He sighed, feeling rather sheepish without knowing exactly why. "It was... a business arrangement. The engagement was. Between her father and I. It wasn't... I didn't... At the time it felt like a logical move but recently... it didn't. And I couldn't return any affections she might have had and so... I ended things." Somewhere, he knew and registered that part of his decision to end things with Astoria was tied to the woman in front of him, but things had been so uncertain then, he was confident that his decision would have been the same regardless of her reappearance. He wasn't sure he would ever have gone through with the marriage, even without Hermione's unexpected return. Her being back had certainly... sped things up, he supposed, but ending things with Astoria was an inevitability no matter what.