Trigger warning: Brief mention of past DV

*0*0*0*

Aunt and nephew sat in the two upholstered chairs by the fireplace as Teddy crawled in the floor, chasing a brightly colored ball. Draco focused on his drink, unsure of how to start the conversation.

"Is this about a girl?" Andromeda asked.

"…yes," Draco said, feeling his ears grow hot. "How'd you guess?"

"When a young man sends his estranged aunt a letter in which he's panicking about his 'impending doom', there's usually a girl involved." Andromeda winked. "Young man, you can get your face out of that mug and look me in the eye. It's ok, I can sympathize with what you're feeling. I was eighteen once myself, you know. Even if that was a very long time ago," Andromeda smiled encouragingly, apparently having sensed his unease.

"Aunt Andy…when you met Uncle Ted, your family had already picked out a husband for you, right?" Draco asked slowly.

"Why, yes. A wizard with a perfect pedigree and a temper to match your horrid Aunt Bella. I couldn't stand the sight of him."

"How did you get out of the engagement?"

"Well…I was away at Hogwarts, separated from my future husband whom I couldn't tolerate, and Ted and I started seeing each other. We fell in love. He proposed to me. With a Muggle engagement ring," Andromeda laughed, wiggling her fingers on her left hand. "I've still got it."

"Wow," was all Draco could say as he was reminded of his own parents' pending divorce.

"That Christmas, Cissy and I came home for the holidays," Andromeda continued. "Now, Ted knew about my situation at home. He told me that he wouldn't be offended if I left my engagement ring at Hogwarts. I debated it. I finally decided 'Screw them, I'm an adult and I'll marry whomever I choose, and they may as well find out now' and I came home wearing the ring."

"How did that go over?"

"Like a lead balloon. My parents were furious. They immediately informed the man they'd chosen for me, and he personally came to our house and ripped up our engagement contract and threw it in my face and called me a great many awful things for being willing to sleep with a Muggle. My parents said that I was a disgrace to the family name and blasted me off of that stupid tapestry."

"Oh." Draco became very interested in the last few drops in the bottom of his mug.

"Hon," Andromeda said gently, "it doesn't have to be like that for you."

"How'd you guess…"

"Your parents are both very much set in the Old Ways. I would be more surprised if they hadn't picked out some eligible young witch for you."

"It's Pansy Parkinson," he grumbled. "It's not like she's a terrible person, but…I'd lose my sanity if we lived in the same house. It's bad enough sharing a common room with her. She woke up half of Slytherin this morning because she fell asleep scrying and splashed her face in the bowl and ruined her makeup. She was screaming like a two-year-old." Draco rolled his eyes. "Seriously, who needs to have makeup on at five in the morning?"

"Hmm." Andromeda thought for a bit. "Do you think she looks forward to marrying you?"

"She looks forward to marrying my wallet," Draco growled. "She thinks I'm neglecting her if I won't buy her an overpriced dress with matching overpriced shoes that she'll wear once and then bury in the back of her closet."

"She sounds needy."

"She's enough to drive a person mad!"

"I can see. Now, have you brought up this subject with your mother at all?"

"Not yet." He looked at his shoes. "I don't think she would blast me off of the tapestry. I really do hope she wouldn't."

"I don't think she would," Andromeda said gently. "For all of her faults, she genuinely loves you. And now with your grandparents and your Aunt Bella dead, and with her divorcing your father—oh, don't be surprised, I followed his trial in the papers—you are all that she has left."

Draco slowly nodded.

"Do you have any idea of how Pansy's parents might react?"

"I don't know them all that well…so no."

"Well, I know for a fact that your father can't do a darn thing about it, seeing as how he's spending the rest of his life behind bars. That covers everybody involved in this marriage contract, I do believe. Now, we need to decide how best to dissolve it." Andromeda gave him a pointed look. "For the record, I don't recommend ripping up the contract and throwing the pieces in anyone's face."

One corner of Draco's mouth turned up. "You had better not recommend that. I came to you in search of good advice."

Andromeda smiled. "No need to worry in that regard, dear. I am curious, though; do you want out of this contract because you are in love with someone else?"

Draco felt his face and ears become uncomfortably warm.

"I'll interpret your expression as a 'yes'," Andromeda said. "Does your mother know? It might affect how we bring up the topic with her about you not marrying Pansy."

"Erm…no. She doesn't."

"Do you think she would approve of your current relationship? If so, we might be able to use that to convince her to end the engagement."

"I…honestly, I don't think she'd care." Draco studied the lacing of his shoes. "I don't think she cares about anything, anymore. I visited a few weeks ago, and…and the place is trashed. It's covered in piles of empty cereal boxes, and there's insects, and mice, and the dust is so thick on the table and countertops that you can write on it with a finger…"

"Hon, I'm sorry." The chairs were close enough that Andromeda could place her hand on his knee. "Please don't blame yourself. I can't imagine how difficult the past few months have been for your mother. She's been dragged in front of the Wizengamot to be tried as a Death Eater, she's had most of her assets frozen during the trial…" Andromeda's voice softened. "They took her wand, too, didn't they?"

Draco nodded. "I was one of the very few to not have that clause as part of my probation. My lawyer was able to convince the jury that I needed my wand for school."

"I feel awful for Cissy. She never learned to cook the Muggle way, and now she doesn't have a wand or a house-elf. I really ought to bring her a meal."

How his aunt could still feel compassion for a sister who had treated her as though she didn't exist for the past twenty-five years, Draco could not comprehend.

"Aunt Andy…Mother wanted to put you back on the tapestry. But she's had difficulty repairing the burn hole now that she doesn't have her wand." He refused to say the words I worry she's given up. He wouldn't give that fear a voice.

"Oh…wow," Andromeda breathed softly. "Poor Cissy. I'm going to send her an owl after you and I get finished with our business here. Yes, I do have one, despite living as a Muggle. My neighbor thinks she's a parrot. It's not too difficult to put a glamour on her, and there's parrot toys in her cage for decoration."

"Parrot toys in an owl cage?" Draco repeated, grinning slightly at the absurdity of the idea. "You'll have to show me that before I leave."

"I most certainly will…but back to your current problem. I'd recommend starting with Pansy; she'd probably feel offended like you went behind her back otherwise. Now, you said that she can be a bit dramatic, so you might want to brace yourself for some tears. Or screaming. Or both."

"Uh-huh."

"Neither of your parents are going to hold you to this contract," Andromeda continued. "You can deflect blame to them if Pansy explodes on you. You can say that they've changed their minds about it. Say that they can't pay for a proper wedding, not with their assets frozen. Say that they aren't ready for this yet, and they're still recovering from the war. Say that they're trying to do her a favor by not saddling her with the last name of Malfoy, not so soon after the war when everyone's feelings are still raw."

"I feel as though I should be taking notes on this," Draco commented.

"Accio notebook," said Andromeda, and a spiral-bound notebook with a pencil buried in the spine came zooming into the room. Draco still felt that Muggle pencils were inferior to quill pens, as the latter didn't require regular sharpening, but there was the advantage of not needing to keep an inkwell handy.

"After you've finished breaking up with Pansy, we'll tell Cissy next. She won't stand in your way if she knows you're in love with someone else. In fact, she may even support you." Andromeda closed her eyes thoughtfully. "Your mother's own marriage was arranged. I infer from the fact that she's now leaving your father that she wasn't happy. I think—she'd prefer that you not be put through something similar."

She wasn't happy was a severe understatement. Draco had lost count of the number of times he'd seen his exhausted mother sweeping up the pieces after his father had exploded every object in the room in a fit of rage…the times he'd seen her looking in the mirror, dabbing salve on the latest purple imprint of his father's hand…the times he'd snuck out of the house as a terrified little child, trying to put as much distance between himself and the shouting and screaming as he possibly could…

Draco put up the walls in his mind and drug himself back into the present. "But before I talk to Mother…talking to Pansy is what I'm worried about."

"You're convinced she won't take it well?"

Draco sighed. "Her pride is going to be hurt something terrible when she realizes that I turned her down for a bushy-haired, introverted Muggle-born from a rival house who spends most of her time in a boring, un-cool place like the library…"

"Wait a minute." Andromeda's grin widened until it nearly split her face. "I do believe you just described Hermione Granger to me."

Draco's vocal cords made some sort of involuntary strangled noise while his ears grew so hot he decided they were only two degrees Celsius from spontaneously combusting.

"We were both Order members, dear," Andromeda explained gently. "I know Miss Granger rather well. I must say, she's quite the fine young lady."

"Da ba goo goo," Teddy agreed, crawling across the carpet to enthusiastically smack his grandmother in the knee with an overstuffed plush unicorn.

"Life lesson here, Draco: if you ever have children of your own, only provide them with soft toys," Andromeda commented.

Unbidden, an image presented itself to Draco's subconsciousness, of Hermione straddling a small, blonde, pointy-faced child on her hip. The child giggled before whacking Hermione in the face with a ridiculous-looking stuffed baby dragon, the typical Muggle depiction of a dragon with enormous baby-doll eyes and massive stomachs and tiny wings which were useless for flight.

Draco covered a laugh with his hand.

Teddy's ever-shifting attention left his grandmother; Draco felt the tiny hand grip his Muggle khakis as the child steadied himself to stand up.

"Ga goo," Teddy said, sticking both hands at Draco and making a grasping motion.

"He wants you to pick him up," Andromeda explained.

"Me?" Studying the child uncertainly, Draco decided that the best way to go about this was to wrap both hands around Teddy's ribcage. Teddy squealed with delight as Draco lifted him into the air and placed him sideways on his lap.

"Ga." Teddy extended a chubby hand in the direction of his toy unicorn on the floor. With a flick of her wand, Andromeda levitated it into his little arms. He shrieked with joy.

"Teddy loves people," Andromeda said. "He's like his mum."

It was of some comfort to Draco that the youngest member of the House of Black bore him no ill will for ending up in the wrong camp when the family split. At least someone forgave him, even if it was just a little child who knew no better.

He fidgeted a bit in an attempt to get Teddy, the unicorn, and his notebook and pencil all situated in his lap. "Alright, Aunt Andy. I can take notes now."

"Great! Now, you said that Pansy considers herself superior to Hermione, and you're concerned that she'll be insulted by this."

Draco rolled his eyes. "She's the Obnoxious Fashion Police Beauty Queen. She thinks she's better than everyone."

"According to Harry, you have the same issue," Andromeda pointed out.

"Harry can…exaggerate," Draco said, his ears warming back up. "Besides, I got better."

"Goo," Teddy interjected. Draco wasn't sure if it translated to agreement or ridicule, but he hoped it was the former.

"Perhaps it's better not to mention Hermione to Pansy, at least not at first," Andromeda suggested. "Start off by saying that your parents have changed their minds about the marriage…"

*0*0*0*0*0*

Draco left his aunt's place two hours later with an armful of notes. When he walked into his dorm to change back into his school robes, Blaise was already waiting in the room.

"Impressive stack you've got there. Is your relative a NEWTs tutor?"

"No. We had a lengthy discussion on how to dissolve an engagement." Draco felt the sweat forming on his palms and fingertips, and quickly placed his notes on his bed to keep them from getting soaked. "She was once in the same situation."

"Seriously, dude, is this still about leaving Pansy for the Golden Girl?"

"Obviously," Draco growled, straightening his tie. "This is imperative. If I get hitched to Pansy, I'm going to become a raving lunatic. Anybody would!"

"Well, you and Granger do spend quite a bit of time…studying together. I've also noticed you've needed an impressive number of cold showers lately."

"Cut it, Zabini."

"Mate, just start boinking her already. Your toes will thank you. I think they're perpetually blue at this point from all the cold water."

Draco clenched his hands to keep them from trembling, squeezing out a few drops of sweat in doing so. They fell to his robes. Sighing, he cast a quick drying charm on his hands. He hoped it would last long enough for him to walk across the common room to confront Pansy.

"Good luck, mate," Blaise said. "I heard that Pansy's mother took her to a dressmaker last weekend to have her fitted for a wedding gown." He winked.

Draco didn't give his unhelpful roommate so much as a sideways glance as he strode out of the room.

Grey eyes flicked over the dim Common Room, soon picking out the flawlessly combed jet-black hair they were seeking. Mechanically, Draco forced himself to put one foot in front of the other, bringing himself closer to the girl sitting on the couch with her face in a set of Tarot carts. His stomach churned and he swallowed thickly. He was terrified enough without the impending fear that he would vomit in front of Pansy.

Draco cleared his throat. "Pans. We need to…talk."

Her eyes widened in a display of something he wasn't expecting…concern? Fear?

"Oh. Ok," she said quietly. "Like…alone?"

Her fingers trembled a bit as she straightened the Tarot cards into a stack.

Why wasn't she angry? Where was the spite, the wounded pride? Had she somehow figured out that this was coming and mutely accepted it?

Pansy wasn't the sort to mutely accept things…

It hit Draco like a bucket of ice being dumped over his head. She was going to guilt him for leaving. Anger would have been ten times easier to deal with, they could have both blown up at each other and been done with it, but she would rather string this out…

He barely noticed his own footsteps as he dragged himself across the floor to an empty wall, Pansy in tow.

"You…you figured it out, didn't you?" Pansy whispered, her hands visibly shaking as they twisted her robe into impossible knots. "Are you…angry?"

Her expression reminded him of a little rabbit about to be swallowed by a griffin.

Wait…wasn't he supposed to be the scared one? It didn't make sense.

"Should I be angry?" Draco asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Well…I was afraid you would be." Her hands intensified their eagerness in deforming her clothing.

Unsure of how to respond, Draco stayed still and quiet.

"Cause…" Pansy continued awkwardly, "cause I don't really want to be with you cause I actually..." she looked at the floor, "prefer girls. I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later, you're so smart…"

Luckily for Draco, she didn't immediately look back up, giving him a few seconds to school his stunned expression back into his usual confident front.

"I'm…not upset," Draco said.

"Oh. Good." Pansy exhaled. "I've been dreading this since six o'clock this morning. You see, I had asked Trelawny if she could predict how you would react if I told you about…about liking girls, and she said that you were about to break up with me anyway, so I realized that you already knew…"

"Trelawny?" Draco repeated, stunned.

"Oh, she's an amazing Seer," Pansy oozed. "But anyway, when you were upset because I was drawing a Crumple-Horned Snorkack in our Transfiguration class this morning…"

"A what?" Draco interrupted. "How do you even know what one looks like?"

"Because I saw it in my scrying bowl!" Pansy enthused, her fear quickly disappearing. "So, I realized that you knew about me and Luna when you saw me drawing the Crumple Horned Snorkack for the front cover of the Quibbler, and you were upset and you confronted me about it, and I thought you didn't like that I was working with Luna for the magazine…"

"I was upset because you were ignoring my very valuable lecture," Draco clarified. "I do not have any issues with you and Luna drawing invisible creatures for the front cover of her father's bizarre…publication."

Pansy wrinkled her nose. "I suspected that you wouldn't…appreciate…the Lovegoods."

"They're…" Draco tried to decide upon the least offensive adjective that was still accurate "…unique. Not exactly my type."

"Well, I appreciate them," Pansy declared. "And Xeno is so kind. I'm sure my parents will explode when I tell them that I'm not marrying you, but at least he'll support me."

"So long as you're happy…it's all fine with me. I'm just relieved that this is over." Draco exhaled, feeling his shoulders relax enough to drop about six inches.

"So, how'd it go?" Blaise grinned broadly, kicking his feet up on the Common Room sofa.

Draco laughed. "It so happens that she wanted out as badly as I did. She's seeing Luna Lovegood, of all people! Can you believe it?"

"You did say that Pansy was enough to drive anybody insane," Blaise said thoughtfully.

"I believe that happened a long time ago for Luna," Draco observed.

"So…if Pansy is seeing somebody who's already off her rocker…"

"…it just might work out," Draco finished. "I suppose time will tell."

"I must say, I'm interested to see how that ends up." Blaise grinned. "Of course, I'm more interested to see the Golden Girl's reaction when she learns that you're newly freed from your family's obligations. Now you don't need to confine your smooching—pardon me, I meant to say studying—sessions to the darkest corners of the library anymore."

"You're right." As he eagerly jumped up of sofa, he could have sworn that Blaise cast some sort of Reducing charm on him, because he felt at least ten pounds lighter. His feet scarcely touched the stone floor as he ran with a speed nearly matching that of his new Second-Gen Firebolt. (He'd placed his order immediately when he'd seen Harry's new broom arrive in the post. Although the two boys more-or-less got along now, Draco refused to allow Harry to own a better broom than he did.)

Hermione Granger was already waiting for him outside in the corridor. "Did you get this business with Pansy sorted?" she asked hopefully, her huge brown eyes searching his body language for clues as to how their meeting had played out.

"I did," he murmured, wrapping both arms around her and lifting her from her toes, bringing her face perfectly level to his own.

He kissed her, slowly and fervently, tasting her, savoring her.

His Golden Girl.

And now, nothing was in his way.