Chapter 24

The fireplace had long resumed its natural colour, the logs were cracking in the flames and a glance at the clock on his wall told Draco that they were approaching midnight. After Blaise Zabini had left, there seemed to have been an unspoken agreement between him and Astoria to let the matter rest until they could move forward with their plan. She hadn't said anything in a while and a part of him was grateful for the silence even though he could feel something heavy float around the room like an invisible spirit. It had taken Draco a while to pinpoint what it was, so he had just sipped his Firewhisky and continued to pretend he hadn't just confessed to Astoria that she was the person he trusted most in the entire world.

Whenever he glanced at her, Astoria was gazing into the flames, only ever taking the occasional sip from her glass even when she had long finished her drink, completely lost in her thoughts. Maybe she was worried about her sister, maybe she was thinking about what an idiot he was, but her features looked too serene for either of that.

"Penny for your thoughts," Draco said when he could no longer bear not knowing.

To his surprise, Astoria chuckled without looking at him. "I'm thinking about how McGonagall threw a book at your face."

Draco uttered a soft groan, but it wasn't entirely devoid of amusement. "She could have broken my nose and you think that's funny."

Finally, she turned her head to look at him, smiling kindly. "I'm a healer. I'd have fixed your nose in a heartbeat."

With a sigh, she leaned back until she was lying flat on the carpet, only her head supported by one of the pillows they usually sat on. Draco watched her for a moment, then decided that he might as well follow her example and make himself comfortable. A strange idea came to his mind, one Blaise Zabini had put there earlier, and for just a few seconds, Draco was brave enough to imagine what it would be like if Astoria actually lived here with him. He pushed the thought aside as soon as it had come, knowing it had absolutely no place in his mind.

"About what I said earlier-" Draco began, looking for a way to justify what he had told Astoria, but the words failed him once more. He had never been especially good at turning his thoughts and feelings into words.

"I trust you, too," Astoria confirmed without looking at him. Then, when she turned her head, she wore a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Why?" Draco wanted to know.

It was hard for her to shrug, lying flat on her back with her head propped up with a pillow, but he still understood the gesture.

"When my family looks at me, they see a daughter or a sister. My patients, they see a healer," she said quietly. "But when you do it, there's that look that makes me think you're really just seeing me."

At last, Draco smiled at her in return. "You know what? I think this friendship thing was really one of your better ideas, Greengrass."

Chuckling to herself, Astoria turned once more to lie on her back, her eyes fixed on the glass ceiling above them. Draco followed her gazes and noticed what she must have seen, too. Thick, white flakes danced outside through the night sky.

"Look!" she said and pointed towards the ceiling.

"It's snowing," Draco noted with a smile. Lying here with Astoria, just watching the snowflakes dance above their heads seemed like the most peaceful thing he could imagine.

Carefully, Draco's hand moved over the carpet, hoping to find Astoria's hand. He had been too scared to do it in front of Blaise Zabini, and it didn't exactly feel like an act of bravery right now because he was nervous even before his fingers brushed against Astoria's skin. The touch of her hand left a strange but pleasant tingling on his skin, but Astoria didn't move, she didn't shy away from it. Gathering all his courage, he reached for her hand, their fingers entwined and he held on to her as if he was holding on for dear life. Draco didn't think he had ever felt more at peace than right now.

"Do you want to go outside?" Astoria's voice tore him out of his tranquillity, but when she spoke, she did it so gently that it hardly felt like a disturbance at all.

Still, Draco turned his head and frowned at her. "You want to go outside? In the cold?" he asked just to be sure he had heard her correctly.

Astoria grinned and nodded. "Winter has always been my favourite season," she said as if it explained her sudden urge to have her hands freeze off. "The cold, the snow, Christmas."

As she said those words, Draco began to picture it. The winters at Hogwarts where he had thrown snowballs at first-years, the Christmases at Malfoy Manor, always slightly cold and sinister. Then, something else came to his mind. It wouldn't have to be like that this year, not necessarily.

"Would you like to spend Christmas Eve with me? At Malfoy Manor?" The words had escaped his mouth before he could change his mind about them.

Draco regretted them as soon as he saw Astoria's eyes widen. "You mean with your parents? The ones that hate me?"

"My mother invited you over for dinner," he explained. "Maybe I should have led with that. I probably should have led with that. Anyway, she heard about me having breakfast with your parents and I think she's trying to make an effort. Why not do it on Christmas Eve?"

He hadn't realised that he was still holding her hand until Astoria let go and he felt the absence of her touch. She sat back up and looked at Draco, her eyebrows turned into a frown. "What about your father? I did kind of embarrass him."

"Obviously, you don't have to accept if you don't want to. I just thought… well, I thought it might be nice," he admitted. Maybe he should have thought it through more thoroughly.

Astoria seemed to consider her response for a while. Then, a mischievous expressed lit up her face. "How about I think about it," she offered, "but only if you follow me now and let me beat you in a snowball fight?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her in a playful manner. "I'm the snowball champion, Greengrass. You don't stand a chance."

She shrugged. "We'll see about that."

In the time it took them to wrap themselves in their winter cloaks, scarves and gloves, the snow had fallen relentlessly and was now covering streets, pavements and the grass of the nearby park. Astoria had spoken out against heading towards Diagon Alley and Draco had agreed all too willingly, not particularly eager to be watched by the few witches and wizards who were still up past midnight. On the other side of the world, out here in Muggle London, a few more people still roamed the street, yet Draco and Astoria were strangers to them. As they headed towards the nearest park, their arms hooked into each other, they probably looked like any ordinary couple out for a midnight stroll in the snow and Draco couldn't deny that he was enjoying the anonymity. Neither the businessman passing in his taxi nor the young woman hurrying past them with grocery bags would ever suspect them to be capable of magic. They were blissfully oblivious to the wizarding war, the horrors that had happened right under their noses and the dangers they were still facing from a new menace.

"I think this is an excellent spot for Snowy," Astoria announced as she came to a halt. Her hands were pointed towards an empty area of untouched snow. Not a single footprint disturbed the picture.

"An excellent spot for what?"

"Snowy, our snowman," she explained before she ducked and started to destroy the untouched surface of the snow.

Draco watched for a moment, examined how she rolled the thick, heavy snow into a ball that grew bigger and bigger as she moved it around. It had been so long since he had done something as innocent as building a snowman that he had almost forgotten how it worked. While Astoria was still busy building the base, Draco decided to help and started rolling up the belly, all the while ignoring how the cold, wet snow seeped through his gloves. A few minutes later, their snowman stood proud and erect in the middle of the park, but it was still lacking a few important details. Looking out over his shoulder to see that they weren't being watched, Draco drew out his wand to give Snowy eyes, a nose and a few buttons for his coat.

"He looks beautiful," Astoria noted and admired their work a little more closely.

"I bet he won't live until morning," Draco muttered next to her.

Astoria gawked at him, feigning horror. "How can you say that to his face?!"

Before Draco knew what was happening, a snowball hit him right in the neck. When he stumbled back to shake off the wet, disgustingly cold feeling in his neck, he noticed the snow on Astoria's hand and realised that she must have planned it from the start, only waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Her laughter echoed across the park. "Snowball champion, you said?!"

Pretending to still shake off the snow, Draco used the moment she was so busy laughing at him to act quickly. He gathered the snow in his hands and tossed it in Astoria's direction. She, however, evaded his attack and received nothing more than a few sprinkles on her sleeve. Draco didn't have to wait for the counter-attack for very long and before he knew what was happening, they were chasing each other around the park, snowballs hitting and missing them every few seconds.

Even as he was busy evading Astoria's snow attacks, Draco understood perfectly what she was doing and why she had asked him to follow her outside. In all those years that he had spent cooped up in Malfoy Manor, in the years during the war, Draco had completely forgotten what it felt like to just let go and have fun. Even as a new, unknown threat cast another shadow above their heads, Astoria had decided to just take a moment and make it theirs. She really had a talent for chasing the shadows away, even if only lasted for a short while.

Draco formed another snowball in his hands and tossed it in Astoria's direction, not really expecting it to strike. Playing Seeker for the Slytherin team had made him incredibly good at catching, but his aim had never really been the strongest. Yet Astoria was still busy gathering up a handful of snow, so the ball hit her right across the back.

"Oi!" she exclaimed loudly and spun around, glaring playfully at him. "You're going to regret that!"

Draco chuckled. "Oh, am I?"

With her hands still filled with snow, Astoria charged at him. The only sensible thing left to do was run, so Draco took to his heels and dashed across the snowy lawn. As he ran, he threw an occasional glance across his shoulder to see whether she had already given up, but Astoria was always right behind him. He waited for another snowball to hit him in the neck, but nothing happened.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, something large and heavy hit him in the back, much larger and heavier than a handful of snow, Draco lost his balance and fell face-first into the fresh, white snow. Astoria landed on top of his back after she had knocked him over, using her entire body weight to pin him down.

Laughing and panting from the run, they both rolled onto their backs. Draco needed a moment to catch his breath and, he assumed, so did Astoria.

"I told you you would regret it." She chuckled, still sounding slightly out of breath. "You're getting old, Draco."

Glowering, he turned his head to face her. "I'm twenty-three," he complained half-heartedly.

"Yeah," Astoria said with a giggle, "and losing your touch."

"May I remind you that you're not exactly a lot younger," Draco growled playfully.

When she finally turned her head to look at him as well, Draco noticed that she was still breathing heavily and that her cheeks were flushed from the cold and recent exercise. The dark, curly hair that had escaped the confinements of her hat was covered in snow. It seemed that she grew a little prettier with each passing day.

"Hey," Astoria said and suddenly nudged him gently, still grinning. "You're not honestly dying on me after a little run, are you? You're really not that old."

Draco laughed. He had always used insults to communicate with people, never really knowing how else to express himself. Most of the time, people had just accepted it and whenever someone had dared to counter his verbal attacks, Draco had felt incredibly affronted. Astoria, once again, was an exception to the rule. She always gave as good as she got and Draco found himself loving the fact that he had finally met his match.

"Just let me breathe for a moment, will you?" Draco complained without really meaning it. Yet from where she drew her relentless energy and enthusiasm, he could only guess.

Then, his eyes wandered further down her winter cloak and even in the low light of the park, he suddenly noticed a little detail that had slipped his attention so far.

"Hey," he uttered and Draco moved up his hand to touch the scarf that was all too familiar to him. His fingers caressed the well-known green and silver wool, "you're still wearing your Hogwarts scarf."

Astoria grinned at him. "House pride," she said simply. "I have it."

As if someone had flicked a switch inside her mind, her features suddenly grew serious again. "I thought about it," Astoria announced eventually. Before Draco had a chance to ask what she meant, however, she continued. "I'll spend Christmas with you and your parents."

Draco didn't know why, but for some reason, the prospect made him extremely happy.

A sudden shiver came over Astoria's body and it brought Draco back to reality. He wasn't sure how long they had been outside, but it served as a reminder that they should probably head back to his flat before either of them caught pneumonia or worse.

"Let's get back," Draco suggested and even before Astoria had agreed, he rose to his feet and offered her a hand.

Smiling softly, Astoria took it and let him pull her up. Yet when he released her hand, something happened and it almost made Draco's heart stop. Astoria swayed dangerously on the spot, her eyes lost focus for just a second and he was sure that she was going to fall. He caught her just in the nick of time, steading her by placing his hands firmly on her hips.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked and it frightened him how worried his voice sounded. For a moment, she had really frightened him.

When she smiled at him, Draco felt a little reassured.

"Yes," Astoria confirmed. "Just got up a little too quickly. Also, I'm really, really tired."

Draco rolled his eyes at her. "You were right, you really are bad at taking care of yourself."

He hadn't actually realised it with everything that had happened in the last two days, but now, Draco felt the exhaustion creep up on him, too. Maybe he had grown a little too used to the feeling and hadn't recognised it for what it was, but they hadn't exactly had a proper night's sleep in the Hogwarts library and it was high time for them to catch up on that.

"Let's go back to my flat," Draco suggested and offered her his arm.

Astoria nodded and hooked her arm into his with a grateful smile. Whether it was because she was still unsteady on her feet or whether she was enjoying the closeness, Draco never knew as they made their way back to Diagon Alley with crunching steps while the snow was falling silently around them and covered their tracks. In just half an hour, no one would know that they had ever been here, their peaceful, carefree moment reduced to nothing but a memory.