"I've spoken to your father about his decision to rework your betrothal to Pansy Parkinson." His mother didn't even bother to glance up from the papers spread across the dining table in front of her. She pushed away a piece of parchment that curled up around the edges and rolled back and forth for a few seconds. "He would have like to wait until after yours and his trials but I was considering that it would be better to get the process done sooner rather later—our finances are not going to be secure for too much longer and we must use our leverage where we can."
Draco frowned at his mother. "What do you mean by 'reworking' my betrothal contract? What's there to rework? You've been satisfied with our binding for the past twelve years, what's changed now that you're hurrying to undo all that?"
"Yes, well..." She finally looked up from her papers, a frown pulling at her bow-like lips and making her appear somewhat older. "Pansy Parkinson...her family is really not the sort we want to be associated with any more if we intend on showing signs that, ideologically, the Malfoy family has advanced. Her father will almost certainly be receiving some sort of punishment for his actions and for the vast number of dark artefacts discovered on their property."
"They've found plenty of things here at the manor, too," he replied tersely, shaking his head. "And Dad and I were just as involved in the Dark Lord's plans as Nathaniel Parkinson. What could possibly secure our freedom that doesn't also ensure his?"
His mother's eyes appeared to glitter. "Money, for one thing. The Parkinsons pretend to be living at the same financial level as they were a decade ago, but Nathaniel has had to shell out quite a bit of money and there were several years when he was in Azkaban, unable to make money. The other, more recent reason is that we chose to help Harry Potter and then left the battle altogether whereas Nathaniel's daughter—your proposed—was the one who yelled, in front of everyone, for someone to turn their beloved saviour in to the Dark Lord. The common population will want blood and the Parkinsons have plenty to shed. I will not let her take you down along with her family."
Scowling, he looked away, wondering how he was supposed to tell Pansy that they couldn't be together any more because he didn't want to go to Azkaban—it was unlikely that he would escape her wrath unscathed.
"Your father has already contacted Lady Parkinson and had your betrothal contract retracted; I suspect she will be relaying this information to Pansy at this moment or very soon." She looked back down at the mountain of paperwork, a clear sign that she regarded their conversation to be over. There was nothing more that she wanted to say and there was nothing she would allow him to argue about.
Draco sighed, no longer in the mood for breakfast. He knew Pansy, he knew how she loved to blow things out of proportion and of course this would all somehow be pinned on him, with his soon to be ex-fiancée screaming and throwing things and calling him every terrible thing she could possibly think of, although Draco personally decided to end their betrothal and wasn't just as much a victim of his parents' whims as she was of hers'.
"Why would Lady Parkinson agree to break our contract? I'd think, a woman like her, she would want to cling to what little fanciful luxuries she has. it's not reasonable to just dissolve a betrothal like that, not when she knows her daughter will likely be seen as used goods by the rest of the Pureblood community."
His mother exhaled sharply through her nose, muttering, "As though we aren't all aware that she most certainly is used goods." Shaking her head, Narcissa raised her voice to reply, "Petula Parkinson believes that the Malfoy name is just as much under threat as her own. It is her suspicion that you and your father will be imprisoned and myself stripped of all title or wealth. She also believes that her own family will be mostly spared, coming from a lesser family who is still 'suffering' the death of a child from more than five years ago, as though the Wizengamot feels sympathy for any of us—we're scapegoats in the tail end of the battle. They'll purge the old families of all their wealth by claiming that every last one of us are Blood Purists, evil Death Eaters deserving of imprisonment and death. They'll destroy families—tear children away from their parents, sisters from brothers. Lady Parkinson believes that is the Malfoy family that will crumble in all of this and not her own."
It had not occurred to him that his own government could be as merciless as the Dark Lord's most loyal followers. People like him would be wiped out even if they were innocent, just because of the words of the petty who wanted to see big names fail after all this time.
"Harry Potter has agreed to act as a witness for our trials—let me say that again, for us, in defence of our family. If nothing else would save us from the wrath of the Wizengamot, a kind word from their saviour certainly will." His mother's eyes glittered again. "I highly doubt that the Parkinsons will be able to claim any such powerful witness."
His old enemy, defending his family? Draco couldn't imagine it, even if Saint Potter was trying to clear the debt of his mother saving Potter's life. No sane person would defend their very worst enemies, which left them with only two options: either Potter was lying or he'd gone mad. Draco didn't much care for either outcome.
But somehow, Potter had become his mother's personal champion and she would hear nothing against him. There was no point in him trying to convince her not to trust Potter.
And besides, what did Draco know? He'd grown up his whole life thinking he was a Pureblood prince, entitled to everything the world had to give him, but now he knew the truth, that he was just a frightened teenager who got into more than he could handle just to make his father proud. Maybe Potter had also changed and truly did intend on looking past his rivalry with Draco in order to defend those who had protected him and took no life during the battle.
It was highly unlikely, but then again, Potter did love to come across as the hero as much as possible. For him, this would just be one more way for him to win over Draco.
"And you trust Potter to stay true to his word?" he asked rather coldly. "You don't suspect that this isn't some elaborate ploy and he might instead turn on us in the courtroom, to see our demise as revenge for what our family has done to him? After all, there are plenty enough who could potentially profit from our downfall, the Weasleys first amongst them."
His mother, ever the well-trained woman of high society, remained expressionless. "The Weasleys and the sorry ilk like them will profit no matter what—this was their victory, after all. But was it not me who saved him from the Dark Lord in the Forbidden Forest? And was it not you who spared him from the wrath of your aunt in these very halls? No, Potter owes us this favour and he knows it. I don't trust him, but I have no doubt he will defend us to ease his own guilt."
"But because he owes the Parkinsons no such thing, I am to drop Pansy as though she were nothing to me? That hardly seems fair, Mother, don't you think? Who, now, will take Pansy?"
"Don't act as though you suddenly care for the girl, Draco!" snapped Narcissa, temporarily letting her feelings get the better of her before controlling her temper once more, retaining a neutral gaze. "You've taken her purity, her innocence, everything she had without a concern for her personal benefit and when your father chose to break the contract, that relinquished your responsibility to pretend like you cared for her at all, so there's no need to continue the facade. The girl is used, a whore with little purpose, not that she had much to begin with. At best, some lesser house will take her in on the hopes of being named the heir to the Parkinson fortune, which continues to diminish and certainly won't recover now. At worst she will become bedmate to a rich gentlemen with few morals—much as I suspect you would have sought after following your marriage to Miss Parkinson. A loving husband you would not make, not to her, so why keep up the pretence now that you don't have to?"
It would be so easy to drop the issue right then, Draco realised. He didn't love Pansy, that was obvious, and his mother was right and nothing that he would have sought out some other woman to keep him company. But Pansy had been his intended for more than a decade—could he truly drop her so easily just to stay one step ahead in life? Wasn't that sort of behaviour exactly how they had gotten into this situation in the first place?
"You're a Slytherin, Draco, as is she," his mother reminded him calmly, "it is expected that you will look to your own priorities first, the whims of some silly girl from your school days be damned. You must think of yourself, and your future, before anyone else. It's the only way to survive." She looked back to her papers, waving her hand at him to end the discussion once and for all.
It was official—he was freed of Pansy Parkinson, after years of putting up with her for the sake of their future marriage. Draco wasn't sure how to feel about having finally gotten his wish.
