Chapter
One:
[Too Late For You and Your White Horse]
"You don't even know me well enough to tell me that I'm not good enough for you!" a seventeen year old blonde yelled loudly, shaking her head as she glanced at the man who was breaking up with her. Welcome to adult-hood, you graduate from Hogwarts at the top of your class and then you get dumped. Astoria Noel Greengrass loved her adult life so far.
The man who was receiving the screams stood opposite her, a small frown on his lips as he scanned the now furious woman up and down. He had just told her that they needed to see other people now that they were leaving school and she had the nerve to put these words in his mouth? Oh, no. Euan Abercrombie was not going to take this lying down.
"Listen to me, Tori!" he shouted back at her, not caring about the families who had come to congratulate the graduates on a job well done. They were staring at him but Euan was going to simply try to make himself look better. Granted, he was yelling, but that was not the point. The prying eyes of the parents bore into his soul and all he could do was try to explain how much of a nutter his ex-girlfriend of a year truly was. "You don't understand how ridiculous you are!" he stated. "You, in the course of a year, have broken up with me eleven times and then come crawling back to me, begging for forgiveness."
Euan heard a few people in the crowd give a small moan of forgiveness to him, and he smirked. It was just the type of ego boost he needed. "And we both know that you're not stable enough, mentally to be in a relationship!" he stated simply. "So, I think that it's just…fair to assume that we would not make it outside of these walls." Euan told her, knocking on the stone wall he was leaning against. He was so cleverly coy with this breaking up thing that it made Astoria sick to her stomach.
Looking up at Euan, even in three inch heels, Astoria was only 5'7" while Euan towered over her at a massive 6'2", she paused before pouting her lips gently. She was biding her time, simply faking tears in her eyes. When Euan leaned down to brush them away, Astoria lifted her right foot and stomped her stiletto heel down on his big toe. She didn't move her foot until she heard a groan from her ex and a squish under her heel. "You're right, Euan. I'm much too unstable for a healthy relationship." she said, kissing Euan on the cheek as he buckled over. "See you around."
Astoria walked out of the courtyard and into the Great Hall where her older sister, Daphne and her mother Eva were seated, drinking from a goblet of pumpkin juice each, reminiscing on the times that they spent at the school. On the right side of Daphne was a platinum blonde that was sipping at a glass of fire whiskey. She had seen him around, he was dating her sister and from the looks of things, they were incredibly happy.
She brushed a strand of her honey blonde locks out of her icy blue eyes as her mother offered her a seat.
"No thank you, I'd much rather sta-", before she could finish, Daphne spoke up.
Daphne had grown into her looks. Her long brown hair was tied up in a loose ponytail and her dark chocolate eyes were scanning the Great Hall for siblings that she and her boyfriend had gone to school with. Siblings of Astoria's friends, really.
"Where is that…Euan bloke you were talking about so much," Daphne questioned. "You are still with him, right?" she questioned. When she questioned about Euan, the blonde's ears perked up.
"Euan," he questioned as if to get the story straight. "Abercrombie?" he asked, looking up at Astoria. He had been fumbling with his whiskey's tumbler so much that he hadn't looked up at Daphne's sister once. If he had before, he would be afraid that he's say something along the lines of, 'You look beautiful today,' or 'Congratulations, gorgeous.'
That was true, though. He looked her over again and smiled warmly. Daphne had the stock-straight frame that she grew at Hogwarts; while Astoria had a bit of curves. Not bad curves, the kind of curves that he liked. She had a way about her. Graduates of Hogwarts today, got to wear an outfit of their choice.
Astoria wore a pale green sundress that showed her curves just perfectly. The material hugged her frame perfectly but as much as he loved seeing the dress on her, he couldn't help but wonder how good that dress would look on the floor of his loft.
He was slapped across the face two seconds after this thought crossed his mind – making him leave the thoughts of Astoria lying naked on his bed, begging for him to touch her.
"Yes, Draco. Euan Abercrombie." Daphne stated somewhat harshly. "Astoria's been dating him on and off for the past twelve months."
"Off, for now." Astoria mumbled, grabbing a glass and chugging the contents. Putting the tumbler down, she scrunched her face up. It was fire whiskey.
Draco chuckled slightly at her face. It was adorable. He liked Astoria. Granted, he only knew her from what Daphne told him, but all in all, she seemed innocent. Something that Daphne sure was not.
Astoria smirked gently, shaking her head softly as Daphne went on and on about how Astoria needed to settle down.
"See, Tori," Daphne said, leaning over and letting her hand go through Draco's chin length locks as she spoke. "You need to find yourself someone who is willing to go to the ends of the Earth for you. Someone who will provide for you, someone who will love you unconditionally, and someone that would listen to you bitch and complain all day," she smiled at Draco. "Isn't that right, love?"
Draco looked at Astoria before nodding at Daphne. "Yes, that's right," he said, kissing her gently.
For some reason, Astoria felt a twinge of jealousy as her sister got a kiss from Draco. She didn't understand why, though.
Eva Greengrass spotted the change in her daughter's demeanor and frowned gently. "Well, well, I do believe that Astoria will want to be getting out of Hogwarts as soon as possible, so darling, why don't you go up and get your things. Then we will be on the ride home."
It was hard for Astoria to put into words the hatred she felt for her mother. If only her father were here to watch her graduate. Blinking back a few tears as she turned on her heel and walked to the grand staircase; Astoria sighed, trying to forget that night six years ago when her father never came home from work. He had been murdered; thankfully they caught him and sent him to Azkaban. Before she made it to the second flight going down, she heard a deep voice calling her name.
It was Draco.
"I thought that I would come up and help you with your things," he offered.
They walked up the stairs silently, Draco watching the pictures as they descended to the dungeons.
"You know," he began as he escorted her down the busy, dark and damp corridor that led to the opening to the Slytherin common room. "It's weird to come back here after you've graduated."
Silence.
"I mean, I was telling Daphne during the ceremony, we couldn't wait to get out of Hogwarts and now, we would all come back here for seven more years if we could."
A small snort emitted from Astoria's mouth as she reached the portrait. "Sectosempra," she demanded and the door opened for them. She escorted Draco in and finally spoke, the first time since he joined her.
"Daphne is a two-faced bitch and I know for a fact she would never come back to Hogwarts, she hated it here. She was Pansy Parkinson's little follower and the entire time she was trying to get you to set your sights on her. And guess what? All seven years didn't do it – but the first time you lay your eyes on her in the Leaky Cauldron when you've graduated, its love at first sight," she barked. A few heads turned to see who was fighting and their jaws dropped when they spotted Draco Malfoy standing in the common room once more.
Draco stood there, watching his girlfriend's sister in awe. Astoria had been described as the quiet one in the family – and now he was getting yelled at for just trying to help her. Hell, Daphne never yelled at him like that, even!
Astoria rolled her eyes as a few fifth years walked over to Draco; asking for autographs. Draco had left quite the legacy at Slytherin. Walking up the spiral stairwell to get to the girl's dorm, she slammed the door. Maybe she was taking out her anger at Euan on Draco – but damnit! She felt that he deserved it! Grabbing her trunk, she hoisted it up in the air and moved to the area that she could look down into the common room.
Hearing Astoria clear her throat, Draco looked up and spotted her. He excused him from the "fans" and moved so he could go to get it.
"Oh, no! This is much, much easier!" Astoria said, throwing the trunk down.
Draco caught it but lost his balance, falling backwards.
Astoria gasped, running down the stairs and looking at him, trying not to giggle.
The trunk had sprung open and one of Astoria's lacy bras was over Draco's face. She reached down and lifted it off of his head and then packed it back in the trunk, pushing the box off of Draco.
"Sorry!" Astoria smirked, shaking her head as she helped him up. She either pulled too hard or Draco got up at the right time because they ended up so dangerously close that the blonde girl could feel his breath on her lips. Draco stepped back, as did Astoria as the eyes in the common room attached themselves to the pair.
Draco cleared his throat. "Here, uh…" he picked the trunk up and effortlessly placed it on his shoulder. "Lead the way."
Astoria nodded and walked out of the common room for the last time and made her way back to the Great Hall.
"There you are! I was worried about you!" Daphne stated. "Here, here," she said, taking her wand and motioning it so the trunk was no longer on Draco's shoulder; yet hovering beside Astoria. Daphne had a large grin plastered to her face.
Showoff, Astoria thought to herself. Little did she know that Draco was thinking the exact same thing. Eva hugged her daughter before looking at Daphne.
"We're going to go home," she informed. "Draco, Daphne, you're welcome to join us. We were going to just go home and relax."
Astoria had a plan for her evening. She was going to go to her father's grave and visit him before she went out to spend time with her friends. A real celebration, not just sitting around with her family. Her blue eyes met Draco's gray ones and she stared for a second before looking away. He made her stomach flip.
"Oh, no." Draco said, shaking his head. "I really must get to the office," he informed. "But thank you very much. Daphne, I'll see you at home," he nodded. "And Astoria," he shook her hand but then quickly pulled her knuckles to his lips – kissing them gently. "Congratulations, don't party too hard tonight," he winked, dropping her hand and moving to kiss Daphne's temple.
While he left, Daphne bid goodbye to Astoria and Eva before going the opposite way.
Astoria looked over her shoulder and looked at Draco's retreating form.
Eva looked at her daughter and shook her head. "Off-limits," she warned. "…do you want Daphne to hate you forever for even trying to do anything with Dra-"
"MOM!" Astoria shouted. "Like I'd do that to my sister!" she stated. "You'd think you'd know me a bit more. Merlin."
The ride home was quiet, just because the entire trip, Astoria was thinking about how she and Draco could sneak around. That night, she dreamed about Draco Malfoy. And it was not as innocent as he portrayed her to be.