Party At A Rich Dude's House
I bit my tongue in the ark of conversation
I don't know why, I don't know why
I met you once and I'd fallen for your notions
I don't know why, I don't know why
Just A Boy – Angus & Julia Stone
Astoria sighed as she sat at one of the many tables in the ballroom. She had always hated balls but every single one she'd been to since the war ended was a painful reminder of the friends she had lost. Everybody else had slipped into this new world where blood status didn't matter seamlessly, but Astoria wasn't fooled.
Her parents had always taught her that everyone was equal, all witches and wizards, but muggles were still beneath them. She had believed them too, until she started at Hogwarts when she was eleven. She'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, that was strike one on her record. She had muggle-born friends whom she'd often stayed with during the summers of her schooling life; that was strike two. And then she got a muggle boyfriend, one of her friend's brothers in fact. Strike three and she was out.
Her parents may have pretended that none of it mattered, but deep done she knew that they had supported the Dark Lord as much as the family of who's ballroom she sat in. She watched her sister flirt with that intolerable Goyle and dance with that other Slytherin. 'Blaise something' she thought absently. As her eyes darted around the room she noticed the absence of someone quite important to her sister.
She had noticed her mother standing with Narcissa Malfoy and a bunch of their other friends, and her father having a serious discussion with Lucius, but where was their son? Now that she had time to think about it she hadn't seen him at any of the many balls she had attended since the war ended.
The Slytherin boy whom was dancing with Daphne earlier strolled up to her and looked at her until she noticed.
'Oh, sorry, I must have been in another world,' she apologised politely.
He smiled dazzlingly and offered his hand. 'Will you allow me the pleasure of a dance with you? We can't allow one of the prettiest girls in the room to be sitting on the wall now can we?'
She smiled and took his hand. He prattled on about something or other, Astoria wasn't really listening. 'Are you?' she heard him finish as they began to dance.
'I'm sorry, what were you saying?'
He smiled down at her. 'I asked your name.'
'Oh,' she blushed red but smiled nonetheless. 'I'm Astoria, Daphne's younger sister.'
His smile broadened. 'So you're the famous Astoria Greengrass that I've heard so much about. Your sister has told me all about you.' He didn't elaborate and they continued to dance in silence.
As the song ended they bowed at each other, which was customary, and she was about to retake her seat when she saw a flash of bleach blonde hair hurry through the crowd of dancing bodies and out onto the terrace. She frowned slightly and turned towards Blaise. 'Please excuse me for a moment.' She hurried away before he had a chance to speak.
The night air was cold on her skin as she emerged from the magically warmed air of the ballroom behind her. Before her the grounds of Malfoy Manor stretched for what seemed an eternity. She could imagine what the view would look like in the daytime and smiled at the thought. She was about to go back inside when she saw the boy she had been looking for leaning against the railing of a small bridge that ran over a pond.
She walked over to him slowly, studying his face in the moonlight. He looked over at her as she reached the shore of the pond, his trademark scowl covering his features. 'What are you doing out here?' His tone was rather harsh considering they'd never said a word to one another.
'I was just admiring the grounds. They're beautiful. It must have been magical to grow up here.'
He laughed suddenly. 'You have no idea.'
She inched forward until she stood right next to him. They stood in a comfortable silence for a moment. 'Are you alright? You look upset about something.'
He turned to face her, studying her face as he did. 'I'm fine,' he replied stiffly.
She frowned a little. 'My sister always told me that you were arrogant, but you just seem really down about something.'
'Well how would you feel if you had to live in the house where you were tortured every day by the most evil person that ever lived?' he snapped at her suddenly. They both stood there in a stunned silence. He didn't understand why he'd just told a perfect stranger something that personal. She seemed almost as shocked as he was.
'I-I'm sorry. I didn't know.'
'It's not your fault,' he said quietly. 'Who's your sister?'
'Oh, ah, it's Daphne, Daphne Greengrass. She was in your year at school.'
'Yeah, I know who she is, she's extremely annoying.' Draco silently scolded himself. Why did he just say that to Daphne's little sister. He would have punched himself if he could have. To his surprise, she laughed.
'I've been trying to tell her that for years, but she never believes me,' she answered still giggling.
He cracked a small smile but caught himself quickly. He didn't like to smile after the war. It almost didn't seem fair that he, somebody who had committed some of the worst crimes known to wizard-kind, would be allowed to live a perfectly normal life. Here he was, barely eight months after the battle of Hogwarts, talking to a perfectly nice, very pretty girl, and he couldn't stand that he would think about that sort of thing when he had caused the deaths of hundreds.
'There you go again,' she frowned at his face. He looked up into her golden eyes. 'You look like death,' he winced at the word but she barely noticed, 'when was the last time you ate?'
He thought for a moment. 'I ate dinner last night.'
The girl looked shocked. 'No wonder you look so miserable!' He cracked another smile and she looked triumphant. 'That's the most I think I've ever seen you smile.
He frowned. 'What did you say your name was?'
'I didn't. It's Astoria.'
'Astoria,' he turned the word over in his mouth. 'That's a pretty name.'
'Thank you, Draco Malfoy. That's the nicest thing anybody's said about my name tonight. If you don't mind me asking, why do you even bother to dress up for the ball if you aren't even going to make an appearance?'
'I did,' he replied simply. 'I walked through the room, people saw me. Duty done.'
She smiled widely. 'I wish my parents would let me do that. I hate these things, they're so tedious.'
'I think we can agree about that.'
They stood for a moment, both staring at the lake in front of them. 'Well I think we've established that balls are tedious and boring, but we could find a way to make it fun.'
Astoria laughed. 'Oh really, and how do you suppose we do that?'
Silently he offered her his hand. 'Well first we dance, and then we'll see how that goes for fun.' She laughed again but took his hand. They walked inside hand-in-hand and Draco was very conscious of the fact he was touching another person. 'I haven't been this close to anyone since the before the war', he realised suddenly.
The two of them danced and laughed all night, making fun of Daphne while she flirted with every age appropriate boy in the room. Draco couldn't ever remember having that much fun with any woman.
From the other side of the room Narcissa pulled her husband aside and pointed out their son on the dance floor.
'I don't think I've ever seen him look that happy,' Lucius noted.
'I know, neither have I. She's a Greengrass, you know.'
Lucius smiled widely. 'A very smart match indeed,' he noted.
'She was a Ravenclaw, you know.'
'Hm, I think we can allow him to make his own decisions just this once. We've put him through quite enough in the last few years.'
Little did they know that Draco was falling in love with that very same Ravenclaw as they spoke.