Draco tried to blatantly push the letter aside, but his hand froze midway. He rubbed against his temples, which had never pulsed with such throbbing pain in years. It was a dull pain that obstinately clung onto him, catching him off guard in an unwanted predicament. Still perplexed, his fingers wrapped themselves around a fountain pen. It was a peculiar sensation, the times he had spent writing in Hogwarts already seemed so forgotten.
Dear Ms Astoria—
The paper got viciously crushed into a tight ball as he let out his pent-up frustrations. He resoundingly slumped back into his seat, quite unfortunately, at a loss as to what to do.
The doors of the Malfoy Manor creaked open much later, letting in a breeze that stirred him.
OvO
Sir,
I'm sorry. I was horrible, I really am a beast. I was feeling quite weather-beaten and that caused me to be very discourteous towards you. I beg your forgiveness for my foolishness. And thank you for the Camellias, they look lovely. Just out of unsureness may I ask, are they actually pink?
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
Sir,
Happy days. Professor McGonagall told me to see her in the office in the late afternoon because there will be visitors. I couldn't concentrate because I had never felt so intrigued by the idea that I could skip History. It turns out that Daphne's friend, Pansy, came with Draco Malfoy to see how I was doing. Daphne used to tell me how the two of them were made for each other, but I find that hard to believe now. It seems as if Draco had decided that he has come to greatly detest her.
We went to a steak house at Charing Cross Road. Pansy did most of the talking, Draco was relatively silent the whole trip. I felt a little unsettled because he was watching me closely, I think we couldn't decide what to think about each other. And then there was that strange moment, where his eyes pierced right through me. It made me suddenly notice that he was the first person that I could see in full colour. Normally I have trouble seeing certain colours and that makes me become very muddled, but Draco was an exception. I must have gotten too excited over this observation because I blurted out how his eyes were a beautiful, startling grey, to which he had an amused smile that didn't quite come through.
We later talked about many things, it was a serious discussion: Why wizards love scones, how apples should be green instead of red, why Ron Weasley's rumoured obsession with chicken could be detrimental to his palette. I was an embarrassment later because I thought Draco offered his arm towards me, Pansy laughed and said that it was for her. I walked a little behind the two of them, feeling quite contented.
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
Sir,
Quidditch practice today. I was a bit rusty because it's been a few weeks since I got on my broom. Today was polishing up on our technique rather than playing actual matches, a slight disappointment but I knew it was much needed. I worked on the Dionysus Dive, a rather handy move for long-distance scoring. The chaser has to stand on a broom before leaping to punch the Quaffle straight into the goal. I nearly fell off my broom during one of my attempts. If it weren't for one of the girls called Alice McGregor, I might have met an unflattering death. Did you play Quidditch in your youth? I wonder if you were just as good as Harry Potter. He really does have some marvellous style.
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
Draco gave a condescending snort. "Potter."
OvO
Sir,
Can you imagine that Muggles use complex arithmetic to keep themselves alive? Heaven knows how they do that! Professor Rizenberg (we call him Professor 'Reece') told us that Muggles employ that in businesses out of no choice. Let's say you had to borrow a sum of money from the bank. In our world, how much money you pay on top of the amount you owe depends on the mood of the goblin that day, I suppose that makes bribery important. Muggles are much more calculative, they use compound interest, that means how much you pay in return increases with time, which is why some muggles never get out of their debt. I think my sense of justice has gone awry, offering bribes doesn't sound so bad after all.
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
Sir,
Alice and I went to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, I had to thank her for saving me from breaking all of my bones at Quidditch Practice. The owner George Weasley was cold to us at first, I heard him muttering something about Slytherins. Well, I can't blame him. Our rivalry with his house, Gryffindor, will always remain. The place is already a circus on its own. You could get transfixed by how vibrant everything is and there were all kinds of products that occasionally exploded. It was very packed because it was a weekend. George was a lot friendlier when Alice went to tell him how much of a fan she was. I must say, George has a wacky intelligence. He showed us his latest product, the Bewitched Knife. It gives an absolutely fantastic illusion that you've sliced off your head. I never laughed so hard in my life and I asked him how he manages to be that witty. He must have been exhausted because he didn't answer, before we knew it other students were fighting to talk to him. I hope you don't mind, I bought Alice a few self-writing Quills.
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
Sir,
I apologise in advance for my grumblings, today's Potions was a downer for me. Professor Slughorn tasked us to make Deathcap Poison. It was going well until I accidentally spilled some of it onto Samira Foster. Now I must confess that Samira is someone who looks absolutely ravishing. Her dirty blonde hair has a stark contrast against her immaculate face, which makes her completely alluring despite her hateful nature, naturally tempting me to be clumsier with my potions. The results were more severe than I expected because her veins bulged and turn black, she was screaming wildly as her skin started peeling. Slughorn had to rush her to the hospital wing, I felt awful since everyone was looking at me. I visited Samira later in the evening. She was fine except for the bandages all over her to cover up her burn marks, I laughed to myself because she did look absurd when she was mummified. Even though her mouth was covered, I could hear her spouting out curses. She's of Russian blood and Russians are hardly friendly in my opinion. I'm going to take a walk with Alice to forget about this for a moment.
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
Sir,
I hope you don't drink a lot; Professor McGonagall says that it does terrible things to you. My parents do go to the pub often, life probably isn't working out well for them right now. According to McGonagall, tea with biscuits are a much more sensible choice. I don't see people eating biscuits nowadays, modern times have made biscuits sound like an old English tradition. With the exception of McGonagall, I think only royalty enjoy doing such things. It must be an odd life being the Queen of England, almost living in seclusion and having to act refined in public. I think I used to be that type of person, it confuses me as to how I saw that life as indulgent.
Astoria Greengrass
OvO
"What are you doing?"
Draco snapped back from his trail of thoughts, alarmed. Lucius Malfoy scorned and leaned over his shoulder to have a good look at him, trying to decipher his antics. He had not spoken a word to him for days because he spent much of his time sitting by the fireplace, embittered that his son was growing into someone he found incompetent.
"Nothing." Draco quickly placed his arms over the letters, which by now he had neatly organised into a stack. While fumbling with his fountain pen, it sent out a spurt of ink onto Lucius' sleeve in the process. Lucius glared at him with such revolt that Draco's eyes widened and returned a look of helplessness. Lucius had his lips curl up into a snarl, more than prepared to make a cutting remark, when Draco hastily cut in, "Do you know Astoria Greengrass?"
"What do you want to know?" Lucius asked curtly, rubbing against the stain that unfortunately was turning into a smudge of black. Draco shrugged, his heart pounding madly. "Greengrass." Lucius paced behind Draco, speaking in a tone that sounded as if he was having a conversation with himself. "A family that has failed, lost everything." Lucius gave a wry smile that made Draco silently disgruntled, satisfied at finding a chance to finally share his disapproval about something. He came to an abrupt stop and the heel of his shoe scraped against the floor. "They are vile creatures."
Disclaimer: I have never and still don't have anything against Russians. Reviews and feedback are greatly welcomed, look out for updates on Tuesdays in one or two weeks.