A/N: PLEASE READ THE LYRICS. I know it's annoying sometimes; but during this chapter (& the next one), it's gonna be important for the storyline!

Chapter 9

"I love the way you lie"

It was 11pm and Astoria was standing in the kitchen when Draco came home from a mission.

"Hey", she smiled happily when he entered. "You okay?"

He kissed her quickly and nodded. "Need a shower." Then he was gone.

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright because I like
the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright because I love
the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Yes, Astoria fucking knew that his job wasn't an easy one and that the Dark Lord's missions were cruel and awful most of the time. Yes, she knew that she shouldn't expect much from her husband when he came home. And yet still, she felt the tears coming up; she couldn't stop wondering...

Astoria and Draco had moved to an apartment in London when Scorpius had been three months old; Astoria had been very happy that Draco had suggested that because she didn't want Scorpius to grow up at the Malfoy Manor. But for her, living at this apartment also meant being lonely; Scorpius was two years old now and he was a good kid, he slept a lot; plus they had got an house elf who did all the housework like cooking and laundry.

Amelia was married to Blaise Zabini since one year; her parents had forced her to. She wasn't happy but Blaise was a good guy (also good-looking) and for Amelia, it was okay now. For Astoria, this marriage meant that she couldn't see her best friend that often anymore; another reason for her loneliness.

The point is: Astoria couldn't stop wondering wether Draco cheated on her during his missions. She knew him like nobody else did which means she knew exactly that he needed lots of sex; and whenever he was gone more than a few days, she couldn't stop wondering wether he got that sex somewhere else...

During the three years of their marriage, Astoria had told him that she loved him more than once and he hadn't said it back yet. Yeah, she knew that he cared about her...but was that enough?

I can't tell you what it really is
I can only tell you what it feels like
And right now there's a steel knife
In my windpipe

Draco found his wife waiting for him in the bedroom when he came out of the shower.

"You okay?", she asked again. "How...how was it?"
"Seriously?", snapped Draco, who was standing in the doorframe, and crossed his arms.

I can't breathe
But I still fight while I can fight
As long as the wrong feels right
It's like I'm in flight

Astoria sighted. "I care about you, okay? You've been gone for nearly two weeks and I think it's okay for me to ask?"

"Yeah well, your questions are annoying", snapped Draco.

When he pierced her with his eyes, Astoria shivered; there was something cold and cruel in his look...something she wasn't used to. Well, something that had developed further and appeared more often...

High of a love, drunk from the hate
It's like I'm huffing paint
And I love it the more that I suffer
I suffocate

"Look", said Astoria; her voice was trembling and she hoped that he wouldn't notice it, "I can see that you're hurting. I'm trying to make this work here. I'm trying to make us work."

She got up and walked towards him, ignoring the fact that he raised an eyebrow when she did so. She stood in front of him for a while before she hugged him and whispered: "I missed you."

And right before im about to drown
She resuscitates me

"Stop it", hissed Draco and pushed her away from him. He couldn't do this cuddling crap now; not now after what he had been through. Although it was comforting to know that she'd always be around, he didn't want to give his cold attitude up because he couldn't risk his wall inside of him breaking down. Letting his emotions come out would be too much to handle.

"Screw you", whispered Astoria and avoided his gaze because her eyes were filling up with tears again.

She fucking hates me
And I love it

"I can't do this anymore", whispered Astoria and turned around to leave.

"Wait where you going"
"I'm leaving you"
"No you ain't. Come back"

She couldn't even make one step away from him before he grabbed her wrist hard and held her back. She knew that she wouldn't get an apology – ever – because he was still Draco Malfoy and still an arrogant ass, but she could swear that his look told her that he was sorry.

He looked straight into her big, wet eyes; damn it, he couldn't fucking stop hurting her, could he? He hated himself for hurting her but he didn't stop doing it.

Draco kissed her hard and Astoria didn't resist although she knew that she should. When he pushed her gently back on the bed, she couldn't help it but feel good when she finally felt him close again.

We're running right back
Here we go again
It's so insane
Cause when it's going good
It's going great

And although his actions during the sex were rather rough than gently, she loved evey second of it.

xxx

Draco slept until the afternoon the next day; he was exhausted from his mission which, by the way, hadn't been as successful as it should have been.

When he woke up, he stretched out and noticed that he was alone; Astoria was probably out for a walk with Scorpius.

He yawned. Astoria. He couldn't tell why he was so fucking angry at her all the time...actually, she didn't ever do anything bad, right?

But when it's bad
It's awful
I feel so ashamed

Meanwhile, it always went the same way; he would come home from a mission - pissed off as hell. At first, he would insult her and yell at her; she would at first be patient and then yell back with tears running down her cheeks. Then, after a while, he would recognize that it was senseless and that he was being cruel; he would look at her and they would have make-up sex.

Draco rolled his eyes at that thought. Screw this. He got up, got dressed and went through the apartment, looking for Astoria.

When found neither her nor Scorpius, he thought that she was probably out for a walk with him and looked instinctively out of the window. He saw her with their son at the street in front of the house, talking to a guy. What the fuck? He felt the familiar anger again.

I snap
Who's that dude
I don't even know his name

Draco ignored Astoria when she came into the apartment about five minutes later; he just stayed in the living room and waited until she had put their baby to sleep.

"You little bitch", he hissed when she entered the room.

"Hello?", replied Astoria confused. "What's your problem?"

He came towards her in a blind rage; his hand hit her cheek hard. Her head flew to the side and she had trouble holding back her tears. Again.

I laid hands on her
I'll never stoop so low again
I guess I don't know my own strength

„What the hell did you think you were doing?", yelled Draco.

„I don't know what you're talking about", stated Astoria afraid.
His cold eyes scared her when he made a step forward; she made one step backward. This game worked out until she bumped with her back against the wall.

She felt him gripping her wrists hard. When he pressed them against the wall, she knew that she was going to have bruises the next day.

„Don't you dare do this again!", he hissed angry.

„Do what again?", replied Astoria confused.

„Stop pretending that you don't know what I'm talking about!", yelled her husband. „If you'll ever flirt with that moron again, I'm going to hurt you", hissed Draco then and gave her one last angry look before he left the room.

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright because I like
the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright because I love
the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Astoria didn't know how long she had been sitting on the floor of the living room with her back leaned against the wall.

After Draco had left and slammed the door angrily, she had fallen down to the floor...her legs had been too weak to keep her up anymore.

She hadn't cried yet; it surprised her because honestly, she was an emotional girl and cried very easily. But now, she was in a shock.

Had this happened? Had her husband really hit her?

The pain on her cheek reminded her of the fact that he had.

You ever love somebody so much
You can barely breathe
When you're with them
You meet
And neither one of you
Even know what hit 'em

They had never been exclusive at school because Draco fucking Malfoy didn't date anybody...actually, he had treated her like crap. And yet still, they hadn't been able to fight it – no matter how hard they had yelled at each other, no matter how much they had hated each other – the chemistry between them had been too powerful to ignore it and so they had always ended up together, even if it had just been for one night. Always.

Got that warm fuzzy feeling
Yeah them chills
Used to get 'em
Now you're getting fucking sick
Of looking at 'em

Draco sat on the floor of the baby's room and watched Scorpius play with some toys...he looked at his son but his thoughts were somewhere else.

Damn it, he had never wanted to hurt Astoria; but since his missions had become more cruel, since the Dark Lord had become more powerful than ever, something inside of Draco had changed. He was angry and pissed off – and he didn't know why.

Astoria was a breathtakingly beautiful, cute girl who didn't deserve it to be hurt he suddenly thought when pieces of memories flashed through his mind...

You swore you've never hit 'em
Never do nothing to hurt 'em

He had to make this work again. He didn't know how, but he had to; he wouldn't survive losing her (although he'd rather die than admit that he needed her).

Draco lifted Scorpius in his arms, disappeared with him, gave him to his parents without explaining them why, and returned to the apartment. Something told him that this would be a fight their son shouldn't see.

His heart was beating heavily in his chest when he entered the living room.

Astoria looked up at him with a scared facial expression and got up from the floor.

"What do you want?", she asked. Her voice sounded way more confident than he had thought it would be.

"Baby", he started and made a few steps towards her.

Astoria closed her eyes and raised her right hand. "Don't", she whispered.

Now you're in each other's face
Spewing venom
And these words
When you spit 'em

"Let me explain", said Draco. He was still calm...still.

Astoria's eyes flew open. "No. I don't want an explanation or an apology! You know what? Fuck, I don't want anything from you anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean?", hissed Draco.

Astoria just looked at him.

"No", hissed Draco and blocked the door. "You're not going to go anywhere."

"Screw you!", yelled Astoria and tried to push him away, but he didn't let her.

You push

Pull each other's hair
Scratch, claw, bit 'em

Throw 'em down

Pin 'em

She gave up when she was lying on the floor and had Draco painfully pinning her arms down - he was just too strong.

"Get the fuck off me!", she yelled; she wasn't able to yell that loudly anymore because she felt weak and defeated and exhausted.

"No."

"Asshole", spit Astoria.

"Bitch", hissed Draco.

They stared into each others eyes, none of them wanting to give in. Astoria could feel the anger flushing through her whole body and she could tell that Draco felt the same. His grip on her wrists became more painful with every second and she could literally feel the bruises she was going to have tomorrow; but she didn't care. She wouldn't tell him what he wanted to hear – that she wouldn't leave. Because as soon as he'd let her go, she'd fucking leave. Screw this.

Draco felt the familiar anger again as he pinned her down on the floor. What the hell was that bitch thinking? Leaving him, Draco freaking Malfoy? Never.

They went on staring in each others eyes; and then, suddenly, they kissed. They couldn't tell who had started this – probably the both of them at the same time.

When they kissed roughly and he bit her neck, causing her to moan in pain and in pleasure, she felt that her anger increased, but it also mixed up with lust and desire.

So lost in the moments
When you're in 'em
It's the rage that took over
It controls you both

This was so fucking wrong and Astoria knew that she should protest, but deep down, she didn't want to protest; he had this effect on her every single time, even if she was completely pissed off.

He let go of her wrists while he was still busy marking her neck; Draco touched her breasts roughly through the fabric of her shirt before he placed his hands on her hips as if he wanted to hold her in place.

They were both breathing heavily because of the rough actions and their anger which was now mixed up with the uncontrollable lust.

Draco pulled her skirt up and pushed her underwear aside before he allowed her to open his trousers. When he thrusted into her and pulled out again, he didn't leave time for her to catch a breath before he thrusted into her again once more. There was nothing gentle about this – he moved roughly on top of her, not caring that her back met the floor hard with each thrust. She tried to avoid his eyes but when she stopped and looked at him, all the air seemed to disappear under his cold gaze, leaving her breathless underneath him.

He made her his with one gaze, reminded her of all the reasons she could never leave him no matter how angry she was, no matter how much he hurt her, and they both knew it.

When she came, screaming out his name, and he collapsed on top of her seconds later, the anger was gone.

For now.

So they say it's best
To go your separate ways
Guess that they don't know ya
Cause today
That was yesterday
Yesterday is over
It's a different day

Damn it!, thought Astoria when she stood under the hot water of the shower. They hadn't even talked yet; well, maybe because she had left after she had been able to catch her breath again. Screw him.

Draco was lazily laying on the couch when Astoria came back from the shower and although she didn't want to, she was the first one to talk. "Where's Scorpius?"
"Brought him over to my parents."
"Nice from you to tell me", snapped Astoria. "Why?"

"Didn't want him to witness our fight."

Sound like broken records
Playin' over
But you promised her
Next time you'll show restraint
You don't get another chance
Life is no Nintendo game

Astoria sighted and sat down across from him, ready to forgive him...but then suddenly, her jaw dropped.

"You – you're such an ass!", she yelled and got up again. "You just brought him to your parents to stop me from leaving you! How pathetic are you?"

Crap, he hadn't expected her to notice that.

"We're so done!", she yelled, got up and ran out of the apartment before he could stop her.

But you lied again
Now you get to watch her leave
Out the window
Guess that's why they call it window pane

xxx

Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that's alright because I like
the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that's alright because I love
the way you lie
I love the way you lie

"...you know, I thought I knew him but I guess I've been wrong about that. He's unpredictable in a way that scares the hell out of me", Astoria sobbed.

Amelia nodded. "I know, honey. I know. It's gonna be alright, do you understand me?"

"It's NOT gonna be alright! How could it? My child is with those creepy people who won't give him to me and my husband is an abusive, violent ass!", snapped Astoria.

"We're going to get your kid, I promise! And Draco, well, I don't want to say I told you...but I freakin' told ya. From the very beginning I told you that he's -"

"Don't give me that! Not now. Please", added Astoria.

"Okay", replied Amelia. "Sorry. Well, where was I?...yeah, you're gonna leave him and -"

"I can't just leave him! I fucking wish I could! Dude, do you recognize in what kind of fucked up world we live? Once you're married, you can't just take that back! You should know that you're stuck with Blaise for the rest of your life, and so am I with Draco freaking Malfoy! And Scorpius – if I left Draco, I'd lose my child because of the fucking bonding they've created between my fucking husband and our kid! So, you can't just tell me to leave him because, you know, I can't! No matter how bad he treats me, he's legally allowed to do that! Only he could give our marriage up and he won't! If I'd complain somewhere or if I wanted to divorce him, they wouldn't let me because I'm a freaking woman! I have to do whatever he says, I have to fuck him whenever he demands it and –" Astoria couldn't go on because she had trouble breathing.

Amelia hugged her. "Breathe", she whispered. "Just breathe."

"I can't", whispered Astoria. "I can't do this anymore."

xxx

After hours of talking and crying, they just sat there in silence when suddenly the door to the living room opened.

"Who let you in?", snapped Amelia.

"Blaise", answered Draco and closed the door behind him. He felt kind of bad when he looked at Astoria who was cuddled up against her best friend; her cheek clearly showed where he had hit her and her eyes were swollen from the crying...

He cleared his throat. "Can we have a moment?"

Astoria squeezed Amelia's hand.

"No", said Amelia. "I'll stay here to make sure you don't beat the crap out of her again."

There were so many things Draco wanted to say – but he didn't; it would've just made everything worse. "Okay then", he said.

"Now I know we said things, did things
That we didn't mean
And we fall back into the same patterns
Same routine

But your temper's just as bad as mine is
You're the same as me
But when it comes to love you're just as blinded

Baby please come back
It wasn't you
Baby it was me
Maybe our relationship isn't as crazy as it seems
Maybe that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is
I love you too much
To walk away though

Come inside
Pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don't you hear sincerity in my voice when I talk?
Told you this is my fault
Look me in the eyeball
Next time I'm pissed I'll aim my fist at the dry wall
Next time
There will be no next time"

When he had finished his speech, he noticed that Astoria was crying again...he didn't know whether this was a good or a bad sign...

"Look", he added, "I'm sorry baby. Really...sorry."

I apologize
Even though I know it's lies
I'm tired of the games
I just want her back
I know I'm a liar

Astoria looked up from the floor. "Can you give us a moment?", she asked Amelia.

Her best friend sighted. "I'll be next door." She leaned in closer and whispered: "Call me."

Astoria nodded and wiped her tears away.

After Amelia had left, Astoria got up and looked at Draco.

"I – I'm about to forgive you but please, don't make me! If I did, you'd just hurt me again and again and I don't want that anymore! I can't take your anger anymore! You won't talk to me, you'll just be angry. Like today! Look, I know that I'm the fucking wife and you're the freaking husband and yes my parents told me what my role in this fucking family hierarchy is! But yet still, I'm – fuck, I'm your wife! You're supposed to love me and not to - " She stopped and took a deep breath before she continued. "I can't take this anymore."

Draco looked at her until he was sure that she had finished her lecture. "I know", he said then. "I told you baby, I'm really sorry and I promise that it won't happen again. I know that that's what they always say, but you know me!"

"Yeah", she said with a sarcastic tone. "I do."

He was pissed off again. "Look", he said, "you broke the rules, too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When we got married, you were supposed to be a virgin. You weren't and I didn't tell anyone."

Astoria's jaw literally dropped. "I – we've had sex back at Hogwarts! You didn't care about the fact that I would've had to save my virginity for my future husband! And you couldn't know that that'd be you. Or – did you?"

"No I didn't know. But you haven't been a virgin when we fucked the first time."

"So what? You didn't know that, either."

"Look", said Draco, "all I'm saying is that I covered for you."

"And? Am I supposed to be thankful that you didn't tell anyone that you've already screwed me when I was fifteen?"

Draco closed his eyes for a few seconds to stop himself from getting angry again. "Let's stop fighting, baby", he said then and made a few steps towards her. "I love you."

Astoria opened her mouth, ready to snap back at him, but she just took a breath, smiled and looked down at the floor. Then she looked straight at him. "I love you, too."

"Does that mean that you forgive me?", he smirked.

Astoria nodded and wiped her happy tears away. "It's alright."

"What?", asked Amelia which caused Draco and Astoria to look towards the door where the young woman was standing. "No, you can't be serious! This guy treats you like crap, you can't just let him! Don't you see that he's lying? He just wants you back to have somebody to fool around!"

"I'm right here", hissed Draco.

When the two girls looked at him, he added: "I'll wait outside."

After he was gone, Astoria finally spoke. "Haven't you heard? He said it."

"Said what?"

"That he loves me."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! He knows what you want to hear and -"
"Stop it!", hissed Astoria. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for him to say it? Now he did, and I'm sure that he meant it. I know he does."

"Honey..."

"I'll take care of myself, I promise", said Astoria. "Thank you. For everything you've done for me."
Amelia smiled. "You're welcome. If he ever hurts you again – you can always come over. No matter what time it is, you know that, don't you?"

"Thanks", smiled Astoria. "And...he won't hurt me."

xxx

"I'm glad that you're back", smiled Draco when they arrived at their apartment again and looked deep into her eyes.

If she ever tries to fucking leave again
I'mma tie her to the bed
And set the house on fire

xxx

A/N: Yay, the "Love the way you lie"-part is finally fnished :D The lyrics were just perfect for my story! What did you think?

Btw, these were actually 3 chapters...but I put them all together in one since they're finished.

Please review! If I get reviews, I'll write another chapter :P I'm desperate to learn what you guys think about my story!