Prologue

1993

"Astoria!"

Astoria Greengrass groaned as she got dragged from her seat at the Ravenclaw table by her older sister Daphne. "Yes sis? And I'm pretty sure I can follow you without you dragging me."

"Yeah well, better I have a hold on you so you won't escape." Daphne said as she forced her to sit down at the Slytherin table.

"I really probably shouldn't be here." Astoria said as she found the nearby Slytherins staring at her. She stared them down. "I'm also a pureblood. Most of you have gone to the little brunches and soirees that my family has hosted so please stop staring at me." She spat out.

Daphne shook her head. "How you got into Ravenclaw, I really don't know."

"Maybe it's because she was sitting and talking with that mudblood on the train." A voice rang out.

Astoria looked at the direction of the voice and found herself looking at Draco Malfoy, someone she knew from her sisters stories as someone who filled the description of a Slytherin perfectly. "If you're talking about Ashlyn, she may be a mudblood but I'd rather spend time with her than….a guy with two trolls." She said wearily at the sight of Crabbe and Goyle. Then she got up. "Anyway, I should probably be at my table. Bye Daphne." She said as she kissed her sister on the cheek.

1996

It was during the latter half of her third year at Hogwarts when Astoria encountered Malfoy again.

"Still hanging out with mudbloods Greengrass. What a disgrace you are to purebloods." He had said as he passed by her and Ashlyn Smith, a fellow Ravenclaw and her best friend.

"And you're still hanging out with trolls…although now there's a new troll. A female one." She answered back without turning to look at him.

"Astoria.." Ashlyn muttered as she saw them stop and look at her.

"Oh don't worry. He's all bark and no bite." Astoria whispered back before sighing and turning just in time to see Pansy Parkinson grab her wand. "Are you going to use that on me?" She asked in a bored voice.

"Of course she's not." Malfoy said making Pansy reluctantly put her wand down. "Let's see….. 50 points from Ravenclaw for answering back. 30 points for calling three members of the Inquisitorial Squad 'trolls'. 20 points cuz she's a mudblood. And another ten points from Ravenclaw because…this is a big waste of time."

Astoria seethed as they walked away. "I am going to kill him. I swear I will."

Ashlyn looked at her. "He'll probably dock a hundred points as his final words."

Astoria laughed. Then she turned serious as the entered the History of Magic classroom.

"He thinks too highly of himself." Astoria whispered as the lecture began.

"What do you mean?"

"He's the so-called 'Prince of Slytherin', walking around as if he owns the place. What better way than to make him regret docking points for no reason, bullying for no reason and everything else he's done to anybody who's not in Slytherin than to challenge his 'princeship'?" Astoria said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And who would challenge him?" Ashlyn asked.

"It has to be a pureblood that Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hupplepuff will have no problems with. A pureblood because that's the only blood status a Malfoy will take seriously. Believe me, the whole Malfoy family has, at one point of time, been our guests." She sighed.

"Then I guess you'll be doing it?" Ashlyn asked.

"Of course not." Astoria said. "Too much work, being an H.B.I.C."

"Yeah but….you know him. You're a pureblood AND you are in Ravenclaw."

"I do not want-"

"And your family is one of the most esteemed pureblood families…. I mean, you're father took over the position of Crouch didn't he?"

"Yeah but.."

"And, although you won't admit it, you're pretty good with the curses and hexes."

Astoria looked at her blankly. "You're really not going to stop until I say yea, aren't you?"

"Uh huh."

Astoria rolled her eyes. "Fine. But you're helping me."

Ashlyn grinned. "Where do we start?"

Astoria sighed. "By getting two trolls like he has..except they shouldn't look like trolls."