the blood curse: a drastoria fanfiction

a broken heart pt. I

"malfoy, sniggering, lay back down across two seats with his head in pansy parkinson's lap." 
                   - harry potter and the half blood prince by j.k. rowling

°

Draco came into the common room some hours later, shooting Astoria a furious glance as he stalked over to Pansy, kissed her, and then left for the boys' dormitory.

"What was that all about?" Pansy asked, walking over to where Astoria was sitting (having just completed her Divination essay, finally). "Don't tell me he's mad at you again."

"He is."

"I can't have my best friend and my boyfriend fighting, Astoria! You better make nice with him, now."

"You mean right now?" Astoria asked, panic flitting across her face.

"Yeah, right now," Pansy confirmed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Why now? Why not later?"

"Because I don't want to be the messenger between you two, and it's almost dinner time. Come on, Astoria, do it for me."

Astoria rolled her eyes and got up. "Fine. But only for you."

She dragged herself to the boys' dormitories and knocked on the door. There was no response.

"I'm coming in, so everybody better be ready!" she yelled into the door. After waiting ten seconds, she entered. Draco was there, alone, waiting for her.

"Pansy told me to apologize to you," Astoria said flatly, lingering in the doorway. "Because you're mad at me, so it's obviously my fault."

Draco nodded. "It is."

"Why?" Astoria asked, trying to keep the suddenly rising anger out of her voice. 

"Because you said you'd tell me what was going on with you and you didn't!" Draco shouted.

"Did we make a deal, Draco? Words don't mean anything." Astoria said shortly, her eyes narrowing. "You should know that." 

He slammed a fist against a nearby bedpost. "You are so difficult," he moaned. "Just tell me what's going on and I'll leave you alone forever." 

"Really?" Astoria asked incredulously. 

He nodded, his jaw set. 

"Well, what's going on with me is..." she shifted her feet. She could feel his eyes on her, waiting. "What's wrong with me is that you're really annoying me." Flashing him a quick smile, she fled towards the door, only to feel an arm wrap around her waist. 

"That's not true. You're lying!" the boy said, holding her firmly against him. "Tell me why you've been going to the hospital wing, why you've been fainting, why you're avoiding me!" his voice became louder and louder as he spoke.

Realizing it was fruitless to continue to struggle, Astoria was about to go limp and consider another tactic when she heard footsteps on the stairs. 

Just like that, a plan fell into her head. She started to struggle again with renewed effort. "Let go of me!" she screamed. "I don't like you!" 

Before Draco could finish asking what the bloody hell she was up to now, the door to the boy's dormitories was flung open, and Pansy Parkinson stood in its place, breathing heavily. She took in the situation with her beady eyes, which finally came to a rest on where the two stood, Draco's arm around Astoria's waist. The other girl watched as she made the mental calculations, thinking back to Astoria's shouts on the stairwell: "I don't like you!" "Let go of me!". 

"Draco. What the hell are you doing?" Pansy finally said, her voice brittle. Astoria felt Draco's hold on her waist slacken, and she slid out of his grip, making sure to look overly relieved before she skittered to Pansy's side.

"He tried to kiss me," Astoria said, pointing at the stricken boy.

Pansy wheeled on him. "Is that true?"

Draco's shock paralyzed him, just as Astoria had intended. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Shooting him a satisfied grin from over Pansy's shoulder, the cunning girl left the room, knowing that Pansy would never let Draco within ten feet of Astoria again. No more questioning. She only hoped that Pansy wouldn't take her anger out on her. 

But when the shouting started a few minutes later, Astoria doubted Pansy would have any anger left for her to take out on.