FIC: The Moment of Truth (Draco Malfoy/Asteria Greengrass)
Title: The Moment of Truth
Author/Artist: xxx_angelin_xxx
Characters: Draco Malfoy/Asteria Greengrass, one brief appearance from Pansy Parkinson
Prompt number: 82
Word Count: 2,386
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None, really.
Summary: Why did you marry me? Five little words with such unimaginable power to either strengthen their marriage or ruin it forever.
Disclaimer: The author of the fan fiction does not, in any way, profit from the story and that all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
Author’s Notes: I’ve tried really hard for this one because I loved the prompt and I adore the pairing. I wrote a couple of drafts, started a multi-chaptered fic and yet nothing worked out until I had this idea of a confrontation scene between Draco and Asteria. I hope I did them justice. I couldn’t forget thanking my beta, P, for the super quick job she did here, but also for her suggestions- which I have to admit I’ve followed:) All mistakes are mine- enjoy reading!
The Moment of Truth
Draco Malfoy stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom, absent-mindedly pulling a few grey hairs from his head. When did I grow this old? he found himself wondering, only to realize moments later that the grey in his head had nothing to do with years; it was mostly a result of the things he’d been through.
A smile crossed his features that had nothing to do with his realization. It was a vague smile of happiness that made his appearance as he felt his wife stand behind him, putting her hands on his waist. Asteria had walked in on him unnoticed - was her step really that light or his thought so deep? - and she was now standing on her tiptoes so she could kiss the crook of his neck.
“You know, there’s a spell for them,” she said.
He only grunted something incoherent, leaning into her touch.
Kissing further up his neck and making his eyes flutter shut as he let go of his concerns, Asteria reached his ear and whispered: “Do you want to know the name of the spell?”
Momentarily, his eyes snapped open, but before he could make some ironic comment she continued: “It’s Obliviate.”
Draco was unable to restrain his laughter. How could he even think that Asteria believed that his reason of worry was something so vain? The hair wasn’t his real problem. Even if the grey were to go away, the memories and the worries that caused their appearance wouldn’t. But she knew him - and she was the only person who could make him feel better when it came down to affairs of the past.
Still smiling, he reached behind him and pulled her hands into his as she hugged him from behind. “Have fun tonight?” she asked.
It was their first night out since Scorpius’ birth, and Merlin, had it been good. He had loved every minute they had gotten to spend together alone after all this time - their son was quite a demanding little boy. The only negative aspect of the night was their meeting with the one woman Draco wanted to see less than Harry Potter: Pansy Parkinson. Her always rude, sarcastic comments were most of the time enough to destroy his day.
With a small shake of his head, he stopped thinking about Pansy and focused on the beauty of their evening. “Of course, I had fun, dear. It was a wonderful evening… You know how much I love watching you dance.”
It was true: Asteria was a fine dancer. No matter the music, she always managed to move along it in harmony.
She smiled against his skin as he complimented her. “It would be better if you danced with me, instead of watching. It was swing, after all,” she commented, though without any hint of irritation in her voice.
He grinned. “And I thought you preferred to dance alone,” he joked.
“People are talking,” was her forced reply.
He tilted his head to the side prompting her to raise her head so he could take a peek at her expression. It was serious, yet she still didn’t look like she was complaining. “Oh, now she cares about what people think!” he commented. After all, she had chosen to marry him, despite the social isolation he had fallen into after the war.
She laughed then, and her movement sent jolts of electricity through his body. Smiling, he leaned his head back on her shoulder as she hid her face in the hollow of his neck. “Can I ask you something?” she muttered against his skin quite shyly, after a pause.
He nodded, surprised at the way she was asking. It wasn’t like Asteria to ask for permission, or to be uncertain of her actions and words. A true Ravenclaw, his wife always had the right answers, and she voiced them with confidence. No question of hers was ever expected, but she was never shy to ask. It was as if she always wanted to learn more, love more, live more.
The question that escaped her lips this time was, as always, unanticipated, but there was no sign of confidence in the way she uttered the words. "Why did you marry me?”
Her voice had that scared tone - like she didn’t really want to know the answer. There was only one reason why Asteria could act that way: she was doubting their relationship after all these years in a way she never had - not even at its beginning. And there was only one person who could make her: Pansy Parkinson.
With a sigh, he turned around to face her. “What did she tell you?”
She pulled back and went over to their bed where she sat by the edge. “Nothing.”
The fact that she’d understood what he meant was enough to tell him that it most definitely wasn’t nothing. He walked closer to the bed, kneeling in front of her, as he took her hand in his. She was still looking down, so he lifted her chin with a brush of his finger. “Asteria?”
“It was nothing, really,” she tried to explain, still not looking into his eye. “She was just saying the usual about the war and the others. Just that this time, she added that I was doing so well in following the family tradition - marrying a rich man in order to climb up in society - only that my choice was kind of wrong.” She snorted.
“Sweet-cheeks…” he said reassuringly, after frowning over the new information for a while. Instead of calming down, she pushed him away from her - she had always hated that nickname - and climbed onto the bed, quite confused by her own behavior as well. “You know I don’t believe that, don’t you?” he continued, as if he hadn’t noticed her irritation.
She huffed at his words, finally looking at him. “Of course I do. If I didn’t I’d ask you ‘why did you think I married you.’ But that’s not what I asked, now, is it?”
His frown grew deeper at her ironic comment. It meant that she wanted an answer - and she wanted it now. Irritated now by her tone, he had to bite his lip not to answer with a simple ‘Because I had to.’
“It was an arranged marriage, Asteria,” he said instead with what he hoped was a tone that meant the conversation ended there.
Most certainly, it didn’t. “Don’t give me that crap, Malfoy,” she hissed angrily.
“It’s the truth,” he reminded her casually - knowing that it was only a half-truth. When she didn’t answer, he removed his tie and threw it away, flopping on the bed beside her, still in his clothes.
“Fine,” he heard her say after a while. “I think it’s time to clear this up once and for all. So if you don’t want to do it, I’ll start.”
His eyes opened abruptly. They never discussed everything, because they were simply never the kind of people who needed to discuss everything. In his opinion, some things were better shown than said - things such as feelings. Up until this moment, he had thought she shared his view on the matter, because that was what she did as well.
“I did marry you for your money,” she spat out.
He felt a sting of pain in his chest, and found himself wondering where that came from. He already knew it, but he’d never expected it would hurt that much to hear her say it out loud.
Maybe that was why he replied angrily: “I married you for your reputation.”
“Is that all? Because if it was, it was already known, and we’re both fine by it.” The tone of her voice was completely neutral, and that made him get up on his elbows and look at her carefully. There was no hint of emotion on her face - at least, not the one he was looking for. She didn’t appear as hurt as he was, if her half-smile was anything to go by.
Frustrated and guided by some primal and unexplained need to make her feel the pain he did, he sat up. “Fine. You want to know everything? Fine!” he repeated. “I used you. I used your mother’s ambition for money. I used your… ambition for money. I assume that’s what it was as well.
“It was after the war, and I was trying to make a name for myself. But I knew that I could never erase what Draco Malfoy meant to everyone else - former Death Eater or not. I could, however, make it better. When the Greengrass family accepts you into its circle- the only pureblood family who stayed neutral during the war, and especially when you marry their youngest daughter- the same Ravenclaw daughter who was only fifteen during the war… then to the eyes of the world you are quite reformed. That’s my dirty little secret. Happy?”
By the time he finished, Asteria’s eyes had welled up with tears. He immediately regretted every word. His prior intention to hurt her was now lost as he watched her brown eyes shine from the tears.
“Asteria,” was all her managed to murmur apologetically, brushing his thumb where some tears had started to fall on her face. Sitting up as well, she moved away from his touch, but she was still looking at him when she spoke.
“My entire truth is quite different,” she replied. “When we got married, I didn’t know you at all. I thought you were still the same boy I had caught glimpses of at school. I thought you were an arrogant bully; smug and superior, yet so scared to face your enemy alone. I thought you were a pawn in a bigger game. And I thought that you were flirting me just because your parents had told you to.
“It didn’t matter much back then, because I was indeed after the money. I wanted out from the dead end we had fallen into. We were the only neutral pureblood family, yes - but Voldemort’s reign had almost ruined us. So you were my chance to ‘move higher in the society,’ as Pansy puts it. You were charming, and you seemed quite easy to handle, in my stupid little mind.”
Asteria paused, and he noticed that she had been playing with her wedding ring as she spoke. Taking her hand in his and slowly squeezing it, he prompted her to continue.
“And then, I realized that you weren’t who I thought you were. You weren’t a man who was broken from everything you’d been through. What had happened to you had made you stronger. You had managed to survive after a war that cost us all. You had lost more than anyone else - yet there you were, fighting to get them all back, and succeeding. Marrying me was your decision. I never fully realized why, until now.”
He listened carefully, in awe of the revelations she made. Asteria had finally showed her cards, after all these years of marriage. He knew then that it was time for him to do the same.
Slowly, he moved closer to her and took her in his arms, despite her struggle. She stopped pushing him away and collapsed into his chest, sobbing as he kissed her hair, his lips every now and then descending to her forehead.
“I’m sorry, I don’t even know why… I’m sorry,” she managed to let out between sobs. He didn’t say anything as he tried to soothe her with his touch. “I didn’t even have that many hormones in my pregnancy…”
Soon, she had calmed down and was calmly resting on his chest with her hands fisted into his white shirt. Only then did he start talking, putting his feelings in few words and genuinely hoping they were enough.
“When my father reminded me of the marriage arranged between us when we were five, I simply shrugged,” he said. “I didn’t want to marry anyone - ever. I had nothing to offer any woman.”
She tried to interrupt at that, raising her head and opening her mouth to talk, but a finger brushed against her lips. She let him continue, looking into his eyes as he did so. “However, my mother, being the smart witch she is, asked me to come to a friend’s house with her. It turned out the friendly visit was actually a Ball. That was the day we met.” He stopped momentarily as a smile made a brief appearance on his face, his eyes warmly embracing her puzzled expression.
“I didn’t pay much attention to you. I didn’t know who you were. But that was until I saw you dancing. You were so… beautiful,” he described, softly wiping away tears from her face, happy that she didn’t push him away this time. “And so different from everyone else in that room. You were alive, Asteria - alive in a place of death. Remember how the world used to be back then? Uncertain, scared… there was no future, no past. And yet there you were, spinning around like nothing mattered.
“I needed that,” he concluded, his gentle touch on her face becoming more intense as his fingertips descended to the back of her neck, demandingly pulling her face closer to him. “I needed you.”
It was her lips that hungrily fell on his first, and he welcomed the kiss, returning it with more passion, if possible. It was he who pulled back first, cradling her head with both his hands as she kept on moving forward to continue their kiss. Her hands began making quick work of his shirt.
“I still do,” he whispered.
She nodded almost frantically, leaning her forehead against his, but only after leaving a peck on his nose. “I’m sorry about tonight… I didn’t mean…”
“No!” He shook his head. “We had to do this. It was time.” He leaned in for another kiss but it was she who stopped him this time.
“You know that I l love you, right?”
He smiled with his eyes closing. “Of course I do.” He waited a little- waited for the impatient huff that escaped her mouth, before saying: “But I think I love you more.”
Author/Artist: xxx_angelin_xxx
Characters: Draco Malfoy/Asteria Greengrass, one brief appearance from Pansy Parkinson
Prompt number: 82
Word Count: 2,386
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None, really.
Summary: Why did you marry me? Five little words with such unimaginable power to either strengthen their marriage or ruin it forever.
Disclaimer: The author of the fan fiction does not, in any way, profit from the story and that all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
Author’s Notes: I’ve tried really hard for this one because I loved the prompt and I adore the pairing. I wrote a couple of drafts, started a multi-chaptered fic and yet nothing worked out until I had this idea of a confrontation scene between Draco and Asteria. I hope I did them justice. I couldn’t forget thanking my beta, P, for the super quick job she did here, but also for her suggestions- which I have to admit I’ve followed:) All mistakes are mine- enjoy reading!
The Moment of Truth
Draco Malfoy stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom, absent-mindedly pulling a few grey hairs from his head. When did I grow this old? he found himself wondering, only to realize moments later that the grey in his head had nothing to do with years; it was mostly a result of the things he’d been through.
A smile crossed his features that had nothing to do with his realization. It was a vague smile of happiness that made his appearance as he felt his wife stand behind him, putting her hands on his waist. Asteria had walked in on him unnoticed - was her step really that light or his thought so deep? - and she was now standing on her tiptoes so she could kiss the crook of his neck.
“You know, there’s a spell for them,” she said.
He only grunted something incoherent, leaning into her touch.
Kissing further up his neck and making his eyes flutter shut as he let go of his concerns, Asteria reached his ear and whispered: “Do you want to know the name of the spell?”
Momentarily, his eyes snapped open, but before he could make some ironic comment she continued: “It’s Obliviate.”
Draco was unable to restrain his laughter. How could he even think that Asteria believed that his reason of worry was something so vain? The hair wasn’t his real problem. Even if the grey were to go away, the memories and the worries that caused their appearance wouldn’t. But she knew him - and she was the only person who could make him feel better when it came down to affairs of the past.
Still smiling, he reached behind him and pulled her hands into his as she hugged him from behind. “Have fun tonight?” she asked.
It was their first night out since Scorpius’ birth, and Merlin, had it been good. He had loved every minute they had gotten to spend together alone after all this time - their son was quite a demanding little boy. The only negative aspect of the night was their meeting with the one woman Draco wanted to see less than Harry Potter: Pansy Parkinson. Her always rude, sarcastic comments were most of the time enough to destroy his day.
With a small shake of his head, he stopped thinking about Pansy and focused on the beauty of their evening. “Of course, I had fun, dear. It was a wonderful evening… You know how much I love watching you dance.”
It was true: Asteria was a fine dancer. No matter the music, she always managed to move along it in harmony.
She smiled against his skin as he complimented her. “It would be better if you danced with me, instead of watching. It was swing, after all,” she commented, though without any hint of irritation in her voice.
He grinned. “And I thought you preferred to dance alone,” he joked.
“People are talking,” was her forced reply.
He tilted his head to the side prompting her to raise her head so he could take a peek at her expression. It was serious, yet she still didn’t look like she was complaining. “Oh, now she cares about what people think!” he commented. After all, she had chosen to marry him, despite the social isolation he had fallen into after the war.
She laughed then, and her movement sent jolts of electricity through his body. Smiling, he leaned his head back on her shoulder as she hid her face in the hollow of his neck. “Can I ask you something?” she muttered against his skin quite shyly, after a pause.
He nodded, surprised at the way she was asking. It wasn’t like Asteria to ask for permission, or to be uncertain of her actions and words. A true Ravenclaw, his wife always had the right answers, and she voiced them with confidence. No question of hers was ever expected, but she was never shy to ask. It was as if she always wanted to learn more, love more, live more.
The question that escaped her lips this time was, as always, unanticipated, but there was no sign of confidence in the way she uttered the words. "Why did you marry me?”
Her voice had that scared tone - like she didn’t really want to know the answer. There was only one reason why Asteria could act that way: she was doubting their relationship after all these years in a way she never had - not even at its beginning. And there was only one person who could make her: Pansy Parkinson.
With a sigh, he turned around to face her. “What did she tell you?”
She pulled back and went over to their bed where she sat by the edge. “Nothing.”
The fact that she’d understood what he meant was enough to tell him that it most definitely wasn’t nothing. He walked closer to the bed, kneeling in front of her, as he took her hand in his. She was still looking down, so he lifted her chin with a brush of his finger. “Asteria?”
“It was nothing, really,” she tried to explain, still not looking into his eye. “She was just saying the usual about the war and the others. Just that this time, she added that I was doing so well in following the family tradition - marrying a rich man in order to climb up in society - only that my choice was kind of wrong.” She snorted.
“Sweet-cheeks…” he said reassuringly, after frowning over the new information for a while. Instead of calming down, she pushed him away from her - she had always hated that nickname - and climbed onto the bed, quite confused by her own behavior as well. “You know I don’t believe that, don’t you?” he continued, as if he hadn’t noticed her irritation.
She huffed at his words, finally looking at him. “Of course I do. If I didn’t I’d ask you ‘why did you think I married you.’ But that’s not what I asked, now, is it?”
His frown grew deeper at her ironic comment. It meant that she wanted an answer - and she wanted it now. Irritated now by her tone, he had to bite his lip not to answer with a simple ‘Because I had to.’
“It was an arranged marriage, Asteria,” he said instead with what he hoped was a tone that meant the conversation ended there.
Most certainly, it didn’t. “Don’t give me that crap, Malfoy,” she hissed angrily.
“It’s the truth,” he reminded her casually - knowing that it was only a half-truth. When she didn’t answer, he removed his tie and threw it away, flopping on the bed beside her, still in his clothes.
“Fine,” he heard her say after a while. “I think it’s time to clear this up once and for all. So if you don’t want to do it, I’ll start.”
His eyes opened abruptly. They never discussed everything, because they were simply never the kind of people who needed to discuss everything. In his opinion, some things were better shown than said - things such as feelings. Up until this moment, he had thought she shared his view on the matter, because that was what she did as well.
“I did marry you for your money,” she spat out.
He felt a sting of pain in his chest, and found himself wondering where that came from. He already knew it, but he’d never expected it would hurt that much to hear her say it out loud.
Maybe that was why he replied angrily: “I married you for your reputation.”
“Is that all? Because if it was, it was already known, and we’re both fine by it.” The tone of her voice was completely neutral, and that made him get up on his elbows and look at her carefully. There was no hint of emotion on her face - at least, not the one he was looking for. She didn’t appear as hurt as he was, if her half-smile was anything to go by.
Frustrated and guided by some primal and unexplained need to make her feel the pain he did, he sat up. “Fine. You want to know everything? Fine!” he repeated. “I used you. I used your mother’s ambition for money. I used your… ambition for money. I assume that’s what it was as well.
“It was after the war, and I was trying to make a name for myself. But I knew that I could never erase what Draco Malfoy meant to everyone else - former Death Eater or not. I could, however, make it better. When the Greengrass family accepts you into its circle- the only pureblood family who stayed neutral during the war, and especially when you marry their youngest daughter- the same Ravenclaw daughter who was only fifteen during the war… then to the eyes of the world you are quite reformed. That’s my dirty little secret. Happy?”
By the time he finished, Asteria’s eyes had welled up with tears. He immediately regretted every word. His prior intention to hurt her was now lost as he watched her brown eyes shine from the tears.
“Asteria,” was all her managed to murmur apologetically, brushing his thumb where some tears had started to fall on her face. Sitting up as well, she moved away from his touch, but she was still looking at him when she spoke.
“My entire truth is quite different,” she replied. “When we got married, I didn’t know you at all. I thought you were still the same boy I had caught glimpses of at school. I thought you were an arrogant bully; smug and superior, yet so scared to face your enemy alone. I thought you were a pawn in a bigger game. And I thought that you were flirting me just because your parents had told you to.
“It didn’t matter much back then, because I was indeed after the money. I wanted out from the dead end we had fallen into. We were the only neutral pureblood family, yes - but Voldemort’s reign had almost ruined us. So you were my chance to ‘move higher in the society,’ as Pansy puts it. You were charming, and you seemed quite easy to handle, in my stupid little mind.”
Asteria paused, and he noticed that she had been playing with her wedding ring as she spoke. Taking her hand in his and slowly squeezing it, he prompted her to continue.
“And then, I realized that you weren’t who I thought you were. You weren’t a man who was broken from everything you’d been through. What had happened to you had made you stronger. You had managed to survive after a war that cost us all. You had lost more than anyone else - yet there you were, fighting to get them all back, and succeeding. Marrying me was your decision. I never fully realized why, until now.”
He listened carefully, in awe of the revelations she made. Asteria had finally showed her cards, after all these years of marriage. He knew then that it was time for him to do the same.
Slowly, he moved closer to her and took her in his arms, despite her struggle. She stopped pushing him away and collapsed into his chest, sobbing as he kissed her hair, his lips every now and then descending to her forehead.
“I’m sorry, I don’t even know why… I’m sorry,” she managed to let out between sobs. He didn’t say anything as he tried to soothe her with his touch. “I didn’t even have that many hormones in my pregnancy…”
Soon, she had calmed down and was calmly resting on his chest with her hands fisted into his white shirt. Only then did he start talking, putting his feelings in few words and genuinely hoping they were enough.
“When my father reminded me of the marriage arranged between us when we were five, I simply shrugged,” he said. “I didn’t want to marry anyone - ever. I had nothing to offer any woman.”
She tried to interrupt at that, raising her head and opening her mouth to talk, but a finger brushed against her lips. She let him continue, looking into his eyes as he did so. “However, my mother, being the smart witch she is, asked me to come to a friend’s house with her. It turned out the friendly visit was actually a Ball. That was the day we met.” He stopped momentarily as a smile made a brief appearance on his face, his eyes warmly embracing her puzzled expression.
“I didn’t pay much attention to you. I didn’t know who you were. But that was until I saw you dancing. You were so… beautiful,” he described, softly wiping away tears from her face, happy that she didn’t push him away this time. “And so different from everyone else in that room. You were alive, Asteria - alive in a place of death. Remember how the world used to be back then? Uncertain, scared… there was no future, no past. And yet there you were, spinning around like nothing mattered.
“I needed that,” he concluded, his gentle touch on her face becoming more intense as his fingertips descended to the back of her neck, demandingly pulling her face closer to him. “I needed you.”
It was her lips that hungrily fell on his first, and he welcomed the kiss, returning it with more passion, if possible. It was he who pulled back first, cradling her head with both his hands as she kept on moving forward to continue their kiss. Her hands began making quick work of his shirt.
“I still do,” he whispered.
She nodded almost frantically, leaning her forehead against his, but only after leaving a peck on his nose. “I’m sorry about tonight… I didn’t mean…”
“No!” He shook his head. “We had to do this. It was time.” He leaned in for another kiss but it was she who stopped him this time.
“You know that I l love you, right?”
He smiled with his eyes closing. “Of course I do.” He waited a little- waited for the impatient huff that escaped her mouth, before saying: “But I think I love you more.”