Draco was pacing a hole in the floor as he waited in the Common Room for Astoria to walk down. Merlin, he missed her. It had only been a few hours since he saw her last but, honestly, the more time he spent with her, the more he was unwilling to be away from her. It was almost as if there was a physical ache in his chest whenever he was away from her. Yeah, he was whipped.

The collar of his tuxedo felt tight on his neck, probably because he was anxious to see her. Astoria was supposed to be down here any minute. Where was she? Had something happened? Had she decided that she no longer wanted to go with him? Should he just skip the ball entirely and spend his evening wrapping her in his arms?

He wasn't sure how Astoria became his Hogmanay Ball date. It had all happened rather fast over the holidays. Daphne was sitting, silently eating her dinner before announcing that she didn't want to attend the upcoming Hogmanay Ball—a new tradition that started after the fall of Voldemort. Her parents seemed shocked at the announcement and protested the lack of family representation and his were insisting that Draco attending by himself would appear weak and pathetic. So, almost in sync, all six of them—Draco, Daphne, the Malfoys, and the Greengrasses—turned to Astoria, who was gazing up at them with those beautiful, bright green eyes.

"Astoria adores dances!" Daphne said with a grin. "She can go in my place."

His mother cut in before his father could object. "Astoria would be a lovely date for Draco. That is if she is alright with the arrangement."

His little love's cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink before she swallowed. "Of course. If Draco doesn't mind taking me."

Oh, Draco certainly didn't mind. It was practically an excuse to show her off on his arm and an excuse to touch her in public for an entire night. He didn't need to be asked twice. He turned toward Astoria and smiled. "I would be honored to have you as my date, Miss Greengrass."

So there he was on the night of the ball, his heart anxiously thumping in his chest as he waited for his beautiful date. His Astoria.

And then, just like an angel appearing from heaven, there she was. She was wearing a dark green ballgown with a top that made her skinny waist and small breasts look fucking incredible. A layer so dark green it looked almost black layer cascaded in layers down the dress while sparkling silver embellishments adorned the skirt. Her hair was pulled into a low bun with a few pieces framing her face while her makeup was stunning, dark eyeliner lining her eyes and her soft, smiling lips were a very dark shade of red.

It felt like Draco had been hit with a bludger. All of the air left his body until he could do nothing but stare at her beauty. Astoria's grass-green eyes were sizing up his dress robes, which were by no means special when compared to what she was wearing. Bloody hell, all he wanted to do was wrap his arm around her and kiss her senselessly. How the fuck was she his date? How the fuck was he worthy of being the one to escort her? Draco was beginning to think no one quite deserved that honor. He was a lucky man.

As if pulled to her by a magnetic force, Draco found himself striding across the room and bowing in front of her. "Astoria," he whispered, grabbing her hand and kissing it because he had to touch her or he would go insane. "My god. You look..."

Beautiful? Gorgeous? Absolutely divine? Nothing seemed to describe her adequately. But when Draco looked into her eyes, he knew what to say. "You look like love itself."

"My word, Dray," she breathed, her eyes turning hazy with happy tears. "I was just going to say you look handsome."

"Handsome will suffice," he said with a smirk. Draco held out his arm and she took it instantly. "Shall we go, my love?"

"We shall."

Draco led them down to the Great Hall, where the ball was taking place. The entire room was decorated with soft candlelight while a band played quietly in the corner of the room. Astoria smiled. "Wow. What a beautiful ball."

He looked down at her. At his future, if he played his cards right. He still hadn't figured out how they would be together but Draco realized at that moment that he wanted many more nights just like this with Astoria. He was a bloody Malfoy. Surely some idea would come to him.

Later. For now, just enjoy tonight.

So Draco smiled and said, "Yes. Beautiful." Never taking his eyes off of her.

"Let me get you some refreshments, darling. I'll be right back." He kissed her cheek and then quickly strode over to the table where he began to fill up two glasses.

"Malfoy," a tense voice said next to him.

"Potter," he hissed, clutching onto the cups while telling himself not to break him. He couldn't imagine Astoria would appreciate red punch all over her date. But Draco had never liked Harry Potter, not since he disrespected him their first night at Hogwarts before proceeding to spend every year constantly antagonizing him. Whether it was through Quidditch or classes, Potter always found ways to be a damn saint while Draco seemed to be the bad guy.

"Who's your date? She's quite pretty." Draco felt his blood boil while he thought about what Harry was attempting to say. Astoria was more than pretty. And she was his.

"My date is quite gorgeous, thank you." He turned to find Harry's date, the Weasley girl. He couldn't quite return the compliment to Potter. Out of all the Weasleys, Ginny was by far the most tolerable but that didn't mean Draco found her pretty. He found no one pretty but Astoria so why lie?

"Perhaps I can take her out when you're done with her. That should be soon considering she isn't your fiancee."

Draco felt fury rise to his veins, not at jealousy. He felt quite secure in his relationship with Astoria. No one could satisfy her like he could. No one could spoil her like he could. No one knew her like he did. No, Draco's anger was at the damn insinuation that not only was Astoria available for anyone but him but also that he would ever be done with her. Like she was a damn thing to be done with, a fucking box to be checked off. Like he would ever marry anyone but her. Draco knew Potter was a bloody idiot but he hadn't realized how much until that very moment.

"Listen here, Potter," he seethed. "Astoria is mine and you would do well to remember that before I mercifully allow you to rejoin your damn family piece by piece."

And then, before Harry could respond, Draco grabbed the glasses of punch and made his way over to his beautiful date, smoothing the frown lines on his face with an easy and charming smile.

Astoria seemed to sense something was off because she happily accepted the punch before asking, "Is everything alright?"

He wrapped his arm tightly around her waist. Possessively. Then, he stole a glance over at Harry, who still stood by the refreshments looking gobsmacked. Draco kissed the side of Astoria's head with a smirk. "Everything is more than alright, my love. Just thinking about how lucky I am to call you mine."

She frowned a little bit—her mind no doubt flashing to Daphne—but he just squeezed her waist. "It looks like Enzo and Mattheo are over there. Want to go over there so we can see the look on Berkshire's face when he learns that his best friend and his sister are fucking?"

Astoria smacked his chest. "Don't be so vulgar." Then, she grinned mischievously. "But yes. I've been anxiously waiting to see how Enzo will react all day."

The two of them made their way over to the group only to see Mattheo Riddle and Nora Rosier disgustingly make goo-goo eyes at each other. "I swear, you two have two moods: biting each other's heads off or shagging in the corner," Draco sneered, his arm tightening around Astoria unconsciously.

Enzo's eyes darted to the movement but the boy bit his lip and said nothing, turning instead to her and asking, "Astoria, where's Aria?"

Draco felt her stiffen in his arms. "Oh, she's probably around here somewhere. We didn't come together because she wasn't quite done with her makeup when Draco came to pick me up."

Enzo frowned. "Who is her date?"

It was odd. Draco could almost feel how uncomfortable she was. She didn't want to lie to Enzo—Astoria hated lying and she was bloody terrible at it—but he gave her no choice. Draco felt that familiar sign of protectiveness enter his body at anyone making Astoria uncomfortable so he just bit out, "Berkshire, my date isn't your sister's babysitter. If you want to know where Aria is, find her yourself." Astoria heaved a sigh of relief while Enzo just muttered, "Okay."

It wasn't long before Aria and Theo were entering the room with each other. Draco grinned. "Oh, that's rich! Berkshire will get a rise out of this."

What? He liked drama. Like anyone could blame him. Gossipping was one of his favorite hobbies.

"Don't they make a cute couple?" Mattheo teased once the two began to dance.

Astoria sighed and leaned into Draco's embrace. "The cutest."

"My love, I'm hurt. I thought we were the cutest," he mumbled into her ear.

She giggled. "Didn't you say 'men aren't cute' just this morning?"

Fuck, he did say that but only because she started laughing at his mussed-up hair, calling it cute like he hadn't just eaten her out twice. He was secretly hoping for round three so he insisted he wasn't cute, that he was sexy instead. Clearly, his words had come back to haunt him.

But before Draco could respond, Enzo whipped back to stare at them with anger. "Wait," Enzo seethed. "Did you two know?"

There was a beat of very uncomfortable silence before Astoria blurted out, "Draco knew too!"

He sighed and pinched his forehead with his hands. "Thanks, love," he murmured. "You always did know I liked being thrown under the bus."

Enzo's anger at all this newfound information clearly began to rise and Draco suddenly felt the need to get Astoria out of there. She didn't deserve to be blown up on, not tonight. Not for a secret that wasn't hers to share in the first place. So Draco used his grip on her lower back and began to pull her out to the dance floor. "Come, my love. Dance with me."

She followed his lead, placing her hand in his while stepping closer to his body. When a new song started, Draco began to dance. He held her tightly in his arms and spun her around the room, occasionally dipping her or stealing kisses on her cheek when no one was looking.

Astoria giggled at his waltzing skills. "Why, Mr. Malfoy. You've been holding out on me."

He smirked. "I couldn't show all my cards too early. How else would I continue to keep you interested?"

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "I think you'd find ways."

And fuck if he didn't love her endlessly. Fuck if he didn't want to spend every night of his life doing just this.

For the rest of the night, Draco and Astoria danced. Sometimes, on the faster songs, she would move against him to the rhythm in a way that had his dick straining at his pants while he prayed for strength to not beg her to reconsider waiting until marriage. Other times, a slow song would play and he would wrap her in his arms and sway softly with her to the beat, enjoying the feel of her heart thudding against his own, of her breaths mingling with his in the dim light. No matter what was playing, Draco spent the entirety of the night touching her, holding her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear.

"You're so beautiful... I love you so much... My Astoria..." he would say until the light waned and the crowd thinned and it was still just the two of them in the room, holding onto each other. "My darling. My love. My Astoria."

If only the rest of his life was as blissful as this.

I know we've had a lot of fluffy chapters but I promise a conflict is coming and soon you'll wish we were still having these. I spent the weekend in Boston and there were definitely some Draco vibes in the historical part of the city so this helped me get the juices flowing for the chapters. Enjoy my luvs xx