Should have been posted earlier, but my job is killing my online time.

*~*~*~*

Draco had apparated to Zabini Manor and was looking for Blaise. He needed to get Hannah's wedding band and hold on to it until the wedding. Blaise had probably forgotten about that. Draco had been doing a bit of landscaping, so he was a bit dirty.

Lindsay's visit last night had sobered him considerably. Well, not sobered, per se, but he was moving. That was better than sitting. Millicent and Tindy had been looking at him oddly all morning. He'd gone and gotten several things to plant and redo the garden then spent most of the day landscaping and drinking.

"Blaise?"

He had already checked the rooms. Now he was walking into one of the smaller sitting rooms. Didly had assured him that Blaise was here... somewhere. Draco hadn't found him though. He'd found someone else. He stopped and frowned slightly.

Desideria was keeping herself busy while her husband was taking a nap. The Stewart children didn't need looking after today, so she was amusing herself by reading. She looked up when someone walked into the room. The man was dirty and had a confused look on his face. She didn't recognize him right off, but if he was let in the house, he was more friend than foe.

"Looking for someone?"

"Blaise, actually." This was probably one of his relatives. Draco smiled slightly. "I'm Draco Malfoy."

"Ah," Desideria smiled as she put down her book. "Yes, I've heard much about you. I'm Blaise's nonna--grandmother."

"Oh."

Now Draco was quite curious and a little embarrassed that he looked a disaster. He barely remembered Grammy Black and his Grandmother Malfoy was dead long before he came into being - poisoned by his grandfather Abraxas if whispers were to be believed. Sure, he knew Grammy Black now, but she was a ghost and in his dreams. This was a real grandmother. A live one.

He didn't know what to say.

"Sit, sit. I want to talk." She motioned him over to sit next to her on the couch, but he seemed hesitant. "The dirt doesn't bother me. Didly, fetch tea!"

Draco moved slowly, a cautious look on his face. He sat hesitantly. "What did you want to talk about?"

He couldn't imagine what she wanted to talk about.

"What every grandmother wishes to talk about--her grandchildren. Tell me about Blaise."

From what she had heard from Hannah and Blaise, and even the children, Draco was loud and outgoing. This was a different man before her.

Draco frowned. He didn't know any grandmother-appropriate stories about Blaise.

"I'd really rather not. I suspect you like him, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Desideria gave Draco the look her grandchildren liked to call the 'I think you're being stupid but am too nice to say anything' look. "I know very well what kind of man Blaise is. I see him for who he is now, not for who he was or his mother was, because he nothing like that donna malvagia."

She sat back and sent him a small smile. "If he's willing to tell me how you kidnapped Hannah and run around in your underthings, I think you can tell on him a bit."

Draco's mouth dropped open in horror.

"Well, the first time I did it, I had to. Stupid idiot was in denial. He fancied her, and wouldn't admit it. It was for his own good. I didn't hurt her. Maybe scared her a bit, but what's the fun in abducting someone if you don't give them a bit of a fright?"

There he was. This man was the one Blaise talked about, although he did sound a bit shady to her. "So he did not want to be with Hannah? They seem very inseparable now."

"He wanted to be with her. He's wanted to be with her from the moment he laid eyes on her. The problem was that he was under the delusion that he shouldn't be with her because she's so good and stuff. The problem is I want him to have what he wants even when he doesn't know he wants it."

She smiled and put a hand on Draco's dirty one. "Then I am very glad you are friends. Alessandro told me about how you introduced Blaise to him. You're a very sneaky one."

Draco grinned. "Some people need nudges to do what they ought. I give good nudge, is all."

"Hmm. Is Blaise returning the favor? Are you happy, young Draco?"

Draco looked at her for a long time.

"We're not talking about me. We're talking about Blaise."

"And I have changed the subject. We are now talking about you. What makes you unhappy?"

He gave her a look, which she returned.

"Four children, fourteen grandchildren, five great-grandchildren with two on the way. I am very good at reading people and knowing when they are unhappy."

Draco just shook his head no. "Things just weren't how I thought they were."

Desideria smiled at him. "Take it from an old woman. Things rarely turn out how you think they will. I didn't think I'd ever see Blaise again after his mother took him away, and I have. The key is to not forget it, but stop letting it negatively affect you."

"I'm trying, but usually I run away and drink a lot to deal with things. Had to stay around this time. I was betrayed. I tend to be negative during times like that."

"Well of course you were! Especially if someone close betrayed you. But this builds character. Look at my son--if he had held on to the hate he felt when Calanthe took Blaise away, it would have devoured him. But he held on to hope, and now he has Blaise back, 20 years later."

Desideria's hand went from Draco's own hand to his cheek. "You are a good boy, and only knowing you for five minutes, I know you will come out stronger."

Draco raised a brow. "I'm not that good. There's no need to be insulting."

He hoped she knew he was joking since she had such insight.

She lightly slapped his cheek and shook her head. Why did all men insist on not being good?

"And now you're getting flirty. I like a woman that doesn't mind smacking me about."

Blaise slid into the room half out of breath, having been informed by Didly that Draco wanted to see him and was currently talking to his grandmother in the sitting room next to her and his nonno Cale's rooms.

He breathed a large sigh of relief when he caught sight of them. "Oh thank Salazar you're wearing clothes." What Draco said slowly filtered into his brain. "What the hell do you mean flirty?"

"Hey, don't say hell at me in front of your nonna. Manners, pillock."

Blaise glared at Draco as he fully entered the room. "Well aren't you just a walking hypocrite, you git." He turned to his nonna. "Non l'ha offesa, l'ha fatto? Non può aiutarlo."

Desideria banished the book back to the library. It didn't seem like she'd get any more reading done this afternoon. "He didn't offend me, Blaise, but do not speak to others in a language that every cannot understand. It's rude."

"Speaking of languages," Blaise said, ignoring his grandmother and turning to Draco. "I nearly got hexed because Grace knows Chinese swears and Hannah found out about it."

"You'll have to speak to Mei about that. The bulk of my good swearing lies in Romanian and French."

"Ah, Romanian. One of my granddaughters dated a gypsy once."

Blaise made a face. "Do I even want to bother with guessing."

Desideria grinned at Blaise. "She's very eager to meet you, Draco."

Draco made a face. "Well, that's a first, someone knowing about me and still wanting to meet me. She a mental patient then?"

"Yes," Blaise said with a snort, which made his grandmother glare at him.

"Don't insult her or get the towel."

Blaise rolled his eyes and sat in the chair across from them.

"Right, so why are here and why are you so dirty? Did you destroy the garden again?"

"No. I'm actually planting, and I came to get Hannah's wedding band because as the best man it is my job to hold it until the wedding."

He hesitated. "Are you sure I just can't give it to you on the day of the wedding? We just got them."

"I'm not going to lose it," Draco snapped. "A little trust here or I get Grace a real bunny to go with that pony."

"You didn't get the damn pony. Your father did. If he wasn't already dead, I would have killed him." Blaise stood. "Well? They're up in our rooms."

Desideria waved them on. "I'm going to wake your nonno. He's slept the afternoon away; it's more than time he wake up. It was very nice to meet you, Draco."

"Likewise," Draco replied, giving the older witch a slight bow.


{SUMMARY} Draco meets Blaise's grandmother.