they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 5 - 93

"Hi, darling."

"Oh my Gosh, have you been crying?" Astrid gaped at her friend from her spot on her bed the moment she saw her enter their room.

Daphne wiped underneath her eyes, simultaneously rolling them. "Ah, yes, I finally broke it off with Bentley." 

The girl walked into the room, dropping her wand onto her bed. She wiped under her eyes again, magically ridding herself of the smudged mascara and pulled her blonde locks into a loose bun.

"Those spells of Tracey's are really useful," she nodded to herself, opening their chest of drawers and taking out a towel. "Shower?"

Astrid jumped off her bed. "Music?"

Daphne shook her head, grabbing a strawberry and cream shampoo and shower gel and the two exited the room. The corridor of the Slytherin girls' dormitories was always rather crowded in the afternoons. Many, like Daphne, preferred showering then instead of the morning, so people kept walking back and fro, some dressed, some just in towels. The afternoon was also prime time for conversations and walking over to a friend's dorm so that happened often too.

Astrid's year of students and the ones a bit below and before them were actually the only years of Hogwarts that had as few students as they did. It had always been around 30-40 per house, roughly 150 for a whole year, but the one circling Astrid's year had only had about 40 students for the whole year. The rather depressing truth was that during the war many of the potential parents had either passed away or simply chosen not to have kids at all, therefore the population of the current Hogwarts student body was way smaller than what it usually was like.

That's also why all the fifth-year Slytherin girls were crammed in a single room, for they were the only girls of their age.

"She should've let me sell them. Would've made good money now that she's turning in a dunce."

The showers weren't far from their dorm room so the girls got there quickly.

The place had the potential of being Astrid's favourite spot in the whole of the castle. If she wouldn't fear the Merpeople seeing her naked while showering, it would be the most beautiful and peaceful spot in the whole school. 

The ceiling was low over the six sinks, three lining two opposing walls, in the anteroom and over the ten shower stalls in the actual showering area. A passage that led to the bathrooms had a ceiling even lower, where Astrid always had to bend down when stepping over the threshold. The whole bathroom floor was topped with green-gold glass tiles, the sinks and walls made out of a grey stone. Slytherin towels lined one wall for those who had forgotten to bring theirs. Though the best part of it all were the small circle windows arranged down the middle of the ceiling, allowing the sunlight to spread through the water and straight into the room, lighting it in all kinds of shades of blue, green and white. Every day, because of the natural light, especially in the earliness of the morning, something about the room looked different, the colours of it changing profusely, providing Astrid with just the uncertainty she forever craved.

"She's not turning into a dunce." Astrid sat down on one of the sinks as her friend went on into the shower halls and began dressing down. 

"No, she only doesn't do anything anymore..."

Astrid rolled her eyes as she heard the shower turn on. "You're talking as if you did any actual work."

"I know she's going through a phase but I at least don't fail."

"You're being insensitive."

The shower got turned off again and Astrid could hear the sound of Daphne's manicured nail clicking against the tiled wall. "Perhaps you're right," the clicking stopped and a sound of a shampoo bottle being opened came, "am I a horrible person?"