Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns these characters; I do not.

I think I could have killed Draco for leaving me alone with her, but he did nevertheless, with a swift kiss on the cheek and whisper in my ear to enjoy my 'bonding time' with his mother. Our wedding was scheduled to take place in six months, right after I graduated from Hogwarts, so I knew this meeting was inevitable – but it still didn't make the prospect any less daunting.

After several seconds of her staring coldly at me, I found that I couldn't meet her icy blue gaze any longer and was forced to stare at the hardwood floor.

I had met Mrs. Malfoy before, of course, since my family was friends with hers, and Draco and I had announced our news to her and Mr. Malfoy and spoken with his parents several times together, but this was my first time alone with her, and I found it to be the single most uncomfortable experience of my life. She, however, looked to be perfectly in control, which I didn't think to be completely fair.

Finally Narcissa Malfoy spoke, her tone as cold as her stare. "I'm sure that you're a lovely girl, Astoria," she said in a melodic tone. "And you seem to love Draco very much." I held my breath, waiting for the rest of what she would say, which I knew would be far less pleasant.

Sure enough, she continued, and her tone was slightly harder. "However, Draco has been through very much this past year – too much for any boy to go through." Despite herself, I thought that she let a bit of maternal softness color her words, and it made me reassess her slightly. "Now, I haven't spoken to him about this, since I doubt he would listen to me, but I don't think he should marry you – or anyone, really – until he's had some more time to readjust to his life. Realize what he wants."

She looked at me, as if expecting me to agree and apologize for taking advantage of a poor impressionable boy. Well, it wasn't going to happen.

I straightened myself up and stopped playing with my sleeves, trying to look as composed as possible when my heartbeat was racing wildly and I had no idea what I was going to say to convince her that Draco already had realized what he wanted – me, and I wanted nothing more than to be with him.

"I respect your opinion," I said diplomatically, "but Mrs. Malfoy, you have to understand. Draco and I love each other very much, and nothing will change that. We won't change our minds." I hoped that simplicity would suffice, thinking it perhaps more effective than a drawn-out explanation.

In truth, no words could capture how I felt about him – how I, being one year younger than him, had maintained a steady adoration for years, despite his immaturity and arrogance, and then, his seventh year and my sixth, his entire life changed and he with it. He had cast aside his pretentiousness and his feelings of superiority when he saw firsthand the horrors that the world was capable of, and he had become stronger for it. While I adored the boy he had been, I loved the man he had become.

Her face looked more doubtful, to my horror. "Young people change their minds often," she said. Her beautiful face forbade me to disagree, but I did so anyway.

"With all due respect, Mrs. Malfoy, I believe that you married your husband shortly after you graduated from Hogwarts?" I said politely, but with a bit of an edge that she could not have missed.

She blinked, for a moment surprised that I had decided to go on the offensive, before she narrowed her eyes. "After all we'd been through, growing up in a war…everything that had happened, all the things we'd seen, Lucius and I were far older than our years," she said to me. I had no doubt she was referring to the tumultuous years of her youth in which she saw one sister become a blood traitor for love and the other practically a demon.

"Draco and I, too, have lived through a war," I reminded her. My voice was slightly more gentle now. "And he was on the forefronts this time…and he told me everything, all of the horrors that he had to face, the crimes he had to commit. Just as your husband must have told you what he went through." I wondered belatedly if my drawing parallels to our situations was a bit much, but I could hardly take the words back now.

I watched her expression anxiously for some softening, and it seemed to happen slowly, like spring thawing a winter cold. She breathed in deeply, the first sign that she had relaxed her composure slightly, and I in turn relaxed minutely as well.

Her pretense thrown aside, she sighed and spoke to me without the practiced chill. It was a dramatic switch, but this new side of her was even more captivating than the first – it was honest and strong and beautiful, and I could see why Draco loved his mother so much, why Lucius, unlike so many pure-blood men, never once strayed or even cast his eye on another woman. "I want to hate you, Astoria," she said finally, "the way I hated Pansy Parkinson. I wanted to think that you were a shallow girl who didn't love Draco the way he deserves to be loved."

I stayed silent, letting her speak.

She continued, and I could see the traces of tears in her eyes. "My husband likes you. He thinks that you're exactly what Draco needs, and I know that it's true, but after what's just happened, after I've lost a sister and Lucius still needs to recover from his time in Azkaban – I don't want to lose Draco, even if it's not the same kind of loss. Because it's still, in a way, permanent."

I opened my mouth to try to explain that Draco would always be hers, that he loved her and admired her so much, but she shook her head, signaling that she wasn't done.

"But he's happy with you," she said. "He smiles when he's with you and I admit I had worried, during his sixth year, whether he would ever smile again." She paused. "And you stood up to me. Draco needs someone who will be able to stand up for herself." She looked right at me, the blue of her eyes holding what could be every emotion in the world. "I want him to be happy," she said finally.

Without giving myself too much time to think about it, I rose from my chair and embraced her. After a split-second of hesitation, she embraced me back.

"We will be happy," I assured her. I didn't think about the words, but I knew instinctively that they were the right – and truthful – things to say. "And I promise you, I'll always make him smile."

-

"Thank you for abandoning me," I said severely to Draco when I saw him next, giving him a mock glare. He slid his arm around my shoulders easily, pressing me closer to him.

"Was it that bad?" he asked sympathetically. "I thought Mum might've gone easy on you since I'm sure she understands how much I care about you." It was one of the things I was starting to get used to about Draco – while I told him I loved him often, he would only say it occasionally, I suppose to make the times he did say it all the more special. Still, I never doubted that he loved me, even if he didn't feel the constant need to reassure me of it.

I shrugged, attempting to maintain an aura of mystery. "It didn't go badly," I said enigmatically.

"What happened?" he asked, unable to hold back his curiosity. I laughed. "Is this my punishment for leaving you alone with her?" he wondered, kissing the top of my head.

I grinned, then sobered as I answered seriously. "She wants us to be happy," I told him.

He was unable to hide his relief – his parents' opinions would always be important to him, I could see that. I knew he would marry me with or without his parents' blessing, but it certainly made him feel better to know that they approved of his decision. I leaned in closer to him, and he held me there. "We will be happy," he promised, echoing my words to his mother, and I understood the truth in them.