And continuing with my Drastoria two-shot! I've got an exciting idea for my next two-shot, so look out for it at the end of this chapter!

***

Malfoy cowered from the manticore as it towered high above him, growling like a creature double its size.

He reached for his wand again but it was too far for him to get to. And he knew any slight movements would make the creature strike. He couldn't just sit and smile pleasantly at the thing while it attacked, though!

He slowly backed away a few more steps- and the creature pounced.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Malfoy blinked in shock to see a protego charm cast over him and the bright eyes of Astoria Greengrass staring defiantly at the manticore.

The manticore growled at her, prowling around for a way to get past the charm and kill the two. "Get your wand, Malfoy!" Astoria yelled at him, and his limbs finally worked, getting into action and sweeping up the wand.

"Now what?" He asked. "Which spell do we use?" She frowned, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Just hold protego for a moment. I'll think of one."

"Protego!"

Astoria released her spell and put her hands to the side of her head, pressing down hard. "Think, Astoria, think!" She muttered.

Then she whirled around. "I've got it! Malfoy, remove the spell when I tell you to and then when I give the signal, use petri-"

"Understood, now the signal!"

Astoria held up her wand in concentration. "Release!" She called and as Malfoy pulled back the manticore struck again, but this time she was ready. "Stupefy!" She called and it didn't seem to harm the manticore, but he froze for a second.

A second good for them, rather.

"Now, Malfoy!" She told him, and he whirled in front of her, chanting, "Petrificus Totalus!" Which completely shut down the manticore's limbs.

It roared in fury, struggling, but it couldn't break free. Astoria nodded at him. "Let's go, come on. The spell won't last forever. And we don't want to be here when it breaks, am I right?"

He nodded. "Let's go."

Both of them turned tail and ran back into the safety of Hogwarts.

*

"Draco, you still didn't tell me where you were when you missed Potions today!" His (somewhat, not really) girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson whined.

Malfoy ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "It was nothing, Pansy. I was in the Room of Requirement, that's all. There was something I needed to do. Which was best done in Professor Snape's class."

"What about Greengrass, then?" Blaise asked lazily from where he was perched, on the other side of the common room.

Malfoy stiffened. "What about her?"

"Don't pretend, Draco. She was with you, I know it. I'm not sure you went to the Room of Requirement after all, huh?" He smirked.

"I did go-"

Malfoy was interrupted by Pansy's wounded shriek. "I can't believe you went with that mudblood, Draco! Do I mean nothing to you?"

She saved my life. All you do is whine to me, pug face.

"Of course you do, Pansy." He tried to give her a reassuring smile, which she lapped up like her nickname suggested. "You mean a lot more to me than that muggle born does, okay? Don't worry." He even patted her hand for good measure.

"Oh, she's graduated from mudblood to muggle born now?" Blaise laughed. "You can't tell me you didn't spend the entire two classes of Potions without her." 

"And I will tell you that, because that's what happened, Blaze. Come on, you expect me to be all buddy-buddy with that Greengrass girl? Please. I already have a girlfriend, I don't need some other girl. Right, Pansy?"

She smiled and purred, "Yes, of course!"

"Well... I'm starving. I'm going to head down to the kitchens now, to get something to eat since I pretty much missed lunch." Malfoy stood.

"I can come!" Pansy smiled again, this time more flirtatiously than usual. "We can even go to the Room of Requirement together, spend some more time. You've been so busy lately, we hardly get any time!"

Malfoy froze. How could he deny her just like that? Then again, he didn't want her burden to carry all the way and back.

Surprisingly, it was Blaise that saved him.

"Pansy, actually, I needed some help with my homework," he said, looking about as innocent as he could with those fox like eyes of his. "It's of Potions, and you of all people are a whiz at it. Care to help?"

"I..." She glanced at Malfoy, looking at a loss for words.

Once again, Blaise rescued the situation. "Come on, I'm sure Draco won't mind. He just needs to clear his head and all. And I could use the help. Please?"

Malfoy shot her a comforting nod, smiling tightly. She took a breath and sat back down. "Okay, I'll help. But just because you're a friend, Blaze."

Malfoy turned to his friend and thanked him quietly. Blaise just smirked back. You owe me now, Draco. A Zabini always pays off his debts, and so should a Malfoy. Malfoy nodded. Consider it done, Blaze.

As he made his way out of the common room and up the stairs to the kitchen, he heard laughter and a familiar voice.

"I missed your company, Daphne."

"And I yours, Astoria. But enough with the chatter! Give me some news. I know you skipped Potions with Malfoy today. What were you doing?"

"At least fifteen people asked me that! What is with you people and Malfoy? He is an absolute git, okay?! And... And..."

Before she could continue, Malfoy rounded the corner and deliberately slowed down his pace to smirk at her. "I'm what again, Greengrass?" Astoria bristled. "A complete git, that's what you are!"

Her sister gazed between them, mouth slightly agape.

He sized her up too. Daphne Greengrass. She was pretty, as the boys often commented, but it was really nothing compared to Astoria. She was clearly the more fire headed, beautiful one.

Wait. WHAT? These are not my thoughts.

"Um, Malfoy...? Are you okay?" He glared at them and snapped back, "I'm not a git, I'm just brutally honest. There's a difference."

"You were screaming when we were falling!"

"Obviously! You chucked me out of a window! And how would a levitation charm work if, I don't know, we were about to die?"

"WELL IT WORKED, DIDN'T IT?!"

"NOT UNTIL I INTERVENED!"

"OH YEAH, AND THEN I SAVED YOU FROM THAT MANTICORE. "

"I COULD HAVE HANDLED IT, THANK YOU."

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE YOUR WAND ON YOU! WHAT COULD YOU HAVE DONE?! ASKED IT POLITELY IF IT COULD REFRAIN FROM ATTACKING YOU?! OH WAIT. YOU'RE NOT EVEN POLITE. YOU WOULD HAVE DIED."

"Um, you two, unless you want the entire school to witness this argument, you might want to take it somewhere... Private?" Daphne interrupted.

They tore their glares away from each other to notice half the school ogling at them, including Pansy's angry as well as hurt expression, Blaze's all knowing smirk, the Golden Trio with varying degrees of shock and all his friends.

"So..." It was Blaise who broke the silence.

"DRACO WHY DID YOU LIE TO MEEEE?!" Pansy cried. "AND FOR HER?!" She pointed an accusatory finger at Astoria.

"You lied to your girlfriend?" Astoria raised an eyebrow at him, and he glared at her, warning her silently to shut up. "It really couldn't be any more of your business, Greengrass," he spat. "Stay out of this."

"It's about me, though," Astoria answered simply.

"WHAT," Pansy raged. "IS GOING ON BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU?!"

"That even I'd be interested to know." Hermione Granger smiled wryly at them, while Ron grinned. "This should be fun." Harry cracked a smile too. "Agreed."

Blaise just glanced at him, that horrible smirk on his face, and Malfoy...

Malfoy just broke.

"YOU ALL WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?! FINE. I WAS HEADING TO THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT FOR SOME PERSONAL BUSINESS AND THIS MUGGLE BORN CAME IN THE WAY, AND RUINED EVERYTHING FOR ME! IT'S HER FAULT GRANGER FOUND ME, AND HER FAULT I ALMOST DIED!"

Astoria opened her mouth to puff out a retort but Malfoy was breathing flames now, and he definitely wouldn't stop.

"SHE MADE ME JUMP OUT OF A GODDAMN WINDOW-"

"It was to save your life!"

"AND SHE CAST A LEVITATION CHARM TO KEEP US FLOATING SAFELY, WHICH SHE HAD NO GUARANTEE OF-"

"You didn't even help those first five minutes!"

"AND THEN SHE STORMED AWAY AND A MANTICORE ATTACKED ME, WHILE I WAS WANDLESS, WHICH I WAS THANKS TO GREENGRASS-"

"It's not my fault you're an incompetent idiot!"

"WELL GUESS WHAT?!" He yelled back at her. "THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT ISN'T YOUR FAULT HERE." They glared at each other.

"My turn, Malfoy! I saved your life! Twice! I didn't abandon you when that manticore attacked, and it was my plan that kept you safe all along! And here you come, acting like some spoiled rich kid brat, and where I deserve praise and gratitude for my kind actions, I'm getting insults and glares! Get it now?!"

"You followed me!"

"I know but that's not the only thing I did!"

"I WISH YOU'D JUST DIE, ASTORIA, AND YOU KNOW WHAT? RIGHT NOW, IF I COULD, I WOULD USE THE DAMN KILLING CURSE ON YOU MYSELF. I THOUGHT HARRY POTTER WAS A BANE ON MY EXISTENCE, BUT SEEMS LIKE IT'S NOW YOU."

Astoria just stared at him in shock. Everyone around them seemed to mirror the emotion, even Blaise, who no longer looked smug. In fact, him and Pansy were shaking their heads, with looks of disapproval.

"I didn't... I didn't want this," Astoria whispered, before quickly running down the staircase and out into the courtyard.

Malfoy opened his mouth and closed it again.

"Are you waiting for her to come back or something?! Go, you idiot! Go after her!" To everyone's increasing shock, it was Pansy who'd spoken, and now glared at him.

He nodded at her wordlessly and dashed off in the direction she'd gone. "Astoria!" He called out. "Astoria, I need to talk to you!"

"Oh now you want to talk?" Astoria couldn't stop herself from snapping out.

"Yes," Malfoy told her. "Please."

With a huff, she came out from her hiding spot and glared at him even more harshly than she had before. "What is it, Malfoy? Are you here to gloat after successfully making me cry in front of half the school?"

"Actually, I-"

"Or is this about insulting me even more? I'm a bane on your existence? This went way too far on that, don't you think?" Astoria's cheeks shone with tear tracks.

"Astoria!" Malory interrupted her. "I came to apologise for what I said and did you to today... And any time before that. I'm sorry. I don't realise that I take things to the point where it's almost impossible to apologise but I'm here to ask if this time you'll forgive me. I know I've been stupid, and I know I've been over the top rude to you, but will you..." He looked right into her eyes. "Will you forgive me?"

She just held his gaze, mouth agape. "Did you just... Just..."

A smile bloomed on her beautiful face and Malfoy couldn't help it- he had to do it now, before he lost her again.

Malfoy leaned forward, pressing his lips to her's and to his surprise, she didn't pull away, but kissed him back.

Breathing heavily, both smiled at each other.

"Don't tell anyone about this yet. The fools will think I'm going soft," Malfoy scoffed, but his fingers now clasped her's. She grinned. "Sure. You groveled for forgiveness and later we can say that you pledged your eternal servitude to me too."

Malfoy laughed. "Okay, this is definitely too far." And smiled.

Astoria now knew. She liked him. She liked the Malfoy boy.

***
And done! I'm finally done with this two-shot! It's 1996 words, my longest chapter of any book yet! But I loved writing it. I hope you like it too!

And of course, dedicated to you, Abha! Thanks for requesting it!