Harry Potter Fanfic shorts

Keeping Up With The Malfoys Part 2: Astoria & Draco

After the war, the Malfoy family revieved a pardon. This was done because of Narcissa lying on Harry's behalf, as well as the family's last minute switch to the other side. Just because they never went to Azkaban does not mean they never faced consequences. The family name was disgraced. Friends turned their backs on them, wanting nothing to do with any of them. Some were angry for their part in the war, others saw them as traitors for changing sides. 

All three Malfoys felt the brunt of this, but Draco took it the hardest. His parents pride helped them cope, as they retained their old belief systems and generally operated under "I did what I had to do" mentality. Draco, on the other hand, was questioning everything.  His beliefs about blood purity, his belief about wizard supremecy, his family history, everyhting he had been raised to believe was now being called into question. 

He tried to isolate himself, essentially trying to wallow in self pity. He couldn't cope with all that he had done. The guilt over the people who had died because of him and his family. The vitrial that now faced him any time he ventured outside the Malfoy manor. The world had deemed him irredeemable, and he agreed. 

Luckily for him, Astoria refused to let him isolate himself. The rest of the world either saw him as a talented but somewhat arrogant young man who fell from grace, or someone who was always evil and always would be. Astoria was different though. She first saw him as an annoying gerk, and then during the war she saw the best sides of him. How he warned her about what might be coming for her friends. How he protected her and her sister during that terrifying year. Astoria knew he was not pure evil, and she owed him a debt. 

Astoria simply kept coming around and kept inviting him to things. When he felt uncomfortable leaving his house, she simply kept coming over and spending time with him. He didn't particularly want her there, but he also never threw her out. Eventually, when he noticed she was having a hard time trying to catch up to where students her age should be, he offered to help her catch up. After all, he has always been good in charms and potions. In return, Astoria helped him repair his reputation in small parts of the wizarding world. She introduced him to her friends from school and she convinced Daphney to give him a chance. She helped manage how people spoke and even helped him get a feel for where he should put his money and business ventures. It was not enough to fix the Malfoy reputation, but it was enough to lessen the every day vitrial. 

When Astoria tested into her proper year and went back to school, Draco found that he missed her. Much more than he anticipated he would. At this point though, the two were only friends. Astoria saw and encouraged the gentleness burried deep down inside of Draco. She also loved his creativity and his resourcefulness. He thought of things that she and her friends never would have considered, and his creativity for how to use spells was admirable. Meanwhile Draco saw how intelligent and cunning Astoria could be. She knew how to talk to people and make them trust her. She had good intentions, but she understood how to play the game. Not to mention she was also very rescourceful, especially in her muggle studies (Draco still did not really get muggles, or like them per say, but even he had to admit that Astoria somehow managed to make them sound interesting). They appreciated each other and enjoyed each others company, but neither one was looking for a relationship.

So, for two years while Astoria finished school, the two did not see each other. They kept up with each other, writing almost daily, but they did not meet up in person. Draco spent his time working with a few of the people Astoria had intriduced him to, aiming to build his own brand. A way to partake in the world of business without needing to rely on his disgraced family name. He also did some digging into his family history, both Malfoy and Black. He learned enough to completely disallusion himself to the pure-blood rhetoric he had been raised with. 

Meanwhile Astoria decided to explore the world. She spent so much time in her youth being kept in one place, she wanted to experience things. She finished her 6th year at Hogwarts. Over that summer her, Daphney, and Blaise visited Ireland, Scotland, the muggle side of London, and even traveled to the United States for a brief visit. Her final year of school, she decided to participate in an exchange program and spent her final year studying abroad. The first term she went to Castelobruxo in Brazil for the most common exchange program. She learned a lot more about potions while there, as well as herbology and magizoology. Her second term she studied at Uagadou. While she was not able to become an animagous (which is the norm for students at that school) she was able to excell at wandless magic. 

Astoria wrote to Draco regularly. She used a muggle camera her sister had gifted to her to send him pictures of all the places she had gone and the things she had seen. Draco, for his part, made it a point to respond to each letter she wrote. He knew she liked his moving doodles, and made sure to include them when he could. 

Astoria and Draco saw each other in person again when Astoria graduated from Hogwarts. Having recieved her credits abroad her graduation was a little unorthodox, but she was happy with it. Her parents threw her a 'Welcome home' party, and of course Draco came. The two spent a lot of time together after this, and this is when their romantic relationship began to blossom. A classic case of 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'. 

When the two officially became a couple, neither family was happy. The Greengrasses were worried about Astoria hurting her reputation by being with Draco, as while things had smoothed over people still did not like the Malfoys. Lucius and Narcissa were unhappy because not only did Astoria have a reputation for being "weak and sickly" (Draco tried to show them the evidence to the contrary, but it fell on deaf ears) but she was also well known for being "muggle loving". She was friends with muggle-born witches and wizards. She used muggle devices and learned about muggle culture. This kind of mindset had no place in the Malfoy home. Despite the disapproval, Draco and Astoria continued their relationship, and would eventually get married sometime around 2004. 

Draco's family did not participate in the wedding. Draco had a falling out with his parents when he proposed to Astoria. Even though it was customary for newly-weds to live in the manor, Draco's parents had no interest in living under the same roof as Astoria. So, Draco and Astoria lived in a smaller house that the Malfoys owned for the beginning of their marriage. 

Now before marrying, the two had talked about future plans. At first they had planned to move into the Manor after Draco inherited it (while he was not on speaking terms with his parents outside of birthdays and holidays, they did not cut him out of the will). However after some time away, Draco was no longer sure he wanted to live there. After all, it was a big house for only two people. Neither Draco nor Astoria had any real desire to have children (both had grown up really only seeing having kids as a way to continue the pure-blood legacy so they really had no interest in that, and thus saw no point in having children) so it would just be them. They began playing around with the idea of simply selling the manor. 

Astoria became pregnant on accident. While they had not planned for kids, they were not upset. One kid would be pleasent, and would be enough for them. Then they found out they were having triplets, and stopped caring completely (Well, we already have three kids, so might as well just roll with whatever happens). Their triplets were born sometime in 2006. 

After the triplets were born, Draco's parents changed their attitudes. They wanted to be involved in their grandchildren's lives and they wanted their grandchildren to be able to grow up in the family home. Draco agreed under the conditions that he could make some big changes to the manor (He did not want his children growing up surrounded by memories of a false family legacy and a dark lord roommate). His parents agreed to this. The two couples ended up switching homes, Draco's parents moving into the smaller home while Draco and Astoria took their kids to the manor. 

Draco and Astoria meant it when they said they were changing the manor. While the outside remained mostly the same, the inside was almost unrecognizable. It was more modern and much more bright than before. It took until 2010 to finish, and the two had two more kids in that time. 

As his family continued to grow and he wacthed his wife attempt home repair projects without magic "like muggles do it", Draco did begin to see a parallel between him and the Weasley family (passively wondering when he became Mrs. Weasley, especially the time his wife flooded the ground floor trying to instal muggle plumbing). When he brought this up to his wife, she just teased him. It became a running joke among their friends that Draco had become the thing he hated most, an "honorary Weasley". 

By the time 2017 rolled around, Draco had a pretty good life established. He had his family fortune to fall back on. He had his own business ventures bringing in money. He had a wife with a decent reputation and who was well-traveled enough to see opportunities. He had a large and loving family with 7 children (no the irony was not lost on him). Now it was time to send his oldest, the triplets, off to school. Draco considered sending them to another school, far away from rumors and whispers of their family's disgrace. Astoria disagreed with this. She wanted her kids to experience Hogwarts, that way they could decide when they were older whether or not they wanted to study abroad. The triplets were very attached to their parents and siblings, and Astoria worried that being so far away and not being able to visit on holidays would be too difficult for their first year. And so it was decided that the triplets would go to Hogwarts.