Draco smiled at himself in the mirror as he expertly styled his almost-white hair. He hadn't been able to stop smiling all day, not when his every thought was taken by Astoria. Their kiss in the grasses of the Quidditch pitch, the feeling of her body against his, the sight of her in the stands wearing his jersey, the knowledge that he would be seeing her again tonight. He won the game for her. The snitch was bloody hard to catch today—this one took off like a bolt and was practically halfway across Scotland by the time he found it—and yet when Draco's hand wrapped around the gold ball, he realized that he did it for her. Everything he did was for her. He was hers, utterly so.
His heart pounded with nerves that were unbecoming of a Malfoy. Normally, he was so confident. His family was one of the most prestigious in all of the Wizarding World, his marks in his classes were high, his good looks were never a source of contention, and his Quidditch skills were known throughout the school, especially after he began beating Potter once he finally quit taunting him mid-game. But there was a small part of him that held a seed of insecurity. For when he looked out into the stands, looking for Astoria amongst the masses, he saw something on her face, something he didn't like. He saw resolve, the same look she had that day in Diagon Alley when she insisted they shouldn't be together. So instead of walking into the common room party confident that he would be leaving with Astoria, Draco went in not sure if he could even call her his at all.
That's ridiculous. Astoria is yours and you are hers. It must have been the light in her eyes. But despite the false confidence of the voice in his head, Draco wasn't quite sure.
He sighed as he looked in the mirror, his smile now gone. How could one woman make him feel all of these emotions? Still, feeling anything for Astoria, even insecurity, was incredible, like flying on a broom for the very first time. He would take every dip and dive as long as they were with her.
Draco spritzed some cologne on, fastened his expensive silver watch, and dressed in a black button-down shirt and matching trousers. The buttons of his shirt were partially undone, showing off both his pale chest and silver chain. Though he always dressed up (something his mother had instilled in him), something felt different about his look tonight. Perhaps it was because he knew he was dressing for Astoria. She seemed to like it when he wore black, her eyes lingering on him a little longer when he did. And he realized with a little bit of a start that he wanted Astoria to like how he looked because he adored her and wanted her to feel the same way for him.
You, Draco Malfoy, are officially, utterly whipped, he thought with a small uptick of his lips as he walked out the door, eager to see the angel that had entranced his every thought. To hell with insecurities. All he cared about was seeing her now, smelling her sweet scent of strawberries and clean linens, feeling her body against his again. Yup. Definitely whipped.
He practically sprinted to the common room. Draco tried to tell himself it was because all of his friends were already there but that would have been an awful, unbelievable lie. Astoria. Astoria. Astoria. She was all he could think of, all he wanted to think of. Astoria. My love.
But when he reached the common room—the source of the thudding music and dim green lights—his blood froze. Because when he found Astoria amongst the drunk, gyrating masses (and he found her rather quickly, his eyes seemingly able to know where she'd be), he also found one of the biggest fuckboys Hogwarts had ever seen.
Diego-Fucking-Quintanilla.
Draco had to force himself to take a few calming breaths. Astoria should have been far away from that asshole, a filthy half-blood that seemed to make it his mission to get his dick wet as much as possible. And Astoria was more than another notch on someone's bedpost.
Plus, she was his.
He forced himself to assess the situation. Diego was a witty git and would take a little outsmarting. Not that it would be difficult for Draco but he couldn't have his head cloudy with jealousy. He had to focus on getting her away from him without making it more of a challenge. Otherwise, Diego would never leave her alone and Draco would be damned before he let Astoria go anywhere with him.
The pain of his fingernails against his palms was enough to snap him out of his stupor. Astoria's eyes were foggy and distant. She was inebriated, that was clear, but he needed to know how much. Would she still be able to walk? Would she be getting sick at any moment? I bet that fucker wanted to get her vulnerable and alone, he realized with a rage that almost blinded him. When Diego handed her another drink, a questionable-looking red liquid that he had never seen before at any Slytherin party (why would any of them ever associate with red?), Draco knew he had to intervene. Fuck keeping his wits about him. All he saw was a filthy boy moving closer and closer to his girl.
As he walked over to where the two were by the bar—a bar that Diego was slowly leading Astoria away from as he brought her to the darkness by the edge of the room—Draco felt his anger overtake him. He was seeing red. Actually, he was seeing every color in the bloody rainbow. But mostly, he saw her. Astoria.
She was wearing a skin-tight, strapless white dress that definitely would have made his dick hard if he wasn't so focused on getting her away from Hogwarts's biggest fuckboy. Her long, black hair was curled, sticking to her bare back slightly from her sweat. Her eyes, accentuated by dark eyeliner and silver glitter, seemed even bigger than normal, wider, while her lips were slightly glossy and parted. Astoria looked as if a veil had been placed over her eyes, as if her mind was taking a bit longer than normal to process things while her body remained frozen.
Firewhisky, he thought. She was clearly drunk on it while the idiot next to her was trying to make her so intoxicated she became unconscious. But he was here now. She was safe, even if she didn't know it yet.
"I'm dying to see what you look like under this sexy dress. When can I get you all to myself?"
Never, Draco thought. But he kept his cool, instead sliding his arms around her tiny waist, claiming her as his. He brought her back to meet his front while he briefly prayed that she wouldn't notice the hard-on he was quickly getting. Diego eyed Draco with anger but Draco just returned the look with cool arrogance.
"Unfortunately, Astoria won't be going anywhere with you, Quintanilla. I thought that was rather obvious. Or perhaps, from the way you keep intruding on the personal space of a woman so clearly uncomfortable with it, you need a little extra explaining... so let me clarify this once and for all." He subconsciously tightened his hands on her waist. Just thinking about her with anyone else had jealousy and possessiveness running wild in his veins. "Astoria is my girl and I'll be damned if you get your filthy hands near her again."
Astoria gasped but to his delight, she leaned into Draco's embrace as if being with him was the most natural thing in the world. To him, it was.
"Draco," she whispered.
He smirked and brought his lips down to meet her neck. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do—not with his "fiancée" lingering about somewhere—but right now, his mind was too focused on Astoria to care about anything other than her. He wanted to drown himself in her scent, to enter the warmth that was her body and never let go. "Hello, my darling," he muttered as he began to sensually kiss her bare skin. She stiffened but leaned back into his arms even further. That was all the invitation he needed to continue.
Astoria tasted of sweat, soap, strawberries, and perhaps a bit of spilled firewhisky. The combination of it all was enough to drive him mad. Draco began to wonder how she would taste lying underneath him, if she would sink into him more as she did now, or if she would writhe with uncontained pleasure. Perhaps tonight, he would find out.
But for now, he had to get rid of this filthy half-blood.
"Bewitching two men in one night, my love?" he whispered in Astoria's ear. Her shiver vibrated against his back. "Are you trying to get him expelled? Because I'm more than happy to do that just to get him away from you."
"I-I," Astoria stuttered once he began his assault on her neck. "I thought you should be with Daphne, not me." He froze but only for a moment. So that's why she was acting odd at the game. She felt guilty over this morning. He should have expected it but he thought that, perhaps, after their kisses in the morning she would have decided to put her own happiness above her sisters. Draco should have known better than that. Astoria hardly placed her happiness above anyone's. "I thought I should spend the night away from you."
"Darling, what is it that they say about Malfoys?"
She gulped. "That you always get what you want."
He smirked and ran his hand up and down her arm, enjoying the way his fingers created a trail of goosebumps in their wake. "Precisely. And I want you so did you truly believe I was going to let you go."
"It's the right thing to do."
Draco brought his lips to Astoria's ear and whispered, "But sometimes we must get a little naughty, love. Especially when doing the wrong thing with a girl like you feels incredible."
A whimper left Astoria's mouth, one that went straight to his dick. He stifled a groan and plastered on another smirk but not before stealing a look at the half-blood. He seemed furious, watching the little exchange between the two of them without having a clue as to what they were saying. Draco felt proud to be the one Astoria gasped for, the one whose body she was drawn to. My girl, he thought triumphantly.
"Come, my love," Draco said, walking over to the couch at the edge of the room where Blaise and Pansy were making out. He sat down, spreading his legs and beckoning her with a crooked finger. She let out a shaky breath before following him and sitting in his lap, much to Diego's chagrin.
Originally, Draco felt brilliant. Having Astoria sit on his lip to cover the hard-on that her little whimper caused until he could get it back down enough to leave the party seemed intelligent at the time. But now, as Astoria wiggled to get comfortable, inadvertently making his dick rise even more, he didn't feel so brilliant. He had to bite his lip to keep a moan from escaping. Merlin... when we're alone, she's getting punished for this. The thought itself made him even hornier.
Draco wrapped an arm around Astoria's waist and brought her even closer to him. She smells so fucking good, he thought, burying his head into her hair and enjoying the way the silken strands moved against his chest. It was at times like this that he realized how small she was. He liked it. Astoria was delicate. Perfect, really.
But he didn't get to enjoy his time alone with her for long. Diego stormed over to the couch, his hands balled in pathetic little fists. "Piss off, Malfoy," he sneered, though he had another thing coming if he thought that would really intimidate Draco. "She wants me."
"Does she?" Draco asked with a smirk. Then, he brought his hands to Astoria's inner thighs, which were bare from how short her dress was. Astoria gasped breathlessly at the contact and arched her back instantly. It was as if she couldn't control how her body reacted to him. I know the feeling, he mused as he thought back to his painfully hard cock. "I'm not so sure you're correct there," he said arrogantly as he felt the inside of her thighs become wet. If they were alone... well, Astoria wouldn't be leaving the bedroom for quite a while. As the smoke around them flowed with the sounds of deep music, Draco's inhibitions seemed to lower, leaving room only for the woman between his legs. He was lucky that Slytherin parties were notoriously dark. Even Blaise and Pansy next to them probably wouldn't be able to see them.
"She does," Diego sputtered but it was clear that he wasn't so confident in his answer. Draco began to kiss Astoria's neck while keeping eye contact with the fool in front of him. Subtly, he moved his hips upward to show him precisely what she did to him and took enjoyment in the way she let out a shaky breath.
Draco leaned back, ceasing his pursuit of Astoria's body. "We'll continue this later, darling," he whispered when she began to wiggle unhappily. Turning back to Diego with a disinterested expression, he replied, "Well, in that case, how much do you make?"
"What?" Diego's eyes were flooded with confusion.
"Well, Astoria is a high-maintenance woman—" He smirked when she cried out, "Hey!", glad to see that she wasn't too drunk to defend herself. He kissed her back softly and continued talking. "—one that I am more than happy to maintain. So that means that your salary must be taken into consideration. There are flowers, white garden roses are her favorite. Dinners, fancy, of course. Her medication—which, my darling, I've taken care of so you can have the best, not that awful generic stuff your parents were getting you. There are also holidays. Astoria would love the beaches in the south of France where my family has a summer home; she would adore the storybook towns and crystal waters near Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat. And there's her shopping addiction—adorable and easily taken care of by me, even the purchases she's made this year whilst at Hogwarts that she thinks are secret. I've enjoyed paying for the little sundresses that she attempts to buy through her owl. Not to mention jewelry, she likes diamonds and emeralds, especially together, and strawberries, chocolate covered, she prefers Belgian milk chocolate. Did I miss anything, my love?"
Astoria looked over at him, speechless. He smiled sweetly at her. Not a smirk, not a grin, just a smile, one of a boy who was desperately in love with the most wonderful girl in the world. He would do anything to prove it. It was easy to use money—especially when Astoria loved to be spoiled—but he wanted to prove that his love was about more than owning her, more than just having her be another pretty thing on the shelf. He knew everything about her, all of her little likes and dislikes. He paid attention to her expressions, read her mind through her body language, kept tabs on her whenever he could. Perhaps she was finally realizing just how deeply he felt for her. Because as Astoria gazed at him, her eyes widened with an entirely new expression. And Draco hoped, for the very first time, that she might begin to love him as he loved her.
"N-no," she stuttered breathlessly, still gazing at him with the biggest green eyes he had ever seen. Astoria grabbed onto his hand, the one that was leaning back on the couch, and squeezed it gently. He smiled and grabbed it, kissing the top of it before focusing his attention back on the boy in front of them.
"Well, then, Diego, if you're able to take care of her properly, as I can, and if she chooses you, then I am more than happy to let you leave with her." Okay, perhaps that was a lie. He wouldn't be more than happy. But it was Astoria's choice and Draco, to his chagrin, wouldn't interfere if that was what she wanted. "But, the problem is, I don't think you can take care of my girl like I can. Your half-decent inheritance isn't enough, not when Astoria is far more than a half-decent woman. She deserves the best and I hate to say it, Quintanilla, I truly do, but the best simply isn't you."
Draco moved Astoria off of his lap gently before standing up, towering over the (admittedly) handsome git. He turned back to where Astoria sat with her mouth parted in shock, still looking at him with a new set of eyes.
"Astoria, my love?" he asked softly, holding out his hand for her to take. He was letting her know that despite his actions, despite some of his words, she had a choice in the matter. And he would always respect that.
But Astoria didn't hesitate. She placed her hand in his immediately, her soft, warm hands enclosed around his cold fingers. Draco smiled and kissed it once more before turning back to Diego. "That's what I thought. Pathetic, really, that you thought you had a chance to get someone like her. Goodbye, Diego."
He began to lead Astoria through the crowd before a lightbulb went off in his mind. He turned back to Diego with a smirk. "Oh, and... obliviate." Diego's eyes began to fade. Draco walked away before the wizard could register what happened. He held onto Astoria's hand as he guided her through the crowd, careful to make sure that she was sober enough to walk on her own. Her head seemed to be clearer, though he would appreciate keeping an eye on her anyway.
Draco led Astoria up the dark stairwell. My girl. Merlin... she's my girl. The thought made his chest swell just a little. Astoria had chosen him tonight. She looked at him like he hung the moon. And for her, he would. Again and again.
As they made their way up the stairs, Draco kept a tight grip on her hand. So when she tripped on a stair, his arms were around her immediately. "Caught you," he whispered with a soft smile. In the dim moonlight of the corridor, Astoria's eyes seemed to glow. She was beautiful, utterly so.
Her eyes raked up and down his body, confusion evident in them. She's so beautiful. So, so beautiful. Like an angel. An angel was hardly the appropriate word to describe Astoria but it was the best Draco could think of. Like she was sent from heaven, a gift placed in front of him. He would spend his life worshipping her if it meant holding her in his arms like this.
"What are you thinking?" he muttered, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear so he could see her face.
"I'm thinking," she whispered. Her voice was so quiet that he had to strain to hear her. "That you want to kiss me."
He gulped. She was definitely right but he hadn't wanted to push his luck so far. Daphne hadn't seen them together and he wasn't sure how much Astoria wanted anyone else to know about whatever it was blooming between them. But Draco couldn't lie to her—she was the one person he couldn't bear to hide the truth from—so he just replied, "Yes," as if that simple word was enough to convey the way he desperately wanted to take his mouth against hers and show her precisely how much he needed her. "What else are you thinking?"
"I'm wondering when was the last time Draco Malfoy didn't take something he wanted." Her words made his eyes snap up to her. All he saw was honesty. Honesty and... something else. A feeling he recognized deep in his soul. Longing. He almost fell to his knees. Astoria longed for him as he longed for her. He was surely the luckiest wizard to be able to experience something as incredible as this.
And so Draco took what he wanted, pulling Astoria closer and placing his lips onto hers.
AHHH GUYS I TOLD YOU THIS CHAPTER WOULD BE JUICY! There were so many lines in this that had me screaming as I wrote them. We're just getting started baby so make sure to follow and review :)