Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there is a referenced character death with associated grief. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Yes, I went with the popular fanon that the Lovegoods & the Malfoy are directly related to each other. Yes, I then followed it up with putting essentially cousins in the same romantic/sexual type ship. It's no more or less than what JKR did in canon multiple times. All that being said, this is surprisingly fluffy for being kind of centered around an autistic character trying to figure out grief.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Aya Bribes You (Y); Ravenclaw MC (x3); Magical MC (x3); Artist MC; Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); The 3rd Rule (Y); Lovely Triangle; Ship Sails (Y); Future Era; Short Jog; Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes; Eating Cake; Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 6
Subject (Task No.): Floristry (Task#1: Write about a couple who had been together a long time [10 or more years].)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [807](Only Ravenclaws); Words [186](Limited); Hello Spring [04](Working in a garden); Crazy Cone Contraptions [06](Ravenclaw Character); Well Behaved Women [Luna Lovegood & Astoria Greengrass][Turned Left][Autism]; Days of the Year [June 19](Include a Forehead Kiss, a Neck Kiss, and/or Hand Kiss)(Bonus: Include all three.); Spring Theme [14](Seeds); Colors [01](Saffron); Birthstones [09]("Seeing you makes my day better every time."); Flowers [03](Taking a vacation/break); Tarot Cards [10](Happy Marriage); Earth Prompts [11](Plant Pot); Hufflepuff Prompts [12](Gentle); Spring Astrology [June 21](Fiesty); History of Spring [12](Write about a character/group of characters recovering from an illness/major injury.)
Other MC4A Challenges: SpB [5C](Renewal); TrB [2B](Deal with the Devil); Hunt [Sp Writing Diversity](Autism); Ship [Sp Big](Flower Pot);
Representation(s): Luna/Astoria/Draco; Family; Grief & Mourning
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Bechdel Test; Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Demo (Spinning Plates; Corvid Brain); Demo (Tomorrow's Shade; Unicorn; Sailor Delight)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad)
Word Count: 1007

(^^)
Love Grows
(^^)

Luna stuck her fingertip into the rich dirt that Scorpius had used to fill the pots lined out on the garden wall. She did the same each of the fourteen pots in turn. Nearby, Scorpius was practicing the growth spell on the alstroemeria seeds that would soon go into the holes she had just made. Strictly speaking, as only a second-year, he shouldn't be doing magic outside of lessons, but no one at the Ministry of Magic would be able to sense his magic here at Morningside Cottage. There were too many wards before even considering two adult wix.

She rubbed her cheek at the reminder of their lost husband. Unable to stop herself, Luna looked over at where Astoria was resting in a lounger. The redhead had been reading while Luna and Scorpius worked, but now she had her face turned towards the saffron sky, her book lying face down on her chest as she enjoyed the last rays of the setting sun. Luna's heart clenched at the memory of how close she—all of them, really—had come to losing the feisty witch to the blood curse of the Greengrass line.

Instead, Draco had sacrificed himself to break the curse's hold on Astoria.

Luna understood why her cousin would go to such lengths. Ever since Astoria had made her proposition that Luna join her and Draco's bond and carry the heir both had desperately craved as a way to keep the blood curse from claiming another generation, Luna had fallen a little bit more in love with Astoria every day. She was so passionate about everything, even when she had been so sick that she could barely sit up in bed. Astoria was a force of nature that could not be denied any more than a thunderstorm could be. Loving her was inevitable even with the knowledge that her time had been limited from the start.

Instead, it had been Draco who had been lost.

And Luna still didn't know how to deal with that. She didn't know how grieve for someone who shouldn't have died but readily did so in place of someone they had both loved for so many years. There was an emptiness in her world where Draco had been, and that spot hurt, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was stuck, just like she had been right after her mother's death.

She needed to meltdown, to break, but something was holding her back. Hopefully, she would last for the entirety of Scorpius' spring break from Hogwarts.

"Is this big enough, Mama?" Scorpius asked, drawing her attention back to the present. He was holding out a seed that had straggly roots and a single sprout grown to its first set of true leaves. He looked nervous, she decided, even though he had to know that other second-years (even his fellow Ravenclaws) wouldn't have been able to achieve the same results so quickly. But then Luna knew from experience, just as Astoria did, how much nerve-wracking being a Ravenclaw could be.

Everyone expected perfection right out of the gate for the entire House, no matter that there was more than one way to show intelligence just as there were multiple ways to be wise.

"It's perfect, baby," Luna told her son. She planted a kiss on his forehead to comfort him. "Why don't you go ahead and plant it? I'm going to check on Mummy."

Astoria smiled when Luna's shadow fell over her. Without even opening her eyes, she shifted enough so that Luna could curl up beside her on the lounger. Luna hid her face into the delicate curve of Astoria's neck. Astoria tilted her chin up, giving Luna room as well as signaling what she wanted. Obediently, Luna planted a kiss to the pale skin just over her pulse.

"How are you doing, love?" Astoria asked as gentle as a rainstorm. Just as gently, her fingers wrapped around Luna's before raising them to her lips. The kiss to her knuckles was butterfly soft and sweet as nectar. Something cracked just a bit inside her in the face of such careful handling.

"I miss him," she admitted, "and I don't understand why he just did it without consulting either of us, not even after being together for so long." Her eyes stung as did the back of her throat. Astoria played gently with her fingers. "I do understand why he did it at all. Seeing you makes my day better every time. I couldn't live in a world without you in it." She rubbed her cheek against Astoria's neck before continuing. "But I want him here, too. He should be here, and I don't know how to feel about that."

"It's okay not to know," Astoria whispered. Her other hand began to play with the loose ends of Luna's hair. Her voice sounded thick like it always did when she was about to cry. Astoria bussed her forehead much like she had their son's just moments priorly. "No one is going to push you to process faster than you can, love. Even Draco—" Astoria cleared her throat. "Even Draco would want you to go at your own pace. We both knew you operated differently when we bonded with you. Neither of us will begrudge you what you need."

"And you don't think it's silly?"

"Oh, I definitely think planting alstroemeria in the pattern of Draco silly," Astoria answered brightly. "But I also think that it's fitting. He's growing in me now. A memorial where I grow in him just makes sense, and it's even more right for you and Scorpius to be the ones planting it."

"Because love grows," Luna quoted. Astoria had used that argument when convincing Luna that there was room enough in her heart for both Draco and Luna, and then as a comfort when Luna had worried that she was no longer necessary after Scorpius had been born. It was now a well-worn blanket.

"Because love grows," Astoria agreed, "and grows, and grows, and grows."