A/N: Heyyyy it's boaluv14 coming at you with a brand new story! This story has a VERY long background. It all started about 4 years ago when I began writing a story about Draco Malfoy's fourth year at Hogwarts. I had written the first chapter but never continued. Not until September 2009 did I pick it up again after discovering it on my old computer! Eventually, the story developed in my mind all the way up to this point. Six years after Hogwarts! Not sure if I'll be putting up the story about his fourth year as it is very open ended and I'd be compelled to write all the way up to seventh year. BUT here is the new story you've been waiting for! Enjoy!

"Rachel!" Pansy Parkinson yelled from the front desk.

A young girl of about 19 rushed out of the storage room looking flustered. Her dark bob was disheveled. "Yes Pansy!" she said breathlessly.

Pansy turned around and stared at her employee, "A customer needs assistance." she said as she adjusted her white blazer. Rachel nodded and walked as fast as her little legs could carry her to a pudgy woman in a bright green sweater.

Pansy looked around her shop. It was nearly empty except for that one customer. It had been a very slow day and she was thinking about closing up early. She watched as Rachel, her loyal and peppy employee, squeezed a ballet flat on the customer's fat foot and sighed. When the woman left with nothing, Pansy was disappointed but ready to close up for the day an hour early. It wasn't likely anyone else was going to come in. She could only see a few people walking outside in Diagon Alley today.

Pansy and Rachel began cleaning up the store and putting any loose shoes in their boxes in the backroom. Pansy reached down to put away a large box containing a pair of boots when a customer entered the shop. She heard the familiar chime of the bell over the entrance as the customer walked in. Pansy stood up and peered around the corner to make sure Rachel was attending to them. She poked her head out of the doorway and looked to her right.

"Aren't these lovely, dear?" said a young blonde woman holding a pair of metallic blue high heels. The man she was with shrugged and looked to the side, dismissing her. That's when Pansy recognized them. She quickly hid herself in the backroom, heart racing.

"Do you want to try those on?" Rachel said, her voice sounded muffled from the front of the shop. Pansy got on her hands and knees hoping not to be seen. She crawled behind the register and pretended to be busy putting things away. How could he be here? And with her? Pansy hadn't seen her ex boyfriend in years and now here he was at her shop with another woman. It was utterly humiliating.

"I'll definitely take these" the blonde woman chimed. Rachel moved behind the register and Pansy sneaked behind her, her back facing the couple. She was almost out of sight when she heard her name being called.

"Pansy?" the woman shouted. Pansy froze. Shit.

Pansy turned around with a giant smile on her face, "Astoria!" she shouted back. Her face was slowly turning a bright shade of red.

"It's so nice to see you!" Astoria Greengrass exclaimed and she squealed as she hugged her old high school acquaintance.

"Yes, lovely…" Pansy grumbled. If only she could apparate out of this situation.

"Draco, don't be rude say 'hello'." Astoria nudged him with a disapproving look. Draco looked Pansy in the eye and nodded.

"Draco and I are married now did you hear?" Astoria beamed and Pansy's heart sank. Married? To her? Pansy tried not to frown at the beautiful silver band on Astoria's finger.

"That's great." Pansy replied half-heartedly. Her eyes shifted towards Draco who was still staring at her intensely. Pansy quickly darted her eyes away from his. "Well! It was nice seeing you. Enjoy your new shoes." Pansy smiled and waved goodbye to the couple.

"Who was that?" Rachel asked, eyebrows raised.

"No one!" Pansy shouted, her voice cracking from embarrassment. Rachel looked unconvinced but dropped the subject anyway. Pansy closed up shop completely mortified. At least she had a good story to tell her friends later.

"He married that annoying little snot?" Tracy Davis scrunched up her nose when Pansy told her the story. The two of them were sitting in a bar along with Millicent Bullstrode down the street from Pansy's Shoe Shop.

"You were too good for the git anyway." Millicent said, rolling her eyes. Tracy agreed.

"He didn't even say hi." Pansy complained, "He just stood there staring at me like we didn't go out for over 3 years. It was so embarrassing."

"You know what you need?" Tracy beamed.

"What?" Pansy grumbled.

"A man!" Millicent and Tracy said in unison.

"No." Pansy said firmly.

"Oh come on! Let us set you up! I mean, when was the last time you had sex? Like a year ago?" Tracy groaned.

Pansy turned red, "Shut up! I'm fine. I don't want to be set up with some ugly cousin of yours."

"We promise he won't be ugly." Millicent held Pansy's hand and gave her puppy dog eyes, "What could it hurt? Hm?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Fine. One date." Millicent and Tracy cheered and high fived and Pansy took a long sip from her martini.

Pansy rolled out of bed the following Saturday morning not in the best spirits. It was the day of the blind date she had agreed to and she was dreading it. At least she didn't have to go to work so she could spend the whole day in her pajamas. She could spend her afternoon lounging around her spacious apartment all by herself. And eat her eggs and bacon breakfast all by herself. And listen to her wizard radio all by herself. Suddenly she realized that she didn't want to be 'all by herself'. Pansy looked around the apartment. It was lonely living in such a big place alone. Maybe this blind date thing wasn't such a bad idea. Her heart stung as she thought about Draco and how he was married already. Maybe if things had turned out differently she would be married to him instead.

Pansy still remembered that day she had come to apologize to him. It was the summer after the war and she had made sure she was looking her best. She had even curled her hair for the encounter. She rang his doorbell and when he opened the door he didn't look happy to see her.

"Draco, I came to say I'm sorry." she said sincerely, "After Crabbe died and countless other people I knew were injured or lost to the battle, I realized how much pain You-Know-Who caused. And I realized how much he never cared about any of us. I'm sorry about what he put you through. I'm really sorry." he stared at her, his face cold. "Please give me another chance." Pansy begged.

Draco sighed at the 18 year old girl on his doorstep. "I'm sorry Pansy." He said looking down, "But I just don't have feelings for you anymore."

Pansy looked at him in disbelief. How could he not love her anymore? He had gotten over her so quickly? Her heart hurt so bad she clutched her chest.

"Please leave." he said in a monotone and shut the door in her face.

Twenty-three year old Pansy shook her head attempting to shake the memory away. It was years ago and she was over it now. Draco Malfoy could no longer hurt her. She wouldn't let him. She would find the man of her dreams soon. And he would be nothing like Draco. He would be kind and loving and understanding.

Pansy swung open the door when her date knocked on it at 7pm that night. She had dressed up in fitted skinny jeans and a fluttery pink blouse.

"Hi," her date said, offering a handshake, "I'm David." Pansy looked up in dreamy state at the man standing before her. He was tall with broad shoulders and a killer smile. His dark hair was slightly messy but in a good way. As if he had just rolled out of bed looking that sexy. Pansy smiled, her friends had done well. Maybe she had finally found her prince charming.

David took her arm. "We're apparating to one of my favorite restaurants. You have your license right?" Pansy nodded, "Good, wouldn't want you to lose an arm!" he chuckled and they apparated to a street made out of cobblestone. The restaurant they were eating at was French, and very beautiful. Pansy felt slightly under dressed in jeans. The place was definitely high class. A waiter showed them to their candlelit table and handed them their menus. Pansy was definitely having the escargot. It was her favorite French dish.

"I hope I'm not being too forward but you are absolutely beautiful." David said after they had ordered entrees. Pansy blushed; no one had ever complimented her like that before.

"Thank you." she said shyly. There was an awkward pause in the conversation. Pansy decided to fill it with a question. "So um, where do you work?"

"At the ministry." he said casually, "In the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

"Oh sounds exciting. Do you travel a lot because of it?" Pansy asked politely.

"No not really. That's more for the higher ups. My boss travels often though. You went to Hogwarts right?" Pansy nodded as she took a sip of water. "Then you might know him. Draco Malfoy?"

Pansy coughed as the water she was drinking went down the wrong way. "Are you okay?" David asked, handing her a napkin to cough into. Pansy nodded frantically trying to act normal.

"Draco Malfoy is your boss? Isn't he a bit young?" her eyes were wide open in horror.

"Yes…" David said uneasily. He must have been very frightened by her reaction, "But you know his Dad has a reputation at the Ministry so of course he got his son the best job possible."

Pansy was in such a shock that she didn't even notice the escargot that was placed in front of her and almost stuck her elbow right into it. She nervously ate the food as David went on and on about Draco.

"Me and Malfoy get along great though!" he laughed, "Told me all these stories about when he went to Hogwarts. Probably made up most of 'em though. Too funny to believe!" Pansy nodded politely, "There was this one time we went bar hopping and he was hitting on all the ladies in there! That was before his wife of course."

The rest of the night consisted of David laughing and having a good time talking about her ex-boyfriend while Pansy faux smiled and laughed along. At the end of the date Pansy flew inside her apartment to avoid the goodnight kiss. She was definitely not going out with him again.

"Pansy we're soooo sorry!" Millicent and Tracy laughed at lunch the next afternoon. Pansy scowled at her two best friends. Tracy's blonde ponytail was falling apart because she was laughing so hard.

"Honestly though," Millicent started, "we had no idea he worked for Draco. But you have to admit, that is pretty funny."

"We'll set you up with someone else. And we'll do a thorough background check." Tracy said crossing her fingers, "Promise!"

Pansy looked at the clock in the coffee shop, "I don't think so. I'm done with blind dates. And I have to go to work now. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye!" Pansy paid for her meal and strolled down Diagon Alley to her shoe store.

But when Pansy arrived she couldn't believe her eyes. The store was filled with people and her two employees were scrambling to help them all.

"Could use a bit of help here." said the new girl, Hannah, as she walked by while balancing a huge pile of shoes. Pansy quickly began attending to customer after customer.

"I want this one mum!" said a little girl with pigtails. She was tugging on her mom's shirt and pointing to a pair of pink runners. They seemed to be some of the last customers from the rush. Pansy crouched down to help the little girl try them on.

"How do they feel?" Pansy smiled.

"Good." The girl said shyly. She walked around in them to make sure and then Pansy made the sale. Just as she shut the register, she heard the chiming of a new customer entering the store. She looked up and cringed. It was Draco Malfoy again. But he wasn't with his wife. Pansy couldn't avoid him this time. They had already made eye contact and he was walking towards the counter.

"How can I help you?" she said trying to keep her cool.

"I need some shoes for a luncheon with my wife. Something…expensive." He clearly was not the bargain brand type.

"We have only the top designers on this shelf." She guided him to a display of men's shoes with prices up to 150 galleons.

"What do you," he said in a slow voice. He was looking her dead in the eye. "Recommend?"

Pansy reached for a pair on the second highest shelf praying her shirt wouldn't lift revealing her underwear. "These are onyx black Wentworth dress shoes. Very big wizard shoe designer. 100 galleons."

Draco held the left shoe in his hand. He examined every inch of the thing and then said, "It's perfect." He smiled and paid for the shoes with Hannah's assistance.

"Ooo who was that?" Hannah asked excitedly after Draco had left.

"That's what I wanna know!" Rachel answered

"I know him from somewhere!" Hannah yelled and quickly ran into the backroom. When she came out she was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet, "Isn't this him?" she said pointing to the front page. A picture of Draco Malfoy smiling in a black suit was on the cover with the headline, 'Malfoy Taking Over; New Kid on the Block Plans to Make Big Changes at the Ministry'.

"Ooo he's a politician!" Rachel giggled, "Handsome, rich, and powerful. Yum!"

Hannah shook her red curls. "He's hot. Do you know him?" she looked at Pansy for an answer.

"He's just this guy I know from Hogwarts." Pansy would love to avoid the topic altogether but it just kept coming up lately. Why couldn't she escape him? It was like everyone around her had Draco Malfoy word vomit. She quickly busied herself in the backroom to escape the chatter and giggling of the two young girls.

Pansy was exhausted by the end of the day and couldn't wait to get home. She was going to the let Rachel and Hannah close up for the night. Pansy picked up her purse and headed for the employees only, back exit.

"Hey Pansy wait!" Rachel called. "Here, I found this next to the register." She handed Pansy a piece of paper folded in half. It had gold embroidering and her name was written on it in black cursive. Pansy slowly opened the note. It read:

(020) 7545 0800

- D.M

A/N: I know what you're thinking! "HEY! Boaluv14! Wizards don't use phones!" Yes they do. Well some do. Confused? As it should be. All will be explained next time!