Part 2: a seccond year with a problem
"Hi Draco! Listen can I leave my sister here? Theo and I have something to do down in the Greengrass tent and he said you'd be cool with watching Astie for a while" Daphne's chrill voice sang in his ear, interrupting Draco's grumpy glaring of Potter who had dared to attend the Quiddich World cup and his musings on how he wished that the Malfoy family tent was away from the vicinity of those idiots
"Daphne I'm fine" a rather surly voice whined from behind her and Draco turned to see baby Greengrass sulking with her arms crossed "go shag Theodore somewhere else, I want to stay in MY tent in peace" Astoria said slaming her slipper in the ground with childish annoyance
"So can you take her? She's so giving me a headache" Daphne begged, completely ignoring her younger sister and batting her eyelashes in Draco's direction, making sure to give him a good look down her very low cleavage "who knows maybe you can join me and Theo after this brat falls asleep"
"Oh Morgana this is unveleivable, I take it back, I want that dishilusionment Amulet Theodore offered me, I'm going down to the Bullstrode tent" Astoria complained turning her back on her sister and Draco, embarassment coursing trough her veins at Daphne's behaviour, but Draco's arm shot out to hold her back
"I'll take her, but you owe me one Greengrass, a big one, don't think I wont cash in on the favor if I'm to be forced into babysitting" Draco bargained with Daphne
"Oh I promise you can cash in on as many favors as you want" Daphne replied in a seductive voice making both Draco and Astoria roll their eyes as she danced away from them
"If you ever do, make sure its as painfull and humilliating for her as being abandoned by my own sister is for me" little Astoria growled, her blue eyes meeting Draco's in anger
"I promise nothing" Draco chucked for the first time in ages "come on inside, little doll, the mudblood stench here is nauseating, you are better off away from it"
And Draco had it on good authority that some of his father's "friends" were planning on dropping by soon to rid them of it.
"Ew mudbloods are icky" Astoria said with a giggle, she'd grown a few inches during the Holidays but then again so had Draco, next to him she still looked very much like a doll, but her features, so very Greengrass, were starting to refine themselves into something less babyish, Draco noted absentmindedly, she'd probably be even pretty when she grew up a bit, but at his age Draco didn't see Astoria as a girl, to him she was still merely a child and thus her feminity didn't register in his hormonal radar the way Daphne and Pansy's did.
And Astoria, little cunning Astoria, who wanted to be nothing like her promiscuous elder sister, well, she endeavoured to surpress her own curiosity towards the oposite sex with the force of her own determination, her strategy at twelve years old, was to ignore boys, ignore her feelings towards them, not develop any crushes and maybe just maybe she'd be lucky enough to keep her reputation intact (unlike Daph). So she ignored the curious thumping of her heart when Draco took her hand and told herself he was the same grumpy boy she'd cajoled into letting her sleep in his bed the year before.
Suddenly there was a loud boom heard outside the Malfoy tent and her companion began to sport a rather malicious smile "what is that Draco?" Astoria asked hearing the sound of cackling and explosives "Dear Morgana where is my father? I want to go home!" She demanded as soon as she saw the death eaters flying on broomsticks in the sky
"That! Little Greengrass, is the sound of someone doing mudblood cleaning, but don't worry, none of them would dare to attack this tent" Draco remarked gleefully "now stay here, I want to see if I can spook Potter into pissing his pants" patting her head patronizingly he led the little girl to a big sofa in the center of the Malfoy's luxurious tent and ordered a house elf to feed "the kid" whatever she wanted, before rushing out and leaving Astoria alone
"But Draco!… What about my father" Astoria called out after him, but he'd been too far into his Potter hating schemes to hear her
(Lucky for Astoria she'd found Narcissa Malfoy a while later and claiming innocently that she'd gotten lost in the riot, she manipulated the Malfoy matriarch to discreetly deliver her back to her mother in time for the retreat of the death eaters, but what a hassle had it been)
Nevertheless Astoria learned a valuable lesson on that ocassion, she learned that unless she caught him in a mellow mood such as when he was going to sleep, Draco Malfoy could be very much a prat (to her) when he wanted to be.
It didn't stop her from sneaking back into Draco's dorm a month or so into the school term (she tried to stay away, she really did) "what did your sister do now little Greengrass?" Draco whispered as soon as he felt his matress sag on the side, feeling the pulse of her newest dishilusionment amulet cancel out his own Notice-me-not.
"She discovered the wonders of two partners at the same time" the little girl replied with a shudder, burrowing her face in his pillow and reaching out to bring his long arms around her tiny body "I think she is trying to find new ways to traumatize me, doing it with Dumstrang boys" she said yawning
"You have my pity" he yawned too, not bothering to be unkind at that hour of the night, warping his arms around her like no time had passed at all since he last used her as a teddy bear and settling in for a restfull sleep.
In the back of his mind it occured to him that he'd missed his tiny doll over the summer while she nuzzled delicately into his shirt.
Boy how difficult it was to remember sometimes that underneath his pureblood status and obnoxious attitude, Draco Malfoy too was a young boy, too young maybe to be thrust into the chaos that later became the wizarding war, if someone'd walked by and seen Draco curled up with little Astoria, as they both slept side by side, that was what would have been seen, a young blond boy and a even smaller brunette girl dreaming peacefully, not future death eaters, not pawns, not weapons, not soldiers, just children.
Yet, the world would never regard their entire generation as "just children" wasn't that sad?
And so they regained their old routine, now even more frequent thanks to the over abundance of Dumstrang boys well versed in dark arts that were allowed into the dungeons, Theo and Blaize if they noticed, never said anything about the ghost that came and went from Draco's bed every two or three nights and Tracy was too busy being a voyeour when Daphne got it on, to really wonder where Astoria went at night.
Untill one day, Astoria simply stopped comming.
All of the sudden, the little girl got weird on Draco, at first he didn't notice, with the whole Triwizard tournament going on and his "Potter Stinks" badges taking up most of his time, and of course mad eye moody was making people stay up late studying, it wasn't untill Theo and Blaise commented on how they had seen Daphne's little sister sleeping in the common room that Draco realized it had been weeks since the little monster bothered him.
Astoria felt her butt hit the ground as the chair she was sleeping on was janked from under her "hey! I was napping there" she complained warping her silk robe tighter around her in a sleepy haze and touching her dishilusionment amulet to check if it was intact only to find Draco Malfoy's acusing eyes glaring at her as soon as she lifted herself up
"Care to tell me why you are acting so weird little Greengrass?" He snapped angrily realizing this is where she'd been sleeping the past weeks "why are you not in bed?"
And by bed, they both knew whose bed he was refering to "I dont want to go to bed anymore, leave me alone" she replied refusing to look at him, stubbornly looking for another chair and deciding to settle in the dugeon's bigest armchair "its complicated ok"
"No its not, now tell me what's going on before I run to professor Snape to tell him how your dear and most beloved sister kicked you out of your own bed"
"I hate you" Astoria huffed refusing to speak
"Little Greengrass I'm warning you…"
"I got my first moon blood ok!" She snapped covering her face in embarassment "I woke up and my sheets were red and Daph and Tracy laughed and made fun of me, madame Pom gave me a potion for it and now its gone, but it will come again next month and I dont want you to be bothered when it happens" Astoria ranted angrily "now leave me alone already"
Draco stood there, slack yawed, processing what she said for a few minutes before glaring at her "moon blood? Moon blood? That was the problem? Oh for Merlin's sake Astoria, every bloddy witch gets it, Professor Snape even has a whole potion cabinet dedicated to it!, there is no need to lose sleep, get over yourself already!" Draco snapped as tough she just told him about something insignificant
"I was scared" she defended herself, noticing that it was the first time he called her by her name, huddling in her armchair and warping her silk robe around her tight enough to choke "stop glaring at me"
"Argh, you are so pathetic really" Draco grumbled shaking his head and using all his force to lift her in his arms and carry her down to his room
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Taking you to bed, you look pathetic even for a seccond year" when Astoria opened her mouth to protest Draco cut her off "its either this or the Crucio for your sister, you chose"
"Fine, but I stll hate you" she replied, settling into his arms then and didn't look up untill he dropped her in his bed and climbed in, letting her cuddle herself into his chest
"Go to sleep Astoria" he ordered tiredly… And for the first time in weeks, the twelve yearold heiress slept well
After that Astoria stopped being weird with him, but he felt that ever since that night, something changed in his little companion, she was a bit more talkative, encouraged him to talk about himself too and when the Yule ball rolled around, she even told him to "Bang someone hard enough to make Daphne blush".
She also had a habit of snorting out giggles when he told her about his plans to hex Potter and his friends with this curse or that because he usually ended his tirades with "and then for fun I'll imperius your sister for being herself" making Astoria cover her face with mirth
Little by little Draco learned that Astoria like her namesake, came alive with the stars, at night she was no longer the meek heiress trying to please people, the girl actually had Slytherin cunning in her and in Draco's mind it was even a little sad how his closest friend (because she was slowly earning the role) was a seccond year girl. At night he felt safe enough to whisper his secrets into her ears and trust her to keep them, she told him secrets too and in the dark of his dorm it felt like nothing could ever touch them.
The third task in the triwizard tournament took a toll on them both, Astoria particularly began huddling under his covers as soon as she could and whenever she heard a noise, she'd just clutch his nightshirt tight. She'd been sheltered from the world her whole life, her parents, had been strictly neutral in the last few wars and even tough her father secretly conducted buisness with death eaters, werewolves and vampires, Hyperion Greengrass strived to cover up anything having to do with Voldemort in the eyes of his daughters after the last war.
Unlike him, she hadn't grown up hosting tea parties for death eaters and muggle haters, sure Astoria despised muggles, blood traitors and half bloods alike, but only because she didn't know anything else, in her world "death eater" and "voldemort" still meant danger, unlike him who awaited the dark lord's return with anticipation Astoria was still largely innocent to what the dark mark really meant
"Draco?" Little Astoria whispered into his chest as she burried herself under his fluffy covers "I dont want the dark lord to be back"
"Don't think about that"he whispered back awkwardly patting her head "you heard what my father told The Daily Prophet, Potter was obviously making the whole story up"
"But if he isn't?" The young girl whimpered "do you think you-know-who is really back?"
Wasn't it ironic, the princess running to the dragon for comfort, Draco almost dreaded the moment she grew up and saw him for what he was, not as the refuge she'd sought from nightmares but as the devil that put them there in the first place
And oh how pathetic of him to want to keep this little child in the dark forever? Just for the chance to have someone, only one person, who didn't think the worst of him, maybe that's why he answered honestly "Yeah he is back, him and all that comes with him"
Astoria nodded her tiny brown head as tough she didn't blame him for the knowledge "I thought as much" then she reached for the arms he'd warped around her shoulders and moved them so they could reach around her whole body, making him encase her frame like a cage "I just didn't want to beleive it, like everyone else in Hogwarts, I guess"
"Then don't beleive it" Draco whispered uncharacteristically somber "Snape told me that ignorance is bliss little Greengrass, maybe you should enjoy this little bit of ignorance you have while you still can" it was the one and only advice that teenage Draco Malfoy ever gave someone and for once he wanted her to listen to him
Little Astoria yawned in acceptance "Maybe" was the last thing she murmured back and promptly fell asleep
When the time came to leave Hogwarts for the summer, Draco "allowed" Daphne and her bothersome little sister to share his compartment, but only because the brat stuck to Daph like a sticky charm, it had nothing to do with him developing a solft spot for the kid, or him wanting to see her after being struck dumb with so many curses thanks to Potter and company
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