Draco Malfoy book one The sorting hat conundrum#Wattys2016

Chapter five Apologies and my first class

Astoria's P.O.V

The light from the fire was relaxing as I got to know my fellow classmates and sad to say most of them hated muggle borns with a passion. There was one however that seemed alright Blaise Zabini. He was a dark skinned Italian with warm brown eyes and short brown hair. His opinion on muggle borns was that they were equal to pureblood in the sense they were just as good at magic.

My sister was also on the side of the muggle's. Everyone turned in for the night leaving Draco and I in a tense silence.He was the first to break it and say in a not so arrogant tone, "I'm sorry about pushing you off to the side like that. I have a reputation to uphold as cruel heartless jerk." My mind was blown by which fact I do not know. My tone was shocked as said, "You know how to apologize, I'm surprised." He simply rolled his eyes and said, "I may be cold but I'm still a human being. I know how to apologize i just choose not too. Malfoy's never apologize for anything. You are exception since your new and don't have any friends yet." I cocked my head to the side and said, "I thought you were my friend Draco" He flushed slightly and said, "I'm simply being nice to you while you get to know people it's only fair".

He was still putting up that shield of arrogance and superiority, my work was most certainly cut out for me. My tone was soft as I said, "Hey after breakfast would you escort me to my first class I hear its in the direction you go for your first class." He nodded and then proceeded to retreat into his room to get ready for a good nights sleep. After he was gone i decided to turn in as well. My door was just down the hall to the left from the common room and Draco's happened to be right across from mine. The private rooms were protected by a password of the inhabitants choosing so it was time for me to choose a password. My mind bounced from one idea to the next and I finally decided on one and said, Dragon. The statues eyes lit up and let me in before the wooden door closed behind me.

My eyes scanned the room and it looked gorgeous, the bed in the middle was a four post canopy queen size with silver curtains tied back by green ribbon. The bed was black silver and green with purple pillions thrown in. The sheets felt as if they were made of silk and the comforter of fine cotton. My mind fell into a peaceful slumber the minute my head hit the pillow.

The morning beams were just starting to peep through the window after sliding out of bed i made my way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. One quick soak in the tub later and it was time to get dressed.My bare feet carried to my closet and I waved my wand to pick my outfit for the day. As my pajamas pooled at my feet a white button up dress shirt and green and silver tie came flying out of the closet and landed on my bed unwrinkled. They were soon followed by a gray v neck long sleeve sweater a pair of gray knee socks and a pleated gray skirt. The last pieces to come sailing out of the closet was my black Mary Janes and my school robes. It was time to get my first day started.

I exited my room and listened for the sound of my fellow classmates, there was nothing but silence from the common room so I proceeded to the sitting room to read. The sight waiting for me was most certainly surprising there sat the usually immaculate Draco Malfoy but apparently he hadn't had time to get his hair under control this morning because it looked like a wreck. A evil thought crossed my mind as I crept behind the couch and bent down next to his ear and said quietly, "Psst, your hair is a mess fix it before they mistake you for medusa." He shot about a foot in the air and immediately dashed into his room presumably to fix his hair.

I walked around to the front of the couch and sat down with my book Hogwarts a History and started to read. It was about twenty minutes before Draco exited his room fully dressed with perfect hair. He walked over and smacked me lightly in the back of the head and said, "You will not speak of what you just saw ever, are we clear?" I raised a challenging eyebrow and said, "Tell me what am I not supposed to mention?" He gave me a hard look and said, "The fact that I was in less than presentable shape is a secret that is between you and me." My tone was joking as I said, "Why keep it a secret are you afraid that the others will see you as a human being that can't function in the morning instead of the perfect prince you claim to be"

He took on a somber look and said in a quiet way, "If people see that I'm not perfect they will start to bully me. Your family doesn't understand how other pureblood's work because they don't care about the whole political mess. You don't have to act cold and arrogant because no one is watching you. You are free to goof off and make mistakes and blow up a couple of classrooms. I have no such luxury everything I do must be perfect or my father will be very disappointed." A sigh escaped my lips as I said, "So how about some breakfast?" He simply nodded and said, "Maybe if we get down there early enough we can finish before the rest of the house comes along and starts shoveling their faces" I simply nodded and said in a playful tone, "Last one to the dining hall is a mandrake root" I dashed out of the room and his need to win must have kicked in because he was ahead of me the whole time we were racing to the great hall.

The hall was relatively empty when we got there. The only other people there were a few hufflepuff's and three Gryffindor's that just happened to be Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. We took our seats at the table and began to dig in to the scrumptious food. I broke the silence first by saying, "You seem to put a lot of value on appearances Draco, have you ever considered what it would be like to not care how people saw you?"

He took a bite of bacon and shrugged his shoulders and said, "If we are going to have this soul searching discussion then you have to promise to keep my secrets. Deal" I nodded my head and said, "Only if you offer the same curtesy to me" He nodded and said, "Fair enough. To answer your question yes I often think about what life would be like without any one to judge you. It would be the ultimate freedom to do or say whatever I wanted." The way his eyes lit up as he talked cast a warm feeling over me, but then he stopped and said, "Unfortunately things will never be that way, I will always be in my fathers shadow. I'm okay with that though because he is a great man." The tone of Draco voice betrayed the fact that perhaps he did not think that his father was a great man.

My tone was soft as I said, "This may not be my place but, you should never try to be like your father. You should make your own path and opinions and not worry about what he says." He simply gave me a shocked look and said, "We should probably get to our first class and see if our professor needs help with anything" We exited the dining hall as it turns out I had transfiguration and he had defense against the dark arts/dueling club.

He walked me up the moving staircases and down a corridor lined with moving paintings. When we reached the door to professor Mcgonagall's classroom he opened the door and said, "I'm dropping off a new student professor, she wanted to get started early and help you set up. Well I'm off to class see you later Professor you too Astoria." He closed the door behind him and it was just the professor and I in silence. She finally spoke up and said, "Well lets get things set up and thank you for the help Ms.Greengrass a small smile graced my lips as I went about placing goblets and thought about what Draco was doing.