❝ 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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D R A C O N E V E R K N E W
what it was like to have a sibling, to be forced to share a parent's affection with someone else. He'd grown up the shining star of his parent's eyes and reveled in that affection for most of his life.
So the power struggle that existed between Astoria and Daphne wholly confused him. While he now understood what Astoria meant when she referred to the constant comparison she was subjected to, it made absolutely no sense to him.
This didn't deter Astoria and Daphne's parents though, as they launched into conversation of Daphne's latest achievements, the things she had been cooking, praising her down to the most minute tasks, such as doing the family laundry. They hardly talked about Astoria, but when they did, it had been to chastise an action of hers.
It was enormously evident that the Greengrass parents had a favorite child, and Astoria was not that child.
Draco hated it.
He hated it because not only was it unfair and cruel, but it turned the girl that was so familiar to him, into a quiet stranger.
Astoria sat beside Draco stiffly, eating her food complacently, never allowing her parent's words to get a rise out of her. She almost seemed impervious to their words as she stared at them.
It was almost a relief to get out of the Greengrass Manor at the end of lunch, Mrs. Greengrass shooing them away with a teasing grin and a hurtful phrase, "If Astoria doesn't end up meeting your standards, don't forget we have another daughter!"
Draco firmly shut the door after he and Astoria, casting her a worried glance as they began the walk up the road.
"Sorry about that," Astoria murmured. "Reckon they're getting a little antsy now that Daphne is getting older and still hasn't met someone..."
Draco caught Astoria's hand in his as they walked. "She's twenty. She has plenty of time to get married. Besides, that's a shitty justification. Reckon Zabini would be interested in Daphne? Maybe we can set them up, get your parents off your arse."
The unease that had been so persistent in Astoria's body eased from the touch of Draco's hand, and she clutched at it with both of hers. He smiled down at her, pressing a light kiss to her forehead.
"I'm pretty sure Zabini won't be interested in Daphne..."
Draco arched an eyebrow. "Really? I think they'd get along well, both interested in Quidditch, they were in the same year, and Blaise doesn't even need to offer up that large of a dowry since Daphne is the sole inheritor of the Greengrass family."
Astoria laughed, rolling her eyes. "I mean that Blaise isn't exactly interested in girls like us...do you know what I mean?"
"Erm— am I supposed to? Is he into blondes or something like that?"
