Draco's POV

My fist connected with Montagues face and a sharp pain reverberated down my hand and into my shoulder. Quidditch kept me fit but I knew as soon as I threw that punch that Montague would hit me back harder. He was a chaser, and I knew he had a good arm on him. Luckily Montague's IQ was nowhere near as high as mine, so once I recoiled my hand, I swerved to my right and watched Montagues fist fly past me. I pull a left hook and hit his cheek with a thwack. He stumbles back but doesn't relent, instead he pushes forward and throws another punch. This time I'm not fast enough to completely dodge it and he hits me square in the shoulder.

Adrenaline was coursing through my veins and I felt the pure hotness of blood boil under my skin. I heard Pansy cry out in the background as Montague retaliated but I didn't hear Zabini come up from behind me. Zabini grabs my shoulders and pulls me back, I struggle against his taller frame. I watch as Montague also gets pulled back by Crabbe, his square jaw clenched with rage, his eyes glaring straight at me and a huge mark from my ring indented in his fat cheek.

"What the fuck?!" I yell at Zabini, twisting from his grasp. He lets go as soon as Crabbe pulls Montague further away form us.

I twist round and push Zabini away from me.

"We all know that would have ended badly" Zabini shrugs, his tone unbothered with my raised voice.

I clench my fists and wince. My fist was sore from the punch, my knuckles were stinging.

"Why would you care!?" I shout at him.

"Fuck Malfoy, I don't know. But I'm sure Aster wouldn't want to see you lying knocked out next to her in the hospital wing" he retorts.

I flinch as soon as he says her name.

I spin round and see Crabbe pulling Montague to the couch, Pansy touching his already bruised face.

I scoff. They're all too busy codling Montague to even care about me now.

"Is she ok?" I ask quietly, clenching my fists over and over again. Letting the sharp pain distract me.

Zabini looks taken aback from my question and I shoot my eyebrow at him in annoyance.

"Uh yeah she will be ok, she's just sleeping. She got a concussion"

"How?" I ask, trying not to look him in the eyes. Instead I look down at my shoulder, and try to rotate it. Nope. Sharp pains shoot down my arm.

"They think it was an accident, someone just hit her head while everyone was watching you and Potter go head to head"

"So you're saying it was my fault?" I quickly say back, my adrenaline still making my blood boil.

"No!" Zabini quickly replies, shaking his head.

"I think someone did it on purpose, I don't know why but it seemed like too much of a forceful knock to be an accident" Zabini mutters.

I look up at that.

"Why the fuck would someone hit her on purpose?"

He shrugs again.

"Fucking hell, I'm gonna get out of here" I say, not wanting to be around anyone.

I leave Zabini standing there.

It was getting late, the hallways were empty and it was nearly getting close to curfew. I didn't really know where I was going, I just needed to get out of the common room. After the fight, people started to stare and whisper and I already had that from losing them the game earlier, I couldn't deal with them talking about me clocking Montague either.

I paced the empty hallways of the ground level of the castle, running my good hand through my hair and consistently clenching my sore hand , watching the small cuts open and bubble with blood. After a few laps, my skin started to feel cooler and my head was no longer thumping with anger.

Before I knew it I was outside the hospital wing. I shouldn't really go see her, but I felt this nagging pull to see if she was ok.

Maybe I could just stick my head in and see if she was sleeping.

Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be found, a small blessing after the mess that today had been. I push open the heavy wooden door and stick my head out slowly. Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor's chaser was in a nearby bed, her healing broken leg was dangling in the air in a sling. Her snoring was echoing throughout the large room, so I poked my head out further. No one else seemed to be in the room except Aster, I could see her legs in her leather trousers poking out of the end of the bed.

I couldn't see if she was asleep, a blue curtained rail stood between her and my vision.

I take the plunge and slip into the room, trying to make my footsteps quiet against the stoned floor.

I hesitantly peer round the edge of the curtained rail to find Aster sleeping. Her dark brown hair fanned out on her pillow above. I sit myself in one of the steel chairs beside the bed and listen to her deep breathes.

I look down at my fist, the blood had dried on my skin between my knuckles, small purple bruises started to form on the back of my hand. I could probably just heal it myself with a charm.

It reminds me of when Aster appeared in my room, her palm cut and bloody.

"I don't mind the pain"

I never questioned why she said that, I think I just laughed at her. I don't think I even questioned why she was bleeding.

I understood though. Why sometimes pain was a greater distraction from the real thoughts surfacing in your mind.

She doesn't look like she's in pain right now. There's no evidence to suggest she was even hit in the head.

Her eyelids flutter as she sleeps.

I lean back into the chair and spread my legs out in front of me. The sudden urge to close my own eyes overwhelms me and before I know it, I feel my head drift backwards and lean against the steel frame of the chair.

---

"Draco?"

I open up my eyes. The hospital wing now dark, small shadows cast from the few lit scones around the vast room.

I look down and find Aster sat up against her bed, her dark hair messily ruffled and her eyes dim in the darkness.

"Hey" I mutter, stretching my legs out.

I crack my fingers before realising that they're still cut and bruised. I flinch as the skin breaks again and blood starts to trickle out of the small cuts.

"What happened? Are you ok?!" she worries, her eyes going wide at my hands. She shuffles up further and leans forward to get a better look.

"I should be asking you that" I mutter, still looking down at my hand.

"I'm fine. Why are you here?" she asks.

I look up to find her green eyes staring up at mine, her eyebrows slightly furrowed in question.

"I don't know" I admit sheepishly.

In true Aster fashion she doesn't take long to make everything light-hearted.

"Were you worried about me?" she teases, a smirk appearing on her pretty face.

I roll my eyes.

"I needed to get away from the others, and I heard you were knocked on the head so I came here" I ramble.

Her eyes twinkle with amusement.

"So they didn't knock your incessant teasing out of you then?" I jab, a small smile try's to appear on my lips.

She smirks up at me.

"What did you do to your hand? Did you hurt it playing Quidditch?"

"No I punched Montague"

She bursts out laughing and I quickly look around to see if she woke Johnson up. Johnson stays snoring a few beds away. I look back at her and give her an evil eye.

"I would ask why but I already know" she chuckles.

"He's a dick" we both say in unison.

I laugh, watching her eyes twinkle and her lips pull up into a wide grin.

I move myself from the chair and sit on the edge of her bed. She shifts slightly to give me room.

I look into her perfect doe-green eyes and cup her warm cheek with my good hand.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

She nods into my hand, her smile now gone as she stares back at me.

I let my hand drop from her cheek, the warmness immediately disappearing and making me shiver from the coldness that replaces it.

She brings her own hand to my sore fist and runs her small fingers gently over the edges of my bloody knuckles.

We both sit silently, watching as she traces the curves and bumps on my hand with her soft fingers.

"Please tell me he looks worse?" she whispers.

I chuckle. "I hit him square on the jaw. He only got me in the shoulder"

She glances at my shoulder and I move my hand to gesture to my right. She moves her eyes back down to my fist and she twists my ring off my finger.

"Did this do any damage to him?" she asks, fiddling with my ring in her fingers. The blood from my knuckles slightly stains it, but she wipes it away.

"Pretty sure he has an ident in his cheek with the Malfoy crest on it now" I mumble.

She smiles widely, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes.

"You are such a Slytherin" I mutter, amused.

She looks up at me in confusion.

"I mean, I wouldn't have stopped you from hitting him more" she mutters.

"You can thank Zabini for that"

Her eyes widen.

"He pulled me off before I could hit him again" I explain.

She shakes her head nonplussed.

"Sounds like something he would do" she murmurs.

I watch as she twists the ring in her fingers.

"You gonna heal that?" she gestures to my hand.

"Nah, its a nice reminder that I was able to give Montague a good hit" I reply.

"You should put this on your other hand while it heals" she murmurs giving me back my ring.

"How about you wear it until I can?" I ask timidly, handing it back to her.

I had no idea why I suggested that.

She looks up surprised. For a quick second I think about snatching my ring back, but then she smiles gently at the ring and slips in on her right hand.

"I'll put it on a necklace when I get back to my dorm so no one can tell its yours" she whispers.

I smile at the bed. Thank god the hospital wing was dark, she would definitely see an impending blush appearing on my cheeks.

How did I go from wanting to never see her again to now giving her my family ring?