Astoria grasped the handle of Gringott's and entered. As fond as her memory was of becoming an Unspeakable, she had a hard time putting the bits and pieces together. She couldn't remember exactly what Mr. Lerwick had said to her, nor could she properly remember her own reaction. She did remember that she had thought it was a joke; a well put-together joke from her old intern peers. For some reason, though, Mr. Lerwick's appearance told her otherwise. Did she want to become an Unspeakable? To be honest, the stigma of working in such a field initially put Astoria off. She didn't want that kind of attention. She didn't realize that she wasn't going to get that kind of attention - at first, at least.
It had been a couple of weeks before Astoria got recognized for being an Unspeakable. She had gone into work like she usually did and went into the lift to go to the Ninth Level. Mary Levesque, one of the interns who enjoyed calling Astoria an "errand bitch" happened to be on it, as well. As far as Astoria was aware, Mary was now working with the Improper Use of Magic squad. Astoria couldn't see it: Mary was rather stuck up and prudish. The squad up there seemed lighthearted with a good sense of humour. Then again, Mary could have just put herself in wherever she could.
"Did you just come in from fetching supplies to restock the tea area?" Mary snidely commented.
"Does it look like I have a box in my hands?" Astoria responded. She had mentally scolded herself. She hadn't wanted to respond. She had wanted to stay silent. Then again, she had almost accidentally broken a prophecy the night before and had gotten scolded by her trainer for it, so she wasn't in the best of moods.
"Where are you headed then?" Mary demanded. Her extremely curly hair seemed messier than usual, and Astoria couldn't help but wonder whether Mary's new job was stressing her out just a little bit.
The cool, female voice in the elevator stated that they were on the ninth level. When Astoria went to exit, Mary's face was obviously confused. Astoria pulled out her badge and flashed it at Mary immaturely before turning and walking down the dark corridor. The smartest thing to do? No, not at all. She didn't really realize that she most likely angered Mary, and the rumour mill would start. All because Astoria was just having a bad day.
Regardless of her memories, Astoria couldn't help but grin as the door to her vault opened. Inside was more money than she dreamed of making. No one ever told her how well being an Unspeakable paid. It was amazing to her that at the age of nineteen she could be completely independent of her rich family and be living well. As Astoria began placing her money into a bag, she realized she didn't care about rumours. She had more money than Mary, and had more money probably than most people her age. It was the price to be paid for keeping one's mouth shut, and as of yet she was doing a fantastic job. Who was she to tell the wonders of the Hall of Prophecy?
She hadn't been asked where she had wanted to work. It just sort of came about that she ended up working in the Hall of Prophecy. At first she thought it was dull work. They had her start by dusting the place and making sure she didn't break a thing. Due to her boredom, her mind drifted and she neglected to pay attention to which prophecy belonged to who. Most of them belonged to people who were now dead. The only thing Astoria did seem to notice was the fact that Harry Potter's plaque remained on the shelf, despite the fact that his had been destroyed and the entire thing was over. She supposed it was for sentimental value. Astoria had been told by Mr. Lerwick that in the final battle, many prophecies had been destroyed. Due to the amount of dust that hung about, she had a hard time imagining that the place once lay in almost complete ruin.
Astoria left Gringott's, rather in a hurry to escape the place where students and their families flooded in endlessly. The moment she walked out of Gringott's, though, and she was placing her bag of money into her purse, Astoria ran into some very small (probably first year Hogwarts student) child. She tried to regain her balance, but her heels got caught on each other and she went crashing down the steps out front. She couldn't help but feel extremely embarrassed. Her knee-length skirt was now barely covering what it needed to cover and her nude nylons had holes in them. She wasn't sure what hurt more: her pride, or her actual body. She saw a pale, white hand get extended towards her from some stranger, but she waved it away impatiently. When embarrassed, Astoria had the habit of being a little rude.
When she stood up and slowly dusted herself off, she glared at people who were staring at her. They all continued along. Astoria was rather surprised about how many parents were staring at her - most of the children's attention spans were already gone and they were walking away. Looking in front of her, though, she noticed the person who offered her a hand still standing there. She recognized him immediately - it was hard to not notice a Malfoy. She doubted very much he knew who she was considering she was two years younger. She wasn't sure what to say - it wasn't like he had the best reputation around. She decided on giving him an awkward smile and skirt around him while saying, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine."
As she went to walk away, however, she felt a firm grip on her upper arm. She turned around very quickly, but Draco had already dropped his hand. He hadn't been restraining her; it was clear that he just wanted her attention.
"Daphne, you don't recognize me?" he asked. He paused as he looked her up and down. "You look different."
The tone was extremely neutral, and Astoria didn't know what to make of it.
"Well, I would look different considering Daphne is my sister," she replied, irritably. Yes, she looked like her sister. She didn't think so much so that she could get mistaken for her. To begin with, the major difference between the two girls was Astoria's green eyes and Daphne's brown. Was that not a big enough giveaway? "Were you not in school with her for 7 years? Shouldn't you know the difference?"
Draco seemed a little ashamed for some reason.
"Yeah, I suppose you don't look like her. Apologies," he retorted.
From the stories Astoria had heard from others, especially when she was in Hogwarts at the same time as him, Draco wasn't much for apologies. Then again, the one he had given her wasn't the greatest, either. He had begun to walk away from her, and although Astoria was the one who was bumped and bruised, she called out his name anyways for him to return. He seemed rather reluctant.
"I'm Astoria," she introduced. She did not offer a hand. She was not really one for handshaking. She didn't know if he remembered her whatsoever from Hogwarts, but didn't want to make the conversation even more awkward by making him guess her name due to not remembering. "Do you want to get a drink?"
"I have a girlfriend," he stated, almost sternly. He looked at the watch on his wrist. Astoria was rather put off by his attitude. Did she say it was some sort of date? She didn't remember so. Regardless, Draco looked back at her and said, "I do have some time to kill, though."
"Lovely," Astoria replied, not entirely sure if she wanted him to agree to going.
The two headed off to the Leaky Cauldron together, mostly in silence as they tried to navigate their way around the hordes of students. They made vague small talk until they reached the dingy pub. When they managed to get there, Astoria was rather surprised. The place was still a little dark, but certainly had been cleaned up since the last time they were there. Draco himself looked rather put off still.
"It's not my first choice either," Astoria reassured him. "Do you have any other suggestions?"
"No... this is... fine," he answered, although his nostrils flared. Astoria took a seat and Draco went to the bar where a blonde woman was standing. She had an extremely friendly face - she was definitely not the same landlady that Astoria had known before. Draco returned and handed Astoria a Firewhiskey as he drank deeply from his own.
"Do you know who that is?" Astoria asked, nodding her head at the blonde woman. She seemed awfully young.
"This is the first time I've met you, and you're already jealous of someone else?" Draco replied, his grey eyes unimpressed. "Doesn't matter anyways, I suppose. That's Hannah Longbottom. As if the oaf ever got married," he continued, in obvious reference to Neville Longbottom.
"I wasn't jealous," Astoria asserted. Her cheeks grew red with anger. "You know what? This was probably a terrible idea. I just thought..." She stood up and grabbed her jacket while she looked down at Draco, who didn't look amused in the least. "I don't know, you just looked like you needed something to do."
"You were hoping it would be you?" Draco continued.
Astoria growled with anger, grabbed her bag and made her way out of the pub. She now knew that the rumours were true - Draco really was insufferable, even for a previous Slytherin! She left, not even caring that her Firewhiskey had gone untouched.