they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 5 - 99

Astrid had forever enjoyed the snow. As far as she could remember, she had always liked winters and spending her time outside. Even now, living through the fifteenth year of her life, the idea of snow brought her almost childlike excitement.

Astrid, Daphne and Pansy had all gone outside. The two girls couldn't help but exchanged an amused glance as they watched Astrid roll the giant snowball rambling and rambling on about this and that, something she only ever did when nervous, extremely excited or very comfortable with sharing all her thoughts with the person. They didn't know what it was exactly but somehow Astrid appeared brighter than the weeks before. Her constant smiles were now truly genuine and heartfelt.

Rosier had stayed back in their dorm reading. When she wasn't out and working on her inventions or meeting up with the twins, she enjoyed finding a place to just curl up and enjoy some peace and quiet. Even a person like Rosier sometimes had to lay off and for once quit noticing and psychoanalyzing what everyone else was doing. On the core, the girl was very much an introvert. 

Tracey was at her orchestra practice, playing her raging thoughts away. Those few hours after practice every few days were probably the only ones she allowed herself to forget about all that she hated about the world. She quit arguing with Rosier for every word the girl dared tell her. She quit worrying about the boyfriend she kept breaking up and getting together back with. For one the girl actually sat down and paid mind to her schoolwork peacefully, without throwing a tantrum and saying it didn't matter anyway for her violinist career didn't require education anyway. Possibly the worst part about all the degrading statements the girl kept spewing was the fact she had logical enough arguments to back them up. One would think she was coming from a place of illogical angst but Tracey had truly thought it all through.

And Millicent... she had gone to Pomfrey's where she participated in a special course for students wishing to become Mediwitches. The girls had noticed, though they didn't know what much to do about it - lately, Mills had been more down than usual. She was struggling with some subjects she knew she had to do great in OWLs for despite the fact they weren't directly connected with the profession. She and Pansy were still rather offish, not talking nearly as much as they used to. The girls had noticed Mills tended to walk off alone more, but neither knew how exactly to help her through with it. She had always been sweet and quiet, though now the silence was becoming much more prominent.

Pansy, on the other hand, was doing much better than she had during the first half of the year. She was finally beginning to put her energy into people that weren't there to simply try and rid her of it. She trusted those who mattered. 

It was an odd kind of joy to stand back and watch Astrid rambling on about and, with the help of magic, constantly adjusting the shape of the carrot they used as the snowman's nose. It was an even odder kind of joy to see Astrid tilt her head back and laugh once Pansy had called out the oddest new shape the girl had come up with. Pansy didn't know what it was but seeing that made her feel some type of a way... something she hadn't ever felt much before.

Daphne knew something had happened that had inflicted the change in the attitude of her best friend. She looked at her with a knowing smirk for she was nearly certain it had something to do with Draco. Talking with boys, for as long as she had, Daphne knew all too well how to distinguish the excitement of an individual when another human was the reason for it. 

Astrid fell back in the snow, staring at the passing clouds and the blue sky behind them as she sighed deeply.

"I need to tell you something..."

The two of her friends that had come outside with her exchanged yet another glance. Where one was confused, the other was smirking. 

Astrid sat back up, her legs sprawled to the sides as she picked up a bit of snow and placed it back on the ground. Even wearing leggings and snow pants on top of them, sitting in the snow was still cold. Though she didn't think much of it for she had a more pressing matter in her head.