« AN ANNOUNCEMENT »
Anastasia chuckled quietly as she and Ron tossed boxes between each other; with a bright smile adorning her features and her hair styled in an extremely messy attempt of bun, she offered her help at the shop that morning. The brunette climbed one of the several set of stairs to organize one of the infinite rows of shelves all over the big shop and Ron followed her steps to hand her each package to organize the shelf.
"I'm telling you, Annie, ever since you came, Hermione totally forgot I exist." The girl knew it was a joke, but part of her couldn't stop feeling guilty. "But it's okay because Harry and I can spend time together as mates."
"I'm glad to hear that your girlfriend ignoring you is an opportunity to spend time with your best friend." The girl mocked him as she fixed her wand in her bun to not let her hair fall down.
"Although, I think Harry wants to propose to Ginny." Ron commented quietly as he handed more boxes to the girl, who instantly gasped and let go of the boxes. "Ouch!" The ginger yelled as soon as the packages collided with his head.
"Bloody hell! Harry wants to marry Ginny!" Anastasia smiled, leaning her body on the small stairs she was standing on. Her emerald eyes traveled from the ginger to her friend talking with some customers in the first floor. "When did he tell you this?"
"Yesterday." He whispered. "But you can't tell anyone, Annie." Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I won't tell anyone, Ronald." She rolled her eyes as she finished putting the last packages in the shelf.
"Annie, can you please finish putting these quills in the table?" George said as he walked to them. "And you, help me with the love potions packages." He nodded his head to Ron, who exhaled deeply and followed the tall ginger to the back of the shop.
"Why are you giving Annie less work?" She heard Ron argue and the girl chuckled lightly as she climbed down the stairway with her free hand.
The brunette smiled as she started to do what she was asked to do and ignored the bell of the entrance ringing, all because her mind couldn't stop bringing up certain blonde boy even though she did everything she could to shake those thoughts out of her head. Every once in a while she'd catch herself thinking again of him, and she'd had to force herself to think about anything else like Teddy, or what Ron said about Harry and Ginny.
"Merlin's beard." She whispered as she clumsily continued to get her hand inside the books of the quills, only to find out there weren't any inside. "George! Are these the only quills?" Anastasia asked as she turned to face the back of the shop.
"Harry has more!" George answered with a stressful exclamation, the girl wondered what they were doing there.
"Alright." She nodded shortly and turned around to climb down the several set of stairs to get to the first floor with Harry.
With a sigh, she carefully walked down the stairs as she tried to recognize the additional voices that were talking to Harry. They sounded very secretive and suspicious with those low whispers and hurried sentences, she wondered if they were Aurors looking for information.
"Harry, where are the other—" She found herself choking with her own words as her emerald eyes met a pair of gray ones. The girl felt her hands trembling lightly as she hardened her grip around the box in her arms.
Anastasia felt her mouth opening, but unlike other times, words betrayed her. The only thing she could do was stare at those magnificent eyes that expressed anger and confusion towards her. She jumped the last two steps of the stairs and took little but meaningful steps toward him, but Draco backed away almost simultaneously.
"I—" She spoke out and surprised herself at how low and shaky her voice came out.
"I need to go." Draco said quickly as he turned around, he sent a short nod at Harry and walked out of the shop without a word.
Anastasia stood there, not emitting a word or moving. Suddenly, she felt a cold breeze take over her whole body and the only thing that could comfort her, was herself. She brought her arms to the sides of her body and with her eyes, followed the imaginary path Draco left behind.
He left without turning back, just like one year back, she did the same to him.
▲ △ ▲
Anastasia was certainly sure the visitor Mrs. Weasley was getting ready for was Draco, it wasn't difficult to understand when Hermione instantly wanted to help her look presentable for the occasion. The brunette had to repeat her friend that she didn't need any improvements on her looks, and that she was comfortable with the clothes she was wearing at the moment.
"Oh, Draco, my dear! Welcome!" The girl heard from her room where she was putting Teddy to sleep. "Oh and I see—" Suddenly she couldn't hear a word because Teddy started crying again.
"Shh. It's okay, it's okay. I'm here." She mumbled quietly in the baby's ear. As the seconds passed by, she started to get panicky, until the cries became quieter and quieter. "That's my boy." Anastasia smiled before kissing his small head.
Quietly and with slow but sure movements, the brunette left the baby comfortably sleeping inside his crib. A relieved sigh left her lips as she slowly walked backwards and clumsily attempted to open the door to get out of the room without waking Teddy up.
Casting a last glance at the baby sleeping, she walked out of the room and left the door ajar to let the baby sleep peacefully, and that way she could hear him if he started crying again.
Anastasia knew that going down to meet the others to eat dinner was going to be a challenge. Her heart was still broken because of what happened at the shop, and she had to constantly remind herself that it was her own fault. It was her fault that Draco didn't want to know anything about her. Maybe the letter wasn't enough for him, she thought while jumping the last step of the stairs.
"I'm glad you came down. Dinner is ready, dear." Mrs. Weasley told the girl rapidly as she made her way to the table. Anastasia followed her suit. "Sit wherever you want, Annie."
She nodded shortly and walked to the chair closest to the stairs, knowing that it was the easiest way to run upstairs in case Teddy started crying again. Her emerald eyes were focused on her plate as she waited for the others to sit too and join her in the rather uncomfortable dinner they had ahead.
Of course, Ron was the first one to serve food on his plate without even announcing, but knowing him, nobody said anything about it. Anastasia pressed her lips together as she waited George stop occupying the bowl of food, and tried to ignore the piercing eyes looking at her from the other side of the table.
"Draco, didn't you have an announcement to make?" Hermione stepped in as she weighed the tension in the air. "Why don't you tell us now?"
"Oh, right." With the corner of her eye, Anastasia saw Draco stand up from his chair and turn to his right. "Uh, Astoria and I are engaged." Her head snapped up, only to meet the most heartbreaking sight before her eyes.
Draco, holding hands with the beautiful Astoria Greengrass who was smiling happily at the family in front of her. The brunette felt her heart sinking to the floor as soon as the realization of his words invaded her thoughts. He's getting married to another girl that isn't her, and it was entirely her fault.
She watched as her friends walked to them to share big and supportive hugs with the couple, but Anastasia's body felt numb. She didn't want to say a word because she knew she would end up crying her heart out in front of everyone. The girl knew she had to stand strong and pretend these news weren't breaking every piece of the mess she called a heart.
Sighing, she held her head high and walked to them with her one of best fake smiles, the ones she used to do whenever her family's friends attended their fancy dinners, the ones she used to hide her true feelings.
"I'm so happy for you." She told Astoria after breaking the hug, but her eyes couldn't move away from Draco's. "I wish nothing but happiness for both of you."
"Thank you, Annie." The beautiful girl said truthfully. "I appreciate—" Before Astoria could even finish her sentence, loud crying began to echo around the house, and Anastasia's alert went off.
"I have to go." She told them and hurriedly climbed the stairs that led to her room, where Teddy was crying loudly.
She stumbled into the room and took the red-haired baby in her arms to start comforting him, his ear was pressed against her chest but his sobs and tears didn't stop. After a second, Anastasia joined him.
The sadness and desperation kicked in as she pressed quick kisses over his head and walked around the room, talking sweet nothings to his ear. After he was born, Anastasia always watched Tonks calming him whenever he started crying, and she didn't know why it wasn't working.
"Hey, Teddy, I know I'm not your mummy but please help me here. I'm really trying." She whispered with a sad voice, and a tint of desperation hidden in her tone. "I'm here. Don't cry, everything's okay." She whispered.
Who was she trying to fool? It wasn't fine. She was far from being fine, she needed Remus and Tonks, she needed her family back.
After a moment, Teddy's hair came back to its normal color and the crying faded to light snores. A triumphant smile took over Anastasia's features as she combed his hair smoothly.
"So now it's just you and me, little Teddy." She whispered before placing a kiss over his temple. "Just you and me."