A/N: A big thank you to ForeverSinging and everyone who has read and or reviewed. I am extremely grateful.

An Aster Among the Thorns

- Chapter Ten -

"Well, this is fun," Daphne chirped amicably as she took a seat next to Astoria at the table in the Great Hall. "It's been a long time since we've spent this much time together, just us sisters."

Astoria said nothing. She glanced down the table to where Cora sat, recounting a story to her neighbors about something funny that had taken place in one of her classes. Astoria grimaced and looked away.

It had been a week, and still they had not made up. Nor had she seen Draco since their fight.

How did she manage to make two people so irrevocably mad at her?

"Tori. I said, what do you think about staying here at Hogwarts for Christmas this year?"

Astoria blinked several times, and tried to seem like she had been paying attention to Daphne all along.

"Er, wouldn't Mum be angry with us? She always insists that we come home."

"Well, we had best give her our answer today so she'll know to expect us or not."

Astoria nodded. Honestly, she would have much preferred going home to staying at the castle, where she would have to spend most of her time around the still irate Cora.

"I'm not hungry," she said, pushing away from the table, "I'll go write Mum now and tell her we're coming home."

Daphne huffed. "Fine. But next year we're staying!" she called after her sister.

As Astoria wrote to her mother, she couldn't help but think of the last thing Cora had said to her: "it wouldn't be the first time now you've defied your mother, now is it?"

The words buzzed and nipped at her like a million pesky flies, refusing to let her forget about them. Hadn't she always prided herself on being the perfect daughter, the one who could always be counted on to be demure and obedient? She hardly knew this new girl, who had no hesitation lying; who actually enjoyed it. This Astoria stole, fought, lost her temper. It wasn't right - Daphne was the rebellious one. Not her. Right?

At dinner later that day, Astoria found herself sitting between Daphne and Draco. There was a flush to his cheeks and a strange manic glow in his eyes, striking up cordial conversation with Astoria like they were close friends.

She knew she should have been suspicious - it couldn't mean anything good for Draco to be acting so out of character - but instead she simply basked in the glow of his attention, knowing it was sure to be short-lived.

Astoria could feel his eyes on her as she picked at her dinner - her appetite was long gone, probably off floating over some tropical beach at the moment. Soft pink bloomed along her cheeks.

"Do you ever let your hair down?" Draco asked. He gently touched the long braid that hung down her back.

She shrugged. "Yeah, sometimes; I just like it out of the way."

His hand traveled down her hair, stopping at the end and pulling out the elastic holding it in place. Before Astoria could respond, he had unraveled her brown waves, so that they fell haphazardly about her shoulders and back.

"That's better," he murmured.

Astoria lifted a hand self-consciously. "No, it's not."

But Draco was back to concentrating on his dinner, and he missed the battle being fought out upon Astoria's face as she struggled against the smile that was trying to break past her disgruntled frown.

"You took your hair out?" Daphne asked from Astoria's right. She turned to her older sister, looking as though she had forgotten entirely about the rest of the world.

"Oh, er, Draco just did."

Daphne craned her neck around Astoria to take a glance at the unusually chipper Slytherin boy.

"What's gotten into him?" she hissed in Astoria's ear.

"No idea." Astoria mouthed back.

"Can't I be in a good mood?" Draco snapped, having heard Daphne's question.

"No," Daphne deadpanned. "You can't. Now snap out of it, it's beginning to creep me out."

He sneered at her. "I can't help it. Things are going well right now." His tone was laden with secret implications, "And Pansy's in bed sick with whatever you had, Astoria. I forgot to thank you for that."

Daphne arched an eyebrow. "Why don't you tell Pansy to sod off already? You obviously can't stand her."

When Draco didn't give an answer, she added smartly, "I expect it's because you like the way she dotes on you."

"Your sister here gives me just as much attention." He draped an arm around Astoria's slender shoulders. A corner of his mouth lifted triumphantly when a disgusted snarl sounded at the back of Daphne's throat.

"You bloody prick, what did I tell you about -"

Daphne, however, didn't get the chance to finish, for at that moment Dumbledore released the students from the Great Hall and Draco jumped up immediately.

Somehow, Astoria ended up walking next to Draco on the way back to the common room. Strangely, the flame in her cheeks still remained from his overt flirting. At the rate she was going, her cheeks would be a pile of ashes before the night was over.

"Do you really think I act like Pansy with you?" Astoria found herself asking.

He gave a short laugh. "No, you are nowhere near as insufferable as her. Actually, I can stand being in your presence far longer than with most everyone else. I think it's because you're so…"

"Yes?" She pressed. She looked up and saw he was scrutinizing her again. A pensive expression had stolen over his face.

"I don't know. I can't place a word to you, Greengrass."

Astoria busied herself with adjusting her shirt and tried not to look too pleased at what he had said.

"I want to show you something." Draco said suddenly. He gripped her hand and pulled her away from the flow of Slytherins making their way to the dungeons.

"Where are we going?" She gasped.

"Calm down, Greengrass. I'm not taking you off to go murder you." His tone was light, and she began to calm down in spite of herself.

Draco didn't stop until they were on the seventh floor. The hall was empty, save for the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

"If you dragged me all the way here just to stare at a picture of a man teaching trolls to dance, you should know I've seen it already plenty of times." Astoria folded her arms. All at once she began to wonder if this was some ploy he had concocted to humiliate her.

"Quiet." Draco snapped. He paced, once, twice, three times, his eyes screwed up with concentration.

"Are you mad -?"

Astoria stopped short. Where there had once been an expanse of unbroken wall, a door suddenly began to grow right in front of her eyes. She knew as many of the castle's secrets as the next Slytherin, but this she had never discovered.

"The Room of Requirement." Draco announced, his voice dripping with self-importance.

"How did you find it?" Astoria stepped forward and turned the doorknob to see if it would truly open to a room.

"I have my ways."

The Room of Requirement was a large room with an arching ceiling. Great towers of stacked objects occupied most of the space. There seemed to be no pattern to the mess, causing Astoria to assume this had been a place where people had discarded unwanted things over the years until it had accumulated into great columns.

"This is incredible. Look at everything!" Astoria hurried inside, awestruck by the vast magical wasteland before her.

"I wouldn't touch anything." Draco advised. Astoria withdrew her hand quickly from a bottle of bubbling liquid she had been reaching for.

Astoria turned back to the ashen boy, a serious look stealing over her glee.

"Is this where you disappear to so often?"

He nodded but did not elaborate.

"I can see why. There's so much here to look at."

"I don't come just to lounge about. I actually have work to do here." Draco took off down an aisle, stopping to stand in front of what looked like a cabinet covered with a raggedy piece of cloth.

"What kind of work?" Astoria moved to his side to see why this particular object held his interest.

There was a pause before Draco finally said, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone." His voice was tight.

"You can tell me." She said softly.

"I would. I do trust you, Astoria. But if He were to know that I had said anything -" Draco cleared his throat. "Trust me. It's better if you didn't know."

Draco glanced sidelong at the brunette's expression and quickly added, "Don't worry. I have a feeling it won't be long now before I finish what I have to do."

So that explained his odd joy at dinner.

"Draco, c - can you be truthful with me?" Astoria began slowly. When he didn't stop her, she continued. "There's talk surrounding you a - and the Dark Lord. Is it true, what they say? Are you really the new youngest Death Eater?"

His body grew rigid and Astoria began to fear she had pushed her luck. But then he reached for his left sleeve and pulled it back, revealing his forearm. There, standing out sickeningly against the near-translucent skin, was the widely gossiped about Dark Mark. She bit back the scream swelling in her throat. It may as well have been Draco's death warrant, signed with a flourish from the Dark Lord himself, etched into his skin.

"He gave me a mission to complete. How could I refuse him?"

Even after Draco had shoved his sleeve back down, Astoria could still see the snake twined around the maliciously grinning skull, burning behind her eyelids.

He watched her reaction with a set jaw, preparing for her to run the other way and never look back. But she stood her ground, something akin to pity playing across her face.

Astoria coughed to clear the fear that clogged her windpipe. "You couldn't have."

"And now you don't want anything to do with me now you know the truth." It was not a question.

She gave a weak smile. "I'm still here, aren't I?" Astoria hoped he could not tell how conflicted she was inside. Her feet, however, seemed to have made their decision, staying steadfast.

He sighed, looking more than a little relieved. Then he turned, back to regarding the cabinet before the two of them.

"If I fail him - he'll kill my family." Draco said lowly. "Everything has to work out right, no more incidents like the one with Katie Bell."

Subconsciously, Astoria's hand slipped into her pocket and wrapped around the vial of liquid luck she had forgotten was there. She deliberated for only a moment, because really, did she even have a choice anymore? It didn't matter if he was a Death Eater; he deserved it more than anyone else.

"You won't fail." She pulled the Felix Felicis, letting it rest in the palm of her hand, golden contents winking up at the pair. She forced her voice to sound strong. "You won't fail because you'll have luck on your side."