Sleeping Beauty
or how dragons don't bring happy endings
Draco crept out of the boys' dormitory, leaving them all sleeping like lugs. Draco had barely slept at all this week, or even this year. From the long, hundreds of nights Draco had lain awake, Theodore talked in his sleep and it wasn't Goyle who snored all night, but Crabble.
But tonight was the night. The last night. If he was going to do what the Dark Lord said, he'd have to do it before midnight, when he'd turn seventeen. Albus Dumbledore could not live to see the last midnight of Draco at age sixteen. Or else this would be Draco's last midnight.
"If you can't sleep, then you are welcome to stay up with me and help me review. Are you any good at Potions?"
Resisting the urge to shoot off stunning spells until he hit the witness, Draco lit the end of his wand. It was already raised high enough for the light to catch her face. At first, he thought that the blonde girl sitting on the couch with her notes spread out in havoc before her was Daphne. But then he saw in her face, unlike Daphne's bright and lucid eyes, Asteria's were always paler. "Do you know anything at all about Wiggenweld potions?" She asked hopefully. "All I can find is the example, but nothing about why they can work on the Draught of Living Death."
"What example?" he asked, his mind trying to focus on a new plan. Maybe if she's distracted, he could stun her then...
"Of the muggle princess that the hag Leticia Somnolens cursed with the Draught of Living Death. Then a wizard smeared the WiggenWeld potion over his lips and kissed her awake." Asteria told him patiently. "Did your mother never tell you that story? But I don't understand why Wiggenweld was strong enough to counteract the draught."
Draco reluctantly sat next to her on the divan, the light finally sliding all over Asteria. He could see the outline of her body beneath her blue nightgown. The blue set off her hair very nicely—"You use ingredients from the Draught of Living Death, but you add in the honeydew drops to turn their intent, wiggentree bark to purify it and the rest to nullify the draught." Draco rushed through his recitation as she wrote it down. She had very nice, fine handwriting and her hands were small too.
"Draco, I can't thank you enough," Asteria said, gathering her belongings. The edge of her blue nightgown slid over her bare feet. "I should be getting ready for bed, but I wouldn't mind staying…"
The books fell almost to the floor before Draco caught them with a charm. Asteria, however, she fell forward until he lunged forward and lifted her out of her fall. She didn't stir as he hoisted her firmly into what could have passed for a suitable lover's embrace, had he not silently stunned her half a minute before.
He could have just left her on the floor, waiting until morning for someone to unstun her. Just one more crime to add to his ever-growing list. He should have left her there instead of risking one of these girls catching him sneaking in and out of their room.
There was one empty bed in the dorm, once he got past the wards with the counter spell Pansy had told him in case of a nightime rendezvous, with the four posters decorated with weak-willed vines clinging around the ebony wood of her bed. This is the bed Draco left her in, still stunned on top of the covers. Her books are deposited with less care on the floor besides her. Asteria lay there, sprawled on her bed, her blonde hair sliding off her cheek as she breathed, her lips slightly opened, almost a wistful sigh.
It was like a scene from a storybook, where a brave warlock would rescue the fair witch from the evil hag. There was only one thing missing, he mused and without thinking about the consequences, a few sparks fell from his wand as they reacted.
Thin, white flowers bloomed from the vines that she had obviously grown as decoration or protection. Draco watched, shaking with the shock of doing accidental magic for the first time in years, as they grew into lovely white roses. His fingers twitched, his wand wavered in his grasp, the word "Rennervate" was mouthed but he couldn't will himself to do it and Asteria was not stirred awake, the scene was still complete.
He should oblivate her, right now, while she lay there defenseless and still, so there would be no disillusions about what would occur here tonight. Draco raised the tip of his wand to her forehead as the last strand of silky, blonde hair slid off her face. He lowered the wand and instead murmurmed a different spell. Odds were he'd be dead by morning...even if he couldn't hide the dark truth behind a knight's armor anymore, there was no reason to not leave her dreaming.
Then Draco turned on his heel and left the room. Pretty girls were supposed to be woken up be handsome princes. Not by the dragon.
And when she awoke in the morning, there was no handsome prince there. Instead, the castle had been attacked, there was a dead man at the base of the tower, the dragon still alive and what had been lovely white roses had faded and withered within the night.
Death is preferable to loss of innocence.
Dear readers of my Order of Merlin series: Have faith in me, I am precisely half a chapter away from uploading Year 3: The Querent Quest. I'm trying to preserve the Malfoy family's particularities and keep what little pride they have left intact. And I felt I need some practice, so I took on this little personal challenge for myself: finish a oneshot by the time my laundry finishes (can you say "college student"?)
To Pleck, Astrea, Brighton Belle, Yellow 14 and AphroditeAwry: thank you for your reviews! Unfortunately, I decided that February 14, 2019 was not worthy of what I could have done and took it down. Maybe someday, there is a small chance that I'll re-upload it, but the odds are better that I'll write another Draco/Asteria fic.
Speaking of Asteria...you say tah-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe. Likewise, you spell it Astoria, I spell it Asteria, for reasons I'm too bored to list off (but if you ask me in a review, I'll graciously name them). Also, I imagine Asteria as a natural born blonde, who in her later years (by the time Scorpius goes to Hogwarts) dyes her hair dark.
Read, Rave to your friends, and Review!