A Recollection

Without flipping the lights on, Draco crawled into bed at only seven in the evening.

"I don't understand where this is coming from!" Draco thought. "Why is Astoria acting like this? We've been happy for 10 years....right?!"

Draco and Astoria married not too long after the Second Wizarding War ended when he was 20 years old and she was 18. Of course, it was all Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy's doing. He wouldn't have minded waiting and trying to find someone he could truly love.

At 12 years old in his second year at Hogwarts, he developed his first crush, which happened to be on a Muggleborn named Hermione Granger. A Muggleborn was someone born to non-magic parents, which he was taught from a young age was a disgusting thing and that Purebloods like himself were superior. His parents preferred the derogatory term: Mudblood. The word was used around his home so frequently growing up that, in his second year at school, he called Hermione "a filthy Mudblood."

That particular day he was attempting to impress her with his new broomstick and by boasting about being the new Slytherin Quidditch Seeker but failed when she pointed out that money couldn't buy everything. It must have been the embarrassment of being told off around her friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, because that's when the word slipped out and he couldn't take it back. But, being the new and wealthy arrival on the Slytherin team meant he wasn't about to make himself look "stupid" by saying sorry to her. That didn't change how awful he felt inside from seeing the look on her face when she realised he called her something terrible.

The next couple of years went by with him eyeing her from a distance while keeping up his image. Year four was a particularly tough one with the Triwizard Tournament bringing the Yule Ball. He watched on the sidelines as she went to the dance with Viktor Krum, and he was stuck with Pansy Parkinson, who he never liked that way. She wanted him though, and the sight of Draco stopping and staring at Hermione dressed and made up for the Ball made Pansy jealous. Not that there was any cause for worry, nothing could have happened.

It all remained the same except that Ron Weasley (who according to Draco's father was a "blood traitor"), appeared to be capturing Hermione's attention. Things only got worse for Draco when at 16 years old he was dragged into the mess the Malfoy family created years before when his father joined the Death Eaters.

A question took residence in the back of his mind during the War: When Hermione was being tortured by his psychopathic Aunt Bellatrix at the Manor, why was it so difficult to remain standing in his place? Why did a sudden urge to help Hermione come over him? It wasn't as though the boyhood crush on her turned into anything else.

He accepted that love or whatever bogus was out there wasn't in the cards for him and to just do what Lucius and Narcissa told him to do: Marry the Pureblood named Astoria Greengrass and have a Malfoy heir with her. The first part of the plan held true but as for the other half....not so much. The excuse was "not being ready yet," when in all honesty it was because he didn't want to bring a baby into the world with someone he didn't love. His parents were always quick to bring it up whenever they were around, though.

The happiness in this marriage was fake but it was all he knew.