Astoria Greengrass

Astoria Malfoy was born Astoria Greengrass in England, Great Britain, into the British Pure-blooded Greengrass family, which was one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families. She had an elder sister named Daphne Greengrass, a classmate of Draco Malfoy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Astoria joined Hogwarts two years after Draco and Daphne in the year 1993. It is uncertain which house Astoria was sorted into. However, it is highly likely that she may have been a Slytherin too. Astoria graduated from Hogwarts a few years after the Battle of Hogwarts and married Draco Malfoy. The couple had a son named Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, who would go to Hogwarts in the year 2019. Astoria would soon breathe her last due to a blood curse cast upon her ancestor.

Etymology

As with several characters in the Harry Potter Universe, Astoria Greengrass has significant meaning behind her name. However, there are several interpretations of where Astoria’s first name comes from. The name Astoria may be derived from the London Astoria, which is a music venue in the city of London, or the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, which is situated in New York City. This hotel is a famously luxurious hotel and was named after the Astors, an influential American family. Other interpretations include Astraea, which is the name of a daughter of Zeus, which means ‘star-maiden’ in Greek. This may be similar with respect to her husband’s maternal family, where they named members after constellations and heavenly bodies.

Astraea is also the name of one of the Titans of Greek mythology and is sometimes spelled as Asteria, as one notices in the Weasley family tree. Astoria’s maiden name Greengrass is believed to be linked to the Slytherin house as green is the primary color of the Slytherin house, and the term “Greengrass” could be a reference to the grass on which snakes, Slytherin’s emblem, slither. It also might be derivative of the common phrase “a snake in the grass,” which was very unlike Astoria’s behavior.

Biography

Astoria Greengrass, along with her older sister Daphne Greengrass was brought up in the Greengrass home where Pure-Blooded ideologies were very dominant. They were taught from a very early age that a Pure-Blooded lineage must be maintained both within the family, and any sympathies held towards Muggles, Muggle-borns, and even Squibs for their non-magic traits should be discouraged and treated like scum. It is unknown if her parents or other relatives were ever Death Eaters or at least vocal supporters of Voldemort, but it is highly likely. 

Daphne joined Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991, which was the same year as Astoria’s future husband Draco, the famous Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Daphne was also sorted into the same house as Draco. Two years later, Astoria joined Hogwarts and was likely sorted into Salazar Slytherin’s house as well, but it is not known and her being a Slytherin is pure speculation based on family values and her initial leanings toward the ideals of pure-blood supremacy, which required her to hate muggle-borns and half-bloods alike.

Genealogy

Astoria Greengrass was brought up by her parents, whose names are not known. She had an elder sister, Daphne Greengrass. The only other known relative of hers mentioned in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is an ancestor who was cursed with a blood malediction. It is not known if he was worthy of this punishment or if it was an accident, but the toll of her family curse plagued her deeply and ultimately caused her death. Although not evident in her teenage years, the curse surfaced sometime after she was married as a result of her ancestor’s blood being linked to her. She grew very frail and weak as an effect of this curse. The pregnancy and her eventual delivery of Scorpius weakened her further.

Hogwarts

Two years after her elder sister Daphne, Astoria joined Hogwarts. It is not clear if Draco knew her then or anytime during his stay at Hogwarts, but it is possible that he knew her at least as the younger sister of a fellow Slytherin. The year Astoria joined Hogwarts, the castle was dealing with the breakout of Sirius Black from Azkaban and several visits from him into the castle. The presence of dementors also added to the topics of discussion at that time. Interestingly, it was the same year that her future husband Draco would misbehave with Buckbeak the Hippogriff and get attacked by him. It is not known if Astoria was sorted into Slytherin house or some other house, but she was a student at Hogwarts after 1993. Her pure-blood ideals may have faded in time after she witnessed the events of the Second Wizarding War, including the Battle of Hogwarts. She would eventually develop a more tolerant life view, even advising her son to be accepting of all types of people. Since there was a two-year gap between Draco’s entry into Hogwarts and Astoria’s entry, it is possible that she graduated from Hogwarts either in 1999 or early 2000.  

Marriage 

The circumstances of the meeting of Draco and Astoria are unknown. It is possible that they met in Hogwarts or through their parents since they both came from pure-blooded families that were also keen on their supremacy. Draco married Astoria in the early 2000s, and although his parents must’ve been initially happy with Draco’s choice, Astoria’s stand against pure-blood supremacy soon made Astoria a disappointment to both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Their high hopes of a girl who was a member of the Greengrass family being their daughter-in-law were short-lived.

However, Draco stood his ground and defended her with his parents, something she claimed to Scorpius as being one of the most courageous things he had ever done. However, Astoria’s relationship with her husband’s maternal family would never be any good as the Blacks were equally pure-blood fanatics. Even until their old age, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy considered Draco’s wife, Astoria, a somewhat disappointing daughter-in-law. However, they were quite happy about having their grandson Scorpius, but family gatherings always ended up in the seclusion of Astoria despite the intentions of Draco to bridge the family together.

Rumors about Voldemort

The Malfoy family only had one member after Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, other than Astoria, which is one of the reasons Astoria requested Draco to continue the bloodline with a child. However, Draco’s intentions were to prevent causing any potential damage to his wife, which is why he didn’t mind being the last survivor and ending the Malfoy family bloodline. However, the couple eventually conceived a child, and he was named Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. However, after Scorpius’s birth, since Astoria was unwell and had a blood malediction, several false rumors began to spread about the true parentage of the baby. Some rumors also posited that Draco and Astoria must have used a Time-Turner and asked for Lord Voldemort to help conceive the baby using Dark Magic. Hence, the rumor that Scorpius was Voldemort’s child eventually stuck. The stigma of these rumors made it difficult for her son Scorpius to make friends at school.

Scorpius Malfoy

Scorpius Malfoy was the only son of Astoria and Draco. He is also probably the only character other than Draco to have deeply valued Astoria as a person. He was very close to Astoria and is believed to have loved her very deeply. He is also believed to have inherited several of her traits. She had once told him that sharing sweets is a good way to make friends, which is how Scorpius became close friends with Albus Potter. Astoria accompanied Draco to the King’s Cross station in London to drop Scorpius off on his first journey in the Hogwarts Express before his first year at Hogwarts.

In the Harry Potter movies, specifically Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Astoria Greengrass appears in the epilogue and was played by Jade Olivia, the then real-life girlfriend of Draco actor Tom Felton. Astoria’s life would eventually come to end around the time of Scorpius’s third year in Hogwarts. She had a quiet and peaceful funeral attended by close family. Harry Potter fans were surprised that Malfoy didn’t end up with Pansy Parkinson, his Slytherin classmate. However, J. K. Rowling has confirmed that she preferred that Draco end up with someone like Astoria, which gave him a ‘redemptive arc’ as a character. She also claimed that Pansy Parkinson was a sort of anti-Hermione who reminded her of all the girls who were mean to her during her adolescence.

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