Chapter 1
A girl stood, gazing out a window. A melancholy expression on her face matched the mood of nature as the showers poured down.
"What is wrong, Astoria?"
The girl, short and dark, was accosted by another girl with vastly different features.
Astoria did not turn. "Nothing."
"Don't lie to me, you know it won't work. What is wrong?"
"Please leave me alone, Ella. It doesn't matter."
"Astoria," Ella said firmly, "tell me what is wrong. This is the opposite of your normal mood. This matters."
Astoria sighed, turning away from the window. She walked over to a sofa and sat down.
"Thank you for caring, Ella. It means a lot to me. This is the problem."
Astoria opened her hand, which had been clenched in a fist.
Ella gasped.
"A hair comb?"
In Astoria's hand lay a beautiful mother-of-pearl haircomb, inland with silver and containing a single emerald.
Short of the fact that it was clearly very expensive, the meaning of the haircomb would be lost on most. But in the pureblood world, a haircomb was the first gift in a series of exchanges that led to marriage.
"Who is it from?" asked Ella eagerly.
"The giver is the problem," Astoria said. "It was given to me by Thaddeus DeMarcus."
Ella gasped again. "The American muggleborn?"
"The same."
"He sure has nerve," Ella commented. "Your family would prefer if you never even spoke a word to him."
"I know."
"So why is there an issue? Simply return it to him."
"That would hurt his feelings," Astoria objected.
"Since when have you cared about his feelings? They have no reason to matter
to you."
"Because he cared enough to tailor it personally to me and my desires. Because he cares enough to go through the formalities despite the fact that to him, they are antiquated and completely unnecessary."
"So? Why does that matter?"
There was a pause. Finally, Astoria burst out.
"Because I want to keep it and return the favor!"
Ella gasped a third time. She stammered, "Y-y-you fancy him?"
"Yes! Is that so unbelievable?"
"Well, yes."
"Why?"
"Your family would disown you if you married a muggleborn!"
"I said nothing about marriage." Astoria was upset. "Well, I guess I did allude to it, but if we got together, we would just be dating."
"Dating?!" Ella said. "Courtship is the proper way to do things."
"I'm not doing anything yet, don't worry. But until I do something, you are to speak of this to no one. Got it?"
Elka nodded. "I won't tell a soul."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Thaddeus, known to his friends as Thad, was walking to Gryffindor tower.
Many of his butterflies were gone now, but not all. The butterflies had appeared when he decided to give the haircomb to Astoria.
Many had left when she accepted it, but now the question was : what next?
Their relationship had been a long time in building.
In first year...
Thaddeus sat at the Gryffindor table, one of the first to be Sorted there this year. When Professor McGonagall called out 'Greengrass, Astoria!' the girl named caught his eye.
Dark haired, dark eyed, from a 'Dark' pureblood family - she did not look overly like the blue eyed, dark skinned muggleborn he was.
That was the year of the dementors. Thad shivered at the very thought of them. They were two of several first-years who had been badly affected by them.
In the years that followed, as he had gotten to know her better, he had grown greatly attracted to her. But as he gotten to know her, he had also recognized the impossibility of the match. The Greengrasses were one of the richest families in Magical Britain.
Now, in his sixth year, with the Potter Quadruplets gone from Hogwarts and their massive debacle finally over, he had decided to make a move on Astoria.
But now, all he could do was wait.
Featuring my OC Thaddeus DeMarcus, this ought to end up somewhere in the realm of 7,000 words. Check out the Four Frenemies with the Surname Potter story!
If you wouldn't mind, please review so that I can improve my writing!
