𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌, 𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔱, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥

Two

A few days had passed since Andromeda's arrival at the Malfoy Manor and as strange as it may have seemed, the air inside the Manor had changed drastically, it was lighter and warmer, nothing like the air that Draco had grown up with and Scorpius had endured for the majority of his childhood.

The first difference the Draco noticed was the fact that his mother was laughing, not the fake and low laughing she did whenever his father had been around, no, this one was the one he had heard when he was very little when he would run around the Manor with his mother hot on his heels in the days that his father was not home, this laughter was the one that had her eyes brimming with tears, her face as red as a Weasley's hair and her arms wrapped around her stomach.

It actually seemed like her health was improving, she was able to eat on her own and stay sitting up for more than the few minutes that she had previously been able to.

Her laughter actually made the Manor seem less scary, less hauntingly, and that showed in Scorpius, he was more adventurous with his playing areas, he ventured into different rooms, even once or twice into the cellar, the old torture cellar during the first and second wizarding war, now completely remodeled into a wine cellar and muggle appliances center.

The house-elves that lived there would more often be seen playing with Scorpius after Astoria insisted that they take more breaks from the kitchen and clean, something that took a long time for most of them to get used to, but to be honest no one could refuse Scorpius's puppy grey eyes.

"Your aunt seems to be helping her." Astoria claimed from her seat in front of the fireplace, her back turned to her husband who sat at the desk behind the sofa, the laughter that came from Narcissa's chamber echoed throughout the house, "She does," Draco agreed, a small smile growing on his lips, "I am actually writing a letter to Healer Fawn regarding this new development." 

A low hum escaped Astoria's lips as she continued to read a book she had picked out from the large Malfoy library, "Darling," she called after a few moments of silence between them, at least verbal considering that the sound of the crackling wood and Draco's feather writing on the paper filled the room, "has you mother ever mentioned a Fran to you?"

Draco stopped writing, a frown settling on his face as he thought back on his life, "I know she's called me that since her health declined but I always wondered if you knew who this Fran was." "Never." Draco replied confused, "Perhaps a Hogwarts friend?" he offered kindly before going back to the letter, leaving his wife with the same confusion she had in her when she questioned him.

"There is a statue in the middle of the pond in the maze that has a plaque with that name." Draco remembered, setting his quill down on the table, "Can we go see it?" Astoria asked kindly, lifting her head from the book and looking at the clock that rested above the fireplace, replacing the portrait of the Dark Lord that once rested on it. "We have 2 hours until lunch." 

Draco agreed and closed the inkwell before standing up, watching as his wife also stood up, setting the deep grey-blue book on the side table and folding the green blanket that had been resting on her legs elegantly, her own deep grey-blue eyes flashed to him as a kind and loving smile spread on her lips, making and equal smile grow on his.

"Mother grew the maze herself if memory fails me not." he told his wife once she had held onto his arm, "Father was forbidden from ever even entering it." his words only added to the confusion that Astoria had inside of her, and unknowingly set alight the same confusion in the father of one. "Did she go in there a lot?" Astoria asked lowly as they stepped into the large foyer, not wanting her question to echo throughout the house.

"A handful of times, mainly during the summer, and before I started Hogwarts she would also go on Valentine's day, I remember it infuriated father to no end but he never said or did anything." Draco remembered as he led the way towards the maze, slowly making his way to the pond in the center, "On her birthday and another date." his brows furrowed for a moment, "August the 14th."

"Those are specific dates." Astoria mused quietly, watching the flowers that grew on the hedges,  that formed the maze, her dark hair fell down her back and bounced slightly with each step she took contrasting her husband's short platinum hair that barely reached the nape of his neck.

"They are and she never missed one, that was until the Healers ordered her to be bedridden." Draco agreed, his grey eyes flickering to his darling wife momentarily, the path was not dirty as one would expect and the hedge was not wild, there were equally clean and trimmed, the tone pathway was visible and there was not a weed in sight, which told the married couple that even though Narcissa was in bed, the house-elves took care of the maze.

"Do you know which flowers are these?" Astoria questioned as flowers began to appear, unknowingly indicating that they were reaching the heart of the maze, "White Roses of York and Signet Marigolds, my mother's favourites." Draco confessed, his cheeks gaining a small amount of colour at the fact that he knew what flowers these were.

The smirk on Astoria's lips told him that it had been a rhetorical question and that she was going to tell him had he not told her himself, but the fact that he did know them made Astoria's chest bloom with pride at the fact that her husband did pay attention to other people and other things that were not Quidditch, work or Finances.

Their path stopped being narrow abruptly to become excessively large, a large man-made pond, or in this case, woman-made pond rested at the center of the large opening a statue stood tall in the middle, looking like a woman that was pointing up at the sky, which now was clear and unusually sunny.

As the couple stepped closer they could see that the statue rested at the top of a larger rectangular marble that was dug into the ground, a surprisingly clean and polished silver plaque below the statue's feet saying.

France Elizabeth Wallace 

b. 08.14.1954 - d. 02.14.1978

Loving daughter, sister & wife

❝You loved the stars in the sky so much, you became one.❞