Disclaimer : I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters…

Chapter 5: The manatee of endurance

Astoria Greengrass was lying on her bed, reading the latest edition of Witch Weekly, when there was a hoot from the window sill.

She looked around, only to find the most beautiful grey owl at the window sill.

She stood up with a resigned sigh. This wasn't the first time this little beauty had graced her window sill. And, it appeared, this wouldn't be the last time either.

Opening the window, she let in the owl and it flew in and sat on her bed.

Withdrawing the scrawl from its legs, she read the script with mounting irritation and the kind of hatred you show an overly fussy puppy.

Draco Malfoy had to learn to take no for an answer. No one, not even the world's most beautiful owl with the most mesmerizing grey eyes, that was standing before her tilting its head could convince her.

She wrote back an answer, resolutely refusing to accept his offer for a date.

She sent the owl back, and was sad to see such a magnificent creature go.

She plopped down on the bed, contemplating the various other attempts he had made in the past two weeks to ask her out.

When she had first met Draco at one of her friends' parties, she had greeted him formally and had cleared the place, having heard a lot from her sister about his Hogwarts days.

He had sought her out, and she had had no option other than to endure his presence.

But she had to admit, her sister had been exaggerating. He wasn't half as bad as she had made him out to be.

Of course he wasn't completely good either but, who was?

Sure she had to admit that he was haughtier and over confident but, not to the point that it made him conceited. Or may be he had toned it down since the war. Either way, she couldn't deny that she had enjoyed the time with him.

But, that didn't mean she wanted to date him.

Seeing the owl return once again with a scroll, she stood up, determined to send back a howler this time.

Draco landed in his room in the manor, transforming into his human form, and laid down on the bed, the howler in his hand.

It was almost funny. She was in love with him, him in his animagus form, if he was being bothered with specifics. Which he most assuredly was not. Yet, she declined every single invitation of his.

And Draco Malfoy took no for an answer. And changed it to yes.

He sat down by his desk and opened the howler, smirking as her suave voice screamed at him.

He wrote another letter, and prepared to go off into the night again.

A few days later, she was walking by Diagon Alley when she, unfortunately, met Draco.

"Hey Astoria" his greeting was casual as he walked towards her with quick strides.

"Hello" her voice was clipped and her reply short, not having fully recovered the reply she had received to the damned howler.

"Woke on the wrong side of the four-poster?"

"That's none of your concern. I have some where to be. Move"

"Sure. I just wanted to ask you a question"

"What?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"No"

"And I'd like to know why" he now stood before her, hands folded, stance firm.

"I want to spend more time with my blender"

"What in hell is a blender?"

"No idea. Must be some sort of Muggle device"

"Then why did you…you're making fun of me!"

"Nice one, genius. Now, move away"

But, he didn't. He walked the entire length of the street with her, and her answers to his questions kept getting weirder and weirder.

They had now moved past 'The monsters haven't turned blue yet, and I have to eat more dots' to which he had blinked in confusion,

'I have to go for my full body wax appointment' for which he had smirked and had opened his mouth to say some thing perverted, only deterred by her scathing look,

'There's a disturbance in the Force', at which he had asked her if she was, in fact, Loony Lovegood in disguise, which had offended her since Luna had been her good friend, and finally,

"You're ugly, I'm busy, have a nice day"

With that, she had waved to him and apparated out of the alley.

A week later:

Astoria waited by the war memorial, shivering slightly in the chill wind that blew.

If he stands me up, I'd sure as hell kill him! she thought as a few more people passed by her, watching her queerly.

"You idiot!" she shrieked into the night air and was startled to hear a low silky voice ask from behind her, "You were calling some one?"

"Yes, you! Look, I just came here to tell you to stop sending me owls asking me on dates…"

"Okay! But, seeing as this is a war memorial and in respect of the sentiments around it, though I was never one for sentiments, don't you think it'd be in the spirit to be a bit more nonviolent about things?"

"Non violent! You're teaching me about non violence! Shut the hell up! Ugh! I never should have come here in the first place!"

She walked away, only to have some thing take a hold of her shoulder.

"How dare….you? Where did you come from? What…"

Just at that moment, the owl turned into Draco again, and stood before her.

Astoria, it seemed, had lost her voice. Even if she had had it, she wouldn't have known what to say.

A few minutes of tensed silence reigned the place, with Astoria staring at the now human Draco and him, nervously looking at her and the memorial behind her in turns, and wishing he was the statue there rather than a real, live human being that she could hurt. There wasn't even any one about, to testify for his untimely and brutal murder.

He didn't know what had dared him to do such a thing, actually.

He hadn't intended to reveal his secret but it had just sort of….slipped.

But the day was, apparently, full of surprises, it seemed, for, instead of shouting some more at him, she merely flopped down on one of the benches around the memorial, her head in her hands.

"You…you were the owl?" she asked at last, lifting her head and staring at the very orbs that she had thought mesmerizing.

They were captivating, in a devilish, shady sort of way, but enchanting they were. Even in association with such an annoying persona.

"Yeah! I dunno what I was thinking back then but, it seemed perfectly right and so,…You have every right to be angry with me. I'll accept if you won't ever look at my face again but, I just want you to know, you were the only girl I ever sent letters to. You were the only one that made it seem a meaningful thing. I'll miss watching you from the windowsill while you read that tattered copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' that you keep hidden from your parents"

Her face bloomed into a smile at the mention of her favorite muggle novel.

"You won't tell them, will you?"

Draco had thought she was joking, but, seeing her completely somber face, he smiled.

"You have my word"

"What is that worth?"

"Everything"

"So you don't go back on your date offers either?"

"No…What?"

"Well, this day should be marked in history, don't you think? The day Draco Malfoy, king of retorts, was scrambling for words!"

"Of course! The day the ugly manatee owl turned into the prince charming"

"I think I liked you better in your animagus form. You were quieter. And prettier. And you were grey"

"I was never pretty. Animagus, or not. And I was manatee, not grey"

"Sure you were pretty and since when did you bother so much about color shades?"

"I don't"

"Su…re"

That day might not have been marked in wizarding history, but it was the most remarkable day in Draco's life.

The day he took the first step towards falling in love.

A/n: Written for the Crayola colors challenge(Manatee) and the Declining a date challenge!

R&R!