Facade - 1/50 for Character Diversity. Also written for the Dabble in a Drabble challenge, with the prompt "trick of the mind".
She was the face of female Purebloods – always composed, relaxed, and ready to serve her husband. No one had ever seen her angry, and she never replied with a sharp word. Astoria Malfoy, neé Greengrass, was thought to be one of the few people not to understand how sarcasm worked, because she never used it. She served her husband and did as asked, projecting all she'd been taught outward.
There were no arguments because she always folded to Draco, and out in public she put on the face of a bubbly, kind person.
No one could find any complaints about her, other than being envious that they (or their wives) were not as perfect as Astoria. They all wondered where she'd learned to be so good, caring, and responsible. People wondered where she'd picked up such impeccable people skills. They questioned whether or not other Pureblood families could even come close to the skill and perfection that sculpted Astoria Greengrass.
But what they didn't know – what she didn't want them to know – was that it was all a façade. It was a trick of the mind, nothing more. If anyone had bothered to look closely enough, they'd see the dead look in her eyes.
When she was alone in Malfoy Manor, where Draco had insisted they live, she put up silencing charms and cried. Sobbed, really.
The façade broke- crumbled and disintegrated – when she was alone, but she could never let anyone see her lose control like that. It was too risky to reveal how fabricated her expressions were, how mechanical it was to switch her mind to "good-girl" mode, how easy it was for her to be shaken to the core by an offhanded comment. Everyone would dig in and tear her apart if they knew of her weakness, so it was much safer to lose her head in private. Not even Draco could know - she had seen how sharing things with one's husband had ruined her parents' marriage. Manipulation and emotional abuse resulted from being truthful and upfront - she could not handle that.
Besides, she had been raised to hide things from the public eye, taught from when she was little to be nothing more than a robot when it was asked of her. Different rules and procedures had been drilled into her all of her life, and Astoria didn't know what to do anymore.
She was scared, more than anything. She knew the strongly held disguise she'd upheld for years was slowly waning. If she wasn't careful, her negligence could cost her dearly.
For that was the cost of Purebloods; live together in perfection, never an unkind word to be said or heard – but when separated and alone, it all went down the drain in face of despair.
Because in their world, love was sorely lacking, in its place the cold hand of faultlessness and the restraining chains of expectation.