The Blood Curse (Draco X Astoria)

Chapter 6

A/N lamooo hii ;) wow I'm posting again and I don't know why. Anyway's idk what to say so yeahhh have a great day byeee

disclaimer: I do not CLAIM to own any of these characters!

Astoria ignored him, leaning against the cold stone railings of the Malfoys balcony. She smiled softly to herself, hearing the balcony doors close quietly behind them, it drowned out the music and chatter from the celebration indoors. After a prolonged, but never awkward, moment of silence, Draco spoke again, with a slight sigh, he said, 'What are you doing?' in an uncharacteristically quiet, almost defeated sounding tone.

Another period of silence, it was never awkward with Astoria, quiet was how she liked it. She smiled yet again, never turning to face him, and said gently, 'I'm enjoying the view... it's a beautiful evening... isn't it?' He stared at her, taking in her profile, momentarily stunned by her strangely tender voice. His lips parted from their constant fine line, seemingly of their own accord as he took in her appearance, how her red hair glittered orange in the setting sunlight, how it was pinned back, just a few soft curls hanging loose to frame her face. Her pale skin glowed in the light, and the green of her dress corresponded beautifully with the red of her hair, and her emerald coloured eyes.

She laughed quietly and Draco was abruptly brought back into the present. She was watching him, noticing his staring. 'i- um...' He stammered, blushing a deep red, 'yeah, it is.' what was that? get ahold of yourself! he thought in a slight panic. Astoria was staring at him now, her eyebrows furrowed, and nose slightly scrunched, he knew this look, it was the face she made when she was confused, trying to figure something out, he had seen it before, when she was concentrating on a book, or when he had been particularly rude to her.

He gritted his teeth, his embarrassment still evident, 'Why are you here anyway?' he snapped rudely, taking on his usual demeanor. She sighed and turned away, facing again towards the edge of the rails. 'I didn't realize the balcony was off-limits.' 'It isn't' he huffed. 'I know you followed me here, so what do you want?' there was a hate-filled glint in his eye, and it hurt her to see, she couldn't imagine what she had done to fuel the hate just so strongly, from the very beginning, he had despised her.

She felt a lump form in her throat, he always made her so emotional, and why? why should she care so much? what was that? get ahold of yourself! Do you really have that little control? Astoria thought, looking to the ground and gritting her teeth, 'I want nothing' she whispered, answering his question, before quickly, almost running from the balcony, and into the great big hall, where she distracted herself amongst the crowds.

Draco was left slightly shocked on the balcony, 'what was that about?' he said lowly to himself, shaking his head...' women'. But he felt a particular emotion, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it, it wasn't a feeling he experienced very often, if ever. was it guilt? regret?... hardly, he never felt bad about doing anything, that would be outrageous, never mind the fact that it was because of someone so ridiculously pathetic as Greengrass. He kicked the pillar out of frustration, he couldn't shake the foreign feeling... and it scared him.

the remainder of the night progressed on fairly quickly, Astoria promptly stayed out of everyone's business and spent her time standing alone in a corner, counting down the hours until she could leave the commotion behind her, the loud music and people were making her head hurt, she couldn't wait to return to the quiet confines of her bedroom.

Draco, on the other hand, had been busted, 'why were you talking to Greengrass Draco?!' Pansy had demanded, 'you shouldn't even be looking at her nevermind talking to her! don't think I didn't see you.' Draco had never before realised how insecure pansy was within herself, it was really quite sad, nonetheless he wasn't really paying much attention to her interrogation, he was replaying his and greengrass' conversation in his head. She bothered him so much, pathetic child, and for what? oh, how he hated her. He would say he had a headache, escape the annoying crowd for a bit, and try to gather his thoughts.

Astoria heaved a long sigh of relief as she collapsed face down onto to her soft bed. pure bliss. she could finally hear herself think. She hadn't spoken a word since they got home, bolting straight to her room to change out of her uncomfortable attire. It was 11:50pm and she was absolutely exhausted, still, she relayed the nights events in her head. Her encounter with pansy and her sidekicks, the time afterwards that she walked right into lucius' outstretched arms, ooh the embarressment, then her strange encounter with Draco... she was certain her father had lost it, how would it ever be possible to befriend Draco. He despised her, and she hated him for it. She found herself wanting to know him, and that was the problem. She was curious. Her father had said they were hiding something, and she wanted to know what. She then thought of something that she had read in one of her muggle novels, what was it? curiousity killed the cat? it was probably right, maybe she shouldn't interfere. It wasn't like her.

Just then, as she was lost in a storm of her own thoughts, she heard a sharp knocking on her door, her mother of course, no one else in the household appeared to almost knock the door from its hinges. She sighed, truly wanting to be left alone, 'come in'. Her mother started talking right away, never pausing even for a breath. 'Astoria! I'm so terribly dissappointed in you. you're an embarressment to this family. You didn't speak to one person this entire evening...' when she opened her mouth of object, her mother cut across, and continued, 'I overheard Lady Parkinson this evening, 'oh how awfully odd that Greengrass girl is, she's always alone, always has her nose in a book, terrible disappointment to her family.' I was so dreadfully embarressed Astoria, I could have ran from the room.'

Astoria sat in silence, she knew better than to talk back, if she sat quietly her mother would leave, when she eventually ran out of insults to provide. So eventually, after a long fifteen minutes, her mother strode out, slamming the door behind her. Almost certainly cracking the frame. Astoria was sat on her bed, staring at her hands, as she had been for the passed twenty or so minutes. The tiny owl hooted softly from its cage, beside her bed, but Astoria didn't acknowledge it's attempt at comforting her, for she was too tired to cry.

Not sixty seconds had gone by until a loud crash echoed throughout the house and Daphne stormed into Astorias room... the door wouldn't survive the night. 'Pansy told me you were talking to Draco! why were you talking to Draco? I've been trying to get his attention all evening, and yet, YOU were speaking to him ALONE on the balcony.'

Astoria sighed and rolled her eyes, Daphnes voice went through her head like a bullet, she almost concerned by how incredibly shallow her sisters mind was. 'What do you think we were talking about Daphne? the weather? you know he hates me.' It was Daphnes turn to roll her eyes, 'exactly! I thought I told you to stop making yourself noticed? you're my sister, he obviously knows that, you're embarressing me! ugh I give up!' scowling, she stormed from the room, the second person to slam Astorias door tonight.

'Maybe I truly am a terrible embarressment..' she whispered to herself. She wasn't too tired to cry after all...