A/N: New story! As the title says, it's loosely based on the Greek myth about Amor and Psyche. I think this should be understandable (and enjoyable, or so I hope) without knowing it. Feel free to ask about it though, then I'll just include important parts of the myth in the next chapters. Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Harry Potter :(
She hated her. She had never thought that she would sink as low as to full out hate someone, but obviously, she had. How dare that girl steal away her job, or rather, her promotion? She was only twenty years old, two years out of Hogwarts and more inexperienced than the average employee. Yet she had been promoted.
No, she was above this. She could keep smiling – while boiling with rage on the inside. She could stay nice and polite – while silently cursing the girl. She could do her work as she was used to – while silently plotting the doom of one Lucy Weasley.
No, Astoria Malfoy was far from amused.
She had been working for this department for ages – well, at least for longer than the Weasley girl, who had probably just been promoted because of her last name and her family. Astoria knew that she herself had quite a famous last name too, but not famous because of the good that had come from it. But when she had married Draco Malfoy over twenty years ago, she had known that she would have to pay a certain price. She knew that people were less likely to trust her now.
It still stung. She had been working here ever since Scorpius had started at Hogwarts, ten years before. She had proven herself to be trustworthy, something that couldn't be said about the Weasley girl. She, Astoria, was much better for the job, but for some reason, the big boss couldn't see that. Oh, how she hated that.
Now she had to take orders from a twenty-year-old with horrible red hair – it was unlike other hair, not just because of its colour, but because of the way it seemed to stick out in fifty different directions as well. How could they even think that she could run the department (okay, only a small part of it) efficiently? She was the epitome of clumsiness and chaos. Astoria supposed that she might be a little prejudiced against the girl, but it was still true. She herself was much more orderly. She scoffed to herself once more as she turned back to her work. She would get her revenge, she was sure of it.
When she came home that night, she was still angry about the whole ordeal. What bothered her most was that that girl had obviously deemed it necessary to chat with every employee during lunch, and Astoria had not been an exception. She prided herself in the fact that she'd been particularly nasty (despite her earlier intentions) and Lucy Weasley hadn't been able to really get a conversation going, so she had walked away after a while.
She was glad the House-elves had already prepared dinner, and Draco was home already when she got there. Scorpius, who had dinner with them nearly all the time (he still didn't get the hang of cooking, even at the age of twenty-one), came in a few minutes later.
Nobody spoke while they ate; that had always been the case, and that still was the case. After dinner, the members of the small family seated themselves in the living room, where Astoria recounted the events at work to them at great length.
"Some people just don't understand what it means to come from a good family," Draco said once she finished her story. "Those Weasleys – they've always fought for equality for everyone and now they think they're equal to everyone too, including us."
Astoria nodded, full-heartedly agreeing with her husband. "And just because her last name is Weasley presumably makes her better than everyone else. Really, there was absolutely no reason for that little girl to get the promotion. She's been working there for just a little over two years!"
"Those Weasleys are treated like royalties, indeed," Draco said, nodding in agreement. "But most of them have never done anything for our society; what gives them the right to act as if they're above everyone else?"
"What do you think, Scorpius?" Astoria asked her son, curious to hear what he thought about this. He usually wasn't very outspoken (one would say he was a little shy), but she was sure that on this subject, he would have a clear opinion.
"It's not her fault she's a Weasley, right?" Scorpius asked, looking at the crystal vase on the table with a lot of interest. "Or that she got that promotion. People might look up to her because she's a Weasley, but she didn't choose to be one, did she?" He shrugged, more to himself than to his parents. "And who knows, perhaps she'll prove herself to be quite fitting for the job."
Astoria raised her eyebrows at this. "Since when are you so supportive to the Weasleys?" she asked.
"I'm not!" Scorpius protested. "It's just that – never mind."
"Have they brainwashed you?" Draco wanted to know.
"Of course not! But if you're waiting for me to start bad-mouthing her just because she got a job you wanted," Scorpius now turned to his mother, though he still wasn't looking at either of his parents, "fine. Perhaps she'll mess things up so badly that she'll get fired or whatever and you'll still get the job."
"But how could she possibly mess up?" Astoria wondered aloud.
"She could be very irresponsible. Like not doing her work the way she should, constantly being distracted," Draco replied. "But how to distract her?"
Astoria smiled suddenly. She had a wonderful idea now – one that would distract the girl from her work and make her unable to focus on anything. "We'll make her fall in love," she said softly. The corners of Draco's mouth curled upwards.
"You're going to mess with her feelings?" Scorpius asked out of the blue. "That's it, I'm out of here."
"No, you're staying," Astoria said, gazing at her son. "You, as a matter of fact, are going to execute the plan. We'll get ourselves a strong love potion, you'll give it to her – if I would do it, or your father, it would be much too obvious – and we'll make sure that there's someone completely unattainable for her to catch sight of once she drinks the potion."
And nothing could go wrong.
: So, what do you think so far? Let me know, please review!
A/N
