Secrets and Confessions

Draco nodded and went over to finish his half finished glass of wine. He knew what she meant by them. It wasn't Narcissa and Lucius of course, Astoria generally got on quite well with Narcissa - quite surprisingly. With Lucius, she didn't get along that well, but they generally avoided him. He knew she meant Sandra, and possibly several others. "I'm sorry for putting you through that," he said, not for the first time. "They might leave soon... When they take Hogwarts," he said, though he didn't quite believe himself. Still, there was a faint hope in his tone, that once they took Hogwarts, they might give them some privacy for once. He doubted it though, Malfoy Manor would still be their Headquarters probably. Draco smiled slightly when she said the house elves hadn't let her do anything. He knew that she sometimes liked house cleaning, though she probably liked not doing it more.

"Though, when have they ever let me do any sort of cleaning?" It was a rhetorical question and she smiled wryly at the memory of her first full day in the Malfoy Mannor. She was living with the Malfoys, she remembered thinking, feeling almost as though she had married into royalty, and for sometime the family had indeed probably been the closest thing to royalty the wizarding world had seen. She was, quite obviously nervous. At her parents' home it had become habit that she would clean her room, but here the houselves did everything and Astoria found herself, that first day, with nervous energy to spare and not a single thing to do about it.

"It's not your fault they're here," she said quietly as he apologized. She had thought, many times that perhaps if he had just moved his family out years ago, but he had always held the belief that the manor would someday be his and if that were the case why upset the children with a move, they might as well make their home where they would end up eventually. "I don't believe they'll ever leave," she said somewhat bitterly, "They've got their claws in here."

Draco shrugged, leaning against a wall as he sipped his wine. Perhaps it was his fault, mainly his fathers really, he had allowed the Death Eaters to take their home, and now Sandra commanded the Death Eaters, not Lucius. Guess that Lucius had got what was coming for him, though Draco didn't like it. He didn't like Sandra, she wanted to bring the Dark Lord back, something that Draco didn't want. She was a fanatic no doubt, Voldemort was dead, but there was always a small fear that he was alive. "Your right, I dooubt they will ever leave, but theres nothing wrong with hoping, or dreaming, that they will one day," he replied. He looked at his wife as he detected the bitterness in her tone, he frowned. "Perhaps you need a night away from this place as well," he said dryly.

"Perhaps you're right," she said with a light air, not bothering to mention that she had spent a good portion of the previous afternoon at the Leaky Cauldron, probably mere hours before he had been there. She didn't want to be cornered into admitting that she had shared several drinks with a stranger and that he had flirted with her--and she him--long before the first drink was finished. She wouldn't be the first to admit to infidelities.

"Maybe we should go on holiday when the children are out of school," she suggested absently, hoping to change the subject from her needing a night away.

Like Astoria, Draco too suspected that his wife was not actually that loyal to him. Like her, he had no proof of that. If she was having an affair, she was hiding it well. Draco wasn't as suspicious as she was though, perhaps because she had more of a reason to be. "A holiday does sound good," he agreed with a tired tone. He would be glad to get away from work, and especially, glad to be away from Malfoy Manor especially. Even if the children would be a nuisance. He hadn't noticed her changing the subject hurriedly. He had quite easily taken the lie that she hadn't done much while he was gone.

"Or sooner. The children wouldn't have to know. The ocean perhaps, or skiing." she was thinking out loud more than anything, but a holiday did sound especially good. It might just be the thing to solve their wandering eyes, though Astoria wouldn't put money on it. She shook herself out of her reverie and turned to face Draco once more, sipping at the last of her wine. "We'll have to think of something," she stated simply with a smile. "I'd love to go out of the country." The more she thought about it the more she liked the thought of a second honeymoon of sorts. The marriage could certainly use it.

Draco could tell that she was looking forward to it, it made him a bit sad, how little of a family they had been of late. And it made him feel even more guilty, almost to a point where he felt like just confessing. He wouldn't though, of course not. He smiled though, he would like to do something like that with her. After all, they had been happy together once upon a time. "We should," he agreed. "We haven't done something like that for a long time." The last time they had went on a holiday together hadn't ended well, it had been at Paris, and Draco they had just argued and fought continuously for most of the trip. It wasn't always like that though, they had had happy times together.

They were dancing around the elephant in the room. She might have been able to welcome him home with an embrace and return his kiss, but she had been feeling guilty and worried and her actions happened before she had really thought. They had been instinctual and that gave Astoria hope. If her instinct was to embrace him warmly and kiss him, then perhaps there was still hope for their marriage. But the elephant, the subject they both seemed to be avoiding, was their unhappiness. She smiled up at him, a smile mixed with hope and sadness, "We were happy once, weren't we?" She finally asked. She wanted reassurance...needed it.

Draco frowned as she smiled up at him, it was a sad smile and it made him worried. "We can still be happy Astoria," he said, optimistically. He didn't want to come back to that subject again, he was far to tired to discuss it, however, he felt like he needed to do so now. Or else their relationship would never get back to normal. "We just need to focus on the future, and forget about whats happened in the past," he said. Though he felt like they would have to admit it to each other one day, or else they would forever be suspicious of one another.

Astoria nodded firmly, downing the last of her wine. "The future, yes." She repeated as she stood and moved across the room toward him. She left the wine glass on the table for the elves to take of. "We'll be happy," she said resolutely as she came to a stop in front of him. It was what she wanted, after all and the more she said it the more it might be true. "We will be."