Moving Forward

Chapter 10: Old friends

"Apparently Durmstrang and Beuxabaton's are arriving today." The four were out on the grounds by the lake. Blaise was skipping rocks while Astoria sat cross legged reviewing her Herbology homework with a critical eye.

"Hmm." Draco hummed disinterestedly. Sprawled on his side, he twirled a blade of grass between his fingers, barely listening to Pansy.

"Hmm? That's all you have to say? Last time you were all over the idea. Bragging about all the people you knew from Drumstrang."

Draco crushed the blade of grass, and his voice became sharp. "That was a long time ago." Indeed, the four years felt like another lifetime. A time before all his troubles. A time before Voldemort. A time before the war. A time before scars.

Astoria tried to study him discreetly from behind her hair. "Hermione and Ginny sounded excited. Something about the Durmstrang boys they met." She made the comment seem lighthearted, but in reality, she was carefully watching the older boy's body language.

"Good for them." There it was. He sounded slightly bitter.

"Well, Ginny wasn't entirely pleased about the Beuxabaton's. Something about a part veela witch trying to get her claws into Harry." When Draco didn't respond, she determined that he wasn't interested in the red head. Which caused her to wonder about the cause of his bitterness. 

Pansy snorted. Carefully sitting down at Astoria's side. "Please. Everyone knows he's head over heels for heels for her. He'd be crazy to cross her anyhow. She casts a wicked bat bogey hex."

Astoria inclined her head in agreement before shuffling her parchment to one of Luna's star charts. She sighed heavily. Luna was a bright witch. That was, when she was able to focus. As it was, the brilliant witch had connected the stars to create what looked like a... Mandrake constellation. Failing to label Venus and Jupiter. However, she had gotten the Mandrakes official name correct. Unfortunately, this wasn't an Herbology paper.

Blaise threw another rock aggressively. The rock didn't even skip. "I bet Theo won't come." Theodore Knott had been one of their former Slytherin friends. When it had been exposed that his dad was a Death Eater, his mom had transferred him to Durmstrang. They hadn't been affected by the war, and the idea was that he would have an easier time there.

"I'm not sure about that. Theo said he missed Hogwarts. He still might come." Pansy began to braid wildflowers into Astoria's hair. Astoria had tensed slightly, unused to the touch. She didn't dare brush Pansy off though, and her stiffness went unnoticed by the older girl.

"He wrote to you?" Astoria was distracted from her discomfort by the tightness in Blaise's voice. He sounded... jealous. He chucked another rock into the lake. The only question was whether he was jealous that Theo was writing to Pansy, or because Pansy was writing to Theo.

"You should probably stop. The mermaids might get mad." Blaise froze midswing. It was never good when the mermaids were angry. They would slap at the Slytherin's common room and dorms. Once, they even managed to half flood the place.

"Though Luna would probably say you'd wake the giant squid." Draco snorted at Pansy's comment.

"Looney Lovegood? Since when do we care about what that crazy-"

He broke off when he saw Astoria glaring at him. Her neck was at a bit of an awkward angle since Pansy was still braiding her hair, but the message was clear.

"We care Draco, because Luna is a nice girl who is currently under my care." She talked dangerously slow and clear, like she was explaining things to a child. She tilted her head a little further as Pansy tugged at a bit of her hair. "Do you have a problem with that?"