Marriage of convenience (Draco x Astoria)

4- Sleepless night

Draco returned to Malfoy Manor and ran to find his parents. He found them in Lucius' office, putting some matters in order. Lucius was the one who always planned where to invest and how to do it, but it was Narcissa who controlled the money and notified the lawyers. They made a good working couple.

However, Draco couldn't wait for them to finish.

"The earl has deceived us!" he exclaimed out of the blue, surprising his parents. "He's poisoning his own daughter to make it look like she's sick!"

The Malfoys looked at him surprised.

"Who told you that?" Narcissa asked.

"The countess herself. She knows everything, but she can't—"

"When did you speak with the countess?" Lucius interrupted him.

"A few minutes ago. I went to the castle to see if I could talk to her."

"Have you met with the countess alone? How do you dare of doing that?" his father asked him, very angry. "You can't break protocol like that, especially when there's so much at stake! What if someone had seen you?"

"There was no one! The earl was not there," he excused himself. "But have you heard me? She is not sick! She is being poisoned! It's all a trick to get you to agree to the marriage!"

"Enough!" Lucius raised his voice, looking at his son very seriously. "You cannot enter another man's property as if it were your own, much less uninvited. And interview with his daughter without asking permission! You could have made Greengrass break off the engagement!"

Draco looked at him blankly. Hadn't he explained himself clearly enough?

"But father—"

"Stop with this nonsense. I don't want you to set foot on the Greengrass grounds again until the wedding day. Do you understand me?"

Draco tried to challenge his father with his gaze, but finally, swallowing his pride and the immense anger he felt, he gave up and left the room, slamming the door. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy looked at each other, worried.

"What do you think, Cissa?"

"The earl poisoning his daughter... it's absurd," she said, shaking her head. "But if she was the one who told him—"

"Do you think Greengrass poisoned his daughter?" Lucius had disbelief plastered on his face.

"No, I don't think it's possible... it can't be possible," she repeated, with emphasis. Just thinking about the possibility of poisoning her own son made her retch. "The mere idea that it could happen is inconceivable," she said. "Maybe she refuses to get married for whatever reason, and has made up that story," she suggested.

"You're right, it's most likely," he agreed. "The proximity of death makes people think strangely."

And as the explanation pleased them, they did not bother to think more about the matter, and soon forgot about it.

***

Draco didn't know what to think. Astoria had seemed very sincere to him, and so had Kali, but if he approached the matter from the perspective of someone outside the problem... it seemed like a very implausible story.

What would he do if he were about to die? What explanation would he find to justify his illness? Was Astoria clinging to an idea that wasn't real? But on the other hand, it was true that the young woman seemed healthier as she talked to him. What if it was simply the opportunity to converse with someone other than her house-elf?

Draco walked through the corridors of the mansion, still thinking about the different possibilities. His parents had not wanted to listen to him. Although he had repeated the idea of the poison to them, they had not even paid him a blink of attention. Would Astoria have encountered the same problems?