And We Danced Under the Stars
QLFC Training Camp - Seeker: Banchory Bangers - Round 3 (Some Real World History) - "The destruction of a vessel/aircraft."
Criminal Minds Character Category Competition - Competition: Jason Gideon - "Write about someone who doesn't know how to say goodbye."
Ultimate Writer Challenge - "Write a het (f/m) fic." - 1/2 complete
Can You Make It To the End Challenge - Round 7 - "Write one fic featuring your OTP using the prompts 'dance,' 'hope,' and 'anxious.'"
He didn't like having the sea beneath his feet; he didn't like the feeling of the ground swaying from beneath him, because if he couldn't even trust the ground to stay sturdy, then who could he trust?
But his parents insisted. After all, he was meeting his wife-to-be on this trip. Everything had to be perfect.
So of course his parents booked a trip on the most luxurious, expensive ship they could find.
Of course they did.
And as he boarded the Titanic, Draco Malfoy narrowed his eyes at the other wealthy families that regarded everyone else with an upturned nose. He would be stuck on a ship with them and their snotty attitudes for who knew how long, and he highly doubted that he would be able to survive.
Little did he know how right he was.
.oOo.
She only did it for the thrill, really. She had nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing in that poker game.
If she lost, it would cost her the last few coins she had in her purse. No bother. She was used to being penniless by now.
And if she won?
Well, a trip on the Titanic was nothing to scoff at.
How would it feel to have the wind whipping through her hair? How would it feel to breathe in the salty sea air and smile at a cloudless sky?
Astoria Greengrass was ready to find out.
And when, by some incredible stroke of luck, she won the card game and earned a ticket aboard the famous ship?
She laughed giddily and began to run towards the docks, catching a ride on the Titanic before it departed.
.oOo.
They first met at night, when a cool mist rolled out over the water and filled the air with salty sea spray.
Draco had managed to escape from a stifling dinner party, having just found out that his betrothed was named Pansy Parkinson- a pretty woman, he supposed, if it weren't for her upturned nose and the cruelty in her dark eyes.
He stood by the cold, metal rail of the ship, staring out into the inky black sea below. The water foamed, churning, beneath the belly of the boat. If only he were a sea creature- hidden and free to glide beneath the icy waves.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" a soft voice mused from behind him.
Draco turned his head away from the vision of swirling ocean to see a girl standing behind him, small and slender. He could tell by her clothes that she was poor- torn trousers, an untucked shirt, and scuffed boots. Her dark hair was wild around her pale face, but seemed, in a way, more feminine than the coiffed curls of the rich women he had just left. Her eyes were lively and bright and filled with an emotion that he couldn't place.
Draco realized she was waiting for him to speak. "Er- what?"
She tilted her head out towards the sea. "The ocean. It's beautiful, no?"
"Yes," Draco nodded. "Beautiful."
She watched him carefully, as if assessing him. Then her lips quirked up in a smile.
She held out a slender hand and leaned forward. "I'm Astoria Greengrass."
Draco glanced once more into the ocean before taking a step away from the ship's railing.
"I'm Draco Malfoy," he replied, grasping her hand in his own and shaking it.
.oOo.
Astoria didn't know what to make of the blonde-haired Draco, dressed in all his fine clothes, watching the ocean like it was his lifeline. After he shook her hand, he'd murmured a quick goodbye before heading below deck to his cabin.
She plopped down, cross-legged, on the ship's wooden deck and paused for a moment before lying down flat on her black.
It was the way he had been watching the water that had intrigued her- he had stared at it as if it would magically sweep him away, save him from this land.
But he was rich and wealthy and practically drenched in opportunity- what could he possibly want to be saved from?
And it had been something about his eyes, too; steel gray and filled with a jumble of feelings that she couldn't even begin to sort out.
But when he had taken her hand, her heart had fluttered and she knew she had to see him again.
The only problem was the very obvious one that glared her in the face- he was rich, she was poor.
Sighing, Astoria wrapped her clothes more tightly around herself to keep out the cold, and she gazed up at the twinkling stars until she fell asleep.
.oOo.
They bumped into each other again the next morning, once again on the deck of the ship.
The sun was shining and Draco was hurrying away from his mother, desperate to escape spending time with Pansy. He knew it might be unfair to judge her after only knowing her for a day, but he just couldn't picture living the rest of his life with the scowling woman.
Besides, ever since the night before, Draco hadn't been able to stop thinking about a certain Astoria Greengrass whose eyes glimmered like the moon.
It was just at that moment when he crashed into her, sending her reeling.
He instinctively reached out, catching her before she could hit the wooden floor.
"Thanks," Astoria panted, glancing up to smile at him. She straightened and he let go of her abruptly, letting his hands drop uncomfortably to his sides.
They stared at each other for a moment, and she made a face. "What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, entertaining stuffy old ladies at some fancy tea party?"
Draco snorted. "I probably should be. Luckily, your company is far more entertaining than that of a few 'stuffy old ladies.'"
Astoria snickered and flashed him a grin that made his heart miss a beat.
Together, they walked farther up the deck, neither speaking until they reached the ship's bow- right where Draco had been the night before.
Astoria casually leaned her elbows on the rail, gazing out to the cloudless blue sky. "What's it like, being rich?"
Draco startled. "Er… it's fine, I suppose," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. What was one supposed to say to that?
Astoria hummed thoughtfully to herself. "It doesn't seem like you get to have any fun, though."
Draco frowned. "I have plenty of fun!"
Astoria turned to him, raising an eyebrow in challenge. "Oh yeah? Like what?"
"I…" Draco found himself grasping for words. "I dance, sometimes," he finished weakly. "At parties."
Astoria smirked. "You know how to dance?"
"Of course," Draco scoffed.
"Not better than me, I'll bet," Astoria grinned, a teasing glint in her eyes.
Draco found himself smiling back. "Meet me up here on deck tonight, and I'll show you."
.oOo.
When the moon had once more emerged into a midnight sky, Draco waited for Astoria on the deck of the Titanic. The wind ruffled his hair and he stared out to the cold sea, not thinking of fleeing, but thinking of flying.
There was a tap on his shoulder.
He turned to see Astoria standing behind him, arms crossed over her chest. "Ready?" she offered.
Draco held out his hand, suddenly nervous.
She took it.
Swallowing hard and not knowing exactly what to do with his feet, Draco placed his other hand on her waist.
Astoria shot him an amused glance. "I thought you said you knew how to do this."
"It's different," Draco shot back, biting his lip.
Astoria rolled her eyes playfully. "Not really." She began to sway, back and forth, and Draco joined her, all of his anxiousness fading.
They stayed like that for hours, two lost souls spinning to soundless music under the glowing stars.
.oOo.
"I'm not going to marry her," Draco said suddenly.
Astoria stepped back from him, their dance abruptly ending, as the smile was chased from her face. "What?"
"I'm betrothed," Draco hastily explained, his words spilling over one another. "But I'm not going to marry her."
Astoria's eyes narrowed. "Why not?" There was suspicion in her face, but also a sliver of hope, a hope that maybe, possibly, things could be different.
Draco opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, there was a jolt that sent him stumbling.
The deck of the ship shuddered under their feet, wood and metal creaking in a painful symphony.
"What's happening?" Astoria yelled over the screeching din.
Draco just clutched her hand, terrified.
.oOo.
Panic raged on deck, chaos breaking loose as people shoved, pushed, elbowed their way to the lifeboats.
There were not enough lifeboats for everyone.
Draco yanked Astoria through the masses.
"Where are we going?" she shouted to him, struggling to be heard over the din.
"I'm going to get you off this ship!" Draco hollered back.
Even without looking back, Draco could sense her eyes widening. "What about you?" she screamed.
But Draco ignored her.
The only thing that mattered was getting Astoria to safety.
.oOo.
He heard a ship's mate calling for "Women and children! Women and children!"
Elbowing his way through the masses, steering Astoria forward, they pushed through to the side of the ship, where lifeboats were suspended in the air from ropes and pulleys. Lines of terrified people shoved forward, trying to get onto the descending boats. Crewmen shouted orders into megaphones, trying in vain to control the surging mobs.
Draco dragged her roughly to the front of the lines, bringing her to where the lifeboat was dangling beside the ship's rail.
"Go!" he shouted to her.
"No!" Astoria shouted back.
He grit his teeth, prying her fingers off his wrist and hoisting her into the air. He placed her into the boat, and all the while, she kicked and screamed, desperately grasping for his arms.
He felt the fabric of his jacket tear as she snatched for him.
Draco watched as the other frightened people in the lifeboat lugged her away from him, in a frenzied need to get the lifeboat moving.
With a groan, the ropes moved, beginning to lower the lifeboat into the black waters. Their eyes met.
Hers were streaming with tears as she clutched the shred of his jacket close to her chest.
"Don't cry," Draco whispered, but he knew she couldn't hear him.
Furiously swiping at her tears, she yelled towards the crewmen lowering the boat. "Wait! Stop!"
They paid her no heed as she began to disappear down into the blackness.
Even after she was gone from view, her cries echoed in his ears. "Draco!"
Should he have said goodbye?
But what kind of goodbye could possibly convey everything he wanted to say?
Tears burned at his eyes, and he let them fall, despair tearing open his heart.
He would not get off the ship.
He would not see her again.
.oOo.
Draco looked at the midnight sky, once so full of promise and hope, and caught his last glimpse of the stars.