Chapter Eight:

Listen, listen, I would take a whisper if that's all you had to give. But it isn't, is it?

Two months. It had been two months since the… incident, as Astoria kindly referred to it as. They hadn't spoken about it, in fact they had barely spoken. Small talk here and there about Scorpius, but that was as far as their conversations usually went. Today was the first day that they'd actually be alone together since that night, well them and the wizard who would be performing the spell.

Today was the day that their marriage would officially be over and while Astoria was happy- and how could she not be?- there was a part of her that was saddened. They had been together for so long, had seen so much, that it was almost impossible for Astoria to imagine a life without him. Well, almost without him. Their son prevented Astoria from being able to actually try and forget about her long marriage to Draco.

Good thing no one can read my mind, Astoria thought as she adjusted her knee-length black dress, they'd think I hate my son.

Astoria looked down the hall, a little ways away sat Draco and Hermione- Ron had offered to come with Astoria for moral support, but Astoria had declined. This was something she'd have to do on her own.

To a stranger Draco and Hermione looked to be very happy, but Astoria knew Draco better than anyone and could tell when his smile was forced. Astoria could only take that to mean that Draco still hadn't told Hermione. Interesting, Astoria thought.

Though not surprising, Draco could be hardheaded and incredibly stupid when it came to telling the truth. He either told it the wrong way or not at all, there was no in-between with him. It seemed endearing at first, but after two years of marriage Astoria had been done with it.

Today was their wedding anniversary, the unbinding spell could only be performed on the anniversary of whatever had bonded the two wizards or witches together. Twelve years, Astoria thought, though the last two had been with them separated.

They were called into the room where the ceremony would be taking place. The wizard was old, his hair and beard whiter than snow. The robes he wore were old fashioned and his hands were wrinkled. He motioned for them to stand in the middle of the room and hold out their hands. Astoria placed her hands against Draco's, take a deep breathe as the wizard raised his wand above their interlaced fingers. He swished it around gently, causing a gold string to appear around their hands. Unlike the binding spell that had been done exactly twelve years ago, this one caused the string to unwind itself from their interlocked fingers.

Where the string brushed against Astoria fingers tickled and she struggled to keep herself from laughing. This is a serious matter, she told herself over and over again. Her hands were warm from the spell and there was a golden glow around her and Draco's forms. When the spell was finished her hands felt like they had been dipped in an ice cold lake, her soul felt lonely.

Twelve years, Astoria thought. Twelve years is a very long time.


A/N: So I realized while writing this that the timeline is weird and that I didn't really understand it, so I've broken it down for you:

Happier takes place in July 2009, the first three chapters take place a year later through the month of December, chapter four takes place in January, chapters five through seven take place in June and this chapter takes place on August 1, Draco and Astoria's wedding anniversary. And this whole thing takes place in 2011, because Scorpius was born sometime in 2006.

So basically, Draco and Astoria were married in 1999, Draco left Astoria in 2009 and the first three chapters take place in 2010.

Obviously what happened here is that I got so into the writing I forgot certain details, like time.

Anyway, this fic is still on hiatus but I wanted to get the unbinding over with. So, here you go no one really says anything and it's really short and I'm really tired and hungry and I have a headache but this is what you get.