Author's Note: Thanks for all your reviews and comments. FYI: I've had a child in the UK and am using my experience of the maternity services here for Hermione's pregnancy. Other countries very likely do things differently but as Harry Potter is set in the UK, I'm going by the NHS system and basing the magical equivalent around it. After all, St. Mungo's seemed to offer free healthcare canonically.

We meet Astoria properly in this chapter. I know most of you hate her and I'm not writing her very sympathetically. I'm trying not to make her a comedy villain and am basing her on my best friend at school, who is possibly the most self-centred, self-absorbed person I've ever met.

On another note, And We All Fall Down has been nominated at the HP Fanfic Fan Poll Awards for best heterosexual romance and Pansy Parkinson for best secondary character. The link is on my profile page so feel free to go over, read some of the amazing nominations and send your vote in.

Thanks as always to pagan for her help in betaing this.

Husbands and Wives

Astoria wandered disconsolately through Malfoy Manor, making her way down the main staircase. She was bored and it seemed all she did these days was walk aimlessly around. She socialised with her friends, of course, but currently, they all seemed to make pointed remarks about Draco's absence which was becoming all too familiar.

Her husband really was beginning to cause problems. Long gone were the days where he would gratefully do what she wanted, happy to no longer be a social pariah. Now he delighted in being infuriating. She had also thought that her prestige would continue to grow the longer she remained his wife, but sadly, it hadn't worked out that way. Whilst she might be Queen Bee amongst her set of friends, the older purebloods tended to ignore her, preferring to defer to Narcissa. As for Draco's set of friends, they had never really warmed to her. She reckoned it was because they were jealous – that was definitely true for Pansy and Millicent. Neither had managed to land him and although they remained friendly with Daphne, they showed nothing but contempt for her.

She sighed, fed-up with the status quo. She wanted to be treated with more respect. After all, if it weren't for her, then Draco would still be on the sidelines of society, reviled for being a failed Death Eater. She had personally revived the Malfoy fortunes and did they give her any credit for it? No! Instead, it was all nagging about heirs and duty.

Astoria stopped as she heard voices coming from within Draco's study. She hadn't even realised her feet were taking her this way as she tended to avoid the room whenever possible. For a start, it was where Draco tended to spend so much time working on boring things that took him away from squiring her around to various social events. Secondly, it was dull; it was all work and dusty tomes with nothing fun or bright or airy in there.

She was about to turn away and go back to the drawing room when Pansy's clear tones rang out. "Draco, are you sure Astoria can't hear us?"

"No, she never comes this way. Why do you think I spend so much time in here?"

Astoria bristled at this. How dare her husband speak about her in such a way to others? It was outrageous. She moved closer to the door and peeked through the gap. She could see her husband, Pansy, and Millicent gathered around the fireplace. Draco, as usual these days, looked stressed. If he wasn't careful, he was going to age really badly.

She didn't care for herself, but it would give her friends even more to reason to be bitchy. His good looks were one of the reasons her friends were so jealous – that, and his money. She knew they would jump into bed with him in a heartbeat whether they were her friends or not, which caused her to shudder. If it weren't for the fact that he would be cheating on her, then she would be more than happy for that to happen. She found sex distasteful. It was so sweaty and messed up your hair. She had been pleased when Draco had moved out of the room they had shared as a married couple and stopped all sexual relations.

"What do you mean? Why would you want to avoid Astoria?" Millicent asked.

Astoria saw her husband sigh. Don't you dare, she thought. She couldn't bear the thought that those two women would know that she and Draco weren't happily married. They had never liked her and hadn't bothered to hide it. They were so boringly disapproving towards her.

"Astoria and I have been having problems for years now. We pretty much lead separate lives."

"Why wouldn't you tell us this?" Pansy asked.

"No one knows except Astoria's family. We like to try and keep up appearances."

"Oh, Draco! We're your good friends. You can tell us anything. We wouldn't breathe a word."

"I know, but you know what my family's like: we guard our privacy. Besides, I'm telling you now and I'm not going to hold anything back."

Astoria folded her arms and frowned in her husband's direction. What was this all about? Something had been up with him for days. Well, more than usual. It wasn't as if he was usually a ray of sunshine anyway.

"Good. Now, what's this about you following Granger around?"

"Yes, Draco, you owe me some answers. If Granger finds out I told you about her appointment, I'll lose my job. And I like my job," Millicent said.

Astoria stopped and placed a hand up to her lips. She was about to start nibbling on her nails when she realised that she needed to preserve her manicure. She hadn't bitten her nails since she was a young teenager and she didn't want to start up again. It really ruined one's fingers.

"What I'm going to tell you can go no further; it stays in this room. You can't even tell Adrian, okay, Pans?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Now spill!"

"Astoria and I have been going to a fertility clinic to help us conceive."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Draco, I didn't realise you had fertility problems," Millicent said sympathetically.

Draco ran an agitated hand through his hair. "I do not have fertility problems! Why does everyone think that?"

"Because the clinics are called fertility clinics for a reason," Millicent replied sarcastically.

Astoria watched as her husband took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Well, we're not going for that reason. We haven't had sex for ages."

Astoria pursed her lips in anger. How dare Draco divulge these things to the little girl groupies he had?

"What?" Pansy exclaimed, shocked. "Things are that bad?"

Draco nodded. "I need an heir. As soon as I get one, I'll get rid of her."

Astoria narrowed her eyes. This was news to her. Lucius had made her sign that ridiculous contract when Draco had first started bringing up the possibility of divorce and she'd happily signed it, ready to sacrifice her figure for a year to retain her position as his wife. But there had been no hint of her being kicked out. She thought back to Chris Harper, her boyfriend at the time she had met Draco. He'd warned her when she dumped him to chase Draco's riches not to mess with the Malfoys.

"Sure, they might be down on their luck now, Astoria, but they'll be back to the top soon and unless you're willing to play the perfect wife, they'll make your life a misery."

"Oh, please, Chris, stop being so bitter. This is my opportunity and I'm going to grab it with both hands. Besides, Draco'll be so grateful that a girl wants to be with him that my place will be secure."

Chris gave her a pitying look. "For all your wiles, you're not as adept as you think you are at playing these games. Draco might be falling for your charms now, but don't count on it lasting."

She laughed lightly. "Come now! Who says I can't keep a man in my coils for longer than a few years?"

He looked scornfully at her. "I've been your boyfriend, remember? You play sweetness and light really convincingly at the beginning, honey, but you can't keep the act up for long."

She tossed her hair. "I'll keep it up until I get that ring on my finger."

"Good luck to you, then. But be careful and heed my words: the Malfoys have been playing the power game for longer than anyone can remember. It's bred into them and whilst Draco may have more of his mother's compassion in him, he's still as ruthless as they get when he wants to be."

"Please! It's Draco; he's good at talking but when it comes to it, he's never been able to follow through. We discovered that at Hogwarts."

He chuckled mirthlessly. "That was Draco playing a man's game when he was nothing but a boy. But mess with Malfoy notions of family and you'll live to regret it. My family knows that thanks to my great-aunt. She was meant to marry Abraxas but cheated on him and was soon tossed out. Abraxas made sure she got no other offers of marriage from another pureblood and she had to marry the Muggle she'd cheated on him with."

"I'm not stupid enough to cheat on him."

"I know that! You're a cold fish, but Draco isn't. He's more romantic than anyone gives him credit for."

"That's just sour grapes. You don't know Draco well enough for that."

"That's what you think. I was lying on a sofa at the back of the common room when Draco and Pansy split up. Everyone thinks he broke up with her, but I know the truth: it was her who broke it off because she didn't love him, and he was devastated."

"You're just making this easier for me. Thanks to you, I now know how pathetic he is. It should be easy to wrap him around my little finger."

Astoria was pulled out of her thoughts by Pansy. "Oh no, that's terrible, Draco. Are you sure you can't resurrect the marriage? You were so happy at the beginning."

"I was lonely and infatuated. Astoria appeared to be everything I wanted, but the reality is that she's shallow and money-grabbing."

Astoria curled her lip as she watched Pansy engulf Draco in a massive hug.

"But what does this have to do with Granger?" Millicent asked bluntly.

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "That's where it gets complicated."

"More complicated than a married couple with no fertility problems going to a clinic to get pregnant rather than sleep with each other?"

"Apparently so, Millie. There was a mix-up with the sperm at the laboratory and Granger is pregnant with my child."

Millicent spat out her mouthful of pumpkin juice whilst Pansy looked aghast. It was nothing to Astoria's own reaction, though. Her jaw dropped and she stood there gawping through the gap in the door. Her first thought was gratitude that she hadn't conceived. She could have been pregnant with some stranger's baby. It was bad enough when she was going to have to get over her dislike of children to breed with Draco, but a stranger? That would have been awful.

Then the reality of the situation hit. Granger — Hermione Granger — was pregnant with the next Malfoy baby. Any small chance she had of retaining her position through a child was now gone.

"Please tell me you're kidding," Pansy said faintly.

"Sadly, I'm not. She's pregnant and I'm the father."

"That explains why she was so cagey about the father's details at her appointment."

"What are you going to do about Astoria?"

"See how this plays out for the moment, but Astoria is history."

"About time too, Draco. She's awful," Pansy said.

"She's not pregnant as well, is she?" Millicent asked.

"Thank Salazar, no!"

Astoria narrowed her eyes and glared before she whirled away and paced down the corridor silently. She made her way back up to her room and sat on the edge of the bed. She had to think if she was going to salvage anything out of this mess. If Draco thought that he could just dump her as if she were an out-of-date potion ingredient, then he could think again. Her mind swung to Lucius. He couldn't know that a Mudblood was carrying his precious Malfoy heir. If there was something she could count on, it was Lucius wanting to keep his bloodlines pure. If Draco thought he was going to chuck her out with no problems, he needed to think again.

Back down in his study, Draco was unaware that his wife had heard any of that.

"Who else knows?" Pansy asked.

"My parents and Granger, obviously, and I think all of her friends. I know she's told Potter as I had the pleasure of being hauled into his office a few days ago and read the riot act. Oh, and my lawyer."

"Is your father okay about it?"

"Surprisingly so. I think he's got to the point where he just wants me to have a kid and he doesn't care who the mother is."

Pansy smiled wryly. "I can't believe I'm witnessing the day when Lucius Malfoy is happy for a Muggle-born to be carrying a Malfoy baby."

"So if you're the father, why did you need me to place that tracking Galleon in her pregnancy pack?" Millicent asked.

"Because she doesn't want me anywhere near her or the baby," he said, rubbing his temples with his fingers.

"What? Can she do that?" Pansy asked, outraged.

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's what I have Horatio working on. If her contract at the clinic turns out to be binding, then I will get no say in my child's life."

"But, Draco, you've been wanting a kid for years."

He got up and turned away from his two friends. He didn't want them to see the tears in his eyes, but Pansy was right. He had wanted a child for a long while. He wanted more than one and had fantasised about having a large family when he'd married Astoria. Of course, she'd been happy to go along with his vision as long as she got the ring on her finger.

He'd met up with Astoria again a few years after the war. She'd won him over with her sweet nature. He had been struggling to rebuild his family name after the war, and she'd soothed his ego with her caring attitude and kind words. She had taken an interest in him by actually wanting to listen, and he had poured his heart out about how stressful his life was. Little had he known, but she was actually a shrew. She'd hid her true nature it until he'd stuck that ring on her finger.

She'd made his life a misery for the last seven years; all she cared about was the Malfoy name and money. She had no qualms that they would regain their position once more in the magical community. They had never really lost it in the pureblood circles and it wasn't long before they were back on top. At first, he had taken this as her wanting him to regain his reputation to quell his depression, but it had soon dawned on him that it was really all about Astoria. She wanted to live as previous Malfoy wives had: ruling the roost.

He'd allowed his father to persuade him to stay married to the harpy and to continue trying to conceive the all-elusive but much-needed Malfoy heir. His father had emphasised how important it was that the Malfoy bloodlines continued, and once the baby was born, he could get rid of his wife. So he had acquiesced. After all, he'd grown up knowing that the Malfoy line was one of the oldest and most prestigious. It wouldn't do to let it die out.

It then turned out that Astoria didn't want a baby. She'd been taking contraceptives on the sly — a fact that had brought Draco to his breaking point. He'd refused to sleep with her anymore, which he hadn't enjoyed in a long while, anyway. His father had come up with this solution: artificial insemination. Astoria would carry a Malfoy baby to term, give birth, and then hand it over to Draco in exchange for a large pay-off. Lucius Malfoy had closed all loopholes with an iron-tight, legally binding contract that Astoria had been forced to sign.

Of course, Astoria wasn't aware of the fact that they would be getting rid of her. She enjoyed the trappings of being married into the one of the most powerful pureblood families and wouldn't give that up easily. Lucius had worded the contract in such a way that Astoria thought she was being guaranteed a role as a Malfoy for life if she had a baby. Draco agreed purely because he didn't want to hunt around for another pureblood wife to breed with after divorcing Astoria. Having an heir would mean that he could enjoy his life without his father breathing down his neck.

He wasn't too sorry that the mix-up had happened. He didn't really want Astoria's mercenary genes in the Malfoy family. They already had enough bad traits in the family gene pool, but he wasn't so sure that he wanted it to be screwed up quite as dramatically as the situation was now.

He was tapped on the back and brought of out his depressing reverie. He turned around to find Pansy. "You know we're all behind you. No matter what, we'll be there and we'll help."

He smiled at his ex-girlfriend and long-time friend. "I know. It's what helps."

"Don't keep this bottled up again. There's nothing wrong with admitting you have problems in your marriage and it's not as if it's exactly a surprise. None of us have ever liked Astoria."

"I know, but you know what I'm like, Pans. My pride doesn't allow me to open up."

"Your pride is what's stopping you from being happy!"

Millicent, never one for emotional moments, butted in. "So, what are you going to do about Granger?"

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. My father has hopes that I can somehow charm Granger into cooperating with us, but I don't see it. She hates me and she's not shy about hiding it."

"It's worth a shot, though, isn't it?" Millicent asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. It's better than dragging this through the courts."

"We'll try and find out all we can about her, won't we, Millie?"

"Sure," Millicent agreed. "She keeps herself to herself, though. I haven't heard anything about her for ages."

"Any information you can get would be helpful," Draco commented.

The two women got up, ready to leave. "Don't be a stranger, Draco. Adrian was complaining just the other day that we don't see you enough. You've started to lock yourself away."

"Business takes up all my time."

"Hmm… Why do I think that's just a convenient excuse?"

"Because that's precisely what it is, Pans," Millicent said.

He couldn't help but grin. "Okay, so I've not been feeling social. I'll make more of an effort."

Pansy pointed her finger at him threateningly. "You'd better! Adrian needs a Seeker for this Saturday's Quidditch match. I promised I would coerce you into agreeing to play."

"Oh, I don't know, Pans. I'm not really in the mood for Quidditch."

She walked over and playfully tugged on a lock of hair. "You work too hard. You're going to age prematurely and lose that luscious hair if you don't relax more. I'm not taking no for answer. Adrian's booked a pitch up in the North York Moors; we're meeting at the Wonky Cauldron at Little Fryup at ten o'clock, Saturday morning, and you'd better be there!"

"Okay, okay. I'll be there."

"And bring your A-game, Draco. I don't like to lose," Millicent said.

"Hermione! Thank Merlin you're here!" Ginny exclaimed as soon as the brunette made her way through the Potters' Floo connection.

"What's the emergency?"

"Harry won't let me play! He says it's too risky now that I'm pregnant. Tell him he's being a pig."

"Ginny, be realistic. What if you got hit by a Bludger or something?" Harry pleaded.

"You're being ridiculous. I'll be fine!"

"Then how come you always went on leave when you were pregnant when playing with the Harpies?"

"That was professional Quidditch! Of course, I couldn't play pregnant. This is just a Saturday league match."

"I'm not taking the risk!"

"Hermione! Tell him!"

She looked between the arguing pair. "Er… I'm sure Ginny wouldn't take a risk with the baby, Harry."

Her redheaded friend beamed at her whilst Harry frowned. "I'm really not sure—" he started.

"Please, honey, I'll be really careful."

"Don't even think about it, mate," George said, walking into the kitchen. "If you let her play, I'll pull out the big brother card and ban her."

Ginny put her hands on her hips. "You can't order me around!"

"Maybe not, but I will pick you up and tie you to this chair if you aren't reasonable about this."

The fiery witch brandished her wand. "Just try it and I'll hex you so much, you'll be unable to play."

"You'll find it's three against one," Ron said from behind George. "We're playing a bunch of Slytherins, which means this will get dirty, so don't even think about playing."

Ginny threw her hands up in the air. "You're so unfair."

"Besides, don't you want to keep Hermione company?" Harry asked.

"Don't bring me into this by using me as an excuse," Hermione said, objecting to that tactic.

"Anyway, you know Hermione always brings a book, so it's not as if she's reliant on me to entertain her."

The three men stood in a row, confronting her. "You're not playing and that's final," George said emphatically.

"Where are we going anyway?" Hermione asked, hoping to diffuse the tension.

"Pucey booked the pitch up in Little Fryup, which means Ginny isn't playing even more. The weather up there can be wild and windy," Harry said, seemingly finding his backbone now he had back up from Ron and George.

Ginny was now sitting on a chair at the table, sulking with her arms folded. "You're all being pathetic."

"Pathetic or not, the baby comes first," her husband remarked.

George rubbed his hands. "Okay, now that's been sorted, shall we get going?"

His sister glared at him, refusing to look at the other two before flouncing her way over to Hermione. The brunette couldn't help but smile; no doubt Harry would find a way to make it up to his wife over the course of the day.

AN: We got to see some of Draco's motivations in this chapter. I'm hoping that those of you who are firmly behind Hermione at the moment will see his side a little more.