they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 5 - 125

The same day the following week, Malfoy no longer had to hide in the confines of his room, therefore the two could spend their free period together. What could be better than spending it preparing for OWLs... Astrid had tried to convince the lad they should rather keep to doing something more fun and think about the upcoming OWLs when they'd become closer coming. It was two weeks until June after all which meant they had two whole weekends to pull all-nighters on while studying. There was no need to do it on the workdays on time. But still, Malfoy had insisted.

Two weeks until June meant not only the OWLs were nearing closer, but so was Malfoy's birthday. One she had been all until recently stressed over because she hadn't known what to gift the lad, more importantly, for what money. She had a bit saved up from the tiny bit she got from pawning, but she felt it wasn't near enough to compare with the collective price of what the lad had already bought for her. The ring on her middle finger was a daily reminder and quite ironically a 'fuck you' to herself for the fact that she didn't have the money to repay for even that little piece of metal. 

That's why she had owled home. She had asked mum to owl her all the money she had put aside and which she had been saving up for the vinyl, telling the woman that she was in need of a gift for a friend. Which wasn't even a lie... Not the friend her mum had in mind yet still... Not only that, but she had also asked her mum to owl over a few excess pens. Only over Easter break had she thought of this genius idea of using a pen that resembled a quill instead of an actual one. The girl now used it excessively. It hadn't run out just yet, since Astrid spent almost no time actually writing but she had asked her mum to owl her another one because rethinking about a present for Malfoy, she had realised that might actually be a perfect little addition.

And she had wanted to hide it until his birthday. But having it hidden between the clothes in her chest of drawers, Astrid had quickly enough gotten too excited to keep the things a secret and decided to give it as a small gift without proper occasion. 

She just really really wanted to.

And so she did. Having sat Malfoy down on the common room couch, the girl had rushed up to her dorm, taken the quill and run right back down, presenting it to the lad with a wide smile. 

The common room was empty so Astrid found nothing at all on which to write off the fact the blonde remained with a stone-cold face.

He held the pen between his thumb and pointer finger, looking at it with his brows furrowed. "Uh-"

"You know," Astrid crossed her arms, sitting back on the couch, all her enthusiasm gone. "A little more excitement would've been nice."

"What?" his icy eyes looked up at her confused.

"I know it's not a hundred galleons but I know you've secretly been wanting a pen," Astrid rolled her eyes and then pushed Malfoy's knee with her leg from where she was sat across from him. "It's a mini gift." Astrid hoped what she was doing wasn't considered odd. Maybe it was odd to gift people randomly... "I mean... like an early birthday preview."

Not that she'd be able to give him that much anyway. She only had twenty galleons altogether.

The lad's brows straightened back out with what looked like realisation and he twirled the gadget in his hand a little more loosely. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he pressed the ballpoint down a few times. "It looks just like a quill."

"Good observation," Astrid chuckled, searching his face for any indication of if he actually liked it. She knew he chewed on the inside of his cheek a lot when with her but she hadn't yet figured what exactly it meant. "That's the point."

He pressed the end of the pen against the parchment, writing down her name absentmindedly. "And it's so much easier to write with."

Astrid breathed a laugh again and shook her head. "Dearest," she began, making the lad's head snap up from where he had been looking at the parchment. Astrid smirked to herself, having known that the nickname would've gotten at least some kind of reaction. "That is exactly why pens were invented. Yes."