Sour Grapes

Chapter 25 - Astoria

Honestly, the nerve of some people.

She'd traveled thousands of miles to make in-person invitations to her extended family members, and what thanks had she gotten? Doors slammed in her face and refusals to attend from nearly half of the Greengrass guest list! And surely the rest would follow once they'd caught wind of the news.

Astoria had just arrived back in her Grandmother's sitting room, her feet aching and her stomach churning. Morning sickness certainly wasn't restricting itself to mornings alone, it was after 10pm. Then again, with the time change her body was likely confused, it was morning in Britain. She slumped un-ladylike into an armchair, not giving a damn how it would look if anyone walked in.

Somehow, word of the identity of her unborn child's true father had reached her relatives in New Zealand. One distant cousin who had been in attendance at the Delacour party had overheard the argument between the blood-traitor and his muggle born bitch, and the rumor had been enough for her aunts and uncles to glom onto as absolute truth.

It had, in reality, been accurate... but the fact that they'd been so quick to believe such gossip had been utterly insulting!

Apparently, they didn't care who she was intending to marry, not that they found Draco to be a particularly suitable choice either. Regardless, they simply would not be party to her having any connection with the Weasley family.

She was doomed.

If this was how her blood relatives would react, what of the greater wizarding world? True, this gossip had not yet been revealed on a large scale, yet it could only be a matter of time before someone blabbed.

Draco had taken measures to get Rita Skeeter under his control, or so it'd seemed. She still hadn't been clear on the details of the bargain he'd struck with the nosey upstart, as it had begun prior to their engagement. Perhaps he could re-negotiate to include a flat refusal of her connection to Ron Weasley. Better yet, they could bribe a healer to falsify the results of a paternity test, and shut the world up for good.

Then again, rumors were going to happen. The Malfoys alone had more money than Merlin and could easily pay off anyone... a fact which everyone in the wider wizarding world knew full well. People were bound to believe the rumors.

Placing her hand on her stomach, she gave it a small squeeze and felt hot tears prickling in the corners of her eyes.

This was a new occurrence for her. Tears had always been a sign of weakness, and yet for the past month she'd been wholly unable to contain them. Every little thing set her off, but especially the topic of her unborn child's fate.

By all accounts, she should hate the thing. A parasitic un-wanted growth, and nothing more.

But she didn't. She didn't hate it.

On some strange level, she had never felt more whole in her life than she had after finding out that she was pregnant.

Was she terrified? Absolutely. Was she mortified that she was having a baby out of traditional wedlock? Yes of course.

And yet... she was jubilant inside. She felt a new sense of purpose in the world, after years of not understanding what the point of her was.

She had been all silly games and intrigues to win a husband. Shallow plots to find a way to merely exist in the world and never work a difficult day in her life.

Ron Weasley has called it accurately. She had, in fact, spent most of the war fretting about what would become of her and who would be left for her to marry.