❝ Why can't we be more than friends, Draco?
-Why can't we be more than friends? Merlin Astoria, figure it out. I am fucking social pariah. Your friends, your family, your fucking parents who adore you, would never approve. ❞
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CW: slight smut at end
" I C A N T B E L I E V E Y O U G U Y S H A V E F U C K I N G P E A C O C K S . "
Astoria said, several hours after Hermione left Malfoy Manor in a rush of red robes.
Nothing had been accomplished while she was there, and while Draco internally decided he'd devote himself to the study of alchemy, things weren't looking terribly bright for the Malfoy Mistress. They had just had a spot of lunch— bacon sandwiches and a light salad— and Astoria claimed it would be good for Narcissa to take a walk around the manor after every meal, but Draco thought that was rubbish.
What was walking going to do for his cursed mother?
Astoria and Draco paused on the lawn, looking at several of the birds that were grazing across the half-frozen lawn, not bothered by the cold at all, perhaps encased in Andromeda's long-range warming charm. The peacocks bustled over to Draco recognizing that he was their master, and were rather fond of him. Draco might have said this was because they actually liked him, but really, it was because he was a pushover and always gave them extra treats. Regardless, the peacocks and Draco had what he thought was a wonderful relationship.
"They're rather loyal companions. Nothing like those bloody hippogriffs Hagrid used to keep," Draco stroked the blue head of one of the birds and its beady black eyes closed under his gentle touch.
Astoria chuckled. "I never got to encounter Hagrid's hippogriffs. By the time I started Care for Magical Creatures, we were working on Penny Pinchers, and you were quite literally the reason why it had been like that. I think I would've liked to see one."
"No you wouldn't have..." Draco murmured with fervor. "They're rather aggressive."
"Did you listen to Hagrid's instructions on how to treat them?"
"Well— no, but Hagrid shouldn't have brought those out to third years!"
"No," Astoria agreed. "But it probably wouldn't have hurt if you did listen to Hagrid."
Draco rolled his eyes and pulled several cubes of pink sugar from his pocket, and let the peacocks eat directly from his hand.
From across the yard, Narcissa watched her son with pride. He was truly growing into his fathers' elegance, from his stature, to the gentle way he treated the family peacocks. Narcissa fondly remembered her first formal dinner at the Malfoy Manor and how the peacocks had despised her, because for the first time in their lives, Lucius was paying attention to someone else who wasn't them.
They eventually grew to tolerate her, but they would never love her in the way that they loved Lucius... in the same way that they loved Draco.
Narcissa tilted her head at her son and her Healer, narrowing at the softness that had grown between the pair, the exchange of secret smiles and looks. Astoria attempted to feed a peacock a cube of sugar, and at first, it seemed as though it would reject it, but then her son did a very curious thing. He placed his hand underneath Astoria's outstretched hand, enticing the peacock forward. It eventually took the sugar cube, and Astoria squealed excitedly. Draco did not drop Astoria's hand.
