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A silent sob racked her body. As she grind herself into the deadline she set to work with, she couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming desperation and loss of hope. But she refused to give up now. She refused to let her husband’s nightmares get the better of him. Or rather, she refused to have another night of it with him waking up and looking at her as though she was a monster.
Astoria stared into the abyss of the Dreamless Sleep Potion, trying to wrack her brain for what the next ingredient might be. Her moment of weakness made her hate herself even more as her mind is soon ridden with harsh memories of Draco waking up in a fit of swear then moments later cowarding away from her. The sight of it broke her heart, especially when she remembered that it was the exact same look her husband gave her this very night before she ran for the potions room in the manor to brew him a new batch of the potion.
The stress of the evening, however, was relinquished briefly at the sound of her son’s voice.
“Mummy?”
When she turned, she saw her five year-old son looking up at her with those big grey eyes of his. He was still clad in his light blue onesie with his teddy bear in hand, the toy brushing against the floor. Scorpius was rubbing his eyes as he entered the potions room.
“Scorp, you should be sleeping,” Astoria sighed as she brushed away the damp of her cheeks.
“It’s still dark outside, mummy.” Scorpius mentioned, trotting over to her where she stood in front of a large pewter cauldron. Although her son could not reach its height, he still went up on his tiptoes to try to look. “What are you working on?”
“Mummy’s working on daddy’s potion.” Astoria explained before she bent to lift Scorpius up in her arms. He was getting heavy, she noticed, as she sat him on her right hip. “It’s a potion that will help daddy sleep.”
“Daddy can’t sleep?” Scorpius asked innocently, his brows furrowing in worry.
Astoria smiled at her son sadly. “Unfortunately not, sweetheart. But that’s why mummy’s awake, so she can make him the potion that will give daddy a dreamless sleep.”
“But isn’t dreams a good thing, mummy?” Scorpius questioned with a pout of his lips.
“Dreams are good, but there are also bad dreams, Scorp.” Astoria tried to explain. “Remember when you were four and you woke up crying?”
Scorpius’s eyes lit up. “I remember! I woke up because I dreamt that you and daddy were gone. That you two left me because I wasn’t the son you wanted.”
“And that is the perfect example of a bad dream, sweetie. Because mummy and daddy would never leave you because we love you very very much.”
“I know that, mummy,” Scorpius nodded determinedly. “But it was very scary. Is daddy having the same bad dream?”
Astoria sighed. “More so than what’s normal.”
Scorpius frowned before he wriggled in his mother’s arms. “Can I get down, mummy? I want to help you make daddy’s potion.”
“Oh, but Scorp, you should be sleeping.”
“I want to help you. Pretty please?”
Another moment of weakness, Astoria realized. But she nodded anyway, knowing that whatever she says would not convince Scorpius to drop his need to help her. So she put her son down then watched him hobble out of the potions room.
If it had been Draco, he would have run after their son in worry—frightened to see Scorpius trip or fall over his own two feet. But Astoria trusted her son enough to be independent. He has always been smart as a child, and she knew that wasn’t going to change any time soon.
As she waited for Scorpius, she turned back to the potion to frown at it. Years of doing potions at Hogwarts should have helped her memorize such a potion. But her stress, anxiousness and fear of what Draco must be going through in their room right now pushes her limit, and therefore, causes her to panic and go blank from worry.
These days, it was difficult to predict when Draco’s nightmares might come. They could be nonexistent for months, but could go on for many weeks on end. Astoria always brewed quite a large cauldron full of the potion. But it just so happened that in that evening, they were all out. The nearest apothecary was closed, and she couldn’t possibly trouble anyone else to give her a simple potion. It was up to her.
By the time she finally remembered the next ingredient, she heard Scorpius’s gentle footsteps pad into the room. Astoria whirled and nearly jumped in fright when she saw her son try to balance two very heavy-looking mugs in his hand, the little boy’s teddy bear nowhere in sight.
She rushed to her son and helped him with the mugs, placing them on one of the tables inside the room.
“Where’s Mr. Whizzbee?” Astoria asked fondly, remembering how her son had named his toy after one of his favorite sweets.
“I put Mr. Whizzbee to sleep, mummy! I told him that I need to stay up to help you.” Scorpius replied cheerfully before nodding towards the mugs on the table. “Poppy helped me make you hot chocolate. I added extra marshmallows, just how you like it!”
Astoria’s heart fluttered at the sight of her precious son. If anyone ever truly knew Scorpius, they would not have even thought that he was Draco’s son, except he looked like the spitting image of his father. But Draco always told her that Scorpius had her heart, and he had never been more thankful for it.
“Come along, now. You can help mummy pick away the leaves of dittany.” Astoria told him brightly then offered her hand.
Scorpius filled her hand with his small one before they set to work.
As Scorpius took off the leaves of dittany, Astoria stirred the cauldron clockwise and watched as the potion turned purple. The worry seemed to be etched on her face still because she caught her son looking at her wearily.
“Mummy, don’t worry,” Scorpius said in a small voice. “I remember what you used to tell me. That for me to achieve my dreams tomorrow, I have to make the most of today. We have to be strong for daddy, don’t we, mummy?”
Her heart warmed at her son’s declaration. She did, indeed, tell him that. It was quite ironic how she has a hard time following through with the lesson she taught her own son.
“We can do it, mummy!” Scorpius beamed at her, showing pearly-white teeth. “I know we can!”
Astoria resisted the urge to cry tears of joy, and instead, nodded determinedly.
They spent an hour more in the potions room, sipping their own mug of hot chocolates and working through the last details of the potion. Once they were through, Astoria ladled some of the potion into a vial before she and her son set off to go back to the chambers where Draco was.
When they arrived at her and Draco’s chambers, she was surprised to find that Draco had nearly jumped from where he lay on the bed. He scrambled up, looking very distressed as he stared at her.
“Astoria, love, I’m so sorry.” Draco shook his head before he bowed it in shame. “I didn’t mean to make you worry, or what I said when I woke up I…”
“It’s alright, darling.” Astoria smiles at him fondly. She then walks up to sit on his side of the bed and offer him the vial of the potion. “Here. A fresh batch just for you.”
Draco lifted his head in the slightest. He took the vial from her, but also blinked twice when he saw Scorpius trotting up to them. Agitation set on his face. “Why are you awake, Scorp?”
“I helped mummy with the potion!” Scorpius declared before he raised his hands, indicating for his want for upsies. Astoria carried him then sat him on her lap. The little Malfoy stared at his father worriedly. “Mummy said you had a bad dream. I couldn’t sleep because I heard you couldn’t sleep too. I wanted to help.”
An affectionate look graced Draco’s features as he ruffled his son’s similarly blonde hair. “You’re very brave and kind, Scorpius. Thank you.”
Scorpius beamed at his father as Draco drank all the contents of the vial into his system. Their son clapped his hands happily when Draco was through. “Yay! Daddy can sleep without bad dreams now!”
“Yes, he will, all thanks to you.” Astoria booped his nose with her finger playfully.
The six year-old burst into fits of giggles.
Astoria and Draco soon decided that they would let Scorpius sleep on their bed, on their son’s insistence that should the potion not work, he wanted to be there to “fight off his daddy’s bad dreams”. As Astoria lay next to Scorpius, who had gone fast to sleep, she watched her husband lie on the other side of their son. Draco’s grey eyes never left the bundle between them.
“I’m so glad he has your heart.” Draco proclaimed as he brushed away a stray strand of their son’s hair. “He’s so much like you.”
“He’s a bit like you too, you know,” Astoria said fondly. “Stubborn, but in a good way.”
Draco chuckled lowly. “You’re not wrong.”
“Are you feeling better?” She asked, and looked troubled all of a sudden.
“I am.” He said with a slight smile. His hand then reached out to caress her cheeks. “You’re quite the hero today, love. I can’t thank you enough.”
“I think the real hero is Scorp, reminding me to seize today if I wanted better things for tomorrow.” She admitted as her eyes drifted towards their son. “I don’t know what I’d be without him tonight.”
For that particular evening, the small family of three slept soundly.
Astoria, mostly, as she dreamt and heeded the sound advice of her son.
Tomorrow will be better. She believed that now more than ever.