Astoria started and Draco made to follow. After a few paces, she stopped abruptly, which caught Draco off-guard and he ran directly into her outstretched hands. She left her hands on his chest for a split second too long as she caught his eye. "You can't come with me. I'm so sorry, Draco, I didn't mean to ruin your evening."
Draco had been surprised that his first instinct had been to follow her. It would have been more his fashion to have stayed in place and allowed her to leave without comment. However, he had followed her and had been chastised in the meantime. He wasn't even aware that this was job related as he still didn't know Astoria's career, he had merely assumed this was something personal.
"Right," Draco responded as he put a hand casually into his pocket. "Um. Be safe." The words came out stiff and awkward. Astoria merely nodded at his words and followed Simon.
Hogwarts. Astoria was surprised when she released Simon from Apparating and looked at the castle in the slight distance. No one could Apparate into Hogwarts as it had always been but she felt restless. It wasn't common that she was the one who went to fetch a prophecy, and she was even more surprised to find that it was the girl who had made one about Draco.
"Was that Draco Malfoy who you were just with?" Simon inquired as if he were reading her mind.
"Mhm," Astoria responded in way of an answer.
"Don't you think it's a little bit of a conflict of interest to be spending time with him when he know he's going to eat it by the end of next year?" Simon asked.
She looked at him in surprise of how blunt he had been. "So I'm supposed to stop spending time with people I know if a prophecy comes through about them?"
Simon shrugged. "I would."
Astoria let out a small snort. "No wonder why you have no friends."
Without waiting for a reply, she hurried her pace to be ahead of him and went through the security measures and into the school. The Great Hall had been blocked off and only after they announced who they were that they were allowed through. A blonde girl sat on the floor next to the Hufflepuff table. She looked up at them sharply and kept her lips tightly sealed as if she opened them that everything would come rambling out.
"Is this her?" Astoria asked of Professor McGonagall.
McGonagall nodded curtly so Astoria and the American moved forward towards the girl. They kneeled next to her and took out their tools in order to get a proper recording. Clara took a deep breath and closed her incredibly light grey eyes. When she opened them again, it was like everything changed. They were clouded over and like she was blind. She stared off into the distance.
"Draco Malfoy has already met the one who will be the reason for his untimely end. Without intervention, his fate is secured."
The girl then fell to the floor, her light hair spread around her. When she sat up, Astoria and Simon asked the questions that they were required to, but Astoria's face was ashen. She wanted to ask so much more, but Simon was right, anything more would be a conflict of interest. Astoria strictly couldn't interfere in any way, shape, or form or she would risk termination from her job. She bit her lip and left with Simon in silence. When they got to the Ministry, Simon finally broke the quiet.
"So who do you think it is?" Simon wondered. "The one who takes Malfoy out, I mean."
"Must you be so gruesome?" Astoria snapped. Considering she was one of his co-workers who never went out of her way to make conversation with him, Simon took the hint and allowed them to document the prophecy without further interruption.
Astoria stared out at the false landscape of her fake windows in her apartment. She had her arms crossed and she felt like she had a hole in her chest. Not having friends had always come in useful in her career. Now... well, what was Draco to her? She doubted that they were close enough to be considered friends, but it was still enough that she felt immensely conflicted. For the first time, she understood why those in her career path were paid so handsomely. She sat on her couch and buried her face in her hands. She didn't want to be the hero. She didn't want to get involved. However, did that mean that she couldn't do anything at all? Technically, yes, but she couldn't live with herself if she just sat around and did nothing. She needed to at least try to do something. There had to be a happy medium where she could do her best to save Draco Malfoy's life and not lose her job.
She stood up and made up her mind. Before she could stop herself, she went to her door and walked quickly to Draco's door. She had to learn more about him; she had to know who in his life could be a danger to him. In short, she was going to have to be friends with him. There was no other way other than straight out telling him what was going on, but she couldn't do that. The fear alone could ruin him, and besides, didn't he go through enough of that at Hogwarts?
She knocked on his door briskly. Draco answered. It was now quite late at night, most likely early in the morning, but he was still dressed in the same outfit that he had been wearing earlier that night. He had discarded the jacket and had unbuttoned a few of the top buttons of his shirt and had the sleeves rolled up. His hair was now slightly out of place and his hand was wrapped around a bottle of beer.
"Party for one?" she asked weakly. She felt her mouth go dry at the sight of him. No, they weren't friends, how could they be when she was attracted to him every time her eyes fell upon him lately? It was a revelation that she wished she didn't have so late at night standing in his doorway.
He opened his door and allowed Astoria through, no questions about why she was there at such an hour on his lips.
