A/N I Own Nothing

Ao3 – Once_Upon_A_Potter

December 1st, 2004

She smirked, "Yeah, I recognize you." She told Ginny, walking over and offering her hand to shake, with a twinkle in her eye, "Astoria Greengrass."

Ginny stared at the younger woman. Astoria Greengrass? She had been what? Two years below Ginny at Hogwarts, and a Slytherin to boot. Why was she being so… nice?

She took the younger woman's hand, noting the intricate diamond ring on her finger. "Ginny Weasley, but, you seem to already know that."

"Heh. Well, you did make quite the name for yourself," Astoria told her, pulling her hand back, "Both in and out of Hogwarts."

"Uh, are you, are you married yet?" Ginny asked, unable to help her curious nature, especially with that ring.

Astoria huffed, eyebrow raising, "Betrothed." She answered shortly, going back to wiping down tables, "Not that it's any of your business."

"Oh." Ginny muttered.

There was a long moment of silence, wherein they finished wiping the tables and counter respectively. Astoria moved to grab the broom, before sighing, "Go ahead."

"What?" Ginny asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Go ahead and ask." Astoria told her, "I can tell you want to."

"Who are you betrothed to?" Ginny blurted, before she could convince herself not to.

Piercing blue eyes rolled, "Draco."

"Malfoy?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Do you know of any other Dracos?" Astoria asked, leaning on the broom.

"Well, no, but… Malfoy?" Ginny stuttered, in disbelief.

"Yes, Malfoy." Astoria answered, "What of it?"

"It's just… you've been so nice!" Ginny told her, "And he's so… not."

"You've known me five minutes." Astoria deadpanned, eyebrow raising again.

"And I've known Malfoy years, and he hasn't managed five minutes."

Astoria tilted her head in acceptance. "I'll give you that."

There was another long moment of silence, only broken by the sounds of the broom brushing against the floor as Astoria swept.

"How is that going?" Ginny finally asked.

"What? My betrothal?" Astoria asked.

Ginny nodded.

Astoria thought for a long moment before shrugging, "Eh."

"Eh?"

"Eh." Astoria confirmed. "I've been asked to marry into the family because I'm pretty and can give them a child, an heir." She continued, bluntly, and as though Ginny should have already guessed. "So, yes, eh."

"You're marrying a man you don't really love." Ginny stated more than asked.

"That is how most pureblood marriages work, Weasley." Astoria told her.

"It is?" Ginny asked befuddled, why hadn't she heard of that? Had she just gotten lucky? No, no, her parents would never have made her marry for anything other than love… So, maybe she had gotten lucky.

"Wow." Astoria muttered, "They really didn't teach you much in that family of yours, did they?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ginny spluttered.

"Yes, that is how it usually works." Astoria continued. "Everyone has a duty to their families."

"…Do you have any romantic feelings toward him?" Ginny asked, if the answer was no, then, well, Ginny will have found a new objective.

"Draco?" Astoria asked, Ginny nodded. Astoria thought for a moment, their relationship, if you could call it that, had many problems. Nothing that couldn't be worked through, or that would be make-or-break, but the two definitely had different outlooks on life. Astoria felt like she tried to see his side while he didn't even try to see her, let alone her side of things. "…I guess he's cute?"

"I can work with that." Ginny muttered to herself.

"Excuse me?" Astoria asked incredulously.

"Nothing!" Ginny exclaimed, jumping slightly.

"You're not going to get involved in my love life." Astoria hissed, "We don't even know each other!"

Ginny held her hands up, "Sorry."

Astoria gave a single nod.

"Girls!" Richard called from his office, "Quit it with the blabbering and get back to work!"

Ginny really needed to learn to keep put of other people's business, she supposed.

December 5th, 2004

"How has your new job been, Gin?" Arthur asked across he table during a lull in conversation.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Heh. It's, well, it's, it's a job."

"Do you like it?" Arthur continued. "It must be fascinating. Working in the muggle world…"

"Well, like I said," Ginny started, "It's a job."

December 9th, 2004

"Tree! Tree! Tree!" James sang, from where Ginny stood, holding his hand to keep him out of Harry and Ron's way as they carried the Potter's Christmas tree into their house.

"Are you excited to see the Christmas tree?" Ginny asked, looking down at him.

James nodded several times, in a way that made Ginny wonder how he didn't make himself dizzy.

"Should we go decorate the Christmas tree?" Ginny asked.

"Star! We gonna put a star on right?"

"Yup." Ginny answered, starting to walk slowly toward the house, "After we get the lights and other ornaments on the tree, we can put the star on top."

"I don't wanna put the ordaments on," James told her, "I wanna put the star on."

"We can put the star on after we put the lights and ornaments on the tree." Ginny told him, emphasizing. "Star goes on last. I'm sure if you ask, Daddy will lift you up so that you can put it on."

xXx

"Can I put the star on top, Daddy?" James asked, tugging on Harry's hand.

"Of course, buddy." Harry chuckled, picking him up, "You ready?" Harry asked, taking the star from Ginny and handing it to James.

James nodded determinedly.

December 12th, 2004

"Did you remember to take that potion today?" Ginny asked, out of the blue.

Harry sighed, "I haven't yet. I'll… go do that now."

He really didn't like taking the potions, they tasted horrible and they induced what felt contractions, which were immediately followed by bleeding.

December 17th, 2004

"Where are you going?" Ginny pried, watching as Astoria clocked out, last she checked they were both supposed to be here for the entire shift.

Astoria huffed, "Richard let me get off early. I have this… family dinner thing this evening. I need time to get ready."

Ginny raised her eyebrows. A family dinner that she needed, Ginny glanced at the clock it was only two, like three hours to get ready for?

"Don't look at me like that." Astoria hissed, "I know that look, it's the look someone gives when they don't believe me!"

"I- I believe you." Ginny stuttered, throwing her hands up. "Just… three hours to get ready? Must be an important dinner." She commented.

"Yes, well." Astoria sighed, "We can't keep our engagement a secret from our allies forever."

The idea of a dinner just to announce an engagement, Ginny would admit, baffled her. She remembered telling her family about her and Harry's engagement, they had just told them at a regular Sunday lunch.

"I have to look my absolute best for this dinner. So yes, I'll have three hours to get ready." Astoria told her, her family would be shamed if she didn't present their family well this evening, she would have to really show their allies why the Lord and Lady Malfoy had chosen her and not someone else's daughter to marry their son. "Had I not needed to work, we would have had all day."

"Oh." Ginny said simply, mind whirring.

"Now, Weasley," Astoria started.

"You don't have to call me by my last name." Ginny told her.

Astoria looked her up and down, "Now Ginevra, I really must be going."

The younger woman spun on heel and headed toward the door.

"You can call me Ginny!" Ginny called after her.

"Goodbye, Ginevra." Astoria told her, opening the sleek glass door to the shop and leaving.

December 25th, 2004

"How he has so much energy, I'll never know." Harry muttered, as they followed James down the stairs.

"It's because it's Christmas." Ginny told him as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "James let's wait for Teddy and Grandma Andy to get here, okay?" she said, sitting in the living room with him as Harry went into the kitchen to start on breakfast.

"Awe." James muttered, plopping on the floor in front of Ginny, his arms crossed as he looked at the tree.

"I know." She told him, running her fingers through his hair, "But, they'll be here soon enough. And we'll eat breakfast, and open a few presents, then we'll go to Grandma and Grandpa's. It's gonna be fun."

James side eyed her, "Waiting's not fun."

"Oh," Ginny sighed, "Get up here, maybe we can find a movie. Or we could go help Daddy in the kitchen."

James jumped up. "I wanna cook!"

Ginny chuckled getting to her feet, "Then let's go see what we can do." She told him, holding her hand out for him to take.

They entered the kitchen to the smell of coffee and the Click. Click. Click. of the stove being turned on.

"Need any help in here?" Ginny asked as Harry turned to face them.

"Hmm." Harry hummed, looking around the kitchen, before turning to James, "You want to help Mummy crack some eggs for me?"

James eyes widened as he nodded vigorously. Harry had shown him how to just a couple weeks prior and ever since it had been James' job whenever possible, with parental supervision, of course.

Ginny pulled out the step stool for James to stand on, setting it up then picking the four-year-old up and setting him on it, making sure to stand behind him and assure he wouldn't fall. She took the empty bowl and carton of eggs Harry held out to her. The bowl going in front of James and the carton off to the side.

"Okay, here we go." Ginny muttered, handing him an egg. He took it, hitting it against the counter, splattering it and getting raw egg over his hand.

"Whoops." James whispered, screwing up his face in disgust as he looked at his hand.

"That's okay." Ginny assured, wiping his hand with a towel, before handing him another egg, "Remember to be gentle, this time."

He tapped the egg against the counter, frowning when the egg didn't so much as crack.

"Try again." Ginny encouraged.

This went on for several minutes, several eggs getting crack between the efforts of both James and Ginny, before the sound of the Floo came from the living room.

December 28th, 2004

"Everything looks to be in order." Ethan told Harry, having come back into the room after running several tests. "Hormone levels are back to where they should be. You're not dilated anymore, and all of the tissue seems to have passed. You're not experiencing anymore bleeding?"

Harry shook his head. "It stopped a few days ago."

Ethan nodded. "Then, I'd say you're good to go."

"And we can start trying again whenever?" Harry asked, not feeling anywhere near ready, but wanting to double check.

"Yes." Ethan confirmed, "When you feel like you're mentally and emotionally ready. You've got a clean bill of health from me."

Harry nodded once again.

"And again, Harry." Ethan started, as he stood, "I am so sorry this happened to you in the first place."

December 31st, 2004

"I can't believe we're already at the end of another year." Ginny commented, leaning back against the couch cushions.

Everything that had happened over the last year, and here they were, at the end. Not that Ginny was someone who got wrapped up in new years being new beginnings or anything, but maybe just this once, they could get some sort of new beginning. Though they weren't welcoming a new child when they thought they would be, maybe they would be ready to try again next year. She had a job at the coffee shop now, James was now old enough to be put in Little League Quidditch in the summer, and Harry seemed to be healing from the miscarriage and would be starting to really train to become Head Auror soon.

"To another year?" Harry asked, sitting beside Ginny, handing her a glass of champagne.

Ginny took the glass from him, curling into his side as she clinked their glasses together, "To another year." She agreed.