Astoria opened the window and the heavy smell of booze and urine assaulted her nose making her gag but she was boiling in the summer heat. She could have used a cooling spell but her magic was all over the place and her casting the charm could land her and tenants of her apartment building in St. Mungos after her magic went wild and blew up the entire building. She would rather boil than be responsible for that. She sat there staring out the window at the people walking by heading into Diagon Alley and had the urge to take a walk to see if she could ease the tension in her back. Her trip down the stairs and onto the cobbled streets took longer than expected and she was winded by the time her swollen feet hit the ground.
She leaned against the wall just beside the door to catch her breath before she took off down the street. Her pace was slow and the pressure on her lower back was becoming more intense, every few feet she had to stop to take deep breaths in order to stay upright and not fall to her knees in agony. She knew by the time she hit midpoint of Diagon Alley that she wouldn't make it back to her flat. Astoria was panting in pain as she grabbed the wall nearest to her and leaned her head against the glass and closed her eyes as tears slid down her cheek with the rising pain now stretching from her lower back to her stomach. The pain became so unbearable her knees were ready to give out, but just as they began to buckle she heard screaming and glanced around to figure out who it was only to realize it was her. Her throat was burning and her tears were falling into her mouth when she realized there were hands gripping her shoulder and pulling her backward against a hard chest.
"Mrs. Malfoy? Are you alright?" George asked.
Astoria turned and grabbed George's shirt pulling him close to her face,"I need to go to St Mungo's the baby…" she began as another contraction started and her eyes went wide and the scream that pushed its way out of her was blood curdling.
George grabbed her waist as her knees gave way and water began to leak from the bottom of her dress soaking both of their feet and making George's eye bulge slightly as the situation finally dawned on him. As soon as the contraction subsided George picked her up bridal style and apparated her to the kitchen at the Burrow when another contraction consumed Astoria and sent her into another screaming fit.
"For Merlin sake get a grip girl. You're not the first witch to ever give birth." Molly Weasley scoffed at the screaming witch.
"P-please h-help me..." Astoria whined, tears still actively streaming down her reddened cheeks.
"Where are your parents, shouldn't you be giving birth at Greengrass Manor!?"
"My father," she began to explain, "he made me leave the Manor and refuses to have contact with me."
Molly shook her head and directed George to take Astoria to one of the empty bedrooms up stairs. "Get her a pain potion and I will boil some water." She narrowed her eyes at the desperate witch, "The only reason I am helping you is because that" she pointed to Astoria's stomach,"baby is my grandchild. I won't let it suffer because of you and my moronic son."
"Grandchild!?" George asked, confused as to the entire conversation. "Which one of my moronic brothers is the father?"
"Ronald," they both said at the same time.
"Honestly, George are you so busy in that shop of yours to not pay attention to the news or to your own family?" Molly replied with an exasperated sigh. " Take her upstairs!"
George walked to his old bedroom and placed her on the bed he grew up sleeping in. "I will be-"
"NO!" Astoria panicked and grabbed George's hand in a death grip as another contraction began and she closed her eyes to keep from screaming again. "P-Please stay, please George, please…"
George looked shocked and slightly anxious. He nodded, "Are you sure?" He asked.
Astoria nodded vigorously. "Pllleeeeaaassseee!" She screamed in pain.
"Okay. Okay. I will stay with you. Just please don't break my hand." He conceded with a pained grunt. He reached out and slid the desk chair closer to the bed and sat beside the screaming witch. "Astoria, please you need to breathe. The last thing we want is for you to pass out."
"Fuck you! You try pushing out an enormous head from a tiny hole and then tell me to fucking breathe!" She screamed. In almost the same breath she began to sob, "I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have yelled at you…" She whimpered.
Molly walked into the room carrying a large cauldron full of boiled and fresh looked at George, "Transfigure your brother's bed into a bassinet and line it with some of these towels, and make sure they are dry. We don't want the child catching a chill." She instructed.
Molly turned to the panting witch, "I need to check how dilated you are." Molly lifted Astoria's dress and vanished her soaked knickers with a single wave of her wand. "This will be uncomfortable. Bend your legs and open them as wide as you can."
Astoria's face turned red but did as Molly instructed. The intrusion was painful and she shut her eyes to keep her embarrassment of the situation from making her cry again.
"You are at 4 centimeters, you still have a while before the baby will arrive." Molly said almost clinically. She was trying her best to be supportive of the mother of her grandchild even if the situation went against every value and moral she held within her family.
"M-Mrs Weasley," Astoria stuttered, "Thank you."
Molly nodded and walked out of the room to see if she could find some cloth diapers and clothes to put on the baby.
George looked at Astoria. "Have you gotten everything you need for this baby?" He asked calmly as he sat back down beside her once more.
"I have nothing," she confessed glumly.
George sighed and shook his head. "How in the bloody hell did you get mixed up with my stupid arse brother? You are a beautiful woman that was married into the most powerful family in Wizarding Britain and you picked Ronald to have an affair with?"
"George, if all you're going to do is rub my failures in my face then Get OUT!" she suddenly screamed.
"Whoa! I am just trying to understand is all, I didn't mean to offend."
"I'm sorry… Please don't leave. I am just so frightened, I feel so alone. I am tired and I just want to sleep and wake up from this nightmare."
"A baby isn't a nightmare, Astoria they are a blessing," George sighed and looked at her wearily. "I have always wanted children, just as mischievous and Fred and I when we were children but the war saw to it that will never happen. Be thankful you can at least have children."
She looked at him confused and saddened by his confession, "Why are you unable to have children?" She asked with curiosity.
"During the battle of Hogwarts, I was hit with the same spell Hermione was that caused her lack of fertility." He explained. "Antonin Dolohov was a real bastard. It seems he was experimenting with creating his own curses and came across one that causes infertility."
Astoria gently took his hand into her own, "I am so sorry, I-I didn't know." She said softly berating herself, "Ron never explained to me why he and Hermione couldn't have children." She continued.
"Of course he didn't, he is a selfish prick. He just wanted to fulfill his own selfish desires rather than be compassionate toward his wife. Ron knew from the beginning of their relationship that she couldn't have children. I know she suggested that they adopt after the war but he shot that down on the basis that the child would be from a death eater and according to him it would've been born of darkness and didn't even deserve to live."
Astoria's jaw dropped as her face paled, "How could anyone actually believe an innocent child deserved death? That's appalling." she ground out just before another contraction washed over her and the screaming began once more. Her grip tightened on his hand as she suddenly got the urge to push.
"MUM!" George yelled in a panic, "Mum, I think this baby is coming out!" George stood up and braved a look to see if the baby was crowning and saw a flash of bright red hair peeking through. "MOTHER! I SEE HAIR!"
"What?" Molly stepped into the room sighed, "Let's see then." She said calmly as she sat on the end of the bed. Molly saw the baby's head and looked up at Astoria. "I need you to calm down. You need to focus all your energy on pushing this baby out."
Astoria nodded weakly and started to push as hard as she could, screaming in pain grasping for George. She felt like she was being ripped in two. Once again her grip on Geroge's hand tightened like a snake trying to kill its prey.
George rubbed her head soothingly, "Not much longer and this will be over. You will finally be able to hold the baby in your arms."
After what seemed like hours but in reality was only a few minutes, the sound of a screaming baby filled the room. Molly looked up at Astoria with tears in her eyes, "It's a girl…" Molly stated softly before cutting the umbilical cord.
Molly placed the beautiful redheaded little girl into Astoria's arms and began to rush around trying to charm the room clean and decorating the bassinet. She seemed happier than she had been in a long time.
Astoria stared down at the tiny baby in awe with tears streaking down her cheeks. "Hello little one…" She said softly, "what should we name you…?
"Lyra Grace?" George whispered.
Astoria looked up at him then back down at the small fragile baby in her hands, "I love it." She said softly, "Hello, Lyra Grace." She sighed with an ecstatic and exhausted smile on her face.
Molly walked over to them after a short while, smiling brightly, "I should clean her up a bit. I promise I will bring her right back." She cooed as she reached out for Lyra and scooped the tiny baby from her mother's arms. Molly wrapped Lyra in a soft yellow blanket that once belonged to Ginny, the red hair peeking out of the blanket intensified as the yellow highlighted the blond. "She is beautiful," Molly cooed as she ran the tip of her finger down her small button nose before whisking the child from the room to give her her first bath.
Astoria and George smiled at Molly as she left the room. George looked down at Astoria, she was sweaty and tired yet, she was stunning. "You are amazing," George whispered.
Astoria looked up at the intense gaze George wore, the usually mischievous man was more serious than she had ever seen him. The idea that he actually thought her amazing made her blush.
"I am not amazing, George, I am desperate, there is a difference."
"Will you let me help you? With Lyra I mean, will you let me be a part of her life, please Astoria."
"I would never take her away from her family." She responded softly.
"Where do you live?" George asked quietly, but Astoria had already drifted off to sleep as the happy sounds of Molly softly humming as she washed Lyra slowly fluttered up the stairs and into the bright, stifling hot room.
'Oh Freddie, I am bloody done for'
George sat back in his seat and sighed as he watched Astoria sleep. It was clear that he had his work cut out for him from this point on. He wasn't worried though. The store was flourishing and he had the flat above it all to himself, there was plenty of room. He would give Astoria and Lyra Fred's old room, it would be nice to see it occupied once more.
Molly was just wrapping Lyra in a warm fluffy towel, when the fireplace roared to life, startling her. She whipped around to find her youngest son lumbering out of it. The months in Azkaban had not been kind to him. He was disheveled,and filthy in appearance, yet there was something more deranged about him, broken and sullied, even more so than before he had been incarcerated. Molly pulled the baby closer to her chest in a protective manner, "So,they let you out I see," she said with an air of indifference.
Ron's eyes widened at the sight of the young baby in his mother's arms before he suddenly tore out of the kitchen without a word to her.
"You leave her alone Ronald!" She could be heard shouting before he flung open the door so hard that it slammed into the wall behind it and left a hole in the aged plaster. George whipped his head around to look at the now furious face of his brother. He jumped out of his chair and stared at Ron waiting to see what he'd do.
"What the bloody fuck is going on here!?" Ron screamed as he stormed into the room and stood directly in front George pushing him hard on the chest, causing him to stumble back against the creaky bed Astoria was laying on and causing the wooden chair he had vacated a moment before to flip across the floor, smashing into the transfigured bassinet.
"Honestly, Ronald!" Molly shrieked.
"Have you gone bloody mental!?" George shouted, "What the fuck are you even doing here!?"
"Apparently walking in on my own brother trying to steal my woman and my baby!"
"Your woman?! If she was your woman then why did you get yourself locked up for attacking your fucking ex-wife?!" He growled, "I would think you would want to be there for your "woman" and child!"
The sound of all the noise in the room startled Astoria awake. She quickly sat up and looked at the door with a sleepy haze only registering the door bouncing back against Ron's arm. The rage that was emanating from him frightened her to the core. For a moment she found herself speechless, but recovered quickly at the sound of her baby's screams.
"Ron? What the…? When did you get out of Azkaban?" She asked, looking more than confused and a fair bit frightened. She had heard no news of him getting out. Then again she never heard anything from Wizarding society any more. Though she had stopped receiving the Daily Prophet because she couldn't stand to watch Rita Skeeter drag Draco's name through the mud any longer. It was more than enough for she, herself, to have sullied the name and dragged him through a nasty divorce proceeding. It was like adding salt to an open wound to watch the prophet dig at him more.
"Apparently not long enough if you are whoring yourself to my brother in front of my child!" Ron yelled furiously.
"First of all…!" Astoria shouted before being cut off by the punch that George angrily delivered to Ron's jaw. She watched as he fell unconscious to the floor, landing with a sickening thud.
"How long before she can be moved, mother?" George managed to ask through gritted teeth as he shook his hand trying to ease the pain from punching Ron.
"Two hours, George. But, I really think…" Molly began. George held up his hand to stop her objections.
"We are leaving in three minutes, I don't want to kill my brother for being a bloody wanker!"
"Fine. But she is to rest when you get her home." Molly insisted.
"She will be at the flat with me, I am going to set her and Lyra in Fred's room. I can put up wards to block half nut from entering the flat.
Molly sighed as she kissed the baby on the nose and passed her to George and moved to help Astoria from the bed. "I'll be round to check on you later this evening." She told the still weak younger woman.
Astoria nodded as George wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him before apparating them from his childhood bedroom.