Act 1: The Set-up
I stood in front of the door of Daphne Greengrass’s mansion, kissing her. Suddenly she nearly fell backwards as the door opened abruptly behind her.
“I thought I heard someone out here,” the girl said, smirking a little. “I just thought I should check.”
“Astoria!” Daphne screeched. “Why did you do that?”
I looked from sister to sister, more amused than angry. Daphne stood glaring at her sister, and she stared insolently back, a smug look on her face.
Daphne had rarely told me anything about her sister, except her name. I knew, by the way she refused to speak of her, that she hated her sister and loved that she was still at Hogwarts. But now apparently she was back for Easter break.
They looked uncannily similar and yet vaguely different at the same time. Daphne was more beautiful. Her features were softer and more aristocratic. Her nose was straight and her blue eyes were clear ” as easy to understand as she was. They had the same pale skin, dark brown hair, and colour of eyes. The quality of eyes was different though. As clear as Daphne’s were, Astoria’s were as murky. They were larger than Daphne’s too, almost as if they were from a drawing. Astoria’s face was splashed with freckles as if she didn’t care about standing in the sun, and her nose was a bit turned up at the end, in a playful way, not at all arrogant.
“Ah, Daphne, can’t you snog your young man inside? Mother and Father aren’t home.” She used a strange inflection in her words; they were overly formal, as if every syllable was a mockery.
“I know,” she snapped. “Maybe I didn’t want you intruding.”
“Well, apparently that plan was a massive failure.”
I choked back a laugh at her bold words, causing Daphne to whirl and face me. “Draco, she’ll listen to you. Tell her to leave.” Her voice changed when she was talking to me; the pitch raised and her words were far more soft.
I stared at Astoria, finding her strangely fascinating. “Why don’t we go to my house?” I suggested.
“Wonderful idea,” she agreed, grinning at me, but around around to glare again at her sister on last time.
As we were about to Apparate, Astoria called, “Have fun sleeping with him, Daphne!”
“They want you to meet her!” Daphne exclaimed, wild-eyed, as she walked into my house the following evening.
“Meet who?”
“Astoria!”
“I’ve already met her,” I answered, confused.
“No, they want you to meet her properly. You know ” with a dinner and then talking afterwards, where you’ll never actually speak to her. I guess it’s the gesture that counts.”
“But why?”
“Oh, they heard about her little… joke, and they were afraid that might make you hate us or something.” She grinned at me, very secure in the fact that I was in love with her.
“I will… on one condition.”
“What’s that?” she asked, laughing, leaning in to me, as if anticipating that I would suggest something sexual. That was far from the truth though.
“You have to tell me why you hate her.”
That question was obviously not what she was expecting. Her usually happy face morphed quickly into a frown.
“I hate her because she’s… annoying. Whenever I would have friends over, she would interrupt us. She would read my journal. She would take my clothes without asking. She would sneak around my room. She’s so tiny and can walk so quietly ” she loves to sneak up on people, especially me. She’s just a weird kid, that’s all. She doesn’t act like anyone I’ve ever known. And when she’s really happy, she laughs. It took me forever to figure that out… It’s just so annoying.”
I nodded and understood. Daphne was used to always doing the same thing. She was a perfect member of society, and her only goal in life was to marry a rich pureblood ” I supposed that was currently me ” but it sounded like her sister didn’t.
“Oh, and she wants to do something with her life. She wants to get a job and be independent. My parents call her unique, but I think she’s a freak.”
“She’s that bad?” I asked, one eyebrow raising.
“Yes, of course she is. You saw her last night.”
Yes, I had seen her last night. The strange part was that I wasn’t entirely sure why she was still on my mind.
Dinner went by uneventfully. Daphne’s parents were undoubtedly permissive, doting upon their daughters with obvious delight. It was just as obvious that Daphne was their favourite; I knew they loved Astoria as well, but sometimes they looked upon her with a gaze I could relate to ” as if she was a strange being they couldn’t understand.
The more time I spent in her presence, the more she intrigued me.
Daphne was so simple to read. She was so straight-forward; nothing ever surprised me about her. I always knew what she would do before she ever considered doing it. I suppose I could attribute this to the fact that I knew her well, but it wasn’t that as much as the fact that she was as transparent as glass.
Astoria was different ” so different. Around her parents she acted so similar to Daphne, but I could tell that wasn’t really the case. A half-smile so frequently appeared on her face, and I came to assume that it was caused when she was being sarcastic, or particularly amusing herself with her oddness. I found myself wanting to smile along with her, though of course that wouldn’t have been the appropriate response.
After dinner I excused myself, and when I was on my way back to the table, Astoria was standing in the hallway, her gaze fixed on me.
“You know,” she told me, the smile appearing again, “you aren’t how I thought you would be.”
“I don’t think you’re one to talk,” I commented, staring back at her, feeling the strange urge to defend myself, suddenly feeling a bit offended by the smug look now that it was directed at me.
“I always thought the bloke to marry Daphne would be different than you. I thought he would be more dull, with less life. But I suppose you know how to hide yourself pretty well by now, huh?” Before I could answer, she demanded, “I want to talk to you.”
I had no response to that. I wasn’t used to such blunt comments. With the same small smile she took my hand and pulled me away. Not knowing what to think, what to do, or where we were going, I allowed it.
I don’t know why I did. All I knew was that this was the most interesting person I had met in a long time, and that I definitely wouldn’t mind hearing what she had to say to me.
All the World's a Stage by R_Ravenclaw
Chapter Notes: Thanks to by beta, bluemoon13. I hope everyone likes this story, since I've been dying to write a Draco/Astoria fic for nearly a year.