A/N: Hi pals. I know it's been a long, long time since you've heard from me, and I'm not even sure anyone will read this. Despite that, I was cleaning out my old computer this week and found this story and was hit with a new idea for it. So, I figured I'd type while I'm inspired. Sorry if it's a bit rough (it has been quite a while since I wrote for fun/creatively). If anyone is reading this, let me know if you'd like to see more :)

xXx

Before he knew it, Astoria had finished her essay and was looking at him contemplatively.

"So," she said casually, "should we head downstairs?"

Draco pondered this for a second. He was not eager to dine with Astoria and his parents, but he knew residing in his potions lab was simply prolonging the inevitable. Sighing a bit, he nodded his assent.

Astoria quickly packed up her materials while Draco watched. She's not much like Daphne at all, he thought. Not that he could say he had paid the elder Greengrass much attention. Sure, she was a friend of Pansy's, but Draco barely had the interest in keeping up with Pansy, never mind her irksome friends.

"Draco?"

Draco snapped his head toward Astoria. She had made her way to the door, hand hovering to open it. Her eyes were kind and her face held a note of.. concern? Draco shook his head to clear it. I can't afford to let her care. For her own good as well as mine.

"Too dainty to open a door, baby Greengrass?" he drawled, signature eyebrow raised.

Astoria's eyes hardened. She shot him a look, and pushed the door open without looking back to see if he was following. Much better.

The two made their way down the stairs in silence, Astoria not even sparing him a glance. Draco easily caught up to Astoria with a few extra strides, and she allowed him to lead the way to the dining room where their mothers were chatting animatedly, but only because she didn't know the way. The two women sat at one end of the long dining room table, an assortment of pastries and two empty teacups in front of them.

"Ah Draco, Astoria," Narcissa beamed, eyes twinkling. "Was the afternoon productive?"

"Very much so, ma'am," Astoria said politely.

"How wonderful," Mrs. Greengrass chimed in. She was a tall, slender woman with blonde hair and fair skin. The resemblance to her eldest daughter was uncanny, but she had Astoria's bright eyes.

"I was just telling Faye how you two simply must stay for dinner this evening!"

Draco allowed a grin to settle upon his face that he hoped looked sincere. "Good idea, mother. I'm famished".

"Well, Declan is occupied out of town and Daphne's at Miss. Parkinson's…alright, we'll accept."

Narcissa beamed and, with a flick of her wrist, the remnants of their tea were cleared and the table was set for five. Draco and Astoria sat next to each other and Mrs. Greengrass took the end.

Narcissa sat next to the remaining empty chair and addressed the table. "Lucius will be along in a moment, but we can start without him".

Draco rolled his eyes. Per usual. It wouldn't be a family affair if he didn't make a late entrance.

House elves came bustling out of the kitchen carrying piping hot plates of food. The foursome made it through soup and salad, the mothers continuing their gossip from before and Draco and Astoria discussing academics. They started the main course, spaghetti bolognese, when Lucius came sweeping into the room. As the man strode into the room, Draco couldn't help but compare the man to a dementor because of the sense of foreboding he dragged into the room. Both conversations faltered as Lucius took his seat, four sets of eyes watching him. Lucius, knowing the attention was on him, gave a self-satisfied smirk.

"Ladies," he greeted politely, inclining his head. "And Draco, of course." A house elf quickly brought out a plate for Lucius, and a tumbler of firewhiskey appeared before the man.

Narcissa leaned over to kiss Lucius on the cheek quickly. Draco raised his fork to his mouth to cover the small snort he had made at kiss. Public displays of affection were something Narcissa only engaged in for show and the gesture had looked rather forced. Lucius, however, took this as an opportunity to aim an insult at Draco.

"Draco," Lucius said sharply, causing the hand in Draco's lap to flinch slightly in response to the man's tone. Astoria's eyes, Draco noticed unhappily, were trained on him now. "Do try to keep the food you're chewing in your mouth."

Draco, mouth still full, could do nothing but nod. While he may not have total control over his flinching, Draco knew he was a master at concealing his emotions, which is why the embarrassment he felt at Lucius' comment was quickly tucked away behind his impenetrable mask.

The adults began a conversation about Declan Greenglass' whereabouts while Draco focused on swallowing the bite of food in his mouth. He chanced a glance at Astoria and saw her quickly glance away. No wonder she's a Ravenclaw. No Slytherin subtlety. He looked up to see that, while the adults were also conversing, Lucius was eyeing Astoria as well. It's probably nothing. He gets bored easily with meaningless chatter. There's absolutely no way he could know.

Feeling a bit hollow, Draco decided to strike up another conversation with Astoria to save her from Lucius' calculating look that she was seemingly unaware of.

"You've started Ancient Runes, right? How are you liking it?"

Astoria, in true Ravenclaw fashion, jumped on this question and started animatedly telling him all she had learned in the past few months. Draco nodded along when she paused for breath, but otherwise, the conversation didn't demand much from him.

They carried on eating the main course in this fashion and soon were on to dessert. Heaping bowls of chocolate mousse were brought out and the dinner guests dug in as if they hadn't eaten at all yet. Draco quickly noted that Lucius was on his third glass of whiskey. Not a good sign.

"So," Astoria said, between mouthfuls of chocolate, "what other elective did you take besides Ruins? Guessing it wasn't muggle studies?"

Draco went to let out a laugh, but then noticed how silent the table had gotten. Draco's eyes roamed over to his father, who had been half-way through draining his glass. Narcissa seemed to be waiting for Lucius to respond. Astoria, on the other hand, was on the receiving end of a particularly cold glare from her mother.

"Muggle studies," Lucius mused quietly, "what a waste of money and school resources. What else do we need to know about the filthy creatures, besides how far below us they are?"

Narcissa nodded placatingly and Mrs. Greengrass had narrowed her eyes at Astoria. Draco swallowed hard. "That's what Astoria meant, father," Draco supplied, but Lucius did not want to hear from him.

"Did you take muggle studies, Miss. Greengrass?" Lucius purred, although his eyes flashed dangerously.

"Oh no, sir," Astoria replied quickly, "I'm currently taking the Study of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy."

Lucius nodded his approval and swallowed the last sip of his third glass of firewhiskey. Turning to Draco, he said quietly "I daresay my teachings have taught Draco what he needs to know about those with dirty blood, right, son?"

The color drained from Draco's face. Skyler. Had she spent Christmas alone in the dungeon? A shiver ran through him, and he met Lucius' gaze as a warning flashed through the man's eyes. Draco didn't need to hear the words to understand his father was telling him not to breathe a word of the girl chained up in the cellar. Draco, mouth suddenly dry, nodded very slowly in response to his father's question.

Conversation resumed at the table, but it felt like buzzing in Draco's ears. How had he forgotten about the girl he tortured a few short days ago? He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he almost jumped when Astoria asked him a question about Quidditch. A topic he was well-acquainted with by now, Draco started spouting off some trivia in the hopes it would appease the girl. If his thoughts hadn't been so focused on wondering about the girl in the cellar, he might've noticed how Astoria was only feigning interest in Quidditch to give him something to talk about.

The rest of the meal passed quickly, and thankfully, uneventfully. Draco was soon helping Astoria out of her chair as the group of 5 headed toward the door.

"Thank you again for a lovely evening," Mrs. Greengrass exclaimed brightly. With a pointed look at Astoria, the young girl chimed in "Yes, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy; everything was amazing".

"Oh, it's no problem at all" Narcissa beamed, happy the day had gone smoothly. "When should we expect to see you again?"

Mrs. Greengrass looked at her daughter, who responded "I have one more essay to get done over break so maybe…this Friday, the 30th?"

The adults agreed, and so the Greengrass' were ushered out the door, leaving the three Malfoys alone in their big, empty manor. Before Draco could even formulate something to say, Lucius was on him.

Slap.

"Don't you dare sit at a table of mine and discuss muggle studies if you would like to keep your face arranged the way it currently is."

Draco had been expecting this given the copious amounts of firewhiskey pulsing through the man's blood. He was about to answer, not that he would mention it was actually Astoria who had brought it up, when a timid knock on the door interrupted the moment.

"Enter," Lucius called, anger momentarily forgotten as he took a step away from his son.

A small head with brown hair and shining eyes peeked around the heavy door. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I left my books behind after dinner. Would it be alright if I ran and grabbed them?"

"Nonsense, Draco will run and get them for you," Narcissa answered Astoria. Draco didn't need to be told twice. He ran from the entryway toward the dining room and found the book bag next to her chair. A bit curious, he opened the bag. True to her word, it was full of her potions notes and books, as well as her completed essay. Among the neatly organized papers was one item out of place. It was a small notebook with a blue and black patterned front. It looked as if it had seen better days a long time ago. Before he could think better of it, Draco took the small notebook out of the bag and put it in his pocket, which was charmed to be much deeper than it appeared. Securely fastening the bag, he returned to the entryway and handed Astoria her bag.

"Thank you," she said, and Draco met her eyes. She looked genuinely happy, and then, her eyes flickered to the side of his face. Draco could've sworn a frown played upon her lips, but it was gone so quickly he thought he imagined it. As she turned to go, he absentmindedly raised his hand to where her eyes had flickered to and realized it was the spot Lucius had just slapped him. It must've been red.

Astoria left, the door closing with a resounding thud, and the manor was quiet again.

"Faye and I had the loveliest time today, Lucius," Narcissa revealed happily.

"Good, good," Lucius commented, "I'll take all the high-ranking allies we can get."

Draco hadn't moved yet, unsure if he was allowed to go to bed or not. Lucius, as if he had sensed Draco's conflict, answered his unspoken question. "I think it all best we retire for the evening."

Draco nodded, bid his parents goodnight, and quickly walked to his room before his father could change his mind. Most teenagers resented being told to go to bed, but Draco didn't mind because his room was a Lucius-free zone. Going to bed early simply meant a night free from Lucius' reprimanding. Draco entered his room and closed the door behind him with a sigh. The day could have been a lot worse. As he was getting ready for bed, Draco remembered the notebook sitting in his pocket and felt a wave of guilt. He didn't know why he had taken it; it was like a compulsion. Figuring he might as well look at what he had taken, he brought the notebook over to his bed and sat down.

As he held the notebook in his hands, Draco prepared himself to read the girly entries of a 14-year-old girl. Not that Astoria is like the other fourteen-year-olds I know. I just cannot fathom what a girl would even write about in her diary. Telling himself he would sneak it into her bag on Friday, so she'd never even know he had it, Draco flipped to the first page. Blank. That's odd. He carefully flipped through the first few pages, then when those turned out to be empty, he thumbed through the rest of the notebook. As far as he could tell, the entire notebook was blank. No doodles, no limericks, and no musings about fourteen-year-old boys. Draco could have accepted that the notebook was blank, but it didn't fit. This notebook is far too worn to have nothing in it. Besides, I saw some spare parchment in her bag, so it's not like she's using this for its paper. I must be missing something. Is there such a thing as invisible ink, like in the stories?

Draco took out his wand, pointed it at the first page, and whispered "Revelio!".

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. He tried holding it up to light, shaking it, and almost caught one of the pages on fire trying to expose it to heat. Still, the notebook stayed blank, the emptiness of the pages mocking him. I will not be bested by a 14-year-old's diary he growled to himself, still refusing to accept the notebook was empty. He half-heartedly threw an "alohomora" at the book, but no words appeared to be locked inside. As frustrated as Draco was, he was enjoying the puzzle. It gave him something to do. Draco cast "glacius" at the paper, wondering if the paper might react to cold rather than heat. Having gotten nowhere, Draco started to wonder if this diary was more like the one he had seen his second-year.

"Hello?" he whispered at the book. Feeling stupid, he gave it one more shot. "Can you hear me?"

The book, in addition to having no legible words, appeared to have no ears as well, because it did nothing to acknowledge Draco's words. Thoroughly perplexed, Draco stared at the book in his hands for a few moments. Is it possible it really is just an old empty book? While logic seemed in favor of this answer, Draco wasn't convinced.

He grabbed his glow-quill from his nightstand and scrawled What is your secret?

The fresh ink shined up at him, but otherwise, the words did nothing remarkable. They didn't move or get sucked back into the page. They regarded him stoically, and it seemed to Draco they wanted to know what his secret was. Draco groaned and closed the notebook, just realizing how tired he was. He tossed his quill and the empty notebook into his nightstand, lest someone found he stole it, and turned off his lights. Although it couldn't have been later than 10, Draco found he fell asleep rather quickly, his mind as blank as the pages of Astoria's mysterious diary.