Having a Bad Day

[astoria matilda greengrass]

The decision honestly had nothing to do with Narcissa Malfoy—in fact, it was in spite of her. She adored Narcissa Malfoy, and had quite a bit of respect for the woman. The idea that she could actually spend time with the older woman instead of just being a spectator to adult activity was immensely exciting. But what kind of person just sprung this sort of thing on a girl? She wasn’t remotely prepared to have small talk with one of the most respected women in pureblood society—she was wearing a red minidress for Merlin’s sake! Astoria coolly narrowed her eyes at the Draco as he bored into her, having the uncomfortable feeling that he was trying to ‘get’ her, trying to understand what game it was that she was playing. Suddenly, she felt extremely defensive about her actions and decisions thus far. In her eyes, she had done nothing wrong yet Draco’s tone was changing completely and she certainly did not appreciate it. As he leaned back against the wall behind him, Astoria raised a delicate eyebrow in almost a challenge.

A flush rushed to Astoria’s pale cheeks at Draco’s words; a result of both embarrassment and fury at the claims and assumptions he was making. He had taken her simple statement and blown it entirely out of proportion, and very quickly what had started as a nice if tense dinner into what felt like a full on attack on both Astoria and her family. She could not believe his gall. The young girl realized she shouldn’t have been surprised—he was a Malfoy after all, and therefore it was practically in his blood to be irrationally cruel and jump to conclusion. The more he said, however, the stronger her desire grew to put him in his place. Who was he to talk down upon her in such a way? The fact that he had gone from calling her Miss Greengrass to Astoria, as if she were a misbehaving child, made her blood boil. He had no idea what he was talking about, and furthermore he was disrespecting her family under the assumption that she was doing the same, even though she had not.

Standing up, Astoria threw the napkin that had been in her lap onto the table as she moved away from it, stepping towards Draco so that she would not have to raise her voice. The last thing she wanted was to cause a scene; fortunately they were at least in a small dark corner of the restaurant that made it difficult for anyone dining to notice them. Talking in a low but harsh voice, Astoria hissed, ”First of all, Mister Malfoy, I would never deny your mother anything. If you bothered to ask Mrs. Malfoy, I am sure that she would assure you that I have always treated her with kindness and respect, and that she has never ever seen me act other than perfectly well mannered in her presence. I would find it horribly rude to present myself to her ill prepared, because of the very properness that you seem convinced I do not possess. My statement was prompted out of shock in your decision to spring such a situation on me at such the last minute, and I’m certain that if your mother was aware of the surrounding circumstances, she would agree that to do so was horribly rude of you.” Astoria sneered at him, stepping just a bit closer and placing a hand on her hip, ”And no I don’t need you to buy me a dress, I have plenty of dresses and it would be just as simple to go home and change as it would be to buy another. Furthermore, if I were to buy an outfit, I promise you that I have my own means with which to purchase it, no matter the cost.”

Astoria almost laughed at the idea that the Malfoy family would come after her for not having tea with Mrs. Malfoy. Narcissa would never allow such a ridiculous situation to occur. Regardless, Astoria had never intended to deny Mrs. Malfoy; Draco had misunderstood her and that was his problem, not hers. Besides, the Malfoys were walking a rather fine line in society these days; the men had barely avoided Azkaban after all, and most everyone was holding their breath, waiting for them to make one single wrong move that would put them out of favor yet again. ”I hate to deflate your enormous ego, Mister Malfoy, but you should probably know that your family name does not mean nearly as much as it once did. My family is just as prestigious as yours, especially these days. Besides, do you really think that the entire pureblood society is going to turn against a family that has taught all of their daughters the proper way to behave in the very society that we are discussing? My family is beloved, because unlike the men in your family (I say the men because despite your poor behavior, your mother is a delightful woman) we treat people as equals. Your mother knows well how I feel about her, and you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. To be honest, I pity you and your inability to understand the people around you. You have certainly misunderstood me.”

It was clear to Astoria that the friendship she had anticipated with Draco was not going to work out as she had hoped. They had agreed to be friends for all of an hour before they were already in an argument…again. The brunette was not the type to surround herself by people who did not appreciate her or respect her, and Draco had proven that he would not. Of course, she was not the type to just cut someone off for a grievance—she was too weak willed and compassionate for that, despite the cutting speech that she had just given. She would continue to give him chances, as proven by what she said next. ”I don’t understand why you continually to insist on referring to me as though I am only useful in terms of becoming someone’s wife, especially when I have made it very clear to you—as I will again right now—that I am completely uninterested in the title of the future Mrs. Malfoy; I have no desire to be courted by you, and therefore I couldn’t care less that you seem to have decided me unworthy of the position. And no; when I get married, I will not be some useless housewife who sits at home and simpers. I will have my own occupation and my own life, and I will certainly be treated as an equal. Your hopes for me were completely useless because I will never be yours. That I can promise you.” Astoria turned smartly on her heels, picking up her purse the jacket that Draco had given her. She turned back around and held it out to him with no clear expression on her face except for polite distance. ”I am not the type of girl to be made a fool of, or to be disrespected and talked to in the manor you have been throughout the evening. Your behavior has been appalling and I will stand for it no longer. Now, Mister Malfoy, you have two options. The first is that we leave right now; forget about all of this and go back to being vague acquaintances. I will write your mother a note explaining why I was unable to see her, and surely will make it up to her at some other point. Not that this will have anything to do with you, because our ties will be over. The other choice you have is to treat me as an equal and behave like the young gentleman I know you were taught to, though I am starting to doubt you remember how. Either way, I am much too upset to meet with your mother tonight, and besides it is getting rather late to sit down for tea. I am more than certain that she will understand if I choose to pay her a visit tomorrow instead.”

word count:: 1364.
tag:: Draco, obvi. Closed.
clothes:: clicky.
notes:: Astoria always wants the last word lol.

[draco lucius malfoy]

Draco Malfoy had never had a woman talk to him the way Astoria Greengrass was now, it bothered him. She didn’t know the sort of stress he was under. He had to find a wife or be denied his inheritance. She did not know how pressured he was being by his dear mother that Miss Astoria found to be so respectful and wonderful. He sighed listening to her tirade, did she not know that none of their meetings were by accident? Draco had purposely set himself up for this because of his instructions by his mother, court Astoria Greengrass, rather then that pugnant girl Pansy, I rather like Astoria, and she would make the best next generation of Malfoy Matriarch. He sighed rubbing his temples, that had been what his mother had said and now he was failing miserably. Terribly actually. He had done a terrible job at fulfilling his mother’s request. He rubbed his temples yet again, trying not to think of just how much he had failed. Why did he always fail? Every time he was given a task, he could never complete it. Draco was sure this weakness had to show. He had far too much stress on him. He didn’t want to be a husband to anyone this young, as he was, actually he didn’t even want to go into Politics but that path had been chosen. Perhaps Astoria knew how that felt. Maybe he could try harder. The look of distress at her words, must have shown on his face. He wiped the sadness of his face.The familiar facade of no emotion his father had taught him so well back in place.
“Well you don’t know anything. Look I’m sorry okay, this whole thing wasn’t my idea, but apparently I can’t even fufill my mother’s smallest requests. I could giving a flying hippogriff about my inheritance, but since my mother asked me to come to the Hog’s Head today, and meet with you. I did it. But I failed miserably yet again, and once again I’ll bring shame to my family’s name. So thanks for rubbing dittany in the wound Astoria. I have done every request my family has asked of me, and even though I never wanted the mark, I took it, because I was destined to, and I played my part well. I put up a façade for the world to see Astoria, but I guess the boy you knew has played his part for far too long. Look Stori, once upon a time ago. You knew an innocent boy who my mum and your mum made you play with. Once upon a time ago we were playmates. You knew me Stori. And I’m not that person I was. The things I’ve seen, the things I’ve done, they changed me, but I wish I could be. I so wish I could be. If only to have you.” He paid the bill and grabbed his cloak, he had revealed way too much in this moment and he could never let anyone see that weakness again.

“Humor my mother for me, and show up to tea tomorrow, 12 o-clock noon, if you will. She expected me to go through with this, when she knew you wouldn’t be interested in me. The game’s up. You win.” With one downtrodden look, Draco admitted defeat, placing his cloak over his shoulder, the wounded man went back to the apparition point, and apparated back to the manor not able to look his mother in the face as he entered, he had to rethink his motives for this, and decide if fighting a losing battle for the sake of inheritance was worth it, or if there was more then just his inheritance at stake here. Could he even give someone his heart? Or was he like the warlock in the Beedle stories, because of all the unspeakable things he had done would he perhaps never have a heart to give? He walked to his room and slammed the door, how could he fail so miserably? He laid down in his bed, a candle lit at his bedside, letting sleep take him. And there Draco dreamed, of times before the war, when Astoria and him were once friends from all the time her sister had come to the manor. He lay troubled not even his dreams a reprieve fore every time he closed his eyes all he saw was the brunette’s face. Was this love or obsession? Or was he just as lost into the storm as he had been before. Surely he could not win this battle, perhaps he was doomed to fail at finding true happiness as well as he had been doomed to taking a mark he never wanted. He supposed a day was not long enough to know the hearts desires, but he knew this much, he was falling hard for Astoria Greengrass, perhaps enough to let his mask slip and be the man he was trained to be, the man he should have been, if only he could have her.

Word Count: 829
Tags: Astoria
Notes: Note that when Draco uses stori, he is utilizing their familarity, earlier he used Miss Greengrass, in order to push aside that familiarity.
Muse: Tom Felton's if thats alright with you.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]