Astoria Greengrass was a Slytherin and proud of it. There were, however, several things that made her different than most of her fellow Slytherins.

She had no interest in the Dark Arts. Lord Voldemort seemed like nothing more than a murderous lunatic to her and she couldn't understand why so many of her peers were so keen on joining him after they graduated.

She also didn't understand what the big deal was with someone being muggleborn. It seemed to her that ancestry didn't affect talent. After all, she'd seen purebloods perform some pretty crappy magic and muggleborns perform some rather extraordinary magic.

Astoria Greengrass didn't take shit from anybody, not even Draco Malfoy.

The first time she ever spoken to him was in her first year when he tried to bully her out of being friends with a muggleborn Hufflepuff.

"Greengrass!" he shouted, approaching her from across the Slytherin common room, that awful sneer on his face.

"Yes, Malfoy?" she asked, wondering why the popular third year wanted to talk to her.

"Why were you talking to that Hufflepuff boy earlier?" he demanded.

"He's my friend," Astoria replied cooly.

"His parents are muggles," Draco snapped.

"So what?" Astoria snapped back.

"So a pureblood Slytherin like you shouldn't be friends with a filthy little mudblood like him!" he shouted.

Astoria pulled herself up to her full height and looked Draco straight in the eye. "It's none of your business who I'm friends with, Malfoy," she said quite calmly. "And I'd appreciate it if you would kindly butt out of my personal life."

With that, she tossed her long hair over her shoulder and walked away, leaving a stunned Draco Malfoy behind.

Astoria and Draco mostly avoided each other after that, only talking when it was absolutely necessary.

Then one day in her fourth year and Malfoy's sixth, Astoria stumbled across him in the library. The room was deserted except for the two of them, being that it was a lovely Sunday afternoon and everyone else was outside, enjoying the sun.

Draco's head was down on the table, buried in his arms. Astoria paused, looking at him. Then she heard a sob. He was crying.

Draco hadn't been himself recently, she'd noticed. He was unusually quiet, keeping mostly to himself. He always looked worried, even scared.

For some reason, Astoria now found herself approaching him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, regretting the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.

His head shot up and he glared at her. His eyes were red and puffy.

"I'm fine," he snapped, wiping his eyes.

"You don't seem fine."

"Well I am. And even if I weren't, I'd never tell you what was wrong, you filthy little blood traitor."

He stood up and stormed out of the library, leaving a stunned Astoria Greengrass behind.

A month later, Professor Dumbledore was dead and Astoria finally knew why Draco had been upset. She wondered if he would have done it, if he would have killed their headmaster, if Snape hadn't shown up.

A year later, she evacuated the school with the rest of the underage students. She wished she could stay and fight.

A month after that, she walked into the Three Broomsticks and found Draco Malfoy sitting alone at the bar, clutching a firewhisky. She hesitated for a moment, then went and sat down next to him and ordered a butterbeer.

He turned his head and looked at her. "What are you doing, Greengrass?"

"Drinking my butterbeer," she replied.

He rolled his eyes, but didn't protest.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Astoria finally asked the question that had been bothering her for a year.

"Would you have done it? If Snape hadn't?"

He was silent for a moment, and then he shook his head.

"No."

Astoria was glad. She finished her butterbeer and stood up.

"Wait," he said.

"What?" she asked, turning around to face him.

"Don't go."

She sat back down.

A/N:

Thanks for reading. I really wanted to write a story about Draco and Astoria and this popped into my head. It didn't turn out as good as I wanted it to though, probably because I wrote most of it in the middle of the night. Hopefully the next chapters are better.

Reviews are appreciated!