Secrets and Snakes - A Draco Malfoy Story

The Common Room Party - Part One

Astoria spent the rest of the evening hyping herself up for the common room party. You don't need Draco, she told herself while eating dinner. You're being a good sister, she thought with a sigh as she took the ring and the chain off of her neck. You're doing the right thing, she repeated as she began to get ready for the Slytherin common room party.

It was no secret that Slytherin had the best common room parties in all of Hogwarts. The dark dungeons with flashing green lights, rich purebloods with the ability to buy more alcohol for one night than some other houses could buy for the whole year, and overall atmosphere of debauchery made for some excellent parties. Gryffindor parties could, on occasion, be fun, though they tended to be a little rambunctious and didn't draw large crowds for that reason. Hufflepuff parties were a chill vibe but how often did teenagers want to chill? And Ravenclaw parties... well, there was a reason Ravenclaw never hosted any. For a night of fun, Slytherin was the best place to go. You could let down your hair, take off your robes, and have a night you would always remember (unless you drank enough to completely forget). To get in, you had to be on the list. And, as Slytherins, Astoria and Aria would always be on the list.

Tonight, the list was at least a mile long. The first party of the year after a big Quidditch win surely made for a night to remember. A night of transformation, a night of vice and sin, a night to sit in the darkest corners of the room and make dreams come to fruition. Astoria was a lady, classy and elegant at her core... but there was something about a Slytherin party—the way the dark room filled with smoke, the lights flashed maniacally, the alcohol flowed through her veins, the way her hair could be let down and her deepest immoralities set free for just a moment—well, it called to her.

And tonight especially would be one for forgetting.

She subconsciously reached for her neck only to feel a pang of disappointment when she felt nothing. It's for the best. But without Draco's ring around her, all she felt was worse.

Astoria comforted Aria as the girl fiddled around the room nervously. Little did Aria know that Astoria felt just as nervous, if not more. While the girl often had an air of confidence around her, it was usually fake. She pretended to feel beautiful, to feel funny, to feel charming. But sometimes all she could do was be reminded how fake it was. She didn't feel beautiful, not as beautiful as Daphne. She didn't feel funny, not as funny as Daphne. And she didn't feel charming, not as charming as Daphne. Daph was all of those things and more; most of the time, Astoria just felt like the baby sister she really was. So even as Astoria dressed in a tight, white dress, her hair in long curls, her lips glossy, and her eyes sparkling with silver glitter eyeshadow, she didn't feel beautiful. She put on her silver hoops and couldn't help but be disappointed when she looked in the mirror. Because she didn't see Daphne and, just like when she was younger, she thought her big sister was the prettiest girl in the world. Sure, she knew she was those things too, at least partially. But there was a difference between being pretty and being Daphne. Daphne, who had loads of friends and the respect of all of the professors and boys kneeling to get even a taste of her. Daphne, the Golden Greengrass.

You have to act normal. You have to be fine. You have to keep it all in, she thought as she stared in the mirror. Sometimes it was exhausting keeping all of her emotions in. But Astoria had been a burden to people all of her life. She just wanted to be easy, wanted to be the fun friend. So she plastered on a smile even though it felt like her heart was splintering into a million pieces.

She smoothed the sexy, white dress. It hugged her body and made it look like she had a lot more curves than she normally did, pushing up her cleavage as it sucked in her waist. "Now that'll catch his eye," Aria, said biting her lip with a cheeky grin.