Light in the Darkness

Chapter Eight

"What did that Avery boy want last week?" Her mother said over breakfast one morning.

"Huh?"

"What did he say?"

"Oh -- um, I dunno. . . . I'm not very fond of him. . . . I think he wants to -- court me, or something."

Daphne looked at her with wide eyes, her father too. Her mother slowly sipped her tea, and said, her voice level, "Did you tell him you were engaged?"

Astoria nodded, and said, "Yes. But, he was very. . . determined."

"Determined?" Her father said.

"How so?" Daphne asked.

Astoria shrugged, all the prying eyes making her a bit uncomfortable. "He's an arrogant bloke who thinks 'there's nothing wrong with just talking'. I dunno, he's just --"

"Were you polite?" Her mother asked, looking quite worried now.

Astoria studied her for a moment. "A vision of propriety," she murmured, standing from her chair and pushing it in, scraping the floor with a deafening screech. She trotted back up to her room. Her sanctuary. Her prison.

They really only cared about whether or not she was polite? Not the fact that this pompous, arrogant prat annoyed her the whole night, completely disregarding the fact that she was engaged? Okay, well, she wasn't really engaged, but he didn't know that.

She flopped down on her bed. The thought of engagement brought up another source of vexation. She couldn't seem to get the image of Draco proposing to Pansy out of her mind.

Sighing, she crossed her arms over her chest. It'd started to feel like she was making a real friend. Not her sister, and definitely not Lawrence's definition of a friend -- no, a real friend.

She couldn't shake the calmness that seemed to root in her after she'd cried in that alcove. It was probably silly, probably childish, but it was nice to have someone there who genuinely opted to be; wasn't forced to by blood relation. And, of course, he remembered her favorite candy, which for some reason felt like a victory to her.

But the whole situation was completely ludicrous. Was she really laying there, telling herself she was friends with Draco Malfoy? No. Ridiculous. He was everything she resented -- a blood purist and a death eater.

But then again, he did seem rather aggrieved at his family. They're suffocating, he'd said. So, maybe he wasn't everything she resented. After all, he was forced into proposing to Pansy; perhaps there were other things beyond his control, in which he was forced to partake in. She liked that thought best.

Though it didn't matter. For, as of the last weekend, he now belonged to Pansy. So, whatever friendship she possibly could have had would have to accept its fate; some things were just beyond their control. Most things, for that matter, were beyond their control.

* * *

By the time the next party rolled around -- which was in hardly any time at all, for the richest and most powerful needed to keep themselves entertained and in the know -- Astoria had finally transfigured her dress to look different from the elegant black swirls on the white bodice.

Or, her mother finally transfigured her dress.

She decided the most proactive move would be to further drive her theory of making Astoria look as boringly adequate as possible if she wanted to sort out the Lawrence Avery debacle (considering her faux engagement ring seemingly wasn't working -- though it was still ever present on Astoria's finger).