they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 2 - 1

School had never passed as quickly for Astrid as it did that first year. Despite Malfoy's rambling, Daphne's whining, Maggie's cursing, and Pansy's eye-rolls, she actually enjoyed it.

Astrid loved doing magic and as she found out more and more about the wizarding world she started to feel sadder she hadn't grown up in it. Her peers knew so much more than she did as some things came more naturally to them, while Astrid struggled. Even though most times Hermionie and her over-excessive knowledge were annoying, Astrid often wished she could be more like her. Somehow Hermionie had known about the wizarding world just as little as Astrid before they received their letters but was doing much better in classes than her. 

Astrid shuddered remembering those awful first weeks when she had known so little about the witches and wizards it was honestly painful. Especially at that time, she didn't even fully know who You-Know-Who was. Which is ironic...

Zabini had mentioned You-Know-Who as a reference one morning at breakfast when Astrid's curiosity had taken the best of her.

"This Voldy guy can't be that bad," she had said as the whole Slytherin table had gone silent. "Hitler was bad and we learned about him in school. This guy can't be that important if we don't get taught about him."

No one knew who Hitler was and that comment went through everyone's one ear and out the other. What they did hear was that Astrid was dense enough to not know who He was and that was enough to set them off. They had all started laughing then and Astrid had never felt that awful before. How could she have known the extents of You-Know-Who's evilness having never heard of him? The Slytherins didn't understand that though and she was the centre of most mocking for over a month. Malfoy had never felt as powerful as he did those dreadful weeks. Even Daphne stopped talking to her for some time claiming that was social suicide.

Those had been the worst 7 weeks of her life this far and she was more than happy she was past that state now.

"You won't believe how horrible the annual midsumball was," Daphne exclaimed as they entered their dorms. The girl's golden blonde locks bounced side to side with every step she took. Her light blue eyes were glistening with an exciting sort of annoyance. Daphne was irked by the memory, yet thrilled to talk about it. 

All their belongings had already been magically brought to their room so they didn't have to worry about carrying their stuff (which in fact would've probably been practically impossible; she'd become Dumbledore's favourite student before she would successfully manage to carry her stuff down to the dungeons without losing her balance from how heavy the bags were and rolling down the stairs to her inevitable death). Packing for the year had been just as horrid as it had been the first time she did it. Deciding what you would need was one thing. Then placing all these things into two or three suitcases was a completely different and terribly complicated task. It had taken her over 10 minutes and her mother and father both sitting on her biggest suitcase to finally get it zipped closed.

This summer Astrid had spent at home. When the previous May Daphne had been constantly whining to Astrid about the ball she was to attend in the summer, Astrid had asked if she could join Daphne. She had said it was to keep Daph company but in reality, Astrid just had never been to a ball, let alone a magical one. And she had been very curious about what it could be like. But to her great displeasure, Daphne had declined because Astrid simply wasn't a pureblood. She had joked it would be a disgrace to her family if they brought a half-blood, but Astrid had taken full offence because she knew the supposed joke was simply the full truth.

Yes, Daphne was Astrid's best friend but the blonde girl had zero filter to whatever she was saying. She hadn't intended to offend her friend but she wasn't going to be the one to tell her sweet lies either. It was truly peculiar - the way the girl had with words. Her intentions were always good, she wasn't mean, yet the way she expressed herself was often deemed questionable.