The next morning proved difficult to wake up, the cold weather was already setting in, which made the dorms chilly, I never wanted to get out of a warm bed. It felt strange, and it took me some feeling around to realize it was because I was alone in bed, I peeked my head out of the bed curtains to make sure all the guys had gone done to either breakfast or the common room, they had, so I proceeded to lock the door and slip on a sun dress, it was black and sleeveless, but my mark was the one problem.
I stared at it, dark in contrast to my light skin, a shiver ran down my spine, but I knew this was for the best, Draco and I would need each other's support for any coming tasks we would have, the more ruthless a witch I was being taught to become, would only benefit him and I together, he was more cunning and sly than I, we balanced each other's attributes perfectly.
Draco only wore his Hogwarts uniform on school days, any other day and he wore a black suit, always looking proper, and of high standards. The thought of him made my spine tingle; he was certainly handsome, much more handsome than short Potter, or the ginger that hung around him. After I finished my face, and brushing my hair, I made my way down to the Great Hall, after finding Draco was not in the Common Room. I did stop by Snapes office though, slyly avoiding anyone that may see my mark, Snape was the only one I could think that would be able to help me hide problem. Luckily it wasn't to chilly outside; it felt refreshing on my bare skin.
"Snape!" I hissed as I walked in, he looked up from his desk, not very surprised to see me.
"I see you've finally realized there's a drawback", he said motioning towards my arm.
"Obviously! How do I hide it?" I questioned him desperately.
He stood up and paced in front of his window slowly, the same green light casting in the room from the lake outside.
"There are a few ways, clothing of course is one." he said lazily
I sat there waiting for more, he smirked, "But I found a spell years ago to conceal it, something I've never shared, and will not be sharing with you, it only works about a full day anyways."
I continued to just sit there, eyebrows raised, he strode over to me, whispering an incantation, too low for me to understand, but slowly, the mark faded into nothing.
"Thank you." I said curtly as I rose to leave, he nodded, getting back to what he was doing before, viewing memories in the Pensieve it appeared. I didn't question him, I simply continued on.
"Good morning", I said curtly to everyone sitting at the table. Pansy ignored me; it looks like she'd been crying. Blaise was averting his gaze, and Draco was sitting back, examining them both, his face blank and unreadable. He rested his hand on my thigh whenever I settled in.
Curiously I saw a strange blonde girl staring at me from the Ravenclaw table, talking to the Weasley girl. Weasley didn't look too happy about something, I enjoyed that.
Breakfast went rather oddly, bloody Umbridge was making her usual problems, picking on students, as much as I couldn't stand her, it was best to act nice, and suck up, Slytherins are better strategizers than Ravenclaws honestly.
I was ready to get to the Three Broomsticks, and wander around Hogsmeade with Draco. The Shrieking Shack was always somewhere fun to hang around. It didn't take me long to eat, and Draco and I wordlessly got up when he saw I was finished eating. Blaise also stood up.
I expected today to be awkward, mainly due to Blaise and Pansy's abrupt breakup, what I didn't expect, was who he was replacing her with. It was the bloodtraitor Weasley girl. My expression changed from surprise, to disapproval, while Draco held one of disgust. Who wouldn't be disgusted?
"So this is the new interest is it Zabini?" Draco questioned him, drawling, he was obviously not impressed. Honestly he sounded bored, I couldn't blame him.
"Yes." The girl said coldly before he could answer. I needed a chance to talk with Draco, alone, about this blasphemy.
"Well, we'll leave you two to get cozy for a little while, we can meet at the Three Broomsticks in a little while." I said with a false tone of sweetness, I could feel my eyes betraying the tone...no matter.
As we headed to the wilderness portion of Hogsmeade, walking towards a lovely lake a little hidden by an old abandoned mansion. The blonde girl and Roger Davies came around the corner.
"Its Loony Lovegood", Draco sneered. Now I knew who this girl was, everyone had heard of Loony Lovegood. I knew her real name was Luna now…
Roger seemed frightened by whatever Luna was telling him, clearly trying to get away from this girl. Relief colored his face as soon as he saw Draco, he and Draco were on rather good terms with each other. Opponents or not, Ravenclaws were the only house Slytherins didn't totally despise, they at least had sense... Even if some were know-it-alls.
"Malfoy!" called Davies, as he excused himself from Luna to speak with Draco. Lucky git… I thought to myself, leaving me out of the conversation, with Loony was foul play. I glared at Draco, he smirked, and extracted himself from talking to Davies, at right about the moment Lovegood got the courage up to speak with me.
"Hello Astoria, lovely seeing you today" started Lovegood. How did this girl know my name? It was true, most everyone in the school knew of me, especially because of Draco, but then there were dunderheads, like Potter, who thought I was Parkinson… HA!
I was focused on Draco's sudden attitude change to reply back to her. He was lighter hearted around me more than anyone else. Some would say it was impossible for him, especially fellow students…. But some things were necessary in order to maintain the authority we so obviously had. His face changed to the usual demeanor quickly, superior and criticizing.
"Oh hello", I said absently and emotionlessly, bringing myself out of my thoughts.
"Have you been around any nargles lately? You seem to have the symptoms."
Draco was obviously questioning her sanity, we both were actually.
"Isn't your father the editor of the Quibbler?" Draco sneered.
"Why yes he is."
"Go figure" He said as he laced our fingers together, taking me towards town again, and away from Loony Luna Lovegood.
When we got to the pub, Draco ordered us two mugs of Firewhiskey, even though as underage wizards we weren't supposed to drink Firewhiskey, being a Malfoy had its advantages.
The pub was awfully full but we managed to get our normal table at the front of the pub. The rest of the date was interesting. Blaise, Draco, Ginny(it turns out the girls name was), and I were all sitting at our table, eating a bit of lunch. Slytherins tended to say whatever they want, without a filter. Now being a Death Eater, that urge is doubled easily.
"Mudblood", I sneered as Granger walked through the door with the Ginger and Potter. Weasley was no "Princess Sunshine" at these words.
"If this is the company you keep, I'll be leaving." She stated threateningly to Zabini, standing up abruptly and confrontationally, we remained seated my hand twitched towards my wand.
Apparently he didn't care much for her, he just shrugged his shoulders. She stared aghast. I smirked and waved her goodbye in a mocking fashion. Draco was in a much better mood afterwards, we all were.
In the coming weeks, we were approaching our O.W.L examinations, Quidditch practice was seldom at this point even though Draco wasn't too worried, I was a little concerned when it came to Divination. It was Monday and we were sitting in our usual positions waiting for the Centaur Firenze to get to class. All the sudden my left arm burned, I could tell Draco had felt it as well. We looked at each other in as Snape rushed in and said "Come" looking directly at us. We both jumped up and sprinted out the door, never were we needed at a Death Eater meeting.