This story was written for the House Competition by Moonlight Forgotten (Year 3)
Round 5
House: Gryffindor
Position: Year 1
Category: Short Story
Prompt: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Words: 1382
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. The same held true for twenty-three-year-old Draco Malfoy. It was expected of him to marry well into a rich, affluent pureblood family, preferably but not necessarily one from the Sacred Twenty-Eight. It is your duty to as the Malfoy heir to marry a girl from the right family and produce heirs, his parents would tell him. Despite his protest, Lucius and Narcissa had spoken to a matchmaker to find him a suitable match. Draco was not keen on getting married at that point of his life. The war had made him a more reserved person who was beginning to see the world in a new light. This caused friction between him and his ex-girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson. His parents were ever so disappointed when their relationship ended.
Getting married was one thing, but his marriage was to be an arranged marriage if his parents had their way. Marrying a stranger made the situation even worse. Lucius and Narcissa finally got Draco to reluctantly agree to be matched up after they made him an offer that he could reject any match that he was not happy with and they would only make him marry a match that he was pleased with. The matchmaker delightedly brought a few matches for him to the Malfoy Manor only a few weeks later. He showed an apprehensive Draco and enthusiastic Lucius and Narcissa a bunch of pictures.
"Pick one Draco," Narcissa urged eagerly.
Was he supposed to pick the person he was to live with for the rest of his life with by merely looking at her picture?
"I would prefer it if father and you did the honours, mother," said Draco curtly.
Lucius and Narcissa looked through the pictures, having a soft discussion about each girl until they seemed to reach a final agreement.
"Tell us about this one, Mr. Banvill," asked Narcissa, handing one of the pictures over to the matchmaker. It was of a picture of a very beautiful girl with dark blonde hair and blue eyes.
"That's Stephanie Selvyn, daughter of Victor and Geraldine Selvyn. They have an older son, Andrew. The Selvyns are part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight and have maintained their family's blood purity for generations. They have a net worth of a billion galleons," said Mr. Banvill.
Lucius and Narcissa could not look more pleased.
"Splendid. Arrange for a meeting between Miss Selvyn and Draco," said Lucius decisively.
Draco and Stephanie met at a restaurant. Stephanie was bashful and neither of them said a word as they were having lunch until Draco thought it common manners to break the silence.
"Since we're supposed to get to know each other, why don't you tell me about yourself?" Draco asked curtly.
"I'm … Stephanie Selvyn. My father runs an oil business," Stephanie said sheepishly.
"What about you?" asked Draco.
"They say my father raised me well as a responsible young woman," said Stephanie.
"I meant, hobbies and interests,"
"My father made me take horse-riding and the piano as he said they were fit for an elegant young woman," said Stephanie.
Draco tried to hide his slight frustration. They both played the piano, but it didn't feel like common ground.
"I play the piano too. What kind of music do you play?" he tried to work with the little that he had.
"My father says Barouque pieces are the best kind of music to play," said Stepanie.
He should have seen that coming. Her father's opinion aside, Draco didn't even like Baroque music.
"What do you do with your friends?" he tried again.
"I don't really have friends. My father forbade me from me from getting to close to girls at school as they could be a bad influence," she said.
This was going nowhere.
"I'll tell you about myself," Draco began.
"My father says you're the sole heir of the very noble and affluent Malfoy family," said Stephanie.
"What else did your father say?" asked Draco, through gritted teeth.
"He said I would be rather fortunate to be married into your family," said Stephanie.
It took Draco all his might to hide his deep frustration and get through the rest of the lunch. What made it worse was that he used to be that way about his own father. He barely started a sentence without "my father" during his days at Hogwarts. Draco now knew how annoying it was to other kids when he did that. He still loved and valued his father, but he had gradually toned down his blind idolization of Lucius. He now knew how annoying it was to other kids. More than Stephanie's blind conformation to her father, having a conversation with her was a disaster as she didn't seem to have a mind of her own.
Draco was bombarded with questions from his eager and curious parents as soon as he got home to the Malfoy Manor.
"I apologize mother and father. But we simply did not connect," said Draco.
"Why?" they asked.
"Well, I may as well have been having lunch with her father. Everything out of her mouth was about what her father did, what her father said or what father thought. She has no mind of her own," said Draco incredulously.
"Maybe that's not bad, Draco. She's been raised to be obedient, so she would be obedient to her husband and in laws," said Lucius.
"Your father's right. That's the sort of daughter in law would be ideal for our family," said Narcissa.
"You both agreed that I could make the final decision and I can't live with such a girl," Draco made his stand.
Over the next few months, Draco met three other girls but neither caught his fancy. Allie Rosier was too chirpy, excitable and talkative for his taste. Marianne Travers was massively arrogant, vain and conceited. Melanie Burke had a very annoying, shrill voice with an attitude to match. This was a source of grief for his parents. They both thought Draco was being too picky. Furthermore, Draco had refused to meet any more girls for the time being.
Draco's good friend, Theo Nott on the other hand had more luck. Theo had found a perfect match in his wife, Daphne Greengrass. One evening, the Malfoys were invited to dinner at the Notts. Joining them were the Greengrasses which included their younger daughter, Astoria. The last time Draco had seen Astoria was during their school days. He had never looked at her as anything more than Daphne's little sister and they barely spoke in school. But now, there was something different about her. She was gorgeous, with dark brown hair that curled beautifully and lovely blue eyes. She had grown out her hair and had a more mature look and mannerism about her.
After dinner, Draco and Astoria were left with each other's company in the guest parlour as the hosts and the rest of guests were preoccupied.
"So, Draco, Theo tells me you're lovely on the piano. Would you mind playing a piece for me to hear?" asked Astoria.
"Not if you fancy Baroque music," said Draco.
"I fancy classical music. Have you heard of the muggle composer, Beethoven?" asked Astoria.
Draco was astounded. Astoria had just named his favourite music and composer. The Malfoys were prejudiced against muggles when he was growing up, but their prejudice didn't extend to enjoying their music pieces. Draco and Astoria spent the rest of the evening having an engaging conversation which began with music. He had a much better time with Astoria than any of the four girls that he was set up with. She was someone he was actually interested in seeing again, but it wasn't a date. Draco didn't know how to ask to see her again without coming off wrong.
"Draco, would you like to join me at the Opera next week? There would be loads of classical piano pieces," asked Astoria.
Words could not express how grateful Draco was. He said yes but did his best to sound casual and avoid coming off desperate. "It is a truth perhaps less universally acknowledged - by his parents anyway, Theo seemed to understand - that the right person comes along when you least expect it."