when they became villains [draco malfoy] {book 2}

Year 7 - 184

Astrid pulled back from Draco before he had turned to look in the direction she was looking in. Hands crossed over her chest, she watched the three struggling figures clambering out of their headmaster's office, dragging a long, shiny object behind them.

"The Gryffindor's sword?" Draco questioned, confusion lacing his words, and the wheels in Astrid's head began spinning.

Ginevra Weasley was holding the sword tightly in her clutches. Longbottom murmured nervously all the while Luna seemingly floated around them, happy for a reason Astrid could only guess to be robbery. One wouldn't have to think long to figure out the reason for it must be a benefit for Potter.

Astrid cleared her throat and the three students whipped around startled. Ginny and Neville narrowed their eyes in a glare, pretty much mirroring that of what Astrid was showing. Pure, little Luna was the only one who still smiled.

Completely abandoning and forgetting about her previous matters with Draco, Astrid stepped away from him and toward the frozen-in-spot trio. She could not let them get away with this. Her shoes clanked against the stone ground of the corridor, echoing through the silence.

"Don't come closer!" the Weaslette exclaimed suddenly, holding out the sword in front of her defiantly.

"What?" Astrid laughed, her steps never faltering. She walked until her stomach was pressed lightly against the tip of the sword. "Are you going to stab me?" Her voice resembled that of an adult cooing to a baby.

Astrid's hand landed on the blade, practically stroking it, and, all as one, she heard the people around her let out a hard gasp when she doubled over. Astrid cried out, faking being stabbed and couldn't help but laugh shortly after when she felt the way the blade began trembling. It took so little and the little Gryffindor redhead was not that brave anymore. Astrid straightened back out and spoke, the humoured smile still playing on her lips.

"Hand it over." She held her hand out.

Weaslette's eyes narrowed all anew, finally having realised it had been an act. She rolled her shoulders back and gripped the sword tighter, actually poking Astrid's stomach with it this time herself. Just a tad stronger and Astrid's could've actually been stabbed.

"No! We're going to-"

"I don't care what you need it for," the smile dropped off her face. Again Astrid stepped into the sword and leaned down to glare straight into the redhead's eyes. "I said," she paused. "Hand. It. Over."

"She said no!" Longbottom called out bravely from his friend's side and Astrid whipped her head around furiously to look at him.

"I will not give anything to you, Ninomae!" Weaslette supported him.

Astrid turned back to face the girl. Then back to look at her awkward sidekick and the other-worldly being a little further to the side. The sudden urge to just lunge forward and show them through torture exactly what it meant to oppose her nearly overtook her. Her wand was there in her pocket and it would take just a few flicks of it to have them glued to the ground, the sword at her side and the three of them screaming on the cold stones of the floor. She could hear the cries they would make. She could feel the satisfaction she would get.

But that would be too easy.

If there was one thing that Astrid had learned over the summer then it was that mind games often induced much greater pain than a few seconds of torture.

"She says 'no'," Astrid broke into a smile, her eyes finally landing on her target of that afternoon.

With a short laugh, Astrid glanced back over her shoulder at Draco. The lad was smirking as he leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Astrid knew her darling dearest would not look as smug by the end of this encounter.