If I Lose Myself

Chapter Eleven: Astoria

Chapter Eleven: Astoria

December 1996

"Honestly, Daphne, this is a tad bit too much." Astoria announced as she pushed the curtain to the side and stepped out to reveal herself in an awfully puffy pink dress. It was corset-lined and tight to the bone and fell into a huge puff. She looked like a non-blonde version of Marie Antoinette which was both repulsive and slightly offensive. "You can't possibly have me go there in this? It's just a small get-together, not my wedding day, for the love of Salazar."

"Oh, alright! Merlin, you do look awful in it. Yikes. Let me find something else!" Daphne screeched as she began rummaging through what appears to be two piles of dresses she had unhinged for her to wear.

They had been in Gladrags Wizardwear in Hogsmeade for what felt like hours now. Astoria hardly remembered even having lunch as they must have spent so much time in here. It was a miracle she was still alive after being trapped in one tight dress after another.

It had been two weeks since the Pansy incident. Well, she liked calling it an incident because anything remotely involving Pansy Parkinson felt as though it was disaster beyond words. When she told Daphne what Pansy said about her being engaged to Draco "before they were even born", her sister merely waved the idea off by saying, "She's just trying to get a row out of you. No young pure-blood gets engaged before they're even born. It's uncanny and absolutely disgraceful, not to mention ridiculously desperate. I bet it was Pansy's mum's idea."

But even if it were true that she'd just been trying to fluster her, Astoria found it hard to believe that Draco was in any way, available to other girls. She'd seen the way the two have ruled the school when they became Prefects last year – abusing their powers like an odd couple. It occurred to her so lately that she had been involved in a sort of flirtationship — as Daphne would like to call it — with Draco. She felt sick to her stomach.

He was engaged and she'd gone through the thought of actually imagining something between them.

Astoria's revulsion was interrupted by Daphne shoving an emerald dress into her arms.

"Try that one on!" Daphne squealed excitedly as jumped up and down. "Go on! Go on!"

"Alright, alright!" Astoria shook her head helplessly at her sister before entering the changing room and doing her best to get the menace of a puffed dress off.

As she undid the strings of her corset, she asked aloud, "So have you said yes to Blaise already?"

"Tori, if I said yes to him, I'd be joining you in the fruitful attempt of trying to find the perfect dress for the party now." Daphne said as a matter of fact. "No, I haven't. And will you please come off it on that?"

"Why do you push him away so much?" Astoria questioned with a sigh of a relief as her chest loosened from the corset before shoving the whole dress off her. "It's obvious he likes you, Daph. He seems quite genuine about it. I know mum and dad don't want you to go anywhere near him, but... well, a little rebellion won't hurt a bit."

"You're just saying that because you've given yourself the full liberty of snogging with Draco Malfoy." Daphne asserted from behind the curtain. "I'll have you know that mum and dad don't want you anywhere near him, and yet here you are – tutoring him so willingly like the little school girl who'd always dreamed of being remotely close to her crush."

"I'm not snogging him! And I don't see him that way anymore, I've told you that about a hundred times now." She told her sister heatedly, her cheeks flushing from the memory of her almost actually snogging him had a certain professor not interrupted them.