Hi there (^^)/,
A birthday fic from myself to all of you (and myself, he he) number five! I decided on returning to Drarry and chose a fairytale-ish/ medieval-ish Alternate Universe for it. I guess I'll see as the story progresses where it shall lean more.
Those of you waiting for updates I'M SO SORRY! I SWEAR that I shall not abandon any of my other stories. I just had trouble getting into the swing of them during school year. Hopefully once I'm back from my vacation it will get better. (I was hoping I would have one chapter out before leaving, but the chosen story does not cooperate, *sigh*)
Either way, thank you everyone for reading this! I love each and every one of you!
Warning: Slash, Mpreg, Infertility, (consensual) Infidelity, Muteness, ... hmm should be it for now. I might add more as story progresses. Also, rating will go up eventually.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does... I am only an owner of my HP books and some merchandise. (._.)
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... The Substitute ...
In a kingdom far far away, in a time long since forgotten, there once was a nobleman of the name Draco Malfoy.
Named after the constellation of Dragon, Draco had always aimed to be much like the proud beasts. As such, ever since he could speak at least, he always strived to come out a winner.
The one who was the fastest.
The one who was strongest.
The one with the most knowledge.
The one with the most power.
It surprised no one that when his childhood turned into adolescence, those goals made Draco's competitive nature even more pronounced.
Some people said he was cruel, ruthless in achieving his ambitions.
Some people saw it more as the reckless nature of youth, which the truth was closer to.
Neither of those were the complete truths though.
The truth was that more than anything, Draco's behaviour stemmed from his infinite quest for his father's approval.
You see, dear reader, Draco was the only heir to the dukedom of Mal Foi.
If you ever had the opportunity to see the map of the Hogwartian continent, you know that Mal Foi were wast lands with strategic position. They also took up a better part of what was summarily called the lands of Slytherin.
Such were the lands Draco's father ruled over.
And those were the lands, which - among other things - made Draco's father a hardened man. That is to say one very hard to please.
It was not that Duke Lucius Malfoy was anyhow displeased with his son, not by a long stretch.
He was in fact proud of his son's prowess in anything he set his eyes on.
He loved his son.
It was just that the man had hard time expressing any and all emotions towards anyone other than his wife.
There was nothing his son was displeasing him by.
Well.
Almost nothing.
There was one thing about Draco which was driving Lucius up the proverbial walls.
Draco was refusing to marry.
The Duke and Duchess Malfoy had tried to set their son up in a more subtle ways ever since Draco reached his eighteenth year... Organising balls. Sending him off on diplomacy trainings to other lands and rulers.
It soon became obvious that that was not something Draco would abide by, much to the chagrin of his parents.
His nineteenth year passed by with the young heir still unmarried.
Twentieth.
Twenty-first.
Twenty-second.
Twenty-third.
It was on Draco's twenty-fourth birthday that his mother put her foot down.
Maybe they would have been willing to wait a bit longer, there were nobles who married later on in their life after all. Not to mention it was a male noble's marriage which was in question. However what with Draco being an only child and the pressure of enemies on the borders increasing, there was no other choice but step in.
Nobility has ways which not many of the common folk would agree with.
One such way is parents arranging marriage for their children.
And that is what happened in the end.
...
"You're kidding."
"Draco..."
"Worse. You're not kidding."
"It's for the best, Draco."
"The best? Best for whom?"
"It'll all turn out okay, my little Dragon."
"Mum!"
"Shush. You'll see."
...
Needless to say that the Malfoy heir was not happy to hear that a spouse had been chosen and would be brought to meet him soon.
What Draco was less unhappy about was the chosen spouse herself.
One lady Astoria Greengrass.
She was a renowned beauty of the Green Grass lands and - more importantly for Draco - someone the heir had met several times already.
Little mercies and all that.
Draco was happy that the someone he was supposed to spend a major portion of his life with was someone he could stand at least. And who knew, maybe even someone he could come to love. Eventually.
There had been worse choices to make.
The marriage between Draco and Astoria was to cement a treaty between the Mal Foi and Green Grass lands. The Malfoys would - among other things - offer and supply defence, in case of an armed conflict. The Green Grass would supply provisions to Mal Foi during winter months, when their partly closed off position in the mountains was more of a burden rather than advantage. Both rulers agreed that any children of Draco and Astoria would rule over both joined lands after the end of their time, be that through death or abdication, solving a problem of both succession lines.
Late Lady Greengrass had passed of illness several months past and only gave the Lord two daughters. And while Duchess Malfoy was still hale and healthy, she had nearly died during Draco's birth and was unable to have any more children.
The marriage seemed to be an easy solution to so many problems.
It was means for harmony between lands, which was needed as the feared Lord Voldemort kept spreading his influence through the Hogwartian continent. It was more than clear that if not stopped, he had every intention to spread even further than the Gryffindor lands he had completely overtaken some fifteen years past. His empire would only spread further and further from Hangletony which his claws had extended from in the first place.
Unity was so desperately needed.
However there was something about the arranged marriage and its participants which not many knew of.
A secret in the nobleman's past.
A secret carrying from the noblewoman's past to her present.
It was her secret that could endanger not only her life, were it to come to light, but also the life of her subjects.
And so she decided to speak with her intended frankly.
...
"I'm happy you asked to speak to me. You see, there is something that you should know..."
"So I'm not the only one?"
"The only one what?"
"Only one with a secret."
"You're not, Astoria. That you definitely are not."
...
Astoria demanded a chaperoned audience, her chosen chaperone being her loyal servant, one who for all his abilities had one shortcoming. (Or what was generally perceived as a fault at least.) He was a mute. And that was why he could never speak of the secrets spoken about in his presence.
And even if he wasn't, thanks to the wonders of magic, there was not much to be heard outside the immediate circle of the soon-to-be-engaged pair anyway.
No secret could get past magical circle surrounding the two.
And what a secret Draco Malfoy discovered that day.
Astoria Greengrass, the lady of beauty surpassing even that of her older sister Daphne, was barren.
It had been a curse placed upon her in her childhood. A curse of an enraged witch who was jealous of Astoria's beauty and decided that she should never be able to spread that beauty through her children.
It was a shock to Draco, but what could be done about it?
The two of them spoke for a long time and in the end they came to a decision.
They would carry through with their marriage, as if neither knew of her inability to carry a child.
When the time came people started getting suspicious of the absence of a child they would think of a solution.
Neither would know until later just how close that solution was standing to them at the time.
Tadah!
That is the end of me, setting grounds for later. Opinions? Constructive criticism welcomed! (^^)
See ya~ ( "-.-)/