Daphne was quite shocked the next morning to see Draco and Astoria, not only in the same bed, but draped over each other. So shocked in fact that she woke them with a scream.
"Astoria Greengrass! That kind of behavior is unfitting for a lady! What in Merlin's name?!"
Astoria rolled over sleepily. " Daphne . . ." She groaned. Astoria wasn't quite sure what Daphne was talking about, but she wished she would just go away. She was so . . . so . . . warm. And happy, for some reason. And so, so tired . . .
" Astoria-" She heard Draco say, and she rolled over to lie closer to him, but he was sitting up, and she opened her eyes in protest. " -We need to get up. We have jobs, remember?"
She let out a whine of indignation, and buried her face in her pillow. " I refuse to acknowledge that fact."
" You're going to get fired."
" Probably."
Daphne growled. " Astoria, I hate your job, but for Merlin's sake, grow a sense of responsibility!"
" Circe and Hestia, Daphne!" Astoria rolled out of bed, and landed on the floor. " I was going to get up! I was just pretending not to because I wanted to!"
Draco was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
" What?" She demanded.
" Your hair . . ." He gestured amusedly at the huge crow's nest surrounding her head, the curls rebelliously tangling.
She scowled at him. " You're about to have no hair at all, unless you leave the room right now!" She pawed at her robes for her wand, before seeing her robes on the floor next to her. " Accio wand!" She commanded, raising her hand. The wand did not fly into it.
Daphne was grinning, and Draco shrugged and left the room. Astoria was muttering curses at them both, while she had dragged her dirty robes over her head, and cast several hair spells at her scalp.
" Coffee?" Draco offered when she had stormed out of his bedroom.
" That stuff is bad for you." She scowled at him, as if he had personally invented both the idea of coffee and kicking puppies. " It will eventually kill you. In fact, I'm quite sure that it does horrible things to your liver and your kidneys."
Draco frowned. " I don't actually think it-"
" Whatever. Do you have any pumpkin juice?"
" You can check-" He pointed at the door to the kitchen.
" Having a good morning?" Daphne grinned over the mug of coffee she was holding. It did smell good . . . nothing like it tasted, Astoria thought bitterly.
" Fine, until you woke me up. Witch."
" Fun night with Draco last night? You do remember you're supposed to stay . . . pure . . . until the wedding, right?"
" Don't be filthy. And last night was fine. We just talked."
" Yeah. Totally looked like you were 'just talking' when I woke you up this morning." Daphne raised her hands in an innocent expression, as Astoria glared at her.
" I'm going to work. I don't need to hear this-" Astoria growled as she stepped out of the kitchen.
Draco was standing there, looking a little confused and wary. " Um . . . have a good day?"
" If you say so." She stepped around him, and he reached out to take her arm. " What?"
" Just . . ." He seemed like he had forgotten what he was about to say, his mouth open, his eyebrows wrinkled. " I don't know. Bye."
Her expression softened. " Bye. You be safe at work. Don't get jinxed or anything." She kissed him on the cheek. He smiled.
She wasn't exactly looking forward to the apparation to Wheezes, but it couldn't be helped. If she still lived at Malkin's she could have just walked. . . Ah, well, it couldn't be helped.
Draco had told her that she should walk through the lobby in and out, so that Greensley wouldn't get strange ideas about why she stayed up in the apartment all the time and come check on her. She always apparated in the side street right outside the apartment building.
She arrived at the doorstep, nauseous and wind-swept. " George-" She called as she walked in, before being deluged in a swarm of flower petals and butterflies. " I'm going to kill you!"
The Weasley in question, popped up from behind the counter. " Tor! Earlier than normal."
" I'm on time."
" Exactly. Okay, can you start stocking the newest Fanged Frisbees- and watch out. One got Alaster the other day, and he had to go to St. Mungo's."
" I can't believe you're selling these to children."
" Hey, business is business!"
" Who's watching the counter today?"
" Abigail's coming in later. She actually said she wanted to talk to you about something, so you'll need to see her later."
Astoria nodded absently, already heading to the back of the store to grab the boxes of Frisbees. What did Abi want? Probably just wanted her to take a shift anyway. She probably could . . . She was trying to take more work now anyway.
She bobbed her head to the catchy music playing over stereo speakers overhead. A nice mixture of popular muggle and wizarding tunes, Angelina had selected the songs herself. It was a pity about the muggle though, because she liked listening to songs she had heard before. And muggles were so . . . blatant about their affections in love songs. Well, it couldn't be helped their taste was lacking. Some of their songs were good, anyway.
A few hours had gone by, as Astoria stocked the shelves. There was never an 'off' season at Wheezes, and a steady stream of customers were going through the store.
" Astoria!" She heard somebody call over the conversations around her, and turned to see Abigail coming towards her. " I was hoping you would be here today."
" Hey, Abi. Taking over for George at the counter?"
" Yeah, just wanted to talk to you for a minute.
" No problem-" Astoria turned away from pushing a box of Puking Pastilles back from the edge of the top shelf, and gave Abigail her full attention. She suddenly noticed Abigail's troubled expression, and the hesitant set of her mouth. " Hey, what's wrong?"
" You're . . . you're Betrothed to Draco Malfoy, right?"
Astoria frowned. " Um . . . yeah. Did you forget this? We had a conversation, kinda fight, about it like, a week ago?" Honestly, did Abigail seriously have to bring this up again?
" I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but-" And here she stopped, her mouth open, her hazel eyes fixed on Astoria's.
" What?" Astoria demanded.
" I think he's having an affair, or something-" She said all in one breath, the words blurring into each other. " I mean, I don't want to accuse somebody falsely, but my cousin was talking to me earlier yesterday, and she works at Florean Fortescue's, and she says that she saw Malfoy there earlier this week with a really pretty lady, and they were talking about something."
Astoria frowned. " He probably just ran into somebody."
" They left together."
" Left together? Or disapparated at the same time?" Astoria's mind was racing.
" Walked into another store together. And then came out twenty minutes later together, and then went out of the Leaky Cauldron together."
She could feel her heartbeat vibrating through her body. Ba-Thump. Ba-Thump. Loud and heavy and slow. Her blood felt warm. " It's just a misunderstanding. A friend of his, or something. Trust me, he wouldn't do that."
They were supposed to have a date this Saturday. It was supposed to be Friday, but he had said he was busy. But that didn't make sense. His hours were in the day. He wouldn't know he would be busy that night. He only got called in the night if there was an emergency. He had to be meeting somebody.
" I'm really sorry, Astoria. I just thought you should know. My cousin said she's seen them before. She thought they were dating, before I told her about you."
Her hot blood had turned ice cold, her face into a frozen mask, her lips in a perfectly straight, thin line, her eyes open and unseeing.
" Astoria . . .? Astoria, are you okay?"
" He's not cheating on me. He can't be." Her voice was filled with an incredible amount of certainty, but even as she heard the words, she started thinking of all the possible evidence.
He had hesitated when she had said she loved him. Hadn't wanted to be Betrothed in the first place. Pureblood marriages were rarely monogamous. Had he just assumed it was his right-?
But no. She had had doubts before, and they had been unfounded. She had been wrong, and Abigail was wrong now. And that horrible small voice in the back of her head telling her that there was no reason he would truly love her . . . it was lying. It had to be lying.
She had had nobody for so long. Nobody to love, nobody to hold, nobody to care for. Just an empty voice where siblings, and family, and friends should have been. She had latched onto Draco far too fast. And she had thought he had done the same to her. But maybe- Maybe he filled that void with girls, and lovers, and whores. Maybe he didn't need her like she needed him.
" Astoria?"
She focused on Abigail. " Thanks for telling me. I'll ask him."
Abigail smiled wanly. " Okay. I'm really sorry, Tor. I know you like him. But if it's any consolation . . . I think you could do better."
Except she had no choice. She would have to marry him one way or another. Whether or not they loved each other. Whether or not he was faithful. She had already resigned herself to that.
But the hope that had built inside her. The thoughts of requited love and happily ever afters . . . all the dreams and castles that she had built for herself, ever since she had met Draco, really met Draco- they were crumbling. Falling.
But not yet! She warned herself. It's nothing. It's a cousin. Or a school friend. Or-
But he had no cousins. He had only had one- a woman named Tonks, daughter of a muggle-born, and married to a werewolf- and now, even she was dead. He had no other relatives.
She was pushing toys and trick boxes back and forth on the shelf without any real purpose. She was thinking the same thoughts over and over again, and even though the logical, clear thinking side of her told her that it was unlikely, and unprobable, there was a small, insistent side that told her that Malfoy was Malfoy, and really- how much could one person change?
Not much.
It was another few hours before George came looking for her. She hadn't eaten any breakfast, and it was past the normal lunch hour, and her stomach was pinched with hunger.
" Tor- You okay? You didn't take your break."
" I forgot."
" Okay. Do you want to leave now? Come back in an hour? We've got plenty on hand."
She shrugged. " Sure." She needed some quality time to think. Draco would be at his work now- maybe she could floo?
Astoria pushed out of Wheezes, curling into her still-dirty robes. A sharp breeze had picked up, promising a cold winter early. She turned towards Fortescue's, and hesitated, just a few seconds to convince herself, before she walked over, purposefully.
" Excuse me?" She asked when she got to the counter at the front, and hesitated. " Um . . . I have a friend named Abigail, whose cousin works here? Can I talk to her?" Great. That wasn't vague at all.
But the girl behind the counter brightened visibly. " Abi's cousin, Peony? Course!" And she dashed away, leaving Astoria alone in the front parlor.
Weird. Maybe this is one of those places where all the workers know everything about each other. Though honestly, to know the name of somebody's cousin?
" Are you Tor?" Came a voice, and she turned to see a girl who looked nothing like Abi. Abi had smooth, honey-colored hair- this girl had skin the color of chocolate, her black ringlets pulled back neatly, her piercing eyes sweeping over Astoria with a skeptical air.
" Um . . . are you Abigail's cousin?"
" Course. Name's Peony. I guess Abi told you what I saw?"
Astoria grimaced. " I just wanted to clear some things up. You know I'm datin- Betrothed to Draco Malfoy?"
" I know him. Blonde. Fit. Prat."
She sighed. " That's him. And you told Abi you saw him with a different woman?"
" Gorgeous, one of those tall, slender types. Willowy. Blonde. He seemed to be paying rather close attention to her. They made a cute couple"
She closed her eyes in a wince.
" Couple of days ago. Friday night, I think."
Confirming her suspicions.
" And you saw them leave together?"
" Saw them go into Gringott's together, and then come out together. They left through the Leaky."
Gringott's? Was it possible she was just a business associate?
" I saw her write something down on a paper, and give it to him, so naturally I assumed they were lovers-"
" They're not!"
Peony shrugged apathetically. " I'm just saying what it looked like. And I'm not the type to judge, but you might want to check up on your . . . Betrothed." She smirked unkindly, and left.
Astoria sighed as she left Fortescue's. Far from swaying her fears, they were more cemented in her brain. And she decided with a scowl, that Peony was definitely not as great as Abi.
The rest of the day did not go better. She returned to Wheezes early, her appetite gone, and was instantly deluged in a whole new portkey-load of new products, ready to be catalogued and stored in the back room. She welcomed the distraction, throwing herself into the numbers.
She judged the time by the stream of customers. A faster flow right after lunch, when people were finishing with their meals. Slower in the early afternoon. Picking up around dinner, crazy until eight-
" Tor!" She heard George call from the front. " Shift's over. Prat to see you."
She sighed heavily, and turned to see Draco gesturing from outside the shop window. She stripped off her heavy-duty WWW apron, and walked to the back to clock out her time. Abi was waiting for her.
" Astoria-" She said urgently. " Are you going to talk to him?"
" I don't know." Astoria was mad at Abigail, and she knew it was unfounded. All Abi had done was tell her something that she would have wanted to know anyway. " Maybe. Would you?"
" If I really loved him? Yes." And she stared straight into Astoria's eyes with an incredible amount of conviction. " You shouldn't be heading into a deep relationship with doubts. It'll only lead to trouble."
Astoria shrugged noncommittally, and walked to meet Draco outside.
He helped her into her heavy fall robes, when she met him. " Long day?"
She sighed, " The longest."
" I just got off work, and came by to see if you were still here. Did you take an extra shift?"
" Yeah. As nice as your apartment window is, I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality for longer than I need too." In her current mood, the words came out sounding harsh and terse.
" Oh. Okay."
She was wrong to doubt him. He was sweet, and he had changed, and he wouldn't cheat on her. Remember Astoria? She chided herself. You had suspicions before. It's nothing. She was a co-worker, or a relative, or a- a-
" Look, can I ask you something?" They both said at the same time. Astoria stared at him, her mouth a little open.
" You go first."
" No, no, it's okay. You can go-"
She flushed, her cheeks hot in the frigid wind. " No. I'm serious. You go first."
" Well- You know how the Ministry has a Harvest Ball every autumn?"
She nodded. She had gone to it once, invited through her father, who worked at the Ministry. It had been slightly boring, and the food was bland.
" Well, I kind of have to go, because of my job, you know? And also, as a representative of the Malfoy family. So . . . I was hoping that you could come with me?"
She looked up at him, slightly shocked.
" It's in about two weeks."
" Oh-" She thought hastily. " Okay."
He grinned. " Good. Maybe it won't be as horrible as last year. Did you go?" He tapped his wand against the bricks leading into the Leaky Cauldron.
" No, the year before. The year I graduated."
" Oh. Any fun?"
She hadn't thought so. At the time Chance hadn't been there, and she had been so dependent on him, so needy, that the entire time she couldn't wait until she got home so that she could owl him.
" It was . . . fine."
Her thoughts were suddenly preoccupied with Chance, instead of Draco's possible affairs. Two of her more . . . serious romances. And both men had cheated on her. No! Draco wasn't cheating on her! She had already decided that.
She turned to look at him, and was caught suddenly by his chilled beauty. Not handsome, not rugged, but like a marble statue, all straight lines and pale, taut skin. He turned to look at her, and smiled.
" Did you want to ask me something?"
" What? No . . . no. I don't think so . . . ."
Her fears were unfounded. She shouldn't be worrying about this. She should be waiting to get to Draco's flat so she and Daphne could plan what she was going to wear for the Ball. She smiled. Just a little.
AN: Again, not sure about this. Is her doubting him a bit too much after everything they've been through? Or is it reasonable for her to assume that he might be cheating on her? Either way, please review!
