Secrets and Snakes - A Draco Malfoy Story

My Astoria

By the time it was the weekend, Draco had damn near gone through every bloody emotion on the spectrum. Happy and in love, hurt and confused, annoyed yet accepting, and worried out of his goddamn mind. And, of course, all of these emotions came from one black-haired woman that he was hopelessly in love with.

Draco was whipped. Blaise had told him as much after their interaction with Dennis Creevey but Draco had just sneered and ignored his friend. Who cared if he was whipped? If he was going to kneel for anyone, let it be Astoria Greengrass. Hell, she had him on his knees for her half the time anyway. The only woman Draco Malfoy would set aside his pride for, the only one worthy of setting aside his pride for.

But his pride, it seemed, was due for another beating.

She began to ignore him, avoid him, and did her best to forget everything that had transpired between them. It was almost worse than before they had ever even kissed when Astoria told him that he needed to be a proper fiancee for Daphne. Then, at least, he had her as a friend. Now, it seemed she was determined to be nothing.

Not that he would accept that, of course. It hurt when she didn't come to his room. It hurt a lot. He immediately went to her dormitory, convinced that something bad had happened to her. But when he got there, he found Astoria and Aria giggling through the doorway. Draco didn't want to be the man that stepped between her and her friends so he left her, figuring that she would either come to him later or that she simply needed a night with her friend.

But then the next day, Astoria sat far away from him at breakfast despite the fact that he had saved her a perfect seat for her in between Daphne and him. She did the same thing at lunch and then at dinner, taking different routes to her classes so she didn't run into him in the corridor.

By the time night rolled around, Draco knew she wouldn't be coming. He had done something—he'd no idea what but whatever it was, it was probably his fault completely (Astoria never did anything wrong, at least not in his mind). He was hurt, hugging one of the pillows for some small sense of comfort, though it felt nothing like the girl he was missing. It didn't let out little snores throughout the night, it didn't sigh and move closer to him, it didn't wake up with the most glorious smile he had ever seen. But it wasn't mad at him like she was so, at the moment, it was all he had to work with.

Draco missed her terribly. Terribly. He wanted more than anything to seek her out and beg on his knees (in more than one way) for her forgiveness. He didn't care what he did wrong—he would remedy it in whatever way he could. He didn't care if it took a million galleons. It was pennies compared to Astoria's worth anyway.

But he didn't have the chance to make it right because she never let him get within 50 meters of her. Normally, Astoria would sit and stew on whatever bugged her until it burst out of her. She was never very good at holding her emotions in, so very unlike her roommate in that regard. But this time, she just didn't. She held everything in. She turned around when he entered the room. She acted like he wasn't in love with her with every ounce of his being.

So he waited. He waited until the moment she would start to speak with him again, the moment when she would explode and he would finally learn what was wrong. Then, he'd beg for her forgiveness and do everything in his power to correct it. He absolutely hated it—bloody hated it more than everything—and longed for her with every spare moment he had.

Needless to say, it gave him considerable practice in the art of patience, something he was severely lacking.

Draco sighed and ran his hands through his blond hair. It was looking considerably messier these days, a result of his constant turmoil over the situation. He didn't like being away from Astoria. Actually, he loathed it. Every second not spent in her presence—not spent touching and feeling her and making her feel like the goddess she was—was a second wasted. But for her, he would wait. He would wait an eternity. She was worth it and more.