The One That Got Away

"I always knew this would happen," Mrs. Greengrass stated to her daughter in a tone of false worry.

"Mother, please," Astoria responded, clearing up the already spotless living room fretfully as she had no other outlet for her nervous energy.

"That boy is a good-for-nothing useless criminal, and I never should have allowed you to date him."

Astoria rounded on her mother, staring at her fiercely. Allowed was definitely too active of an adverb. Her family's eventual acceptance of hers and Draco's relationship was much better described in terms of relent. A few weeks of severed communication from each other seemed to cement her determined intent to her family.

The first to bridge the gap had been her father. He was a very old-fashioned man and had been extremely disappointed over his daughter's behavior and his wife's inability to handle the situation. Upon further reflection however he slowly came around to the idea. His daughter had always been notably independent and skillful, and though she had done many disapproving things behind his back (the thought of his youngest daughter being a waitress in a run-down pub still caused him to shudder) she had managed to fulfill her desires discretely and not tarnish the family's reputation. This merited her the respect due to an adult capable of making their own decisions. Besides, the one engrained point he and his wife had drilled into their daughters was their duty to find another wealthy Pureblood family to marry into, and despite all of his flaws Draco Malfoy certainly fit within this category. Why still a scandalous match their relationship was not severe enough to blast her name off the family tree, and the continued prosperity of the family depended on the father's acceptance of his daughter's choice. Less than a month after she had moved out Mr. Greengrass visited their home and diplomatically gave his blessing. Draco in turn officially asked to begin courting his daughter.

Daphne was the next to accept the couple. Her longtime boyfriend from Durmstrang had finally popped the question. The eldest Greengrass sister had been planning her wedding since her sixth birthday, and despite countless revisions there had always remained one constant: that Astoria be one of her bride's maids.

"I'm not going to let your stupid decision ruin the most important day of my life," Daphne announced one morning, showing up at her door to unceremoniously shove a frilly emerald green gown into her arms. After firing off countless dates of bridal showers, fittings, parties and rehearsal dinners that Astoria had no clue how she was supposed to remember, Daphne left with one final, semi-encouraging quip:

"He can come if you want. After all he's not all that bad to look at and his presence wouldn't ugly up my wedding album."

Draco did go. And though he sat by himself during the ceremony and was mostly ignored by her relatives at the reception, he was, in a sense, accepted as a part of their lives and was snidely tolerated.

This was more than Astoria had dared to hope for. She had the job of her dreams and was living with the man she loved, all of it out in the open and accepted by her restrictive and conservative family. Well, tolerated at least, for her mother was still very quick to denounce her choice in boyfriend. Normally Astoria was quick to reprimand her mother for her insults or ignore her blatantly if the matter was small enough not to be addressed.

But today Astoria could only struggle to hold back her tears at her mother's accusation. She was quickly taken back to that painful memory from five days ago, a memory that swiftly brought an end to her happy life.

She had come home early from the office and was deep in debate over whether to cook dinner or just order take-out when Draco burst through their door. He held a violent inflection of outrage and terror, and for the first time in their relationship she was momentarily afraid of him.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded in an icy snap, pushing past her hastily as he rushed towards his home office.

"Draco, what's wrong?" she asked, still terrified but no longer of him.

"You shouldn't be here," he yelled, shuffling through his desk manically. "Get out of here, now!"

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on!" she shouted back, firmly holding her ground despite the stream of tears flowing down her face. His eyes snapped back to hers fiercely, but the violence that fueled him seemed to vanish as he saw her distress. For a moment she saw all the hate and anger in his face transform into regret and sorrow, before their attention was stolen by two loud 'pops' at the far side of the room. Astoria gasped as two large men clad in Ministry robes suddenly appeared in her house.

"Draco Malfoy, you are under arrest for crimes against the Ministry," one of them proclaimed as they rounded on Draco roughly.

"No!" she cried desperately, instinctively reaching for her wand to fend off the attack.

"Expelliarmus," one of the Enforcers cast lazily, rendering both she and Draco of their wands simultaneously. The other quickly pointed his wand at Draco, binding him with invisible ropes.

"Let me go!" Draco demanded, pure loathing pouring out of his eyes as the larger Enforcer grabbed him by the arms. "I haven't done anything!"

"Save it for the Wizengamot," the Enforcer replied, dragging him out forcefully.

"Draco, what's going on?" Astoria cried, rushing to his side as they began to drag him out.

"Astoria, I'm innocent, I swear it. You have to believe me!"

The pleading heart-wrenching look that filled his face still burned into her memory. That had been the last time she had seen him, the last that she had heard from him. Even his parents had been denied access to see their son as the Enforcers kept him captive. Astoria therefore had to wait and discover the fate of her future until it was printed three days later in the Daily Prophet.

Rumors of a government overthrow by former Death Eaters had been avidly circulated by the paper during recent months, and a nervous panic had ignited throughout the community still wary of the new peace. The Prophet proclaimed that the Ministry had hard evidence proving that Draco had been leading a group bent on returning the reign of terror brought forth by their former master. That was why he had been so quickly detained, and why his trial had been sped up to tomorrow.

The whole idea was absolutely ludicrous to Astoria. Draco had hardly wanted to play his part in last war, let alone bring about another one. He was happy succeeding in his business and coming home each night. He had always appeared grateful for the life he was able to have after everything that had happened, and had never alluded to wanting anything more.

Except…

Except Draco never really alluded to anything about his job. As Astoria searched her mind she felt a panic course through her as she could recall only a handful of facts about where her boyfriend went almost every day. It was an insurance firm, one that had a legitimate front. Yet its reputation had been called into question as they employed many of those accused of being Dark Lord sympathizers. Astoria had always blown off such accusations as being prejudice and hypocritical. Very few businesses would give work to those who had done their time or had charges cleared, and those that did shouldn't be marked as evil just for giving people a second chance. She was proud of Draco for finding something he liked to do, something that made him feel useful.

And yes it didn't hurt that the money was good, and through his work he had bought them a lovely house that Astoria happily and painstakingly decorated. Sure sometimes his hours were a little odd, but that is to be expected of any business. And no, no if asked right out she couldn't say just exactly what he did or where he went when he left at night…

She felt her heart drop to the heels of her feet. How could she have been so blind? How could she, someone who explored and researched every detail in school and work, allow herself to turn her back on something so obviously suspicious? Every time she had asked him a direct question about his work he had deflected it or responded with a vague answer, and instead of pushing him, demanding an explanation, she had simply quit asking for prosperity sake.

And now she was lost. Lost as she stood inside her own home, surrounded by her pretty things, unsure of where the man she loved was, whether she'd ever see him again, or if he was indeed that man at all. She had no idea, no hope, and the only indication of her fate was an article in the paper, writing about Draco as if he were already condemned.

"You should have listened to me," her mother continued, snapping Astoria out of her increasing worry. "I always knew he was no good, and this proves it."

"This proves nothing," Astoria responded in a growl, balling up the Prophet in her hands.

"That boy is a liar, a criminal, probably a cheater, and worst off was sloppy enough to get caught. You need to distance yourself from him immediately, and save whatever shred of reputation you can!" Mrs. Greengrass exclaimed.

Astoria let her mother's words and advice wash over her. She felt their buried wisdom hidden under her mother's shrieks. Everything she had just said most likely had a ring of truth to it, and any self-preserving Slytherin would heed such advice and flee why they still could.

Astoria quickly discarded the wretched paper into the fire, causing the flames to momentarily erupt as she spun on her heel. She determinedly marched past her mother and all of her possessions as she swiftly made her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" her mother demanded, a garnish of hope decorating her voice. After swinging on her cloak Astoria paused, her hand resting on the door knob as she finalized her decision.

"To save my lying, cheating, sloppy criminal of a boyfriend," she announced, before quickly slipping through the door and slamming it hard behind her.

The next night Astoria sat curled up in Draco's favorite arm chair, the contents of a tattered old shoe box sprawled out in front of her. A silver cigarette case, a pressed white orchid, a strip of photos taken at a carnival where Draco actually posed goofily and dozens of folded notes sat among other seemingly worthless objects that meant the world to her. Every item represented one of the happiest moments in her life, reflecting the good times she and Draco had shared.

Funny, she thought to herself, how in all the time she and Draco had been together she had itemized the best of it and fit it all into an un-enchanted shoe box. A week ago she would have considered herself the happiest woman on earth. But now, after the past few days, after her suffering, after what she had just done…now she wasn't so sure. How could someone who claimed they loved her, who had laid in her arms as he retold the horrors of his time with Voldermort, who had told her countless time that this life, their life, was more than he ever thought he could ever have, do this to her? Why would he risk the wonderful life they had built by mixing himself up in something so dangerous? And worst of all, how on earth had she not noticed? How had she become the kind of girl complacent with luxuries and sweet words, when important physical and verbal absences had been all but tossed into her face for the past year?

And now what was she to do?

Astoria was ripped from her thoughts as she heard the front door slam open, and she continued to stare ahead as she heard the quick and familiar pace of boot steps traverse the floor.

"Where the hell have you been?" Draco demanded, bursting into their living room upon seeing her.

"Home," she replied shortly, hardly able to look at him. "Is there someplace else I should be?"

"I don't know, maybe at my FUCKING TRIAL?" he roared, throwing his hands up. "I've only been locked up in Azkaban for the last week if you haven't bothered noticing. I just assumed that my bloody girlfriend would care enough to show up!"

"Well obviously you got by without my council, as seems to be per usual, though let me see if I can guess what happened," Astoria countered, finally rising to her feet and facing him. "They, and by they I mean people so afraid of another rise in Dark rule that they have eyes everywhere looking for such activity, pushed forward your trial date as they were certain that they could lock you, the one that got away, up for good. They wanted to present to the court a file, I'm just assuming now that it was a file, containing evidence linking you to illicit activities that undermine the rule of the Ministry. Only when they presented such a file to the court there was absolutely nothing in it that linked you to anything. At all. And then when the three people who had actually read the whole file, once again I am just assuming, got called forward they somehow could not tell the court why they thought they had evidence against you in the first place. Almost as if that very tiny yet very important bit of information was somehow carefully and skillfully obliterated from their memories. Without such information the court was forced to drop any and all charges due to lack of evidence. Does that sound about right, or have I left something out of my theory?"

Astoria ended her speech by folding her arms across her chest, her expression stern as she let her words sink in. Draco's face immediately began to morph away from his intense anger as the realization took him. His mouth opened slightly as his eyes widened, and Astoria was able to read looks of understanding, impression, gratitude and shame before he cast his gaze away from her.

"You…you broke into the Ministry…altered those peoples' memories…stole whatever specific evidence they had…" he stuttered in relay, his usual unflinching resolve unable to suppress a slight shake to his voice.

"It helps that I work there, happen to be one of the best Obliviators they have, and my brother-in-law always has a base of Polyjuice Potion handy," she explained simply, turning away as she was unable to look at him any further.

"What…what did the file say?" he asked, and she thanked the heavens she had turned so he couldn't see the tears that fell from her eyes.

"I don't know, I Summoned any page that had your name on it and destroyed them before I read anything. I didn't…I didn't want to know what they said you had done for I feared I'd either know it to be true, or know it was a complete set up. And if the latter had been the case the only explanation I could come up with for your behavior was that you were having an affair, and I really don't know which one would have killed me more."

"Astoria," he called out to her, his voice pleading intently in a way she had never heard from him. "Sweetheart, you know I would never cheat on you…"

"I don't know anything that you are or are not capable of!" she shouted, spinning around and sticking her tear-stricken face in his own. "A week ago I knew nothing like this would ever happen, I knew that you would never jeopardize our life like this!"

"I told you I hadn't done anything!" he replied back sneeringly. "Whatever they had on me was a complete setup!"

"So you're telling me that you have never done anything in your job that was illegal?" she demanded, finally pushing past the barriers she had allowed to be built. "You can honestly tell me that there is nothing you have knowingly done that could have put you in this situation, where in a blink of an eye we could lose everything?"

Draco instantly opened his mouth as if to rebut her accusation, but his voice seemed incapable of pushing through. It was like his vocal chords had realized before he had that he could not quickly and truthfully respond to her question. His momentary silence rang through their household, acting as the clearest answer possible.

"I just wanted us to have a good life," he admitted quietly. "I wanted us to have everything we could have ever desired. For you to have your dream house. For me to have enough power that no one would ever approach you and try to make you ashamed for loving me."

"And how the hell do you expect us to have that life if you're rotting away in prison?" she demanded shrewdly. "I never needed all of this! I was happy crammed into that tiny flat we had when we first lived together. All of these objects that surround us, that we wear, that we eat, aren't what make my life happy. In fact the only things that do are lying on that bloody table."

Astoria once again turned, unable to hold back another round of tears. Draco stood helplessly, hearing the sounds of her sobs but clueless of how to cure them. All he could do was switch his gaze to their coffee table. He instantly recognized the assortment of mementos, though he had no idea she had collected such things throughout their relationship. To anyone else it looked like rubbish. The pile of junk could not hold a candle to the monetary wealth of the jewels he had bought her, the exclusive clubs he had taken her to, the house that they stood in. Yet he too was taken back to every memory connected to the items, memories which spurned countless other seemingly usual but priceless recollections. And, for a moment, it hit him that had Astoria not saved him the happy memories he had now would be his last and would be all he had of the life he had been living.

"I can't do this anymore," Astoria proclaimed quietly, shaking Draco out of his daze.

"What?" he asked quickly, his voice weak with trepidation.

"I can't just stand by and wait for you to do something that ruins us, that gets you locked away for life. I can't be in a relationship filled with untold lies and questionable truths. I know that part of this is my fault for just standing by and letting it all happen ignorantly, but I am not going to do that anymore," she told firmly.

"Astoria, what are you saying?" he inquired fearfully, his grey eyes widening.

Astoria was silent for a moment as she figured out just what she meant. Her mother's words from last night echoed through her head, and once again she recognized the logic in the advice. Leaving him was the safest way to ensure she didn't get wrapped up in anything, turning away was the only surefire fix for not having to see him get locked up.

"Draco, I love you," she began, her voice trembling weakly as she finally decided on what she wanted to say. "But I can't keep living like this."

"Astoria!" Draco pleaded, still rooted to his spot despite every inch on his face looking as though he wanted to grab her so she couldn't leave.

"I refuse to live a life where I fear the person I share it with will do something that throws it all away! No matter what I've done in life I know I don't deserve that. As for you, and all the things you've done in the past…" Astoria slowed her tone, carefully choosing her next words.

"I don't care," she finished, causing Draco's fallen head to pop up in surprise. "I don't care what illegal things you've gotten away with but all of that ends now. Your misdeeds and my blind eye are through. And if you truly love me and respect me as your girlfriend then you'll throw that part of your life away and try and focus on what we have left."

Astoria stood strongly in front of him, staunchly holding her ground. She watched Draco's face once again transform, hardening up from his pleading expression into a cold and defensive look.

"Are you giving me an ultimatum?" he demanded, raising his eyebrows as he sneered chillingly.

"You call it whatever you want," she replied, though her knees began to shake in anxiousness at his reaction. "That's the position you have placed yourself in."

"Well what if I don't think it's any business of a girlfriend to place me into such a position, hmm?" he inquired, taking a menacing step forward until he was mere inches away. Astoria reflexively raised her left arm to push him away but he immediately snatched it in his hand. For a moment Astoria was fill with a fearful dread as she recalled how much stronger he was than her and how easily he could hurt her. That terrifying second stunned her and she could barely comprehend the meaning of his actions as he slowly let her arm slide from his grip until only her hand remained in his. Gingerly he altered his grip to where he held her last two fingers, casually inspecting the bare space between one of her knuckles and her pinky.

"That really is a role more left to a wife, don't you think?" he asked, lightly rubbing his thumb across her ring finger.

"Wh-what?" she asked, in complete shock over the turn of events.

"I just think a wife is in a much better position to handle her husband in such a situation, physically, spiritually, financially, emotionally, legally."

"Are you…are you proposing to me?" she inquired breathlessly, still utterly shaken. Draco's smirk instantly melted into a true smile, and he lovingly grabbed both her hands to gently hold.

"Astoria, you are the most amazing person I have ever met. You have done so much for me, risked everything, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. And I am so sorry that I have failed you, hurt you, and put you through so much. I know that I am not the easiest person to love and that there have been so many unforgivable times when I haven't expressed the right sentiment or said the words that you deserve. But I love you more than anything on this earth and there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. It is the biggest failing I have ever committed if I have acted in a way that ever made you question for a moment how much you mean to me, but I promise I will spend the rest of my life trying to make amends."

Astoria stood completely floored as she stared at the man in front of her. Just moments ago she had been certain that it was the end, and now he was asking to tie their lives together forever. Yet despite how often she had thought about this moment, all the instances where she had longed for him to say those exact words, she found herself incapable of saying anything. Her brain kept shooting out signs of warnings, paraphrasing her own fears and her mother's words about how she should keep away from him and how she shouldn't trust him. Terms like "empty gesture" and "evasion" swam through her mind, blocking her from her pre-formed response.

But when her eyes found his own she was met with a whole other set of problems. In them she could see nothing but love, sincerity, and the fearful vulnerability that grew every moment she remained silent. Those deep grey pools connected straight to her heart, conflicting with the reasonable arguments of her own brain and her mother's fears.

Of course, she thought to herself, when have I ever listened to my brain or my mother when it came to Draco?

"Are you telling me," she asked finally and slowly, "that if I agree to marry you, you'll stop doing anything illegal? That you'll get a job that's not going to get you thrown in jail? Is that what you mean?"

"I do," he replied, his small smirk returning. Astoria couldn't help herself, and she felt the first smile she had had in a week break out over her face.

"Then it's a deal."