A/N: Written for the Pairing Wars Competition, Round 1. My pairing is Draco/Astoria. First fan fiction in over two years so any all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

He looked rather ill. His skin had a light greyish tinge to it and the dark circles under his eyes grew darker and darker with each passing day. His absence from meal times were becoming evident as he looked as though he had lost a lot of weight. Even with his less than stellar appearance, he was still somewhat handsome, I guess. If you looked at him under the right light and he wasn't running his obnoxious mouth like he was at the time.

Draco Malfoy has himself perched in one of the emerald green armchairs that was nestled away in the corner of the common room facing one of the windows and a small table. The green light that leaked in through the window from the reflections of the lake only highlighted his ill and weak appearance. He was in a secluded spot, cut off from the rest of the common room if you didn't count his companion, Blaise Zabini.

Malfoy didn't socialize much anymore, but to an outsider of his friend group like me, it seemed like Zabini was becoming his new best friend. On the rare occasions I'd see him here, there was a good chance that he was conversing with Zabini.

"Why would I want to attend a low class Christmas party anyway, Zabini?" Malfoy stated rather loudly, his voice layered with disgust. This was the initial statement made by Malfoy that caught my attention this evening as his previous statements were filled with his usual words of arrogance.

I got up from my own seat by the empty fireplace and drifted over to the pair of boys. I wasn't particularly good friends with either of them, I mostly only knew them because they were acquainted with Daphne. Also, usually when Malfoy goes out of his way to make remarks about something being stupid or for those of a lower class, what he really means is that he's jealous.

"You can go with me," I said once I was behind the seat Malfoy was sitting in.

"What?" he said as he whirled around to look at me, a half amused expression drawn on his face.

"I said you could go—."

"I heard what you said, Greengrass, I'm not deaf. I am merely just curious to know why you would ever think I would willing show up to an event with the likes of you," he said, cutting me. His infamous smirk started to appear on his face and I could feel my cheeks burn.

"I was just being polite! You were sitting over here hollering about it and I happen to be invited which is more than what you could say!" I snapped, instantly regretting my decision to walk over to the unpleasant boy.

"Why would Slughorn be interested in you? Or does he have a secret soft spot for cows?" Malfoy retorted, feeding off my irritation.

"I'll go with you, Astoria," Zabini drawled before I could even open my mouth to fire back. "I was hoping to have better company than the blood traitors and mudbloods that I'm sure will be there."

"Fine. Can't wait," I replied, ignoring Zabini's prejudice remarks and retreating back to my original seat, trying my best to avoid Malfoy's gaze.

My blood was pumping, my fists were clenched and I needed to at the very least go for a walk or something. That was the last time I would try and be nice. Malfoy can just sit in the boy's dormitory by himself and be bored for all I cared. I was going to have a lovely Christmas themed evening with Zabini and Malfoy was going to miss out.

Then it hit me. I was going to attend a party with Blaise Zabini.

The feeling of dread began to creep up on me at the thought of spending an entire night with one of the most arrogant boys I knew, next to Malfoy of course. I could already hear his haughty voice list off all his accomplishments and his money and how many girls were interested in him and how pure his blood was and oh, God.

Oh, God seemed like the only thought my brain could produce the next couple of days leading up to the party. I didn't even really want to go that much in the first place, but Slughorn had been breathing down mine and Daphne's neck the second he saw us. It wouldn't be a Slughorn party if the only two daughters of a rich, pureblooded Politian didn't make an appearance. Daphne managed to stand her ground against the persistent professor, but unfortunately my big mouth and my interest with being friends with older boys was punishing me. It wasn't even like I had accomplished anything great, it was my father's accomplishments that Slughorn was interested in.

My dress robes were sprawled out on my bed with an assortment of hair and makeup products. I torn between trying to look good because I was going to a party and just doing a half-ass job because I was going with Blaise Zabini and I quite frankly don't care if he finds me attractive or not.

"Want help?" my sister's voice came from the doorway. She was leaning against the doorframe, her blonde hair swept back off her face in a messy bun, smirking at me.

"Yes," I sighed, and sat down on the bed on the only vacant spot next to all the products.

She ran a brush through my tangled hair and I winced each time she raked through it too hard. I didn't tell her what I wanted my hair to look like. If Daphne was doing my hair then it was going to look ten times better than if I did it.

"I'm going to just do something simple, it's hard to do detailed hair-dos with dark hair. It doesn't show up as well," she said, breaking the silence.

"That's fine," I replied.

"I'm going to assume because of your half-hearted responses and demeanor that you didn't beg for Zabini to take you to this party, as he put it" Daphne said, as she finished tying off my hair and reaching for the makeup.

"What? No!"

"Wow, party hasn't even started and you're already angry and shouting," Daphne said as she uncapped a tube of mascara. She was trying not to smirk.

"I didn't beg him to go with me. He volunteered!" My face was twisting up into a scowl.

"Relax your face, Astoria. It's a little hard to put makeup on you when you're making your face creased. And I know you didn't beg. The Greengrass family doesn't beg, we just go ahead take what we want." Daphne dusted my forehead with a poufy makeup brush, applying powder to cover up the couple of blemishes that I knew were there. "Why'd he volunteer?"

"I don't know! I asked Malfoy if he wanted to go because he was doing that sulking thing—"

"Bloody hell, Astoria! Are you stupid? You can't ask Malfoy to go to a party, especially so soon after he dumped Pansy. She'd skin you!" Daphne interrupted me as she put the makeup back in the makeup bag a little too dramatically than one should put away makeup.

"I know, I know, I know," I repeated as Daphne began to list off all the reasons why that was a horrible idea.

She tossed my dress robes at me when she ran out of things to list. I knew she wasn't finished with me, but there were only so many ways you could call someone stupid and only so many reasons why Malfoy was a bad idea.

"You look pretty," she finally said after a long pause.

"Thanks," I said, standing up from the bed.

"Go break some hearts," Daphne said with a wink before disappearing out of the fourth year girl's dormitory.

I made a mental note to myself to have more conversations with Daphne because a new found rush of confidence flowed through me as I slipped on my dress robes. I glided down the stairs into the common room where Zabini stood waiting for me with a bored expression. A slight pang of uncertainty stung me as I questioned whether or not I was on time or late. I was sure he said seven.

"You look nice," he said in a smooth voice, his slanted eyes glittering.

Nice. My sister said I was pretty. I didn't have half my hair ripped out and a bunch of product smeared on my face to just be referred to as nice looking. Maybe it was my already formed negative opinion about tonight that was influencing my thoughts, but I still thought I deserved a little more than nice.

"You do too," I replied, taking in his appearance. He did look rather handsome, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I wasn't going to even bother using an adjective to describe someone who couldn't come up with anything better than a simple nice.

We walked in silence down through the dungeons and I was suddenly extremely thankful that Slughorn's office was also in the dungeons. The light sounds of laughter, music, and enthusiastic conversation reached my ears as we grew closer to office. The door to his office was propped open and Zabini stopped right in front of and gestured to the doorway with his arm.

"Ladies first," he said, smirking.

It looked as though Slughorn had bewitched his office to make it larger. The ceiling and walls were decorated in an assortment of emerald, gold, and crimson decorations and the room glittered like a bright Christmas themed tent. There were melodic instruments being played and beautiful singing voices floating through the crowd. Small, squeaky house elves trotted past the party goer's feet, rushing to serve the guests. There were real live fairies fluttering above in an elaborate gold lamp and mistletoe was littered all over the ceilings. It was almost comical to watch people change their walking paths to avoid walking underneath the plants.

"Welcome!" boomed Slughorn and he smiled widely at us. I smiled back and returned his greeting with a slight nod and wave. Zabini did nothing.

I scanned the crowd to see who was here and noticed that quite an assortment of people were here, not just students. There were older men with great bushy beards smoking away on pipes and women with brightly colored robes and bold makeup. There was even a vampire, by the looks of it, who was tall and had the darkest circles under his eyes, staring at a group of giggling girls with a hungry look in his eye. I didn't think it was possible to find someone who had darker circles under their eyes than Malfoy…

Malfoy. That bloody git was missing out on a damn good party.

He was probably sitting in his dormitory all alone, being bored, and wishing he had accepted my offer. I don't think I'm the greatest or most entertaining person to have as company, but it was hard not to have a good time in an atmosphere like that.

"I'll go get drinks," Zabini drawled, sounding unamused and unimpressed.

I grabbed a treacle tart off one of the trays a house elf that was scurrying by held and in the most unladylike way, shoved it into my mouth. I could almost hear my mother scolding me as I did so but I didn't care. I didn't care about Malfoy, I didn't care that Zabini had a stick up his ass, I didn't care.

"All right, I wasn't invited!" I heard an angry voice behind me. "I was trying to gatecrash, happy?"

I turned around to see who it was and I was met with the image of a boy with white blond hair pulling himself free from Filch's grip, looking very angry. Draco bloody Malfoy was trying to gatecrash the very same party I invited him to. I could feel my own anger rising when I realized that his problem wasn't his pride and admitting he wanted to go to the party, his problem was me.

I couldn't hear what Filch or what Slughorn were saying because of the loud music and chatter and I could only hear Malfoy's stupid voice because he nearly shouted. It looked as though Slughorn was letting him stay and I couldn't tell who looked more unhappy, Malfoy or Filch. An odd expression for someone who seemed to so desperately wanted to make an appearance at this party. He certainly wasn't dressed for a party.

His facial expression suddenly changed when he spoke to Slughorn and I realized that he was sucking up to him. I rolled my eyes. According to Malfoy, there's no wrong time to kiss ass. Snape swooped in and intercepted Malfoy, interrupting his private performance. He whisked Malfoy away, out of the party, and down the hall.

I glanced around, looking for Zabini and there was no sign of him. He probably decided I wasn't worth his time anymore and left to find better company. My curiosity got the better of me and I darted out into the hallway but I waited too long to follow Snape and Malfoy because there was no sign of them.

I wandered down the corridor, the party sounds getting increasingly fainter with each step down the dark and empty hall. I rounded a corner when I heard a loud bang, like a door was being forcefully shoved open and hitting the stone wall. The sound made me freeze and I was a little scared to move.

A few moments later Malfoy rounded the very same corner, practically crashing into me. He grabbed both my arms and shoved me aside so I was up against the cool stone wall and put his face close to mine. I could feel his warm breath ghost across my face.

"Are you stalking me, Greengrass?" he asked harshly.

I merely just blinked back at him for I didn't have a response. I guess I kind of was stalking him, but I wouldn't use that particular word for it. Investigating would be a better one.

"What? Do you like having me this close to you? Does it fulfil all the wet dreams you have about me?" he continued, his face so close to mine our noses were almost touching.

I was speechless and Merlin, he looked ill. There was nothing I wanted more than to just sink back into the wall and disappear and I would never have to think about the words he was spitting out at me again. It was like I was trapped. What in the world had in him in such a sour mood that gave him the need to just lash out and rip apart someone as insignificant to him as me?

"Look at you, you're so turned on by me just standing here that you can't even speak! You probably have to go change your knickers now," he said haughtily, finally backing away from me. "Don't think I haven't noticed you staring at me all the time, I'm not interested, Greengrass."

It felt like I could finally breathe when he backed away and I could probably slip away an escape. It would be so easy to just run and avoid him for the rest of this year and his seventh year. Of course though, I replied with the only response I could think of.

"I'm not wearing knickers, Malfoy."

I hate myself. Of all the comebacks in the world, the only one I could think of was an informative statement on the status of my undergarments.

He let go of my arms as if they had burned him and his eyebrows were knitted together in confusion. A blush was creeping up his pale neck into his cheeks. His mouth open and closed like he was trying to form a response but he soon gave up and abandoned me. He rushed down the corridor and whipped out of sight.

"Astoria?" Zabini appeared around the corner, two glasses filled with punch in his hands. "What were you trying to run away from me"

His voice was light and joking, the nicest it was all night and he handed me my drink. He placed a hand on the small of my back and guided me back towards the party. Just as I was explaining to Zabini how I merely just felt claustrophobic, Potter darted back into Slughorn's office, completely cutting us off and caused Zabini to sneer.

"Make way for the Chosen One," Zabini said in a mock sing-song way.

As the night went on, I kept finding that my mind would wonder back to Malfoy no matter how hard I tried to shake the thought of him. I missed nearly all of Zabini's boasting, which normally I would be fine with if it had not been the fact that I missed it all because I was thinking of Malfoy.

The party finally began to die down, the numbers dwindled, and I was exhausted, feeling sure I was going to pass out in the middle of the corridor and Zabini would have to drag me the rest of the way. We were one of the first couples to make our way out the door and I was thankful for it because Slughorn was making it hard for some people to leave, giving them extra-long goodbyes and attempting to engage them in more conversation in order to keep them here.

I said goodnight to Zabini and I undressed myself, undoing the up do Daphne threw up for me and wiping off my already smudged makeup. As exhausted as I was in the corridor, all feelings of tiredness disappeared from once I finally got settled into bed. Funny how that happens.

I crawled out of my nice warm bed and my bare feet padded across the cold floor to the door. It creaked when it opened and I was silently praying that none of my classmates that I shared the dorm with would awaken. Amelia Travers was always a bloody nightmare whenever she gets woken up too early.

The common room was empty as it usually was this late at night, and the fire in the fire place was reduced to nothing more than a few crackling embers. I grabbed a chair by one of the windows and peered out of it, watching an occasional unidentified creature float past through the murky green waters of the lake.

Watching the water made me drowsy and I was just about to turn and retreat back up to bed when I heard the quiet sound of shoes striking the stone behind me. They paused and I turned and I was met with the cool gaze of Draco Malfoy. He looked as exhausted as I felt at that moment, but other than that, had no definite expression on his face. I wondered what he could've been doing this late at night.

"I put knickers on for ya," I said to him.

"Thanks," he said, trying to hide the slight amusement that appeared on his face.

He sat down on one of the dark couches across from my chair. He held his white blond head in his heads and I thought for a moment that he had dozed off. I stood up and began to make my way back to my dormitory when he suddenly spoke again once I reached the couch he was sitting on.

"Sorry for earlier, by the way," he said, his face still covered by his hands. "Nothing seems to be going right for me anymore and I'm just angry at everyone."

Daphne always told me that a person is the most vulnerable when it's late at night and their eyes were heavy. I was praying that Malfoy wasn't about to spill his deepest, darkest secrets to me because while they probably would be interesting to hear, I wasn't in the mood for his talking.

He peered up at me and I realized that I hadn't given him the response he was waiting for.

"Malfoys don't apologize," I said. "But it's okay."

I quickly retreated back to the dorms before he could grab me or try to make more conversation. He didn't even try and I felt his eyes on my back as I walked away and I suddenly felt very self-conscious. I climbed into bed and threw the covers over my body, feeling uncomfortably warm. Malfoy's stupid face was leaking back into my thoughts and I shook my head trying to get rid of them. I couldn't stop wondering where he was going and why he looked so ill.

I never found out until the end of the year because our encounter in the common room was our very last for the year.