A/N: I don't really ship Drastoria (or whatever the ship name is), but I couldn't really think of any other female character that would fit here. So, here it is — my first Draco/Astoria (and probably my last, too xD).

Written for Hogwarts (Challenges and Assignments), Pop Music Chart Day.

Prompt: 60s songs — "Hey Jude", by The Beatles


Take a sad song and make it better...

Draco's favorite songs were all sad. He liked them because his mother had liked them. And, most of the time, the lyrics really resounded with him. He had fond memories from when he was young, Narcissa Malfoy singing him to sleep.

She had a beautiful voice.

As the years passed, she spoke less and less, leaving the talking to the men of the house. And, oh, how she wished she could still call Draco a boy! But he wasn't; he had aged prematurely into a man. The war aged them all.


Don't carry the world upon your shoulders...

Astoria knocked on his door. Receiving no response, she peeked in. He was sitting on his bed, hands over his face. "Draco."

He looked up. His cheeks had a tell-tale shine to them, and his eyes were red and puffy. "Go away."

She shook her head. "No. Narcissa died for a good cause. She wouldn't want you to be bawling over her death when she went willingly."

"How would you know?" he asked rudely.

Her eyes turned sad. "She told me."


For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool...

Mere days before the war, Narcissa knocked on Astoria's door. "It is soon," she told the brunette.

Astoria just nodded.

Smiling sadly, Narcissa crossed the room to embrace her son's fianceé. "My time has come," she confessed. "I have this feeling here." She pressed a delicately manicured hand to her breast.

Astoria's eyes welled up with tears. Although this was an arranged marriage, she truly did adore Draco's mother. She wrapped her thin arms around the blonde. Narcissa patted the young girl's head.

Too young, she thought to herself. They are but children.

But all she said aloud was: "Take good care of my son for me."


Remember to let her into your heart...

After Astoria finished her tale, Draco's eyes filled with water again and he reached out for his wife. She rushed to him and he hugged her tightly around the waist, burying his face in her flat stomach, where dwelled the secret that wouldn't be a secret long.

Astoria raised her eyes heavenward. She didn't believe in godly beings, although she supposed there might be some — after all, mermaids and dragons were real.

And she said, "I have done my best."