarnate with a slight sneer on his lips.

Feeling curious, Astoria decided to go talk to the only person in the entire room with the remote possibility of being at least somewhat interesting. She exchanged a few pleasantries with passing guests as she ambled over to him, wondering whether she would spend the entire night faking a smile.

He didn't even acknowledge her approach, keeping his gaze on something outside the window, and that ignited in her a longing to find out more about him.

"You look bored," she stated, her eyes raking curiously over his tall, slender figure.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to be her–" He turned to face the person speaking to him and caught himself. "Oh. It's you. The debutante."

"Yes, I'm Astoria."

The wizard glanced around him, looking very much like he wanted to escape and she felt a sudden, mad need to laugh but managed to keep quiet, settling for giving him an amused smile.

He didn't want to be here? Then he was exactly what she needed.

"You're Draco Malfoy," she pointed out, examining his white-blond hair, silver-grey eyes and pale, aristocratic features.

"Yes," he replied cautiously, wondering why the witch was talking to him if she knew who he was.

"I've read about you in the Prophet. I also remember you from school."

Draco refrained from telling her that before tonight he had never even heard of her and just gazed at her in stony silence. That usually kept people away but to his annoyance she moved closer.

"So what are you doing here, then? Did your parents force you to come?"

She didn't seem to be mocking him and that bothered him for some reason, but still he glared at her.

Although he loved his parents dearly, he would never let them force him into anything ever again. Not that they were trying; they too had learned their lesson from the War and were keeping a low profile.

Draco had only responded to the invitation to this stupid ball because it was a respectable affair and by going he was not only showing that he was moving forward with his life, but also proving he was not cooped up at home plotting some ill-conceived revenge scheme with his former Death Eater parents.

He was perfectly aware that Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass had only invited him because his family's name still had some standing and not because they saw him as an appropriate suitor for their younger daughter, despite the fact his fortune was still intact and no sentence in Azkaban had been given to him or his parents.

The wizarding community was walking on egg shells around the three Malfoys and Draco was sick of it all. They regretted the things they had done but they couldn't take them back! Couldn't people see that?

It had been two and a half years since the end of the War and Draco had become a bitter, isolated and lonely young man. He had no desire of being out in public, he did not want to face former schoolmates and most of all he had no patience for silly little girls looking for a rich husband, no matter how beautiful they were. He didn't even want to get married.

Astoria knew that if looks could kill, she would have been dead on the spot. But she was anything but a quitter and now that she had a plan stuck in her head, she had to see it through.

"I need your help," she said softly, wondering how he would react to her proposition.

"Help with what? Spilling out of that dress to attract male attention? You're doing a fine job by yourself."

"Do I look like I'm enjoying myself, being on display like a piece of meat at the butcher's? Do you honestly believe that any witch with self-respect would want to be in this humiliating position? And just so you know, my dear sister jinxed this dress just to irritate me and that is why I am, in your oh so elegant words, spilling out of the stupid dress," she growled but her voice did not rise in volume, although her face had gone red and she was glaring daggers at him.

Draco looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time, realizing that this witch wasn't what he had expected her to be.

"Your sister enjoyed jinxing other students' clothes when we were at Hogwarts," he said, remembering the days when Slytherins ruled the school.

"Yes, it seems to be her greatest accomplishment," she replied sarcastically and rolled her eyes. "Now, since neither of us wants to be here, I have a proposition for you," she said, looking calm again but sizing him up. "Pretend to be interested in me. That way I don't have to talk to anyone else tonight and inwardly want to vomit at the way some of them are looking at me. My parents are under the delusion that I need to attach myself to a wizard as quickly as possible, so if they think you're courting me they'll leave me alone. Will you help me?"

"And what do I get out of this?" He was no longer glaring; his eyes shone with curiosity.

"You get someone to talk to, of course." She raised an eyebrow as a teasing smile formed on her lips. "Or would you prefer to be brooding in a corner all night?"

After a few seconds of deliberation, in which Draco noticed with surprise that he quite liked her smile, he said, "I accept your proposition."

"Good." She linked her arm through his and led him towards the balcony.

"So…you're Daphne's sister," he said, attempting to make conversation.

"So…you're my sister's ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's ex," she replied playfully.

Draco was confused for a moment before nodding. He had broken up with Pansy near the end of his sixth year at Hogwarts and she had gone on to date Blaise Zabini, who had broken up with Daphne Greengrass after a three-week relationship. Daphne had happily gone back to her on again, off again boyfriend Theodore Nott but Blaise and Pansy broke it off after a month.

"I know you're tired of talking about the War –"

Here it comes, thought Draco. They always say that but then ask a completely absurd question to satisfy their bloody curiosity.

"– so what do you want to talk about?" she asked, sitting on the stone edge of the balcony and patting the space next to her.

"I…I don't know," he answered as he sat down beside her. Realizing he had sounded like a total idiot, he surprised both her and himself by saying, "You look quite good in that dress, actually."

Her eyes widened into saucers. "I do not. I look ridiculous."

"Fine, don't believe me. Why didn't you tell your parents you didn't want a debutante ball?"

She frowned and said, "My mother is a force of nature. Daphne took after her. I'm more like my Dad, the quiet, bookish type. I don't like being the centre of attention. I wasn't expecting tonight to be so horrible, you know. If I had known what it would really be like I would have put my foot down and plainly refused this folly."

"Your plan isn't going to work," he said, gazing up at the star-filled sky.

"What? Why?"

"Your parents won't accept me as a suitor because of my past, even if I'm supposed to be a fake suitor," he explained softly.

She raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay. Let me make one thing clear. When I said quiet, bookish type I actually meant extremely volatile and prone to screaming fits when I don't get my way."

"I don't believe you." He turned to look at her and smirked. Daphne he believed was capable of that, but Astoria really didn't seem to be the insane screaming type. He figured her as more of the sulking and suffering in silence type.

Like him.

"Oh, yes. It's true, I'm afraid. I throw shoes and everything, it's quite unpleasant," she said teasingly, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Right." He chuckled, amazing himself that he still remembered how to do it.

"Mm-hmm. Now why won't they accept you? They just need to see us together this evening and that's that." She snapped her fingers to emphasize her words. "They invited you and this ball was their stupid idea so they have no reason to complain about us being involved."

"How are you going to convince them we're involved if you never see me again?"

"Good question. I hadn't thought about that. I've been too preoccupied with plotting other escape attempts to think each of them through…D'you know I applied for a secretarial job in South Korea even though I couldn't meet their requirements? They demanded fluency in both Korean and Mandarin and yet I still sent them an application." A corner of her mouth curved up into a slight smirk.

"Wow. You're really desperate."

"Trust me, I am. I'm too young to get married and I refuse to chain myself to an overbearing wizard with no sense of humour and who doesn't understand me. Either I marry for love or I don't marry at all. And don't think I didn't catch that little sarcastic and superior tone in your voice."

She lowered her gaze and missed the sudden spark of interest in his silver eyes, a spark quickly hidden behind a façade of utter boredom. She furrowed her brow and tapped a finger on her chin while he waited patiently for her to reformulate her plan.

"Would you want to meet again? It would have to be in a public place…a walk through Diagon Alley, perhaps?" she suggested.

He was looking at the stars again and drawled in a bored tone, "I'll take you out to dinner at La Forêt next week. If you want."

"What? Oh, that's really not necessary." She was confused. Why would he want to take a fake love-interest to the most expensive restaurant in Diagon Alley?

"Indulge me. I am a reluctant part of your strange plan to avoid settling down too early." He didn't even know why he wanted to take her out to dinner, but there was something soothing emanating from her and he was starting to feel like a moth drawn to a flame.

"Well, alright," she replied, looking a little unsure.

Draco smirked and said, "This way you won't have to go begging for those Koreans to give you a job you have no qualifications for."

She tried to glare at him but was unable to hide her grin.

Silence took over until she began in a soft voice, "About your past…"

"Yes?" He was expecting her to say something cruel or ask how he had been capable of such atrocious acts.

He should have known better than to expect or assume anything when it came to Astoria Greengrass.

"The world's not black and white. You of all people should know that," she said kindly.

He stared at her in surprise and his heart skipped a beat when he felt her fingers gently lacing with his.

It felt nice. More than nice, in fact; it felt like he wasn't alone in the world.

Astoria glanced up at him and then looked away, feeling shy all of a sudden.

This night had definitely not been the complete waste of time they had expected it to be.

The End

A/N 2: Well, I was going to end it here…but I have a surprise in store, a little gift for my dear readers and reviewers, so please stay tuned for a bonus chapter :)

"The Debutante Ball" was supposed to be a short, funny scene, but then I got carried away writing it and kept adding more and more lol. So which scenario was your favourite?