Another story coming at you! This is for Houses comp round 4, and it is a bonus round. We've all been given AU's to write, and I have Royalty AU! I always enjoy writing these. I almost wrote another story for my Aliceverse, but decided against it. Maybe in the future. We also have some extra prompts to pick from, and I picked the prompt (location) ballroom. Here we gooooo!

This is written as the Ravenclaw Astronomy student, and Prefect. ROYALTY AU!

Note: Astoria might seem a bit OOC.

Word Count: 1073

Betas: Ash Juillet, pretenseofperfection

Astoria Greengrass heaved a sigh as she sat down at a corner table. Peace at last, she thought. Here where it was dark, she could sit and be unnoticed. Here she could just be herself: Astoria, not the princess who had just attended her first ball. It helped that the ballroom was incredibly large. Until now, she had been vehemently opposed to such frivolous events, but since she'd turned sixteen, she could come up with fewer arguments against it that she could use. She had responsibilities, and these parties were at the forefront of them.

A servant making her rounds placed a glass of lemonade before her, and Astoria took a drink and watched the other attendants. Most of them were incredibly shallow, coming only so they could have the honor of being seen with the royals. The only plus was that some of her friends had been allowed to come. That had been the main selling point in terms of her own presence here.

"Hey, sis!" Astoria startled slightly as her sister, Daphne, sat down beside her. Daphne was everything Astoria wasn't, and that was fine with her. Where Daphne loved being the center of attention, Astoria preferred to hang out on the sidelines. While Daphne was socializing, Astoria had her nose in a book. Despite their differences, though, they understood each other. They were each other's best friends and confidantes.

"Wondered where you got to. Should have guessed you'd be trying to hide." It was clear that Daphne was teasing, but Astoria's sour mood wasn't able to take it as such. Daphne's attempt at conversation caused Astoria to sigh in exasperation, and she rolled her eyes at her sister. "I did my bit, you know. I said my speech, I danced. I think I deserve ten minutes of peace."

Daphne held her hands up in surrender. "All right, all right. Didn't mean to get your back up, just made an observation. I figured you'd rather it was me who came to get you instead of Mum and Dad."

Astoria smiled faintly. "You're right. Thanks, Daph." After a pause, she said, "I shouldn't have snapped, you know. It's just…I know that everyone expects me to perform all the time, and that's not me."

"I know it isn't." Daphne put her arm around her, and Astoria took comfort from that. "There's just a couple more hours."

"But it never ends!" Astoria exclaimed. Something in her simply boiled over, causing her to almost blubber. "Sure, it ends for the night, the day, whatever. But there's always more. I know I shouldn't complain, I know that we're extremely fortunate, but sometimes our fortune doesn't seem worth it if we can't be ourselves sometimes."

"No one expects perfection," Daphne said, a few extra blinks the only indication that she was surprised by Astoria's outburst. "They just expect the best you can give them. It's okay to feel overwhelmed sometimes, you know. Merlin knows I do sometimes."

Astoria's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Miss Perfect Princess gets overwhelmed?"

"Sure I do! I'm going to be the next Queen. I know you help me as much as you can, but there's lots of my life you don't see. Most of it is tedious and dull, and sometimes I can't make any decision without offending someone. Sometimes there's no right choice. It's difficult to manage."

Astoria smiled, and a tightness in her chest eased. Daphne's moment of honesty made her feel better about her own insecurities. "We're not perfect, but we're doing our best, aren't we?"

"That's all we can ever do," Daphne said fervently. Clearly it was important to get this across.

The sisters sat there for a few minutes. Finally, Daphne broke the silence again. "You know, there are lots of eligible young men here tonight."

Astoria rolled her eyes. "Don't get me started on that. You mean a bunch of rich twats who want to marry me one day."

"True," Daphne acknowledged. "But some of them are promising, aren't they?"

Astoria looked around at the guests, many of whom were meant to be potential suitors. Most of them she went to Hogwarts with, either a year or two difference in years. Some of them were quite handsome, but Astoria wanted more than that in a relationship, and Daphne knew that. "Maybe outwardly, but I won't turn into a simpering girl who fawns over every guy she meets. I may end up dating someone here, but I have to get to know them and find out if we're compatible. Who knows if I even like men? I could be a lesbian like you."

"Fair enough." Daphne grinned. "Speaking of, there's Pansy. I'll leave you in peace for now."

As Daphne stood to join her girlfriend across the ballroom, Astoria was surprised to find her seat quickly occupied by someone else.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," Astoria acknowledged her new companion. However, it was hard for her to manage civility with him. Draco Malfoy was one of the young men her parents had been most keen on her marrying. In other circumstances, she might not have been so set on disliking him, but the fact that her parents desired the match made stubborn something in her that didn't usually manifest snap.

"Your Highness." Draco nodded. "You look lovely today, you know."

"Thank you very much." She smiled thinly. "Isn't it rather presumptuous of you to sit without asking first, though?"

Draco immediately reddened and started to stand up. "Oh, I didn't mean…I'm sorry! I meant no disrespect."

He was so awkward in his apology that Astoria had to take some pity on him. "No, you can stay."

Draco sat down with a sigh, relief covering his face. "I didn't mean to be presumptuous, you know."

"I know," Astoria said begrudgingly. "I was mostly just razzing you, to be fair."

"Really?" Draco seemed surprised to hear this. "You've always disliked me, though."

"Only because everyone wants us together," she told him. "My parents expect us to get together someday, you know."

"I know," he agreed. "I know that we've got a lot set against us. And I've not helped that."

"Neither have I."

They were silent for a moment before Draco said, "Can we start over? No more bias, just us trying to be friends if that's in the cards?"

Astoria thought about it for a moment before she shrugged and said, "I'm willing to try, at least. We'll attempt a friendship."