It was Christmas Eve at Malfoy Manor. It was never quite a happy time for many Death Eater families. This year, for Astoria Greengrass, it meant that she was going to be branded. She would bear the Dark Mark upon her forearm. Astoria was a beautiful young girl, only 14, yet being branded along with the much prettier sister Daphne. Daphne was a short girl, shorter than Astoria. For this reason she tended to wear 10 inch heels charmed so she could walk and run in them. She had dirty blonde hair and warm chocolate brown eyes often fixed into an icy stare. Astoria however had a small frame that suited her nicely, adorned with full pink lips, rosy cheeks, striking blue eyes and deep brown hair. Astoria was only 14, but she knew tonight would be an important night for her. The branding was taking place at Malfoy Manor. She would become the thing so many people feared. At the ceremony she had to bow down to 'her lord' and go through antagonizing pain. She also met someone who changed her life. Draco Malfoy.
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Back at school, Astoria was helping Draco with a project he was assigned, kill Albus Dumbledore. Neither wanted the Headmaster dead, but what choice did they have? In Astoria's opinion there was no reason for the man to die. He may have been an 'old coot' but he was still a human being that Voldemort was requesting two teenagers to kill. However, while working on the project, the two found something much more important than evil, terrible sins. They found something warm, fuzzy, and sweet. They found love.
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As they snogged in the Room of Requirement, Astoria felt the kiss, not filled with passion and need, but love and caring. She didn't feel tingles or sparks. She didn't feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She felt something much more powerful and much stronger. She felt burning.
