House. Slytherin
Category. Short
Prompt. [Object] Broken Wine Glass.
Word Count. 628
oO0Oo
He held the broken wine glass by the stem, wondering where it had all gone wrong. When he'd first met Astoria, he'd thought their love would last forever… but now the broken glass and the blood red wine pooled on the floor said differently. The smell took him back in time, though, and he remembered happier days…
The first time he'd seen Astoria, it had been at Blaise's villa. A few years had passed since the war, so it'd been a pleasant surprise to find the girl he only remembered as vaguely irritating had blossomed into a confident young woman. The three of them had gone out to town that night and dined at Enoteca Pinchiorri, where Blaise had almost passed out after taking seven shots in quick succession in a vain attempt to impress the local girls. After his friend had puked and collapsed onto the table, Draco had gained a sudden and newfound appreciation for Astoria. She'd kept her head and helped him support Blaise as they staggered back to the villa. Then, once Blaise was asleep, the two of them had shared a quiet candlelit dinner on the balcony. It had been beautiful.
From there, their relationship had only grown. Draco had never thought it possible to love someone as much as he loved Astoria, but he did; before he'd known what was happening, he was on his knees before her, promising her the world if she would only marry him. Of course, she did. At their wedding, Blaise (his best man) had stood up and raised his glass, proclaiming: "A toast to the groom and to the bride! May you find eternal happiness in one another, and may your cup forever run over!"
Now, looking back, it seemed almost prophetic that Blaise had chosen those exact words. After having been married for two years, Draco knew he was no closer to finding happiness than he had been when the Dark Lord had haunted his halls. In the beginning, his marriage to Astoria had been bliss; however, as the months passed, he began to notice just how poorly matched they truly were. Astoria enjoyed hosting social events in the Manor, but to Draco, they was torture; Astoria adored shopping, while Draco found it drained the Malfoy vaults far too much for his liking. When he first broached the topic to her, she had only blinked at him, then said, "But dear, it's only Galleons."
"It is," he'd said. "But I want to save those Galleons for our children." From her gobsmacked expression, he knew he'd said something wrong. "Do you not want children?"
"I'd rather not… but we can talk about that later, okay dear?" She had smiled at him, then said, "By the way, I'm hosting an informal get-together with the Notts and the Montagues tonight, so if you could have the House Elves begin decorating… that'd be great." She'd given him a feather-light kiss, and then she was gone. Past experience dictated that she would be secluded in the master bedroom trying on the various robes she'd bought over the years.
How far they had come. Not even two months after that conversation, Astoria had left him, and he had been glad to see her go. Draco looked at the broken wine glass in his hand, wondering yet again how his happy marriage had shattered. Their love had been as deep and as red as the full-bodied wine which sat sparkling in its crystal decanter, and their cup had been overflowing… but now the glass had broken, and it was clear it hadn't been the wine of love within that fine glass; rather, it had been the blood of hate.