Malediction: the love and life of Astoria Malfoy

Chapter Thirty Two

"I need to talk to you," Draco said when I walked into our bedroom later that night. He was sitting up, leaning on the headboard, tapping his fingers rapidly on his knee, his face pale and vexed.

"What is it?" I said it as soothingly as possible, assuming that perhaps he was taking his father's death worse than I'd figured.

He inhaled then sighed, turning to face me, letting his shoulder fall slightly. "Now that my father is gone, my mother is going to be all alone. . . ." He wrung his hands in his lap and sighed again. "I know, I know it's a lot to ask, but, well, I can't just let her sit there alone now, and, well, now that he's gone, and considering he was the main issue. . . and I know she won't leave that house," he paused, sighing again and making eye contact with me now. Running a hand through his hair, he said, "Can we. . . move in there -- with her?"

I paused for a moment, saying nothing, but blinking a few times. At first, I stammered, then I blurted with a certain definity, "Yes." I said the word before I even fully realized what I was committing to.

His shoulders fell and he sighed, his face softening, "Thank you," he said, pulling me into a tight hug. I nodded wordlessly.

I didn't really get much sleep that night. I was staring blankly at the ceiling, realizing I would have to leave this house. Of course I would do it; It seemed to mean a great deal to Draco, and after all, I couldn't very well leave Narcissa there alone in good conscience.

But still, this was my home. This was Scorpius's home. The Malfoy Manor would be my house soon? It felt odd, and bizarrely unnatural.

I tried to convince myself that I was being overly dramatic. It was fine, I mean, after all, Malfoy Manor was beautiful, and I'm sure Scorpius wouldn't be too upset, right? 

I sure hoped so.

* * *

Scorpius wasn't overly fond of the idea, but he didn't protest. I'd explained to him why we were going, and this convinced him completely that we 'had to go there for Grandmother'.

I did a final walk through the house, making sure nothing was left behind, passing the bathroom door way, which was now missing one side of the door frame; I'd used a detachment charm to remove the piece of wood adorned with countless notches to mark Scorpius's growing height. There was no way I was leaving that behind.

One last walk past the back door, where the Daphne bushes were still growing in the yard, past the table where Scorpius had said his first word, past the minute hole in the wall that used to house a hook for a calendar, the place I'd realized I was pregnant.

I tried to push all that from my mind. I was halfway out of the door, looking around at the house one last time. "That's everything, then?" Draco said from behind me. I nodded, closing the door with one last glance.

* * *

It took me weeks to fully memorize the actual layout of the gargantuan house I found myself in. There was a noticeable change in aura about the house itself; far less dark and foreboding, and more so just mysterious and curious. A change due to the absence of Lucius's presence.

I hadn't seen too much of Scorpius, for from the moment he caught a glimpse of the extensive library, he'd been camped out in there. After he'd gone to sleep each night, Draco and I took to clearing the shelves of anything too. . . well, evil.

Narcissa for the most part liked to keep to herself, however she was eureka when she discovered we'd be moving in (which was a relief, considering I wasn't sure how she'd react). Usually she was somewhere in the utter labyrinth of gardens that clung to the back of the house. They were so immaculate yet so very large and vast, I wouldn't be surprised if someone went in there and never came out again, lost in the expanse of greenery.

I suppose Draco was just happy that it all worked out, and that his mother wouldn't be alone. I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Narcissa wasn't nearly as disagreeable as I'd thought her to be.

Sure, was she a mildly arrogant, Blood-Purist, snobbish lady? Yes. But still, she did have a cheery air about her, and she really did love Draco more than anything in the world. And, I found that her problems with me were subsiding greatly (at least on the surface) to nearly nothing at all. If she did still dislike me, which, she probably did, she hid it well, and I assume most of her contempt for me was cultivated by her husband's influence.

The doorway to the kitchens was the only one that the height-marker one from our old house could hold. So, among all the lavish marble and gold furnishings, and black door frames, stood a white slab of marked up wood.

Yes, it seemed all was going to be fine, and for the coming years, all would, should have been fine.

But as years stacked upon each other, my health only depleted more rapidly, and a whole new chapter of trials was unleashed as Scorpius grew; for, he and Draco just couldn't seem to get along.