She was in Verdic Alley with Astoria, the two women chatting over tea as Elia attempted to ignore the feeling of eyes on her. Astoria had the healthy glow of pregnancy, her second child due sometime in the spring. She and Draco had been trying for a second child for years, wanting to give Scorpius a sibling, but this had been the first time she'd passed the three-month mark.

"Have you thought on names?" She asked, idly stirring her cup.

"Something celestial," Astoria told her. "We've another four months before we have to settle on a name, but for a girl I was thinking Carina."

"It's a lovely name," Elia told her, smiling at the thought of a little girl toddling after Astoria. She knew enough about Draco to know he would be utterly smitten with a daughter, the man completely enamoured with his wife and son.

That Draco continued the traditions of his mother's family only highlighted how highly he valued the women in his life.

"He wanted to name a son Castor," Astoria added, smiling in amusement. "Narcissa talked him out of that."

Of course she would, she smiled, knowing the woman wanted something different and unconnected to the Blacks she had personally known.

"Any plans for your anniversary?"

"None that I am aware of," Elia said ruefully. "He's keeping mum on the subject."

That almost a year had passed surprised her sometimes; at times, it felt as if they had been together for such a short time, others it felt as if Elia had spent untold years living in Potter Hall.

Her eyes lingered on the yellow gold engagement ring, the oval-shaped diamond glinting as it caught the light. Her wedding band was of a similar make, though in place of a gem there were words inscribed in Parsel. She hadn't known what they said, but he'd found a book of runes amongst the jewels kept in the Potter vault, his great-uncle insisting they use that on the underside of the bands, and Harry had continued the script into the top of her ring, what looked like squiggles interlocking beautifully.

With the fullness of my soul, I vow myself to you.

She wore rings more often since coming to this world; her engagement and wedding rings, the ring signifying her position as Lady Potter-Black, and the joint gift the children had given her before the wedding, a gold signet ring with the Martell crest etched in ruby.

"Are you well?" Astoria asked, her brows furrowed in concern. "You've barely eaten anything."

"I'm fine," she answered, hiding the uneasy feeling that swept through her.

She had felt as if there was someone watching them, keeping an oddly insistent eye on the two women, and she had half a mind to ask Harry or Draco if they had an elf following them.

"You're holding your stomach," Astoria noted.

"An unfortunate part of our monthly's," Elia murmured, seeing the sympathetic grimace on Astoria's features. "In any case, you're the one with a child playing quidditch in your stomach."

"Far more actively than Scorpius did," she grumbled. "He was more docile, a sweet baby both in and out of the womb."

Elia laughed, ignoring the slight ache in her stomach as she teased Astoria of all that awaited her, eyes sweeping across the room but unable to see anyone or no longer feel the prickling stare.


It wasn't until she returned home after her evening with Astoria, the kids tucked into bed and Harry tinkering with the runes he was learning in his workroom that Elia realized what was happening.

She'd gone through two pregnancies with little time between them, but she had seen her goodmother go through a miscarriage to know that was what she was experiencing. She left her dressing room at the sight of blood, Euphemia's calls going unanswered as she hurried to her bathroom. She had thought her moonblood was coming a touch earlier, ignoring the cramps she had been feeling as routine and not a sign something she ever thought to experience after her wedding.

Elia ignored the knocking at the door, focusing on cleaning up as much as she could. Harry burst into the bathroom, his eyes going wide at the sight before he dropped to his knees before her, his hand moving to turn on the bath. He was waiting for her when she finished, and Elia was too drained to make the short trek to their room, feeling Harry gather her in his arms.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, settling into the space next to her as his arms wrapped around her.

Untethered, she thought. "I'm not sure," she murmured, taking a shuddering breath before she buried her face in the crook of his neck, feeling Harry's arms tug her closer.

She'd not known until now how very much she wanted this child. Objectively, she had known she and Harry would not be having children together; it was impossible, as far as they both knew, and they had Aegon, Rhaenys and Teddy. Another child had not crossed her mind, but this possibility had filled her with want and grief.

She fell asleep like that, countless emotions swirling through her as her husband held tightly to her, a steady rock despite the feelings she knew this would bring him. She'd woken a few times throughout the night, swallowing the sleeping draught on the table before she succumbed to the pull of darkness.

She woke later than usual, the sun past the midway point as she stirred, shifting in Harry's arms. He was still wearing his bedclothes, his torso bare as he ran a hand down her back.

"Hey you," he said softly, green eyes concerned.

"Hey yourself," she replied.

"I spoke to a healer while you were sleeping," he whispered, eyes tinged with slight grief and worry.

Elia felt herself stiffen, her hand cupping his jaw as she pulled him into a short kiss. "This is not your fault," she told him, knowing he would hold himself responsible, the silly man. "It's no one's fault."

He wore a sad smile as he muttered, "It is. The healer thinks we were too hasty in declaring me sterile. It's more of an improbable chance than outright impossible, and bound to result in more miscarriages if we don't use a contraceptive."

No, she thought. She knew where he was leading, and Elia was unsure if she wanted to give up so quickly. More than the grief of the loss was the hope that perhaps one day there would be another child bouncing around the house; a little boy or girl that looked like a mix of her and Harry, an improbable surprise.

"Harry," she started, already seeing him shake his head.

"There's no point," he insisted. "Nothing beyond the grief of losing another baby, Elia. I don't want that for us."

"And if I did?" She challenged, pulling back to look at his eyes, seeing the slight anger growing behind the sadness. "If I wanted to try?"

"And suffer untold miscarriages?" He snapped. "Do you know what that could do to you? What it would do to me if I had to see you suffer because of me?"

"We don't know that," she retorted, hand splayed against his neck as she felt the quick thrum of his heart. "The healers have already been wrong."

"A minor difference," he snarked, "and not something I'm willing to risk. This isn't Westeros Elia, where you feel as if you have to provide children for your husband. I've already been given three children I never thought to have. I don't need more."

He let go of her, rolling over to sit at the edge of the bed as she forced herself to sit up, watching as his muscles tensed in anger.

"And if I want to take the chance? It'll be me going through the miscarriage if it happens, Harry," she told him, seeing a shirt fly into his hand.

"Good thing it takes two of us to make a baby," he retorted, shrugging on his shirt. "I told the kids I'd bring them back as soon as you were awake and feeling better," he muttered, leaving the room in a foul mood.

Elia leaned against the pillows, scowling at the short argument they had. He wouldn't change his mind easily, Harry. It was something she had learned early on, the inexplicable guilt he felt at events outside of his control that caused his loved ones to suffer, even when it was through no fault of his. Simply being tied to the person caused him to fall into a spiral.

She absentmindedly filled the glass on her cabinet with water, mind focused on the possibility that had shown itself.

It was so very difficult, ignoring it now that she knew they could potentially have a child of their own; a sibling for Aegon, Rhaenys and Teddy, a pregnancy she could possibly enjoy without worry of death in the birthing bed hanging over her, a child when Harry thought it impossible.

Sighing, she put on a smile as the door banged open, Aegon and Rhaenys clambering onto the bed as they asked after her, Harry nowhere to be seen.


They stayed in an odd impasse well into the new year.

To the rest of the world, things remained as they always had, the two of them good at playing mummer in public. At home, things turned frosty at different times. Teddy had returned for the Yule and Easter hols, gaze lingering on the two of them as he frowned in discontent. They carried on as usual, able to ignore the issue for long stretches of time, but there had been a definite cooling of their ardour, no longer as easily affectionate as they had been in that first year.

She was currently walking through Diagon, Teddy holding her arm in his as they shopped for a gift for his newest cousin. Astoria had given birth to a little girl, a carbon copy of her brother at birth but that she had her mother's heart-shaped face. Little Carina has stolen the hearts of those who met her, Draco smitten with his daughter as Narcissa doted over the first Malfoy daughter in three generations.

"Is everything alright, Mum?" Teddy asked lowly, eyes flicking around for watching strangers.

"Edward," she said lightly, a slight warning note in her tone as she felt the familiar prickling sensation. It was there whenever she came out in public, the odd feeling that she was being watched, and Elia at times wondered if this was what Aerys felt in his fits of paranoia.

Teddy glanced around them before he pulled out his wand, muttering two spells lowly, though she knew from the slight shimmer that one of them was a notice-me-not charm.

"You're not supposed to use magic outside of school," she said disapprovingly.

"We're in the alley. They can't tell who did it," he said, waving off her words. "Are you sure everything's fine? You and Dad haven't been the same since I left for school."

"We're fine," she reassured him, seeing the concern in his dark eyes. "Couples have minor disagreements all the time."

"This doesn't look minor," he retorted, "and I've never seen you and Papa fight."

"Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen," she said dryly, knowing they had managed to keep the children in the dark about their many disagreements. "It's a normal part of life, sweetling. Neither of us is perfect, nor does any couple keep that early wedded bliss."

Teddy's brows furrowed in concern and slight disbelief, his eyes watching her carefully as she picked out a gift for Carina.

"If you're sure," he muttered, dropping the silencing charm as well.

She ran her hand through his curls, pressing a faint kiss to his forehead. He had grown taller at school, coming up to her shoulder. Soon he would tower over her, as would Aegon.

They made a quick stop at Madam Malkin's, ordering school robes with some room for growth before heading home with their purchases.

Harry was in the sitting room when they arrived, a game of exploding snap open as he mock scolded Aegon for blowing up the cards too soon, and Elia folded into the space next to him, her head resting on his shoulder as she felt him drop a kiss on her head.

"Everything alright?" He murmured, green eyes soft as she turned to look at him. He caught her in a kiss, a light smirk playing on his lips as he felt her body arching into his, the infuriating man.

"I'll be fine," she said lowly, head falling to his shoulder as they turned back to the game, Teddy throwing himself into the space between Aegon and Rhaenys as he reshuffled the deck.

She watched her family, seeing the children laughing as Teddy ducked to avoid a face full of ash, magic dancing in the air as the ashes gathered around them, bits of it falling into their hair.

"You look rattled," Harry said quietly, his concern obvious.

It was in moments like this when Elia forgot why she was upset, seeing his eyes crinkle in concern, knowing he worried enough for the both of them.

"Just ignoring the feeling of eyes on us in Diagon," she admitted, smiling tiredly at him. "I'd almost forgotten how popular you were."

He scoffed, wrapping an arm around her waist as he teased, "They love you far more than they ever did me."

She laughed lightly, knowing his words to be true and tried to ignore the unsettled feeling in her stomach.