Story Title: The Mistaken Pastilles

Rating: T

Genre: Humour, Fluff

Penname: -undisclosed-

Pairing: Draco/Astoria

Summary: Astoria doesn't feel too well after eating one of her cousin's hidden joke pastilles. Or that's what she thinks...

The Mistaken Pastilles

"Daphne!" Astoria stepped out of the fireplace of her sister's place, sounding distraught. "Daphne!"

"Yes! I'm here, little sister!" Daphne came out of her study, where she had been working on the accounts of her family. "You're a little early for tea... What's the matter?"

"I–" Astoria made a heaving sound, placing her hand on her lips and then swallowed hard. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "Draco isn't home and I... I don't feel well." Smiling faintly, she opened her eyes again. "You remember the prank Mylo played on us at the last family fest?"

"You mean the Puking Pastilles?"

Astoria nodded, her hands still covering her mouth. "I think I ate one this morning. I..." She took another deep breath. "I had some sweets left Mum gave us to take home."

"But that fest was almost a month ago." Daphne led her sister to the nearest seat, as she was starting to shake. "I thought you've eaten them by now."

Astoria shook her head. "You know I don't really have a sweet tooth, but I always loved Mum's sweets... So I had one every day." Finally seated, she immediately leaned back, gripping the armrests tightly.

"Savouring them as always–"

"I hate Mylo for this!"

As much as their cousin liked to play the family jokester, Daphne knew it wasn't Mylo's fault this time. "Dotty?"

Her own house-elf appeared, an expectant look on her face. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Go fetch some water and a vial of the Nausea Potion from my bathroom for my sister. And don't take too long, or you might need to clean the carpet later."

The house elf nodded and Disapparated upstairs, from where a faint crack was heard.

"Draco only wants his childhood elf in our house," Astoria said, more to distract herself. "He calls her Tibby."

Daphne nodded and Summoned another seat to sit down opposite her sister; the grey tinge and the shallow breathing worried her as it reminded her own pregnancy with Tilda, her daughter, who was thankfully sleeping soundly in her nursery right now. Just thinking about it brought the gagging knot in her throat back. "You know what the real joke was about those Puking Pastilles?" she asked after a deep breath to shake off the memory.

Astoria's eyes flitted in her direction, narrowing slightly. "The real joke?" she asked, then swallowed hard, trying to keep herself from heaving.

"Mylo was at Mum's place yesterday with his parents, and he swore that he really didn't put any Puking Pastilles anywhere, only told everyone he did."

"What? You mean it wasn't a Puking Pastille? Like I rather ate something bad?"

The house-elf finally reappeared, with a glass of water and the vial in her hands, handing them to Daphne before disappearing once more with a polite smile towards the guest.

Daphne opened the vial before handing it to Astoria. "Take this. It'll help." She smiled softly when Astoria winced while trying to prop herself up to take the potion.

"Ugh. You took that during your pregnancy with Tilda?" Astoria grabbed the glass of water to rinse the taste of the potion down.

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, it tastes awful, but it really helped." She could almost immediately see the effects of the potion, as Astoria relaxed and her complexion slowly returned to its usual light bronze. "Better?" she asked, placing both the glass and the empty vial on the table close-by.

"Yes, thanks." Astoria leaned back; she couldn't help but smile in relief when she took her first real deep breath since she came over. "So, you're sure it wasn't one of those Puking Pastilles Mylo mentioned?"

Daphne shook her head. "I'm sure. Mum made him swear it was the truth because she hadn't felt well after the family fest either. Apparently, she had a stomach flu."

"Maybe I have something similar? Some sort of stomach flu, I mean..."

"I don't think so, my dear sister. From what Mum told me, she felt worse than you today. And she said she definitely threw up from eating something bad; she just wanted the truth from Mylo."

"Hmm..." Astoria looked up, biting her lip. She always did that when she was mulling over something. "No!" she finally whispered before covering her face. "Oh gods! That can't be..." She started to giggle, shaking her head. "Can't be." Her giggle turned into a fully fledged belly laugh. "Can't be," she repeated, trying to breathe between her fits of laughter while wiping her eyes.

Her sister's relieved sounding laugh was infectious, so even Daphne had to giggle. "Care to enlighten me?" she asked when her sister finally calmed down again.

"Sorry. I didn't think this would ever happen, we tried for so long," Astoria said, straightening herself, still chuckling. "My period is late and I felt sick this morning... And to think that I stressed out over Puking Pastilles!" She couldn't contain another relieved laugh, shaking her head in shocked disbelief before rubbing her face.

"You mean you...?" Daphne indicated to stroke over an invisible bulge, her eyes wide in surprise.

Astoria nodded, placing a hand on her own belly. "You know we tried everything. I was ready to give up, to look for other options... Even adoption. Merlin, his parents would have disliked me even more for considering!" More laughter shook her, her hand still placed on her belly. "Gods, how am I going to tell him? It'll be a shock!"

"He'll probably be happy, like you right now," Daphne replied, leaning forward. "But why don't you go see your Healer just to be absolutely sure before you tell him?"

Astoria looked at her, furrowing her brows for a second before she nodded slowly. "Maybe I should. Just to be sure. It would destroy him if it turned out to be a false alarm after telling him..." She straightened herself, stroking once more over her belly, then brushed through her hair to put it back in place. "Would you come with me? I don't want to go alone..."

Daphne sighed. As much as she would have loved to go with her sister for support, she couldn't leave her own daughter alone, nor did she want to wake her up before her time; her daughter was a difficult sleeper and every moment she was asleep was bliss. "I wish I could, sister. But I don't want to wake Tilda just yet. You know how she is."

"Yeah, I know." Still grinning broadly, but nodding in understanding, Astoria got up, slightly wobbly on her feet. "Still thanks for listening," she added before hugging her sister who had gotten up as well. "This is just the best day in my life!"

Daphne rubbed her back, and then let go of her again. "Now, go have that check-up! And then tell me everything the Healer said!"

"If you let me hold Tilda," Astoria replied, taking a step towards the fireplace. "You know she loves her aunt."

"Oh, she does. Because you spoil her rotten. Don't think I'm not going to do the same with yours!" Daphne countered amused. "See you later." She waved her sister goodbye and watched her disappear into the green flames, a happy grin now permanently attached to her lips.

Daphne waited several seconds before she used the fireplace to send a short message, knowing that the recipient would show up within moments of receiving it.

And he did.

"I take it my wife was just here?" Draco asked, his eyebrow raised in question, briefly brushing over his clothes.

Daphne nodded, pursing her lips in an attempt to contain a similarly happy smile as her sister had just shown earlier in her moment of realisation. "It worked."

He tilted his head, his eyes wide. "It did?" he asked. Silently thanking the heavens for the miracle, he let his head fall back before returning his attention to his sister-in-law with a happy smirk; even his whole posture relaxed. "Thank Merlin! She was losing hope!"

"You should have seen her laugh when she realised it, she's definitely happy."

"Thanks for your help, I owe you one."

"Nah," Daphne replied, waving dismissively. "Seeing her laugh in relief like that is good enough. Though you might want to thank Mylo for his prank that gave you the opportunity. To use Mum's sweets to hide the fertility potion..."

"A good one. And the last straw really." Draco nodded in agreement, chuckling and shaking his head as if he was still not believing the good news. "Where is she now? St. Mungo's?"

She nodded. "Yes, but she wants to tell you herself, so please play surprised when she does–"

In that moment, the fireplace came to life. "Daphne... I can't–" Astoria stepped out, but stopped mid-motion when she saw Draco. "What...?"

"Hey, love," he said, trying to put up an innocent look, but failing so completely at it because he couldn't contain his happy smirk for more than a couple of seconds. He pulled her into an embrace as words now failed him too.

"You know?" Astoria asked surprised, wrapping her arms around him. When he nodded, she buried her face in his chest, shaken by another round of laughter—the laughter of someone who had a very heavy burden taken off their shoulders.

Daphne watched them from a few steps away; she didn't want to intrude too much in this happy moment between them, as much as she shared the sentiment. But what touched her the most was Draco's reaction, who still tended to keep his emotions hidden—for the first time since their wedding, she saw him completely unguarded, with an unusually broad and happy smile, even discreetly wiping his eyes. They were both chuckling repeatedly, unable to say anything for a moment. Daphne could only imagine the relief they both must feel in this moment, having been pressured so much by the situation that it had almost let them lose hope it would ever happen at all. Oh, she was sure that they would spoil their child out of love!

"I'm sorry, Daphne just told me," Draco said when he was finally able to speak again, though his voice was still a bit thick with emotion. He placed a kiss on Astoria's forehead. "And I hope you're not mad at me, but we played you a bit."

Astoria looked up, her expression changing from confusion to worry, biting her lip as well as furrowing her brows. "You did what? You mean I'm not–?"

"No, no. You most probably are, love! Don't worry!" he stopped her in an apologetic tone, shortly rubbing her back. "That's not what I meant. Believe me, I'm just as happy as you are–"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, my husband and supposed love of my life! What have you done?" Astoria loosened the embrace to have a better look at him.

"Sister, please," Daphne said, intervening. Her little sister sometimes had the habit of jumping to assumptions where there were none. "We just helped a bit. What you thought were Mylo's Puking Pastilles hidden in Mum's sweets was, in fact, a new fertility potion–"

Astoria made a step back, staring at both of them. "Another fertility potion? After how many I've tried before?" After glaring at both of them with dangerously narrowed eyes, she started to shake her head with a disbelieving smirk. "That is one hell of a trick you played on me. Seriously! Making me believe I ate one of Mylo's Puking Pastilles!" She slapped Draco on the shoulder.

"Ouch," he complained, rubbing the spot. "I just wanted to–"

"Shh... It's okay, you idiot." She pulled him towards her, again shaking her head in disbelief, but now grinning broadly. "You idiot," she repeated before framing his face with her hands to pull him down. "For that, you're coming along to the check-up with my Healer." And with that, she placed a heartfelt kiss on his lips.

END