For: Kitty Bridgeta, who went on a requesting spree! :)
Day 19
On the nineteenth day of Christmas…
"Draco," says the cool voice of his father. He looks up, knowing that someone has requested a dance. He has been brooding in the corner throughout the whole of his mother's ball, and should have expected this moment to come.
"Yes, Father?" he asks.
"A Miss Astoria Greengrass. Treat her nicely – she's the only interested Pureblood." The end of his warning is hissed to him. He knows the importance of making a smart match and raising the Malfoy name to its former status – it's just that he has no interest in it.
She does not smile when Lucius leaves. Instead, she looks at him pointedly. He stands and bows, begrudgingly, of course, but at least he acts like a gentleman. She takes his outstretched hand and leads him to the dance floor.
And as they whirl around, his hands around her waist and hers on his shoulders, all he can see is those hard blue eyes, staring back at him, unperturbed. She whispers, "Tell me about yourself."
He admires the curl of her brown tresses, the ivory of her skin. He finally clears his throat and says, "What to tell? I'm a poor, desolate ex-Death Eater, once-supporter of the Dark Lord, and never once proud of it. My family is trying to social-climb their way to the top like our ancestors did for us all those years ago. I'm really quite boring."
But she smiles, just a tiny bit, a hard smile, but a smile none the less. "I must say, I disagree."
He's falling into that smile, and so he does not hear the final chord of the violin. They continue to dance, not saying anything else, arms intimately intertwined, eyes locked on each other.
Perhaps he is a bit interested.
(Draco/Astoria)
Notes: Oh, God, how I love the two of them! Aah…writing them was so fun…And I only need one more to be caught up!