With winter, many things come: Astoria's depression bouts, flu season, and Luna.
Luna always seems to know when Astoria is about to fall into bed and not come back, and appears on her doorstop with tanned skin, short hair, and tales from the Amazon Florest.
Bleary eyed, Astoria blinks quietly, inviting the blond girl in with a nod of her head. Luna smiled brightly, and entered, not noticing the calculated mess it was.
"I'll make some tea. Green?", Astoria asked, making her way to the kitchen, Luna behind her humming an agreement as she sat on the couch, putting her heavy bag by her side and making it groan. "If you brought a rock again, I'm sending the bill to the Ministry."
"Oh, don't worry, it's just paper,", Luna's voice said, wafting through the kitchen. Astoria smiled to herself, putting some water to boil on the stove. Paper, sure. "How are you?"
Astoria considered the question carefully, picking the leaves and setting aside her best china, which was a chipped blue and gold thing that Luna had brought her from Australia. Astoria absolutely loved it.
"I'm fine, as much as I can be on winter,", Astoria replied, shrugging to no one else, picking up the old fashioned wooden box she used to keep teabags, a gift Daphne had sent with a letter telling Astoria to visit her and her daughter during Christmas. "I barely got out of bed yesterday and today I gorged out. I was fine a few days ago, but this weather doesn't help."
She could hear Luna humming, and Astoria knew Luna was waiting for more information.
"I am fine. I just need more sun, but this is England, and this is the busiest season for me. Otherwise, I'd be having a blast in some beach, away from everything."
"Oh, I can imagine, you copped up inside, watching the muggles. Sounds fun,", Luna said, and by the sound of it, set something at the table while Astoria moved to put the now boiling water in the teacups, a wandwave making the green tea teabags ended up in the cups. "How's the job?"
Astoria smiled to herself, telling Luna briefly about some anti-vaxxer muggle mom that had appeared on her office, like they all seemed to do on winter, and in turn, as she brought the steeped tea, Luna told her tales from the Amazon, some Animagus clan that traveled through rivers with their Amazon river dolphin form and were the source of a myth of dolphin-turned-man who impregnated girls and left. While they had tried something with Luna, they left her alone after it dawned on them that she wasn't a muggle.
"They did lead me to a fantastic, manatee-like creature, and they told me it was a local mermaid. I think it might have been just a common manatee, although,", Luna mused, sipping her tea, the inclining her head. "Hm, maybe not. It did have a lot of Nargles around its head…"
Astoria wished she had something to eat, nodding quietly.
"Do chose an official stance for the Ministry relatory. I'm sure they wouldn't like undecision."
Luna laughed, soft as a chime.
"Oh, I can always say I haven't yet decided and need to check again. Matheus promised to show me some more creatures if I went there again."
Astoria rolled her eyes, ready to shot back some commentary on anti-pregnancy potions needing safe packaging, when the doorbell rang. She told Luna she'd be right back, and hoped, for all it was worth it, it wasn't Draco.
It was. Astoria wondered why she still had hopes.
Astoria stared at Draco, who shined, carrying a bag who smelled suspiciously of cookies. While Astoria was always in the mood for baked good, this was not the right time.
"Astoria, you'll never believe - "
"Is that Draco?", Luna's voice said, coming from the apartment, and both froze. "If it is, tell him to come in, he has many Nargles around his head, I can hear them buzzing from here."
There was a pause where both didn't breath, where the only thing Astoria saw was herself reflected in grey eyes.
"Is he carrying food? That might be it. Tell him to come in, I'm going to inspect it."
Draco and Astoria keep staring at each other. Some old lady, passing by the hall, snickers at them, and Astoria stammers.
"Can I?", he asked, in a stage whisper. Astoria nodded and let him in, closing the door quietly and glaring at the old lady's back like a child for a moment.
When she came back to the living room, she found Luna smiling placidly to a very umcomfortable, suit wearing (again?) Draco. He did put the bag in the table, revealing a box full of cookies, at least.
"As I thought, full of Nargles,", Luna said, picking up one cookie. "What brings you here, Draco?"
"I'm Astoria's neighbor,", he told, nervously looking from one corner to another. Astoria picked up a cookie for herself, munching on it. Draco rose up, not looking to Luna. "I just wanted to tell her something, but I… Can do that later.I'll see myself out."
She stared at him. Astoria kept munching.
"Don't worry, Draco. I don't hold it against you.", Luna put her hands on her lap, tiny white scars showing. Astoria had asked, once, and Luna just said Bellatrix before going back to some mystical animal. "We did what we needed to do to survive."
Draco said nothing, leaving the cookies behind. They stayed in silence for a few minutes, until Luna broke it.
"These are some good cookies. Matheus would appreciate it,", she said, and gave a mock glare to Astoria. "Unlike someone, whose head is just swimming with Nargles. Come on, Astoria, don't worry, it's not like you befriended Bellatrix and she nows brings you cookies. I'd be sad if you did befriend Bellatrix. She looks like a mad queen."
"You're right about mad,", Astoria pointed out, picking a cookie and analyzing it. How did Draco even buy it? He barely understood muggle money. "I'm sure that, if Matheus likes it so much, you should marry him and have his precious Animagus babies."
Luna cracked a smile, and told her more stories about the Animagus clan, making Astoria forget about Draco a little.
It lasted a week, although. Soon enough, Draco was in her office, in the middle of flu season, and she could feel a headache forming itself as Natalie winked at her.
"Draco. I'm not sure if you're aware, but there are fifteen babies waiting to receive the exact same diagnosis, and I cannot drink on the job. Please tell me it's worth the fifteen minutes you bought me."
Draco fidgeted on his seat, and put a small cookie tin with some fancy letters proclaiming it to be from the rich people bakery near her flat.
"I got a job. On the bakery. Aparently, I'm good with numbers, or something. Vector would be proud,", he said, chuckling to himself, as Astoria decided to keep the cookies handy for herself and away from sneezings babies. "They said that if I stick around I can learn how to make the food. Can you believe it? These people aren't judginf me because I…"
He stopped himself mid-phrase, and Astoria blinked, surprised. She never thought her offhand commentary would be taken seriously.
"It's him, I'm assuming?", Astoria asked, tilting her head. Draco nodded. "Well, that's what's nice about living with the muggles, no one calls you Death Eater scum because you happened to be in Slytherin during the war. Isn't that fantastic?"
She was bitter, bitter like some old had, and it made her flinch. Draco just nodded.
"To us, then, filthy slimy Slytherins who are Death Eater scum.", he smiled, and Astoria smiled in turn.
"To being a filthy Death Eater scum,", she smiled, and faked a toast to Draco, who simply looked at her, confused. She sighed. "Alright, first thing as soon as I'm free from this hell, I'm taking you to watch a movie. Now move, Draco, I have fourteen babies to attend."
He frowned.
"I'm fairly sure you said fifteen when I came in."
"You were one. Off you go, thanks for the cookies, I'll savor them with a bit of Firewhiskey after this is over."
Draco sighed loudly and left, not so mercifully, to the tender cares of moms who researched one symptom and thought their baby had anything else than the common flu. Astoria was tired.
When the last one was up, Astoria sighed to herself, deciding that it was high time that she ate her cookies, when Natalie knocked softly on the door, looking a bit awestruck, and smiled.
"Got time for one more baby today, doc?", Natalie said, and Astoria was already cursing whatever mom thought that keeping her past her already stretched time was a good thing to do. But she is gracious about it, and tells Natalie to let whoever it is in, accepting a thin folder with no name on it.
She hides her cookies just in time to see no one else than boy wonder Harry Potter and rebel leader Ginny Weasley (Potter, she assumes now. Maybe Daphne was right, maybe Astoria did need to have some sort of connection to the wizarding world.), with Potter carrying a baby that looks maybe like it's two years old, maybe a bit older.
She made a mental note to get a signature of the Daily Prophet again and smiled as professionally as possible to the two of them, with Weasley (... Potter? Weasley-Potter?) more surprised than anyone else.
"Hello there. I'm afraid that I haven't had a chance to read your case, but why don't you talk about it to me?", she asked, smiling, opening the folder and reading the baby's name - James Sirius Potter. A typical pureblood's name, she thought, and read what sounded like a two year old baby not reacting to potions at all.
Astoria smoothed her expression as Potter and Weasley described exactly what she read, but in far less clinical terms, like the baby's regurtating of some fever potions and calming draughts. While Astoria appreciated the level of detailing they had, she also thanked that she never got to eat those cookies.
"Alright, I have an idea of what's going on,", she said, and the two of them shut up. The baby kept its sleep, and Astoria wanted to thank him for not screaming her ears off. The redness in his face did look a bit worrying, although, so she decided to cut the chase. "Your baby can't digest potions. Very common issue between purebloods, as I'm sure you're aware, and results in vomiting of any potions and makes them completely useless since their magical system cannot handle them, thanks to genetic issues that surface when bloodlines are inbred. No offense, though, this is the medical vision of the inability regarding the digestion of potions."
They looked gobsmacked, Weasley's hand that was calmly patting the asleep baby completely stopping. Astoria felt like a know-it-all that was unwelcome, and cleared her throat to clear her thoughts.
"Anyway, this isn't the end of the world. You can offer your child muggle medicine,", she started her usual welcome-to-muggleland discourse, while writing down safe medicines for children and usual dosages, together with some doctor's recommendations that didn't involve medicine, but common sense, like non-magical vaccinations. She doubted they had it, anyway.
In the end, Potter and Weasley thanked her, and when Potter rose up, Weasley stayed sat in her place.
"I want to ask a few things to her, Harry. Would you wait for me?", Weasley asked, and started to rock baby James back to sleep when he started to wake.
"If you'd like to, mr. Potter, there's a pharmacy that's always open one block from here,", Astoria suggested, smiling, and Harry Potter left her office with her recipe in his back pocket.
When the door was closed, Astoria waved her wand and put a privacy ward on, and stared at Weasley's face. Weasley stared back, while the baby slept, unaware of whatever was coming down.
"You're Astoria Greengrass,", Weasley said, and Astoria wondered if maybe Draco wasn't right, all those years ago, and maybe all Weasleys were weasels. "Listen, I know I wasn't the best person, all those years ago, but - "
"I'm not poisoning your baby, Weasley. I'm a certified doctor, and if babies just started dropping dead in my care, you can bet your wand I'd not be here,", Astoria cut in, not interested in hearing about Weasley's vision of the war. She kept staring at Weasley, who didn't waver.
"Anyway, as I was going to say, is it possible that we can have you as James' official… Healer? Since potions don't work on him, and we don't know muggle medicines, I'm afraid we're going to need a specialist."
Astoria set back on her chair, considering for one moment Weasley's proposition, but there wasn't much to consider. She had an oath to obey, in the end of the day.
"Sure, just do me a favour and set an appointment in a normal time with Natalie. She takes owls, floo calls, whatever. Don't think just because your husband's famous I'm going to stay up late.", Astoria shrugged, and Weasley seemed relieved. "Is that all?"
Weasley seemed unsure for one second, and rose up, Astoria following her example to make sure that no extra babies came to interrupt her precious time with baked goods.
However, Weasley stopped in the door, adjusting the baby in her arms. Astoria wanted to cuss her.
"Do tell me, Greengrass. What's the chance another baby has this disease?", she asks, and Astoria sighs at how utterly lost Weasley looks. Hell, even during the worst days of the war, during the rebellion, Weasley didn't look like a kicked, rain soaked puppy like she did right now, looking at baby James.
She was going to regret her next actions, Astoria knew.
"Without an in-depth study of yours and Potter's family trees, I'd say one baby in four,", Astoria replies, and goes back to her table, scribbling her address on a piece of paper that she offers Weasley after for quick steps. "Here, Weasley. If anything happens to him and you or Potter can't solve with, come to my house. Don't Floo in, although, I don't have one."
Weasley blinks at her once, and with some careful maneuvering, manages to stick it in her pocket.
The moment she is out of her door, Astoria regrets her decision, but figures it probably won't come back to hit her.