Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 2

It had been a week since I'd had the encounter with Draco in my bedroom. Currently, I found myself standing in front of a full length mirror at Madame Malkin's as the storekeeper poked and prodded me, trying to fit a new dress robe onto me. Tonight was going to be my first date with the Malfoy heir. Convinced that I'd never be able to properly dress myself, my mother and sister had dragged me to Diagon Alley to find the perfect outfit. My mother buzzed around the podium I was standing on and my sister sat in a chair in the corner, busily reading the latest issue of Witch Weekly.

"Can you believe it? Astoria engaged to a Malfoy! I'm in a semi-state of shock myself. Although I must admit they've lost some of their prestige in recent years, but they're still rich. I have no doubt that in a couple of years the whole scandal with them and the Dark Lord will have been forgotten."

Madame Malkin hummed slightly, which my mother took as an agreement to her statement, however I got the feeling that Madame Malkin was paying more attention to getting the hem right on the dress than listening to a word my mother was saying.

"I'm so proud of you Astoria. To impress Narcissa Malfoy so much that she's deemed you acceptable to marry Draco, what an achievement! But I must admit that I'm shocked that it was you and not your sister. Of course I mean no offense by that."

"Of course." I muttered underneath my breath as I tried not to roll my eyes.

"It's just that Daphne is so much more social. Aren't you my dear?"

Daphne peered up from her magazine, "Astoria can have Draco Malfoy. I wouldn't want to marry him. Everyone knows he'll probably keep Pansy as his mistress after they get married and I wouldn't want to deal with that humiliation. Pansy has never been discreet."

My mother gasped, "No! You don't think he'd actually do something like that?"

"Wouldn't surprise me." I answered.

"Oh Astoria, you are such a pessimist. No, I don't think Pansy would risk her reputation. She'd never be able to garner a good marriage if she was a married man's mistress."

Daphne set aside the magazine, "Mum, Pansy Parkinson's reputation has already been shot to hell. Everyone is Slytherin knew she was sleeping around with Draco and no one wants his sloppy seconds. The only reason any respectable guy would marry her is if they were broke. The fact that she's the only heir to the Parkinson estate means that whoever marries her is assured to become filthy rich."

"Poor Cordelia," my mother sighed. "She used to be one of my closest friends at Hogwarts but the way her daughter goes around acting. It really is such a shame. Anyway, Astoria, tonight you need to be on your best behavior. Try to not be so sarcastic. And please at least attempt to be pleasant. He is your future husband you know."

Daphne snorted, "Astoria, not sarcastic? There's a sight I'd love to see. I think her first words were sarcastically muttered under he breathe."

I turned to face both my mother and sister and glared, "I'll have you both know that I can be pleasant. Unlike someone here," I threw a pointed look at my sister, "I actually work and I can hold back my sarcastic remarks and be pleasant perfectly well; you'd be shocked at the level of idiocy I have to put up with on a day-to-day basis. What can I say; sarcasm is just my natural defense to stupidity."

Daphne flipped her hair over her shoulder disdainfully, "I think it's clever not to work when there is absolutely no need to work. It's a bunch of needless stress. I'm conserving my energy." She picked up the magazine she'd set aside early and began flipping through it again.

"I agree with you full heartedly dear," My mother nodded her head towards Daphne. She then turned her attention back towards me with a look of exasperation. "Oh I just know that you're not going to be able to be nice to Draco. You better not spoil this opportunity Astoria."

"If only I was so lucky."

My mother threw up her arms, "I give up. Merlin knows you're just like your father." She turned back towards my sister, "Daphne you better mark Astoria's wedding day in pencil on your calendar, I have a feeling you'll need to erase it off before long."

Madame Malkin suddenly popped up from where she'd been hemming the dress with her wand. "There it's all ready." She took a step back to look over the dress on me in the mirror, "Do you want me to change the color?"

I turned to analyze my appearance in the mirror. Overall it was simple dress that fell slightly above my knees with an empire waist. It was a sapphire blue which I didn't mind. "I'll keep the color."

"Seriously?" Daphne cut in, "Come on, Draco is the poster boy of Slytherin, you should at least pander to that by wearing green."

My mother nodded, "You should listen to your sister. Aren't you proud of your former house? You really should flaunt your loyalty."

"Slytherin was fine enough. And if I really cared about impressing Malfoy then I might bother changing the color to green. However, I don't care, therefore the color stays."

"Pigheaded." My sister muttered.

"Facts are stubborn things." I replied with a smile.

"Well I'll refuse to pay for it if you don't change the color," My mother huffed out.

"Then this argument is over because I always planned on pay for it on my own."

After I paid for the dress, we all left the store: my mother in a foul mood, my sister delighted because she thought I was going to botch my engagement up, and I… well I was just hoping I didn't kill the Malfoy heir by the end of the night. He always was an insufferable git. And murder trials aren't cheap to pay for.

Later that evening silence engulfed the table at the restaurant, as Malfoy and I stared in opposite directions. My attention was being consumed by my fork while I think Malfoy was trying to figure out the mystery of life in his wine cup because he definitely was staring at it with a lot of determination.

He'd picked me up earlier that evening and had apparated us to Aubergine, one of the most affluent restaurants in wizarding London.

Along with being affluent, the restaurant felt oppressive. The menu was dominated by dishes with tiny portions for exorbitant prices, and as the minutes drew on, my desire steadily increased to be at my favorite café that made the best broccoli and cheddar soup instead of here where I could get a slow cooked salmon soufflé with lobster foam. Personally I didn't find any type of foam appetizing.

"So…" I hesitantly broke the silence that had formed between Malfoy and me, "What made you choose Aubergine?" I had noticed him looking at his menu earlier, disgruntled, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he too wasn't overjoyed to try lobster foam.

"My mum made the reservations." He sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"And I assume that it was Narcissa that planned out this little rendezvous."

He shot me a pointed glare, "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."

I scrunched up my nose at his response, "You are such a pleasant dinner companion Malfoy. I can see why your mother needed to go out of her way to find you a wife."

Draco didn't deem my comment worthy enough to reply to; he simply leaned back further in his chair and leveled his gaze on me.

I gave up trying to make small talk with him but he surprised me by speaking up after a minute or so of just looking at me. "I'm confused."

"That shouldn't be anything new to you."

"Are you automatically set to respond to everything sarcastically?"

"Maybe."

"Joy."

"Please, don't dish it out if you can't take it. You're rather sarcastic yourself."

"I never said I couldn't handle your sarcasm. You just make talking to you even more unpleasant than it would normally be."

"Right back at you." I said with a saccharine smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what I was going to say is that I'm confused to your reaction to our engagement."

I looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean?"

"You seem irritated by the match."

I couldn't help but give him a deadpanned look, "Are you seriously telling me that you're confused at the fact that I'm irritated at the thought that I have to marry you? Oh Merlin."

"What it's a legitimate thing to be confused over. Do you realize that I'm the number one most sought out pure-blood bachelor right now? Girls have been throwing themselves at me for years trying to make me fall in love with them and all that shite. Hell I'm constantly dodging love potion laced edibles. Shouldn't you be delighted that you beat out everyone else and have the chance to marry me?"

"…"

"What?" He asked, and I realized he was actually being earnest. He truly looked confused.

"I really am getting the opportunity to marry the most arrogant wanker that has ever walked this Earth. Wow I never thought a person could be so conceited but you've convinced me that I was so, so wrong. Here's a bulletin for you Malfoy. Not every girl worships you or the ground you walk on. And the speech you just gave me should be enough of an example to answer your own question. It's time you realized that it's a dark, dark world out there Draco and that you're not Merlin's gift to women. Actually if someone asked my personal opinion I'd have to say you're really a blight on my fair sex."

Confusion melted into anger and his eyes shined with fury, it seemed as if my derision had fanned a spark into a blaze. But I was relieved to see some passion in Draco Malfoy. I had begun to worry that I was being married to an aloof anemic shell of a man he once used to be back at Hogwarts.

"I don't need you to tell me the world is a dark place Astoria." He snapped out at me heatedly in a barely restrained whisper as he leaned in towards me to prevent people from eavesdropping on our conversation. "I've seen things you would never imagine, I've lived through things that would shatter you and leave you catatonic. Things that would make you want to end your life to escape the memories."

He snapped back from me suddenly and it was almost like I could tangibly feel the emotions radiating off him; seconds ago I felt like I was suffocating in a heat that could burn me alive and now I felt like I was slowly being encased in ice, and the subzero freeze was permeating throughout me.

Sitting completely still, I watched as Draco quickly got up from his seat and threw a couple of galleons on the table. Without a word or a glance in my direction, he walked out of the restaurant, masking his anger in icebound apathy.

I had come here tonight planning on making him angry and hate me; to push him far enough that he'd demand the end of the engagement. But guilt settled in and I knew I had taken it too far. It was almost shocking to me, the idea that I could feel remorse for something that I had said to Draco Malfoy. I realized that I must not hate him after all if I was feeling guilt.

A/N: Yay an update! The week before finals too, who would have thought such a thing could ever occur. Thank you everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I love to hear feedback from my readers. It absolutely delights me. I welcome all comments, questions, criticisms, compliments, opinions, or random thoughts. An update should come sooner rather than later considering that winter break is near upon me. I hope you all enjoyed!

1/30/15 A/N: Hello everyone! I've decided to revisit this story after a 2.5 year hiatus. I'm going through and cleaning up my writing in the meantime before I start writing some new chapters. This chapter has been re-edited.