Chapter Text
Harriet Potter knew that her marriage had been a mistake.
How had she been able to think that she was worthy of Draco Malfoy? The man ten years her senior was so perfect compared to Harriet. Harriet the only thing she had was the noble blood of her father in her veins.
Because of that she had become a chaperone to her distant aunt on her travels, Marge Dursley, a moderately well-to-do spinster. And when she met Draco it was like meeting her Prince Charming, a dream until they returned to Malfoy Manor with the housekeeper, Millicent Bullstrode. The spinster had taken care of the beautiful, intelligent, graceful and delicate Astoria Greengrass since she was born. Her wet nurse, nanny, maid and housekeeper, all for Astoria Greengrass, Draco's late wife
Mrs. Bullstrode had taken it upon herself to keep things exactly as her former mistress had liked them. Exactly how Astoria liked them, returning the things Harriet changed to her original state. The old bedroom had become a monument to Astoria Greengrass, off limits to mere mortals. With the French silk lingerie with embroidery and lace made by nuns in cloistered convents, with the hairbrushes lined up just the way Astoria liked it, the mirrors shining, the perfumes and creams on the dressing table, the windows clean and the flowers distributed as the deceased preferred.
Mrs. Bullstrode had amused herself by telling Harriet how Draco had the large windows built for his late wife. How Astoria liked to brush her hair, and put on makeup for Draco. How she looked as perfect as a doll in each of those mirrors that populated the room
Scorpius, the child Draco had had with his late wife, was constantly plagued with the memory of his mother and the opinions of a dead woman because of the housekeeper. Even Astoria's cousin Theodore Nott would show up from time to time and he treated her like a second-class human being.
Draco and Harriet still loved each other passionately, and Harriet adored Scorpius. But the memory of wonderful Astoria was a heavy burden. Astoria, which was the center of society. Astoria, who threw the best parties. Astoria, who was the most beautiful lady in the country. Astoria, which was perfect in every way
Harriet couldn't compete against this memory that she would never tarnish and she was about to be thrown into the void when a ship exploded in the bay and everyone came out to help. Harriet saw her husband go down to the beach where the old Astoria boathouse was, who was an excellent navigator
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Harriet saw the open boathouse, the heavy chain on the floor, and Harriet stepped inside. There was a second door inside that she hadn't seen through the windows when she went down with Scorpius to play in the afternoons.
Harriet approached and surprised. The interior of the second room was a luxurious bedroom, and Draco was sitting on a divan next to the bed.
-They found her boat. – He said with a serious voice. – They found her body, she had his jewelry. Her bracelets.
- What is this place? --- Harriet looked around fearfully. And Draco laughed in a way that shook Harriet's soul.
- This was where Astoria brought her men. God, you'll think I'm a fool, but I have to tell you…. I need to tell someone. - -- Draco looked at Harriet with an expression of great regret.
He looked like a completely broken man who was facing the pits of hell.
– I married Astoria very young, barely old enough, and very foolish. We had to delay our honeymoon for two months, but when we left, Scorpius was already on his way. We were on that cliff, that magical place where you and I met, and that was the moment when she looked at me during the third day of our honeymoon. Her expression was no longer that of the devoted and enamored wife she used to look at me with, that woman's eyes were cold and cruel like those of a bitter old woman. ----- Draco's mind seemed to lose itself in the memory in his mind, his voice don't ring for a few seconds.
Harriet could clearly see that her husband was no longer with her. He was back on that cliff with Astoria. Seeing her and hearing her words like the first day
- My wife told me that I had two options. I could blind myself to all her faults and she would be the perfect wife in the eyes of the world, she would make us the center of society and she would be the perfect mother, or I could condemn her for them and she would make sure that my son's life It was hell, and mine too because no one would believe that she could hurt me. That I had already seen what a good actress she was and how she could change her faults for mine
Harriet clapped her hands to her mouth in horror.
- My pride got the better of me. I made her swear that her indiscretions would be discreet, but we never shared a bed again. And facing the world she became the perfect wife and mother. And I could only grit my teeth and hold back as I watched her bring man after man here. - Draco looked at the bed with hatred- For her we were just decorations. Scorpius and I were a front for her, so no one would know what a despicable being she really was. If Scorpius didn't look so much like me I could swear he isn't mine, by the number of men she brought back when we got back.
-Draco... You wouldn't be less of a man if you faced her
-I know, but I was young and foolish…. And then one day she didn't come home. I went down to look for her and she was here, smoking. Her cousin had left the day before…. She looked at me and told me that she would now have to be the perfect mother of another perfect child, while she stroked her slightly swollen belly. We hadn't slept together since those first two months. She pissed me off and I pushed her. She hit her head on a boat and was dead when she fell to the ground.
Harriet covered her mouth with her hands and looked at her husband in horror again.
- I was going to turn myself in, but then I remembered Scorpius. I couldn't leave him here alone. So I put her body on the boat that she had hit. I took her to the bay. I left her in the small cabin and closed the door. A few days later they found the bloated corpse of a woman and I said it was her. And now they will take me to the gallows, but at least I know that you will take care of Scorpius even if you leave me.
-I will not abandon you! –. Harriet got up and hugged her husband. - I love you, Draco. And since we got to this place I've been trying to fight against the false memory of a woman I thought was perfect. But, despite all my shortcomings, no one will ever beat me when it comes to loving you. –. Harriet kissed her husband's jaw and leaned into her chest. – You lost control only once after three years of provocations. And it was an accident. I don't think worse of you for that, you are still the man I fell in love with
-They know I did it
-Years have passed! They won't find out, not easily. And you were the loving and perfect husband for that horrible woman. Who would suspect you?
Draco looked at her for a few seconds before kissing her passionately. Harriet ran her hands through her husband's blond hair and let her husband's hands ruffle her clothes. Footsteps approached and a voice called out to them, so they had to leave that little hut on Malfoy Mannor's beach.
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Scorpius pressed closer to Harriet as they questioned them. Not them, the others who lived in the house at the time Astoria died. Because they had found an open valve indicating that the ship had sunk voluntarily.
Harriet, Scorpius and Draco were having lunch when Astoria's cousin arrived. Theo Nott was a beautiful and attractive man, not as handsome as Draco. He too had been Astoria's inferior in rank and wealth, perhaps that was why he was her usual mistress. As with Millicent, Theo was manipulable.
After Scorpius left with his nanny Theo started asking them for money, a lot of it. Because according to him, Astoria would never kill herself after asking him to come see her
After the arrival of agent Moody and Kingsley, the man put aside the blackmail and proclaimed his affair with Astoria. He then said that she had gone to see her secret doctor, one who lived in London and did not know her real name. Mrs. Bullstrode gave the address. The men left for London and Harriet returned to Malfoy Mannor with Scorpius and Astoria's parents.
Leaving Scorpius sleeping by the fire, Harriet approached Lady Greengrass as she indicated.
- My daughter was a bad person. – That surprised Harriet. – I suppose that Draco will have told you about her, the truth about her
-Very little…
-We noticed when she was a child. She was so... Dafne isn't that bad, but Astoria had always been in poor health and she was our spoiled little one. We didn't notice anything until she tried to blackmail us into keeping Dafne's favorite pet, a cat with two-tone eyes and white fur. She was seven years old. We refused, and three days later the cat was dead. He ate a rat that had eaten rat poison, but we didn't have rat poison in the house, we had four cats to take care of it.
Harriet put her hand to her chest.
- We watched her very closely after that. And we saw that all that charming behavior was a facade. But, she passed us off as overprotective parents to everyone. She was so charming that no one saw the darkness below her. We worried when she got married, and we did it again when she became a mother. We are not surprised that she had lovers, in fact, we are grateful that she died before she could touch Scorpius with her evil
Harriet felt dizzy at the harsh words spoken by the mother of the woman she had thought until two days ago that she was the very personification of perfection. Apparently Astoria was only perfect for those below her and no one else
Harriet heard the phone ring, but it was immediately picked up by someone. If it was important they would give him the message
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Harriet saw the smoke rise from the second floor before anyone else. Lady Greengrass saw the shocked look on her face as she ran into the room where Scorpius slept.
Scorpius wasn't alone. Mrs Bullstrode was setting fire to the curtains with a log
-You will never be the mistress of this house. This will always be Mrs. Astoria's house. And I won't let a low-class whore like you erase the memory of her.
Harriet dashed forward to scoop up Scorpius in her arms and storm out of the room. But it seemed that Millicent Bullstrode had no interest in killing them. Just turning the last home of her beloved Astoria into a funeral pyre.
Harriet went out and looked back in time to make out through the flames of the old room in Astoria Mrs. Bullstrode opening the windows, picking up a brush and brushing in her imagination her late lady's hair.
Draco started yelling for Harriet and she answered him with Scorpius still in her arms.
-What happened?
-Mrs. Bullstrode has lost her mind after receiving a phone call. – Said one of the maids
Draco clutched his chest and Harriet left Scorpius with her grandparents who were crying bitterly.
-- What happened to the doctor in London?
-Astoria had cancer in her uterus. She had a few months to live. And she told the doctor that she would not die of cancer, so the police think it was suicide. ---- Draco looked into her eyes. – She wanted me to kill her, she provoked me to make her do it. If she left she wanted to ruin my life in the process.
Harriet hugged Draco tightly and pressed him against her body tightly.
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Harriet opened her eyes and got up from the bed where she was napping due to her small pregnancy. They were in Spain, in a small seaside town, enjoying the summer holidays before returning to the London mansion to take Scorpius to his boarding school in Scotland.
Harriet had dreamed of Malfoy Manor, though she knew for a fact that only ruins remained of the manor. Draco and her doesn't have the desire or the energy to build another mansion in that cursed place. But she had dreamed of the splendid hall, with the marble stairs and the Astoria room, where Mrs. Bullstrode, turned into a smoking skeleton, was combing the hair of a wet and decomposed body.
A part of Harriet knew that they had both gotten what they wanted. Astoria had the perfect reputation of her own and Mrs. Bullstrode had kept her beloved child as the sole mistress of Malfoy Manor.
Harriet had never wanted that. The only thing Harriet had ever wanted from that house was the love of the man who was looking at her from the door as if she were a gift that the Old Gods had given him personally.