He kept telling her too much. He knew he would get into trouble if he let on to a Muggle what he really was.

But Draco found he liked talking to her, and itched to tell her everything.

And every holiday he had so many more stories he wanted to tell Astrid. But he found he couldn't because it was impossible to leave the magic side out of it.

Like the time a troll was let loose in the dungeons and nearly killed that Mudblood. Or when he was forced to do a detention in the middle of the night to search for a dead unicorn in the Forbidden Forest.

And at the end of the year their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was killed after having some sort of mysterious face off with Harry bloody Potter. Whatever Potter did, it had earned him loads of house points and made Gryffindor beat Slytherin to the house cup.

Draco was still sore about that.

And now he was to return for his second year. Just like last summer, Draco snuck off to the playground almost daily, and hung out with Astrid.

His parents never seemed to notice his absences. The only person who did was Pansy whenever she came to visit. She would often sulk about it but refused to accompany him again.

"It's wrong what you are doing - mixing with Muggles!" She had hissed when he was on his way out again.

But Draco had just shrugged without a care in the world. "Astrid's different, Pansy. She's a kid like us who just wants to hang out."

"But you hate Mudbloods! Why not hate Muggles too?" Pansy had implored.

God, was she thick?

"People like Granger are Muggles who are trying to take our magic!" Draco had spat. "Astrid is not. She's not pretending to be something she isn't!"

"But you'll get into so much trouble! Muggles are not allowed to know about us!" Pansy had tried again.

"But I'm not telling her anything, so I'm doing nothing wrong!"

Pansy had given up after that.

Draco didn't see Astrid much over the course of the second year. He had remained at Hogwarts during Christmas due to his parents going abroad - apparently his father had urgent business to attend to in Eastern Europe.

And then at Easter he had stayed on to study for his exams. So the space of almost an entire year had gone by when he had next seen Astrid.

It had been an eventful one, that was for sure. Someone had only gone and opened the Chamber of Secrets! It seemed Draco wasn't the only one who wasn't a fan of Mudbloods.

And the best thing ever - he had gotten on the Slytherin Quidditch team as Seeker. And his father had bought the hole team shiny new broomsticks. Much better than Potter's crappy piece of wood.

Oh, it had been a very good year.

***

"Did you miss me?"

My head shot up, and my heart fluttered as I was met with a pair of silver grey twinkling eyes.

His hair looked different. It seemed that he had decided to leave that hair gel alone at long last. He looked older, almost... handsome. I couldn't help the blush creep up to my cheeks at this thought.

"Are you okay, Astrid?" he asked, a slight frown pinching his features.

"Yes, I'm good," I mumbled, embarrassed. Draco was my friend, I needn't be like this. But it had been a long time.

"How was school?" I asked, trying not to sound bitter - I knew it wasn't his fault he hadn't returned for the second year holidays.

"We lost another teacher," he shrugged, "although this time he didn't die - just addled in the brain."

I stared at him wide eyed, and wondered what kind of school could so carelessly lose their teachers all the time.

"And you? How was your year?" He drawled, his eyes narrowing as he studied me, "I wondered if you'd even be here to be honest. But now I'm starting to think you must live on the swings."

"I go to other places too," I said defensively, as a haughtiness crept into my voice, "I don't just wait about here every day for you, you know."

He raised his eyebrows, "like where?"

"Sometimes I go swimming in the river, or do some window shopping, or just go walking."

"Window shopping? Why on earth do you want to buy windows for?" Draco asked incredulously, and I couldn't help but release a tiny bubble of laughter at his face.

"It's an expression, you nimwit!" I laughed, I did find it funny how often he struggled with everyday language sometimes. Must be that weird school he attends. "It means I look but I don't buy."

"Why wouldn't you buy anything?"

"No money."

"Doesn't your dad give you any?"

"No."

"Oh."

A silence fell between us that felt awkward.

"Oh, shit,"

Startled, I looked up to see that Draco had suddenly jumped off his swing, looking over in the distance at three approaching figures - wild panic in his grey eyes.

"What is it?" I asked confused, looking from him to the three kids heading towards us. I didn't recognise them. Except, as they neared, I was sure the furious looking girl in the middle I had seen before.

She was being flanked by two burly boys, almost like they were her bodyguards.

"Look, Astrid," Draco said flustered, "I've got to go."

And before I could respond, he shot off, leaving me sat alone.

"Who's that?" I heard the girl spit angrily at Draco as she jabbed her finger in my direction.

"No- no one, Pansy," he spluttered, and then I remembered - she was that girl who had accompanied Draco when I had first met him two years ago, "just telling her to keep her filthy hands off."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! He glanced furtively back at me with Pansy glaring behind him. I cast my eyes downwards, feeling really hurt.

When I looked up I saw that he had grabbed her arm and was dragging her away, with the two goons following behind, both of whom kept looking back over their shoulders to shoot me an evil glare.

I didn't see Draco again until the following week. A whole week of our summer gone. It made me feel very blue.

"I'm sorry about last week," he murmured as he joined me on the swings. "Pansy gets a bit funny about me talking to... other people."

I just shrugged, feeling heavy hearted.

"Is Pansy your- your..." I said quietly, but I struggled to finish the sentence.

"Girlfriend?" He finished for me, but to my dismay - he didn't laugh off the suggestion like I'd hoped he would - but instead, shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, something like that, I guess."

"Oh," I felt so sad, I was horrified to feel a lump form in my throat.

"So what do you want to do today?" He asked, not seeming to notice my despondency. "Feel like going down by the river?"

"I thought we could do that tomorrow actually, seeing as it's my-"

"Oh, sorry - I can't meet tomorrow," he said, cutting me off. "I've promised to meet Pansy to go and get our school things for third year."

"Oh," I said feeling that lump reappear, "well, let's go now, I suppose."

"Yeah sure," he nodded, jumping up from the swing and starting towards the wood without waiting for me.

I watched glumly after him. I had been about to tell him that it was my birthday tomorrow.

But I guess he had forgotten.