Being Draco Malfoy
Chapter 3: Chasing
After the engagement party, Narcissa had made it a habit to invite Astoria over for breakfast no less than four times a week under the guise of wedding planning, but Draco knew that it was in hopes that they would grow more comfortable around each other. Although they had been acquaintances since childhood, they hadn't spent much time alone together or talked about anything of real substance. They were strangers to one another.
It was always somewhere lurking in the background. The very real possibility that they would eventually be betrothed. Especially after Astoria's mother had fallen ill a few years back and there was a rush to arrange a match for her in the event that she passed away before seeing Astoria taken care of. A preliminary marriage agreement had been drawn up, but nothing was official.
Draco would admit that he had been blindsided when his father sent him an owl proclaiming that he had actually signed the contract and they were to be married soon. Especially since he found himself smack dab into the middle of a relationship with Harry. He never thought it would actually happen to him. All of his friends had already been paired off, but he foolishly thought he had somehow escaped the tradition his blood demanded.
Draco pretended to be involved as his future wife and his mother discussed wedding details that he had absolutely no interest in; occasionally replying robotically. Yes, he thought traditional robes were better than Muggle suits. No, he did not like roses either. Orchids were much better. Yes, there should be a vegetarian option for the menu.
His mind, however was a million miles away from their breakfast table. No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts always returned to Harry. It was always about him. He considered going to find him. To try and make things right and work out a way for them to still be together, but he knew there was no chance. Harry would be never agree to be second best and Draco couldn't ask him to. He missed him terribly.
The post arrived and the mail was dropped on the table in front of him. He shuffled through it, sorting it out into piles. The majority of it was for his father and a couple of parcels were addressed to his mother. However, there was a ministry letter addressed to him. From the "Pureblood Heir Registry"? Draco frowned. He hadn't heard of this office before. He untied the letter and began reading.
Draco abruptly stood from the table, shaking the entire thing in his haste. His heart was racing at a million beats per minute. No. This couldn't be true. Harry would have told him. He would never keep something like this a secret. 'Unless you walked out on him without any warning and decided to marry someone else', his mind helpfully supplied for him. Draco glanced up briefly to see two sets of eyes trained on him. Astoria's mouth was ever so slightly turned up at the corners into a frown, but her eyes were carefully blank.
"Mother, Astoria.", he acknowledged tightly. "I'm afraid I must leave you. I have something important to attend to."
"Is everything alright?", Astoria asked in concern. She appeared to be trying, but he couldn't find himself to believe her as sincere.
"I need to go to the office and check on things. Continue planning without me." He kissed his mother's cheek and begrudgingly Astoria's as well. Draco immediately went to Grimmauld Place. The wards were up and keyed to keep Draco out and he found himself arse flat on the ground in front of the gate. It was of little consequence as he was determined to break through them.
After exhausting his magic to tear through Harry's extensive wards, he finally managed to open a hole large enough to step through. Draco burst through the front door seeing the furniture covered. He raced up the stairs to their old bedroom only to find it empty. Harry was gone. Everything was gone. All he could do was stand there frozen in shock. What had he done?
Narcissa discreetly gathered the fallen parchment that Draco had been reading with her pile of mail and continued discussing napkin options with her future daughter in law. Later that evening, Narcissa retrieved the parchment and clamped one hand over her mouth as she read its contents. She immediately headed towards Lucius's office.