Please review! Second chapter coming soon.
He accompanied his parents to a party.
Draco wandered around the house, examining the fancy rooms and expensive artifacts. The Greengrass residence was almost as grand as Malfoy Manor. There were countless rooms: it would be very easy to get lost here.
Draco walked down a long, winding hallway, examining the portraits on the walls: important people, deceased members of the family.
And then he heard a noise.
It came from the next room. He cocked his head to the side and stood stock-still, listening. It was… music.
A violin, to be exact. Someone was playing the violin in the next room: something baroque, possibly Bach. The intonation was precise, rhythms were all correct and the tone was rich.
Slowly, Draco turned the doorknob and peeked inside the room. The music swelled and cut off abruptly, followed by a string of expletives. "Bloody hell, you damned piece of crap!"
"Hello?"
The violinist spun around in her seat and jumped up, knocking pages of sheet music to the ground. She was roughly eighteen, with long, waist-length blonde hair and slight features: almond-shaped green eyes, heart-shaped face, arched blonde eyebrows and a faintly sloped nose with a silver stud in the left nostril. A pair of heavily ripped jeans was sliding down her thin waist – she pulled them up absentmindedly – and she wore a Weird Sisters t-shirt.
She hugged the violin to her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Hello. Who are you, again?"
"Is that Bach that you were playing?" Draco asked, ignoring this strange girl's question. He walked into the room and looked around. There were so much sheet music and violin exercise books on the ground, you couldn't see the carpet. A large mirror hung on one wall, and some French doors led to a balcony, overlooking the rolling lawn. Bookcases lined one wall, and Draco recognized some of the Muggle titles: Taming of the Shrew, one of his favorite by Shakespeare; Pride and Prejudice, a classic he hadn't enjoyed as much; a couple books by Kurt Vonnegut; the Odyssey.
She stooped and slowly picked up a sheet of music, handing it to him warily. "It's Bach double violin concerto in D Minor. I haven't played it in years, and I thought I'd pick it up today."
The notes before him swam on the page. They were so tightly squished on the staff, it was almost impossible to decipher them. To add to the confusion, there were notes written around the lines and between the notes. "Looks easy. I bet I could play this."
"Oh, so you play the violin? Let's see it, then."
Draco sniffed. "The Malfoys have no time for such trivial things such as music."
"So, you're a Malfoy," she said thoughtfully. "Must be Draco. I remember you from school. You're two years my senior."
He almost chuckled at the phrase two years my senior but decided it wasn't polite. "You went to Hogwarts, then? What house?"
"Slytherin, of course. You're at my house, aren't you?"
He raised his eyebrows. "You're Astoria!"
"Of course I am. Who'd you think I was?"
His brow furrowed. "I'm not sure." He found himself staring obsessively at her nose piercing. Close up, the silver stud is shaped like a star.
Draco motioned vaguely at his own nose. Astoria looked confused. "What?"
He gestured again. "Did it hurt?"
"Oh." She paused. "Yeah, it hurt like hell. But only for a moment, and I regret it. I'm going to take it out."
"So you don't think I should get one?"
She laughed. "You're funny, Draco. Go join the party. I'll see you down there."
Thirty minutes later, he was standing by his parents like a permanent shadow. A few people walked up to them and engaged them in polite conversation, complimenting Narcissa on her dress and asking Lucius about who-knows-what.
"Ah, there they are!" a bright voice said from behind them. "The Malfoys. My friends, I'd like you to meet my lovely daughter, Astoria."
Narcissa, Lucius and Draco turned around to see Mr. Greengrass bustling along with a lovely-looking Astoria – she'd swapped her too-large jeans and t-shirt for a modest green dress. She beamed at them and stuck out her hand to Lucius. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"
Lucius shook her hand and smiled grimly. "Good evening, Miss Greengrass. This is my wife, Narcissa and my son, Draco."
She shook Narcissa's hand, and then Draco's. She held on for a second too long, squeezing his hand before she let go.