Part 3: a third year faced with reality

Too bad children never stay children forever, as was the case with Astoria, the summer brought with it change, both in her phisique and her being, as Daphne, in a fit of teenage rage, had treatened lord and lady Greengrass with abdicating the heir ring if they didn't leave her alone to do as she pleased. And their parents, ever the cunning ones, simply decided that Daphne's problem needed to be dealt with in a rational way, that being, by grooming their other child to be the new family leader instead

Astoria never thought her parents noticed her untill Lady Greengrass cooly pointed out to the perfectly beautiful Daphne how better suited she was for the main heir possition "Astoria is quiet and polite, carries herself with grace and dignity, she is inteligent, exeptionally magical and sharper than you give her credit for, do not presume to treathen us with foolish words Daphne, we all know that if your father could chose, he'd chose the daughter who doesn't shame the family name"

Her mother's words struck a chord in the sisters, both in Daphne who'd been her favored child and in Astoria, who took after their solemn father. And for the first time Astoria saw herself as others saw her, not as a child, but as a potential political pawn, as a girl with the power to replace her father in a high position at the ministry.

Lord Hyperion simply shook his head in dissapointment at the childish outburst of his eldest daugher, sending Daphne a look that could freeze the great lake "Is this the girl who I am to leave my fortune to Daphne Gaia? This explosion of dark impulsiveness that squanders my galeons on underaged firewhisky?" Their father said darkly, being a man of few words, and letting Daphne know exactly how he felt about her, then he turned to Astoria, who stood a few steps behind Daphne, with her hands behind her back and her head slightly bowed in a gesture of obedience, listening to Daphne's scolding as tough it were intended for her

smiling then, Lord Hyperion extended his hand towards his younger daughter "Come now Astoria, let us go to my study, I feel as if I've been neglecting you of late"

"Yes father" Astoria replied, not daring to raise her voice in defense of her beloved sister because as much as Daphne loved her, she knew that their parents had drawn a line between the two of them that day. The choice had been made between beauty and grace and against all the odds it seemed as tough grace had won.

That summer was the longest Astoria could remember, as she could no longer reach out to Daphne for sisterly love and their father insisted on having her in his study every single day to teach her how to manage the Greengrass estate "in the unlikely event of her needing to".

Change also came to her body as her childish features finished melting away with the last rains of July, and a surprise grownth spurt in August developed her body into that of a propper young lady, her skin, once sunkissed, now looked fragile as ivory porcelain, as a result of being coped up inside her father's study during all her Hollidays, her limbs had streched and while not as gifted as her sister in the breast department, she now sported two healthy looking moulds in her chest, in fact by the time she was to start her third year at Hogwarts her usually reserved father declared her to be "quite a Greengrass beauty".

Of course that too had been meant as a jab at Daphne, who, was atypically golden haired, as oposed to Astoria who, just like their many aunts and female relatives had chestnut waves in her head, sure Daphne had the trademark leaf colored Greengrass eyes but because of her hair she usually looked more like a Malfoy or a Yaxley.

"Daphne darling whatever happened to your little shadow" Draco snickered as soon as he saw the blond girl sulking "towed her off to the third years already?"

"Ughh don't talk to me about that stupid traitor Malfoy, the conniving little brat wants to steal my birthright, sometimes I want to hex her for all she's worth" Daphne huffed making Pansy and Tracy high five her

"Why don't you cut her off completely?" Tracy asked in that manner in which girls in Slytherin gossiped "sack her out of our dorm, Draco and Pansy are prefects, I'm sure they could get rid of that pest for us"

Draco tried not to seem to interested in the conversation as Pansy plotted with Daphne and Tracy on how to teach Astoria a lesson, he summarized that little Greengrass was a clever child and as thus, wouldn't fall for her own sister's antics.

Boy was he wrong to think her a child, because the next time he saw her, the petite dark haired girl infront of him was anything but that "Hello Mr Draco, come to see the show? Daphne here seems eager to provide entertainment" the girl said coldly, as she saw Pansy drag him into Snape's office, only meeting his eyes once before seeing Pansy's deadly glare and turning away "then again I was never the type to enjoy the circus"

"Nor was I miss Greengrass" Professor Snape agreed "it is rather..unsavory to have two prefects and one blood relative request your removal from your own dorm room"

"It is and you have of course my sincere apologies for causing so much fuss" Astoria replied diplomatically, making a good contrast to her catty elder sister "but as it is I do not wish for my sister's unhapiness, please accept her pettition and allow me to join my third year classmates in any room availabe, I loath to cause her discomfort"

Professor Snape smirked his eyes flickering briefly from Astoria to Draco, sending shivers down the Malfoy heir's spine because Snape always seemed to know what everyone in Slytherin was doing behind his back "is that so?" Their head house said darkly, looking at Daphne from head to toe and then picking up a few papers from his desk "very well it shall be done as you wish, Miss Greengrass I will reasign your sister to another dorm room, young Miss Greengrass come with me, the rest of you are dismissed"

And even then Astoria didn't miss the way Draco's eyes followed her out of the room.

She wasn't a child anymore he was sure of that much, her features now looked refined, almost elfin in their fragility, her hair, free from the childish braids that used to keep it out of her face, now fell past her waist in shiny dark brown waves and her lips, Draco could curse himself for noticing her apple red lips as Professor Snape ushered the girl to Professor Sinistra's office.

His body reacted in a way he never thought it would, at least not for little Greengrass, but it was to be expected, was't her ten times great aunt the infamous Lady Grimhilde Greengrass, who married a muggle king and trapped a lovesick fairy in a mirror with only the power of her beauty, Draco knew her bloodline as well as he knew Pansy's and the Greengrass line boasted of many a dark enchantress who entranced muggles with their looks, lady Grimhilde being the most famous. Now he knew why

No, fifth year marked the moment in which he stopped thinking of Astoria Greengrass as "the little girl" and started considering her "a girl", at least in his mind, when had the chubby cheeked little thing turned into a beautiful "thing"?, he didn't know, but it made him feel very mad at her

How dare she, how could she change that way and confuse him so? she was supposed to be a harmless child, not this, this, this alluring, stranger!.

Astoria on the other hand was very worried and stressed, both over her sister's spitefull behaviour and Draco Malfoy's constant dirty looks, she knew that news of her new status as "pottential family heir" was circling all over Slytherin and that it natuarally made people curious about her, add that to the fact she was rapidly becoming a brown haired carbon copy of her great aunt "Grimhilde the Fairest" and Astoria just wanted to hole up in her room and scream. If someone asked her another question about what they now called "the Greengrass sister feud" she was going to jump from the astronomy tower. But her father said ladies did not jump from towers, or scream, or shout, or show displeasure of any kind, so she was left witout any other outlet for her frustration than to pound her pillows every night with her delicate fists while she drowned her sorrows in house-elf-brought pumpkin cider.

Now she understood Daphne's actions more, having one's own spotlight was wonderful but arghh so was it frustrating, everyone saw her, everyone wanted to be her, everyone wouldn't leave her the eff alone, Astoria wanted peace, she wanted silence, she wanted to stop being so scrutinized and she wanted her bloddy hormonal body to stop warming up like a candle whenever a reasonably attractive boy was on sight, especially because the reaction seemed to increase tenfold whenever she thought of a certain thick headed Slytherin prince.

Every night she tried not to think about her childhood habit of sleeping over at Malfoy's when she felt scared, he was a boy, she was a girl, it wasn't propper, but try as she might two weeks into the school year Astoria wanted nothing more than to grab her teddy bear and poke Malfoy in the arm so he'd let her sleep in his bed, she tried hard to remember how her father lectured her on propper lady behaviour and imagined the sounds of other girls echoing trough her empty dorm room.

She should be thankfull that there was a perfectly odd number of third year girls in Slytherin and that professor Sinistra had judged it an adecuate punisment for Daphne to let Astoria have a whole dorm room to herself instead of forcing her to bunk with three other girls, but she felt lonley, so lonley she just wanted to cry

And then, as tough she'd summoaned him with her mind, he was there.

She heard him issue the silencing charm before she saw him walk trough the door, nevertheless Astoria gasped when the subject of her thoughts appeared in her room sporting his usual glare "Move over Greengrass" he grunted with an edge of sleepiness to his voice, Astoria, still speechless could only obey, scooting over to the edge of the bed so he could take his usual place behind her " I hate Nott and Zabini so much" he muttered as a way of explanation "By the way your sister is a harlot"

Puzzled Astoria looked at him quizically untill finally she put two and two together

"Oh Merlin, don't tell me she's… Dear Morgana she didn't" Astoria muttered trying not to laugh at the predicament that Malfoy was probably describing

"She did, she still is doing it"

"Oh dear, your poor ears" Astoria couldn't help but laugh, quickly putting her hand over mouth, because it was't very ladylike

"And eyes too! a Crucio from the dark lord would have been better" Draco cursed tossing and turning in her narrow bed "your matress is hard as a rock Greengrass"

"why didn't you go to Parkingson's bed then? I heard you two were on it all summer". She said conversationally covering her mischievous smile, of course she knew why he hadn't gone to Pansy's, the girl was obsessed with him, one night in her room and she'd be shouting it to all Hogwarts and if that thought gave her a slightly bitter feeling it wasn't something she dwelt on.

"You don't talk as much" Draco replied easily propping his head in his palm and looking down at her "also you are apparently the only girl in Slytherin who doesn't have roomates"

"Father would say it isn't propper" Astoria countered then thinking back to the lonley night that awaited her she sighed "but I don't wish to sleep alone"

Draco, who'd been driven out of his room by a (insert big swear word here) threesome, saw no flaw to her reasoning "Today was a long day, I needed the respite"

"Whatever, I'm just glad you are here" the girl replied easily, letting him glimpse the vulnerability in her eyes, before snuggling into his chest as she used to do when she was a first year

Only this time her limbs were longer and instead of fiting into his side like a doll would, her soft frame now molded itself to his body in a way he never expected "you feel different now" he commented out of nowhere and Astoria startled by the thumping of her heart when he put his arms around her, wisely refrained from telling him the same

The next morning he woke up comfortably to find her head in his chest, petite arms wharped around him in a subconcious embrace while he held her tight to him, when her eyes opened she didn't say anything, but they both knew that something deep had changed in their companionship that year

The school year officially started in an odd, even frightening way, with gloomy teachers constantly dissapearing from their classes, headmasters gone missing and older students huddled in corners whispering fearfully among themselves, Astoria didn't know what to think of Umbridge's systemathic takeover of Hogwarts, on one hand, she could see how a bad DADA intruction could be in fact derimental to her fellow classmates who came from less wealthy families (because at the time Astoria couldn't fantom a world where people taught their children how to defend themselves as oposed to hiring bodyguards, like her parents did), but on the other it worried her that the constant unhapiness might actually affect HER.

altough the situation did vex her a bit, Professor Umbridge seemed so set on targetting mudbloods and halfbreds that it gave the rest of the purebloods a bad rep "not all of us are psychos" Astoria remarked in huff to Flora and Hestia Carrow, crossing her arms over her chest "Some of us don't bother prosecuting those who are so obviously beneath us"

Flora and Hestia nodded in agreement, being third year Slytherins they were all more than fed up with the ego fest that everyone from Harry Potter's year and over seemed to be carrying around "it's like how my mother says, give a house elf more attention than it deserves and it might start thinking itself human" Laughed Flora

"Exactly, Umbridge's problem is that she gives vermin more importance than they deserve, why she spends her time making the rabble miserable and not finding ways to allow purebloods extra privileges in school, is beyond me" Hestia agreed brushing imaginary lint of her school robe

Spying Draco in the distance Astoria tried to pretend he wasn't there "Maybe she's crushing on Dumbledore and thinks this is a good way to get his attention" she remarked with a devious wink, linking arms with Flo and Tia as they made their way down the great hall laughing

Passing her on the hallway, Draco hid his smirk and pretended he had't heard her.

Flowers bloomed that spring in Professor Sprout's greenhouse, trough the rain and hardship whispering of Voldemort's return, they found a way, but as late blooming flowers went, little Astoria Greengrass seemed to be like her great grandmother "the fairest of them all" (before the stupid muggle princess upstaged her of course), suddenly people were starting to flock to her, taking notice of her face and for a girl that thought herself content to live in Daphne's shadow, she had to admit that this was kinda nice

In Slytherin there was a saying that went "pureblood is and pureblood does" it fit Astoria to the T, on the outside it might seem like the third year Slytherins were just as catty as the older ones, but as Astoria Greengrass became the most popular girl in her year, so did her opinions
.

And her opinion was that mudbloods should be left alone, it didn't concern her what they did, her father taught her to ignore them, like the ceroes they were, just like house elves, mudbloods and half breds existed, but they only existed in her peripheral view, who cared if Hermione Granger was a mudblood? It only meant that the poor girl was "magically challenged", for all the fuss people in Slytherin made about the bushy haired Griffindoor girl, Astoria didn't see the point.

Some would say that she was using her newfound power to do "good" but the truth was that she was simply ignoring the whole thing and hoping it would go away, Dumbledore HAD to take Umbridge down eventually right?. So the third years ignored it too, at least the purebloods did, untill one night shortly after her first sucessfull Transfiguration quiz of the year, Tracy Davis stumbled into the common room sporting the words "I am nothing" written in blood quill all over her arms, dropping to her knees right infront of Astoria, who'd been quietly exiting the room

For a moment Astoria could only stare.

Tracy's arms and face looked nightmarish, as tough she'd just been released from Askaban and someone had used a rather rusty knife to torture words into her skin, the blood was a sickening shade of brown, coating her uniform in a rather gruesome sort of way, and then, Tracy stumbled, trying to get up, but failing and slipping back to the ground.

Nobody in the common room spoke, all too horrified at what had been done to one of their own, watching with wide eyes unable to comprehend how a Slytherin girl like Tracy could have been used as blood quill target, they only moved when, shaken out of her shock, Astoria finally let out a blood curdling scream.

As the Slytherins leapt into action, both to take Tracy to professor Snape's potion room and to silence Astoria, the young girl couldn't help but feel sick, It was the first time she was comfronted with Umbridge's tyrany face to face, the woman treated them badly in class but Astoria knew from her mother's letters that it was due to her intense dislike of children, yet to do this…to attack one of their own, it was, it was..terrifying

"Tracy is a Slytherin, she has been Pansy's friend for years, her parents throw the best parties in all magical Britain" Astoria mumbled pacing around the room after pulling Draco into an empty classroom as soon as she noticed him alone "why did Umbridge do it?"

"Because Tracy is also a half blood" Draco pointed out with his arms crossed, trying to ignore her pouting lips because seeing her distressed did funny things to his head.

"She's a Davis! Her grandfather owns half of Gringotts"

"A Davis that stood up for a mudblood right after Umbridge told the boy he was never going to be anything in life" Draco hissed back "her crime wasn't backtalking to a teacher! Her crime was being stupid"

"Are we all in danger then?" The normally stoic heiress asked giving voice to her fears "will she turn on us purebloods next?"

"If it makes you feel better, her favorite plaything is Potter, but my father has told me about Umbridge from their interactions in the ministry" Draco like always did't suggarcoat anything when it came to her, speaking plainly and blunt "She will turn on anyone who goes against her and yes, that includes us"

"Should I be afraid?"

"Not yet after all I'm protected by my father's name and you by yours"

"But if I step out of line she won't hesitate to do to me what she did to Tracy" Astoria understood, being well used to reading between the lines on what Malfoy said

"Watch your step then" Draco grumbled "Daphne seems to be eager to see your neck on the noose and we all know what would happen if you gave her a weakness to exploit" Draco's face wasn't sadistic just matter-of-fact

"Daphne loves me, we are just having a small argument" Astoria protested

"Your sister would sell you out to Umbridge the minute she knew that you feel pity for Davis, don't fool yourself"

It was true and the pain of his statement made Astoria rapidly turn on her heel to leave "this conversation is over" she said coldly, whipping her head back and glaring at him making Draco feel absurdly angry at her easy dismissal

Draco was at her side in an instant pulling her back by the elbow "Greengrass" he hissed into her ear "however selfish I might seem, I do not want you to get hurt"

Astoria raised her eyes to meet his, trying to read if he was mocking her or actually being sincere and realizing that he meant it "I'll be carefull, I promise"

"Good" and with that, he walked away

That night, when she screamed herself awake from a nightmare featuring Dolores Umbridge and Tracy Davis, he let her sob on his chest and didn't complain when her tears soaked trough the fabric of his nightshirt

After the Tracy incident, every half blood in Slytherin was put on high alert, Astoria now dubbed "the screamer" kept her promise to Draco, trying to keep her head down despite her popularity, she did her school work, went to the asigned school activities and when it came to Draco, she pretended they hadn't developed a weird connection that had her tummy in flutters

Astoria wasn't blind to Draco's many faults, she knew he was arrogant, bad tempered, thoughtless and very insensitive, which coupled with his wealth and status made for a very bad combination. He was the type of Slytherin that became people like Umbridge, yet… He wasn't like that to her.

Was it wrong for her to hope Draco would grow out of his bad boy phase?, Astoria knew he was almost a death eater and that in and on itself was bad news, yet ever since they'd met, he had never hurt her. In fact, when it came to their nightly ritual, Draco was almost gentle, patting her head, listening to her fears and even tucking her in. How could her head reconcile those two sides of the same guy?.

As her lonliness grew and her inability to talk to anyone about the Draco situation made her retreat more and more into herself, Astoria found comfort in writing letters to her father, who never took long in answering and usually instructed her to keep a calm face when the outcome looked bleak.

She spent hours writing home, almost as tough she felt her life was draining away with each Educational Decree that Umbridge enforced. Even Draco noticed that as the days went by, whenever she went, she always kept a piece of parchment at hand, which vexed him so.

Because after their last conversation little Greengrass no longer talked to him, not even to whisper about how her day went when he inevitably ended up showing up at her room, she withdrew not only from him, but from her own group of "friends" and avoided having much interaction with anyone outside of class. Not that he kept tabs on the brat of course, but well, she did look as tough she'd contracted some sort of sickness right?. That was the ONLY reason why he took to holding her tight against his chest every other night, he had to make sure she wasn't sick.

One night as they lay silently looking at the roof, unable to sleep, she surprised him with yet another confession "Odin Yaxley asked me to Hogsmade today" she whispered in an almost defeated tone "he took my hand…. and transfigured a whole bouquet of orchids for me"

Draco felt his heart start to beat at uneven rhythm when he heard this, trying not to imagine Astoria with any boy, because her words brought out a possessiveness in him that made him angry "and what did you say to him?" He snapped sounding harsher than he intended, when she didn't answer he got a bit more angry "Oh don't play silent now, Answer me!" He demanded with a growl turning to his side and pinning her down on the bed. He was so close, that Astoria could feel his breath on her neck, making her shiver.

"No" the word slipped out of her lips in a broken mumble "I told him No" and with that she rolled over to turn her back on him, letting a torrent of silent tears fall in her pillow

"Good" Draco said more to himself than to her "If he knew you at all he'd have gone for Larkspur blooms" she was surprised to note that he knew her favorite flower, it was almost enough to dull the ache in her chest

After that night poor Odin became an "innocent target" for Draco's goons, as did any boy Astoria mentioned in passing, tough Draco didn't understand his weird possessiveness when it came to her, he still knew he didn't want anyone but him to share her bed, rationalizing in his head that if little Greengrass got a boyfriend then he wouldn't have easy access to her empty dorm room at night and it didn't bode well for him if she started becoming a flossy, spilling any of HIS secrets to any sweet talker that kissed her lips. Not that he thought about those lips often, well maybe he did, but nobody else was allowed to do it, let alone get near those lips, or body, those weren't available for public (at least not in Draco's head).

Astoria privately thought it was sweet of him, tough it annoyed her to no end the way Draco had his goons seemingly at random go after any boy that tried or succeeded in asking her out, it at least showed that he cared, few people cared about her these days and it brought a smile to her face when Malfoy started ocassionally asking if she met anybody else interesting lately

She never joined the inquisitor squad, but she kept a warm mug of pumpkin cider next to her bed whenever he was out patrolling with his band of bullies, soon the cider was joined by pie and eventually her small dressing table began to look like a set up for a restaurant, he used to sneak into her bedroom and wake her up to eat on those nights, before he tried to go to bed.

And the day Cho Chang betrayed the location of the room of requirement to Umbridge, Draco was so happy he'd actually sought her out in broad daylight to brag about it.

"And we are finally going to catch Potter, I hope the ministry finds something to put him in Askaban, today is the day, I'm leading the inquisitor squad to break up their secret club" He'd gloated as soon as he'd seen her come out of class, because apparently it was such a big news.

"How many times have I told you that I think your obsession with Harry Potter is unhealthy Draco?" Astoria laughed shaking her head at one of the first rays of light that had graced her life in weeks as she walked with him to the great hall "other than that I'm glad you are having fun….I think"

"Its not an obsession, I'm just happy we are getting the Griffindoors for their crimes, can't you see" He said uncharacteristically light picking her up and spinning her in the air "this might be my chance to show them all that I can get Potter once and for all"

Astoria, dizzy from the spinning laughed some more "Do you ever think about someone that is not Potter?"

And in the middle of the exitement for his supposed triumph he crowed the truth "I think about you sometimes" and just because he could and he already had her in his arms, feeling high on euphoria he kissed her.

It was supposed to be a short kiss, the kind you give to friends when you are messing around, only Astoria seemed to respond to the kiss by instinct, wraping her arms around his neck and molding her lips against his, to which Draco forgot why he'd started the kiss in the first place and just brought his arms higher around her waist to lift her up a little more so he could have access to her neck better and as Astoria's legs came up to warp themselves around his pelivis…

"Malfoy and Greengrass sitting in a tre g" the annoying voice of Peeves made them break the kiss and rapidly spring apart.

realizing the momentum of what just happened Draco lowered her back almost dropping her harshly on the cold ground looking at Astoria with panic in his eyes "this…this was a mistake….this doesn't change anything Little Greengrass"

"I..yes…sure…we got caught up, we just….we shouldn't talk about it" she squawked before turning her heel and running away like a coward

Internally, all she could think about was "Hell"..

she was a pureblood raised to uphold ancient values, she was a Greengrass, a lady, yet there was a reason Astoria and Draco never intentionally talked about how bizarre their sleeping arangement was, because talking about it meant such an arangement existed between them, that one or both of them cared, that it was more than a one tine thing and that his arms around her actually meant something, and if there was one rule pureblood children got drilled into them from birth was this: purebloods didn't love

They were not allowed to care, some because caring meant risking loss, others because it gave their enemies more targets or because feelings tended to interfere with their ambitions, be as it may a pureblood that cared was one who could be exploited and Astoria had no doubt that Draco knew it, she too had a family name to look after so she couldn't allow herself the luxury of a weakness any more than he could, it was easier to ignore the stirrings in their hearts, because they'd been taught that caring was for fools and fanciful idiots, not for people like them.

He stayed away from her and her dorm room after that.

One day…two days..a week…a week and a half…two weeks

Astoria wasn't counting, but those were the ammount of sleepless nights she'd had since Draco Malfoy kissed her. Astoria wasn't a fanciful girl, she liked to think herself better than Daphne (and Pansy Parkinson to a lesser extent), she went along with rules when they benefited her interests and snuck under those rules that didn't. She wanted to tell herself that she was too old for fairytales. She was too old to go running to Draco everytime she couldn't sleep, too old to be sad about his cold demeanor. She was Astoria Helia Greengrass, she knew Draco, she knew how he withdrew himself and spat venom when things didn't go his way.

She wasn't his girlfriend, she had no right to wish him back. Let him shag Pansy or crush on Granger (like the rumors said) for all she cared. Astoria was a pureblood and sleepless nights or not, purebloods didn't mop!

Bloddy Umbridge and her educational decrees didn't help an inch, not when winter was making people sick and Astoria's fragile outward appearance made friends (or minions as Daphne mockingly called them) rush to her aid at any imaginary sneeze. Once upon a time Astoria would have welcomed the obsessive mollycodling but not when holding court among the third year Slytherins made the inquisitor squad suspicious.

Astoria was slowly becoming exasperated under her dispassionate facade, people either followed her or left her entirely alone, her sister either snapped at her or pretended to be nice, classes were filled with things to be angry about and she hadn't slept well in ages, which made her very irritable, some days it took all her patience not to snap at her suroundings.

And then suddenly towards the end of her third year, Astoria found herself becoming just the person her father warned her not to be: a player in the game.

A Slytherin girl that couldn't sleep in times of war, that's what little Astoria thought she was, spending time skulking away to watch Larkspur flowers bloom in the greenhouse, she felt like a failure, but there were times, small rays of light, in the eyes of her first year classmates that gave the young girl hope and in trying to hold on to that hope, she began collecting her own stash of food and potions on a bottomless bag she carried out with her.

She found herself addicted to pepper up potions, silently roaming Hogwarts like a ghost with Flora and Hestia behind her, looking for the first and seccond years, gathering them up as a passtime, distributing health replenishment potions to them so so they too could endure in stoic rebellion the injustice of Umbridge's rule, the funniest third years ever, Flora would brew, Hestia would charm and Astoria scouted targets, any child she saw looking too gaunt, or too restless or too forgotten, the silent princess would pass by and slip a small charmed box into their hands, usually composed of gourmet food and pepper ups to give them strength, some of them would look up, some would even try to thank her but since Slytherins knew that pride came before everything, they mostly just nodded their heads and took three or four of her boxes to share with their (presumably) other housed friends…

And this way Astoria avoided sleep, and avoided thinking about Draco.

But it didn't last long either

The Weasley twins parting stunt to Umbridge brought new agitation to the castle and when Astoria heard that in the wake of Harry Potter's escape to "join Sirius Black in a lifetime of crime" Draco had been hurt in the crossfire, with Ginny's bat boogey hex.

" Draco move over" Astoria whispered poking him with her finger in his infirmary bed "Move over or I'll wake Madame Pomfrey"

"Greengrass are you mad? Do you want everyone to hear you?" Draco groaned rolling over in the narrow cot to let the nightgown clad third year slip in next to him "Here to see what she-Weasel did?"

"I'm here to have a at lease one good night rest before the year ends" She mumbled snuggling deeper into his chest " I forfeit, you've been avoiding me and I dont know how to sleep well again…its too hard lately" she confessed, with the threat of a war and her father's owls warning her and the faces of first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws tugging at her robes randomly with a palm extended.

"You are growing up too fast little Greengrass, if there is someone who shouldn't be leaving the age of teddy bears it's you" he yawned tightening his hold on her "What happened to the dolly who believed in fairytales?"

"I think she died when she was declared heir apparent this morning" was all Astoria whispered back and he could hear the tears in her voice "I missed you"

"I missed you too" and they held eachother almost by the seams, dry soundless sobs racking the small hospital cot until Astoria fell asleep and Draco could cry no more.

The next morning she snuck away from the infirmary with Flora and Hestia's help, but continued comming back to sleep in Draco's healing bed the next day until he could leave and return to his routine of going to her room, he kissed her again sometime after that and she let him, because she liked his kisses, improper and wrong as they were, she liked kissing him back and it took both of their minds away from the real world problems neither wanted to think about, they avoided talking about Umbridge or Daphne or Draco's father's incarceration, or about Astoria's secret boxes or Draco's death eater future, the last nights of Draco's fifth year was just spent holding her and letting her weave her fingers trough his hair until he fell asleep.

He should have been with Pansy…but who could blame him for wanting to spend as much time as he could with the last vestiges of Astoria's fading ingenuity, an ingenuity that was rapidly being replaced by the cold reality of war.

An: this part is twice as long than the prev two because well its the year Astoria makes the transition between child and actually young lady, so I wanted this to be detailed, I'm working on the next chapter which contains quite a bit of smut, but I don't want to change the rating of the fic, so you guys tell me should I post the smut as a separate piece or should I keep it here and just change the rating to M?