forgiven but not forgotten

"you know what I loved most about your mother? she could always help me find light in the darkness. she made the world - my world, anyway - less - what was the word you used - 'murky'."                               - draco malfoy (the cursed child)

Even though the timeline had been altered and Astoria had never slapped Draco, they were still in a huge fight. The next morning over breakfast, Draco completely ignored Astoria. She didn't mind, though. Her heart would start to race against her will if he talked to her.

"Pansy, tell Astoria to pass the omelets," Draco said loudly to his girlfriend. Astoria rolled her eyes.

"Pansy, tell Draco that he's being an insufferable git."

"Blaise, tell Astoria that Draco thinks her hair looks like a bird's nest - a significant improvement."

"Blaise, tell Draco -"

"Stop it, you two!" Pansy screeched, dragging her fighting friends out into the hallway, Blaise trailing after her. Once Pansy released him from her death grasp, Draco leaned against the wall, looking at Astoria cooly. The girl responded by rolling her eyes at him.

"You guys are driving me mad," Pansy stated firmly.

Draco smirked. "I'm driving you mad, Pansy, Astoria has nothing to do with it -"

"Shut up!" Blaise yelled, shooting a disgusted look at his friend. "What Pansy meant to say is that you guys fighting has gotten really annoying, so please just... um, make up?" he finished weakly.

"I'm not apologizing unless she apologizes," Draco said, jerking his chin at Astoria.

"Way to be childish," Astoria snapped.

Pansy gave an over-exaggerated sigh. "We're not leaving this corridor until you guys are cool again."

"You might want to conjure up some sleeping bags, then, because I've got a feeling we'll be here for awhile," Draco drawled.

"I really want to slap you right now," Astoria said through gritted teeth, ignoring her friends' looks of panic. "But it'd hurt your pride too much, so I won't."

Draco scoffed. "Whatever, Astoria."

Astoria thrust her fists into her pockets in order to stop herself from wiping that smug look off his face. Her hand touched something crumbled and rough; frowning, she pulled it out and saw it was the note Draco had left her before she'd changed the timeline.

I do care about you very much. - Malfoy

Great way of showing it, Astoria thought to herself. "Five hundred butterbeers on the wall, five hundred butterbeers... take one down, pass it around, four hundred and ninety-nine butterbeers on the wall..." she sang quietly to herself.

Draco's eye twitched. "Fine, fine, I apologize, only because she's being so bloody annoying."

Astoria beamed. "Wonderful. I accept your apology."

"Oi! Where are you going?" Draco yelled after her, watching her jog down the hall.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the girl called back. As soon as she turned a corner and was out of sight, she slowed her place. The stars were beginning to appear again; now would be a horrible time to faint. She was almost there...

Little did she know someone else was following her, lurking in the shadows. 

°

"Madam Pomfrey?" Astoria asked, tentatively stepping into her office.

"Oh! Sorry, dear, I almost forgot you were coming! Well, let's get you to St. Mungo's..." the healer threw some green powder into her fireplace, and they Flooed to the wizard hospital.

Once they'd been directed to the correct floor, Madam Pomfrey got the girl set up in a small waiting room and said Astoria should send a Patronus when the examination was finished and she'd be back to pick her up. So Astoria was left, waiting, in a foreign place all on her own. The room was white on white on white, with a slightly light blue examination bed. Astoria was about to leave when a knock sounded on the door.

"Miss Astoria Greengrass?" a pleasant voice sounded from outside. "Can I come in?"

"Yes," the girl said timidly. She tried to slow her breathing and make the anxiety-caused stomachache go away to no avail.

A young woman entered the room. She had a tan complexion and beautiful, almost hazel, eyes. She held a clipboard with a Self-Writing Quill already working away. She looked at a piece of paper for a second, looked at Astoria, then nodded. "Okay. Blood curse, right?" Astoria nodded and the healer bit her lip. "Well, not much to stop the curse entirely. Though..." she rummaged through a drawer filled with books, chose one, and read something quickly. "We can slow down its effects. One extremely complicated charm to add regular magic blood to your veins, maybe?"

Astoria shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

The Healer smiled. "Wonderful, then! I'll let your school Healer know what you're doing. Any questions?"

"How long do I have?" Astoria blurted out. She thought of Daphne crying, Draco's note...

The healer's face fell. "Well, there's no real way to know for sure. But we caught the curse nice and early - it probably took hold only a few months ago. That'll give you more time. For people with no treatment, the curse usually kills them within a few years of it taking hold. So at least a few years."

Astoria gulped. At least she wasn't going to die tomorrow. "Thank you."

The healer nodded. "I need to do a bit more research before we can start the treatment. I'll see you back here next week, okay?"

The girl nodded, and the healer left.

Astoria went back to school.

●

As soon as she stepped through the doors to the hospital wing, though, she realized she had a problem. Draco was standing by the doors, looking very annoyed.

"What do you want?" Astoria snapped at him, starting to walk towards the common room. He jogged up to her and started to walk beside her.

"Why were you in there?" he asked, voice lower than usual.

"Is Draco Malfoy concerned about the poor little Muggle-lover?" Astoria said, throwing in a fake pout for good measure.

"Shut it. You're sick," he said, rolling his eyes. 

"Oh, come on. Of course I'm not." The lie slid easily through Astoria's teeth.

"Then why were you in the infirmary? Infirmary has the word infirm in it, which means weak and not well."

"Wow, I'm blown away by your powers of deduction," Astoria said, walking faster. Draco caught up with her easily. Giving up, she turned to him. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"

His eyebrows creased. "What do you mean, all of a sudden?"

"Um, hello? Yesterday you were calling me a disgrace to purebloods everywhere, remember?"

"Right. Well, um, I was thinking, and I - I just want you to know that I really do care about you. A lot," he added nonchalantly, though his cheeks were burning. Astoria gasped - it was almost the exact same thing as what he'd said in his note. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Thanks," Astoria said, giving him a weak smile and reminding herself that he was a horrible person, even if he did have his finer moments. He was Astoria's antithesis: cold, mean, arrogant.

She wouldn't allow herself to like him. 

"You're welcome," Draco said, reverting back to his normal, crisp self. "So what were you doing in the hospital wing?"

"I guess you'll never know," Astoria said dramatically as they entered the Slytherin common room. He narrowed his eyes at her but didn't continue to push the subject, something Astoria was very glad for. After all, in her mind, if the blood curse wasn't an immediate threat, why even bring it up? If she did, she knew she'd be treated differently, pitied. 

She could think of no worse fate. 

The Slytherin turned back to Draco, whose face was smashed into Pansy's. Sighing, she shouldered her bag and started on her homework. When she was done with that, she moved on to the book the healer had left in her examination room on blood curses. 

If she was going to die from something, better to at least know why, right?