Astoria by no means went out of her way to ignore Draco, but she didn't know how to tell him that she was pregnant. Every time she saw him or spent time with him, she knew that she should tell him, but couldn't bring the words to her mouth. In fact, she was in denial about it. She knew that she was pregnant, there was no doubt about it, but it just didn't seem to be real to her. She didn't yet experience morning sickness, just a few cramps here and there that the Healer told her was normal and it was just her uterus stretching. It felt like light period cramps. She wasn't far enough along to see real changes to her body. She felt her breasts ache, that was for sure. Whenever she and Draco had sex, she felt the pain a lot and tried to keep her bra on at all times. She opted for sports bras when she knew that her clothes weren't going to be removed by him. It made her clothes not fit quite right, but after a while she just didn't care. She still looked better than the majority of people, and that was all that really mattered.
The moment just never seemed right. They both had so much on their minds that the pregnancy felt like a burden, yet still an afterthought. Astoria had thought about ending it and then pretending it never happened, but she couldn't do that either. She needed to tell Draco and she knew that they had to go from there. Their relationship still felt so real that bringing a child into the world didn't seem possible. When they first began to sleep together, it was like all other relationships where it felt like that they had to be together at all times. It wasn't like she could pinpoint the time that it happened. She couldn't imagine it would have been the first time, even though she knew sure as hell that they hadn't been completely safe. He had gotten out in time, but she knew it wasn't foolproof. The moment had happened so unexpectantly that she hadn't assumed she would be having sex with them. It was so passionate that it seemed wrong to interrupt to put on protection. Astoria hadn't been taking anything to prevent pregnancy, mainly because she didn't like the side effects, and she had been sexually abstinent for quite some time anyway.
Astoria had never really wanted kids anyway. They took up so much time, they were dependent on you, and they were annoying. Astoria had always wanted to focus on her work or interests in her life. Having kids would take all of that away. How could she give up what she had for something that she didn't want? She didn't know if was the hormones, but part of her wanted to go through with it. When she sat across the couch from Draco, she had the terrible thought that she wanted to preserve a piece of him… just in case.
It had been two months, and Bill showed no signs of aggression or any changes. He just stayed as Bill. He was restless because now he was insistent that it worked and he wanted to go home. He stated that he felt different and that he knew it had worked. Draco agreed with him, but couldn't say so. All of the tests that they had done on him came back completely normal. They had done tests extremely frequently in order to track any minute changes. There were changes, but they were good changes. Draco would keep Bill updated, and he was thrilled, but impatient. He understood why he wasn't being discharged, but it didn't mean that he wanted to stay.
"You have two children," Draco said. He sat across from Bill, who had his hands clasped loosely in front of himself on the table. He actually began to groom himself again and didn't look like a mangy homeless person. Draco paused because he couldn't actually remember how many kids Bill had. He was pretty sure it was two. Maybe. He wasn't sure if he and Fleur bred like rabbits like his mother did. "Can't risk their lives."
"I know!" Bill responded. "I know. But I want to go home and see them. I'm missing so much. I'm feeling better, I'm getting better. You've told me. How much longer?"
The question had been repeated daily. It was irritating, but Draco felt like he would be a lot more aggressive if he were in Bill's situation. Even though Bill was annoying Draco with his questions, Draco knew that he would be a lot more impatient. He couldn't put himself in Bill's shoes, though. Last time he sympathized with him, Draco got the scars that were down his back. It wasn't something he could forget. When he looked at Bill, he could remember every second as if it had happened last week. Considering all the traumatic things that Draco had experienced in his life, it took a lot to be one of the most memorable.
"I'm not the one who can make that decision, remember?" Draco responded, irritably.
The power was taken away from him considering what had happened before. Draco had only been allowed to treat Bill because no one else had wanted to, but suddenly there was an interest of what happened It felt hypocritical to Draco and it felt like people were trying to take the credit and bash him during any lows. Nothing had changed. People were still judgemental assholes. He guessed that's what he had in common with everyone else, but it still didn't feel fair to him.
Instead, Seamus Finnigan had been the one who was assigned to the case. It would take Seamus, Draco, and the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Bill found it insulting that he was being considered as a magical creature, and Draco had to admit that he felt that Bill's feelings were justified. The head of the department didn't really oversee it that much for this reason, that Bill wasn't really a magical creature, and the fact that the department was always busy and backlogged. Even though Draco's life revolved around Bill's case, in the grand scheme of things, Bill wasn't of large interest to most people in the Ministry. There were bigger fish to fry, as the saying goes.
Bill looked away. "Have you been passing on my file?"
"You think I haven't?" Draco retorted, irritably. "I want you out of here as much as you do."
It came out aggressively, but Draco didn't care. He assumed that Bill was used to him now. However, Draco didn't really know where his life was going to take him after Bill was gone. His life revolved around this case, and he supposed that he would go back to dealing with walk-ins or a hand for emergencies. He doubted that his success here would make a difference to anyone. He would always be a Malfoy, and therefore he would always be under suspicion or looked down upon. He remembered when the same surname represented power. When he could use it as a threat or get whatever he wanted. Now it was an insult put upon him.
Shockingly, the information that Bill could leave came a week later. He was to be monitored for the first few days around the clock, a task that was put on Draco Malfoy and him alone, to which he wasn't surprised. He knew if he didn't take the duty that no one else would. Ginny Weasley had also inserted herself into this task, and Draco internally moped about it. He felt as if he was being supervised, even though she had no authority over him whatsoever. She had signed yet another waiver, as did Fleur, that if something happened that the hospital couldn't be held responsible. They also had to stay at the cottage so that they would be away from the general population. To Bill's irritation, the children were not allowed to be there. He understood, but he didn't have to like it. If Draco felt like he was being scrutinized, it was nothing to how Bill felt, even after Ginny's running around and trying to find a "more competent" healer to be there, or even to be with Draco. Seamus offered to check in periodically, but Draco felt it was more out of morbid curiosity.
"Don't go." Draco was surprised that Astoria made the request. He knew that she wouldn't necessarily be happy about it, but he didn't think that she would be so adamant that he didn't go. His surprise was all over his face, but her insistence was on hers.
"He's fine," Draco murmured. Even after nearly a year, Draco was still used to Pansy's unwavering support of anything he did. He remembered that sometimes he had wanted to show some sort of resistance to anything, but he was disappointed by this, but he had never let it show, because his need to be superior was larger than his need to be argued with.
Astoria paused. Words were on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she stood up and went into the kitchen where she began to make tea. He watched how she moved with precision and how she avoided looking at him.
"The silent treatment," Draco said, irritably. "And here I thought you were above that."
The teacups stirred themselves, but it didn't stop her from slamming another spoon on the countertop, a third spoon that wasn't necessary to be out in the first place.
"I am not giving you the silent treatment," she snapped. She caught him off-guard again. Astoria had never seemed truly angry with him before, and she certainly never spoke to him like that.
Draco bit back any more comments, but it was difficult. He hated confrontation and his need to have the last word was ingrained in him his whole life. He had never been allowed to argue at home with his family, so the fact that he was able to do that outside of home had always gave him a sense of power. It wasn't that he wasn't allowed to have an opinion, but it always seemed to align with his father's. He never hit Draco or raised his wand against him, but Lucius had the ability to silence a room with just a look.
"Then what do you call what you're doing?" Draco asked. "You're being ridiculous. I'm doing my job. I need to get this man out of the hospital, and I need to do it right. I need to redeem my name."
Astoria scoffed.
"What does that mean?" Draco demanded. He was getting more and more frustrated with her lack of words than anything she could say.
"Who cares what your surname represents?" Astoria asked. "You're not the same person from Hogwarts, and you're not your father."
He resented that she spoke about his father like that, even if his father had made all those mistakes, even if it was his father was the one who shamed the name to start with, the man that Draco only made infrequent contact with. It felt like only Draco could feel anything against his father. He felt like Astoria had no right to speak like that.
"You don't understand. Your family name is unmarred," Draco responded. "You have nothing to prove."
"And neither do you! I would rather you be alive than prove a point," Astoria tried to explain. There seemed to be tears in her eyes, but Draco didn't understand this sudden outpouring of emotion.
"You don't think it's going to work," Draco stated, not even a question. "And here you say I have nothing to prove."
"I'm pregnant!" Astoria suddenly burst out.
The silence was thick between them. Draco suddenly felt light headed. Out of anything she could have said, that was the last thing he had expected.
