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

220

"Well don't you just look ghastly today," was the way Astrid decided to greet Malfoy the next time she saw him. He had had his back turned to her, waiting outside the door to her flat building to take her out to the brunch he had convinced her would be a good idea.

He wore a black shirt and black trousers, the same as he always did, a black overcoat topping it all, nothing really to point out about him, but she had still thought it would be a nice thing to say. At least that day he didn't look like his kitchen had exploded anymore. Walking up to him, to where he stood leaning against a brick wall, bathing in the soft noon sunlight that made his hair almost look golden, Astrid could also smell him - that tantalizing smell of men's cologne that always made her senses tingle. The twat had fully cleaned up for their outing and she hated him for it a little bit.

He turned at the sound of her voice and looked her up and down, inspecting her the same way she had just inspected him.

"Don't you just look like you've decided to wear a garbage bag," he called back very maturely and she crossed her arms when she halted right in front of him.

Astrid wore a long-sleeved turtleneck, with a long, shiny, black satin dress over it. She, too, had an overcoat, though hers was a brown cream-coloured one to give at least a little colour to her appearance. After she had dyed her hair back to natural, Astrid had lost her shiny blondness and therefore tended to look rather depressed always wearing black. She kind of wished for a new wardrobe, clothing that didn't weigh down on her so much anymore.

Astrid put out one of her legs to show him her dress. 

"I think somebody has to get their eyes checked if satin looks like garbage bags to them," she said.

Malfoy didn't miss a beat, his fair brow arched, the corner of his lips lifted in a cocky grin: "Perhaps the fact you wear prescribed eyeglasses means you might've just mixed up the two materials."

Astrid touched the glasses resting at the tip of her nose self-consciously and pushed them up a little. Her vision wasn't very good when watching the distance, but she saw very clearly the things right in front of her. But her eyes weren't too bad either, she would've survived without glasses, though, frankly, lately, Astrid rather preferred seeing things clearly throughout her day. That and it helped her be more cautious, you know... see the incoming threat before it pounced on her.

She watched Malfoy then, lips pursued as she thought about how to respond. It was just two days ago that she had been at his flat. They had talked throughout the majority of the night, speculating about this and that like they used to when they had been kids. At least she thought they had... Astrid was still wary of the memories she had made before He had ceased to exist forever and with it ripped the magic of the ring out of her system as well. A part of her had died with Him, and not in that in any sort of heartfelt way, but literally. He had left a gaping hole somewhere deep within her and she had never escaped the feeling of something missing. Of a lot of things missing. Of never being whole or enough anymore.

But anyway... Malfoy and she had talked, and as nice as it had been, she was still wary of him. Astrid never knew what the young man was thinking anymore, even if she liked to pretend she did. She wouldn't forget him snapping at her to leave every chance he got. She couldn't make sense of why he had told her to stay. Or why he had never mentioned that idea of his that he had been so set on executing. Why he had hated her so fiercely... Why he watched her with such warmth now...

"For somebody with a mother like yours," Astrid tilted her head, recalling the way the woman had always been so strict about proper clothing, "I'd expect you to know how to tell the two apart. Here," she pulled at the material near her stomach where she had left her overcoat open. The end of September had come and it rained a lot but the air hadn't yet gotten too cold. "Feel it."