Had a really bad day so I calmed myself down by writing this quick one-shot from my favourite pairing! Nothing especially sexual in this, just angsty ;)

Draco climbed the stairs carefully, very deliberately stepping over the single step that had swallowed his foot many times before. He picked his way up the flight, scuffing his shoe on the top step and checking that the moving staircase had taken him the right way.

As he entered, he noted that the Great Hall was almost empty. He had deliberately chosen the tail-end of breakfast hour to eat- less staring. Fewer people to whisper about him or jinx him when his back was turned.

Picking a seat facing the wall, he quickly buttered toast and swallowed down coffee without making eye contact with the other students around him. The food on the Slytherin table was almost untouched.

The hairs on the back of Draco's neck prickled slightly and his breathing quickened. There were still too many people here. He had to leave.

Draco jumped up and left the hall as fast as he could. He said a silent prayer for his long legs- lengthy strides made it easy for him to make a quick getaway. He had his mother's genetics to thank for that.

The Slytherin common room was crowded. Slytherins sat on every surface and first years were sitting in groups on the floor. Draco understood why. He avoided roaming the castle as much as possible. The only safe place for Slytherins was here. He wove quickly through the students- even they whispered a little as he passed. His dorm was down a short flight of stairs and he flopped onto his bed with a loud sigh.

Returning to school to repeat his last year had been a tough choice. There were too many students here who knew- who'd seen him stand with Voldemort. Draco had been in the hospital wing this year more times than his past six years combined. It seemed to be open season on Slytherins: even first years were getting jinxed by the older students from the other three houses. Draco didn't understand why the prejudice was still there when The War had been won and Voldemort was dead.

He rolled off the bed and started packing his bag for the lessons ahead. The NEWT textbooks and scrolls weighed down Draco's bag and he heaved it up onto his shoulder, stumbled a little as the weight pulled him off balance.

"Nice one," said a voice from the door. Draco jumped and dropped the bag onto the stone floor. He scowled as he heard the tinkle of glass breaking- his inkwells were in there. A pool of blue slowly started spreading down the left side of the bag.

"Thanks a lot Astoria," he grumbled, "I'll have to send off for new ones. Magically fixed inkwells just aren't the same."

The girl lent against his doorway and grinned at him lazily, "I didn't drop them."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes but-"

"-but nothing," she said, moving further into the room, "You just admitted that I didn't drop them."

Draco sighed loudly, "There's just no arguing with you Greengrass women is there?"

She laughed then. "Greengrass women? You don't know the slightest thing."

"You may not know this, but your sister and I..." Draco stopped there, raising his eyebrows and smirking at her. She laughed again; derisive.

"Of course I know. My sister shagged anything with a pulse and a Dark Mark."

Draco winced then, his hand automatically moving to his left forearm. The eternal mark of choosing the wrong side of The War.

"Sorry," Astoria said, "I forgot you were touchy about that."

Draco snorted and kicked out at his bag. Another inkwell broke and a puddle of ink formed under his bag, steadily growing under his gaze.

"Touchy is an understatement."

She shrugged and moved to sit next to him on the bed. "At least you're not in prison."

Draco winced again. His father was.

"Ah," frowned Astoria, "This really isn't going well for me. I'm not the most tactile, I have to admit."

He nodded.

"I visited Daphne last week," she carried on, changing the subject slightly. "She's doing well at Beauxbatons. Says the people are a lot more forgiving and a lot less wand-dependent."

"Another understatement," said Draco, "How many times have you been jinxed this week alone?"

"Two, but it's only Wednesday."

Draco turned and saw her grin.

"How do you cope so well? Are you never temped to jinx back?" The exasperation was evident in his voice and he coughed once, returning his gaze to the floor.

"I know that I'm better than all of them."

Draco looked up at her, "That's exactly the attitude that started The War. Don't say stuff like that."

Shaking her head, Astoria spoke again. "Not like that. Blood politics has never bothered me- I mean as a person. They can be petty and hold on to the mistakes of the past, but I'm out of here. I'm getting my NEWTs next year and then I'm out of here."

He couldn't help but smile. "Big dreams?"

"I want to travel to the mountains," she said, "and meet the giants. I want to learn Mermish and live underwater for a year amongst the Merpeople. I want to ride on a Thestral and a Hippogriff. I want to learn to be an Animagus and go to a dragon reserve and-"

Draco laughed. "Numerous big dreams."

She scowled at him. "Don't mock me; just because you're going to hide away in the Manor living off Mummy and Daddy's inheritance doesn't mean the rest of us can't have a good time."

He stood up then, all trace of a smile gone. "I think you should leave."

She stood to face him, her eyes level with his chin. "You may not think you need friends, Draco, but everyone does. I hope you learn that before you push the rest of us away entirely."

"The rest of whom?" he retorted, "No-one speaks to me. No-one even wanted to share a dorm with me!" He gestured wildly around at the other, obviously unoccupied beds.

She glowered up at him. "You cut us all out! You made them feel unwelcome here! Don't try to tell me that it's our fault, because this was all-" she jabbed him hard in the chest then with one well-manicured finger, "-your choice!"

"My choice?" he said, raising his voice slightly, "You think it was my choice to watch my teacher get murdered in my dining room? My choice to have Aunt Bellatrix torture Hermione Granger in front of me? My choice to get this scorched onto my skin forever?!" He grabbed at his sleeve roughly and thrust it at her, his Dark Mark writhing erratically and his heart beating so fast he could feel the pulse in his wrist.

She closed her hand over his wrist and pushed his arm down and away from her. "You always make everything about The War! You can't seem to move past it! Forget about the past and stop ostracising yourself in the present!"

He pushed Astoria then and she stumbled backwards, her weight pushing the door closed as she fell against it.

"I can't move past anything! This is with me forever!"

She ran back towards his, pushing him with her palms flat against his chest. "Don't let your name define you! Rise above this!" Her eyes flashed with anger. "You're so infuriating!"

He pushed her again, less forcefully this time, "You're so annoying. Stay out of this!"

"NO!" she shouted, "I'm not going to watch the boy I like destroy his life and lose all his friends!" Her chest was heaving and Draco saw she had balled her hands into fists.

Draco stood still, "Excuse me?"

"What?"

"What did you say?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I said I wasn't going to let you destroy your life and lose all your friends. Which you are doing, by the way."

He shook his head "That's not what you said."

"I know what I said!"

"Nope," Draco shook his head again, "You said 'the boy I like'. I heard you say it."

She scoffed at him, "Don't be ridiculous. Of course I like you."

He smiled a little then, "That's not how you meant it. You meant that you like like me."

Astoria snorted with laughter, "That's a ridiculous phrase; how old are you?"

"You can't deny that you said that," Draco continued, "We both know that you said you liked me."

"We're friends-"

"But you like me."

"As a friend-"

"But you want more than that."

Draco smiled down at Astoria, grinning at her smugly. "Go on, admit that you like-"

Astoria grabbed Draco by the tie and kissed him. He pulled away, stumbling backwards and falling onto his bed, shocked.

"What was that?!"

She shrugged. "Had to get it out of my system. You taste like coffee."

Draco was still a little stunned. From down the corridor came the sound of hundreds of students moving. Astoria opened the door and smiled back at him before she left.

"See you after class."