Astoria → Draco Malfoy

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

"how's your family"

"Draco!" She cried out as soon as she laid eyes on the blonde boy, rushing towards him and pulling him in an embrace. "Are you okay?"  She whispered lightly in his ear, peering over his shoulder to see Lucius Malfoy stood over her sister's body.

Astoria pulled away rapidly, "get back!" She called to the man, raising her wand, "get back from her!"

"Astoria, all is well." He nodded at her, staring down at Daphne, "Rennervate."

Instantly, the light entered Daphne's eyes as she shot up, eyes wide. It took her a few moments to regather herself, but once she had, her face was panicked. "Astoria!" She said, rushing towards her sister. "What the hell is going on?" Her eyes scanned her surroundings, pausing on her stunned father's body on the ground.

"Draco?" Astoria looked up to him, waiting for an explanation, her wand still raised at his father.

"You can drop the wand." He called to her, "he won't hurt you."

Lucius raised his arms in a surrender, "please, hear us out."

Draco stepped closed to the Greengrass sisters, "he won't hurt you." He reassured her, but Astoria kept the wand in her hand. "Do you-" he glanced over at his father.

"I believe it may be better if you fight my corner."

"My father was broken out with yours," began Draco, "but he didn't leave with them."

Astoria nodded, "that's what my father said."

"So you see, he hasn't been with them. He's been with my mother-"

"How?" Daphne cut him off. "Your mother has been under watch by the Ministry ever since he broke out!"

"We had a friend take a Polyjuice Potion to replace her, while she was with him. They just wanted to say a final goodbye - they never got that chance." He thought back to the final battle, how his father had been quickly taken away by the Ministry for a trial, his mother pardoned for her actions. "He just wanted to say goodbye, he was going to hand himself back in to the Ministry, on the promise of a fair trial, but then he couldn't find the right time to hand himself in."

"You see, my intentions were always pure." Lucius said, finally dropping his hands.

"And then there were all the problems with your father," he motioned to the stunned man on the floor. "He thought it best if he lie low, but then the Lethifold struck, and he heard of what the others were planning."

"I had to come," said Lucius, placing his hand on his son's shoulder, "I heard of their plans, and I had to stop them." He led their gaze to Adrian Greengrass, "I knew he would try soon, and the others would follow him. I found Perseus by the Hog's Head, so I stunned him, and that's when I realised the plan was in motion, I was lucky to be able to get Draco."

Draco smiled lightly at his father, "we saw the Ministry as we were coming through here, they already apprehended Perseus."

"What about Theo? And his father?" Astoria asked him, thinking back to the state she had left both of them in. Theo's father had been burning alive, trapped in a smoke-filled room, and Theo himself was only marginally better off.

"Theo was with the Ministry, he'll probably go to St Mungo's, but he'll be okay. I heard them saying he'll live."

Daphne squeezed Astoria's hand in hers, both of them breathing out a sigh of relief.

"He-he's, okay?" Astoria asked them. She felt guilty for leaving him, but she had done just what Blaise had, she had done what she had to do.

Draco nodded, "he looks like he will be."