Chapter 10

She needed air. She needed to get away from all these people. Something had happened – something that shouldn't have happened in front of people who would only think how to use it - her - to their benefit. Astoria could feel their eyes on her, but every time she turned her head, gazes shifted away and she could never quite pinpoint who it was that watched.

Draco's eyes she could feel like a weighted thing, however. She had claimed the need for air, something to drink, and had insisted he stay where he was, that she wouldn't take long at all. He had seemed reluctant to let her go and the more alarming thing was that she had felt more and more bereft the father she moved from him.

What the bloody hell had happened? She knew the magic of their binding had been ignited in some way, but it was more than that – wasn't it? She hadn't ever heard of a literal binding of their magics, the essence of who they were, nor had she been told of this visceral bond she felt to him now as if he were part of her, that if he tugged, she would stumble.

"Cousin. You look … well."

The condescending bored drawl had real anger buzzing beneath Astoria's skin. The hand that grasped her arm did not help matters and she turned blazing dark eyes up to Daphne. "What do you want?"

Daphne raised a brow, but for all that she was seemingly composed as ever, Astoria saw surprise in her ice blue eyes.

"That's no way to speak to family. I only sought to say hello, dear cousin."

"Perhaps you ought to let go of my arm then. It is quite painful," Astoria replied. She knew she should be hiding her pique, but after what had just happened with Draco, what control she had was paper thin. "It is not customary for family to leave marks, though neither you nor your father were ever much concerned about such trivialities."

Daphne's eyes widened slightly and triumph sluiced through Astoria.

When they were young, she'd tried to win her cousin's affection. She had given up after a time, content with the love she had in her own family. Daphne had never been kind to her anyway; she seemed to have taken after her father who had always held a certain amount of animosity to his charismatic, well-loved younger brother. Since her parent's death when Devon had 'taken her on', Astoria had seen the truth of her extended family. They were cold, calculating and judgmental. Devon had been her personal dictator and Daphne had rubbed in that Astoria was truly powerless, that her father had been weak, that her step-mother had been a whore for begetting a half-blood and Michael, her brother, was nothing more than a half-breed mongrel who had never deserved to stand with their family or be associated with the name of Greengrass.

Thing was, Astoria wasn't a Greengrass anymore. She was a Malfoy and neither Devon nor Daphne Greengrass could do anything to her. For all the worry and stress of what had happened with Draco not minutes prior, a beautifully dark smile curled Astoria's lips and she took a step into Daphne's personal space.

"Perhaps, once upon a time, you had sway over my life. You could insult my father, my mother – Michael. You watched as uncle used the back of his hand to discipline me," she said, voice low, eyes weighted and dark as she looked up at the blond woman. "Not anymore. Uncle saw fit to marry me into the house of Malfoy. I no longer share your roof and I will no longer tolerate your insolence."

Astoria had the satisfaction of watching anger build up in her cousin, felt Daphne's grip tighten painfully on her arm. Perhaps Astoria's marriage to Draco had been set up for her ultimate demise, but it didn't change the fact that she was Mistress of one of the most respected and powerful names in their world right now. They could try to hurt her – likely would someday - but she knew how to make the sword carry a double edge. She may have the 'disadvantages' of kindness and love, but she had not been sorted to Slytherin for no reason.

"You will unhand me now, cousin. I have grown tired of your company and wish to seek those who are of more pleasant and polite conversation," she said, authority and strength there she hadn't even known she had.

Anger burned hot in Daphne's blue eyes, but she let go of Astoria's arm. "You will pay for this slight."

"Or perhaps it is you who will pay for every hateful thing you ever said to me." Astoria raised a brow and met her cousin's gaze, unafraid and reveling in this new freedom to speak as equal instead of holding her tongue in fear of what might befall her at Devon's hand. "No matter what happens, cousin-mine, it is not you who will have the last word."

Astoria turned and walked away then. People were watching and she could not indulge in showing her own shock at what she had just done, the exhilaration of finally being able to talk for herself without fear of reprisal. It was a heady thing.

Heady enough that when someone grasped her hand and pulled her into a twirling dance, Astoria was momentarily disoriented as the blur of people and the bright light of the large bonfire sped past her vision. Before she could even take a breath to demand her abductor unhand her, however, a familiar voice interjected.

"Quit pulling at me and dance," the female voice hissed.

After another twirl, her other hand was grasped and it was then Astoria saw the woman. "Ginny?"

"Shut-up, Astoria. Do you want to get caught?" Despite her words, the tone was light and merry.

Astoria did dance then, truly joined the revel that was building around the bonfires as they approached midnight. It was a wonder she hadn't recognized Ginny at first. Her hair had been darkened to a deep auburn to help her blend and she was dressed obscenely - in the fashion of the entertainment that had been commissioned.

Astoria realized then how her brother's friend had gotten in to the party, but why she was there and what she was up to remained a mystery. Astoria wanted to drag her to the shadows and demand why she was there, if she knew anything of Michael's well-being and then shake her within an inch of her life for risking herself as she was, but to leave the growing mass of revelers just that moment would be even more conspicuous. Out in the open was either the most terrible or most clever of disguises.

The spinning was making her dizzy, but Astoria pulled Ginny closer to her as they spun. "What are you doing here" she whispered.

"Saving you. Stealing you. Whatever you want to call it," Ginny said, whiskey gaze darting past Astoria. Draco hadn't noticed yet, thank Merlin. It'd been difficult to time everything especially as he'd been watching the younger woman like a hawk for most of the night. If anger burned at that, at the rather passionate kiss she'd seen him share with Michael's sister, then it was ignored. It didn't matter and never had; she'd gotten what she needed from him. "Michael's waiting on the edge of the wards. We just have to make it 'til midnight. There will be a fireworks display and that is when we will go."

Michael was there. He was alive and he had come for her. Astoria nearly stumbled as the shock of all of it really hit her. Her brother was alive. She would see him this night and they would all disappear together.

And then she caught sight of blond at the corner of her eye and her gaze slid to Draco. He was sprawled in the plush chair where she'd left him, draped over it and having a rather serious looking conversation with Pansy and Theodore. Draco. The very thought of leaving him did make her stumble.

"Dammit, Astoria. We're trying not to draw attention to ourselves," Ginny hissed before spinning them back into the crowd of half-naked, mostly-drunk revelers.

"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly though her thoughts dizzied her further. There was Michael and how she could finally see him, hug him and see for herself that he was well and whole, but there was Draco whom she was irrevocably bound to. She understood now what Draco and Pansy had been talking of. The Dark Lord had spelled them with ancient magic that hadn't been used in centuries but for the rare occasion – and there was a reason for that. It was strong, truly binding. They would feel each other always, and without the other, they would never be truly whole – and together they would be more than either alone. Even now just thinking of leaving him behind, she could feel the phantom hole, the absence of him within her.

It was then fireworks lit the heavens. Even as the revelers lifted their eyes to the sky and cheered, cups raised and sloshing, Ginny tugged Astoria through the crowd. No one was paying them any attention, not when the sky exploded in flying dragons and racing unicorns.

Astoria didn't have time to think about what she should do, what she wanted. It was swallowed by the pounding beat of her heart as they sprang free from the crowds gathered around the bonfires. There was only a dark expanse of ground before them and then the grove of trees a darker shadow against the night sky. Michael was there, waiting for her, and when Ginny began to race into the darkness for the tree line, Astoria held tightly to her hand and ran with her.

Something tugged at her, something inside, and she slowed to turn around.

"What are you doing! We have to go. Now." Ginny couldn't help but turn to see what had caught Astoria's attention, however. When she met a darkly angry set of mercury eyes, her heart stopped. "Astoria, now," she said again, turning away from that heavy gaze and tugging.

Astoria couldn't take her eyes off Draco though - literally couldn't. "Ginny, I …"

"No. You're coming," Ginny said, and began to run again.

The jostle disrupted her vision, enough to break whatever spell she'd been under, and when she glanced over her shoulder again, Draco was gone. The anger on his face burned in the back of her mind though, and she held tighter still onto Ginny's hand and ran.

That look had been a promise. He would find her. The exhilarated fear at the thought only propelled her and not moments later the true darkness of the forest claimed them.