...I am so, so, so sorry that it's been nearly a week since I promised I would update! Camp just wiped out my Draco/Astoria mojo D: My inspiration is starting to come back, though!
This takes place when he's 24 and she's 22. Just as a note before you read, the name Ismene is pronounced Is-men-ay and is Greek for knowledgeable.
Review even though I was a lazy bum? :D
-Jackie :)
Moments Remembered
An Astoria/Draco Drabble series
#29 – "I chose you."
Draco Malfoy let out a long sigh as he rolled onto his side, trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. He'd been tossing in bed for hours, but not once had sleep come. A glance at the watch on his nightstand showed that it was five minutes until midnight; only five minutes until his wedding day.
He rolled onto his back again with a groan, looking up at the ceiling while the anxious feeling he had tried to control for weeks came back to wrestle around in his stomach once again. Marriage. Draco Malfoy was going to be married.
He still couldn't believe it.
Draco let his thoughts lull back to the night many months ago when he had proposed to Astoria. Though she'd swore many times that she loved him, his hand had still shaken when he reached inside his robes for the ring box; even then he hadn't been able to do it on the first try, suggesting instead that they leave the restaurant and go for a walk. Then finally, when there was no one around to witness a possible rejection, he had dropped on one knee and asked.
And Astoria had said yes.
The memory helped to soothe his knotted stomach for a while, but then the doubts slowly began to creep through again. What if they weren't happy? What if they argued all the time? What if he fell in love with somebody else? What if she did? Draco rolled over onto his side again; it was now half past midnight.
He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but his stomach felt as if it housed a boggart that was constantly shifting into all his worst fears about marriage. He opened his eyes; a quarter to one. Draco sat up and put his feet over the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes with a forefinger and a thumb. There was no way he could fall asleep like this; he had to talk to her.
Moving to his closet, he quickly shed himself of his pajamas and dressed in the robes he had worn earlier that day. Draco briskly strode downstairs and into the sitting room where the main fireplace was located. It had been built tall enough for a grown man to only have to slightly duck his head, and it even had two marble steps leading inside. Grabbing a handful of floo powder from a mounted bowl, he carefully pronounced the name of the complex Astoria lived in and disappeared in a rush of green flame.
After a short but dizzying ride on the Floo Network that only made his anxious stomach queasier, Draco stepped into the grand foyer of La Parisienne and hastily made for the elevator. The groggy desk clerk only glanced at him once, looking back down at his worn copy of the Daily Prophet when he recognized the familiar blonde man. As Draco was striding to a stop before Astoria's suite he checked his watch; five minutes until one. He knocked on the door with his knuckles, preferring to not use the key she had given him seeing as how it was the middle of the night. A few seconds passed with no answer, and he worried she wouldn't hear this taps. Then a heavy lock was heard sliding back and the door slowly cracked open.
"Draco?" A soft voice called and soon Astoria appeared in the doorway dressed in her pajamas, feet bare and hair pulled into a clip; she, too, didn't seem to have gotten much sleep.
"Astoria," he began, fumbling for words. We need to talk came into his mind first but he ignored it; those were break-up words and he didn't want to scare her. "Can I talk to you?" Draco replied instead.
"Of course; come in." His fiancée stepped aside to let him pass, closing the door after him and turning on a light. He walked into her modern-style living room and sat down, not bothering to take off his traveler's cloak. Astoria soon joined him and placed a hand on his knee.
"What's the matter?" Though he hadn't really planned out what he was going to say, Draco picked his words carefully.
"Astoria, do you want to marry me?" The calm and quick way she answered made his stomach less knotted.
"Of course I do, Draco," she said. "I love you."
"Aren't you a bit nervous that we won't be…happy?" He asked.
"Well of course I'm nervous…but that won't change even if we wait another five years," she admitted. "The only thing to do is to try, or we'll never be married." Draco nodded his head, the knot inside his stomach slowly unraveling. She, however, was becoming more anxious. "Do you want to marry me?"
"I do, it's just that…that I'm concerned it won't work out." She rubbed his knee with her thumb comfortingly.
"We can wait," she said calmly. "We don't have to get married today." He saw in her eyes that she was hurting, but tried to hide it by giving him a reassuring smile on her face nonetheless. Draco suddenly wished he hadn't come by.
"No; I know you've been waiting for this day for months. I'm not going to back out now." Astoria's eyes brightened a bit, but she still shook her head.
"I chose you, and I'm happy enough just to be dating you. I want both of us to be looking forward to our wedding day when it comes." Draco felt like slapping himself for his lousy communication skills; he wanted to marry her, but was nervous and just wanted the comfort she always gave him. Now he had his fiancée thinking they should postpone the wedding.
"I love you," he said seriously, taking her left hand.
"I know," she cut in softly with a smile. The smirk it brought to his own face loosened the curdled knot in his stomach even more.
"And I want to marry you, Astoria Ismene Greengrass, today at noon in Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, France," he finished. She smiled as brilliantly as her eyes this time and met his kiss.
"Well then you'd better go get some rest," she said, patting his knee twice before standing.
"Good night, Greengrass."
"You just had to call me that one last time, didn't you?" Draco smirked.
"Of course."
I want to make it up to you readers & reviewers for me being a) gone away at camp and b) lazy once I returned from camp. I'm unsure how to do that, though...suggestions are wanted! Feel free to leave them in a review, send me a message, or send an email by going through the links on my profile.
-Jackie :)
