when they became villains [draco malfoy] {book 2}

Summer 1997 - 175

He dreamt of her almost every night.

She was there, smiling, laughing - a more innocent version of Astrid Ninomae was dancing in the mismatch of clothes that had once made up her pyjamas in Hogwarts. He saw the smooth, bare hands of hers, fingers lacking rings, and wished he would not wake up - that the dream would instead become reality.

It never did. 

Always the dream would change into something horrible. Astrid would get Marked. She would get killed. Astrid Ninomae would turn on him, her eyes going red and she would torture him. The girl that she was would just run away. Always he woke up in cold sweat, wondering how much of it could possibly turn out to be true, how much of it was just him being paranoid...

Either way, the lad had grown incredibly uptight. He saw her all the time but that could not put his racing thoughts to rest. Maybe the fact he did see her all the time and saw the way every single day a new tiny aspect about her always seemed to change was the very reason for his distress. Maybe it was just the fact Astrid had more than once taken notice of the potion he had been attempting to make and he knew that if she found out what it was, and the Dark Lord would see through her thoughts, that would be the last day of his life.

He dreamt of her almost every night and sometimes when she turned up randomly in his room, he could not distinguish if seeing her was real or not.

"I know just the thing to ease your nerves!"

Because sometimes the things his girl thought about were incredibly unbelievable.

"You letting me sleep in peace would do."

She crossed her arms and plumped down onto his bed uninvited. Draco pulled the grey plush blanket tighter over him but it did not help much.

"First off, quit being so rude, arsehole. Second, it's seven pm, what the hell do you mean 'sleep'?"

"I was having a nap," groaned Draco and tried to turn away. 

Though the very moment she disappeared out of his line of vision, the bed sunk in a little more and he heard shuffling. In no time Astrid had crawled closer to him and was looming over his face on all fours.

"You suck."

Draco rolled over to lay on his back again and made a face at the girl. "Quit being so rude," he mocked.

"Ha, ha," she droned humourlessly before raising one eyebrow in genuine inquiry. "What has bitten you lately?"

He narrowed his eyes into somewhat of glare and propped himself up on his elbows. Astrid sat back over her legs and then pulled them from underneath her to cross them over. He saw the way her eyes glistened. He watched the way she shifted and leaned to the side to rest her elbow against her knee and he chin in her palm. Brows furrowed the girl tilted her head.

She was there, but somehow her expression seemed almost as if she was far away.

I'm worried about you, was what he wanted to say but could not bring the courage to. "Your continuous presence while I'm sleeping," was what he then said with a smirk.  "Honestly, poppet, you're turning into a bit of a stalker."

Astrid tsked and rolled her eyes. "I would count as a creep if I just watched. I always wake you up."

"Thank you," he rolled his eyes just the same. "That's soothing."

Astrid gave him another long look before falling backwards onto his bed. She shut her eyes tightly and held onto her head, tapping against it rhythmically. Momentarily he thought she might be in sudden pain and he almost opened his mouth to question. But he didn't manage before the girl was up and sitting again, grinning ear to ear.