Draco climbed the stairs carefully, very deliberately stepping over the single step that had swallowed his foot many times before. He picked his way up the flight, scuffing his shoe on the top step and checking that the moving staircase had taken him the right way.
As he entered, he noted that the Great Hall was almost empty. He had deliberately chosen the tail-end of breakfast hour to eat- less staring. Fewer people to whisper about him or jinx him when his back was turned.
Picking a seat facing the wall, he quickly buttered toast and swallowed down coffee without making eye contact with the other students around him. The food on the Slytherin table was almost untouched.
The hairs on the back of Draco's neck prickled slightly and his breathing quickened. There were still too many people here. He had to leave.
Draco jumped up and left the hall as fast as he could. He said a silent prayer for his long legs- lengthy strides made it easy for him to make a quick getaway. He had his mother's genetics to thank for that.
The Slytherin common room was crowded. Slytherins sat on every surface and first years were sitting in groups on the floor. Draco understood why. He avoided roaming the castle as much as possible. The only safe place for Slytherins was here. He wove quickly through the students- even they whispered a little as he passed. His dorm was down a short flight of stairs and he flopped onto his bed with a loud sigh.
Returning to school to repeat his last year had been a tough choice. There were too many students here who knew- who'd seen him stand with Voldemort. Draco had been in the hospital wing this year more times than his past six years combined. It seemed to be open season on Slytherins: even first years were getting jinxed by the older students from the other three houses. Draco didn't understand why the prejudice was still there when The War had been won and Voldemort was dead.
He rolled off the bed and started packing his bag for the lessons ahead. The NEWT textbooks and scrolls weighed down Draco's bag and he heaved it up onto his shoulder, stumbling a little as the weight pulled him off balance.
A loud snigger from across the room alerted him to his best friend's presence, hidden slightly from his view by the draping emerald curtains that surrounded each of the fur-poster beds. Draco scowled at Blaise as he straightened his tie.
"Didn't bother getting out of bed?"
"Why should I? We've already done this stuff last year- I know everything on the syllabus up to May. I don't see the point in going to lessons that I've already suffered through."
Draco rolled his eyes, "The Carrows didn't teach us everything on the syllabus. Not sure if you're aware but learning the Cruciatus curse isn't covered in Defence Against the Dark Arts this year."
"Sounds like we're ahead of the rest then," said Blaise, pulling the covers up to his chin, "Be a dear and send Pansy up with food at lunch time."
"What does she see in you?" Draco muttered as he left.
"She sees me in her dreams, that's what!" shouted Blaise behind him.
Draco pushed his way quickly through the slowly emptying Common Room. In an attempt to prevent the random attacks in the corridors between classes Prefects and older Slytherins had volunteered to accompany the younger students to their classes as protection. Draco had avoided this obligation after suggesting that he would make his group even more of a target.
Thankfully, Draco had potions first. This meant a quick walk round the corner and up a short flight of stairs to the Advanced Potion rooms. He had never been jinxed before on his way there, but that didn't stop him tightening his grip on his wand every time he passed another student.
He filed into the classroom with the other NEWT students- a mix of his age group and the year below. Repeating a year was tedious but Draco also felt that it made him more prepared for the final exams in June. He was determined to obtain a place on the coveted Ministry Internship Programme, which fast-tracked their candidates into Senior Ministry positions straight out of Hogwarts.
Draco was unpacking his quills and ink when he saw his lab-partner winding her way through the desks towards him. He smiled up at her as he rummaged for scrolls at the bottom of his bag.
"Hi Astoria."
Astoria slung her book bag up and onto the table and winced when she heard a loud crack.
"That'll be my ink pot," she said, "I always forget I don't use those indestructible ones anymore."
"You could always ask for your parents to send a new one." Draco suggested.
She shook her head, "The pots were great but the ink was awful. Too thick. Didn't dry fast enough too and-" Astoria stopped herself, "Why are we talking about this?"
"You brought it up," Draco replied, as their Professor entered the room and began writing on the whiteboard. He started diligently taking notes as Astoria finished unpacking, and a relative silence fell over the class for the remainder of the hour.
)
"I hate theory lessons," Astoria complained as they left the room, "If there's no practical I don't learn anything."
"You're supposed to learn the theory so that you get a better understanding of why the potion reacts the way it does in the practicals." Said Draco, his voice taking on an exasperated tone. It was clear that they had had this conversation before.
"Well, you understand it so why should I bother?"
"You sound like Blaise," retorted Draco.
"How so?"
"He refused to get out of bed this morning. He said he'd done the work last year so there's no point doing it again."
Astoria shook her head, "Does he expect to pass his NEWTs?"
They turned the corner and walked quickly up the large, stone staircase and away from the dungeons.
"Be careful, Story." Draco whispered to her as they stopped at the top. They were going separate ways and Astoria was the only Slytherin taking NEWT Divination.
She smiled at him. "I always am."
"Oh yeah? How many times have you been jinxed this week?"
"Twice, but it's only Friday." She stuck her tongue out at him and then walked away.
"Enjoy Divination!" he called after her.
"Doubt it!" she shouted back to him.
)
"Let's play Truth or Dare!" Pansy squealed, grabbing an empty firewhisky bottle from where it had rolled under one of the boy's beds.
"That's not the point of tonight," Blaise said, sitting down beside her with another bottle in his hand, "We're just getting drunk to take the edge off. No stupid games."
"I heard Sarah Mitton got jinxed today by a Ravenclaw inside the girl's bathrooms." Astoria said, playing with the lid of the bottle she had.
"That happened to Yasmin Patel last week too," Pansy countered, "So what? They aren't in the hospital wing like Chase Lisbon is."
Astoria shrugged, "I heard a boy jinxed her. In the girl's bathrooms."
Millicent nodded, "I heard the same."
"Bloody hell, why are you all still sober?" said Blaise, "Do you know how hard it was for me to smuggle all this in?" He reached into his trunk and pulled out a fresh case of the whisky, handing them round the circle.
"We'll all get drunk if we play Never Have I Ever…" suggested Pansy quietly.
"Yes, yes, okay. We'll play one of your ridiculous games," agreed Blaise, "Malfoy, get down here. No way am I being the only guy playing."
Draco rolled off of his bed, leaving his textbook open and his quill on top. "What are we doing then?"
Pansy smiled as Draco sat down with the rest of them. Astoria handed him a bottle.
"We go round the circle each saying 'Never have I ever…' and then something semi-outrageous that you've done or you think someone else has done in the group. If you've done the thing you drink."
"Isn't this a Muggle game?" said Millicent, struggling to pull the top off of her bottle.
"It's a drinking game Mil, that makes it universal," said Pansy with a wink, "I'll go first. Never have I ever had sex."
Everyone in the circle drank.
"Well that was a given," Blaise said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, "Who's next?"
)
"Never have I ever-" shouted Pansy, "-no, listen! Never have I ever slept with Draco!" She took a long swig from her glass as the rest of the group watched. Licking her lips, Pansy turned to Astoria. "Your sister would have to have drunk on that one."
Astoria looked at Draco, shocked. "You… and my sister?"
"Your sister shagged anything with a pulse or a Dark Mark," Blaise interjected, "Including me."
Astoria looked around the circle and then stood up, still holding her bottle. She almost ran for the door, flinging it open and running out, down the corridor and out into the empty common room. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she could barely see where she was going. The corner of a rug caught her foot and she fell heavily onto the floor.
"Story?" Draco's voice from the other side of the room made Astoria hold her breath. She crouched, hidden behind an armchair in the dark space.
"Story, please, come out. I'm sorry."
She could hear the slurring of his voice as she struggled to supress the urge to sob or cry out. Why hadn't anyone told her? Why hadn't Daphne said something- they shared everything.
"It was one time Story, and we regretted it. Pansy only knows because she overheard us swearing to never do it again."
Astoria peeked around the side of the chair to try and place Draco in this room. She sniffed once, trying to be as quiet as possible.
"Your hair reflects the light from the lake, Story. I can see you."
Astoria sighed and stood up, turning to face Draco. He was standing in front of one of the largest lake-windows, his face framed by the eerie green light and the rest of his body starkly silhouetted against the soft glow.
"I'm going to bed," she said, trying to push past him and towards her dormitory's door. Draco grabbed her arm gently and stopped her.
"Like I said, Story, it was only the once. We both regretted it."
She shrugged his arm off her and walked away from him, stopping at her door to face him.
"Don't call me Story."
"Story-" Astoria glare at him and Draco started again, "Astoria; you can't be angry at me for something that happened so long ago."
"I'm not angry that it happened. I'm angry that no one told me."
Draco laughed, "I don't exactly go around shouting about who I've shagged. A gentleman never kisses and tells." He winked at Astoria and she rolled her eyes.
"Besides," Draco continued, "You never told me you'd had sex. I was surprised when you drank."
Astoria shrugged a little, "We weren't friends until last year. It happened before then."
"Let's be honest, we'd all rather forget last year even happened. All the mistakes I made- including me and your sister."
Astoria shivered. She still had nightmares about what she'd had to do to students last year, and what she'd learnt to do. She rather break her wand in half than perform another Imperius curse.
"Fair point," she conceded.
"I promise," Draco continued, smiling at her, "That the next time I sleep with a member of your family you will be the first to know."
Astoria wrinkled her nose at him. "You're repulsive."
Draco grinned widely, "Not very lady-like, Astoria. You'll encourage wrinkles."
She stuck her middle finger up at him.
"Definitely un-lady-like. You should be ashamed."
"Piss off Draco," she said in an exasperated tone, slipping into her bedroom quietly.
"In your dreams," he muttered, worrying that she might well show up in his tonight.