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There were a few people Draco graduated with that were Aurors. Ron Weasley was one, then Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.

Harry was married to Ginny Weasley who had been playing Quidditch professionally since only a year out of Hogwarts. Ron was married to Lavender Brown. They ended up together again four years prior and now had three kids.

Hermione never married and was very private about her personal life. All that Draco picked up over the years from them being co-workers was that she had been with two men. One of them was named Jeremiah who had cheated on her after six months, the other was a guy named Brent. Draco wasn't sure what had gone wrong in that relationship, all he knew was it went bad. He always felt bad for her. She never did anything to deserve such awful people.

He walked over to his station which was situated in the left backhand corner of the room.

The counter was full of pictures, three being of Astoria, with him in two of them. There were Wanted Posters of Dark Wizards that were wreaking havoc in Nottingham, and a few memos were sitting on the desk that flew over that morning.

He sat in his chair and picked up one of the pictures of Astoria and himself. The photo was taken at the mansion, and they were clinking their champagne glasses together. The moving photo showed their laughter when some of the drink spilled out of their glasses. After the spill, he leaned over and they kissed. It was strange for him, looking at the photo, because as it replayed over and over, he saw what had always been evident since day one: The happiness wasn't real. Of course it wasn't. The whole marriage was forced upon him, and he didn't know what true happiness really was.

He set down the photo and without picking them up, watched the others. The other photo with both Astoria and Draco in it was taken at Malfoy Manor on their wedding day. There were no smiles at all. Lucius and Narcissa were as happy as can be, although Narcissa was the only one who showed a tiny glimpse of a smile. After all, it was all their idea.

He watched the last photo, this one of Astoria blowing a kiss towards the camera. You could compare the pose to something the famous Muggle celebrity, Marilyn Monroe, would have done. In fact, over the years, Draco had grown to love vintage Muggle cinema, particularly the 50s era.

Leaning back in his chair, stretching his arms behind him, he finally noticed that Harry Potter was there, along with Hermione, both at their own stations. Harry looked up when Draco sat down, but Draco hadn't noticed. The two of them no longer squabbled like they used to and were on better terms, but mostly their conversations involved work or asking how the other was doing. Being 30 years old and no longer in their teens had its benefits. Hermione was too busy with her work, her nose close to the desk.

"How she is already working, I don't know," Draco thought. "Not that I'm surprised."

Harry's station was two down on Draco's left. Harry turned to him when he saw Draco was oddly quiet with no rustling of papers.

"Hey, Malfoy," Harry greeted, "had a good morning so far?"

Draco looked up, trying to return his thoughts to planet Earth. "Oh. Hey, Potter. Yeah. Morning has...morning's been fine. Very excellent. You know...life is wonderful!" Truth be told, he sounded almost delirious.

Harry wondered if something was going on to change Draco's usual mood. "Tired?" Harry asked. "Same."

Draco didn't get the chance to respond, as Hermione finally addressed him and Harry from her own desk that was across from Harry's.

"Hi, Malfoy," she greeted with a smile, "sorry I wasn't paying attention. I was focusing on a few things that arrived this morning."

Harry laughed while staring at her. "Hermione. We just got here, and you're already..." His voice faded out, for she had given him a cross, yet familiar, look.

"We were sent these five minutes ago, Harry," she scolded him, "and if you want to get them finished today, I would get a move on."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned back to Draco. "I shouldn't have asked," he whispered, "of course she's started work already."

It appeared Harry was speaking through a long tunnel. Draco was staring at Hermione, though she had already put her head back in her work. On a normal day, he always said a friendly "good morning" to her. Today, however, he was seeing her in a different light, thanks to Astoria.

"Hermione," Harry spoke again, "where's Ron? Didn't you see him yesterday--"

Draco turned his head ever so slightly in Harry and Hermione's direction. He felt his cheeks heat up.

"--when you went over to his house for dinner?"

Draco's face grew warmer and he tensed up, though he didn't know why.

Hermione looked at Harry, her face relaxed now. "Yes, I was over there, and I'll tell you this..." she leaned in, almost whispering, "it was supposed to be just the four of us, but Lavender couldn't find anyone to take the kids, which was really overwhelming for her. So, yes, it ended up being us four along with three children under the age of four," she finished and leaned back in her seat, yawning.

Harry was silent for a moment and then chuckled. "Well, at least it was Lav who screwed up for once and not Ron. That's something!"

Draco was quite still, listening to the two of them speak.

"What did she mean by the four of them?" Draco asked himself. "Weasel, Lavender, Granger...that's only three. No, she said four."

He finally came back to the present.

" ...yeah, yeah, that's true..." Harry continued, eyes on Hermione.

Draco missed a chunk of the conversation.

"So," Harry said hesitantly, "was Brent a good sport, or what?"

"Brent. Him." Hermione paused and played with her hair. "Turns out he is still the same ol' Brent. I don't know why I bothered going to that dinner."

Harry folded his arms, looking disgruntled and protective of his best friend. "What did he do?"

She sighed. "He...to tell the truth? He couldn't stop talking about his new passion: stamps."

Harry scoffed. He hated Brent, mostly because of how much he hurt Hermione.

"Not only that," she continued, looking disgusted, "but he played footsie with me the entire time we were at the table. Lavender even found out. Want to know how?"

Harry nodded slightly, as if not quite sure he wanted to know.

Hermione appeared to be enjoying telling the story. "Brent played with her foot, probably on purpose, too."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "Please tell me you aren't going out with him again."

She rolled her eyes. "Harry. Do you really think I am going to? Hell, even Serenity saw what Brent was doing. She was playing on the floor and pointed to his feet under the table, who, at that point, were playing with Lavender's. Luckily, Serenity couldn't see it was her mum's feet."

Hermione sighed. "Honestly, I just needed someone to go with, and I don't have many choices. You know very well I would have gone alone, but Lavender insisted it be a double dinner date, probably because she thought I was still with Brent. And Ron of course wouldn't have bothered telling her otherwise."

Harry leaned back in his seat. "How about you come over tonight? Teddy is coming over, and I'm sure he would love to see you."

Hermione smiled a little. "Thanks, Harry, but I think I will just watch a movie at my place or something. I'll come over next time."

She looked at all the papers in front of her. "Seriously, Harry, you'd better get to work."

He smiled at his best friend, glanced over at Draco and then grabbed the memos that had settled on his own desk minutes before.

Ron walked in a moment later with his hair messed up and plopped down in his chair across from Draco. "Wow, I'm tired," Ron said, out of breath. "You would not believe--"

Hermione glared at him, her face bright red. "Ron, where have you been? Do you know what time it is?"

She was evidently still angry from the night before, having been made to go out with Brent because Ron hadn't bothered informing Lavender of the breakup.

He recoiled at Hermione's reaction. "Uh...7:42?"

"Exactly. Get to work!" She turned back to her own desk.

He met eyes with Harry and then Draco. "It was Lavender's fault..." He shrugged.

Draco looked down at his desk and he picked up the second photo again, from his wedding. He watched the photo move over and over, tears filling his eyes for the second time in years.