Dose of Your Own

By: OurLoveIsForever

Chapter Twelve: News

Things could always get worse. That had been my motto since I was a child. Even if you were having the most terrible day since the creation of magic, someone would still be having it worse somewhere. I understood this and so, I took everything with a grain of salt. Perhaps it was a very cynical frame of mind, I really didn't care if it was or not. I could tell when I was in danger, generally, and I could cover my own as well as the next person.

Perhaps that is what landed me in the guest room of Malfoy Manor, just down the hall from the Great Prat. Albeit, it wasn't my dream 'vacation'. I was safe. That was all I could really ask for.

I was really getting tired of not being informed of the whole story. I knew there was more to it. I wasn't daft. I could pick up when the conversation had suddenly changed when I entered the room. Zabini was always the one to give that fact away, struggling to catch up with Nott in his conversational changes. Sometimes it was amusing.

Sometimes it pissed me off.

"Good afternoon, Greengrass." Davis said, glancing up from the Daily Prophet.

I glared down at her. It was certainly not a good afternoon. It was far from being a good afternoon. "Good? Is it?"

She didn't bother to answer, opting to ignore me entirely.

"So what's the plan?" I bit out to the room at large. Nott and Zabini sat at a corner table, their heads together speaking lowly. Lady Malfoy leaned in a rather comfy looking chair by the fire, her hair up in an elegant bun. "I have a job, you know. I can't wait around forever. If there is a plan, I want to know."

"You work for Twilfit and Tatting. They are already informed of the situation. Tatting will be handling your estate in you absence." Nott sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I've already been through this, Astoria."

"You've avoided my question, Theo!" I growled, pacing closer to him. Zabini leaned back, folding his arms behind his head as if watching a quidditch match. "What's your plan?"

"Astoria…" He sighed, shaking his head.

I was not in the mood. "The Carrows had to have an outside ally. We have already gotten one of their moles inside the Ministry, but we've yet to figure out who is supporting them otherwise."

Nott glanced toward Zabini and over my shoulder to the two women. "We think it is your father."

"And?" I spat. "I'm not a double agent. I don't give two sickles what my family is doing! To be honest, I wouldn't doubt it a bit."

Zabini pushed the front two legs of his chair off of the floor and began to twirl his wand in my fingers. "The people who have been killed have been 'deserters' to the cause. William Flint, Marcus McCabe, Julia Morford…" I had heard my father ranting about their disappearances during the war. "Ultimately they are after Lady Malfoy. The Malfoys are the supreme turncoats."

My eyes widened considerably. That didn't sound right at all. They were among the most loyal of all his followers, weren't they? "How?"

"I lied to the Dark Lord." Narcissa Malfoy said from her seat. I spun to face her, my eyes surely as big at tea saucers. "The only way they could know that is through a mole. We made a deal with the Ministry to protect that information for we knew it could mean our lives. In return we turned in other members of the Dark Lord's ranks, earning us a shorter stay in those walls." He voice trailed off. I stared, completely dumbfounded.

"That's not to mention that Crabbe Senior blames Draco for his son's death."

"My father turned in Jamison before his death." Nott muttered, taking his head into his hands. I looked to Zabini, expecting some revelation from him as well. He simply shrugged, shaking his head.

I glanced around. "So, what? We sit here until they're stopped?" I threw my hands up in the air and marched for the door. My head was aching horribly. I just couldn't grasp all of this information. Everything was starting to make a little more sense. The Carrows were certainly out for revenge. For good reason, they were after the Malfoy family, Nott, and, for the life of me, I couldn't truly grasp why I was involved at all.

I strolled around the Malfoy grounds, thinking it all over. If my father was behind the Carrows, he could have them kill me. I would be less trouble dead, that much was for sure. I just couldn't see him going that far, wasting that much energy. They could have just assumed I was important to Nott, like he had told me in the first place. That, too, didn't sit just right. I was being left out of the loop somewhere. I hated it. I hated the situation I was in. I hated that I couldn't go back to my pleasantly normal life.

Feeling my anger growing, I threw myself onto the grass in the back of the Manor. It was a warm, strangely beautiful day with fair weather could lines up on the horizon. I felt the grass prickling my skin as I lay there. As I closed my eyes, I let everything slip away, listening to the distant calls of birds. In that moment, I was just there. I was just Astoria and that was perfectly fine.

"Greengrass?"

I jerked my eyes open to see a head of platinum hair blocking the sun above me. The light framed him like a halo. I sighed, closing my eyes again. "If you're going to bother me, then go away. I'm in no mood for your stupidity today."

I could hear him sitting in the grass beside me, but he kept his mouth shut. For that, I was thankful.

Nearly ten minutes passed before I opened my eyes to glance at him. He sat beside me, his eyes gazing into the distance, his knees bent where his elbows rested on top of them. I suddenly felt the urge to speak. "I take it you're feeling better."

He gave me a brisk nod.

If he didn't want conversation, I certainly wouldn't push it.

"I feel like shite." He muttered. I gave a single laugh.

"Shocking, that." I responded, folding my hands behind my head. "You're not going to milk this as you did my first year, are you?" I kept one eye open to see his reaction.

He bristled, turning to glare impatiently. "I didn't milk that!"

"You had a scratch the size of—" I sat up, smirking all the while. I used my left hand to block the sun from my eyes.

"It wasn't a damn scratch!" He almost yelled, leaning forward. I kept my amused grin in place. Somehow everything seemed to fade away as we bickered. I just felt like laughing at his almost bewildered expression.

I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh." It was completely sarcastic in nature. He narrowed his eyes at me. He was so close that I could feel the heat of him. I could smell his scent. I couldn't help but think it intoxicating. Malfoy smelled something like a mixture of burnt wood and coffee.

I could feel his breath on me as he whispered, "You're so bloody infuriating." My stomach was doing gymnastics. He was growing nearer with every passing moment, every second. I didn't know what was happening. It was as if I were under the imperious curse. My muscled moved on their own, the lids of my eyes slipping nearly closed as his warm breath washed over my face. It was all so unreal. What terrified me the most and energized me more than anything was the fact that I wanted this. Some traitorous part of my being wanted those pale lips on my own.

"Hey, Malfoy! We have news!" Blaise Zabini's voice rang out from the back door. We froze for a moment before I jerked back, my senses returning to me.

Malfoy was cursing as he rolled his eyes. He pulled himself up from the ground, casting me a final glance before sprinting for the house.

My heart was about ready to jump out of my chest. What was I thinking? The reality hit me so hard that, if possible, my heart rate doubled. I had almost kissed Draco Malfoy. Stranger still, Draco Malfoy had almost kissed me.

"Bloody..." I whispered, standing. My fingers went to touch my lips. "Oh, bloody hell."

If he could act as though it never happened, I most certainly could as well. It would be no problem, a non-point. Falling into the seat beside Nott in the parlor, I sighed, unable to restrain myself. I kept my eyes poised on the fire, the light from it being the only source of light in the room. The curtains were drawn, blocking out the sun. We sat in relative silence.

I could feel Nott growing irritated beside me. "Zabini, stop being dramatic and give the information for Merlin's sake."

"Okay!" Zabini agreed, throwing his hands up. I shook my head at his antics. He stood, growing serious instantly. "I got a letter from Goyle."

"What information does that great git have?" Malfoy practically growled. I didn't look at him. Instead I kept my eyes on Zabini who looked a little annoyed at being interrupted.

"He said that Crabbe Senior has contacted him. They are going to wait until you leave the Manor. Anyone that leaves will be attacked. They can't get through the defenses."

Malfoy scoffed. "Of course they can't. The Malfoy wards have been in place for centuries. It is a veritable fortress."

"That's not the point, Malfoy." Zabini frowned, taking a seat next to Davis. His arm automatically went around her shoulders, along the back edge of the couch. "The fact is that we are trapped."

"I'm a fair duelist. I can fight my way out."

"Against four of the most powerful Death Eaters that were in the Dark Lords service? Yes, that I would pay to see…" Nott snorted sarcastically. His hand ran through his hair out of habit. "Draco, you could no more take them on than I could."

I, once again, avoided looking in his direction. My hands seemed very interesting: pale and thin. I examined them as if they were more interesting then the topic at hand.

"That's laughable coming from you, Nott." Malfoy replied snidely.

"Unless someone feels like being bait, we must wait this out until our allies aid us. It will not be long. I have already sent what owls I must." Lady Malfoy said with finality. I lifted my eyes to her. She sat facing the fire still, her head leaned back and her eyes shut. She looked very much like a ghost. The fire played her features in such a way that she looked much older than her age. "Lady Astoria?" I focused at once. "Send owls to your friends. If you could explain the situation, perhaps they could help." I raised my eyebrows at Nott. He nodded once.

"I will."

"Good." She smiled slightly. I felt a pang of sympathy for this woman. She appeared so alone in that chair.

We seemingly adjourned for the evening. I followed Nott to the library, a place he told me that he has frequented during his stay at Malfoy Manor. He had discovered a spell within the archives that must have been used by the Carrows. It was a sensing spell which could be placed over distances to set off an alarm if someone leaves the field it emits.

"That makes sense," I agreed. He rubbed his temples slowly, closing his eyes.

When his eyes opened, they were slightly irritated. "I needed to tell Draco this as well. There is something more to it, I know. He ran off before I could catch him." I rolled my eyes at the thought of needing that mangy ferret for anything. "Could you go get him?"

"What?" I replied, not quite hearing him correctly. If I had heard him right, he asked me to go get Malfoy. "I'm sorry. It sounded as if you wanted me to go get him."

Nott grinned a bit at my aggravated state. "Stop being immature, please."

I shook my head vehemently. "No, no. I am most certainly not going to get him. That's the end of it, Nott. I see no reason that you can't go get him yourself. You have two legs don't you? Use them. They aren't just for looks. You'll find that if you use that brain of yours more often, perhaps you may learn a thing or two!" I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him.

I don't know how he did it, but Nott had made me go to retrieve the Great Prat from his tower. I stood, my hands on my hips, in front of Malfoy's door. I had knocked twice and my patience was growing thin rather rapidly. "Malfoy, I swear!" I called, pounding on the door again.

The door jerked open. "What?"

Keeping my eyes controlled on his face, I bit out. "Nott wants you in the library." I turned as soon as the words were out of my mouth. I was trying to keep my thoughts in my head. If I let my mouth get away with me, he would repay in spades. For all my efforts, "prat" slipped out of my lips just as I reached the corner.

My back hit the wall of the deserted corridor, hand slamming into the sheetrock beside my head. The air became charged that instant, both with magical energy and something more. Malfoy stood, pinning me against that sheer surface. I glared up at him, trying to push him away. He wouldn't budge. I felt a pull in my abdomen telling me to allow him to hold me there. My senses were flying in every different direction. It was dangerous. He was angry.

"A prat, am I?" He growled. "Listen, Greengrass, I took you in. I jumped in front of a bloody curse for you! Do I really deserve such treatment?"

I nearly laughed. Could he ask such a question? "You treat me the same way."

"Maybe that's because you make me."

"I hardly make you, Malfoy!" I hissed, jerking myself to the left, struggling as I spoke. "Ever since I met you, you've been nothing but arrogant and conceited. You lob insult upon insult my way. I don't understand you, you damn—" My mouth stopped when his lips crashed onto my own.

Lights exploded in my eyes. I could feel everything as a hand wound its way through my hair. I gave myself over to my instincts allowing my own arms to wrap over his shoulders for better support. His other strong arm came around my waist holding me closer to him. My limps tingled with the sensation of the kiss. His teeth nipped at my lips begging for entrance. I did not oblige, still intent on giving him as much hell as I could. All too soon, his mouth was gone. He stepped away, his back hitting the other wall. I could see the hunger in his gaze. I imagined that I looked about the same as I stared at him. I made it a point to not look below his waist, but by the flush on his pale cheeks I could certainly tell. I felt fairly ravished. My shirt was a bit more askew and I was breathing heavily, leaning against the wall for support.

We stood in silence. I knew that I was unsure what to say after that and judging by his clouded expression, he wasn't sure if he could speak at all. I tried to force my mouth to work. Determined to get the first word in, I grinned, regaining my posture.

"Don't interrupt me!" With a quick smirk, I nearly bolted down the hallway and out of his sight. I leaned against the wall of another hall, my chest heaving and my hand over my mouth. I could still feel everything and the only thought in my mind was my want for more. I shook my head to erase that thought. Huffing, I decided to head toward my guest room. "Great Prat."