Growing up Pureblooded

Meddling Matchmakers

Draco stood by the punch bowl in the ballroom of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, casually sipping his punch and surveying the crowd. His new brother was off searching for Daphne Greengrass, who seemed to have been avoiding him all evening, whilst he himself had just escaped from Pansy Parkinson.
Honestly, Draco had no idea why the pug-faced girl ever thought he might fancy her. She was nice enough, he supposed, but she was one of those unfortunate pureblood witches who actually looks inbred. She was sneaky though, and Draco made a mental note to research defences against love potions and infatuation charms before he returned to Hogwarts.

A pretty dark-haired girl in a blue dress came to get herself some punch. Draco guessed that she was about a year younger than he was.
"Good evening," he said with a smile. "I haven't met you before. My name is Draco."

The girl blushed. "Nice to meet you," she said, and extended her hand. Draco raised it to his lips, and the girl went beet-red. "And what is your name?" he asked. "Astoria Greengrass," the girl replied. Draco raised an eyebrow. "Daphne's sister?" He didn't remember seeing her at the Sorting last year.

Astoria nodded. "That's right." she said with a blush. "Are you in Slytherin too?' The girl shook her head. "No, actually I haven't started Hogwarts yet. I begin next term." "I'm surprised. I should never have guessed that you were two years younger than I," he mused. "When's your birthday?" "September 2," Astoria replied.

"Well, that explains it," Draco said with a smile. "My birthday is in June, so we're really only a bit over a year apart." The musicians began playing a waltz. "Would you care to dance, Astoria?" Draco asked, offering the girl his hand. She looked nervous for a moment, but she took it, and accompanied him out to the dance floor. Draco was impressed. The younger girl was quite a good dancer. Talkative, on the other hand, she was not.

"You seem nervous," he observed. "Is this your first ball?" The girl shook her head. "No, but I'm not used to being around so many very important people." She lowered her voice into a confidential whisper. "This is Sirius Black's wedding. They say he's the wealthiest wizard in all of Britain. What if I run into him? What would I say?" She paused. "They also say he used to be You-Know-Who's number-one lieutenant. What if I annoy him and he curses me or something?" She said with a frown and a shiver.

Draco smirked as he noticed his stepfather dancing nearby with a very familiar young witch. "You mean that Sirius Black?" he asked, gesturing towards the wizard. Astoria only glanced briefly in the direction her partner had indicated, then nodded, turning very pale.

Draco chuckled. "The one who's currently dancing with your sister?" Astoria looked back, and gasped in shock. It was true. Sirius Black was twirling about the dance floor with her elder sister, and they seemed to be having a good time. Mr Black was making jokes, and Daphne was giggling. Astoria was dumbfounded.

"He seems...nice," she said after a moment's hesitation. "He is," Draco agreed. "You know him?" She questioned with a tilt of her head. "Of course I do," the blond boy replied proudly. "He's my dad." Astoria squealed in surprise, and then immediately began to apologise profusely for her childish outburst. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't know. You didn't say your surname or anything." Quickly trying to correct her words. "It's really quite all right," Draco replied with a kind smile. "Would you care to meet him?"

Astoria's eyes went wide and she shook her head back and forth. "I think I'd die," she said. Draco shrugged. "All right," he said. "But he really is nice." Elsewhere on the dance floor, Aries was dancing with his new stepmother, periodically glancing over to where his dad was dancing with Daphne. "You're doing very nicely, Aries," Narcissa said. "I'm quite proud of you." Aries grinned at her. "Thanks, Mum."

Narcissa's lips twitched a bit. "I've noticed that you keep stealing glimpses of Miss Greengrass over there," she said. "You do know that it's considered courteous for a young wizard to give his dance partner his undivided attention." Aries blushed. "Sorry, Mum." "May I ask what you find so captivating about Miss Greengrass?" his stepmother prodded. "Ought I to be jealous that she is dancing with my husband?"

Aries smiled, but said nothing. "You can tell me, Aries," she continued gently. "I might even be able to help." Aries thought about that. Daphne's behaviour had been very confusing, but his stepmother was a girl, after all. Perhaps she would be able to help. He explained all about their strange conversation in the library.

"And ever since then, she's been avoiding me," Aries continued. "Whenever I try to talk to her, she suddenly has to leave." "I see," Narcissa said with understanding. "Aries, I believe Miss Greengrass is quite smitten with you." "Me?" Aries was stunned. "But we're friends." "You'll be thirteen soon, Aries," Narcissa reminded him. "Miss Greengrass is already. You're coming into that time of life when boys and girls begin to take an interest in each other." "But if she fancies me, why is she avoiding me?" Aries asked, utterly confused.

"Because she's worried that you don't fancy her back," Narcissa replied. "You've been too busy with your special project to spend time with her, and when she offered to help you with that, you declined."Narcissa told him. "But she can't be involved with my special project!" Aries objected. "It's too dangerous, and there no reason for her to get tangled up in it."

Narcissa smiled at him. "That's true, but she doesn't understand it that way. If you want to keep spending time with her, then I suggest you make it clear to her that you will make the time to do so." She gave him a curious look. "Do you fancy her?" "I don't know," Aries mumbled. "She's nice. I enjoy spending time with her. I've been teaching her to cook in order to help her with her Potions mark."

"Then why don't you run along and cut in," his stepmother suggested. "It's high time my husband danced with me again. It is our wedding, after all." Aries thanked Narcissa and walked over to the other side of the ballroom was Sirius where still dancing with Daphne. He tapped his father on the shoulder. Sirius looked around and smiled when he saw Aries.

"Just in time," he said, and handed Daphne off to his son. "You two have a good time." He looked at Daphne intently. "And remember what I told you." The girl nodded. Sirus walked over to his bride and Aries and Daphne began to dance. "Hello, Aries," Daphne said. "Hello, Daphne. Look, I'm really sorry about not spending much time with you last term. I do want to, and I promise I'll make sure to set aside more time for it next year." He hesitated. "That is, if you're still interested."

"I should like that very much, Aries," Daphne replied. "I'm sorry for getting so upset at you without any explanation. Your father was just telling me that boys and girls think in very different ways. I'll try not to jump to conclusions in the future." "Excellent," Aries said, spinning the girl around. "I look forward to continuing our cooking lessons."

From the other side of the room, Sirius and Narcissa watched the young couple fondly, "I think our plan went quite well, Mr Black," Narcissa said. "Indeed, Mrs Black," Sirius agreed. "Perfectly executed. The rest is up to them." He took her by the hand and led her back out onto the dance floor.