Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no claims to ownership.

17 September 2005

When the doorbell rang, Harry didn't bother to move from his reclining position. More than likely, it was yet another reporter looking for a scoop. Or worse, it could be a woman looking to heal poor Harry Potter's heart. He scoffed at the idea. After everything which happened with Ginny, he wasn't trusting his heart with a woman ever again.

"If you're looking for Harry, he's not here," he heard Andromeda say shortly.

"Wait!" a woman cried, followed by a smacking sound as if she'd caught the door. "I'm Astoria Mal – Astoria Greengrass. Please, I just want to speak to him."

At those words, Harry quickly rolled to his feet. The name of Draco's wife was usually glossed over in the media, but Harry could still recognize it. He'd also heard from Ron that Ginny had broken Draco's relationship.

He rolled his eyes. Really, you should have expected this, he told himself. Ginny had dumped Neville for Michael Corner the same night of the Yule Ball. Then after she broke up with Dean, she started dating Harry himself only two weeks later. That she'd waited a month before moving on to the next man was a small miracle.

Also, if he were to believe Dean, then Ginny had been obsessed with getting Harry's attention even while she'd been in other relationships. He had to wonder if she was doing that this time around, too. Sleeping with his school rival was certainly a way to get his attention, and even now he could feel the monstrous jealousy rising in his chest as he thought of them together.

Harry shook that thought from his head. For James, he reminded himself, glancing at the toddler on the floor. As if sensing his gaze, James looked up and, at Harry's reassuring smile, gave him a gap-toothed smile in return. You have to do this for your son.

"You can let her in, Andromeda," he called.

There was a pause, and then he heard Astoria say with stiff courtesy, "Thank you." Moments later Andromeda led her into the room.

Astoria Greengrass did not look as he had expected. While she carried herself with elegance, there was a sense of kindness in her eyes which made her more attractive. He could also see it in her smile when she bent down to greet James. Other than her honey-blonde hair, she seemed to be the opposite of Narcissa Malfoy.

"Hello," she said in a soft, lilting accent typical of a pureblood; in Harry's opinion, it made even Cambridge or Oxford people sound like idiots. "I'm Astoria. What's your name?"

Instead of answering her, James stood up, toddled to Harry, and hid behind his father's legs.

"This is James," said Harry. "Say hi, James."

James hugged his legs even tighter and made no response.

"He doesn't like strangers," Harry said apologetically.

Astoria looked sympathetic as she straightened.

"I suppose I can understand that. The papers aren't targeting him, are they?"

Harry winced and ran a hand through his hair. The paparazzi was obsessed with the Man-Who-Conquered, and it got even worse when he married Ginny Weasley, a member of the Holyhead Harpies. Every moment of his life with Ginny had been publicized, even James' birth. Future Golden Boy, they had called James, fit for Gryffindor for sure. Then they began watching him, waiting to chronicle any moment of failure.

"Oh, they most definitely are," Andromeda said angrily in his place. "But I'll leave you two to your grievance party. If you need me, I'll be in the garden."

As soon as Andromeda left the room, Astoria abandoned all sense of elegance. She flopped onto the couch, took off her heels, and placed her feet on the low table in front of her.

"Shall I start first, or shall you?" she asked him.

Harry glanced down at his son, who was still clinging to him.

"Jay, how about you go help Andromeda outside?"

There were a lot of sensitive subjects which might arise, none of which he wanted James to hear. James might be only a toddler, but Harry also knew that children could be very insightful. Plus he was going to have a lot of complaints about Ginny, and he didn't want to cloud James' view of his mother.

Eventually, James reluctantly obeyed his father's nudging, and only because he was allowed to take Blackie the Stuffy with him. Then Harry summoned a bottle and two shot glasses from the kitchen. He set them up on the table and poured an equal amount into each glass.

"Shoot me a question," he said.

"Why'd you marry her?"

Harry drank before answering. He swished the liquor around in his mouth as he tried to put his thoughts into words. At last, he swallowed and said, "She was easy and convenient. I'd turned twenty-one, the same age my parents died, and Kingsley was pressuring me to get married and start a family so other people would, too." He noticed Astoria's raised eyebrows. "Well, he didn't phrase it like that, but he certainly implied it."

"What a leader," she said sarcastically, and Harry grimaced before completing his explanation.

"Anyway, about two weeks later I proposed to Ginny – on her twentieth birthday, in fact. We got married a month afterward."

He spoke the last part bitterly. What should have been their fourth wedding anniversary was only two days ago.

"Only a month?" Astoria repeated incredulously. "That's how long we waited before we started planning our wedding."

Harry waved a hand to her shot glass in a magnanimous motion.

"Go on, then. Why'd you marry Ferret-Boy?"

"Betrothal contract, initially," she replied. "And yes, that's a thing, but we can back out at any time we wish."

On that, Harry decided to keep his comments to himself.

"I'd never really thought about it – I didn't have to make a decision until I was twenty-one – but then one day, he strode into my shop, handed me a bouquet of flowers, and offered to pay off the shop's debt."

As Harry opened his mouth, she spoke over him.

"Yeah, I know. It was more like a business deal, but back then, I thought it was the most romantic gesture I'd ever seen." She looked down at her glass and blinked rapidly. "And then I couldn't get pregnant, and we thought about using that stupid Cloning Potion, and I know he was getting frustrated but that gives him no right whatsoever to fuck that tart."

Harry conjured a tissue for her to dab at her eyes.

"If it makes you feel better," he said in a commiserating tone, "Ginny slept with Smith because I wasn't paying enough attention to her."

Astoria's laugh sounded more like a hiccup. She shook her head, looking bemused as she said, "That's an even worse excuse."

From there, they went onto other topics, almost competing with their list of complaints. Her main one regarded her store, A Pinch of Gold.

"According to Draco, proper purebloods don't work in retail, and I should give up my shop which has been in my family for generations." In a rather drunken motion, Astoria held up two fingers and declared, "Well, he can have a pinch of shit."

"Ginny blamed James for ruining her career, but she could have gone back to Quidditch after he was born. Hell, I even encouraged her to!"

"And Scorpius Hyperion. I wanted Scorpius Damon – you know, a good compromise – but no, Damon was too common of a name. Can you think of anything worse than Hyper Scorpion?"

Harry straightened, feeling almost victorious as he announced, "Albus Severus. It sounds like Anus Several."

For a long moment, she only stared at him. Then she reached for the bottle, lined up both glasses in front of him, and poured a generous amount into them. She waved her hand at them the same way he had earlier. Harry knocked both of them back, enjoying the burn down his throat. Maybe they could wash away the thought of such a truly awful name.

AN: Thought of the day – if Ginny did go back to school (as I think JKR implied), then she graduated June 2000. Professional Quidditch season ends in August, so she wouldn't be able to join the team until ~2001. She got pregnant ~2003. Her long and successful Quidditch career lasted about two years. JKR was the one who made Ginny little more than Harry's Child-Bearer.