Liadán did not get to spend as much time as her estate as she would like. Though Kerry Cove now felt like home, and there was something monumentally satisfying about sharing that home with her husband. Liadán wasn't sure when the happiness would eventually wear off- when she would finally stop being giddy- but a part of her hoped it never would. Even so, it was nice to have a little bit of personal business to take care of. She had been off the farm for so long, leaving her many employees in charge, and had been actively looking for someone to take her place so that she could focus more on being a wife. But letting go of the reigns was hard.

When Draco Malfoy had written about ingredients, requesting a more private audience, she had been more than happy to oblige. An owl to her home had the house elves working hard to prepare the estate for receiving company- even if the company was nothing more than just business.

Liadán got up early to make sure she was properly dressed. And she found herself back in her estate shortly after eight in the morning. The house elves seemed glad to see her, and Liadán allowed them to show her the good job they had done cleaning and maintaining the estate in her absence. It was bittersweet to peer into her old bedroom and dressing room- she missed it at times- but she had hope that one day she would have a son who could inherit the property and keep the family business going.

When it was closer to nine, she found her way down the stairs to her sitting room. She had the elves bring in some tea and a tray to nibble on in case her guest was hungry. She instructed one of her employees to keep an eye out for Mr. Malfoy and asked one of her favorite house elves to watch the door. Liadán settled herself comfortably in an arm chair with her own cup of tea and awaited his arrival.

Draco got up early that morning and without waking his wife, took a lengthy shower and got dressed.  He was worried about going out, like he was almost all the time now, mostly because he didn't want the pity stares, or the hateful glances his way when he walked by people.  Sure, his father was a Death Eater, sure he thought the Dark Lord was all that and a bowl of cherries at one point, but he never actually done anything to cause perpetual lasting damage to anyone.

Sure there was the cursed necklace, and the letting Death Eaters into Hogwarts, but he'd never actually killed anyone - at least not to his knowledge.

Still, as he made his way out of the bedroom and down the hall, he couldn't resist stopping by his son's room.  Scorpius was so small and to Draco's eyes, fragile.  He didn't want to know if he was like his father, but he did things like this when he was up before everyone.  He would softly open his son's door, walk over to his bed and fix the covers, lightly brushing a hand across the boy's forehead before leaving again.

However, this morning he was caught by his wife who stood smirking outside the boy's room.  "Do that when he's awake next time." she told him as she held her hand out with something in it for him to take.  "You may not want anything to do with your father, but you are still a Malfoy, be proud of that." She handed him the Malfoy ring.  Grimacing as he slipped it on the middle finger of his left hand and it sized itself to his finger.  "Thanks." he said softly and kissed her on the cheek before leaving the manor and walking towards the apparition spot.

Checking the address once more he apparated and when he landed, he brushed himself off, tightly grasped the notebook and quill he'd brought with him and sharply knocked on the door.

Liadan allowed the house elf to answer the door. It was bowing and scraping- having heard the praise of the Malfoy name during its entire duration of servitude to the O Morain house hold. The elf led Draco to the sitting room. Once she saw him, Liadan rose to her feet and gave him a soft smile. "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy. I am glad you found your way to the estate with ease."

She motioned at another chair, diagonal from her own. "Please, have a seat." Liadan settled back into her own and poured herself a cup of tea. "I must say it is quite wonderful to have a Malfoy in these rooms again. I do miss entertaining in my home. But, well, I am sure you understand. With the misfortune my farm has experienced and the small tarnishes of my own reputation throughout the years, I have not had the ability to entertain as I would like. And now that I have married and reside at Kerry Cove all of my entertaining shall be done there."

She gave a sad little sigh. When she had done the mass recall of ingredients a year or two ago, it had hurt the reputation of her business a bit. And she had been so concerned with trying to find the cause of the taint that she'd had little time to do anything else. Finally discovering the cause to be an inadvertent voodoo curse from her own research, Liadan had felt silly and foolish- but she'd reversed it and business had gone back to usual. And then she found herself arrested- the real reason kept quiet in exchange for her cooperation, but being hit with even more charges pertaining to illegal operations on her farm had come in too soon after her recall. Business rebounded as it always did, however, and she'd managed to stay out of trouble and run things following the appropriate laws and guidelines since. Either way- Liadan understood what it was like to be a pureblood with a tainted reputation. Even so, she was proud of herself- proud of her name and her life and her heritage.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked him. "Perhaps a tart or a pastry of some sort while we discuss your particular needs for your potions?" Liadan had always been a fan of potions, but it was not her preferred study. Of course, her elder brother had been a potions genius- but she had not spoken to Declan since her family had disowned him, and frankly she preferred to think that he no longer existed. Of course he had opened up his shop in Hogsmeade anyway, and she had heard that he now kept his bastard child without shame. Pitiful how his life had turned out. If only h had been a better son then he would have had control of the farm and land and Liadan could live her life with Oscar with no distractions. 

When the house-elf opened the door, Draco very much wanted to turn around and apparate away.  Instead he ignored the creature that obviously had heard of his family name and walked past it as the elf led him to the sitting room.  He took a seat.  He was still nervous about being here, but it wasn't going to be that bad, at least there weren't people here who were going to judge him on his father's actions. 

"Good morning to you as well." he answered her, his reply crisp and to the point.  Truthfully he wanted to conclude his business and leave as soon as possible, but this was a different ballgame, he needed to stay on his toes here and even though many looked down upon him, the Malfoy name was still worth something.  "Congratulations on your marriage."

He nodded when she asked him if he wanted some tea, "Just milk thank you." And he sat back in his chair and listened to her next question.  "I think that perhaps business should come before indulgence." he told her, but took a sip of his tea anyway.[1]

1.	I know it's short, I apologize

Liadan beamed when he congratulated her. Talking about herself, about Oscar, about their fortuitous and perfect union, was one of her favorite things. She was ever so lucky he'd never had children with his first wife- it made it that much easier to ignore the fact she had ever existed. "Thank you very much, Mr. Malfoy! It is a wonderful thing to be married. It is a shame that people of our world do not grasp the importance as they once did." She wanted to add something about preserving blood lines, but thought better of it. Considering Draco's past, she doubted it was necessary to inundate him with purist ideals.

She poured his tea, added a splash of milk, and passed the cup to him. Liadan bristled inside when he said business should come before indulgence. It struck her as oddly rude that he would be so short in response. Pleasantries were a big part of business she had learned- and an even bigger part of conducting yourself in pureblood circles. Proper society thrived on pleasantries and talk of absolutely nothing. She wondered if his life of seclusion had managed to breed that out of him.

It was no matter. Liadan was well aware she had invited him to her estate to conduct business. She had just hoped it could also turn into a social call. Networking always came in handy. "Of course, Mr. Malfoy." Liadan was particularly skilled at feigning agreement and hiding her own feelings and emotions when the time was necessary. That was another skill her mother had passed on.

"Do you have a list of ingredients?" she asked him. "I can have a quick look and give you a price, and have one of my employees gather and package them for transport. Has business been doing well, then?" Liadan took a sip of her own tea. "I admit I know little about the business of producing potions for sell. Is that what you do as a potions master, Mr. Malfoy? Or are you more interested in the research side of things?"

He knew he had been out of practice in talking to others that had been in his previous social circle.  He simply didn't know how to move through the pureblooded crowd anymore.  He knew he had said something wrong, since he could read people's faces pretty well, he could tell that his response had bothered her and after his talk with his wife this morning, he decided he would attempt an apology.

"I do apologize Mrs. Whitman, I am severely out of practice in the social graces, if I have upset you in any way I do hope you forgive me." He took a sip of his tea and then sat the cup down on an end table and opened his folder that he'd brought with him.  "Here is my list, most of it is regular ingredients, but I did recall that you might have connections that could possibly get me some of the rarer ingredients on that list, such as basilisk venom, etc."

He pulled the piece of parchment out of his folder and with one final glance at it, he handed it over to her.  "Price is no matter, I'd be willing to negotiate whatever price you deem fit."

Draco listened for a moment and then replied, doing more talking to an outside person today than he had done in the last 2 months.  "I was thinking about trying to improve a potion or two, but until I work up the courage to try it, I think I'll just stick with making and selling the potions that I have been doing well at." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.  Truthfully, he wanted to get his name published for improving something that others had been trying to do and failed.  He wanted his name to mean something other than the fact that he was Lucius Malfoy's son.  A name that could make his son proud of him someday when he was older.

Liadan's ruffled feathers smoothed a bit when he apologized. "Please, think no more of it, Mr. Malfoy! I simply get a little carried away with myself sometimes. It happens. I find that married life leaves me with far more extra time on my hands than initially anticipated." Liadan was certain as soon as she had a child that she would feel a lot better- and have far less spare time. But it was necessary for Liadan to find a suitable manager for her farm before she could settle into life as a mother. A child would certainly take a lot of time and attention. Liadan was determined that her child would not grow up as she had- in the hands of various nannies or tutors- she wanted a more hands-on experience with her future children. It would help to assure that they never turned out like her brother did- tainted, spoiled, ruined.

Even so, the sound of Mrs. Whitman coming from the mouths of strangers had a nice ring to it, and it pulled forth a genuinely pleasant smile. She took the list from him and looked it over. It was a rather simple list of things- though it was, admittedly, a larger order then he usually placed. "Yes, yes," she said nodding. "Basilisk venom is something I know how to acquire." Liadan took her time perusing the list. She summoned a quill and bit of parchment, scratching out the rarer ingredients on a list for herself before handing Malfoy's over to one of her employees. "Everything on this list should be easy enough to acquire- though it might take a few days to gather all of the rarer ones." At least they were all legal ingredients. Of course she knew how to get the ones the law turned its nose up at- but now she was properly married to a politician, it was best not to push the boundaries of those laws.

"As always, I am perfectly willing to negotiate price. The easier things to find will be the usual rate, of course. The rarer ones will depend on which contact can find them for me. However, I am relatively skilled at haggling and know enough about the trade to insure that you will not overpay for any of them." And, because he was a Malfoy, Liadan would likely charge a minimal-fee for herself as the middle-man for those items. Of course, she wouldn't tell him that- or even hint at it- for fear of offending any pureblood or prideful sensibilities he might have.

Improving potion! Liadan leaned forward. "Experimentation!" she exclaimed. "Oh, but Mr. Malfoy, experimentation is the backbone of magic! It is astounding the difference the smallest change in a potion can make. Of course, it also astounding the damage it can cause. I am certain that you have plenty of volumes on the subject in your own collection, but I know there are plenty of potion-experimentation journals in my family library if you would ever be interested in looking through them. Potioneering runs in the family- especially with so many ingredients at our disposal. I'll admit potions never were my cup of tea- I'm a witch far too attached to her wand- but I have always been a fan of tinkering with spells." And rituals. Especially voodoo- but he didn't need to know that.