Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
The first drink is on me
She was tired and her feet were sore, all she wanted to do was go home and sleep but being a Greengrass meant she had a reputation to uphold and couldn't leave until everyone else had left. So, after a heavy sigh she turned and, with a fake smile in place, started to greet the guests. Her parents were throwing yet another charity benefit, she'd started to lose track of which benefit was for which charity. The last one she remembered was for some goblin cause and that was months ago, they had had a few more since then but by then she'd given up caring and forgot the reason for each benefit.
Once all the guests were inside and mingling Asteria went to sit down. She was just pulling off her shoes when a sharp voice came from behind her.
"Get up! We are hosts, not slobs sitting around." Her mother grabbed her by the arm and yanked her off the chair, "And put those damn shoes back on!"
"Hell mum! I was just resting, you don't need to man handle me!"
"Well how else was I supposed to get you to act like a lady?" she hissed out the corner of her mouth whilst waving cheerfully at passing guests.
"Can't I just go home? I'm not doing anything here and it's so damn boring."
"You are upholding the family name, now quite your whinging and work the crowd, promote good health and smile!" with that Mrs Greengrass pushed Asteria into an oncoming group of middle aged men.
Yes, good health. The benefit was for St Mungo's, something her parents had been planning for weeks. She quickly got out of the men's way and shrunk against the wall, with a quick look at her mother, who was staring daggers at her, she slipped out and down the corridor for some peace and quiet.
She kicked off her shoes once again and slid down the wall onto the cold and probably dirty floor. She honestly didn't care what her dress looked like; she'd only worn it because her mother had especially gone out and bought it for this event.
Asteria jumped when she heard the sound of fast feet, running down the corridor. She got up hurriedly and hid behind a column near the spot she was just sitting at. She wouldn't be surprised if it was her mother in search of her. However, it was a young man that skidded to a stop outside the doors to the auditorium. He quickly wiped out the creases in his robes and flattened his hair before pushing open the doors and walking in.
She gathered up her shoes and put them on, stumbling in her haste to get back inside and see who the man was.
Just as she got inside a hand grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to the side.
"Mum! You're going to make a spec..." she started to say before she realised it was Lance Barillas.
Lance Barillas was the son of very wealthy parents with a string of even more wealthy ancestors from Canada. His family had moved to London a month after the second wizarding war ended. This delighted Asteria's parents greatly as it would mean more family investments and merges. One such merge that her parents were working on was that of Asteria and Lance. Both Asteria and Lance's parents believed that they would be the perfect match, something Lance quickly agreed to. Asteria, however, couldn't have wanted anything less. She found Lance to be a pompous arse and extremely vain and in any other setting she would have snapped at him for grabbing her and avoided him for the rest of the evening but for appearances sake she did not but acted like she was happy to see him.
"Lance, hi!" she said as cheerfully as she could muster
"Ha, good try Asteria, no one's going to buy that." He snorted
"Well would you like me to make a scene and hit you?" she hissed back
Lance didn't answer immediately as a couple of laughing woman passed.
"You could at least act like you're happy to see me."
"What do you think I'm trying to do you moron?"
Lance ignored this quip and gave a fake laugh as his mother and father came to a stop in front of them.
"Asteria darling!" said Mr Barillas in a booming voice before shaking her hand so hard that she thought it might fall off.
"Asteria, how are you?" said Mrs Barillas in a much softer voice, giving Asteria a kiss on each cheek
"Mr and Mrs Barillas, it's good to see you." She said, conspicuously trying to massage her aching hand.
"I see our young Lance is looking after you? Good chap!" said Mr Barillas as he patted his son on the shoulder
"Yes dad, I am. It'd also be easier to look after her if you weren't with us." He said with a wink
"Ah, gotcha!" Mr Barillas laughed before leading his wife away.
"What was that?" snapped Asteria
"A good escape method." Said Lance with a smile
"Not that! The look after her bit."
"Oh, well if you're keen..." he left his sentence hanging
"Screw you Lance!" she spat
"Gladly." He said in a smooth, cocky tone
Choosing not to reply to this Asteria changed the subject slightly, "Why are my parents constantly hosting stupid, boring charity benefits?"
"I don't know. Come on, let's get out of here." Lance replied
It was a tempting offer, even if it meant being with him. Just being away from her parents right now would do wonders for her mood. She nearly caved but when she saw her mother staring at Lance and her she knew she'd never get away with it. They could always use the excuse of wanting to be alone but her mother knew that Asteria wasn't interested in Lance.
"You know I can't."
After that Asteria stopped paying attention to Lance, not knowing or caring if he was talking again. The young man she saw when she was outside had just caught her eye. He was standing near the refreshments table talking to one of the Healers from St Mungo's who looked impressed at what the young man was saying and was nodding animatedly in between replies and wild hand gestures.
Asteria couldn't understand why she hadn't recognised him before, maybe it was bcoz she was so busy wallowing in self pity? But now she knew who he was without even having to look at him for more than a glance. Who wouldn't know Draco Malfoy when they saw him? His smooth, silky, blonde hair, grey eyes and smirk. She'd seen him at school but hardly spoke to him, too intimidated by his reputation to start a conversation but this was her turf, her parents were hosting the benefit so anyone she wanted to talk to would have to talk to her, plus her mother had told her to work the crowd and so she would, starting with the gorgeous man in black dress robes near the refreshments table.
Not realising Lance had been watching her the whole time, Asteria checked herself; made sure her hair was still in perfect form and straightened her dress. He followed the direction she was looking at and his eyes came to rest on Draco Malfoy, The Death Eaters son, his father had always called him.
"Oh, you are so out of his league." Said Lance
"What?" asked Asteria, her eyes still on Draco who was now ignoring the St Mungo's dignitary and staring at her.
"Draco Malfoy, you can do so much better than him, Asteria."
"That's not really your decision to make is it?" she asked in an annoyed voice
"You're parents wouldn't allow it."
"My parents?" she laughed, "Please, I think you're more worried about me being off the market and you still being single."
She pushed off the wall she'd been leaning on and walked past a group of silent conversers, she could hear Lance walking behind her, he obviously wasn't going to let her be. She hadn't even gone five meters from where she'd been standing when Lance grabbed her arm again, this time swinging her around and pulling her into a tight embrace, and forcing her into a fierce kiss.
"Get off me!" she yelled as she pushed Lance away from her.
Several people stopped talking and looked at her, she had the grace to look embarrassed and blush. Turning to see where Draco had gone gave her a negative result; he'd disappeared.
After a minute of continuous searching and still not finding him she stormed off and away from Lance and slumped into a seat in the corner and far away from everyone else. She was so angry with Lance, he always ruined everything!
"Wanna go for a walk?" asked someone quietly behind her, expecting it to be Lance she turned with words that would make her mother die on her tongue only to be confronted with Draco.
Like a gentleman he stuck out his and pulled her up.
In silence the walked out of the hall. Just as the door was swinging shut Asteria looked behind her and saw her mom mouthing what looked like "Get back here now!", however Asteria couldn't help but give her a bright smile and let the door close.
"Thank you for rescuing me, Draco." She said, somewhat relieved
"You looked like you needed some help there. That Barillas kid is bad news." Said Draco
"He's not a kid." For some reason that irritated her
"Sorry, I was under the impression he didn't like him, did I insult him?"
"A bit, but never mind. I hate him."
"Why were you talking to him then?"
"What's with the twenty questions?"
"You're contradicting yourself; I'm just trying to figure out what's true and what's not."
"I can't stand him but he presented a bit of freedom when he arrived, that's all there is to it."
"Interesting. Why do you need freedom, don't you love these events?"
"No! I only come to them because..."
"Because why? Mummy and daddy said so?" he asked with a smirk
"You're such a jerk, Malfoy! People said you'd changed after the war but you're no better than you were at school!"
Draco felt humiliated and hurt but Asteria's comment, it was true, and he was being a jerk. Asteria felt ashamed the minute she'd said that to him, he'd been nice enough to ask her to walk with him and now she was being rude to him. He did say some horrible things but they were also true.
"I'm sorry." Asteria muttered
"Don't be, I was being a jerk and rude. I shouldn't have said that about your parents." Draco replied
"You were right; I relented and just did what they said."
"You should stand up more often, Daphne is nothing to aspire to but at least she has the balls to say no."
Asteria stared at Draco in utter shock, who was he to say something like that?
"I need a drink." She said in a voice of defeat
"I'll go get some firewhisky." Draco said, taking her comment as a bit of a command
"No, I'm leaving." She snapped
"I'll come with you; I wanna be here less than you." He said, quickly brushing down his robes again
"No, I don't need you to accompany me, thanks."
"It wasn't a question."
"Why do you want to come?"
"Because I want to be with you." He said before he could stop himself
"What?" she asked quietly, not sure if she had heard right, was there double meaning in that sentence or was she imagining it?
"Nothing, I'll just go back inside then." He turned and started to walk off
"No, wait! What did you mean?"
"Just that I want to leave too." He said after a moment of silence
"I wanna be with you too." Asteria whispered, not realising until that moment how strong her desire to date Draco had been since she first met him at Hogwarts
Draco studied Asteria for a few minutes, trying to see if she was lying, he'd liked her since he met her in his sixth year at Hogwarts, yes, he'd been dating Pansy but that was all a mistake, he couldn't stand her anymore. He didn't want to be made a fool of so when he walked back to Asteria he tipped her chin up to look closer in her eyes.
Asteria took this as an invite for a kiss and stood on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips.
"The first drink is on me." She whispered before taking his hand and leading him out the building.
Finished