Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "The Seaside" by The Honey Trees

"What is that tune?"

"Well, if you don't sing funny songs to babies, they'll turn out all wrong," Astoria grinned, and she went back to singing an ad-libbed lullaby to Delphini. She had probably rhymed "eensy toes" with "weensy nose" three times now.

Fortunately, Delphi's nose was appropriately weensy, not altogether missing like her biological father's Horcrux malformation. Delphi was sucking on her fist and intermittently amused with Astoria and Mrs Tonks's various adorations of her. Teddy, Nymphadora and Lupin's son, slept in the nursery. Delphini was two months older than Teddy, so she could bat at toys like a cat and was admittedly the more interesting baby to hold. Teddy was practically a newborn — he interacted with the world by way of crying and Metamorphosing his hair. Both babies had a strong preference for being held skin-to-skin as opposed to long sleeves, cloaks, or robes, and Mrs Tonks was not judgmental of Astoria's stained arm.

Astoria had spent the past week with Mrs Tonks, who had taken substantially less convincing to take in Delphi than Professor Sinistra had estimated. Bellatrix had murdered Nymphadora, and the best way for Bellatrix to roll in her grave was to raise Delphini to love humankind equally. That brought the total number of living persons who knew about Delphini's parentage to four. Now that Nymphadora and Lupin's widely-attended funeral was over, Mrs Tonks's next plan was to register Delphini as her own daughter. Naturally, that might take some time, since the Ministry was not prioritising birth certificates for children born outside St Mungo's during the war. But that would be the end of it; she would grow up as Delphini Megaera Tonks. Even Draco and Lucius wouldn't know exactly what sort of morning Narcissa had had on that fateful day.

In her pathological need to avoid Andromeda, Narcissa had not been involved in the custody exchange. Rather, she had scurried home to Malfoy Manor to prepare some lies for the Ministry. Draco indicated to Astoria in a rather carefully-worded letter that his family had obtained legal counsel and were set to go to court on the upcoming Monday. Narcissa had given Astoria her cherry wand back, and Lucius would sell out the rest of the Death Eaters in exchange for a reduced (or even eliminated) sentence. Draco, of course, was not at risk of Azkaban. Astoria had a feeling he might be sentenced to community service if he was sentenced at all.

"It's going to rain again," Mrs Tonks sighed.

The Augurey had started calling in its cage. Mrs Tonks opened the window so that the bird could go eat worms that would soon unearth. Mrs Tonks had requested the bird right off of Professor Sinistra's shoulder when they had visited with the news about Delphi, apparently tired of the unpredictability of weather reports and saddened by her quiet house. Delphi always turned her head toward the sound of the bird's call. It must have been her only decent stimulation when her biological mother hadn't been at Rowle Ridge to dote on her.

In other bird-related news, Professor Sinistra had rented an internationally-trained owl from Diagon Alley's post office for Astoria to try to send a letter to her parents. They were starting with two locations: the owlery at Beauxbatons and her maternal grandparents. If her parents weren't in France, perhaps the Ciel side of the family would know where the Greengrasses had escaped by now. At least now she could write to her grandparents since the post was no longer frisked by Death Eaters. Though the owl had only recently left, Astoria waited for news every moment of every day.

This morning's post came without anything from France. It was too soon. Astoria gave everything to Mrs Tonks except for the letter with the "M" on the seal. Mrs Tonks knew about Astoria's relationship with the nephew she had never met, not because Astoria had told her, but because the letters had come with every single round of post delivery. Narcissa must have let it out that Astoria was at the Tonks household, likely meaning for that information to discourage Draco. But why would it? Draco was no longer the person Narcissa and Lucius had tried to make him.

Dear Astoria,

First, allow me to apologise for all of the letters. Please let me know if I'm annoying you. I am admittedly nervous about my court date, and I can't sleep unless I think of you. I hope everything is still going well where you are. Has Professor Sinistra got rid of the extra rooms in her house yet? The Ministry will be there soon to investigate, and I can only imagine what it must look like. By the way, were you serious about the Lupin baby having blue hair? Mother didn't exactly want to talk about it, but she says Metamorphmagi crop up every so often on her side of the family. Does his face ever change, or is that something they can only do once they are older? How do you fancy I would look with green hair?

I would like for you to visit, so I'm trying to figure out when. It should probably be after my court date, or else that will be all I talk about. Please let me know when your family gets in touch with you. I would not want to take you away from them, but I miss you so much already. I feel so selfish, since I really do want you all to myself right now. I'd like everything to be out of the way so we can spend the summer together. If you have any ideas about where we should go, I'd like to hear them. From what I gathered, the Ministry hasn't reinstituted the ban on underage magic yet, so you should be able to travel if you want to. I think they are waiting until there is some crisis relief in place, since there are many displaced families.

Yesterday, I received word about the N.E.W.T.s of all things. They've been postponed to July. Apparently, Theodore and I and anyone else in my year can choose to take them or to retake seventh year. There is also the option of accelerated curriculum for students whose academics were disrupted. That would include the Muggle-borns. If Rhiannon or your cousins have not been in school, perhaps they'd like to take advantage of that when they come back. Anyway, I'm going to take my N.E.W.T.s as it stands. I don't want to go back to Hogwarts at all. They might not even let me anyway depending on my hearing. Will you take your Astronomy N.E.W.T.? I feel like that class wasn't disrupted even though it was cut short. Let me know if you would like to study together. Will you be upset if we don't always study? (Ha-ha).

Yours,

Draco

Astoria was reading and re-reading the letter so intently that she did not see Mrs Tonks waving another letter in her face.

"I was seeing how long it would take for you to notice if I didn't say anything aloud," Mrs Tonks said slickly. "You've another letter from another boy that you accidentally gave to me. What would your mother say, dear?"

Astoria shook her head, spotting the return address on the envelope.

"It's not — it's my friend, Theodore."

Mrs Tonks teased her, "My friend Ted and I got married."

"No, really, he's my friend," Astoria smiled. "By the way, thank you for letting my letters come here."

"Of course, dear. Thank you for staying with me during this," Mrs Tonks said and handed her the letter.

Guess what, Astoria. I went to get Dad today at the Muggle old folks' home. He's got no idea he's the reason the lights flicker when he snores or why the television gets fuzzy when he walks into the room. The nurse I talked to said she thought he had a "very strong pace-maker" or "big piece of shrapnel" in him that made the electronics strange, but the doctor couldn't find anything. I didn't know what to say, so I just agreed with what she said! Dad's totally Obliviated, so he plays the role of a demented Muggle very well. Is that politically incorrect? I'm sorry.

Long story short, I'm going to leave him there for now, but I might leave him there for good! He was the happiest I've ever seen him. He's made a bunch of friends, actually, and they play board games and complain about newspapers getting thinner. He can't watch the television with them all the time, but sometimes his magic must not be as bubbly, and he can join in. He says his favourite programme is Last of the Summer Wine, and he was very upset that I was interrupting it, because usually it is "all static" when he most wants to see it. I know this is a lot to ask, but would you come see him with me sometimes? He keeps bothering me about you. Besides, I want to show you a television programme called Red Dwarf because it seems like the Muggles grossly misunderstand space travel(?)

Anyway, I think this is probably the best retirement Dad ever could have imagined, if you know what I mean. If I bring him back, he'll have to go to court and all, just so they can see exactly how muddled his brain is. It's not like he can testify, and I don't want him sent to St Mungo's or St Oswald's. People will know who he is there, and he won't have anybody to talk to. Am I going mad? I think leaving him with Muggles is the right thing to do, after all!

Theodore

Astoria had to keep herself from laughing at the irony of an ex-Death Eater spending his elder years happily amongst Muggles. She didn't exactly like it, but the old codger couldn't be brought to justice in his mental state, and this was Theodore's first chance to start living in peace. Astoria hated to borrow parchment from Mrs Tonks, but the witch said she was making a big deal of nothing and always gave her supplies to reply to letters.

Mrs Tonks had mounds of sympathy cards that she left unopened, since it was far too much to deal with on top of the tragedies themselves. However, she did open a letter from Lyall Lupin. Lyall, who had had to flee his job at the Ministry once it fell to Death Eaters, wrote that he was once again employed in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He intended to support Andromeda financially rather than retire, and he asked if it would be intrusive if he were to stop by each day after work to spend time with his grandson.

"What a shy, silly man," Mrs Tonks said. "We're family; of course he can stop by! I'm putting him to work with Teddy. I need all the help I can get."

She paused and looked from the letter to Astoria.

"He might hear Delphini hiss whenever she cries. He is more than familiar with the concept of Parseltongue," Mrs Tonks said.

Astoria bit her lip. Like Narcissa had said, it was too bad they couldn't tell Delphi to stop. There wasn't any ethical way to stop the sound from coming out.

"Forgive me, but I've never met Mr Lupin, so I'm not sure how he would take the truth," uttered Astoria.

Mrs Tonks tapped a finger to her lips.

"Well, he is more than capable of keeping secrets. He concealed Remus's condition with extreme prudence. There is no point in keeping something from him that he will be able to figure out. I will simply say that she inherited it from the Rosiers in France, but that we aren't to speak of it in case people 'get the wrong idea.'"

Astoria nodded assent. She wished it didn't have to be this way. Mrs Tonks opened another letter.

"It's from Harry," she said.

"Oh."

Mrs Tonks eyes traced the letter, and she said, "He would like to come over tomorrow to see Teddy."

"Oh."

Astoria realised she was biting her nails. Literally every time Delphi cried, she made that terrible hiss. It was as natural for her as breathing. Astoria thought she might take the baby to Professor Sinistra's during Harry Potter's visit. One day, they would be able to tell Delphi to refrain from doing that. The problem was they would have to give Delphi some reason as to why they wanted her to stop, and that no, it didn't make her bad, but some people would be rude… Oh, here it goes again. People hating other people for something they couldn't help. Astoria wanted to keep Delphi away from all that nonsense. Her own parents had tried too hard to do that for her, but was there any happy medium?

"I can take Delphi to—"

"Delphi is my daughter, and this is Delphi's home," Mrs Tonks said, running a hand through her hair. "We have no guarantee that she'll hiss-cry or hiss-coo or anything whilst Harry is here. If she starts getting fussy, just take her to the nursery and Quieten her voice. We won't leave her that way. You think I never Quietened my Nymphadora when she was wailing into my ear at four in the morning? It's not the same as a Silencing Charm… that's what bad parents do."

Mrs Tonks sat the letter aside and got some parchment to reply to Harry.

"Harry will be bringing his girlfriend. She was friends with Nymphadora."

"Yes, I, er," Astoria started awkwardly, "I, er, know Ginny, actually."

"Oh, that's very nice," Mrs Tonks said, probably happy to hear that Astoria actually had some friends who weren't related to Death Eaters.

What is Ginny going to say when I carry a hissing baby out of the room? Astoria worried. Surely she won't start believing those rumours about me.

Well, what did it matter anymore? Astoria herself was waiting to be called in to testify — she had been at least indirectly involved with the deaths of so many Death Eaters that she could hold her own against that rumour. If Ginny wanted to think Delphi was Astoria's daughter with Time-Warp-Tom, then maybe their friendship hadn't developed as well as Astoria secretly hoped.

"I wanted to bring something up, actually," Mrs Tonks said, as if she knew that she was interrupting Astoria's swim in the anxiety pool.

"Oh. Yes?"

"Harry Potter was named the godfather of little Teddy. Remus had a chance to ask him himself. So he'll be there at the Christening, whenever we have time to do that."

"Oh, yes," Astoria said, still awkward and anxious.

"Of course, some godparental traditions don't make sense here. Obviously, he's far too young to have taken Teddy in, and I wouldn't have allowed it anyway. There is also the fact that Harry isn't involved with the godmothers Dora and Remus chose."

Astoria stared at her blankly.

"They did not have a chance to ask your friend Rhiannon Clarke, who I understand stayed with your family. That was their wish. They wanted her to be at the Christening and to meet the baby. They didn't mean for any real responsibility to befall Harry and Rhiannon. I was simply wondering, when Rhiannon returns, if you think she would be interested in such a thing."

Astoria again stared blankly, this time managing to open her mouth. Rhiannon Clarke, her best friend in the world, flooded her head again. Rhiannon hadn't even been able to attend Professor Lupin's funeral. Would being named a godparent make her feel better or worse? Rhiannon didn't know her professor was deceased or that Teddy existed. What to do, what to do?

"I… Well, Rhiannon isn't Wizarding Christian or anything," Astoria stated, recalling how uncomfortable and bored Rhiannon had been when she came to church with the Greengrasses. Rhiannon also didn't like anything ceremonial. Rhiannon probably also didn't like the smells, sounds, or various waste-producing aspects of babies. But Rhiannon loved Professor Lupin, regardless of the times he had been absent out of necessity, because he was never emotionally absent. In fact, Rhiannon would heartily say that Professor Lupin would have been an excellent father to his son. She viewed him that way. She had no blood family.

"Rhiannon will do it, yeah," Astoria said slowly, and then more surely, "Yes, she'd love to know that… that they had thought of her. She'd love to. I'll tell her once she comes back."

There were tears in Mrs Tonks's eyes.

"Thank you. Yes, let me know. I know that's what they wanted. I'm just trying to do the things they'd talked about…"

Astoria got up from her seat and gave Mrs Tonks a supportive hug because there was nothing to say. Mrs Tonks was thankfully a hugger, since that was Astoria's favourite method of communication. She cried for a very long time. Everyone was gone. Astoria was glad to be there for her, even if she wasn't Mrs Tonks's most ideal form of support. Astoria's mother would be at Mrs Tonks's side, too, whenever she got back from exile. It would work out.

Teddy cried at five in the morning, and it was Astoria's self-proclaimed turn to get up. She would rather wake to babies crying than to her grisly nightmares, anyway. She hurried into the room before Mrs Tonks's sleep would be disturbed and made the nursery Imperturbable. Delphini heard Teddy and started crying only moments later, so Astoria did her best to soothe two babies. If they were just a titbit closer in age, she'd be able to hold them both in a rocking chair, but they were at surprisingly different developmental stages and needed to be held and consoled differently. Teddy needed swaddled. Delphi needed support, but she kicked everywhere and liked to hold things. Astoria set them in the same cot, side by side, and stroked their cheeks and sang whilst she waited for Teddy's bottle to heat. Like Draco had said, underage magic wasn't forbidden again yet, but if it were, she'd be damned if she wasn't going to tell the Ministry how things were going to be in the Tonks household. That bottle needed heated now.

She lifted Teddy into her arms and fed him once it was ready, and she charmed soft, pretty lights over Delphi's head for her to look at. By the time everyone was quiet, she had to change both of their nappies anyway. Teddy went to sleep shortly after, but Delphi was wide awake. Sheesh. Ashwinder snakes were independent the moment they hatched; why couldn't human infants take a few hints?

"Delphi, Delphi, I'm so tired," Astoria sang gently as she rocked her. "Delphi, Delphi, you're too fired…"

Her overnight baby songs would have been huge hits for Pariah, right? After a long time of trying to soothe Delphi unsuccessfully, she then tried to stimulate Delphi enough so she would get cranky again and go to sleep. That didn't work, either. Astoria stood by the window with the baby and looked at the sky.

"No Delphinus from here," Astoria said. "When you're old enough, I'll show you that constellation. I'll show you all of them until you're bored with me and stop thinking I'm cool."

Delphi fussed a little and hissed, so Astoria tried feeding her.

"I wish you made dolphin noises instead of snake noises, Delphi."

Astoria's tired brain pondered the eons of negative symbolism associated with snakes simply because some of them had venom. Snakes had received a bad reputation long before Salazar Slytherin and his racist arse came to Hogwarts. But dolphins were peaceful creatures, though their calls were pretty intense.

"Okay, I take it back. Dolphin noises would be worse than baby squeals and hisses," Astoria said. "You'd be so loud, hmm? You'd be even louder than you are now."

Delphi had the crummy vision of any baby her age, so when anything came right to her face, she got excited and her eyes followed it. This was a very nice feeling when it happened to be Astoria's face that she followed.

"'Eee eee eee,' that's a dolphin noise," Astoria giggled. "You go 'sss sss sss.' Maybe we can tell people you have a combination of asthma and a lisp when you get older."

Delphi wriggled some more and curled her tiny hands. Astoria gave her her finger to squeeze. Delphi was very strong.

"No, okay, we won't say that. You can speak however you like. Astoria will be here to tell everyone to mind their own business, right? Yes she will, absolutely."

Delphi made a small burp.

"Yes, absolutely," Astoria replied. "What a wonderful baby you are. Yes, you. Yes, you!"

Delphini was the only good idea that bitch Bellatrix had ever had. Her baby face was a wonderful distraction from all of Astoria's intrusive thoughts.

"I'm gonna need therapy, hm? Yes, I will, and I'll tell that therapist that at least taking care of you is nice. I wish you'd sleep, though. Will you sleep for Astoria?"

Delphi squirmed all over, which was her own way of indicating "no."

"Let's make breakfast for your mummy, okay? Neither of us are going to sleep. Do you want to help me make breakfast?"

Astoria set Delphi in the bouncy seat they had taken from Rowle Ridge. Delphi didn't have the motor skills or strength to bounce yet, but it helped her sit up. Astoria could only imagine the use she'd make of that thing once she figured out it bounced. They'd probably have to buckle her in so she wouldn't launch herself through the ceiling with magic.

"You are so helpful. You're doing a great job," Astoria told Delphi as Delphi did utterly nothing and Astoria scrambled eggs.

Astoria was criminally unskilled at cooking. house-elves had done everything her whole life until this war, but Astoria didn't want to be a useless member of the household, and she worked with the ingredients Mrs Tonks had. She was pretty tired of the full English, but she would never fail to appreciate that Mrs Tonks was housing her. Astoria wanted the light, sweet morning flavours of her mother's breakfast: croissants, strawberries, and some toast with hazelnut spread. Mrs Tonks had a French mother like Astoria, but they obviously had never been close. Mrs Tonks had the language, but not the culture.

"Oh, c'est vrai! Je devrais te parler français, Delphi," Astoria said to the baby, who was tapping her fists on the edge of the bouncy seat. Astoria intended to be round Delphi and Teddy a lot, so maybe she could pass on the language to them. That would make Teddy bilingual and Delphi trilingual, if Parseltongue counted for anything. Maybe Mrs Tonks wouldn't be against speaking French to the babies, either. Children learned languages best with early exposure.

"Les serpents peuvent-ils parler français s'ils essaient?" she joked.

Breakfast was ready long before Mrs Tonks was awake, so Astoria preserved it all for later. Delphini was finally willing to go back to sleep, so Astoria took her to the nursery. Astoria fell back to sleep in the rocking chair. This was difficult business, this baby stuff. When Astoria woke again in late morning, Teddy was floating out of his cot. She carefully reached to cradle him and walked quietly into the kitchen. Mrs Tonks had set the table.

"Thank you so much for making food," she said.

"Oh, of course."

"Was he fussing?"

"Not really, just floating," Astoria said, rubbing her eyes.

"His mummy was an extreme floater," Mrs Tonks said nostalgically. "And I heard that his dad was a spinner."

"Don't say that too loudly, Mrs Tonks, or he'll get ideas."

I didn't show any infant magic, Astoria thought as she picked at her sausage. Babies are difficult enough without magic. They might have thought I was a Squib, but I bet I was a relief after Daphne's antics.

"How early were you up?" Mrs Tonks asked.

"Oh, eight or something," Astoria lied casually.

"I'm glad you got some more sleep. You don't have to do so much, dear. I'll ask for things I need help with. You know, I've done this before," Mrs Tonks said warmly.

"Well, I…"

Astoria shoved her hair out of her face.

I'd like to have my own someday.

Delphi suddenly started wailing unbearably.

Not for a long time, though.

Harry and Ginny arrived for tea that afternoon. They were both dressed more nicely than Astoria had typically seen them. They stood awkwardly in the doorway, like they didn't know if they were a reminder of what had happened in the war. The truth was that everything was a reminder to Mrs Tonks. Her daughter died. They didn't add to it like they feared.

"Thank you for having us," Harry said to Mrs Tonks, and he handed her a large covered platter of food from Hogwarts for later.

"Thank you for coming. Thank you for everything," said Mrs Tonks sincerely. "Oh, you didn't have to, thank you."

Astoria remained in the background. Mostly everything was set up for tea, so Astoria brought out the food and the beverage of honour, which was a simple black tea. She hoped that the apparent saviour of modern Britain was content with sandwiches, scones, and clotted cream.

"Astoria?" Ginny said as she entered the dining room.

"Me again. How are you?" Astoria said politely.

Harry walked in behind, patted along by Mrs Tonks. He probably had zero recollection of who Astoria was, which was likely for the best.

"Hello," he said awkwardly.

"Hello," she said. "I'll get jam, too, if anyone wants it."

Astoria felt fine as long as she was busy. If she started talking to Ginny about anything that had transpired, she knew she'd get embarrassingly teary. And Harry didn't think anything of anything, but Astoria was dying to ask him about Horcruxes and if Draco might have his wand back.

"Teddy happens to be asleep right now, but he's sure to wake so you can both meet him," Mrs Tonks said with a smile.

Harry was thrilled and said, "Lupin told us his hair's already changing colours."

"Yes, yes, his tufts of hair have been blue, pink, black, green, and yellow. I think he can pick up on what colour shirt people are wearing. But his favourite by far is blue, probably because the nursery is done in blue and green," Mrs Tonks said as a proud grandmother.

Astoria had already set a Quietening Charm on Delphi as a precaution, so her ears were constantly listening for any light sounds of disturbance. She would still be able to hear her voice; the hisses just would go under the notice of the guests. She spread clotted cream on her scone and added sugar cubes to her tea. She was usually socially skilled, but she couldn't seem to speak. Astoria realised she had added too much sugar.

"We have another little one… a surprise," Mrs Tonks smiled.

Ginny and Harry looked on with great interest, unsure of how to ask for more detail.

"Ted and I realised she was on the way before Nymphadora announced her own pregnancy, and… well, we didn't want to take away from Dora's special moment or make her feel like she was being replaced! We waited to bring it up. I have to be perfectly honest, she was our happy accident. Of course, Ted never got to meet her, but…" Mrs Tonks said, wiping a tear, "she's in the nursery with Teddy. Her name is Delphini. Now that the war's over, I can get her a birth record. She's two months old, and little Teddy isn't even a month yet. It will be nice that they can grow up together."

"Wow! Congratulations, Mrs Tonks!" Ginny said. "That's wonderful!"

"Yes, congratulations!" Harry said. "Your, er, hands must be full!"

"Well, Astoria has been an incredible help," Mrs Tonks chuckled. "I'm good friends with her mother, who has been in hiding, but she's sure to get the news soon. Do either of you know Remus's father? He'll be helping out as well."

Ginny and Harry looked at each other, and Harry said, "We've actually never met him before. That's good."

"Lyall's shy and awkward, so he might not know what to say when you eventually meet," remarked Mrs Tonks.

Like me, thought Astoria.

"Ah, wait a minute," Harry said to himself, tapping his forehead. He looked at Astoria as though he figured out how she had arrived on this planet. "You were in that band. With Rhiannon Clarke."

"Yes. And you… oh let me think… oh, right, you were Harry Potter," Astoria joked.

Harry gave her a vacant look, and then a rather large smile crept up on him.

"I knew I knew you. I've seen you round," he nodded.

"Currently, I'm waiting to hear back from Rhiannon," she said.

"Yeah, that'll be great when she finds out," Harry said.

After that, the other three did most of the talking. Astoria cleared the table and sent the dishes to the sink. Delphi cried on cue as soon as she heard the dishes rattle, and it woke Teddy, who started crying, too. Astoria hurried so that Delphi would not give herself away. She scooped her in her arms and then readjusted her hold so she could caress Teddy's face until more help arrived.

"Shh, shh," she said to Teddy.

"Sshh sshh," Delphi mimicked.

"No, no," Astoria laughed. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Sshh sshh!" Delphi said before shedding more tears again.

Delphi was only fussing because she had been awakened, but Teddy seemed genuinely uncomfortable. The other three filed in, and Astoria clandestinely lowered Delphi's voice even more. Mrs Tonks took her into her arms, but Teddy was now wailing. Astoria resorted to Legilimency to figure out what was wrong, and it turned out a temperature increase in the room had made Teddy feel a little on the warm side. Astoria removed his sleepsuit to help him cool down. Ginny and Harry stood in the doorway, unsure of how to help. There wasn't much to be done beyond the usual. They were very young babies. Once Mrs Tonks and Astoria got them settled, they were ready for the visitors.

"Here, sit down, and you can hold him," Mrs Tonks said to Harry, and once he sat, he looked terrified.

"He doesn't bite," Astoria said, and handed him the baby.

Harry took the joke too seriously.

"Lupin said he hasn't got any signs of lycanthropy," he said, affronted.

Astoria inhaled, "That's not what I meant."

"You just looked afraid to hold him, Harry," Ginny smiled, and she made lots of faces at Teddy whilst Harry cradled him.

Mrs Tonks was smooching Delphi above the ear.

"Would you like to hold Delphini, Ginny?" Mrs Tonks asked. "She's squirmier."

"Aw, that's fine. Are you a squirmy baby?" Ginny cooed, and took Delphi in her arms. "Oh, whoa, Mrs Tonks, she looks just like you!"

Mrs Tonks grinned trickily at Astoria, and then said to Ginny, "Thank you, dear."

"How cute you are!" Ginny said to the baby. "Are you gonna be a good big sissy to Teddy?"

"Well, wouldn't she be his aunt, since she's Mrs Tonks's?" Harry teased Ginny.

"Oh, they're babies, Harry, they don't know what I'm saying."

Biologically, the two babies were first cousins once removed, but it was all irrelevant. They would essentially grow up as siblings, and Delphi would never have to know about Rowle Ridge or Bellatrix.

"I'm going to be the wildest godfather to you, Teddy," Harry joked as Teddy grasped his finger. "I'll take you for broom rides, since I don't have a motorcycle yet."

"Oh, that Sirius…" Mrs Tonks rolled her eyes.

Delphi started to squirm beyond Ginny's comfort, so Astoria took her and set her in the cot. Harry offered Ginny Teddy to hold, and they carefully exchanged him. Teddy slept most of the time, but with all the visitors, he was quite aware and active.

"Oh. He's trying to eat my boob," Ginny laughed. "There's nothing here for you. Nope, sorry!"

"Would you like to give him his bottle, Ginny?" Mrs Tonks asked. "It's about time for them to eat anyway."

"Oh, yes, if that's all right," Ginny said.

Mrs Tonks got the bottles and fed Delphini whilst Ginny fed Teddy. Ginny kept saying "They're so cute" because, really, they were. Harry and Ginny told Mrs Tonks that there were dozens of Weasleys waiting to see Teddy.

"When is the Christening? Maybe they could all see him at once then," Ginny suggested.

"We're waiting for Rhiannon to get back, and then we'll have them both Christened," Mrs Tonks said. "Rhiannon was to be a godmother."

"Well, send an owl when you know, and we'll all be there," Ginny said.

Mrs Tonks encouraged Ginny and Harry to stay the afternoon if they weren't too busy, and though they likely had many people to visit, they agreed to stay. Ginny was admiring the Augurey and jingling its bell and mirror toy.

"Does she have a name?" Ginny asked.

"No, but you can name it, Ginny," Mrs Tonks said.

"Hmm. How's Mizzle?"

"You're about as good at naming pets as I am. My owl's name is Twinkles," Astoria said.

"Don't poke fun!" Ginny said. "She likes the rain, right? Aren't I clever?"

"Sure, sure," Astoria said. "Mizzle it is."

"Do the babies cry when she calls for rain?" Ginny wondered.

"Delphi never does. Teddy has before, but only if it wakes him up," Astoria said as she gave the bird a snack.

Mrs Tonks and Harry went and sat in the other room, where they reminisced about Tonks and Lupin with bittersweet tears. Astoria and Ginny kept doting on Mizzle, who sometimes got the short end of the stick with two cute babies in the house.

"So, erm…" Ginny said.

Astoria looked at her, but Ginny didn't continue without pressing.

"Yes?"

"Are you and Malfoy still…? Because Harry has this extra wand he doesn't want, and it was Malfoy's, and I thought maybe you could take it if…"

"I certainly can," Astoria said proudly.

"All right, I'll tell him in a bit. And go easy when you Disarm my boyfriend, please," Ginny said, elbowing her.

"I'll go easy. If he ends up getting knocked off his feet and out to the garden, it's his own fault," Astoria smirked.

She realised that the unkempt vegetable patch outside needed watered. She stepped outside with Ginny.

"I'd like to get the vegetable patch nice for her again. Something small to raise her spirits a bit," Astoria said. "I got poor marks in Herbology, though."

"Oh, that's no big deal! Let's pull the weeds first."

Ginny and Astoria ended up soiling their shoes in the garden, but they were mostly able to use wands. Something that Astoria thought would take days went by quickly with Ginny's help and advice. Astoria saw her opportunity to ask about the H-word and took it.

"Harry said some really strange things when he confronted Tom Riddle. Things about Draco and Snape and Horcruxes. Was all of that real?" she conversed with affected ease.

"Oh, yeah, it was," Ginny said. "He's been trying to catch me up, you know… He was on the run for so long, and we didn't get to talk. So I only understand about half of what he says, but he feels better when he talks."

"That's good that you're there for him," Astoria said. "I can't believe there was more than one Tom Riddle."

She had added the last bit deliberately erroneously so that Ginny would correct her and give her more information. The bait worked.

"Well, there wasn't more than one of him. There were multiple Horcruxes, I guess bits of his soul that needed destroyed. That's how he came back to life the first time. I didn't fully understand it, but a long time ago, I came into contact with one of those Horcruxes."

"Oh my goodness, Ginny. Are you okay?" Astoria asked sincerely.

"Oh, yeah, that was ages ago. That was the whole Chamber of Secrets thing. It was round that time when… er, a basilisk attacked Muggle-borns."

"I'm sorry, Ginny. That must have been terrible."

"Yeah, but that was actually the first Horcrux Harry got to destroy. He used basilisk venom, so it all worked out."

Astoria carefully replied, "Oh. I heard that basilisk venom is the only way to get rid of something so horrible, so it's a good thing he had that available."

"Yeah, definitely. I guess it wasn't the only way, but it was the safest way. You know that spell you used out on the grounds? The grass won't grow there again. That's a Horcrux killer, too," Ginny said as she Vanished the pile of weeds.

"Fiendfyre?" Astoria uttered, forcibly containing her interest. She didn't want to raise Ginny's alarm in the slightest, since that could go horribly wrong. "That makes sense. That was a terribly harsh spell. I only cast it to save us."

"Oh, I know that. Believe it or not, I trust you, Astoria," Ginny said. "It's a good thing you used it, too. There had to have been hundreds of people trying to kill us. What a year, right?"

"Oh, yes."

That was all the information Astoria needed, so she let the subject change, and Ginny's suspicion was never aggravated. Nobody needed to know about the Horcrux at Quennell Park except Astoria. She wanted to make it so that nobody would ever need to know again.

"Astoria… are you all right?"

Astoria shook out the heavy thoughts. She studied Ginny's friendly features.

"Oh, I'm fine. I guess I wear all of my emotions," Astoria said. "You don't do that at all. You're really tough, actually."

Ginny flushed under her freckles.

"I think sometimes it's good to let it out, though," Astoria said gently. "I want to know how you've been doing."

Ginny scrunched her face up tightly. She looked back through the kitchen to make sure Mrs Tonks and Harry were still occupied with their own conversation.

"I want to be strong for Harry," Ginny said with a sad little laugh. "He's been through so, so much, and he's honestly a sensitive person. I just want to be his rock, you know? Someone he can count on."

"That's kind of you, Ginny, but you need support, too," Astoria reminded.

Ginny folded her hands, clasped them tighter, and refolded them, like she didn't know what to do. She wasn't used to talking. Astoria conjured a blanket, and they sat on the lawn.

"Well," Ginny said, "Can I tell you about Fred?"

"Yes, certainly," Astoria said.

So Ginny did.