Chapter Twelve

When they returned to Draco's flat that night, however, Astoria didn't get the chance to talk to her sister. Daphne had left, on a 'family emergency'- or so said the note on the kitchen table.

" But why would she just leave?" Astoria muttered for the twelfth time, exactly. " I mean, everything is fine here-"

Draco sighed. " Which is why she probably left. Think about it, Astoria, she's near her due date, and even if there wasn't an emergency, she would want to be near Addison when the baby's born, right?"

He was sitting on a stool, perching, really. And sipping a cup of butterbeer, the fragrant, caramel scent filling the room.

" But I'm her sister!"

" He's her husband."

Astoria rolled her eyes, dismissively. " Well, it's not like she chose him. Our parents picked him for her." Her words were cutting.

His silver eyes narrowed a little, jaw clenching. " Well, it's not like she picked you either, sweetheart. You don't get to pick your siblings. Or am I getting something wrong?" He picked moodily at a loose thread on his robes.

" What's got your wand in a knot?" Astoria grumbled, slamming herself into a low kitchen chair, and propping her feet on the table.

He swatted at them, and she growled at him, baring her teeth.

" No feet on the table."

" What are you- my mother?"

Draco jumped off his stool, and stalked out of the room, heading towards his bedroom. " Women-" She heard him mutter, and she clenched her toes in anger.

" Yeah, you'd better run," She mumbled under her breath, helping herself to his still half-full mug of butterbeer.

But in all seriousness, it wasn't a good idea to travel when you were pregnant, especially not as near to Daphne's due date as she was. Apparating, even for an experienced apparater like Daphne, could cause serious damage to the baby, sometimes even splinching an unborn child. Flooing caused extreme nausea, portkeys were hard to come by-

So why would Daphne leave? Especially when she knew that the wedding would be in only a few months? Astoria needed her! Always, but especially now.

Astoria groaned a little, as she stood up from the kitchen table, and she slowly walked towards the two poster beds in the living room. Except there was only one. Apparently Daphne had transfigured her bed, or vanished it, or something. It was gone now.

While the two beds in the modern living room had looked strange, the sight of her's, alone, and by itself, almost made her want to cry.

Daphne's disappearance on top of everything else . . . on top of the Betrothal, and her feelings about Draco, and Draco's secrets, and moving out of Lindy's, and her mother, and the upcoming wedding-

She needed sleep. Yes, that would be good. Lots and lots of sleep.

But with the night, came the nightmares.

" Are you okay? You don't seem well-rested." Draco walked around the kitchen, circling the table and Astoria, hunched in a chair. " Coffee? I got some pumpkin juice yesterday. Want some?"

" Sure," She answered tonelessly. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, her eyes staring blankly out into space. The night had been horrible, waking up had been horrible. She had lain on her bed for five minutes, still half-asleep, thinking Lord Voldemort was in her room. She had been petrified, frozen, unable to turn around, for fear that he would strike.

A glass of pumpkin juice landed in front of her, and she jumped.

" So . . . feeling better than last night?"

Why was he asking? Oh, right, because she had been angry with him. Because she had thought he was cheating on her. The whole thing seemed very, very silly. Like it should matter who he slept with, when horrible, dark creatures roamed in the depths of her minds. Was she going insane?

" Hm . . ." Was all she said.

He was sitting on his stool again, examining her with narrowed eyes, and an unreadable expression.

" Do you have work today?" She asked faintly, the words coming out stilted. She sipped her pumpkin juice, savoring the sweetness, and the familiarity.

" Yes, but if you need anything-"

" No. No, I'm fine. I think I'll just go see Olivia." The words had popped out of her mouth, but she didn't know where they had come from. Though honestly, the though of seeing Olivia was exhilarating. " We might . . . go . . . somewhere."

" Okay-" He hesitated slightly. " Are you okay?"

" Yeah, sure, why?" She said, all her words said without expression.

" You seem . . . listless. I don't know, sorry I asked." He shrugged and stood up, reaching for his work robes, labeled with a CB in orange thread.

" I had a tough night," She blurted out before she could stop herself, or even have time to register what she was about to say. She shook her head at herself, and went back to staring at the wall.

" A tough night?" He seemed confused.

" Never mind, sorry, forget it."

Understanding seemed to grow in his eyes, and she ducked her head, feeling her face flush hot.

" Nightmares."

She nodded.

" Astoria, you do know that any time you want to you're welcome to sleep in my bed." He flushed. " I mean, not like that. And you don't have to! I was just thinking- you know, sometimes it's better when you're with somebody else. Never mind. Forget it."

" Thanks," She stood too. " Really." She gave him a wan smile, and kissed him gently on the cheek. " Sorry I was such a jerk last night."

" No problem. We're all jerks sometimes." He smirked and then turned to leave.

" Oh, and Draco?" He turned to look back at her.

" Yes?"

" I just wanted to say thank you again for inviting me to the Ball. It was nice of you." She hadn't really wanted to thank him. What she had wanted to do was strongly apologize and beg forgiveness for being ungrateful of his affections. What she had wanted to do was demand why he was having dinner with lovely young girls who weren't her! But the 'thank you' came out, and annoyed with herself, she turned and disapparated, ignoring the order he had given her a week ago to always leave through the door.

" Olivia?" She called, hoping the her best mate would be in. The odds were in her favor, and she found the blonde pinning a customer's hem up from where it pooled on the ground.

" Tori!" Olivia mumbled around her wand, which she held gripped between her teeth as she struggled to straighten the seam. Her eyes were lit up with joy at seeing her friend again.

" Yeah, just popped by to say hello. You know."

Astoria sat on one of the measuring stools and watched her friend expertly pin and sew the dress robes' hem with her wand. Her fingers nimbly flew over the fabric. Olivia wasn't amazing at a lot of things, Astoria thought, but being an apprentice at Malkin's was one of the best decisions of her life.

A few minutes later, Astoria and Olivia were lounging in the front parlor, nursing cups of tea. " You know, when Lindy dies, you'll make a great Madam Malkin."

" Really?" Olivia grinned. " I'd love to have my own place. And I don't mean to be harsh, but I think I'd be a bit better with the customers than Lindy. She's a bit rude, especially to people who don't pay as well."

" Hm . . ." Astoria refused to allow herself to make a comment on that.

" So . . ." Olivia said, taking a sip of her tea. " How are your new living conditions?"

" Interesting . . ." Astoria said with a weird expression somewhere between a grin and a grimace.

Olivia leaned forward, a mischievous smirk on her face. " Do go on."

So Astoria related the events of the last week to Olivia, going over the exact conversation they'd had the night she had slept out in that field. And then she told Olivia her fears about Draco's fidelity.

Olivia's brow wrinkled. " I don't think he's cheating on you. I mean, he told you he loved you right? Why would you cheat on somebody you love?"

Astoria groaned. " I don't know. Just because he says he loves me doesn't mean he does anyway. I mean, I told him I loved him first. It might have just been a knee-jerk reflex or something. He might have felt guilty. Or he might be manipulating me. Trying to get me to adore him so that I don't notice his extracurricular activities."

" That doesn't sound like something he would do."

" You don't know him, Livia."

" You don't either. Not really. That's what I think the problem here is. Bad communication. You know, the number one thing couples need to do is talk. Lots and lots of talking to clear the air between you two. It'll be good."

Astoria smiled a little. " Well, we might just have the opportunity to do that. You know the Ministry Ball coming up?"

" The Harvest thing? Yeah, we've had a lot of customers for it. Lots of stuffy old witches and wizards who want the latest doo-dads. Why?"

" Well, Draco has to go because of his job-"

" And he asked you to go with him? That's just so romantic!" Olivia literally jumped out of her chair, and squealed, clapping her hands to her mouth. " We've got to get you the best dress! You've got to outshine all those other wannabes! On the arm of a handsome man, with the dress I'll make for you, the others won't stand a chance!"

Astoria rolled her eyes. " Salazar, Olivia. It's just a stuffy old Ministry Ball. It's not exactly the Yule Ball at Hogwarts. I seriously doubt there'll be catty teenage girls ready to tear my dress and criticize my hair."

Olivia winked exaggeratedly. " You never know."

" Oh, Merlin."

Despite Astoria's many protests that they didn't need to get started that day, Olivia demanded that Astoria pick a fabric out of their supply room immediately.

" You gave me a two-week notice for a fabulous dress, Astoria. For anybody else I would demand twice the price just for the outrageous work time! I need a fabric now! Also, flip through that and tell me which dresses you like-" Olivia threw a huge magazine, the size of a book, at Astoria.

Astoria sat down grumpily and huffed her way through the glossy pages, flipping the pages at random. " Merlin, Olivia, these are scandalous! It's supposed to be classy, not make me look like a hooker!" She paused at a particularly horrifying article of clothing that was cut to the model's bellybutton in the front, and barely reached the tops of her thighs, showing an extremely long amount of leg.

" Just because your back is showing does not make you a hooker. Merlin, Astoria. Get with the times, please, you're embarrassing me."

Astoria groaned. She could already sense this was going to be a very long and painful process. " Liv . . . just put me in something nice. Formal and elegant. I don't want jaws to drop, I just want to look respectable."

Olivia wriggled her eyebrows at her, before turning back to the supply closet. " Trust me, when I'm finished with you, you will look both respectable and there will be lots of jaw-dropping. Namely Draco's."

Astoria groaned again. " I'm going to be mistaken for a prostitute."

" I'm insulted. How's this?" She pulled out a yellow chiffon. " Just as an overlay, you know? Maybe with a creamy silk beneath . . ."

" Stop trying to push your house colors on me, Olivia. I want green." Astoria rolled her eyes. As if she would go to a fancy ball without the support of her favorite color. As green used to be Daphne's favorite color before she 'grew up', most of Astoria's hand-me-down dress robes were a deep foresty green.

" How about red?" Olivia held up a deep crimson fabric, thick and patterned so lightly that it looked solid. She looked impossibly hopeful, and her eyes were pleading. " Please, Astoria, green makes your skin look . . . sallow. No harm meant."

Astoria was about to refuse adamantly, rather offended, before she reflected briefly about the fact that red was Draco's favorite color. And she did look marvelous in it. If she said so herself. " We'll see. What do your green fabrics look like?"

In the end it was a close tie between the earlier red fabric, and a velvety cloth that was so dark green it almost looked black.

" Tori!" Olivia whined, waving the red cloth in the air like a bull-fighter's flag. " Do you want to look like a widow? Is that it? Please, you'll look so much more sexy in red. Honestly, it's like you're trying to put me in a grave."

Astoria threw her hands in the air. " Fine! Red it is! But respectably red, you hear me? The 'scarlet' in 'scarlet women' doesn't come from nowhere. If I look like a cheap hussy-"

" Relax . . ." Olivia said, shoving mountains of unfolded fabrics back into the closet, and heaving the door closed. " Just trust me. You'll look like a queen. The Red Queen, I like that."

" It sounds like blood. Like Bloody Mary. Except I'll be Bloody Astoria."

" Ooh, that does have a ring to it. Do you want to wear a tiara?" Olivia was clapping her hands in excitement, the red fabric dropped to the floor in a puddle of ruby.

Astoria groaned.

AN: Sorry for the shortie. Like I said before, updates will be slower now that I've exhausted my huge supply of chapters. :D

A request from me? Do you guys know any really great Betrothal fanfictions? I only like canon pairings, and if it's complete that's a bonus. Running out of great fanfictions!

Thanks for reading!