they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 4 - 65

Astrid had been doing okay.

As okay as one could be when clouded by the knowledge that one's parent could have been a murderer and a psychopath.

Astrid Ninomae had always been a person of zero-stress, except for situations where she considered her life or body to be in serious danger. The main reason for such reactions being that the girl simply refused to think about upsetting things. Astrid lived by a single principle - if you worry before and after something happens, you suffer trice. If you only let yourself worry the moment something is happening, then you can (and often even don't) suffer only once.

Astrid had been doing okay because she had been refusing to think about all that was indeed not okay.

Instead, the girl kept going through her days as if nothing had happened. 

For the last days of February, the girl had been in denial. She felt it made sense but still managed to push the thought away by coming up with hundreds of excuses why it didn't. 

Beginning March, Astrid had begun to wonder about why would Malfoy know that, what his dad had to do with anything and how did the riot truly stand in the whole picture. 

By the end of the first week of March, Astrid had facepalmed herself for not realising it faster as she finally comprehended that Malfoy's father must've been one too. It's not that she hadn't suspected it beforehand but Astrid had never been one to enjoy quickly jumping to conclusions and instantly assuming the worst about people. Another principle the girl lived by was that everyone had that ray of sunshine within them no matter how cold they appeared.

So Astrid had cornered Malfoy one day after lessons. 

The girl had pulled the boy into an empty classroom by his elbow and pushed him against the wall, similarly as the boy had done to her in the years prior. It had been intended as more of a joke than anything serious. And so it had turned out to be. 

The girl had been pressing her wand into the boy's neck, glaring at him as she had spoken a low 'I know what your father did'. Seeing Malfoy's fearful face for he hadn't yet managed to recollect himself from the initial shock of being attacked, Astrid hadn't been able to hold up her facade and had instead burst out laughing. Still holding her wand in her hand the girl had pulled away and instead rested her bum against one of the tables, watching the boy with an amused smile.

Now looking back at it, Astrid was pretty sure the laughter had more to do with how nervous she had been for all that she had come to talk about.

All in all, Malfoy had quickly collected himself and glared, Astrid had thrown out her assumption of their fathers both being deatheaters which the blonde lad had obviously instantly turned down, calling her crazy. By the end of their small encounter, Malfoy had stormed away angrily and Astrid had been left with an annoyed yet silently happy glare for that she was now sure her assumption had been right.

For some odd reason the girl felt more at ease she wasn't the only child of a deatheater that she knew. 

That is if her dad was a deatheater... Which by the end of that March, Astrid was almost a hundred per cent certain of. By the end of March, she almost believed it didn't bother her that much anymore.

But beginning April and going home for the Easter holidays, it all hit the girl again. Only then did she realize how much of the negative thoughts she had truly pushed away. Riding the train and then stepping into her father's car, the girl felt her heart nearly jumping out of her chest knowing and thinking about the questions she'd have to ask.

Step after step Astrid walked into her house confidently, and after dropping her belongings upstairs, returned back to the living room taking a seat on one of the couches. 

The house was silent as her mother hugged her daughter hello. The silence felt even louder when the woman returned to preparing them dinner and her father walked in, offering to help and then starting up a conversation with his darling daughter about how her school year had gone by. Especially with the tournament, Yule Ball and everything else happening.

Astrid kept responding rather coldly and when her parents finally caught on that something was a bit off, Eric took off his apron and sat down in the armchair across from where his daughter sat on the couch. 

Pictures of her nightmare flashed before the girl's eyes and she stood up, not wanting to sit in the same spot as she had in the awful dream where her dad had attacked her.

"I think..." Astrid began, her fingers gliding over the rings on her left hand. As long and hard as the girl had thought about this, she still hadn't figured a way to present her thoughts. 

The girl looked to the side at her mum, who was watching her daughter with a slightly curious look, continuing quietly cutting up some carrots. Laura was in hopeful thoughts her daughter was just nervous about admitting a silly school crush. Astrid was wondering if her mum knew what kind of a man her husband very possibly was.

Astrid took in a deep breath and decided on a different method of making sure, before actually throwing out any accusations. 

The girl suddenly smiled, putting out her arms. "I want to show you something," she spoke. "We learned it in Divination."

"Divination is where you predict the future?" Laura inquired and Astrid nodded her head.

"Yeah.. uhm... sorta," the brown-eyed girl then turned to face her father. "Dad, I need you to give me your hands."

The man chuckled, walking up to stand in front of his daughter. 

He placed his palms in her hands and watched as Astrid looked over them.

"I still remember the palm readings Mrs Buckham taught us. We made fun of her at the time but some of it really did come true," Eric Ninomae was lost in his world, reminiscing and utterly oblivious to his little girl exploring his wrists.

After Malfoy's suggestion, Astrid had spent a lot of time researching. The girl had, of course, known what was a deatheater and who was You-Know-Who and had a general knowledge of what the man had done. But she hadn't known much. A big portion of March the girl had spent reading and 'borrowing' books on it from the restricted section to later read them in the safety of her shack. 

She had done her bit of research and that was why the girl knew exactly how the Dark Mark looked.

A sharp intake of air was what gave Astrid away once her eyes locked onto the mark amidst all the other tattoos covering the whole of her dad's arms. She dropped her father's arms and looked up into his eyes sincerely.

"Will you tell me now?"

Her voice was soft and at first, Eric didn't know what exactly the girl was talking about. But then as her hand once more lifted his left one he couldn't help but tense up. He understood what she wanted and he understood there was no escaping his past any longer.