House: Ravenclaw
Position: HoH
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Romantic Pairing] Terry Boot and Astoria Greengrass.
Word Count (excluding header): 2121
Betas: LadyS and Vee.
AN: Diffindo Cardiamortum is a spell of my own creation. Diffindo is the severing spell and roughly translates to a dead heart.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Draco said softly. The tone of his voice wasn't angry or threatening. Instead, it held a note of melancholy longing mixed with a tired sadness.
"I do, Draco," Astoria assured him, although she wasn't certain at all. Her heart told her this was the right thing to do, even if her head screamed that she was making a mistake. "I just wish it didn't have to come to this."
Draco gently squeezed her hand. "I do too. If there were any other way, I'd do anything for you. But that ruddy contract is sealed so tightly we can't escape. You got drawn into my family's mess, and now you have to be the one to sacrifice to get out of it. It's unfair, but it has to be you."
"I know," Astoria said as a single tear fell down her cheek. "You've been a wonderful husband. Truly I mean it. I love you, but…"
"But a soulmate is one of the most powerful pieces of magic," Draco finished her thought. "You will die if you stay away from him much longer. It's tearing me apart to see you waste away. You have to be free of me so that you can live."
"My freedom isn't free." Astoria let the floodgates open as she began to sob. "I have to fake my death and alter my magical core to nullify the contract. The world will think I'm dead. My own family won't ever see me again. My own son will have to bury an empty box and mourn the loss of his mother. I'm abandoning him for myself. Scorpius will hate me."
Draco shook his head. "Scorpius loves you. Yes, he will grieve you. But I will be there for him and remind him of the wonderful mother you are. And when the time comes, I will make sure he understands that you had no other choice."
Astoria's battered heart ached. "You are a good man. I wish I could have loved you."
Draco sighed. "I wish you could have, too. But ultimately, I want you to live free to love. I know as well as anyone that sometimes life doesn't give us a choice."
She fell into his arms for one last embrace. Minutes ticked by before she pulled back. "It's time, Draco."
He nodded and raised his wand to point at her chest. "Diffindo Cardiamortum," he cast sorrowfully.
_Ten Years Later_
"You're going to wear a hole in the floor if you don't stop pacing," Terry teased. He walked across the room and embraced his wife. "I know you're nervous, Stori, but everything will be alright. I promise."
Astoria's response was muffled by his shirt. With a small laugh, he tilted her chin up and their eyes connected. He felt her immediately relax as the contented soulmate magic between them wove its calming effect.
She took a deep breath before saying, "He's going to hate me. I just know it. I left him."
"Scorpius has grown into a thoughtful young man," Terry said. "You know that from the letters Draco has sent over the years. He's finally mature enough to know the truth and keep the secret. He is going to understand that you had to do what you did. You would have died back then if you'd stayed. You know that. He's going to know that, too."
"But what if he doesn't?" Astoria asked. "What if he'd rather I were gone than come back into his life now as if nothing has changed."
"Everything has changed," Terry contradicted. "That's the point. The last time he saw you, you were sick and dying because the soulmate magic was poisoning your blood. You would have been the victim of what pureblood society called a blood curse, but it was the irreplaceable bond. You did what you had to in order to make sure you'd live and have the chance to see him again." He took a step back so he could hold her at arm's length. "Just look at you. You're glowing now. That's what soulmate magic can do."
Astoria flushed under his loving scrutiny. "Who would have thought that this would have happened. I barely knew you existed all those years ago," she said.
Terry chucked. "Well, I wasn't exactly part of your social circle back then. You were the perfect Pure-blood princess, and I wasn't even on your radar."
"You must have been," Astoria said. "Even if I didn't know it, the soulmate magic had already started. Otherwise, I wouldn't have started getting sick as soon as I signed that wedding contract with Draco."
Astoria recalled the aching feeling deep in her chest that set in as soon as she touched quill to parchment. She and Draco had an arranged marriage. The Malfoys were looking to restore their tarnished reputation in the aftermath of the war by securing a match whose family didn't have overt ties to Voldemort. Her family was anxious to get a share of the vast Malfoy fortune.
Despite the less than ideal reasons for their union, she'd been happy on their wedding day. She hadn't loved Draco, nor he her, but they liked each other well enough. She thought love would grow over the years, and she'd be content with her life.
However, when she signed her name to her marriage certificate, the contract's insidious nature began to attack her from the inside. Neither she nor Draco had been aware of a clause in all Malfoy marriage contracts that completely bound wives to their husbands. In every way, Draco owned her body and soul. Too bad her soul was already bound to another.
Over the years, genuine affection bloomed between Draco and Astoria. Two years into their marriage, they welcomed Scorpius. Astoria adored her son and tried to be the best mother possible, but she became weaker and weaker by the day. Her heart constantly ached, her skin was getting even paler, and her energy was drained with the slightest action.
For years, she sought out Healers who wrote off her condition as a degenerative blood curse that would eventually take her life. They claimed there was nothing to do but wait until her heart would inevitably stop beating. They advised her to spend as much time with her loved ones as she could and not overexert herself.
Desperate for another answer, she sought out an alternative healer advertised in The Quibbler. She could never have known how her life would change when she stepped over the threshold into Terry Boot's Medicinal Herbs and Plants.
The moment her eyes met his, she'd felt like her heart exploded. Screaming in agony, she'd fallen to the floor and writhed in pain. Terry rushed to her side and cradled her head in his lap. He sent a Patronus to Draco and made small comforting noises to calm Astoria. She'd settled in his embrace.
When Draco had rushed into the door minutes later, the truth of Astoria's condition became clear. Terry and Astoria were both glowing bright white indicating the incontrovertible existence of a soulmate bond. Astoria's glow was flickering and flaring because her heart and soul were being torn. Magically, her soul belonged to Terry's soul, but she was contractually bound to Draco.
Once the truth was known, the three discussed a plan. Draco immediately agreed to separate from Astoria so that she could be with her soulmate. However, they discovered the Malfoy marriage contract was airtight and inescapable, except by death. For months, the three searched for a solution that wouldn't require the mortal end to either Draco or Astoria. Astoria got sicker, and it seemed as though they were going to run out of time.
Finally, a solution presented itself in an old, dusty tome Terry found in Verona, Italy. Diffindo Cardiamortum could sever a person's magical core, essentially rendering them a Squib. As a Squib, the person would no longer be subject to any magical obligations. However, when that person had a soulmate, their magical core could repair itself and become wholly bound to their other half of their soul.
The magic was highly illegal. They could tell no one the plan, lest the caster be imprisoned for performing a spell intended to turn someone into a Squib. Even telling Scorpius was out of the question because the weight of the secret was too much for a young child.
The only way they could make it work was for Draco to perform the spell and free Astoria of the marriage contract. In order for the use of the spell to remain undiscovered, they resolved that it must appear that the marriage contract was ended in the way it was intended — by Astoria's apparent death.
Astoria Malfoy had died so that Astoria Boot could live.
Shaking her head to clear it from her trip down memory lane, Astoria said, "I did what I had to do. I love you, Terry Boot. I just wish that loving you hadn't come with such high consequences."
Terry kissed her, and she melted into his arms. Granted her only experience with kissing before Terry was with Draco, and that was battling against the conflicting bonds, but she was certain that if it were possible to die from too much pleasure she'd have died a thousand times over with Terry.
A knock sounded from the front door causing Astoria to pull back from the kiss. Her eyes darted over, and the fear and anxiety crept back in.
Terry squeezed her hands and assured, "It's going to be alright, Stori. I promise you. It'll be alright."
Taking a deep breath, Astoria squared her shoulders and walked to the door. With an iron grip on Terry's hand, she opened the door and looked at her son for the first time in ten years.
"Mum," he gasped. "No, it can't be!" Scorpius withdrew his wand and aimed it at Astoria's chest.
Draco jumped in between his son and his former wife while Terry curled his body around her's in a protective stance.
"Lower your wand," Draco ordered.
With a questioning look at his father, Scorpius compiled with the command. "What's going on?" he demanded.
"Come in," Terry offered.
As he led the party into the sitting room, his fierce grip around Astoria's shaking body eased, but he still held her steady instinctively knowing that she needed it.
She and Terry sat on the couch opposite Draco and Scorpius. She immediately leaned into her husband as though they were fused, truly two parts of a whole in every sense. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and began to explain to her beloved son.
When she finished her story, an agonizing silence fell upon the room. Terry gently stroked his hand through her hair, keeping her anxiety at a manageable level. Draco gave her small, encouraging smiles from across the room.
Scorpius had remained silent throughout the tale. His eyes had darted around the room, flitting from one person to another, but mostly he stared at Astoria.
"Why," Scorpius asked, his voice breaking on the one syllable question. Clearing his throat, he tried again, "Why didn't you tell me? How could you just let me believe you were gone? I needed you!" His voice rose in devastating anger.
"I couldn't Scorpius!" Astoria pleaded. "You were too young. I couldn't burden you with the secret."
"Instead, you burdened me with your death!" he yelled.
"That's not fair, Scorpius," Draco said. "Your mother had to do this. We had no choice."
"I get that," Scorpius said. "I know how the magic worked. But you could have trusted me."
Astoria choked back a sob. "Scorpius, I -"
"No," he interrupted. "I can't do this now." Scorpius shook his head and stood. "You should have told me. You all lied to me for years. I can't be here right now."
"Can you ever forgive me?" Astoria asked.
She was certain that her bond to Terry was the only thing preventing her heart from shattering.
"Maybe someday," Scorpius said. "Maybe someday I'll be able to forgive you all." He turned and walked towards the door. He suddenly paused when his hand was resting on the knob. "Mom?"
Astoria's heart fluttered at the word she hadn't heard in ten years. She rushed to his side. "What is it, Scorpius?"
In lieu of an answer, he wrapped her in his arms. Both of their bodies shook as the emotion took over.
After what felt like an unbearably short time to Astoria, Scorpius pushed her away and wiped the tears from his face.
"Someday," Scorpius said before he darted out the door.
Astoria wrapped her arms around herself and repeated to the now-closed door, "Someday."
