So, one of you asked if we would see pregnant Astoria in this story: perhaps. I'm not completely sure of all of the directions I'm taking this story, but I have a few different ideas. Yes, we will see Astoria's brother outside of Astoria's memories. I am planning on that specifically. I'm so surprised I'm actually getting this chapter up tonight (actually, it's 5:00 AM) as I have been busy all day and just been feeling a bit low with everything going on in the world. As always, I love you all so so much for reviewing my story and telling me everything you like about it. I usually am terrible about procrastinating and getting things done, but I've been able to stay on top of this story because of you guys! I'm really glad you guys are okay with my characters and how I write them.
I don't own anything from Harry Potter.
Astoria was awoken slowly by the man twitching and stirring underneath her. She opened her eyes tiredly, squinting up in the dark at his face that was twisted in a pained and disturbed expression. She frowned worriedly and placed her hands on his cheeks, murmuring his name. She said his name louder when he didn't wake up, crying out in pain suddenly when his hands grabbed her wrists, practically crushing them in their grip. His eyes were now open and filled with alarm and a troubled darkness. She felt him shift suddenly beneath her and he moved as if to throw her off of him. She called his name much louder this time and watched relieved as his eyes cleared and he released her wrists, his body relaxing back into the bed. Her wrists throbbed at their release from his death grip.
At least Draco was talented with glamour charms.
Astoria watched him cautiously, stroking her thumb against his cheek lightly. She was sure he was not going to talk about what his nightmare had been about, but she ought to at least try. With how private he always was, she feared she would anger him by trying to intrude on what goes on in his head. "Show me," she told him quietly.
Draco said nothing and was still when she spoke. He watched her like that for a while, his eyes tired while searching hers before an unfamiliar scene filled her head.
"Draco, my boy," the Dark Lord cooed, circling Draco who had his head bowed slightly in submission. The other Death Eaters surrounded them in the dark Manor which Voldemort had taken at the time, watching the scene. "I worry at times about you. Of your strength. I fear you.. Weak. Do you fear yourself weak?" Voldemort's tone was mockingly thoughtful.
"I do not, my lord," Draco responded, his voice slightly small and uneven.
"I don't know if I believe you," the Dark Lord tsked. "You seem.. Ungrateful for the task I have given you."
"I am not, my lord. I can assure you, I am grateful for the responsibility you have given to me."
"Ah yes, yes. Mmm. Well alright if you are so sure, but I still think you may need some motivation. Just as an extra push of course," the Dark Lord said, an eerie smile crossing his alarming features. "Narcissa, darling. Come here for a moment, won't you? I require your help. Draco requires your help."
Draco's head snapped in the direction of his nervous mother who was nodding obediently and walking over to them, her steps careful. Draco looked to the Dark Lord, concern now filled his eyes. "I've found, Draco," Voldemort began, his voice pleasant and smooth, "that rewards are a good motivation, but not always good enough. You see, weak people will convince themselves the reward, whatever it may be, not grand enough; that they have enough to keep themselves pleased without it. After a while, they decide that they don't need the reward. That is why I find threats much more motivating."
Narcissa Malfoy's screams ripped through the Manor, bouncing off the walls and echoing throughout the wide room as the lovely woman dropped to her hands and knees to the pain, her fingers digging into the stone flooring. Some of the Death Eaters leered and looked deeply entertained with the woman's pain. Draco visibly trembled hard, stuttering out his pleads for the dark wizard to stop.
"Alright," Voldemort said softly after Narcissa's screams stopped. "I stopped.. Now you."
Draco froze and Narcissa did as well, her eyes closing. "My Lord," Lucius Malfoy began, looking at his wife and son with a worried expression. "My son will not be able to perform the curse on her. You have to truly want to inflict the pain. He.. Draco loves his mother."
The Dark Lord ignored Lucius's words, watching Draco expectantly. Draco took a step back, unable to follow the command or even attempt.
His own screams filled the room.
Astoria's eyes readjusted in the dark bedroom as the memories left her head. "I tried eventually. I couldn't. He told me he would kill her if I didn't make her scream. He told me to be creative with my curses if I was too weak to correctly use the Cruciatus against her," Draco said, his voice icy. Astoria noticed his eyes flickering at "creative". Astoria did not want to know what spells he had used in place of the Cruciatus in order to torture his mother. "She should have never been there," he murmured bitterly.
"A wife's place is at her husband's side. She had to be there," she told him quietly.
"She deserved better than my father's side," Draco snarled, his body shaking slightly in his anger.
"By then it was your side that her heart was by."
"As if mine was any better," Draco said, chuckling coldly.
"It was," she told him, pain in her voice.
Astoria physically hurt for Draco in that moment as well as Narcissa. To watch your son go through such things would break any woman. Draco was a good son. He loved his mother in a way not every man in their world did. He wasn't a selfless man by any means, but when it came to her he was vulnerable.
He was human.
Narcissa was the reason he had promised her mercy. She was his good qualities, as buried and few as they may seem. They were there, and Astoria would work with them and she owed them to his mother. She would work with them for Narcissa, for both of them. Draco deserved something more than his haunted emptiness, and his mother deserved to have her son's life to mean something, just as Draco had provided Narcissa's life meaning.
"Go back to sleep. It is still hours before morning," he told her, his voice emotionless.
Astoria watched his eyes for a few more moments before moving her hands from his face. She adjusted herself on his tall frame and hesitated for a moment before pressing her face into his neck, resting her lips against his pulse as she inhaled his comforting scent. She rested there, taking in his warmth and both listening to and feeling his breathing until it grew deeper and slower. She kissed his neck gently before falling asleep again herself.
Draco woke with girl incredibly close to him. He was covered in her; her body heat, her lavender and sweet scent, her light weight. He thought of the night and what he had revealed to her, remembering her comfort. He had never had that before, not like that. She hadn't tried to smother him with over sympathizing and cooing in her remorse. She had just understood. She had hurt with him. He was not fully sure why he had shown her that memory from his dream when she had told him to, but he supposed if he was going to keep taking from her memories it was somewhat fine for her to have one of his. Perhaps it wouldn't be so horrible for his wife to know him. Perhaps he wanted her to know him.
He wasn't sure he knew himself.
Draco shifted slightly and felt a wetness on his neck where Astoria's mouth rested. He slowly raised an eyebrow. She was drooling on him. What a ridiculous thought. Here he was, Draco Malfoy, being drooled on by his supposed elite pure-blood wife. He fought his body to keep from shaking with laughter as affection settled over him, surprising him slightly. He picked up a piece of her hair in his fingers, pulling it through them as he played with it, examining it's color and silkiness as well as the natural curl to it. She rarely left it to go where it pleased naturally. He stopped himself.
Alright, enough of this.
He shifted slightly, turning their bodies so he could lay her down in the place of him as he got up from the bed, going to shower. The girl didn't hardly stir and he shook his head at her damp lips as he wiped a hand over his neck. She was strangely alluring in the way she slept so carelessly and deeply. He imagined she would be quite mortified to know that she had covered him in her saliva.
He stood in the shower for a long time as his thoughts raced and unfinished themselves as they usually did, his wife being a confusing addition to the mix of emotions and ideas that fought over themselves to take the lead in his head. He focused on his breathing, counting his breaths to focus and clear his mind as the overly hot water poured over his face, almost burning him. How he wished he could just turn them all off, end it all.
He was weak.
Astoria was slowly waking up when Draco was walking past her to leave, though he did not greet her. Despite his new affection for her, he doubted he would ever be that husband. He made his way down the steps, straightening his collar as he headed towards his office, opening the door to find Adrian Pucey in his desk chair reading some of his papers. "Pucey," he addressed him dully. He hadn't seen him in quite a while. He was usually off avoiding home, partying in different areas of the world while spending his family's fortune.
"For fuck's sake, Draco. It's nearly noon. Were you sleeping until now? What is going on with your wards? I had a shit of a time trying to get here," he complained, dropping the paper he was reading.
"My wife happened. She seems to believe I only speak to all of three or so people. Now, if you would remove yourself from my seat," Draco told him, rolling his eyes.
Adrian grinned. "That's right you got married to the smaller Greengrass girl. My father knew her mother in school, actually. They were friendly enough. Apparently she fucked the Nott family right over."
Mmm. Good.
"I don't pay attention to gossip," Draco told him, ignoring his slight curiosity, taking his seat back when Pucey got up to sit across from him.
"Of course not, Malfoy. You have bigger and better things to think about, of course. How could I forget?" He said, looking bored while fiddling with a paper weight on the desk.
"What are you doing here?" Draco asked, ignoring his sarcasm.
"Why, I missed you of course, mate," Pucey drawled.
"Mhm."
"I won't be here long. Every moment I'm home my parents are on me about marriage and appearances and whatever else they go on about. They've threatened to disown me more than once. I don't know how you do it. I'd much rather enjoy my youth and taste at least a bit of freedom before settling into this cycle of dull and repetitive bullshit."
"I don't have a choice."
"Don't worry. I suspect you're far too depressing by now to actually enjoy yourself even if you did have a choice." Adrian smirked at him, dropping the paper weight back on the table. "Bring your bride down. I think I remember her being about as depressing as you, which is quite difficult so congratulations on the perfect match, but I'd still like to check."
"Seeing as others I'm acquainted with don't know how to behave around what belongs to me; I don't suppose I will."
"Who?"
"Nott."
"Doesn't he know her mother royally fucked his father in the arse? Actually, what if that's what he's doing. Some sort of elaborate plan of revenge," he snickered. "He screws your wife and takes pictures then spreads them through the community or something petty like that."
"I don't believe he knows anything about their parents previous relationship at Hogwarts and I am wondering why you care enough to know," Draco said flatly, his anger flaring slightly at the thought of Pucey's idea.
"It's interesting and relevant."
Draco snorted loudly. "You refuse to participate in hardly anything these days, yet you find our parents pasts and friendships interesting and relevant?"
Pucey nodded. "In my denial that the people of this community were always as horrifically dull and lifeless as they are now, yes."
"So you're honestly going to get yourself disowned?"
"Of course not. I'm not that much of an idiot. You know no one actually gets out of this alive. No, I'm just kicking up a bit of theatrics before I comply with all of this. I want to enjoy myself as much as I can before my life is thrown away to nothing."
Draco made a sound of acknowledgement. As he thought. Pucey was no different than the rest of them no matter how much he pretended. This was their world and none of them intended to actually escape it, none of them were ever willingly disowned. This was all they knew; everything else was unfamiliar.
Inferior.
"You know, it's rumored that Greengrass keeps vials and vials of extracted memories, his own memories and others, that he uses for blackmail," Pucey mused.
"Have you only come here to gossip to me like a woman," Draco said impatiently, squinting at the ridiculous statement.
"You may look down on women, but their minds our actually quite interesting and complex. You'd be surprised how conniving they can be. Incredibly clever and layered they often are," Adrian said, grinning slowly. "Fascinating."
Draco rolled his eyes to the ceiling, watching it for a few moments. Pucey was full of shit. He didn't care about women aside from screwing them and taking drugs with them. "I appreciate your attempt at being profound, but save it for the next group of women you're pursuing. They'd appreciate your sincere compliments much more than I do."
"Oh, they do. They appreciate them very much. Oh-" Adrian cut off, catching the sight of Astoria passing the door in the hall. "-there you are, lovely. Come in here."
Astoria stopped walking and looked at Draco before entering, dressed perfectly without a hair out of place as usual despite being a sleeping heap of drool only a while before. "Hello, Adrian. It's nice to see you again," she said, smiling politely.
"Yes, yes," Adrian said, eyeing her bruised wrists before giving Draco a look. "I can already tell you're miserable. My mother has been asking about your sister actually," he said, changing subjects as he did quite often that way, tilting his head. Draco frowned slightly at her wrists. He had forgotten that he was out of sorts when she had woken him. He hadn't known he had left bruises.
He watched his wife perk up, excitement filling her eyes. "Oh? Has she? What has she asked?"
"Alright, relax. It may be nice to see me again but that doesn't mean we have to go as far as being in-laws," he said, putting his hands up. "I am very flattered that you find me at least a step above a middle-aged man in need of a remarriage. Truly, wow. My self esteem is soaring at how high you hold me. However, I will have to decline. It's a tad cliché, and I try to avoid those. Failure children ending up together in the perfect match? Eh."
Astoria squinted. "Not to be rude, Adrian, but your whole life is a bit of a cliché."
Adrian laughed. "So I suppose I should try not to make it worse than it already is, no?" He turned to look at Draco and narrowed his eyes. "I'll be leaving soon, I'm afraid. I'm already feeling depression sinking in just by being in your husband's presence. It's amazing how he has that affect, really. I fear for your well-being. Darling, if you ever feel like jumping off the balcony, which you will, write me and I will come help you out. Tell you that you have so much to live for and all that, even though you don't, but lies are better than the truth, aren't they? I will provide you with the best lies and false hope you need. Instead of shagging Nott. That would be an unfortunate idea, and poor Draco would be so embarrassed, and as his dear and old friend it is my job to look out for him," Adrian told her, yawning.
Astoria's chest puffed up slightly and her eyes widened in offense. "I would never do such a thing. There is no reason to insult me that way. I am faithful to Draco."
Draco watched her reaction from the corner of his eye carefully, satisfied with her response. Though, she couldn't expect not to be suspected when she seemed as fond of Nott as she did.
Pucey gave her a withering look. "Insult you? Love, I would shag Nott if I was stuck with Malfoy for the rest of my life."
"Please, spare us the imagery," Draco said flatly.
"Tell me, does your father happen to have stores of memories that he keeps in order to fuck people over?" Adrian asked her, leaning forward towards her, ignoring Draco.
Astoria blinked, seeming surprised at his question. "Now, why would I tell you my family secrets?" She asked, her voice falsely innocent as she tilted her head to the side slightly.
"Now sister, I thought we were planning on becoming family?"
"Well, until then I suppose you will just have to wonder," Astoria replied, smiling.
"My father was friends with your mother. That means that we are friends too. So you should tell me what I want to know. That's what your mother would want, I'm sure."
Astoria laughed lightly. "Seeing as I never had much idea who my mother was friends with during her time at Hogwarts I can assure you I don't think she would want or even care about anything of the sort."
"Pucey. I could have sworn you just told us you were leaving because I was causing you depression," Draco said shortly, already tired of his presence. He was never serious and cared about nonsense.
Pucey feigned a hurt expression as he put a hand over his heart. "You almost sound as if you want me to leave, Draco."
"Mmm. I have somewhere to be, and I would prefer to not leave you alone with my wife. It's not correct."
Pucey shrugged and stood. "You're only sucking the joy out of your wife by preventing her my company."
"I am sure she will find a way to cope seeing as she has survived this long being married to me," Draco drawled.
"Too right, Draco!" Pucey said, clapping his hands together loudly. "You are catching on to how horrible you are impressively quickly. I shouldn't underestimate her. She's obviously very strong to deal with you. I'll see you soon, love."
"I'm sure she can hardly wait."
Pucey ignored his comment, nodding to him in farewell and winking at Astoria before leaving.
Astoria shook her head at his disappearing form, scoffing lightly. "Hm?" He questioned her, watching her face for a moment.
"It's just astounding that a few mistakes has led my sister to be comparable to Adrian Pucey in terms of rebellion. Men truly can get away with murder, but if women lift a finger out of line.." She trailed off, frowning.
"Are you referring to when Daphne thought 'it may be best to just listen to her own desires for once and live for herself'?" Draco asked her, repeating what Astoria had advised her sister, studying her expression carefully.
Astoria went to still, her mouth opening slightly as a stutter of words came out. She closed her mouth first before composing herself and tilting her chin up. "Yes. That. She has times of foolishness, but she does not act like Pucey."
Draco smirked, enjoying her uncomfortable shuffling. "I see. Quite foolish, indeed. I'm not sure where she would get such a mindset from."
Astoria was quiet but her face was set in a stern look as her chin stayed slightly elevated.
"I'm sure it must be hard for you to know you're being compared to her in such a way by me."
"No, it isn't hard at all."
"No?"
"No."
"And why is that?" Draco was surprised by her sureness. He was only trying to get a rise from her. He hardly remembered the sex with her sister, and he was definitely not thinking about her when Astoria had been beneath him, but he was sure she would be at least a bit insecure over it.
"Daphne is not better than me at anything," Astoria said smoothly, repeating her own words as a child.
Draco snorted with surprise and amusement at her sudden confidence. She was truly competitive when it came to her sister, even now. "I see," he murmured, watching her eyes for a moment. "I will be back. I am going to see my parents." Draco saw her face fall at the mention of him leaving and he felt a bit of triumph in it. She truly craved his nearness. He ignored the odd urge to touch her in a goodbye, leaving her in the middle of his office.
