“How are you getting home?” Draco asked the girl.
She just glared at him and walked out of the door, letting it shut with a loud bang.
“Good riddance,” muttered Draco.
He hoped he’d never see her again. On his part, he wasn’t going to go to any clubs in the near future. In fact, there was a huge possibility he wouldn’t ever venture into one again.
Draco was a tyrant at work that day. He sent six pairs of Quidditch gloves back to the glove-manufacturing department just because a few threads were sticking out here and there, something he usually fixed himself. Then, he Vanished all the tail clippings of a new model of Nimbus broomstick because they hadn’t been varnished properly. By the end of the day, he was sending a report to Winters, suggesting that Miss Marlowe had been tardy and would require a salary cut.
Sleep came quicker that night, too, but if he had thought things would improve the next morning, he was sorely mistaken.
Right on the front of the page of The Daily Prophet was the picture of the pub he had been to two nights before. Apparently, the owners had been arrested and fined because of the admissions of a large number of Muggles. Aurors were investigating to find out which wizards and witches had brought the Muggles with them, and Obliviators were being sent out to modify the memories of those Muggles.
“Damn!”
Draco hadn’t brought any Muggle illegally with him, but he had certainly left with one. Did that count?
“Bloody fucking Merlin!” he exclaimed.
There it was. Just another achievement to add to his already colourful history. They would probably accuse him of harassing the Muggle or something equally horrid. He was Draco Sodding Malfoy after all.
He owled Winters, telling him he was too unwell to come to work. If he was going to be arrested or questioned, he didn’t want it to happen in the office in front of everyone.
No Aurors came to his flat that day, or the next, which happened to be a Saturday. He was too terrified to even read the paper. What if his name had been printed on it as part of a list of people who had been on the bar?
Pucey dropped by with Goyle and asked him if he had gone.
“I did,” he said, almost gagging on the words.
She looked sympathetic. “If they didn’t come yesterday, they might not ever,” she said in an effort to console him. “I think most of those people who did bring the Muggles have been caught.”
“Anyone we know?” he asked.
“Avoiding the paper?” asked Pucey shrewdly.
“Yeah.”
“A few Gryffindors,” she said. “I remember them from school. One or two Ravenclaws. Some I don’t know. There was a Hufflepuff with his fiancé, but I think they let him go.”
“Finch-Fletchley,” said Goyle. “Our year. He is a Mudblood himself.”
“Muggle-borns, Greg,” corrected Pucey, touching Goyle’s hand as though in warning.
“Sorry,” said Goyle hastily.
Draco remembered something just then. “Any Slytherins?” he asked.
“None,” said Pucey. “No one either Greg or I know, that is.”
“That’s good to know,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.
On Sunday, he decided it would be a bit safer to go out of the house. He needed to pay his rent, as well as for the grocery and foodstuffs which the landlady got for him. Gringotts fortunately never had an off day.
He was just about to Apparate to Diagon Alley when the doorbell rang. He immediately froze.
Only two people ever came to visit him, and both were in Hogsmeade, visiting Pucey’s uncle. The landlady, who had lumbago, preferred to send him an owl if she needed to have a word with him. His parents didn’t know where he lived.
His first thought was to scarper, but how long could he run? The Ministry probably had some sort of a tracking charm on him, ready to activate whenever he was charged with some crime or the other.
He had no choice but to face this. Keeping his chin up, he turned the knob and opened the door.
Astoria was standing outside.
“How “ how did you find me?”
Staring coldly at him, she walked inside.
“What happened with Trixie?” she asked him.
“What about her?” asked Draco.
“Will you stop playing dumb?” snapped Astoria.
“Well, as long as you remain vague…”
“You didn’t sleep with her,” she said accusingly, as though that was the biggest crime of the century.
Now, it was Draco’s turn to be short with her. “None of your business,” he told her.
It really wasn’t any of her business. At first, he had imagined that she had come there because she was worried about him, but it was becoming obvious she had Trixie’s interest at heart, not his.
“It is!” she cried.
“Did she get caught, then?” asked Draco. “Because if she did, it wasn’t my fault to begin with. It was yours.”
“She didn’t,” answered Astoria. “I made sure of that.”
“What did you do?” asked Draco curiously.
“Memory Charm. I got there before the Aurors and Obliviators did.”
“Did you get my address out from her, too?”
“Yes.”
“And how did you find my room?”
“I told the landlady I am your girlfriend.”
Draco was impressed with her tactics but too annoyed to compliment her on it. “So now you’re scot-free, aren’t you? What’s getting your bloomers in a twist?”
“Did you or did you not bring her here and then reject her?” demanded Astoria.
“What in the bloody name of Merlin is wrong with you? What does it matter to you if I slept with her or not?”
“You rejected her because she’s Muggle!” Draco could only splutter as she flew into a rage. “I liked you because you didn’t agree to the marriage. All my life, I listened to my sister telling me that you were a wimp who would do anything his parents wanted, but you proved to be different, and I thought, I thought you deserved a chance. But no!”
“Astori “”
“You haven’t changed a bit, have you? You lied that you have been to Italy, but you’ve actually been living here all this time.”
“How “?”
“Your landlady says you’ve been here for four months, Draco!”
“Yeah, but “”
“Trixie told me everything!” Astoria went on. “She said you couldn’t do it and that you felt it was wrong. If you really hated Muggles that much, why didn’t you just leave her at the club? Why go through that stupid elaborate drama about wanting to shag her so badly that you wouldn’t even say good night before leaving? What the hell were you trying to prove?”
Draco couldn’t answer.
Astoria got even more furious when he didn’t fight back. “My sister and I had an argument, you know. I told her she could be wrong about you, that people could change because of time and circumstances. But it seems she was right.”
Throwing him one last dirty look, she started walking towards the door, but Draco shut it with his wand.
“You’ll hear me out,” he said.
She pursed her lips and waited.
“That night was the night I actually realised there was little difference between Muggle women and witches,” he said. “I didn’t go all the way because … because I was thinking of someone else. I couldn’t go ahead with it when it was so obvious it was another girl I wanted.”
He could see her frowning, but he wasn’t going to pause now. “I know what another guy would say in my place “ that it didn’t matter as long as the girl didn’t mind. But it mattered to me then, and it matters to me now. I don’t want a substitute. I don’t want to shag someone just for the sake of shagging. I’m no longer the boy I was at school.”
Unable to face her, he started pacing. “Yes, my mother lied to you. She couldn’t very well tell you, practically a stranger, that her son had run away from home. I was staying with Goyle at that time. Father finally tracked me down, but I argued with him and mother and didn’t stay at the Manor. Instead, I came here and got a job. I am currently working at Nimbus.
“As for Trixie … Well, I haven’t had a girlfriend in a long time, nor have I bothered to start anew because, like I said before, there is someone I like and I’m pretty sure she’s unavailable. Trixie came on to me, I grabbed my opportunity, and I’d have happily spent the night without regret if …”
Astoria was silent. When he looked back at her, he saw that her eyes had gone wide, as though she had just realised something huge.
“It is true that I told her it was wrong and that I couldn’t do it, but it’s completely false that I said those things because she was a Muggle,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t even give a bloody Knut about the whole Muggle thing anymore. I haven’t, for quite some time.”
Unbidden, the unpleasant memories of an old teacher hanging above a huge dining table flashed in his mind. Draco automatically winced.
“Draco …” mumbled Astoria.
“I have to leave,” he said brusquely. He raised his wand and sent a Self-Locking Charm towards the doorknob. “This door will lock itself within two minutes. Please show yourself out.”
With that, he Disapparated, leaving her alone in his flat.
When he returned, Astoria was no longer there. He felt disappointment weighing down on his heart, and then he loathed himself for being so vulnerable.
As though in a trance, he went to the kitchen and started cooking right away. He let the WWN play loudly and even sang along to it in an effort to focus on anything other than what had happened earlier. Still there was no blocking his mind from replaying certain words which she had said.
You proved to be different, and I thought, I thought you deserved a chance…
My sister and I had an argument, you know. I told her she could be wrong about you, that people could change because of time and circumstances.
So, she had actually cared for him in her own way. Not that it mattered anymore. She must be embarrassed of him right now. Few things on earth were less appealing than unwanted attention.
Draco felt nauseous. He had exposed his feelings to her, even though he had been right to do it. There was no way he was letting her go with all those crazy conclusions she had jumped to. But now, he must seem like an idiot in love.
The doorbell rang again as he was settling down to eat. Prepared to face whatever it was, he opened it straightaway.
“Hey,” she said.
Forcing his feelings back down, he said, “What brings you here again?”
“Your Self-Locking Charm does work,” she said. “I wanted to return as soon as I’d stepped out, but clearly, the time was up.”
“My question still stands.”
“I waited in your landlady’s room for so long,” she said. “She says she can detect when you’re at home. Finally, I asked her if she’d let me know when you arrived. She agreed and sent me an owl.”
“Think I’ll move out,” said Draco. “She apparently cannot respect my privacy.”
“She thinks I’m your girlfriend.”
“Well, you are not.”
“I’m hungry and I can smell food.”
Pushing Draco aside, she entered his flat once more. “I didn’t know you cooked as well,” she remarked. “What is it?”
“No idea,” he replied honestly. “I just boiled all of those things together.”
It was as though he was in a bizarre but welcome dream. Astoria had settled on the chair opposite his and was eating the broth he had made without complaint. He was too numb to swallow anything, so he just sat there watching her, elbows propped up and fingers knotted together with the tip of his nose resting against them.
“I was going to eat when the owl flew into my kitchen,” she explained after having nearly finished her bowl. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Lost my appetite. You have disgusting table manners,” he said, indicating the few drops which had fallen on her sleeves when her spoon splashed on the watery dish. She gave him an evil look as she removed the stains with her wand. Draco couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Right,” she said, getting up. “I’m going to have a look around your flat. You get on with your pathetic soup.”
Draco found it much easier to eat as he heard her walking around and commenting on the décor. Back when he had just moved in, he had often daydreamed about her visiting him there. He would be ashamed of the place then; it was tiny and bare and without style, and it reeked of the aura that accompanied a life lived on a tight budget.
But now, even as she blasted his choice of furniture and curtains and arrangement, he realised he didn’t mind at all. This was the real him, and he was proud to present it to her.
“The only thing I like,” she said, reappearing in his kitchen, “is the paint on the walls.”
Draco raised her eyebrows at her.
“Say, you didn’t steal the idea from someone, did you?”
His reply was to gather the dishes and put them on the sink. He heard her laugh.
And then, he wanted her to leave. She was humoring him only for some time. She probably felt sorry for him. Although he was a much better person now, he was nothing compared to what her boyfriend was.
It wasn’t pity he craved; it was her, and if he couldn’t have that, he wouldn’t have anything from her.
“When are you leaving?” he asked as soon as he had come out.
“You’re eager to see me go, aren’t you?” she asked him, sounding hurt.
He threw himself down on his sofa next to her. “Listen,” he said seriously, “don’t expect friendship from me. By now, it must be obvious how I feel about you. If I can’t be your lover, than I’d prefer to stay away from you.”
“So,” she said, “the girl is indeed me then.”
“Who else did you thought she would be?” said Draco incredulously.
“It’s just funny because I don’t even have a boyfriend.”
“Huh?”
“Who’s the lucky guy you’ve paired me up with?”
Draco was dumbfounded. “What do you mean? Aren’t you dating that Delaney wanker?”
“You wish, he’s not a wanker, and he’s gay.”
“What does that mean?”
“Are you serious?” said Astoria. “It means he likes boys!”
“No, I know what that means,” said Draco. “I’m just “ what was he doing kissing your cheek and putting his arms around you?”
“Can’t he do that to his best friend?”
“Yeah “ no!” Draco jumped up in his excitement. “I don’t do that with Goyle “ or, or “ well, I have never seen anyone do that!”
“Just because you haven’t seen something doesn’t mean people don’t do it,” said Astoria, rolling her eyes. “I often kiss his cheek and put my arms around him as well. Doesn’t mean I’ve got the hots for him.”
“Daphne said you were dating.”
“And Daphne despises you with all her heart,” she said. “Was she telling you about me and Ewan in the store that day?”
“Yes.”
“Reckoned as much.” Astoria patted the seat next to her, telling Draco to sit down again. He obeyed. “I am single,” she said.
“Really?”
“Yes,” she said, “but … I am not ready for a commitment.”
How did she manage to do this to him? Fill him up with so much happiness and then deflate him the next second?
“Draco,” she said, shifting and turning towards him, “I appreciate what you’ve done with yourself. All these changes you’ve brought into your life … from what I knew of you, I wouldn’t have expected you to be like this.”
“It’s all because of you,” he said earnestly. “If I hadn’t met you, I’d still be gathering fat at the Manor.”
“And it feels great to hear that,” she told him. “It’s a little overwhelming, yes, but if I’ve been responsible for even a single change, I can be proud of myself.”
“Then what’s wrong?” he asked her.
“I wasn’t actually a part of it,” she said. “I didn’t experience any of it. I may have influenced you, but it happened without me being aware of it, and that … that makes me feel empty.”
“You don’t have to “”
“Listen to me,” she said, taking his hands into hers. “It looks like you have set me up to be an ideal, but you hardly know me. And I hardly know you. And … I can’t just jump into the middle of it, you understand?”
“So what would you have us do?”
“Start from scratch,” she told him. “See if we really work together.”
On an impulse, he leaned in to kiss her cheek, but he changed his mind and lightly pressed his lips against hers instead. She giggled.
“I promise you we will,” he said.
Because You Came by hestiajones
Chapter Endnotes: Just an epilogue left, and we're done. :) Thanks for sticking around!