In the months that Sam and Rose had been in quarantine, a whole season had swept right by them. The falling leaves and autumnal air was truly over and they were in the grips of winter.

It also meant that Christmas was almost upon them - Sam's parents were overjoyed to finally have him back for more extravagant celebrations (his welcoming home party had not fulfilled their appetite in this respect).

"Sam, Christmas is a time for merriment. Family, friends, holly and mistletoe!" Astoria practically sang as she swept through the kitchen at Malfoy Manor, which sported a huge wall oven, two stove tops and floor-to-ceiling cupboards stocked full of food.

Sam rolled his eyes and waved off his mother as she delved into the piles of groceries, ripping open packages, rinsing vegetables and chopping wildly.

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Since Astoria had taken charge of the household, the kitchen had firmly become her domain. She loved to cook - but hated to clean, so over the years Draco had become very nifty at charming all manner of brooms, mops, scrubbing brushes and tea towels.

No elves had been employed at Malfoy Manor - not that any wanted to be. After the war, Hermione worked with numerous ex-house-elves to legislate against their enslavement, and abusive families like the Malfoys who had enslaved so many elves, were not looked upon kindly by the elvish community.

Astoria had a strong stance against using houselves anyway, her own family had a history of elf-enslavement and she had hated it from a very young age. She never felt comfortable requesting things or being waited on (what is the point of being a witch if not to use magic to do these every day sorts of things?) and upon marrying Draco had said as much.

Draco had also promptly kicked his parents out of the Manor after the wedding, much to their anger. He purchased a cottage for them far from Wiltshire and visited as often as he could tolerate, but he never quite forgave his father and hadn't wanted him anywhere near Sam while he was growing up.

They kept the mansion in top-top shape all on their own, despite the constant re-constructions - which in any case, were rather necessary. Draco needed to destroy all the evill the manor had wrought, and bit by bit, knocked down and re-built the entire structure.

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Astoria was like a hurricane and always left a wreckage behind in the kitchen when she was, but it was something Sam had missed immensely during his time in India.

Her cooking, which never relied on a recipe, was one of the most untamable yet heartwarming parts of his mother. You could never convince her to cook a simple dish, there was always something bizarre going on, but you got used to it and Sam truly relished time spent in the kitchen with his mother.

"You always throw such over-the-top Christmas events, I never feel comfortable to just be myself - must I wear dress robes for the ball mother?"

Astoria stopped chopping and stared coldly, "No son of mine will be underdressed for the Malfoy Manor Christmas Eve Ball. If you want to wear an old woolly jumper like that Albus then go spend Christmas with the Potters!"

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Sam grinned, he had spent Christmas with the Potters all of one time during his Hogwarts years, and his mother was still not over the sting.

"I'm not going to spend Christmas with the Potters, it's my first year back in England! I'm obviously going to get abominably dressed up and prance around for your ball, then come Christmas day I'll get my woolly jumper and wear it right here at the manor. Boxing Day is always a better day at the Burrow anyway - less competition for the leftovers."

Astoria spun around with a thrill of her wand and set a pot of oil to heat on the stove, her eyes lighting up as the flame gently grew.

"Very good, it sounds like a plan," she smiled over at him, vegetables whirling through the air with another flick of her wrist.

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Normally very prim and proper, the kitchen was the only place every day Astoria truly let her hair down. She was enchanting, and Sam and Draco had spent many an afternoon watching her work (not being silly enough to interfere or attempt to 'help').

A few beats of silence passed before Sam worked up the courage to say what he'd been planning out for a week - ever since Rose told him Astoria had walked in on her and Aaliyah.

"Mother," he paused, waiting for her response.

"Yes," she promptly responded, eyes darting from the various knives lifting themselves into the air and chopping vegetables, to Sam and back again.

"Rose told me you bumped into her and Aaliyah in the library at my Welcome Home and she wanted me to explain."

Astoria breathed in slowly, "Well what's there to explain? You two obviously didn't work out and she's moved on, or back to, what she was partaking in before you got ill. I understand not everything has a happy ending Sam, you don't need to explain."

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Sam winced, "Yeah, see that's the thing, we have worked things out and we're together."

Astoria suspended the chopping with her wand, "So what I saw in the Eastern library, you've forgiven her for that, after she cheated on you?"

"Well… she wasn't cheating on me. I know about Aaliyah and Aaliyah knows about me, we decided we were okay with it. We're in an open relationship."

Astorias eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Sam that's absolutely nonsensical, why would you agree to such a thing?"

"Because I love her and I didn't want her to break her own heart just so that she could be with me, or break my own by letting her go."

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The knives all clattered onto the benchtops as Astoria dropped her wand, "This is ridiculous."

"No it's not-"

"how can Rose possibly care for you fully if she can't even choose to be with you? How are you going to start a family? What future do you have? She is being unbelievably selfish, you can't possibly think this will work Sam-"

"Well unlike previous generations we don't need to get married and have children before we're 25. What if I don't even want that for myself?"

"You don't want what? A normal life?"

Sam ignored her, "I would be the selfish one if I forced her to end things with Aaliyah. How could I do that to her? She was happy before I came back and threw her whole world upside down."

"And she let you, she could have told you right from the get-go she was taken, she could have kept her feelings to herself like everyone else who is already with someone does!"

Rolling his eyes, Sam tried to soldier on, "I want her to be happy and she can't be happy if she's heartbroken because she can't be with someone she loves."

"And what about you Sam, what about what you want and need? Hmm?"

She was keeping her voice well-tempered but Astoria had moved beyond confusion, to disbelief and frustration, the audacity of the Weasleys... All that hero-business had gone straight to their heads.

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"What I need is to finally be with the woman that I love, even if it's not in the most conventional way."

"You have known that woman for three months and a for a few of them you were comatose Scorpius."

Sam rolled his eyes dramatically, "Oh you're whipping out that awful name just to make me feel guilty now?"

"Is it working?" Astoria replied sharply.

"No, it's not."

He ran his fingers through his hair, this was going more awful than he could have possibly expected.

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"I can see other people too, it's open, that's the whole point."

"Yes Sam, but if you love someone why would you want to see other people?"

"Maybe because of the apparently absurd idea that I could have feelings for, and love, more than one person at a time!"

"Of course you can, anyone can fall in love with anyone, but it's about commitment. How much of herself can she truly give you if she's off gallivanting with someone else?"

Astoria walked around to the other side of the kitchen benchtop and sat on the barstool next to Sam's.

"I just don't want you to get hurt by thinking that this is going to end well."

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She reached over to grab his hand but Sam pulled it away, "If Al told me I couldn't be friends with anyone else and I had to cut out all the other friends and family in my life, you would call him crazy. I don't want to tell Rose that she can't love anyone else, not when I know that I'm the one who turned up unannounced and caused all this mess in the first place."

"Sam, you can't let your guilt for getting in between her and her girlfriend dictate everything. These things happen, Rose fell in love, she made that choice and she should face the consequences. Don't let all of that get in the way of what you really need-"

"What I need is Rose."

"Exactly dear."

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Sam paused for a moment, suddenly weighed down, "We have never gotten the chance to love each other, not properly. I can't give that up."

"Not yet."

"Mother, please just stop it. Not everyone has to live a boring typical life, I'm 24, I can make my own decisions."

"I know you can Sam, I am just worried about the consequences of this particular one. You're running from the pain and that's not the right way to make life decisions-"

Sam bristled, "Are you actually trying to convince me that you've ever made life decisions based on rational thought? You got an arranged marriage! It's not a coincidence you and Dad are both purebloods. You were running from being disowned if you married that muggle-born guy you were dating at Hogwarts."

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Astoria gasped, her lips just parted and her knuckles turned white from gripping the benchtop.

She was totally speechless, she felt like the walls of the kitchen were caving in on her, crushing the breath from her lungs.

"Get. Out." She managed to squeeze out, her chest heaving with emotion, her eyes blurring with tears.

"Mother, what? Are you okay, I'm sorry-"

"Get out!" She screamed, tears threatening from her eyes as she tried to breathe through the pain overwhelming her. This was the angriest Sam and hever seen her. He contemplated trying to comfort her but he knew she would resent him seeing her any more emotional than she already was.

He muttered another apology and brusquely left the kitchen, hearing the lock click behind him.

Once he was gone Astoria took a deep breath finally released the sob she had been holding in, perhaps for decades.