Chapter Text
“I thought I would find you here, Astra.”
Draco Malfoy looked down at his twin sister with his lips pressed into a thin line and grey eyes focused on the silvery-blond hair of his sister. At the age of nine, his sister was different from the other females in their society. Rebellious like my cousin as their mother would say whenever his sister would argue over the frilly dresses that their mother wanted her to wear. No, Astra doesn’t accept anything but the best like a typical Malfoy was what their father would say.
If his parents asked him, he would say both. His sister did not accept anything but the best as long as she found some use or reason behind the gesture. That was what their Father had taught them. However, Astra was rebellious but not in the ways that his mother thought of and in ways that their father would hate. After all, Astra wished to go against what was expected for a girl in her statue.
“I assume Mother sent you,” Astra replied with an airy tone. She didn’t look up from her book, only flipped through the page like she didn’t care one bit about their mother’s distress. “Let me guess: she thinks you can convince me to go to that boring playdate with one of the girl that Father and Mother hope you’ll marry.”
He flickered his eyes around the garden and relaxed his shoulders when he caught no sight of their Mother and their house elves. “It’s only one playdate, Astra.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” his sister grumbled, pursing her lips. “While I will be forced to endure her boring prattle about clothes and the latest trend in accessories, you’ll either be playing Quidditch with Father or listen to him talk politics to you.”
There was no denying the fact that his sister was right. He thinned his lips and took a seat right beside his twin sister, plucking the rose from the rose bush behind her. He enjoyed the time that he had with Father but it was Astra, who should be listening to their father discuss about the government. While he held some interest, his sister had a passion and a drive for it.
Their father was pleased with Astra's desire to know about politics but he didn’t know of his sister’s plan. Not from a lack of trying in his part. No if he had his way, his sister would be with him while he learnt the working of their family business and the government. However, Lucius Malfoy had certain expectations for his sister and not a single one of them involved his sister not working.
“I already inform you of the things Father tells me,” he informed her as he peered down at the book in his sister’s hand. “What more can I do, Astra? You just need to pretend that you like Pansy.”
“I would pretend if I had no power over her and she has some use in the future,” his sister commented with a tired yawn. She closed the book and focused her eyes entirely on him. “But Pansy isn’t useful unless I want someone to stroke my ego and we all know that I’ve a big head.”
He stared at her. “Is it really a big head when we’re better than everyone in our peers?”
“Yes,” his sister replied. “And you won’t make any friends if you use that attitude, Draco.”
Draco raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m pleased with the connections that I have.”
“Are you?” His sister challenged, tapping her finger against her chin. “Do you really love it when Goyle and Crabbe just say yes to everything you do and when Pansy and Daphne act like you can do no wrong? Or would you prefer if there was someone who genuinely challenges you whenever you are acting like a prick and to have conversations that doesn’t bore you to death?”
He fixated his eyes on the flowers. Astra was not…wrong. It was enjoyable to see the other children try to please him but it bored him whenever he deliberately made a mistake and not have someone correct him. Only his sister would notice his slip-ups but never once did she utter a word about his act. He supposed she understood his games.
“There’ll be a chance for me to find Pure-blood that shares my intellect,” he offered.
Astra hummed. “Must it be a Pure-Blood?”
“Father won’t be happy if we associate with them,” he reminded her. “He will forbid you from going to Hogwarts and have you go to Drumstrang if you utter those thoughts.”
His sister flipped her hair and turned her body to face the manor. She didn’t utter a word but her lips curved into a scowl as it always did whenever he reminded her of their father’s prejudice. If their father caught sight of this expression, he would go on a rant about the muggle-borns and how filthy they were compared to them. In those instances, his sister would hold her tongue and pretend to agree with him.
But he knew his sister better than his father and mother.
“Mother will refuse to send me there,” his sister observed with a straight face. “And what will be wrong with me associating with them? Father won no favors when he decided to join Lord Voldemort. If anything, he made things more difficult but if we become friends with one of them? Well, people may assume Father wasn’t lying about being brain-wash.”
He inspected her. “So you’ll tell Father that you become friends with a muggle-born in order to make the general public believe that he changed.”
“Well I can’t tell him that I think maybe the muggle-borns will be less boring than Pansy and Daphne, can I?” his sister commented with a sly smile. “And if I want to accomplish my dream, then I’ve to get the general public to adore me and fear me at the same time. With the Malfoy name, I can do the latter but becoming friends with muggle-born? It shows that our family has changed.”
Draco looked at his sister for a moment and considered her words. His father did complain about the countless raids that the Ministry did to their home and perhaps if his sister and him did indeed become friends with a muggle-born, it would stop. However, people would assume that they were blood-traitors. He thinned his lips. There were positives and negatives about the whole thing.
“Father may accept your explanation,” he agreed. “And perhaps we may enjoy someone, who stimulate our brains but the others will think that we’re blood-traitors for associating with them.”
His sister shrugged. “And since when does a Malfoy care about what other people think? Perhaps we’ll lose some allies but we may gain some useful ones as well. Our reputation may improve with the general public and that will make our lives easier when it comes to Hogwarts.”
“Even if you make friends with them, Father and Mother will need you to keep associating with Pansy and Daphne.”
Astra sighed.
“Daphne is tolerable,” his sister mused. “She does enjoy my pranks and offers some fun input but she is so keen of snaring you and I can never tell if she enjoys my company or pretends to enjoy my presence because she wants you.”
With a hum, Draco stared up at the sky. “Daphne does have some advantages if Father decides that I shall marry her. At least, her intentions are more subtle than Pansy.”
“Subtle but not perfect,” his sister commented. “At least, she would occasionally act like I’m not perfect while Pansy clings to me and tries to get in favor with me because she believes that I’ve some sway over you.”
“Father is the one that has the final say,” he relaxed his shoulders and listened to his heartbeat. “Whoever he chooses for me, I’ll marry them without a complaint.”
“You shouldn’t marry Pansy or Daphne because Father wants their connections.” Astra offered him a grimace. “Or because they are a Pure-Blood. You won’t have a happy marriage.”
Draco offered her a small frown. “Mother and Father are happy.”
“Yes but they are the exception,” his sister observed. “What if one day, you fall in love with some girl and decided that you want to be with them? Don’t you want the choice to be with them?”
He kept quiet and ignored the sudden pain in his heart. A choice. It would be easy if he had a choice but his sister was the one that needed the choice more than him. There was very little chance that Astra would marry just any man that their father introduced. She loved to argue. There had always been fire in her eyes. To have her marry someone that their father approved would kill that spark.
“Then I’ll let them go.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his chest. “Didn’t you say that if you love someone, you let them go? I will just keep it to myself and pretend those emotions don’t exist because…someone needs to keep the expectation that they have.”
A soft hand ran through his hair. “Do you resent me for not wanting to follow Father and Mother’s wishes?”
He frowned when he heard the subtle guilt creeping out of her voice. Resent her? Could he ever resent Astra? From the moment he opened his eyes, Astra had been there with him. He couldn’t imagine a day without his twin sister. Just the thought of resenting Astra brought a tiny frown to his face. No, his sister was the last person that he could ever resent.
“No but I wish you would just tell Father that you don’t want to marry Blaise or Theo,” he admitted. “Father loves you, Astra and he loves it when you talk politics to him so why—”
“—Because Father doesn’t truly believe that I plan to be a Minister of Magic,” his sister whispered. “I know he enjoys it whenever I show his allies that I’m smarter than their daughter but he expects me to behave like Mother. He wants me to be a proper lady and have a man support me instead of having a proper career. If I tell him that I don’t want those things, then he might disown me.”
Draco clenched his jaw. “Father will only disown you if you marry a blood-traitor or a half-blood.”
“Like Aunt Andromeda?” His sister shook her head. “Apparently our loving grandparents decided to disown her because she chose to marry a muggle-born so who is to say that they won’t do the same thing? Because I can’t marry Blaise or Theo. My ambitions are way too high for me to marry them and anyway I’m w….”
His sister trailed off as a bittersweet expression crept up on her face. Draco waited for his sister to explain herself but she shook her head and stared up at the sky. He wanted to question her. To know what was going through her mind but his sister just chose to keep quiet. He supposed his sister wasn’t going to finish the conversation.
“Father doesn’t have any siblings,” he observed. “And Aunt Bella is in prison.”
Astra nodded. “Mother has another older sister but she pretends that she doesn’t exist and…I wonder if mother would do the same thing if I choose to marry a muggle-born man as well or even a half-blood. If Pansy mother hadn’t brought her up as a way to snide mother, then we would never know about her.”
He understood what was going through his sister’s mind. His stomach dropped. Of course, Astra would be worried about that. She had always been sensitive about these things. Always caring about acknowledging someone’s existence. It was a kind trait. A good trait…but not one that their father or mother adored. In their eyes, it was Astra's one weakness.
But he loved Astra's weakness because she was his twin and she was the only one who could keep him in check.
“You’ll always have me.”