This was done for ReillyJade's Academy Awards Competition. Huge thanks to her for the quote!

Also, I dedicate this to Middy (contemplating being nocturnal), whom I don't know well but wish I did - it was her birthday on the 19th of Jan.

only afraid

dracoastoria

"I know what I must do. It's just...I'm afraid to do it."

- Frodo Baggins, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

She knew what he had to do. Kill Dumbledore, nothing else, right?

That's where the problem lay.

He came to rant to her many times - she was the dungeons' agony aunt, oh yes - and told her how much he regretted this-ah, development.

She just sat there, listening to his pain and agony, not saying a thing, and feeling guilty. For God knows why-it wasn't as if she'd done something wrong, but perhaps she felt guilty because she hadn't done anything, really, to make him feel better.

Staring at his eyes wouldn't help, she knew, but what else could she do? She was just the dungeons' agony aunt, so what could she really do? She was a year younger than him, not even a fraction as powerful. What could she do?

But that day, finally, she gathered up the courage to open her mouth and shut him up.

"You know what you have to do, and you even have the power to do it. So why don't you just freaking go do it?"

He looked at her, emotionless, before answering.

"I don't have the guts, Astoria. That's what I lack. I know what I must do. It's just...I'm afraid to do it."

Astoria looked at Draco, looking more vulnerable than she'd ever seen him, and from then on, resolved to be at his side. Always.