Astoria:
It had taken Astoria time to wrap her head around both of the conversations with Draco. It was less about the fact that he’d called her out, and more about the fact that she did know beneath the surface that several of her own coping mechanisms were far from healthy. Showing up proved that it hadn’t been a lie, and when she saw Draco emerge from the office in confirmation, the relief had punctured her quick and sharp. I’ll wait around. As expected, what followed wasn’t easy. Unexpectedly, she felt as though she’d chosen right this time. Finding Draco still there shouldn’t have felt like a surprise, because apparently, he did what he said he would. As they walked together, out of the corner of her eye, she kept catching the flash of pale blond hair, drawn to glance in his direction frequently. What is it about you? On hearing that it took one to know one, Astoria tilted her head and listened. “You were brave to leave, not knowing what might be next. I don’t know that I’ve met anyone like you before,” she said. “Where did you go, when you ran? How did you end up here?” They weren’t questions with the intention to be intrusive. She clarified that. “You don’t have to answer, but you make me wonder about you, and what your life has been like. What it means when you say your parents were removed from reality.” That wasn’t common, but it was the gaps between the words that Astoria was seeing, what wasn’t said just as important.
Once school was mentioned, Astoria exhaled a sigh. “People always focus on academics, don’t they? As though that’s the measure of whether someone is doing well otherwise,” she said, hands in the pockets of the jacket she wore. “My father doesn’t really care; his version of reality is one where work is his life. He moved to London and I didn’t want to go. He gave up on me before that anyway. Left me with the house, a monthly allowance, told me not to screw up too badly and keep my grades high.” It sounded like the dream, and it came with a lot of advantages, which she recognised enough to understand no one would want to hear her complain about the other side of it. It also wasn’t a set of facts she’d ever shared before for that reason. Even some of the people who knew her best and were privy to the information didn’t actually know the entire story. But in therapy, she’d talked about it, and now Draco was declaring that he’d have her back on this. “I learned that too, in a different way,” she said, meeting his eyes then. “Thank you for having mine. And for not actually making fun of me when I took you at your word.” She hesitated then, a rare thing for Astoria, more reflective in this moment. “Has it helped you? Going to therapy and talking to someone, I mean.” For her, she felt raw, as though she’d peeled back layers she was accustomed to keeping firmly in place.
As a general rule, Draco didn’t talk about what lead to his arrival at the school in Oslo and his living arrangements with Theodore and Penelope. Only Justin knew a little about it; the other three just seemed to think it was cool that he didn’t live with his parents at his age and was taken seriously by his roommates, both of whom went to college. To everyone outside of his friends group, Draco assumed he was invisible. If he wasn’t, the assumption should be that he moved here with his parents in the summer. Astoria knew better now, though, and Draco didn’t think he minded that. “Paris,” he said when asked where he went. “I knew some people there. I could live with them as long as I helped them out with the odd job here and there. It was a nice time.” It was a very conflicting time for him too. He’d dedicated his time to causes he believed in, school was out of the way as an obstacle and his parents were a nuisance at best. “My parents are very progressive. So much so that it was getting in the way of much else, including parenting. They didn’t want children, so I guess that makes sense.” The words were matter-of-fact. To Draco, the situation was too, but he knew it was different to an outsider listening. He didn’t expect Astoria to share in return (she didn’t have to, but she could if she wanted to) but that didn’t mean he minded it. If anything, he was happy that she felt comfortable enough to say anything at all. It was nice to be able to talk. “That doesn’t sound nice,” he offered. “Parents shouldn’t have other priorities. But they do, all the time. I’m sorry yours does too.” He looked aside at her and offered a small smile. Much like in his situation, he imagined people only saw the advantages of her living arrangements with hers too. “It’s not fun when people can’t give you what you need from them,” he added with another look aside and a light shrug of his shoulders. They could relate to each other, it seemed. “It’s not fair to kick someone when they’re already down. You had the guts to reach out. I really respect that.” It was hard to reach out in Draco’s experience, and he thought she was doing it again when she asked about his experiences. “It was mandatory for me, but I do think it helps to work through things. Understanding other point of views when they’re so different from yours is hard. Did you think it helped?”

















