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Draco yawned and turned the next page of the massive book lying open before him. Slumping his head into his hand, he blinked a few times and kept reading. Once he reached the end of a passage, he slammed the book closed, stuffed it in his bag, and stood up wearily. The library clock said it was ten past two in the morning. He'd been here for three hours and had found nothing on the treatment of blood curses.

He stumbled over something in the dark as he walked towards the library doors. Pointing his lantern down at the silhouette, he saw Astoria lying asleep on the floor, arms sprawled across her chest, a book randomly placed a few paces away. Suddenly the girl squirmed at the sudden light shining on her. Panicking, Draco blew out the lantern and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark. The boy ran a hand through his hair and gently scooped her up, hefting his book under his arm with a small grunt. Not opening her eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and squirmed slightly. Draco froze.

They were so close that their noses were almost touching. His breath hitched slightly, and he pinched his arm. Stop it, he told himself. Just take her back to the common room and don't wake her up.

Levitating his bag with his wand, he made his way back slowly to the dungeons. The girl only stirred twice, and both times her eyes never opened.

"Pureblood," the boy whispered at the dungeon wall. He watched as it seemed to melt into thin air, giving him entry to the Slytherin common room. Stepping inside, he was relieved to find it empty. He set the sleeping girl down on a nearby couch as gently as possible, wrapped a blanket around her to keep her warm, and went to bed.

Astoria woke up in a panic. She needed to get out of the library before Madam Pince (who'd given her special permission to be there after hours) realized the subject of her research. She reached for her book and hit something hard but springy. Looking around, she realized she was on a couch in the Slytherin common room with her book turned cover-side down on a table next to her.

"Look, the Slytherin Princess has finally woken up," a mocking voice said from behind her. She sat up and turned around to see Draco sitting somewhere else with a book in hand.

Astoria grit her teeth. "And the Slytherin Prince is reading? I didn't know you knew how."

He scoffed. "You don't know a lot of things, Greengrass."

She furrowed her brow and turned away.

"Too cowardly to reply?" he jeered at her back.

"Well, maybe I am, considering the last time I was forced to fight I was Stunned and my life went to hell!" Astoria said angrily before stomping up the stairs with her blanket and book in tow.

The boy sunk exasperatedly into his chair. He was getting nowhere with her, nowhere at all.

And now she had his blanket.

"Whose blanket is that?" Pansy asked curiously from across the Girl's Dormitory.

"I don't know," Astoria admitted. "I was in the library and I woke up back here with a blanket wrapped around me. Maybe it's Madam Pince's?"

Pansy walked closer and took a look at it, her expression changing from one of curiosity to disgust. "Stop lying to me, Astoria."

"What are you talking about?" the other said nervously, backing away slowly from the angry girl.

"You were with him, and you don't even have the basic human decency to tell me?" Pansy shrieked.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Astoria protested.

"Or maybe you thought I was stupid enough not to notice it?"

"Can you please just tell me what's going on?" the pale girl begged.

"What a great friend you are," Pansy sneered, advancing on her. "That's Draco Malfoy's blanket, though I don't need to tell you that, you slut."

"Please - you've made a mistake -"

Pansy slapped her. Astoria recoiled and stared up in horror at her friend.

"Get out of here! Go, go run back to him! And don't -" the yelling girl sobbed slightly -"don't ever think I'll treat you nicely again!"

Astoria ran back into the Slytherin common room, vision blurry from tears. She didn't even realize where she was going until -

"What are you doing?" Draco hissed. The girl had tackled him to the ground and was now punching him in the chest.

She blinked. "Oh, I..."

"Get off of me."

Her eyes – they really were stunning – opened and closed again. "Of course. Sorry..."

Somewhere to Draco's left, Millicent snorted. "Poor Asty. Someone slaps her and she comes running to my boyfr-"

"Someone slapped you?" Draco yelled at the girl, who was now staring daggers at his "girlfriend".

"Millicent's right. It's not a huge deal. Just another day in Slytherin house," Astoria said, and the boy could detect the bitterness in her voice.

He jerked his head in the direction of the exit. "Outside. Now." She followed him questioningly. Once they'd reached an empty corridor, she sat down against the wall, looking utterly defeated. Draco couldn't bear to see her that way, even though it hurt him to admit it. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't want your help, Draco," the girl said, looking away. Draco felt a strange sense of deja vu - they'd been in this position before when Astoria had talked to the mudblood and he'd made her leave the Great Hall so that he could yell at her in private. She'd been just as fierce then, but he'd been so dumb.

"I'm sorry, but Merlin knows I'm helping you damn well anyway." He sat down next to her. "So are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to find out another way?"

She sighed, still not looking at him. Finally, she said in a flat voice, "Pansy saw that I had your blanket and got the wrong idea. She slapped me." The girl paused for a second, then turned to the boy. "You know, none of this would've happened unless you'd just stay out of my business, Draco. Why did you have to carry me back last night? I could've managed myself perfectly well. How many friends are you going to cost me before you learn that I don't want your help?" Drying her tears determinedly, she got up abruptly and left, leaving him to stare after her until she turned the corner and fell out of his sight.

What had he done?