Hey Guys, sorry for being a stupid asshole. But the block this time hit a little too hard. Well, that's what you get when you don't plan out ahead. I wrote myself into a corner and I am trying to move further. A big fat thank you for still loving this story. And I hope I finish this. I should stop yapping by now. Yeah. Go ahead and happy reading.

The acrid smoke hung heavy in front of him like a veil. He stared at the red tip of the cigar in his hand winking at him in the dimmed interior before he took a long drag. The tip flared a bit brighter before calming, and he let out the smoke in a lazy gust.

Theodore Nott hated cigars. He hated the residual smell of the smoke that never seems to leave his clothes. He hated the feel when the pungent acrid smoke filled his lungs. The only thing he liked about it was the time when he let go. He would stare at the spirals of smoke coming out of his mouth, sometimes in rings and sometimes as it is. He would stare at it as it would rise up and form varied macabre shapes or sometimes just rise up and up till it disappeared into nothing.

And that was the reason why he smoked.

Theodore tapped the cigar on the ashtray letting the ashes fall into a heap as his hand stroked across the end of the paper leaving behind an elegant signature. The lighting in the gentleman's club was poor as it had been since the very first day Theo had entered it but he had no problem in reading each and every word written in the document.

Hogshead, the premiere gentleman's club was notorious for never having allowed any member of the fairer sex to put a foot on its threshold and whose membership was so exclusive that only a selected few got into it every year. But Theo never had to toil for it, being the heir of the House of Nott his entry was as sure as an aristocrat was to father a bastard. At sixteen he had been wildly excited to be a part of the club but like every mirage, he had soon understood that this place was nothing special. It was just a place to carry out tiresome business deals and bitch about their respective mistresses or wives or sometimes about both.

"I hope we will have a prosperous business ahead, Lord Wetherby," Theo drawled.

Lord Wetherby was an imprudent young fool. It would be foolish to enter into business with him but Theo wasn't called a damn good businessman just for a lark. He had protected his assets in case the deal went belly up. And moreover, Lady Wetherby sucked cock like no other so he wasn't complaining. The stupid man was all but bursting at the seams with excitement for having acquired the business deal.

Poor sod!

Hey, he never said he was a saint.

Now that Lord Wetherby had left on his merry way he had nothing to do till Draco arrived, ordering for his drink to be refreshed he stared at the roaring fire, hissing and spitting in the fireplace. Next thing he knows a booming laugh reverberated through the room.

Oh, lord! He knew that laugh.

And before Theo could run or hide or at least duck under the table a meaty hand patted or more like thumped his shoulder.

"A very good morning, my dear lad. What are you doing on this beautiful sunny morning cooped up in here? Shouldn't you be out soaking up the sun or perhaps taking a lucky lady for a stroll in the park?"

Theo cringed at the loud voice of his former professor. Lord Horace Slughorn also popularly known as Old Sluggy by his students was an enormously portly, balding old man. His short stature along with his bulging belly that threatened the buttons to burst off, made him look more like a barrel than a person. He had an enormous walrus-like mustache that from the looks of it still bore the evidence of the morning breakfast.

Back at school, the students disliked him because he favored the company of the famous and powerful or more likely the students with highly aristocratic lineage. He ran a very lucrative Slug Club that had only the children of rich and prominent people as members. From the beginning, Theo and Draco had been a part of that club. Theo wasn't sure whether he liked him or not but joining his little club was something every child of a noble family did, so he did too.

To Theo, Professor Slughorn had always seemed a vain and pompous man but he was pleasant or rather too pleasant, in his own way. What Theo hated about him was the way old Sluggy drew attention to him. Like now, in his obscenely red waistcoat and that booming voice, they were the center of attraction of the whole room. Theo eyed as some of his schoolmates slinked away from that area lest they are attacked too.

"Good Morning, Professor. Hope you are having a wonderful day. I was just concluding some business in here," Theo replied cordially.

Slughorn slapped him again on the shoulder and laughed gaily before making himself comfortable in the next chair. Seeing that he wasn't going anywhere in the near future Theo accepted his fate and sat down heavily.

"Hah! So much like your dear father. Always busy with work and responsibilities. May his soul rest in peace," Slughorn said in a still loud voice.

Theo had this sudden urge to laugh.

So much like his father.

If that wasn't the most absurd statement then, Theo didn't know what was.

For Theodore Nott Senior his son Theo had always been invisible.

Theo would stand there with a paper crumpled in his hands where he had gotten all his alphabets correct waiting, just waiting for his father to look at him, maybe smile or at least an acknowledgment of his presence. But that never happened.

"Father. Father, look I got all my alphabets correct. Father? Father?" his small voice would call tentatively. But the Duke never looked at him. Sometimes the butler would whisk him off or sometimes he himself would just get tired and leave. Sometimes his mother would come to the rescue smiling and praising his achievements. But never his father. Whenever he had asked his Mother about it, she had just cried and said that, of course, his father loved him.

And soon Theo had stopped asking. But that didn't stop him from doing everything he could to gain his Father's attention. From getting honors in school to excelling in horse-riding he did everything. Every summer he would come home running with his prizes and medals thinking maybe this time his Father would look. And just like every other time, his father would look right through him as if he was nothing but a wisp of smoke.

Theo had felt like a ghost in his own damn house.

Then Mother had died and Theo had never felt so alone. The father and son though stayed in the same house, they were strangers for all purpose. They would wake up and go about their ways never acknowledging each other, never seeing each other. There were days Theo would doubt his very existence. Days would go on without either of them uttering a single word. Tired of the silence Theo would spend most of his time wandering around the vast estate.

Then one day he met a boy about his age. His hair was as white as his was black. The only thing wrong in that picture was the angry black eye the boy was sporting. That's how he had met Draco Malfoy. And in the midst of loneliness and desperation, a strong friendship was forged.

One who would have given just about anything to be ignored by his father and the other who had to beg for scraps of his father's attention all his life. Though his father had never beaten him like Draco's did, to his ten-year-old self it had felt the same.

The last straw had been on the day of his convocation. Every single parent had been present, happy, proud and smiling at their children's accomplishments. Even though he had stopped trying but a tiny part, the part of him that still hungered for his father's love had hoped. Hoped that may be this would be the day that Father would come. But like every other time he had been left alone. Angry at himself for hoping, at the world for having dealt him a shitty hand and after being hopped up on enough alcohol to drown a horse he had, at last, confronted his father.

He had shouted, ranted, thrown stuff till his knees had given up. Livid and fuming he had shouted, "I wish you weren't my father."

And that, that had gotten his father's attention at last. For the first time, Theodore Nott senior had looked straight at his son and said calmly, "Then you will be pleased to know that you have got your wish."

It had taken a moment for the statement to filter through his alcohol befuddled brain.

"What do you mean?" Theo slurred. The laugh that came from his father had sounded hollow to his ears.

"Your mother and I kept trying for an heir for so long. But it didn't take long to know that the defect was in me rather than your mother. Even if I had left her and rutted hundred other women I would never get what I wanted the most, an heir. I had worked up to my bones to make the House of Nott what it is today, and I will be damned if some pansy arse idiot glides in and takes it all away just because I couldn't beget an heir.

And your mother wanted a child too, so we made an agreement. She would do what it needs to be done to get with a child and I promised I won't ask. And I never did. Nine months later you were born. But I never prepared myself for the reality of it. With you running around calling me father.

Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see how weak and imperfect I am. I see failure. I see regret. Every day you were a constant reminder that I wasn't man enough, that I wasn't good enough. You were never my son. You were just a way to keep the only thing that mattered to me. My legacy. You were just a pawn, a guarded secret to keep what was rightfully mine to myself.

So stop complaining, for I gave you my name, a home, and education … a name that you are completely unworthy for. If it keeps my legacy within the House of Nott them I am alright with giving a bastard like you, my name. But I will never, never see you as my son."

Theo had got up and left without uttering even a single word. He had walked and walked aimlessly till his legs could carry him no further. Then he had sat down in the middle of the road and gradually when the numbness had faded to nothing, he laughed.

And laughed.

For the first time in all his sixteen years, he had felt relief. They said that the truth always sets you free and they were true. As long as he had been aware he had always thought that the fault was in him. Maybe something was wrong with him for his father to hate him so much. But now he knew the truth. He had kept trying that if he did a little better if he was a little better then, maybe his father would love him. But he wasn't his father and neither was he, his son. So there was no question of disappointing him.

So pardon him if he didn't get the irony when people compared him to his father because he was nothing like him.

Professor Slughorn had been talking all this time while Theo had been procrastinating. With a nod there and an hmm here the professor didn't need much from him to continue talking. For the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of shocking blond hair. Theo watched as Draco's eyes fell on his companion followed by a sudden change in direction as he ran away. Coward.

"Professor, did you know Lord Kingslay was asking about your whereabouts. I am sure he had some important work with you. I just saw him going to the parlor," Theo said.

"Lord… Lord Kingslay, the minister? Why yes, he would as he was one of my students. Always knew he would do wonderful things. Of course, I must at once give him my assistance."

As the portly man made his exit Draco came out of the shadows.

"Bloody arse! You are supposed to be my friend not slink away when I need you," Theo said with mock anger.

"Well, you were doing marvelously without my help. Anyway, what is this rumor going around that you are doing business with that stupid Wetherby?" Draco said with a huff as he arranged himself in the seat that the old Sluggy had just vacated.

"Seeing as I am going to make a profit from that deal regardless of Wetherby's level of stupidity. I don't see any harm in that," Theo replied.

"Yes, of course. And Lady Wetherby's mouth near your cock was in no way responsible for that," Draco said.

"You know me Draco. When have I been led around by my cock? And talking about being led by one's cock. How's that little wife of yours?" Theo said with a glint in his eyes.

Draco coughed so hard that he nearly snorted whiskey out of his nose.

This must be interesting.

"Do not speak to her in that manner," Draco said tersely.

"Do not get snippy with me Lord Draco Malfoy. You are the one who gossips like an old biddy after every conquest. So I was just getting the ball rolling-"

"Then maybe you should shut your mouth-"

"Are you implying that a sweet biddable virgin was right under your nose and you didn't take any advantage? Well, well, well. Let me make this clear, you had a perfectly fine woman in your bed that even the law gave you the permission to shag and you, you Draco Malfoy one of the most notorious rakes of our time didn't take the chance to -"

"Do not speak thusly. She is the Duchess of-"

"Yes, yes I know all about your glorious name. But you do realize that for the marriage to be legal you have to bed her-"

"I Know but-"

"But you still haven't consummated your marriage yet-"

"Umm … I mean … No, I haven't. Not that's it's any of your business," Draco muttered with a sigh.

"And why is that?" Theo inquired with interest.

"Well, she got herself drunk on our wedding night," Draco said with a faint trace of astonishment coloring his voice.

"What! Wha…" Theo burst out laughing grabbing a couple of club patrons' attention. Quietening down to a chuckle he whispered, "She got drunk just to get out of being in the same bed as your ugly arse. I can't fathom, oh lord, I never saw this coming but I think I might actually like her."

"You might? I already like the new duchess." Another deep voice interrupted them before grabbing a nearby chair and making himself at home.

Blaise Zabini.

The Italian businessman had become a fast friend of his. Theo had reservations about this man but apart from a smart mouth and impeccable business sense, the man was quite harmless. And soon they all had become friends.

"The Duchess is a tad different, isn't she?" Blaise said waggling his eyebrows at Draco.

"Hmm, how so?" Theo asked eagerly. He had hardly spent any time with the new duchess.

"Different? She is completely outrageous. That's what she is. She has no decency of a Duchess, once I saw her elbows deep in the soil, gardening. She trips all over the house. Talks to the help like they are actual people. She even brought a beast that she calls her cat, who I am sure doesn't like me. I found one of my cravats shredded to pieces. A very expensive cravat. Pieces, Theo!

I don't know but there's something about her that makes everyone like her and that too in such a short period. I mean everyone. I am damn sure Winston would take a bullet for her if the need arises and Thomas, they are always in cahoots, laughing and doing things that a duchess should never do.

And you!" Draco said exasperatedly pointing a finger at Blaise. "What the hell was that? Why were you flirting with her?"

"No, I wasn't flirting with her. It's called a conversation, Draco, which you could have been a part of if you had stopped growling for a moment and thought of joining us," Blaise said with a smile. "And what is it to you if I flirt with her or otherwise. You, my dear friend who spent his wedding night with his mistress," Blaise asked pointedly.

"This. This is the Draco Malfoy I know. The one who sneaks out to seek his mistress' bed on his wedding night leaving behind a drunk bride," Theo said in a droll voice.

"I did no such thing, you morons. And Blaise, stop trifling with my help for information. I just went to Amelia's to settle things off. Even though she is here for a month or so, I don't want her to go through with what Mother went through. The last thing I want to become is like my father and parade my mistresses in front of her. After the month is up and all my estate details are settled, I will send her off to the country and we both can carry on with our life as we did before," Draco said.

Silence heavy and uncomfortable now hung around the table. Theo knew all about Draco's father and he was sure Blaise had an inkling too.

Before the silence would grow Blaise cleared his throat and said in a forced jovial tone. "Did I see the Duchess and Lady Greengrass loitering in the clothing establishment? You finally took my advice and are gracing us with your lordly presence in the Parkinson ball."

"Lady Greengrass?" Theo muttered. Not that he cared for her one bit.

"Yes. The one you are betrothed to. The nicer one. And both of them looked chummy too." Blaise leered at Theo.

"Damn! I nearly forgot," Draco said in a hurry while checking his pocket watch. "She must be done by now," Draco muttered to himself before standing up and straightening his waistcoat.

When Theo didn't stand up to join them, Blaise turned and whined. "Common, Lord Theo it's a crime to keep this marvelous creation from the women," Blaise said pointing at himself.

"You do realize that the only person who thinks he is a gift from God is just you," Theo said rolling his eyes.

"You are just jealous my Lord. Just because the ladies are tired of staring at your pale white arse and like mine better, it's not my fault," Blaise said while blowing at his fingers.

"Will both of you stop bickering like little girls and hurry up," Draco said, irritation clear on his face.

Before Theo could say anything, Blaise leaned and whispered. "Good Lord, he has got it bad."

Yes, he had got it bad. Very bad indeed.