Hello everyone! Thanks for reading this, all you great coughunsuspectingcough people! evil laughter

Well, here's my little disclaimer: no, I do not own the Dream team, Hogwarts, Pansy, Draco, or anything else except Astril and the plot (although if I did own Draco... -no, you really don't want to know)

So anyway, here it is!

Rise to Shadow

Astril Perindon stood on tiptoe, trying to see past a multitude of heads and luggage. Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters was all a bustle with the usual start of term crowds; mostly mothers, holding onto their "baby" first-year's hands with tears in their eyes, telling them for most likely the two-hundred and sixty-first time how much they would miss them. Trunks of every shape and size clattered along the well-used platform, some dirty, some scraped, some clean, some torn in places, others new.

Rolling her eyes at the gushing mothers and fathers (had her mother really been that melodramatic?), Astril began to lug her trunk towards the Hogwarts Express. Her red-gold hair fell down her back in loose, glossy curls, swinging as she walked, and was well on its way to reaching her slender waist. Clear blue-green eyes peered out from beneath long lashes, soft full lips betraying her vulnerability. Her nose was entirely stubborn and slightly buttoned.

Standing on tiptoe, she looked over the top of the crowd again. Was that-

"Oof!" Astril felt her body connect solidly with someone, sending her sprawling onto the pavement none too nobly.

"Watch where you're going, Weasel!" that someone snarled with disdain as he brushed his robes off.

"Excuse me?" she said, peering up at the person from her seat on the ground. Silvery locks of hair fell to brush against his eyelashes and obscure his eyes for the moment, and a sneer was delicately curved on his well-wrought mouth.

"What's the matter Weasley? Cat got your tongue?" That voice… she knew that voice…

"Malfoy?" It was more of a statement than a question; he smiled indulgently, mockingly, and flipped his hair to the side, revealing stormy blue-gray eyes.

"Yes, Weasley." It took a moment for it to register in Astril' brain; she couldn't stop staring at his eyes. She mentally slapped herself out of her boy-induced stupor. Malfoy? Malfoy? Of all the god-cursed, heathen-damned mortals to possess such godlike beauty, it had to be Malfoy? "Weasel? Hello?"

A second thought registered in the redhead's brain. "Yeah, well, I hate to be the one to break it to you Malfoy, but it just so happens that not every redhead in this school is a Weasley. The parents didn't get that busy." he smirked slightly, looking at her face and then elsewhere on her body.

"Ahem," she growled, crossing her arms. He shrugged, smirking.

"Sorry. Should have realized you were too chesty to be a Weasley."

Astril blushed furiously, retorting, "You would gage people by the size of their boobs."

"Naturally." He raised a single eyebrow, as if to question how she could ever think otherwise.

"Well in case you didn't notice, normal people don't usually do that," she said slowly, as if she were talking to a small child. "Although, I'm not sure if horny males qualify as normal."

"Oh, it's not horny, Miss Perindon, it's just full appreciation for the female assets."

Astril rolled her eyes at this obviously absurd statement, picking herself up off the ground and dusting off her robes.

"Ri-ight. Well, I think I'll be going. Have to find a seat before they're all taken, so if you'll excuse me?" she smiled sweetly at him, spinning on one heel, and attempted to pull her trunk out from between the lamppost and barrier. She frowned as it refused to budge.

Tugging hopefully, Astril felt her face burn. So much for a smooth departure. Bracing her foot on the barrier, she pulled.

Behind her, Draco smiled bemusedly, attempting to stifle a laugh as the trunk finally wrenched free. Astril stumbled backwards, gleaming burnished copper locks falling into her face. As she recovered, Draco noticed a small white flower tucked into the strands behind her one ear, nestled amongst the sea of loose red-gold waves. Interesting.

As he stood on the worn cement, Draco irritably rubbed the burning spot on his neck, which had just begun to fade. Perindon… could she be-

–No. It wouldn't happen now. It had only been little over a year, for Circe's sake.

Astril walked along the carpeted hallway of the train, her leather trunk rolling along behind her. Stupid Malfoy. What a perverted prick! Blushing as she thought of the way his eyes had roved over her body, the redhead pushed open a compartment door in the back of the train.

"Perindon?" Astril whirled to look in the compartment. A rather chesty girl was lying across the expanse of two seats, her dark hair brushing her shoulders. Her face was smooth and a bit sharp,although the features were full. Chocolate brown eyes observed Astril, narrowing slightly.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked, twirling her wand idly between her fingers as though she were contemplating hexing the redhead out the door.

"Well, for a start, I was going to sit down," Astril said nonchalantly, sinking down onto one of the seats.

"No, I mean what are you doing in my compartment?" the girl said coolly.

Shrugging, Astril replied, "Everywhere else is full." Seeing the girl's glower of dislike, she said exasperatedly, "Pansy, look, I'm not a bloody Gryffindor. I'm not going to try to throw holy water on you or hex you or any of their other insane ideas about Slytherins."

Pansy flipped her hair, eyeing the redhead. "Oh? And what, Perindon, makes you so sure I won't shrivel up and die if you do throw holy water on me?" A soft smirk played at the corner of her lips, the merest hint of a joke.

Inwardly, Astril relaxed a bit. The girl could be so distrustful sometimes. "Well, for one thing, I know for a fact that the Dream Team replaced the Slytherins' drinks with the stuff in our fourth year. It was actually quite amusing, really, to watch their faces as they realized they wouldn't get any displays of melting Slytherin flesh."

Pansy's mouth twitched, suggesting a smile. Suggesting, mind you. "I'll bet that was entertaining," she mused, before fixing Astril with a stare. "How did you find out about that?"

"I have my sources," the redhead answered, suddenly finding great interest in the button on her pocket.

"Oh?"

Astril looked up from the button. "And how did you come to be sitting in a compartment all on your little lonesome?" she challenged.

Pansy started to scowl, then winced. "Point taken." Staring out the window, she said quietly, more to herself than Astril, "We all have our secrets."

Weeell? How you likee? PLEASE review, you have no idea how much it means to me when I get the little email saying REVIEW ALERT in my inbox. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy that someone takes the time to write about... yes, I know what you're saying, I CAN HEAR YOU! I do have a life, its just... invisible. Yes, invisible. coughs.

So where was I? Oh yes -REVEEEIIIWWWWWWWWW!