Chapter 9: The Big Things

A/N- prompt used: [Trope] A Loveless Marriage
Word Count- 535
Warnings- depression, off-screen character death

Draco had been keeping note of the little things lately.

Astoria braided her hair and asked Draco to make sure the ribbon was straight. Astoria threatened to paint his toenails when he laid his feet out by the fire to warm them. Astoria laughed as he read their letter from Pansy detailing her new life as an auror-in-training. Astoria ran her fingers along his palm late at night, their bare legs intertwined and sticky with sweat. She traced the lines of his palm and whispered fake predictions into his neck. They laughed until they couldn't properly breath.

But it wasn't really until Draco washed his teacup after supper and Astoria had plucked it from his waiting hand and set to drying it with a towel that he fully understood.

Draco's parents hadn't had a happy marriage.

When that though struck, it struck hard. Being a by-product of a loveless marriage was not something a child wanted or hoped for or even considered to be possible. He'd already been feeling extremely unnerved by this revelation and on the verge of falling into a deep depression when he found out his father died in Azkaban.

There was no funeral.

Draco curled into a ball on his bed and stared at the blank, white wall across from him for hours.

Astoria came in from time to time with bits of food. Sometimes she'd sit in the rocking chair in the corner and read aloud from some horribly bad historical romance. Once, she stood just out of his eyesight, leaned in, glanced curiously at that blank wall he'd been staring at, and then left him alone again.

She returned an hour later with a hammer and nail.

Draco blinked. "What are you doing?" His voice was harsh with disuse.

His wife tapped the wall, listening for something. She tapped a few more times until she seemed please by the sound it made. She brought the nail up and hammered it into place.

Then she left him alone again.

Draco stared at that nail, brows furrowed, until curiosity got the best of him. He rolled out of bed, wrapped the quilt around his shoulders and headed downstairs.

Astoria was standing in their study, paint brush in hand, squinting at an easel.

Draco stood in the doorway and smiled.

"You definitely have a fish fetish."

Astoria startled and clutched at her chest. "Merlin's left tit, Draco, you scared me half to death." Then she frowned when his words finally registered. She gaped, outraged. "AND I DO NOT! This is just a painting of the of ocean! I didn't even include any sea life!" She scoffed. "I just wanted to give you something nice to look at while you laid in bed all day. Pardon me for being such a thoughtful, loving wife."

Draco felt the first smile in days bloom on his face and he shuffled over to his wife. He wrapped her in his blanket so they looked like a big baked potato.

"Gods, I love you."

"You just got blue paint all over your mum's quilt."

"We're wizards. We can fix it."

"Oh… right."

So yeah… loveless marriages.

Draco and Astoria's marriage was anything but loveless.