Written for reveur-de-minuit's Seven Deadly Sins Challenge with the sin of envy and Astoria Greengrass.

Enjoy!

"Envy is a horrible vice," Astoria's mother would always say, "A most pathetic thing".

"We're purebloods. People should be jealous of us, not the other way around," She would declare.

And little Astoria Greengrass, doe-eyed and smiling, would nod politely, pretending to agree with her.

But the problem was that Daphne was every bit as pure and privileged as she was. Not to mention older.

As proud and stubborn as Astoria was, she couldn't help think- even for a moment- that she might be jealous of her sister.

Just maybe.

The brief little flash of insecurity was something she had felt just every now and then- hairlines cracks on the surface of her ego and tiny bouts of anxiety. Nothing more.

And as she grew older it got worse.

Seven year old Astoria would watch resentfully as her sister, with the golden hair and the sparkling eyes, beamed and basked in the adoration of their parents and purebloods alike.

Her sister that was as beautiful as she never could be.

So Astoria- the moody, forgotten one, would sit in the corner, hiding behind her veil of thin auburn, pretending she didn't care. Biting her bottom lip until it was as torn as ribbons- oblivious to the pain and the crimson streaming down her crinkled chin, Astoria would convince herself that it didn't faze her in the slightest.

And maybe it didn't.

The thirteen year old girl eyed her sister (through barely green eyes no less) with a glare of utter contempt. Daphne- the lithe and charming child dressed in Slytherin green, lounging with completely casual grace against the velvet cushions of the parlour. The girl who happened so effortlessly to be the favourite of all the professors.

And Astoria would be shunted to the shadowy depths of obscurity- know only as 'Daphne's sister' and the forgettable girl who couldn't live up to expectations. And maybe, right then, she had wanted- even for a brief moment, that she was Daphne- the dazzling delightful sun instead of the peaky moon that had always paled in comparison.

But was it so wrong to wish that?

Astoria, at seventeen, glanced at her sister; the beautiful creature admiring herself in the vanity. There was nothing she wouldn't give to be her- the fair haired, dainty girl that was the epitome of a pureblood wife, or the charming popular prodigy, or the angelic child who was perfect in every way.

And maybe that's when Astoria admitted to herself that she was envious of her sister.

The jealousy she had tried so hard to conceal by using lying as a coping mechanism. The feeling she masked with her quick wit and utterly indifferent demeanor.

Why was it she wanted so desperately to be the thing she despised the most?

There was absolutely nothing she had that her sister didn't. There was nothing in her possession that Daphne had yearned for with the same intensity she had- except perhaps…

Maybe when she met Draco it became okay.

Being with the boy who was just as broken and torn as she was (and so much more)had made her aware that she had no need to be jealous. When he kissed her softly against her cheek- feeling the sweet warmth of his breath, she knew that she was every bit as content as her sister could ever be. When he ran his fingers through her lovely copper hair and whispered gently in her ear, Astoria wouldn't have traded it for the world.

She didn't need to be beautiful, likable and proper Daphne.

She was sarcastic, witty, playful Astoria and yet he still loved her.

The green eyed monster- the one that had consumed and flooded her with bitterness and self-hate and longing for seventeen years, had finally gone.

And maybe Astoria Greengrass was no longer envious.

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! :D