I'm not really sure where the inspiration for this one came from...

Review? :)

-Jackie

And Where Do We Go From Here?
An Astoria/Draco story

Draco looked straight down at his shoes, the two large leather appendages that were spread shoulder width apart. The last inch of each hung out over a ledge, his weight settled back in his heels. He ran his tongue across his two dry lips briefly, grey eyes fixated on the speeding lights below him. Draco was high up above London on the top of some long-forgotten muggle building, the midnight traffic roaring and flashing beneath him. The few alcoholic drinks he had consumed earlier blurred his vision and muddled his brain. One second London was still, and the next it was swelling up to meet him in a burst of pink color. Draco swayed on his feet at the sensation, his weight shifting away from the edge. But that wasn't what he wanted.

He wanted to jump.

Draco caught his drunken balance with the use of his pale and shaky hands, head still bent towards the street beneath him. His slipshod brain tried to estimate how far he was from the ground. Three hundred meters? Four hundred? Nine hundred?

"What does it matter?" he mumbled to himself. "It will be more than enough."

Draco slid his left foot forward another inch until just the left heel of his shoe was left on the concrete edge. He held himself there.

All he had to do was slide his heel forward.

Then the air would rush past him as if he were diving after the golden snitch on his Nimbus, and suddenly—everything would stop. There would be nothing but blackness. It would be so fast and so painless.

So easy.

"I suppose you've come to jump, too?" An unexpected voice almost made Draco unintentionally lose his balance; he precariously teetered about the ledge. After he regained some control of his weight he turned his disheveled blonde head from the road and saw a young woman, her youthful face framed by long black curls.

"I'm absolutely terrified of heights," she said as she took slow steps forward. "I don't know why I picked this building, then, of all places. This is not exactly a comfortable height for me." Now she stood just behind his right shoulder, dark blue eyes staring straight down at the road as he had.

"You're not going to get me down," Draco finally managed to croak out.

"And I don't mean to," she said calmly, her serene demeanor unaffected by his crass. "I mean to join you." She stepped onto the ledge next to him; using the concrete edge she pushed her white heels off one at a time, each spiraling down, down, down onto the dark pavement below.

"Well that's a bit better," she said, wriggling her now bare feet on the rough ledge. She took his hand, five slim fingers wrapping around his. "So how are we going to do this? One, two, three, or…?" For the first time that night she stared straight into his bewildered grey eyes.

"Do you mean—you really want to jump?" Draco asked, his tone unbelievable. This girl was so lovely and so young; surely she had no reason to wand to die like he did.

"Of course I do," she said as simply as one tells the weather. "I wouldn't be up here if I didn't." He could only stare, his right hand still in her light grasp.

"But why do you want to jump?" A shadow passed over her face and pulled the corners of her lips down.

"I thought the man I'd been dating for three years was going to propose tonight," she whispered. "Instead he only wanted to be friends." Tears clouded the girl's eyes as she concentrated on the city below. "What about you?" she asked after a brief pause.

"Everything I once owned is gone. My home is in shambles, the family's bankrupt, and I'm due to be tried to go to Azkaban in the morning." The look on her face was one of sincere sympathy. It was a look no one had ever given him before.

"The war?"

"It wasn't a damned miracle for everybody." A small laugh escaped her.

"I hear you there."

Draco now looked at the girl with interest. Had the result of the war been hard on her too?

"My family's much the same," she commiserated. "But he—," she started to say with enthusiasm, but it quickly died into a solemn tone. "He promised to take care of me…" A single tear slid silently down her nose, dripping onto the concrete ledge.

"I'm sorry."

Those two words lifted her head from the road so that her wet eyes could look into his.

"No one's ever said that to me before," she said softly, adjusting her hand in his. Draco didn't know what to say. He didn't know if he should even say anything. She shifted her balance on the ledge.

"I…I'm not so sure anymore that I want to…" Her eyes loomed down at the bustling London street. "Are you?" she breathed, the immense height starting to frighten her.

"I…don't know."

They stood in silence for a while, each holding the other's hand as they gazed down beneath their feet.

"What's your name?" she asked quietly.

"Draco," he replied simply.

"I'm Astoria." He nodded slightly, looking briefly at her face before going back to the ground. She would be a beautiful woman to die next to.

"Draco," she mumbled, squeezing his hand, "I'm afraid of death."

"Then maybe you should wait for it to come naturally." Astoria gazed at him silently.

"But what about you?" Draco looked into her face again, this time for longer. She cared. She honestly cared. A girl he had met less than ten minutes ago was worried about the thought of him dying.

He couldn't find the right words to say.

"I don't think we should," Astoria said, placing her left foot back on the roof. We, she had said.

Now she was grouping them together.

"Come back, Draco," she said when her right foot was on the roof. She tugged at his hand. He looked at her shortly then back at the street.

Below him was freedom. Freedom from the problems of money, love, and crime. All it would take is a step. Behind him was the Astoria girl who had walked into his life only ten minutes ago. Could she be freedom, too? All that would take only a step as well.

If he jumped he would never know.

If he turned away he could find out.

Draco stepped back onto the roof, the flashing London lights disappearing form view. A smile formed on her lips.

"And where do we go from here?" she asked softly, still holding his hand.

"Anywhere."

It's been too long since I posted :) It feels good to be writing again! Please leave your thoughts in a wonderful review :D

-Jackie