No Antidote | Draco Malfoy x Astoria Greengrass Love Story

Consequences | Chapter 03

*** The characters & the world in this story belongs to JK Rowling ***

They had gone back to the hotel to freshen up and rest a bit before the dinner with Draco's client. Astoria had just woken up from her nap, when she heard a gentle knock on her door. She opened it and Draco walked in casually.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Let me freshen up my make up real fast" she says, digging through her purse for her eyeliner. 

"Sure" he shrugged, sitting down on the sofa of the suite. 

"Before we go Draco, I need to ask, why do you want a Time Turner?" she asks, in a serious tone. Everyone knew that the control of time was often very dangerous.

"It's for my personal collection, I won't be selling it" he replies, knowing exactly why she was asking.

"What use do you have for one" she wondered.

"I don't plan on using it, I just think it'd be something nice to have, in case" he answered.

"In case of what?" she asked, as she applied her make up in the mirror.

"I often think about the past, everything that's happened..." he says quietly. "I know I can't change the things I've done and I know that perhaps everything happened the way the ought to have, but I just can't help but to think that if I had been able to do somethings differently, perhaps I would have been able to stop so many people from..."

"You can't stop people from their fate, Draco" Astoria says quietly, understanding that behind his words there was more than just pain, there was guilt. 

"I know that.. I just think perhaps even if a few innocent people could have been spared..." he sighs. 

"What happened wasn't your fault" she replied, looking over at him. He was staring at his left arm. 

"But if I weld the power to go back and at least change a few things..." he begins so explain.

"If you went back and changed anything... the outcome might have been better, but it also could be worse" she says carefully.

"Yeah, so that's why I wouldn't use it even if I got it, but maybe one day, there'd be a reason to use it, and at least I'd have it" he replied. 

"You promise you won't use it to do something stupid?" she asks, walking over to where he was.

"I promise I won't use it to change what's already happened" he replied, looking up at her reassuringly. "You're worried about me?" he asks, smirking at the look on her face.

"Friends have been known to worry about friends" retorted Astoria, rolling her eyes but smiling at him. 

"Right, I'll remember that next time" he joked. 

"You did the right thing in the end and that's what counts" Astoria says, kindly. It wasn't a secret that Draco and his mom in their own ways helped Harry Potter defeat the Dark Lord. We knew that he risked his life in a way, if Harry Potter had been unsuccessful, there'd be no telling what Voldemort would have done to his family. Astoria also knew that Draco Malfoy was supposed to kill Albus Dumbledore and he ended up hesitating to do so, she knew that deep down everything had not been his choice and in fact he had no choice. 

"Yeah, I guess that's true" he shrugged. 

"I'd know" she shrugged back. He nodded, and smiled ever so slightly.

Astoria liked seeing him smile. She never knew he could do it, he was always either cocky or so serious, even as a kid. He would brood or be a dick, that was about it. He never showed signs of any emotion. In the last 24 hour, she had seen a side of him she always knew existed but never saw. She hoped he'd show this side of him more, to the rest of the world.