***

Draco was avoiding her. It was painfully obvious. They hadn't talked since the second task and she didn't know why. Had she done something to upset him? If so, what? Anytime time she tried to talk to him, he made up an excuse and walked away. It hurt more than she thought.

It was only a few days until the Yule Ball and the one person she wanted to ask her, hadn't. Astrid had been asked by lots of guys but turned them down nicely, wanting for Draco to ask. She knew that it probably wasn't going to happen but she still had hope, even if he asked her as a friend.

Many people had been asked and some were going in groups. Rhea and Astrid had been trying to get Daisy to ask Fred, because she is an independent woman that doesn't need a man to ask her, but she was reluctant to ask him in case of rejection. Which is how they ended up here..

"Just do it. She likes you. You like her. Do something!" Rhea said as she had Fred Weasley pinned against the wall by his shirt, trying to get him to grow a pair and ask Daisy to the Yule Ball. Astrid stood behind her friend and just watched as this happened. This didn't seem like a great method to get them to go to the dance together but it was now necessary.

"What if she says no?" He asked as Astrid pulled Rhea off of him so that he could straight his uniform. The Hufflepuff smiled at him sympathetically and answered, "She wouldn't. Plus she doesn't have a date yet so this is your chance!" She was excited for the dance and happy that her friend would be going to the dance. Daisy had liked him for a while. Who wouldn't?

"Alright..." George had been enlisted for help to distract Daisy while her friends tried to give his brother a pep talk. He sighed and turned to the them before telling them, "You know that this was, like the worst pep talk, right."

Astrid only smiled and said, "It worked, didn't it?" Weasley said nothing but still walked up to Daisy, who was now standing alone as George walked over to the girls. They couldn't hear what they were saying but they had an idea by the smile on both of their faces. Daisy nodded and her friends/his brother started cheering loudly, affectively embarrassing them with Astrids and Fred's loud volume. Daisy waved goodbye to the Gryffindor and quickly running over to her friends and pulling them away before she started squealing. He asked and she said yes. (#fraisy)

{Time-skip}

It had taken a while for Harry to figure out where Astrid was. First he had asked Hermione if she knew, which this was one of the few things she didn't, then some of her fellow Hufflepuffs but they didn't know before going to the her best friends, Rhea and Daisy. They told him that she was in the Sanctum and gave him directions to it.

The little over grown house that was coated and topped with snow seemed very Astrid so he opened the door and walked inside. The room was filled to the brim with plants and much bigger on the inside than the outside. It was much warmer than outside so that the plants wouldn't freeze.

"Astrid?" Harry called out as he looked around the greenhouse with Curiosity and slight confusion on where she could be in the mess of plants. A head of white hair that was pulled into a messy bun on the back of her head popped up from behind a large plant. Astrid smiled when she saw who it was.

"Harry! I didn't hear you come in." She put down her yellow watering can on the ground and walked over to him. "How come I have never heard of this place?" He asked, still bewildered by his surroundings.

"Well this is where Professor Sprout keeps the plants she doesn't use for class and I like to help out with taking care of them. Besides it's very relaxing out here. I take care of the Sanctum and in return, the school allows me to keep some of my recuses here over the school year so I check up on their progress. It's a pretty good exchange." As she babbled about hers and the schools deal, Harry looked around more as he listened.

Around the corner was another section, made of glass so he could see in. Inside was a large beast with white fur and black spots on it as it seemed to be played with small yellow chicks, swatting at the small birds as it seemed completely unaware of its size compared to them.

"What can I help you with, Harry?" He was pulled back to her as she moved away from him to grab her watering can from the ground. "How do yo-"

"I can just tell." She said as she looked back at him over her shoulder before moving back to her plants. Here goes nothing..

"Would you like to go to the ball with me? As friends, of course. I don't know if you have a date or anything but I know that you probably don't want to go with some random guy that knows nothing about you." He said quickly making she whip around and look at him in surprise. Astrid didn't have a date and he was right. She didn't want to go to the dance with some boy that she knew nothing about and that knew nothing about her.

Draco didn't ask her and she had heard that he had already asked Pansy Parkinson. Besides, it was one less champions couple on the dance floor. So that's why she said..

"Sure! I'd love to go with you."

A/N: oop- tea 😳🍵