A/N For the Taylor Swift Red Challenge by Forever Siriusly Sirius. Song "I Knew You Were Trouble". This is going to be so fun! Hope you like it.
It was Astoria's repeated fifth year at Hogwarts, and it hadn't been going much better than the first time she'd done it. She was now sixteen, and so were all her classmates, but none of them seemed to have matured from the time when they were fifteen. They all played pranks on her and the other fifth year girls, just like the year before.
Her classes were all the same, the pranks were the same, her friends were the same. Everything was exactly the same as it had been. Except, of course, they weren't at war.
She wasn't going to say that she'd fought against the Carrows, because she hadn't. She hadn't done anything to stop Voldemort from taking over the school. But what could she have done? This haunted her day and night, and it only made her feel marginally better that everyone else had this same guilt. So she'd dedicated this year to having fun.
It wasn't working. She was mad at everyone and everything, and it was even worse for her than most, because she was reminded of her nonexistent efforts every time she looked at the fresh Dark Mark on her left arm.
And then she met Draco.
Astoria was walking across the courtyard after classes were over, on her way to the common room for some time to herself when something blocked her path. When she looked up, she saw it was a tall blond boy with an extremely handsome face. He was from Slytherin. She'd seen him around, knew his name. This was Draco Malfoy, the first of many Slytherins to become a Death Eater.
He was a repeating seventh year. Astoria wondered why he was standing in front of her. Maybe he just couldn't see her, didn't realize he was blocking her path to the common room. So she tried to go around him.
It didn't work. Draco stuck his arm out, wrapped it around her waist, and dragged her back in front of him. Astoria gulped. She wasn't usually afraid of anything, but a boy that could tug her around like a rag doll? Something to be scared of.
"Going somewhere?" he asked, smirking. Astoria couldn't help thinking about how handsome he was. She didn't want to think that, but it was inevitable. He seemed to radiate handsomeness. It was terrible.
Astoria forced herself to speak. When she did, it came out something like, "Blerg dommern rom." Then she shook her head and said it again, more forcefully. "The common room. I was going to the common room."
"Good," Draco said. "I'm going there too." He obviously wasn't. He didn't move an inch. On his right, there was a large tree, so Astoria couldn't go that way. He would grab her if she went the other way, and she certainly couldn't go over him. She couldn't even go backwards, since he'd just grab her again. There was no way to escape. She'd just have to talk to him.
"Do you usually spend your time trapping fifth years against their wills?" Astoria asked, some of her usual snarkiness coming back to her.
Draco snickered. "Feisty. Too bad that won't help you resist me. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."
Really? Astoria wanted to ask. Because it seems like you want to kill me.
"I'm not lying," he said, and it was so sincere, Astoria had to believe him.
"Alright then," she said. "What did you want to talk about?"
A look of nervousness flashed across Draco's face. But just as quickly, his slick demeanor was back. "There's a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. How about we go together?" It wasn't an order. It wasn't even a forceful suggestion. Draco Malfoy, the most highly regarded Slytherin since Snape was a student, was asking her, Astoria Meaningless Greengrass, to Hogsmeade with him. The answer was obvious.
"Erm, yeah, sure," she said. Or at least, that's what she tried to say. She wasn't sure what exactly came out of her mouth. Her cheeks were bright red by now. Even Draco's face looked a little pink, but he put on another smirk to cover it up.
"Great," he said, and stepped closer to Astoria, which she didn't think was possible, since they were already really close. Draco had to bend down to meet her eyes, but it didn't look awkward. Probably because he was leaning against a tree. They were almost nose to nose.
"Y-yeah," she said. This Draco was really making her lose her cool. What would the others think? "Yeah, great." He was really handsome.
"Meet me in the common room at eight tomorrow," he said, and walked away. Astoria almost collapsed, but she didn't. She knew for sure every single girl in Hogwarts was staring at her in envy. No one could deny that Draco Lucius Malfoy was hot. Really, really hot. Except maybe Hermione Granger, but that was beside the point.
And now Draco wanted to go to Hogsmeade with her. On a date. Astoria had never been out with a guy, ever, and now her first date was going to be with the most coveted guy in school. Who was two years older than her.
"Bloody hell, Astoria, what was that about?" Astoria's best friend, Queenie, asked, running over to her. "Why was Draco Malfoy talking to you? Why was he so close? Is it, like..." she leaned closer, "a Death Eater thing?"
"God, no!" Astoria said. "Of course not. You know I would have walked away if it was."
"It didn't look like you could walk away," Queenie said.
"Well, I would've found a way."
By now, the rest of the Slytherin girls in Astoria's year were coming over to ask about her meeting with Draco. There were only four more of them, but they were loud enough to count for at least twice that many. Astoria had to pretend they were her friends, but really, she hated them all. They had been some of the first to willingly become Death Eaters when the Carrows took over. Astoria had been one of the last. They hadn't even gotten to Queenie yet, so she didn't have the Mark.
"What was that about?" one of the girls asked.
"Yeah, why was Draco Malfoy talking to you?"
"Is there something going on with you two?"
"Was he mad at you?"
"It was nothing!" Astoria said. They all refused to go away, so Astoria sighed and said, "Fine. He asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him tomorrow. And yes," she said before they could ask, "I said yes."
For a moment, there was dead silence. Then all of them exploded into squeals of envy and delight. "You are so lucky."
"I wish I was you."
"He is so hot."
"Why did he ask you?"
"Wow, Astoria," Queenie said. "He really asked you?"
"Yeah," she said, kind of indignantly. "I can be asked on a date by Draco Malfoy."
The other four girls apparently lost interest in the conversation and walked away, so it was only Queenie and Astoria.
"Come on," Queenie said. "We have to get you ready for tomorrow." She grabbed Astoria's hand and dragged her all the way to the common room.
The next morning, at exactly eight o' clock, Astoria came into the common room. It was entirely deserted except for one chair, which had Draco Malfoy in it. He stood up and promptly walked out of the common room, beckoning for Astoria to follow. He barely looked at her.
Astoria shook her head in surprise. She'd spent a considerable amount of time on her makeup, hair, and clothes, and Draco hadn't even appreciated it. But then she followed him out the door, because she had a whole day to get him to notice.
As she followed him to the Great Hall, where Filch was waiting to let everyone out to Hogsmeade, Astoria noted what Draco had chosen to wear. He was just wearing a simple black long-sleeve shirt and black jeans with sneakers, and he didn't have any gel in his hair, which looked great to Astoria even though she couldn't see his face.
Just before they got to the Great Hall, Draco wrapped his arm around Astoria's waist and walked with her into the room. She was so surprised by this that she didn't move for a moment, but then Draco raised his eyebrows at her and she immediately began to walk.
He was just so hot, it was unbelievable. She didn't want to fall for him, because he was a total jerk from what she could see, but she couldn't help it.
They entered the Great Hall, and at once, Draco's eyes turned from Astoria to the crowd. He looked like he was searching for something, someone, and Astoria wanted to ask who he was looking for, but Draco's grip her was so tight, she could barely breathe, let alone speak.
After a moment, Draco froze, turned to Astoria, and kissed her full on the mouth. She was caught off guard, but then she got used to it. Why was he kissing her? She could barely enjoy it because she was so confused. Then he pulled away and pulled her across the Great Hall. Astoria couldn't see why they were going this way. It would have been much faster to just go straight to the doors.
But then they stopped in front of a group of four people. It was Harry Potter, holding hands with Ginny Weasely, and Ron Weasely, looking delightedly at Hermione Granger. Astoria couldn't fathom why Draco could possibly want to talk to these four. She thought he hated them.
But Draco turned to Harry. Grudgingly, he said, "I'm sorry." Harry started. Apparently, he hadn't noticed that Draco was standing there. Astoria knew he was supposed to be famous and all, but the first thing she noticed was that he was really short. Not that he had a scar on his forehead or that he had the messiest hair she'd ever seen. Just that he was really short.
"For what?" Harry asked.
"For being an idiot. Thanks for saving me," Draco mumbled, looking at Hermione, probably to avoid looking at Harry. Astoria had never seen a Slytherin apologize for anything, especially not to a Gryffindor. Especially not Draco Malfoy to freaking Harry Potter.
"Oh, erm, it was nothing?" Harry said it in more of a questioning way. Ron glared at Draco.
"Go away, ferret," he said.
"Ferret?" Astoria asked.
"It's nothing," Draco said quickly, but Ron laughed meanly.
"You didn't tell your girlfriend about your cameo as a ferret?" Ron turned to Astoria. His hair was really red. It almost blinded her. "Blondie over here got a little mouthy and our Defense teacher turned him into a ferret. Should've seen him. Bloody hell! Malfoy was freaking out, squeaking and-"
"And that teacher turned out to be a spy working for Voldemort. So turning Malfoy into a furry creature definitely wasn't the worst he could've done," Ginny said. "Frankly, Malfoy, you were lucky that day."
"Lucky!" Draco said. He was still staring at Hermione.
"Draco," Astoria said. "We should really go."
"Yeah," he agreed absently. He didn't move. He was still staring at that Granger girl.
"Come on. Or we'll be late," Astoria said, and started walking toward the door. Draco seemed to remember he had his arm around her, and that he was on a date.
"Right, of course," he said, and started to walk with her. He turned back to Harry when they were about ten feet away. "See you later, Potty." And then he kissed Astoria again. What was going on? Astoria wasn't an idiot. She knew something was up, and it probably had to do with that Hermione Granger. She pulled away from Draco, gave a tentative smile, and they kept walking.
When they were almost at the door, Astoria looked back. Ron was talking to Hermione about something, but she wasn't really listening. She was looking at Astoria and Draco. Astoria glared at her to get her to back off, and it worked. Hermione turned back to Ron.
Now Astoria was sure something was going on between Draco and Hermione. And she was determined to get him to forget it. He was on a date with Astoria. Not Hermione. And he was going to act like it.