Father Knows Best
Astoria's elf, Ruby, brought her to the sitting room right away to wait for her father. Her mother joined her first, looking excited to see her youngest child, but her smile fell when she took in Astoria's tears.
"Astoria, dear, what's wrong? Have you not gotten better? It didn't work?" Her mother asked in quick succession while wrapping her daughter in a tight embrace.
"I feel better than I have in years physically. I don't think that will last though, since Draco can't complete the terms of the contract." Astoria had relaxed into her mother's arms, but stiffened and extracted herself as she asked her, more coldly than she had ever spoken to her, "Did you know? Did you know you and father were sentencing me to die, just at a different manor? At least if this contract hadn't been finalized, I could have died at home, with you and Ruby to take care of me. Now I'll be all alone in Malfoy Manor, and I can't even call on the elves for help. I'm not their mistress. I have no one. Nothing."
"You have everything you asked for, Mrs. Malfoy. Take the elf with you if you want. I'll transfer ownership. Then you have someone and something, depending on your views of house elves." Her father said as he moved through the sitting room to the settee he favored. He was carrying a glass of fire whiskey and a cigar that was dangerously close to dropping ashes all over the rug.
Her mother sounded outraged when she shouted, "Florian! What is the meaning of this? Is it true you've sent our daughter to die? After all we've done to save her?" Astoria couldn't help but notice that her mother was outraged, but not doubting this could be true. Maybe she had been too sick to notice, too blinded by family obligation to see what kind of man her father really was.
"All we have done to save her nearly cost everything! We were about to lose the manor because I couldn't pay the reparations required of all families on the losing side of the war. We had nothing left in the vault. The responsibility of the continuation of the family line lies with Daphne. We have to do right by her, for once, as we have not done since Astoria was born sickly and weak. We needed the dowry the Malfoy's would have to pay, and it also ended our responsibility of maintaining her health. It was the best choice I could have made for the family as a whole. If Malfoy refuses to meet the requirements set forth, that is no concern of mine."
"He can't meet the requirements! He has a bonded soulmate, which is information you knew! Didn't you? Why didn't you ask the Notts or Puceys if you wanted to be rid of me so badly?" Astoria was shattered. She reached behind her, looking for comfort from Ruby, only to feel nothing but empty space. Her mother was spread awkwardly over a wingback chair, like she had collapsed and the chair just happened to be there to support her.
Her father's shoulders had started to sag, with his head hung like her words had made him realize the pain he was causing. When he looked up though, his eyes were dark and cold. "Yes, I knew. Lucius is the one that got us into this mess. The Greengrasses stayed out of many blood purity disagreements over the years, but Lucius insisted he needed my help. Swore it would work out and he would pay me back by solidifying the betrothal. And you know what happened? The bastard died before he signed the contract and his son lost us the damn war. Its only fair Draco take on the responsibility, he is head of house now, after all. And he will be the last. Go home to the illustrious Malfoy Manor, Astoria."
"That's no manor, Father, it's a mausoleum, I'm just not dead quite yet."