Draco loved Astrid, oh yes he did. But Astrid liked to embarrass him a lot. And that's exactly what she was doing right now. They were on the Quidditch Pitch, as Slytherin was practicing. She was done doing her laps and she landed right next to Draco, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Trissy, stop. You're only embarrassing yourself." Draco said, his face was tinted a light shade of red, clearly embarrassed. Astrid only laughed, pulling Goyle up to his feet and urging him to dance with her.

"Come on! We can make up our own song!" Goyle was a bright shade of red as he shyly copied her wack moves. "Uh — it could go something like — er — Draco Malfoy is a pure wuss — uh — I know someone he'd like to kiss —"

"Astrid no!" Draco yelled, his face even more red. "I'll tell my father of this!"

"You're going to tell uncle Lucius?!" Astrid asked, laughing. Goyle took this as an opportunity to sit down again, and he shifted a little further back, mentally hoping Astrid won't force him to dance again. Astrid was about to say something again, as her mouth was open.

But before she could utter a word, she heard Marcus bellow a loud, "Black!" Astrid whined. She loved Quidditch with her whole heart but Marcus made it hell. She was even thinking of leaving the team, but she wanted to do it after the game. She first wanted to give Oliver hell.

"This isn't over Draco." Astrid said before jumping on her broom and zooming away. Both Goyle and Draco exhaled a breath of relief when she was high up in the sky.

"Focus Black!" Marcus yelled at Astrid when the Bludger missed her head by three centimeters. Even high up in the sky, Draco could clearly see Astrid roll her dark eyes at Marcus and zoom for the three hoops. Before she could reach them however, the Bludger had zoomed back at her and hit her hard on the arm.

Draco, who Crabbe and Goyle had never seen show emotion, besides sass and anger, sprung up to his feet and rushed over to the falling Astrid. Luckily, much to her demise, Marcus had caught her and they landed safely on the ground.

"Malfoy, take her to Madam Pomfrey's." He said to Draco before facing Astrid. "You better focus Black, don't want you flying like that at the game. We can't loose due to your stupidity." He grunted before flying away.

*

"I swear he acts as though he has a stick lodged deeply in his ass." Astrid grunted when Madam Pomfrey had began inspecting her. The Healer liked to shoo everyone away, but for some reason, she didn't shoo Draco away. Astrid guessed it was because of his last name.

"You're hurting her!" Draco had cried when Astrid yelped in pain. A look of irritation was visible on Madam Pomfrey's face. "Are you deaf?! Can't you hear you're hurting her?!"

"Draco, please, she's just doing her job." Astrid pleaded with him but he only grunted. She sent the Healer a shaky smile and distorted her face when she roughly bandaged her arm. "Ow!"

"What type of Healer are you?! You're supposed to make people feel better! Not worse!" Draco was bright red in the face now, something Astrid rarely saw, as he was extremely pale and looked like he was knocking on death's door. Madam Pomfrey glared at him but immediately dropped her glare when Draco sneered and said, "My father will hear of this! A Healer who hurts people!"

"That was uncalled for." Astrid complained when they were walking to the Slytherin dungeons.

Draco sent her a grin. "Oh don't tell me you didn't enjoy the look of fear in her eyes when I mentioned my father."

Astrid snorted and said, "Of course I did but it was still very uncalled for." Draco shook his head, clearly thinking otherwise.

"Astrid!" She turned around to see Cedric sprint over to them. Draco raised his brow at her and she shrugged, almost instantly regretting it when pain ripped through her left side.

"Hey Ced, need help with anything?" Astrid asked once he stopped in front of them. He was panting for air and he had his hands on his knees and he was hunched over as he tried to catch his breath.

"Yeah, I need help with m—" His eyes landed on her left arm and he raised his brow at her. "What happened to your arm?"

"Oh this? It's nothing serious, Madam Pomfrey said I should be good in about a week. She gave me some Dittany and gave me this." She held up the now half empty bottle of Skele-Gro and she shrugged and cursed when the pain shot through her left side again. "I should most probably stop doing that. Anyway, what do you need help with?"

"Oh yeah right!" Cedric nervously laughed when Draco glared at him.

"Astrid would've healed much faster if that —" He paused, looking for the right words. "That—"

"Let it go Draco. We've been over this, she was doing her job!" Astrid groaned when the boy shook his head. "Anyway Cedric, please continue, I have Potions homework."

"Yeah, I need help with mine." He looked embarrassed but Astrid didn't know why. It had always been like this, Cedric helping her with Herbology, and Astrid helping him with Potions. She guessed it was because of Draco.

"Sure, uh — we can do it in the library." She suggested and then her stomach gave a loud growl. "Or in the kitchen." She giggled.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen in ten then." Cedric said, already sprinting away to fetch his work. Astrid merely nodded before he could completely disappear.

"He is an idiot." Draco mumbled when they entered the common room. Crabbe and Goyle were seated on the couch and the dark haired girl, whom Astrid learned to be Pansy Parkinson, was seated right in front of the fireplace, as if she waiting for something to happen.

"You're the idiot. Now off you go, go play with your friends." Astrid pushed him towards his two bodyguards and made her way to her dormitories.

Astrid didn't like being in Slytherin actually. The girls in her year always cast her dirty looks, some simply ignored her and some were scared of her because her father was the mass murderer, Sirius Black. Astrid wasn't really complaining, she liked being left alone. Then you get Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin. He hated Astrid and she didn't know why. Every essay he had thrown their way, she made sure to finish it in time, she had done every single homework of his, and she tried to perfect every potion, which sometimes wasn't the case.

She sometimes wished she was in Gryffindor. Her adoptive father was in Gryffindor, the Potters were Gryffindor's, her father's other friends were Gryffindor's. Why couldn't the hat see that she had the courage and bravery of a Gryffindor? Somehow the hat thought she belonged in this house. Sure, she made sure to achieve whatever she wanted, and she didn't care how she did it, as long as she achieved it. She was resourceful too, but she felt out of place. And she hated it.

"The house elves are making pancakes for us, I hope that's okay with you." Cedric said the minute Astrid walked in. He was twirling his quill between his fingers and he looked down to his paper again.

"I'd eat about anything. I'm starving. Marcus had us training like crazy. The laps I had to do!" Astrid whined but instantly brightened up when a house elf placed a stack of pancakes in front of her. "Is there honey or something?" She asked the elf, who immediately went to search for it. She thanked the elf for the honey and the pancakes.

"I swear Snape is trying to torture us!" Cedric whined with a mouth full of pancakes. "How the hell are we supposed to know the difference between Bloodroot and Moonseed poison?!"

"Well, Bloodroot is a type of poison most likely made from bloodroots I guess? I haven't really read much about that one. And Moonseed poison is made with moonseed." She too had a mouth full of pancakes. She saw Cedric quickly scribble what she said. She was already done with hers. So she continued to stuff her face.

"Thank you Astrid, you're a life saver."

"Tell that to Snape, he'll have a heart attack." They both laughed and continued to stuff their faces. Astrid preferred Cedric over Oliver, which was wrong and weird. She guessed that it was because Cedric didn't share the same passion for Quidditch like she did. She and Oliver even had the same dreams. To play for Puddlemere United.

"Trust me, I'll do it one day." And they both knew he'd do it one day. But that day was not today.