Chapter 10- Owner of a Lonely Heart

Disclaimer: I have not ever owned Harry Potter, I do not own Harry Potter, and I won't ever own it either.

"A book without words is like love without a kiss; it's empty."
― Andrew Wolfe

UPDATED: 12 AUGUST, 2016

It had been almost six months since Astoria had gone home. The last time she was there she had almost died but now, a new day had begun. Birds chirping on trees, winds blowing and the sun shining brightly in the sky. Everything was quite normal, for now.

It was mid-August and Astoria was finally discharged from the hospital. She had worked very hard to walk again and was now finally able to do so. Even then Cepheus and Orion had volunteered to hold her hand when she was walking up the hill towards their house. Margaret was standing by the door, her eyes filled with tears of happiness. She was extremely happy that her bundle of joy was in good health and finally out of danger. A day before returning home, Neville and his gran had come to visit her. She was overjoyed by seeing them.

Margaret, along with some help from Daphne, had prepared a variety of delicious cuisines for Astoria. She actually took Astoria's spoon out of her hand and was spoon feeding her. Though Astoria groaned at her mother's tactics, she couldn't help but love that feeling.

When her O.W.L. results came, she was extremely scared. She gave her father the envelope to open. She kept her eyes shut until he had read through the letter and had finally handed her the letter, back. With a deep breath, she looked at the parchment in her hands.

Astronomy: O
Care of Magical Creatures: E
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Arithmancy: O
Herbology: O
History of Magic: A
Potions: O
Transfiguration: O

Astoria was overjoyed with her marks. She jumped around the whole house for almost an hour, until she fell on the kitchen floor.

Draco sat on the edge of his bed, gazing at his left arm. It had been burning. When he had returned home from Hogwarts, this was the gift he got for his sixteenth birthday. His aunt Bellatrix had been so proud of him and took every opportunity she got to tell him that he was a lucky boy.

He had written to his father, currently in Azkaban, about it and was filled with glee when he read his father's reply. Lucius had written that for the first time in his life he was proud of his son. Draco felt his heart fill with pride. He was fully content. But as he sat on his bed, staring at the mark the only thought that filled his mind was 'What would happen now?'

He got up from his bed and entered his bathroom. He strode towards the sink, opened the tap and washed his face. Raising his head and he looked at himself in the mirror, he was a Death Eater and his father was proud of him, yet it wasn't the happiest feeling in the world. The way his father had described it, he should have been on top of the world but he wasn't, instead he was scared.

He went back to his room and opened his school trunk. He started going through it. He grabbed stuff by stuff and threw it out of the trunk until he finally found the box, his box which had an 'M' etched on it. He opened it, it only had a few things inside it and they didn't belong to him but to her. He reached in and pulled out the small photo of her which he had confiscated from Colin.

When he looked at the picture and sighed deeply. Even though Draco had made the commitment of hating on Astoria for the rest of his life, he would do anything to swap places with her. Maybe then he could experience why she always was chirpy even with most people avoiding her, if only he could get hold of half of the courage she had, he could've lived through whatever he was going through. He placed the photograph back into the box, which he placed in a secluded corner of his wardrobe.

He returned back to his position on the bed but his mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about the kiss. It definitely was the highlight of his previous year. Thankfully no one had blabbered that slip up of his to his father.

The task he was assigned to do was extremely difficult. He had no idea how he would do it. His aunt was teaching him Occlumency and she had, almost a dozen times, gone through the memory of him kissing Astoria. Luckily, he had been drunk at that time and the memory wasn't very clear. Therefore, she thought the girl he had been snogging was Pansy, not Astoria.

At such a crucial time in his life the one person that annoyed him the most was Pansy. She had been writing to him, every other day, telling him that she had forgiven him and mistakes could happen. And the one letter that made his blood boil literally had the aroma of her perfume sprayed all over it.

To Draco darling,
I know you think that I am mad but I am not. I heard that you have finally become a Death Eater. I am so proud of you baby, I am the luckiest girl in the entire world. My future husband is part of such an elite group, yay! Anyways, don't worry, I will take care of idiot Ass-toria in such a way that she wouldn't even dare to breathe the air around you. You are only mine.
I have decided the date we can get married after our seventh year, 26 July. What do you say? I can't wait to belong to you completely Draco, just think about the time we are going to spend with each other. My mum and I are going wedding gown shopping in a few days, I know it's a bit early but I will select a dress and make myself fit for it in two years. Don't worry it's going to be sexy as hell and believe me you when you see me wearing it, you would only want it on your bedroom floor.
My dad told me that we have to start making a baby soon after we get married. We are going to be great parents and believe it or not, I have already decided the name of our son, Bentrimus Draco Malfoy. Like it? Reply soon, I love you. XOXO
-Your lovely (future) wife, Pansy

Draco looked at the letter once again and then tore it into several small pieces. 'Pansy as my bride, yeah right. I would never let something like that happen. My bride will be beautiful, independent, not at all like Pansy... I think she'll be like Astoria but of course she will be a pureblood... got now I am stuck with lovestruck Pansy. Great, just great! That's every man's dream, right. And then there's Astoria, she might have her prefect little prince charming, or whatever nonsense women expected a man to be, get married to him and in the end have his kids,' he thought.

He lay on his bed with his arms tucked under his head. He closed his eyes, trying to think of a plan in order to complete his task but instead of that he slept; it was something he wasn't able to do properly in a long time.

Astoria was sitting in her room, on her bed, with Daphne, eating ice-cream. They were discussing about the subjects they had opted for and about the incident that had happened that day.

"Oh my god! What has happened to this world! Please God, help me!" Margaret shouted, holding her head with her hands.

Cepheus came running, from his room into the kitchen. Trying to calm his breath, he asked, "What happened?!"

"There are no eggs, Cepheus. No eggs!" Margaret cried, wrapping her hands around Cepheus neck and sobbing on his chest.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Sweetheart, the eggs are on the counter."

Margaret looked up from his chest and saw a carton of eggs. She grinned from ear to ear and immediately started making something with them.

"Are you okay, love?" Cepheus asked, stroking her cheeks.

"Oh, of course."

"Love, I have to discuss something with you," he said.

Recently, Cepheus had become restless, the fact that one day his daughter might get physical with anyone. This fact was eating him alive and especially at her age she should know everything about it. So, he went to Margaret to ask her to discuss this with her but she refused and asked him to do that, instead.

Cepheus took a deep breath and went to sit next to Astoria on the sofa. He turned to look at her and she did the same, "Hello Astoria, how are you? Good I suppose. Good, very good. What are you reading?"

Astoria looked at him curiously and said, "My new Defence Against the Dark Arts book."

"Oh, good. Sweetheart, I want to talk to you about something very important."

"Alright," Astoria said, closing her book and keeping it on the table.

"Now, I know your head is filled with only studies and your career but one day you realize there are other things in the world. Umm... like boys, for example."

"Okay..."

"But what you have to understand is that... umm... boys are not like girls," Cepheus said, trying very hard to choose correct words.

"They're not!" Astoria said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice and a small smile creeping up her face.

"No, they are not. Boys are bad. They only have one thing on their mind," he stated firmly.

"What's that one thing?" she asked innocently.

Cepheus swallowed hard, how could he tell his sweet and innocent little girl this? He sighed and continued, "Quidditch!"

"Quidditch?!" she exclaimed.

"Yes!"

"I like Quidditch."

"I know and that's good. But in the future, one day, you might decide that you do love qui... Quidditch."

"Ummm.. probably, but dad it's..." she stated.

He clasped his hands together, "You are right, it's stupid. But one day you might meet somebody, let's say a boy and he is really into qui... Quidditch and he might try and get you to watch. At first you might think that there is no harm in watching but then he shows you his bat and his knee pads and his helmet and the next thing you know... the covers are off... you're letting him play on your field and then he is letting you ride his broom stick... you are enjoying it and then you both collapse and again the cycle goes on.." Cepheus blabbered everything in one go. He looked up and saw Astoria's mouth open.

"Dad, why are you telling me about sex?!" she shouted.

"Because you are old enough to know..." but before he could complete his sentence, Astoria interrupted him, "I know everything; mum told me long time ago."

"What!" He looked towards Margaret who was smirking at him. She gave him a flying kiss and ran towards their bedroom. Cepheus followed her muttering something and smirking at the same time.

Astoria and Daphne laughed, again, at her parents tactics.

"Tori, sometimes I think that my parents' disowning me was the best thing that ever happened to me. When I told Adrian, he freaked out. The war is coming soon and he didn't want me to be staying at Leaky Cauldron," Daphne said.

"Oh, don't worry you have us. Anyways, how is it going with you and Adrian Pucey?" Astoria asked.

Daphne turned scarlet red and wasn't even able the control the smile creeping up on her face, "Oh, you know... we are quite lovely..."

"Lovely... really! Come on tell me, please, for your little cousin who just got well," Astoria pleaded, with a pout of her face.

"Fine! God, Astoria. Okay... um.. well he wants me to move in with him after I finish with my seventh year at Hogwarts because by then he will have a stable job and he can buy a place for us and we can begin our life together," Daphne grinned.

"Wow! Oh my god Daphne, that's brilliant," Astoria exclaimed, giving Daphne a tight hug.

Daphne blushed even more, "Um.. Adrian and I.. well we had quite a heated moment last week, we just went out to have some dinner and then he offered to have some drinks at his house, his parents were away..." Daphne giggled nervously and started tying a braid, ".. We were just drinking some butterbeer and then we started kissing passionately..."

Astoria's mouth dropped open, "Daphne, are you telling me that you and Adrian did the dance with no pants?"

Daphne picked up the pillow next to her and hit Astoria on the head, "No! We stopped; we have decided it would be best for us if we wait till I have finished Hogwarts."

"And you are pissed?" Astoria questioned, innocently while rubbing her head.

"Shut up and yes, a little but it's for the best... and by the way, he is amazing."

"Of course," Astoria said smirking. Daphne scowled and began hitting her with the pillow again.

"Draco." Draco looked up from his desk, a book about various magical objects in his hand. He placed a bookmark on the page that said 'Vanishing Cabinets' and kept it aside.

"Is there any problem, mother?" he questioned.

She looked towards him, her eyes were bloodshot red and had bags under them; she looked awfully tired and scared. He wished he could do something to bring back his mother's beautiful smile but as long as You-Know-Who even existed, it was impossible.

"The Dark Lord wants to speak to you before you leave for school tomorrow," she stated.

Draco closed his eyes in-order to steady his breathing and calm his mind. His aunt had been teaching him Occlumency and this was the first time he was going to block his mind from the Dark Lord himself. He looked down at the piece of parchment he had been holding.

Astronomy: O
Care of Magical Creatures: A
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Divination: A
Herbology: O
History of Magic: A
Potions: O
Transfiguration: O

He folded it and kept it in his drawer. He followed his mother towards the dining hall. They entered the room, Narcissa stopped at the entrance. Draco saw the Dark Lord sitting on a chair, twirling his wand in one hand and with the other stroking Nagini's head.

"Ah.. Draco, come. Sit." He stated.

Draco swallowed hard and slowly moved to occupy the seat next to him.

"I hope you remember the task I have assigned you," the Dark Lord said.

"Yes, I remember." He felt a ticklish feeling on the back of his neck.

"Good because if you didn't.." he grabbed Draco's left hand and pushed his robes up to reveal the dark mark, "... it wouldn't be fair to this mark and it doesn't deserve the hand of a coward. As far as I know cowardice is in the Malfoy blood, your grandfather and your father had that trait yet I still have a bit of a faith in you. Therefore, all I am saying is DON'T DISSAPPOINT ME or..." he got up from his seat and strode up where Narcissa was standing. He picked up his wand and started twirling it around her neck.

Narcissa flinched at his touch but tried to control her emotions.

The Dark Lord continued "... the people you love will not live to see your face. Your father, mother and the girl, for whom you have developed something more than just liking."

Draco looked up and started to sweat even more. 'Who was he referring to? Pansy?' He thought.

"Ah.. Astoria Greengrass, half-blood, daughter of a traitor and mudblood. What a great choice! Looking into your thoughts, I saw that she was rather attractive but I couldn't help but think how she would look inside a coffin. Anyways, I think you got the idea," he removed his wand from Narcissa's neck. With a flick of his hand, his snake came towards him and wrapped itself around his leg, he dissapparated.

Narcissa looked at Draco, both of them sweating with fear. She was shaking. Draco immediately went and wrapped his arms around his mother. She leaned her head on his chest and started sobbing.

Draco didn't know what to do, so he kept stroking her hair to calm her down.

"Oh my baby, I love you so much. Take care of yourself, I'll miss you," Margaret said, kissing Astoria repeatedly on the forehead and cheeks.

"Me too, mum!" she said and quickly moved towards her father. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead before whispering something in her ear, "Stay away from the Malfoy boy, I have heard rumours about him getting involved with Death Eaters. Its better you keep a distance, Astoria. Be safe." She looked at her father and nodded.

Soon, they had reached Hogwarts. Draco exited the carriage, Pansy hanging on his arm. He pushed her away and strode towards the castle. He went towards a secluded corner and took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the blood splattered over his shoes. He looked at the handkerchief and felt disgusted by himself. He hated Potter but what he had done today was worse than anything he had ever done to him. His friends were extremely happy when the saw the Dark Mark etched on his arm and he actually felt his ego get a sudden boost but now, when he looked at it again he was angry with himself.

He shook his head and went towards the Great hall. He was immediately greeted, by his friends, with a roar of cheering and claps. Pansy swung her arms around his neck and snogged him in the great hall. But she stopped when she saw Professor Snape coming towards them, glaring.

Pansy pulled him towards the place where she was sitting and snuggled closer to him. Her fingers entwined with his. He rolled his eyes at her gesture, in doing so his eyes fell on Daphne and Astoria who were sitting at the other end of the table. He felt his heart beat faster when Astoria turned her head and looked at him. She rolled her eyes and then turned away.

Draco shook his head, trying to focus on the only task important. He pushed Pansy off himself and proceeded to eat the food on his plate.

After dinner, while going to the common room, Draco didn't even look at anyone. He kept to himself. But his temper reached its peak when Pansy again tried to fling herself onto him again.

He immediately pushed her away, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he shouted.

"I..." she stammered.

"Shut up Pansy. Just stay away, alright. I don't want to see that bloody face of yours, again and I am never going to marry you. Never! So, just stop sending me the bloody letters. Just stop!" The whole common room went silent. They were just looking at the onetime Slytherin's most popular couple. Pansy burst into tears, her hands covering her face. Before she could flee away from the common room, Blaise wrapped his arms around her and she started sobbing on his chest.

"What is wrong with you, mate?" Blaise asked.

Draco looked at him and then Pansy. He looked around the common room and saw everyone looking at him, curiously. He quickly strode towards his dormitory and slammed the door shut. He sat on his four poster bed after kicking it twice. He put his head in his hands, trying to comprehend what had happened. He got up, went in the bathroom and quickly changed into his night clothes. He tucked himself in bed before anyone entered the dorm, trying to forget everything that happened.

Daphne and Astoria were sitting on Daphne's bed in the corner of their dorm. On the other end, Millicent and Tracy were trying to calm Pansy down.

"What do you think has happened between them?" Daphne whispered in Astoria's ear.

"I don't know. There is something seriously wrong with Malfoy this year. Even dad said so."

"Do you think that he is getting involved with Death Eaters?"

"…"

The next morning when Astoria, Neville and Ginny were having breakfast, she told them about Draco's peculiar behaviour. Though both of them didn't think anything was wrong about it but Astoria knew differently. She knew Malfoy wouldn't act like this without any big reason. Therefore, the only conclusion she had: Malfoy was getting involved with Death Eaters. But she wasn't going to let go of the topic so fast.

After the first day's classes, when everyone was going towards the great hall for lunch, she had a famous Malfoy-Greengrass encounter. The only problem now was that whenever the Slytherin's saw them together, they started making kissing noises and Draco Malfoy, even though he looked as if he had something big on his mind, didn't miss to irritate her to his full capacity.

"Oh, look everyone its Greengrass. Astoria Greengrass, Slytherin's forbidden fruit." Everyone laughed. Neville, who was standing beside Astoria, flinched on hearing his words. Malfoy continued, "Fellows, if you remember I had the taste of the lips of the forbidden fruit and as a matter of fact the effect was so intoxicating that you all can still smell her scent on me." Every Slytherin standing laughed while Neville was holding Astoria's hand extremely hard to prevent her from hitting or hexing Malfoy.

Draco swaggered towards Astoria and stood extremely close to her. "Smell me Greeny, it's the smell of pride, dominance, power and well... you! Come on, smell me."

"I don't want to smell you," Astoria stated sternly, looking at him straight in the eye.

"Oh, yes you do," Draco said, brushing his cheeks on hers.

"You've got to be kidding me," she yelled, breaking her hand free from Neville's grasp. She grabbed the collar of his robes, roughly, and pushed him against the wall. She began, "Okay, I have more important things to deal with than you. I have roommate problems and boy problems and family problems and studies to do. You want to act like a little frat boy bitch, that's fine." Malfoy didn't look at all interested at what she was saying and started yawing right at her face but even then she continued, "You want to brag about how you forcefully kissed me, that's fine too. But just stay out of my face and for the record," she grabbed Malfoy's chin and forced him to look at him, "YOU SMELL LIKE CRAP!" She stepped from him and walked where Neville was standing.

Right at that moment Professor Snape was came to look at the commotion just outside the great hall.

Malfoy took the opportunity upon seeing Snape's raised eye brows and said, "She attacked me."

At that moment Astoria felt a sudden pang of burning fire of anger bubble inside her and immediately turned to pounce at Malfoy and punch him in the face but Neville stopped her by holding her tightly around the waist with both his hands.

Professor Snape, upon seeing the situation said, "Mr Malfoy I would like you to come to my office immediately. While I request the others to quickly enter the Great Hall before severe actions have to be taken. Ms Greengrass you may go, too." Snape strode away, Malfoy following him but before he could disappear round the corner, he turned smirking at her and started mimicking a crying baby.

"Git!" Astoria shouted but he was too far away to hear.

Nothing was going according to Draco's plan. Everything was a disaster. Everything. The cursed necklace cursed the wrong person, Rosamerta was an idiot and the vanishing cabinet was too difficult to fix. He had stopped eating and sleeping. His mind was always occupied by the vanishing cabinet and the Dark Lord's threat. His life was over. He entered the boy's lavatory on the third floor. He entered a cubicle and closed it too vigorously. He leaned against the wall and put his face in his hands.

"Who's there?" someone outside asked, a female. "I am asking again, who's there? I am not going to ask again." She walked right through the cubicle door and eyed Draco.

"Moaning Myrtle! What do you want?" he spat.

"I could ask you the same," she said.

He looked at her and felt his eyes fill with tears, "I... I,"

"Oh, don't cry. Tell me, what's wrong?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

He looked at her and after taking a deep breath, told her everything about his insecurities and about everything, except his task.

Astoria, on the other hand, was completely sure that something was wrong and in order to clear her doubt she decided to do something.

Professor Slughorns Christmas party was on and she knew it was the perfect time to check. She sat in a dark isolated corner of the common room, waiting for Draco Malfoy to leave. After about fifteen minutes, she saw him do it. She waited at the same corner to check for sign of any movement around the staircase to the boy's dormitory. Not noticing any such thing, she sneaked up the stairs and stopped at the sixth year's dormitory. She pressed her ears to the door, to hear any voices from the room. There were none.

She entered and quickly started looked around each bed to find Draco's. She found it next to the window. She took the trunk, under his bed, out and used her wand to open it. She found nothing as such strange looking inside the trunk. It was only filled with clothes, books, a bunch of broken stuff and candies. She felt disappointment fill her; she closed the trunk and pushed it back to its place. She got up and began to move towards the door but her eyes landed on the crumbled piece of parchment placed hastily under the pillow.

She sat on the bed and straightened the paper with her wand. She muttered 'Lumos' and started reading it.

Draco,
Stop whining about how difficult the task is and get yourself together. If I find out that you are sending your mother tear-stained letters again, I will kill you before the Dark Lord even thinks of doing such a thing.
Your task is even simpler than tying shoe laces. Don't disappoint Draco. Don't become another disgrace to the Malfoy name, your father being the first.
Your Aunt, Bellatrix.

Astoria was stunned after reading the letter. She was now sure that Draco had started working for the Death Eaters but the only thing eating her was why he was crying. She got up to leave but before she could do so, she heard three-four pair of feet coming up the stairs. She panicked and got under Malfoy's bed, next to his trunk.

At that same moment, three boys entered the room. Draco was frustrated by Snape. He had no business snooping around his task. He came down and sat on his bed. Astoria felt the bed sink and knew Draco was on it.

"You okay, mate?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah," Draco said rubbing his hands against his face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Theodore asked.

"I am not a woman who likes to share her problems with her friends. I don't talk girl," Malfoy spat.

"Fine, mate. Anyways, what is up with you and your Greengrass?" Blaise and Theodore snickered.

"Nothing!" Draco stated coldly.

"Oh, come on. Just admit that you find her attractive," Theodore said.

"Wha... what! No, not at all. She is not at all a... No fucking way man," Draco said in a bored tone but still Astoria found herself going red.

"Ah.. that's a definite yes," Blaise said, smirking.

"No, it's not. It's not like I have some kind of wet dreams about her," Draco said, taking off his shoes.

"Wet dreams, you say. Oh, I would do so many things to her and..." Blaise started.

"Hey! Shut up, we have better things to do than this," Draco said sternly, as he moved to enter the bathroom.

Once the door was shut Astoria heard Theodore whispering to Blaise, "I wouldn't mind having her in my bed, all night long. She has a violent strike and I could easily shut her up and show her why men are more powerful than woman."

Blaise smirked, "Both of us can but as long at Draco even exists, I don't think that's possible. He's quite into her. After the Yule ball, he literally trashed the entire dorm because she had kissed some Durmstrang bloke."

Astoria had slept all night long under Draco Malfoy's bed. It was almost five a.m. when she went inside her dorm to sleep.

Even after going back home, Astoria couldn't get Draco off her mind. She had shown the letter to Neville but he dismissed her by saying that she should stop snooping around. Therefore she had decided to give it to Harry and he really appreciated that. She told him about her conclusion and even he agreed to them. Now she was absolutely sure that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater.

The Christmas holidays had begun. Margaret had taken Astoria, with her, to Diagon alley to buy some household material. The entire area was almost empty; it looked as if there was some kind of curfew. Astoria asked Margaret's permission to go to Flourish and Blotts, she was reluctant at first but then she agreed on the condition that she will accompany her, too.

They entered Flourish and Blotts and immediately Astoria started looking for her book. She was looking for the book 'Accomplishments and Works of famous Hit Wizards and Witches' but they didn't have the book, at the moment. Her heart broke, as she began walking towards her mother she noticed a book 'Fascinating Muggle Studies', it was filled with the various discoveries by muggles like Newton, Bohr, Mendeleev, Einstein etcetera. She showed Margaret the book and she willing bought it for her.

She read the book in two days' time, she found it extremely fascinating. Chapters like Vectors, Elasticity, Force, Newton's laws of motion, Atomic Structure and many other interesting topics intrigued her. She decided to bring the book with her to Hogwarts, not for showing it to her classmates but as a gift for someone. For someone's birthday.

Death was the easiest thing, at the moment. Better than facing the Dark Lord himself. He tried to remember what had happened. One minute he had been sobbing in-front of moaning myrtle and the next minute he was lying on the floor, lying on a pool of blood. He opened his eyes and saw the ceiling. He realized he was in the hospital wing. He wasn't wearing any shirt and his chest was covered in bandages.

He looked around the room and saw someone sitting on a chair, next to his bed. A girl. Her head was hidden by the big book she was reading. He knew that, in all probability, the girl was Pansy. He groaned. He looked towards his nightstand and saw a glass of water kept on it. He moved his hand to reach for the glass but accidently dropped it on the floor.

"Oh, you're awake," the girl, whose voice sounded quite similar, said.

He looked up and found himself looking at the intoxicating blue eyes.

"Greengrass, what are you doing here?" he said.

Astoria closed her book and kept it on his bed stand. She sighed and looked at him, "Snape asked me to bring you your homework. And thought I should just wait till you wake up."

Draco looked at her, not believing why she was there anyway. "Get out! Get the hell out of here."

Astoria looked at him with disgust. "Fine! Its not like I want to be friends with you or anything. Fuck off man!" She picked her book up and stormed out of the hospital wing.

Draco felt disgusted with himself. He was really touched that Astoria was by his bed side but he couldn't let the Dark Lord know this. He would kill her. He knew that he had hurt her but he did that for her safety. He hoped she understood him and his intentions one day.

It was the fifth of June. Astoria was sitting in the common room looking at Malfoy. He looked as if he didn't belong to the world. He looked dead, more like an Inferi walking around the school. He had bags under his eyes; he looked as if he had been crying for hours.

At that same moment, Malfoy got up from his arm-chair and walked out of the common room. Astoria slammed the book she was reading shut and slipped the package kept next to her inside her robes. She got up and followed the path Malfoy was taking. He turned to a secluded corridor and stood with his forehead against the wall. His hand was covering his eyes and he was shaking.

Astoria slowly walked towards him, trying very hard not to make any type of noise.

"Don't! Stay away, Greengrass... just," Malfoy yelled.

But Astoria didn't stop; she walked towards him, confidently and put her hand of his right shoulder.

Draco flinched at her touch. He looked towards her and before he even understood what was happening, she enclosed him into a hug. He tried to resist it; the feeling of someone's warmth around him was amazing. But he knew he shouldn't feel something like this, if the Dark Lord got any news about this they both will be dead the next second.

He tried to push her away but she kept holding him, very tightly. "I don't want this," he snapped.

"Stop resisting, Draco." Even then Draco didn't stop, he kept trying to push her away but Astoria wouldn't let go of him.

"No! No! Okay, I... I am applying pressure..." Astoria whispered slowly in his ear.

"I can't!" he explained.

"... deep pressure here..." she continued.

"Please, I can't do this now!" he shouted, shaking more vigorously than ever.

"... to relax.. to relax your sympathetic nervous system. It'll decrease your metabolic rate. You will feel panicked at first and you'll try to resist it but eventually you will feel your pulse rate slow. It's okay, your breath will come easier. Okay." She slowly released her grip and gently, cupped his face. He had tear stains on his cheeks. She removed her hands and moved away from him.

His breath was deep, his face flushed and his eyes red. He looked directly into her eyes and she looked at his. She swallowed hard and said, "I... I app.. applied intense pressure on your body which resulted in decrease in pulse rate, metabolic rate and muscle tone. It calms them down and a.."

Not removing his eyes from hers, he interrupted her, "... a hugging mechanism is used to relax the sympathetic nervous system. It slows the heart... I know."

Astoria averted her gaze and nodded. He, also, looked away from her. He wanted to run away but he couldn't. It was, as if, his feet had its own mind because they wouldn't let him leave.

"I got something for you," she mumbled. With all the courage she could muster, she took the book out of her robes and held it, with both hands, close to her chest. "'Fascinating Muggle Studies', I bought it during the Christmas holidays. I enjoyed reading it, alot and I think you'll like it... But if you don't want..."

Draco turned around to look towards her. He moved towards her and took the books out of her hands. He looked at the cover and saw 'Property of Astoria Greengrass' written at the bottom right corner of the book.

Astoria grinned, "Happy Birthday, Malfoy."

"Thank you.. thank you, really," he said, touched by her sentiments.

"This book is amazing. Do you know what the periodic table is?" she asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

"A table with food on it," he said.

"No!" she said, playfully hitting him on the shoulder. "When you finally read the book, the tell me."

"Alright." He nodded.

"You okay?" she asked, eyeing him curiously.

He looked at her and smiled, for the first time since he returned for his seventh year. He took a deep breath and said, "No! I am not."

"You want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. He grabbed her hands, softly and pulled her towards the window. He made her stand in front of him and pointed towards the night sky. "You see those stars, right there. You know which constellation that is?"

"Scorpius!" she whispered.

He nodded, "Scorpius." He looked at her and she did the same. Both, showered by the moon light, lost into each other, as if they were each other's shadows.

Not able to move or avert his gaze, he said, "I am one of them." He didn't know why or how it came out of his mouth but it did. He expected her to run away from him but she didn't.

"Tell me, everything," she said. Her hand still in his, she tugged his hand and asked him to sit with her, right there on the floor, with their backs resting against the wall.

With every passing minute, Astoria listened to every single detail. She was in shock. She had never, in her dreams, had thought that Malfoy would have to do such a task. A task that was brutal enough to suck the life out of a person.

"I can't do it, I can't." She cupped his face with her hands, so gently as if she was holding a new born baby.

"You don't have to. I'll protect you. We will protect you. Professor Dumbledore will protect you and your mum."

"He'll kill me, he will." Draco said, shaking with fear.

"He won't... he won't, I won't let him near you. You are safe with me," she whispered.

After almost fifteen minutes later, Draco got up from his place, on the floor, and extended his hands for Astoria to take. He pulled her up and then dragged her away from that corridor. "Where are we going?" Astoria asked.

"I want to show you something," he said.

They stopped in front of a familiar looking wall. Draco starting pacing, back and forth, in front of it. After a few minutes, a door appeared and he pulled Astoria inside with him and shut the door.

"What are we doing inside the Room of Requirement?" she questioned.

"Just come with me," he exclaimed.

She followed him and stopped in front of a large cabinet. He was looking at the cabinet with a constant rage in his eyes.

"I have to fix it. But I can't. I don't want to. But they'll kill me if I don't... I.." he mumbled to himself.

She moved and stood infront of him, blocking his view of the cabinet. "Come, let's look around the room," she exclaimed.

"I don't want to, I have to fix..." he said, without looking away from the cabinet. But she interrupted, "I didn't ask for your permission... come on, now!"

She held her hand out for him to hold. He just looked at it for a while but finally extended his hand to hold hers. They start moving around the room, looking at different objects kept in it. After moving around for almost more than twenty minutes, they stopped in a corner where a number of boxes were kept.

Astoria moved and opened the box kept at the top of the pile. "Blank parchments!" she said.

Draco smiled at her enthusiasm and moved towards her. He removed the box and placed it on the ground, so she could open the box below it.

"Thank you." As she continued to open the box she asked, "Do you hate me?" She looked at him, a curious glint in her eyes.

Draco looked at her, surprised by her question, "No. I don't. You're are a go… okay, I guess," he mentally slapped himself for the slip of tongue, still he continued, "I think I like you, a lot. I mean I am kinda used to having you around. I do not know why but I feel I can trust you... I do. I appreciate the way you made me feel today, like anything's possible, or like life is worth it... You are a good person. I hope I could be like that too… I wish I did learn a thing or two from you. If I stay with you, I will definitely grow up to be a good human being. Plus, I like fighting with you."

Astoria looked at him, her eyes wide. She closed the box, she had opened, and held its edges with her hand. Not removing his eyes from her, Draco moved towards Astoria. He placed his hands on the lid, of the same box she was holding, and leaned towards her and to his surprise, she did the same. Unfortunately perfect moments don't last long; the box Draco had placed his hands on had dropped by the pressure of his hands and with box even he fell, just inches before their lips met.

Astoria let out a hearty laugh and even Draco couldn't help but laugh with her. "Idiot box!" He exclaimed.

He looked at her, again, but this time they did not have any boxes interrupting them. Astoria's laughter subsided yet she was still smiling. He moved his hand to brush the strand of hair off her face and then gently, cupped her face with it. He swallowed hard, with his other hand, he entwined his fingers with her and then gently placed them on his chest, right where his heart was. Their faces moved closer to each other but before their lips closed the gap between them he said, "Smiling is my favorite. You make me smile and that makes you my favorite."

With that, their lips finally met. His strong arms were around her, holding her as close as possible while he bent down and kissed her gently. The soft gentle kiss gradually turned into a deep passionate kiss. Draco's hands slowly moved and got tangled in her hair. He couldn't help but get intoxicated by her, her touch, her lips, her skin and her hair. He noticed her hair was so soft and it smelled great, though he couldn't identify it. The kiss had empowered both of them, they felt as there was no war and no Dark Lord but just them.

Draco gently parted her lips and slid his tongue in her mouth. She shuddered at the action but eventually she did the same too. Draco moved them, in a very slow pace towards the wall. His hands were holding her waist firmly slowly, after what seemed like a life time, they broke apart. Their eyes still closed, their breath deep, their faces flushed and their heart beat elevated. They opened their eyes and smiled at each other. Draco was mindlessly moving his hand up and down her hand.

Suddenly, realization hit Draco. 'What have I done!' He thought. He moved away from her and rested his head in his hands. 'What have I done! They'll kill her, they'll kill us. I have risked her life. She knows everything and... No, I wouldn't let anything happen to her. But what should I do? What should I... it's the only option,' he thought. He looked up and saw her looking at him, concern for him filling her eyes.

"Draco," she said.

He shook his head and with a deep breath took his wand out and pointed towards her. Her emotions changed suddenly, fear had enclosed her eyes, she was shaking and she didn't have any wand. When she had started following Draco, she had forgotten her wand on the arm chair she had been occupying.

Draco's eyes filled with tears, he gripped his wand tightly and yelled, "Stupefy!" The spell had slammed Astoria in the huge pile of boxes and she had lost consciousness. Draco moved and sat next to her face, "I am so sorry, I am doing this for your safety and I hope you can understand that someday." He pointed his wand towards her, once again and whispered,

"Obliviate."

His plan had worked. He had to carry Astoria out of the room of requirement back to the common room. They had been out for a long time; therefore no one had been there when they arrived. He had placed her on the arm chair she had been occupying before and had left her there because he couldn't go near the girls' dormitory. So, when she looked at him the next day during breakfast, she gave his a look indicating that she hated him. His plan had worked, she didn't remember a thing.

He couldn't forgive himself. While had he walked down the Astronomy tower, following the Death Eaters, he had seen Astoria, who was fighting with the DA, and she had never ever given him more disgusted look in his life. She hated him. Why wouldn't she? He had just disarmed the Greatest Wizard in the world, Albus Dumbledore, but he couldn't possibly kill him. He was too scared.

He should've accepted his offer, Dumbledore's offer to protect his family. He had never felt more disgusted with himself. He wanted to die. He was ashamed with himself and this feeling would never go.

He was sitting in his room, on his bed. They had reached home, almost an hour ago, and he was currently waiting for the Dark Lord to arrive. He heard a knock on the door, he got up and opened it. Outside, he saw his aunt, waiting to take him to the Dark Lord. She grabbed his robes and dragged him towards the dining hall. On reaching there, she threw him on the floor, near the feet of the Dark Lord.

"Ah.. Draco.. as expected you have failed," he said coldly. Draco didn't dare to do anything but look towards the floor. The Dark Lord continued, "I didn't expect you to do it anyway. You are even more useless than your father," all the Death Eaters around him snickered. Draco heard a sob; he looked up and saw his mother, her eyes red from all the crying.

"Now.. what should we do to punish him?" he asked the other Death Eaters, "What do you think I should do, Narcissa?"

Trying to control her sobs, she weakly managed to say, "Please, leave him. He's just a boy."

"Just a boy!" the Dark Lord let out a hearty laugh, "I don't think so." He raised his wand towards him and yelled, "Crucio!"

The spell hit Draco right on the chest, the pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was... white-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, he was screaming more loudly than he'd ever screamed in his life. Still, the Dark Lord didn't stop. He kept yelling the curse at him, again and again. Yet after what felt like a lifetime, he stopped. Draco could still feel the pain. He opened his eyes and saw the worst sight he could ever witness. His mother was crying so loudly, she was screaming his name and yelling that he was just a small boy. But she stopped when Fenrir Greyback came near her and slapped her hard. She fell on the floor and instantly fainted. That was the last thing he could remember before he himself was enclosed with darkness around his eyes.

Draco closed his eyes and took few deep breaths to calm him down. He looked at his kids, who were hastily wiping their tears away. "I regret a lot of things. They have learnt to accept the truth, your gramdma and mum. I admire both of them, everyday because of that and they admire me because we all have learnt to accept our wounds. Our bodies are filled with them yet we don't hate them because they make us human."

"I had hurt the two most important people in my life, at that time and I couldn't forgive myself. When I woke up the next day, I realized that I had hurt the girl I liked and my mum. That's when I truly became the owner of a lonely heart."

Thank you everyone who are following my story, I love you all. I'll love you even more if you please leave a few reviews. Just a few.
Thank you . (^_^)