Draco sat in the waiting room off of the study in Malfoy Manor, tapping his feet impatiently. It had been a whirlwind start to the day, which had admittedly caught him by surprise.
"Draco, dear, wake up," his mother's voice had called at some point after 7 am.
Draco had groaned at the earlier-than-expected wake up call.
"Draco," Narcissa Malfoy's voice had repeated a lot more bitingly. "It's important for you to get up and get ready now. We'll be having some company over to discuss something rather important involving you."
That had admittedly woken Draco up a bit more.
"Oh, who's coming over?"
"The Greengrasses," the Malfoy matron had answered, as she opened the curtains to Draco's room rather abruptly with a flick of her wand.
The gears immediately began turning in Malfoy's head. The Greengrasses didn't have any regular dealings with the Malfoys. It had just been the occasional encounters at some of the soirees that some of the other pureblood families had hosted. Draco knew their eldest daughter Daphne vaguely, despite having been fellow Slytherins in the same year at Hogwarts. He also remembered them having a daughter a few years younger than Daphne, but couldn't for the life of him remember her name.
So Draco had gone down to the dining room and had his breakfast, where his father had beseeched of him to make himself as presentable as he could what with the company they were expecting. After finishing his meal, Draco had trooped up to his room and gone through a thorough set of ablutions in order to make himself his most presentable, certainly in the eyes of his parents.
Once he had finished, he stepped out into his bedroom to find his very best clothes set out, impeccably clean and crisp. Oddly enough, it wasn't a set of dress robes, but rather a black suit of a more Muggle design (though neither Draco nor his parents would admit it aloud) with a white button up shirt, and shoes to complete the outfit.
Draco donned them, albeit somewhat carefully, not wanting to cause any unwanted wrinkles or creases in the impeccable suit, before his mother had told him the Greengrasses were due to arrive soon, and for him to go to the waiting room outside the study.
That all brought Draco to where he was now, still fidgeting anxiously, still trying to piece together exactly what it was his parents were discussing with the Lord and Lady Greengrass. As he had just finished recapping the day's events so far in his head to try to figure out what was going on, the door opened and his mother nodded for him to enter.
He walked into the study to see his father in discussion with their guests, tumblers with some manner of beverage clutched in their hands.
"Ah, there we are!" Lucius Malfoy proclaimed as he saw Draco. "Lord and Lady Greengrass, you must remember my son Draco."
They stood and Draco shook hands with Lord Greengrass and kissed the back of Lady Greengrass's hand politely, before seating himself in an armchair positioned in the circle they were in.
"Yes, I remember meeting you at the Nott's dinner a few years back," Lord Greengrass recalled. "But best not to waste time idly remembering the past, Lucius. Let us talk of the future with young Draco here."
"Absolutely, Lord Greengrass," Lucius agreed, before turning to Draco. "Draco, an agreement has been reached for a marriage contract between House Malfoy and House Greengrass."
Lord Greengrass took over at this point.
"Now, normally the arrangement would consist of the eldest son and eldest daughter of the two involved families. That would have meant yourself and our Daphne, but she is unfortunately already betrothed, so the contract shifts now to our youngest daughter, Astoria."
Draco had only just heard what Lord Greengrass had said, and it didn't help matters inside his head. Already the announcement his father made had him reeling internally, forced into a marriage contract? Draco had admittedly never ruled it out as a possibility of happening, but he had always figured he'd have found someone before that became a reality.
"… So, now that we've told Draco, we'll be seeing you tomorrow at Greengrass Manor for the introductions between Draco and Astoria and to finalize the contract!" Lucius announced as he stood and led the Greengrasses out towards the front gate of the estate, also the ward line from which they could apparate away.
"Do you mind clarifying for me why I have to do this?" Draco muttered darkly to his mother, who walked with him down the long path leading up to Greengrass Manor as Lucius was walking some distance ahead of them with a fairly jovial Lord Greengrass.
"Because," his mother responded quietly, not wanting to risk either of the men in front of them overhearing. "We really need this marriage to re-establish ourselves in the political circle after our part in the War. The Greengrasses are highly respected in the Wizarding community and the Wizengamot and would help to start setting our family's reputation for when you are ready to take over as head of House Malfoy. Besides, the binding legal scripture of the contract has already been drawn up, so you and Astoria are both bound into this contract, or else risk losing your magic."
Draco shook his head resignedly at his mother's words.
"You could be a lot worse off as far as a contract goes, Draco. Some contracts are signed several generations in advance and become active only when the participating families have the suitable heirs and heiresses to fit the contract terms, and one of them is either revolting or utterly despicable. From what the Greengrasses have told us, Astoria is quite the young lady. I am sorry we aren't giving you the chance to follow your heart, Draco, but this is something your father and I feel is for the better good. This contract will benefit you in the long run. Who knows? You might just come to like Astoria and end up thanking us for making this contract," she finished in a teasing tone, which did help to lift Draco's mood slightly, as he gave her a gentle, playful shove with his shoulder.
"If I do, remind me to send you and father the largest bottle of Firewhiskey money can buy," Draco replied.
"Be careful what you promise, Draco, Ogden's makes some bottles the size of a half-giant," his mother quipped.
"And you know this… how?"
"The less said about how I know that, the better."
It was at this point that they reached the doors to the large Manor and were ushered inside by Lord Greengrass, and then promptly shown to their dining room, where they seated themselves at a decidedly short rectangular table. Lord Greengrass took the one head seat and Lucius took the other. To Lucius' right was Narcissa and across from her, on Lucius' left was Draco. The spots beside them on Lord Greengrass's side of the table were empty for the moment.
They didn't have to wait long for the empty seats' occupants to enter the room, as Lady Greengrass and a younger girl about Draco's age with chocolate brown hair entered the dining room and approached the table.
"May I present my daughter Astoria?" Lord Greengrass announced, before looking at his daughter and motioning towards the Malfoys. "Astoria, this is Lord and Lady Malfoy and their son, Draco."
She curtsied gracefully.
"A pleasure," she said sweetly, before making her way towards Draco's side of the table.
Draco's upbringing kicked in as he got up and out of his seat and pulled out the chair beside him, which the brunette girl sat in, flashing Draco a genuine smile for his manners. He gently pushed the now-occupied chair back towards the table before taking his seat.
The adults launched into idle chatter as food was served and Draco shot Astoria a few glances every now and then, intending to try and start a conversation with the girl he was meant to marry, but finding it difficult.
"Trying to break the ice?" she asked quietly, glancing up from her plate with a cheeky grin.
Draco sighed in relief.
"To be perfectly honest, I was trying to come up with something either witty or eloquent to start off a discussion," Draco offered.
"And?"
"Well, it either sounded too forced or too clumsy, unfortunately," he winced.
She chuckled.
"You should've tried, because you've got me laughing anyway."
"Well, I guess that's witty, so I'll cover eloquent by saying that you are radiant," Draco stated, which was truthful.
Astoria was dressed in a simple salmon pink sleeveless dress with epaulette-like frills on the shoulders. Her brown hair was pulled back from her face in an elegant and slightly elaborate bun. Her eyes were of a deep blue that reminded Draco of the ocean from the beach house he went to as a child with his parents. Draco had to admit his mother hadn't been wrong about Astoria.
"Why thank you," she replied, the slightest bit of red creeping to her cheeks. "You are quite dashing yourself," she admitted with a respectful incline of her head in his direction.
Draco looked down at the light grey three-piece suit he had donned for this meeting with the Greengrasses, complete with an emerald green tie.
"Thank you, but this is really nothing. That dress looks spectacular, I doubt I could pull it off like you have," Draco joked.
Astoria laughed.
"Well, no offense, but if we're to be married for many years, I hope that's a question I never get the answer to," she said.
"I think I'll second that thought, now that you mention it," Draco chuckled.
Draco just realised that their impending betrothal had been brought up in their conversation, in a casual way, and even then, Draco didn't seem to feel any of the sense of objection he'd been feeling up until he entered Greengrass Manor.
They chatted idly as they finished up the meal; their parents retreated to the study to attend to the final legal formalities of the contract and Astoria suggested to Draco they walk around the estate to talk some more.
"Quite a surprise to have dropped on you, isn't it?" Astoria asked, conspiratorially.
"A surprise, yes, but admittedly not an unwelcome one, now that I've met you," Draco responded carefully, but still truthfully. "How about you? Did you have any plans as far as where you'd wanted your love life to go?"
"To be perfectly honest, I'd really just figured I'd meet a wizard I liked, and if Mother and Father approved, I'd date him and then marry him when the time comes, much like Daphne did."
"How is she doing? I'm afraid I never really got to know her, despite being in the same house and year at Hogwarts all those years."
"She's doing well; she's gotten herself a job at the Ministry with the DMLE, which she loves. She was always a sucker for the judicial side of things, so this is right up her alley. The way she gets when she's talking about her work, you'd think she should have been sorted into Ravenclaw," Astoria explained, shaking her head ruefully.
Draco snorted at the joke.
"And what are your plans in terms of career, Astoria?"
Astoria paused and chewed her lip thoughtfully.
"Well, it's going to sound silly…" she began, hesitantly.
"Go ahead, if we're going to be married, it only makes sense for me to be supportive of you and your ambitions," Draco encouraged gently.
"Well, I was thinking of pursuing a career as a singer," she admitted bashfully.
Draco arched an eyebrow.
"That certainly is ambitious. It's a tough field to get into, that's for sure. What prompted you to want to pursue it?" he asked, intrigued.
"Mother used to sing to me at night when I was little and when I was five, I would start joining in with her. I loved it, and her and Father said I had the voice of an angel. I realize they could very well have said that just to make me happy, though," she said, looking at her feet as she admitted the last part.
"Well, why don't I be the judge of that?" Draco said suddenly. "Do you have a music room of sorts?"
"Yes, a few doors down from the study," Astoria responded.
Draco grabbed her hand and began to lead her back to the Manor.
"Come on, let's go!" he exclaimed.
It was after a series of winding hallways that Draco and Astoria entered the tastefully-furnished music room, which had a few instruments lined up around the outer walls, but dominating the room was an elegant grand piano, which Draco promptly sat at, with Astoria leaning up against it a little timidly.
"You honestly don't need to hear me sing," Astoria said a little nervously.
"Nonsense! If you want to pursue this, you need to get used to performing in front of people you barely know! Do you know You Stole the Heart Right Out of Me by Celestina Warbeck?" he asked, as he played a few chords on the piano to warm up.
Astoria nodded mutely and Draco took that as his cue to launch into the song. He played it in a more slowed down, lounge song style than it was originally, and Astoria waited a couple of bars before she caught the rhythm and tone Draco had changed it to, and right in time with the song, she joined in.
It took all of Draco's concentration to keep playing and keep time; such was his shock when she began singing. He'd figured Astoria's parents' compliments on her voice were flattery to keep her happy, but witnessing it firsthand, he knew it was an apt comparison.
Smiles grew on both their faces as the worked their way through the song, clicking into synchronization as Draco anticipated her vocal runs as she anticipated the little flourishes of his on the piano keys.
Unbeknownst to the pair, their parents had heard Draco's initial warm-up runs and had snuck over to the door to peer in and watch the couple truly bond for the first time.
Tears were in the eyes of Lady Greengrass as she saw her youngest daughter enjoying herself with what she loved to do more than anything, as Lord Greengrass looked on proudly. Lucius and Narcissa also bore expressions of joy at seeing their son enjoying himself with his intended. They knew all too well from their experiences in the pureblood community that more than a few marriage contracts led to unhappy marriages, so to see Draco embracing this opportunity brought them great joy.
The parents made themselves known, by means of applause, when Draco tapered off the song with a graceful piano riff after Astoria had finished.
The young couple beamed at each other and then at their parents as the group filed into the music room.
"Astoria, you have a spectacular voice," Lucius complimented as he reached his soon-to-be daughter-in-law.
"Yes, Blaise Zabini's mother has some contacts in the music industry, so I could reach out to them and get you started, if you'd like," Narcissa suggested, clasping hands with Astoria.
The young Greengrass girl's eyes widened at that notion.
"Really?!" she exclaimed, before composing herself. "I would love that, Lady Malfoy, thank you."
Narcissa waved it off.
"Oh, it's nothing, dear, and please, no more of this 'Lady Malfoy' nonsense, call me Narcissa."