Author's note - I am so sorry it has been so long since I up dated this. School has been mad. My exams end on June 16. Till then things are going to be pretty slow I think, but then I have three months off to write as much as I like!

Chapter 20

Maria Pilak awoke to a feeling of happiness. So her mother had been right. Not that she was ever going to admit that. Lucius Malfoy had been a complete gentleman to her the night before and she really appreciated that. She wondered if it would be more proper or improper to write and thank him for the evening before.

Sighing, she looked at the clock. It was eleven. She had got to bed at three.

After they had danced together, they had gone down to dinner and she had sat quite to Lucius at the table. He had seemed genuinely interested in her.

Stretching, she smiled. Yes, the previous night had been very good indeed.

-

Draco and his papa sat at the breakfast table. Jane was also with them as was Eliza. They were all wanting to know about the previous evening and yet he was not saying much. Maria was on his mind. But it was Christmas. He didn't even know if he was going to see her again.

"What do you want to do today son ?" asked Lucius as he sat by his son.

"Can we go down to the park?" he asked. There was plenty of snow on the ground and it excited him.

"If that's what you want to do we can. But at some time today we have to go down to the church and see mamma."

Draco he nodded. One of the only sad things his father ever made him do was go down to his mothers grave but that wasn't very often. He knew his father went every week but he didn't have to go if he didn't want too so he normally didn't.

But Christmas was different. He felt even at five he should go to his mothers at Christmas time.

"Ok." he nodded.

Eliza wished he didn't have to take the boy. Lucius did every thing he did to keep his wife's memory's alive.

"Right," he said as he had his breakfast.

Jane smiled at Draco but he looked miserable. The boy knew that Christmas wasn't going to start really till they had gone to the grave.

By ten o'clock the two of them were walking down to the church hand in hand. It was cold in Wiltshire that morning. That was hardly a surprise.

"Daddy?"

"Yes son."

"Why do you go down to the grave so much? Mummy isn't there. You always say that mummy is in heaven."

"Yes but when mummy's soul went to heaven, her body was put in to the ground and I am near her when I go to the grave."

"Do you still miss her very much?"

Lucius took sharp in take of breath. The boy barely spoke about his mother if they were not going to her grave. Narcissa had been in his life for but a few hours. Yet she should have been the most important person in his life. And her image still burned so strongly in her husbands head.

"Yes I miss her my dragon. I miss your mother more than any one else I have ever known." he admitted. "She would have adored you."

Draco nodded. He had been told the before. Yet it meant very little to him he found now. He didn't like thinking about her.

He reflected on her little because he found it made him sad. He watched his auntie Andy with his cousin. He found himself thinking about his mothers hands. About how they might have felt on his skin. If she would have cuddles him a lot like his dad did. If she would have got mad with him when he did bad stuff.

"I wish I had known her." he admitted. He wanted to be like his friends and like other children and have a mother. But not another women, he wanted his mother. He admitted in his young heart that he wanted him back.

"So do I son."

As they reached her grave Lucius knelt down as he always did.

"Hello my love." he muttered.

One of the only things he did the muggle way was the weeding and tending of her grave. He felt he had to. It was the only way he could prove he was still devoted to her and to her memory. But then there was Maria… a new start.

"Why do you talk to mummy when you are here?"

"Because I truly believe that your mother can hear me when I talk to her." Lucius looked at his son, in almost the most meaningful way he ever had. "Draco there are other sorts of magic in this world apart from the type hat comes out of the end of your daddy's wand. There are other forces in this world at play. Daddy promises you that."

Draco nodded. He knew that. Going over to his father he wrapped his arms about him. "I love you. And I love mummy too," he told him as there heads came together.

"I know. I love the both of you too." kissing his head. Draco was his precious boy. And he always would be.

-

A glass of fire whisky sat on Lucius desk. Draco had worn himself out at the park. Lucius sat behind the desk reading a piece of parchment that had come to him.

Dear Mr Malfoy,

I just wanted to write to thank you for last night. I had a wonderful time at the ball, though I fear I might have taken up too much of my hosts time. I shall never forget last night, truly.

I am sir most grateful for you kind attention.

Happy holidays,

Maria Pilak.

A smirk played on his lips.

A new intrigue at last.

He knew he would see her again.

An: Please Review!