Mr. Malfoy's Lonely Hearts Christmas Party

Mr. Malfoy

It was quite simple. If you wanted to meet your soulmate, you attended Draco Malfoy's Christmas celebration.

It began the first Christmas after the war. Seven months post-battle, with Mother dead and his father in Azkaban; Draco had invited a few friends over for the Holiday to fill the empty manor.

It started with just a few of them: Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Marcus Flint, Millicent Bulstrode, Terrance Higgs, and Tracey Davis.

By New Year's Eve, they were all paired off together. It didn't turn heads back then. They were all Slytherins, had all known each other for years, and the public had more important things to worry about than the love lives of Death Eaters' children so soon after the war.

By the next Christmas Draco had, quote, slithered, unquote, his way back into Wizarding society by investing in a new Apothecary in Diagon Alley. With his newfound success came new connections in the form of shopkeepers, potion masters, ingredient collectors, and herbalists.

The story goes that in an act of good faith, and probably good networking strategy, Draco had invited his new acquaintances to celebrate the upcoming Holiday at the manor.

By February there were three engagement announcements, two pregnancies, and a handful of other relationships that seemed to materialize out of thin air.

This ultimately did turn heads. Namely one Harry Potter.

Harry had found a career in Magical Law Enforcement quickly after his departure from Hogwarts. With Ginny opting to return to finish her schooling and train for a hopeful Quidditch career, their relationship had seemed to end before it had even begun.

Broken-hearted and desperately throwing himself into his work, Harry had taken on each and every case the Ministry threw at him. Including an inquiry into the outcome of Draco Malfoy's Christmas parties. Love potion? Imperius ? Some sort of cursed objects that made people... happy and in love?

Harry had written a letter to Draco, and while they had not been particularly friendly before, Draco quickly defended that he was not slipping love potions into champagne nor was he Imperiusing his house guests and if Harry was so sure about it, why didn't he come to the manor this Christmas to see for himself?

On December 26th, when Harry entered the Burrow hand in hand with Pansy Parkinson, Mrs. Weasley had lost a most precious pie dish when it slipped from her hands.

Harry venomously denied any wrongdoing on Draco's part.

"In fact," he had explained when his concerned friends practically tore him away from his new Slytherin girlfriend and huddled around him in the Burrow kitchen, "I barely saw him. I showed up, saw Pansy, and we just... had more in common than I thought."

As the months wore on it was quite apparent that Pansy was, as begrudged to admit it as they were, perfect for Harry. Where Harry was more or less a complete pushover, Pansy was a welcome protection for him. She had no qualms about shooing adoring fans away and giving a piece of her mind to the paparazzi. In turn, Harry made Pansy more gentle. Not only to others, but to herself. She smiled more, insulted less.

In an interview about their romance, the pair had credited it to Draco Malfoy's Christmas party and thus, the lore began.

Each year, six years since the first Malfoy Christmas Ball, Draco had received hundreds of letters from wizards and witches around the globe begging to be invited. Each one on the pretence that they would start the new year with someone to spend the rest of their Christmas' with. And each year he hand-picked fifty of those letters to respond to, inviting them to try their luck at his party. And luck they always had.