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Beautiful the rose that in your garden is

Summary:

A winter's gift and a winter's song.

Notes:

The title for this flashfic is from Song of the two roses by Giovanni Quessep, translated by Raúl Jaime Gaviria.

(See the end of the work for more notes and other works inspired by this one.)

Work Text:

“Long day?” Luna asks, taking a sip from her cup. Astoria watches her from where she’s nestled into her favourite armchair, bare toes curled beneath the softness of the crocheted blanket. Luna’s hair shimmers golden in the flickering light of the flames.

Astoria blinks and sighs. “Scorpius asked for three bedtime stories.” She loves her son, but sometimes she’d love him a little bit more if he went to sleep earlier. “I tried to ask if it would be okay for Meggy to read the last one, but he was adamant.” Astoria smiles despite herself, glancing up as Luna’s soft laughter spills into the room.

“Meggy is a little too pragmatic for stories,” Luna explains. “Scorpius does have a point.” She takes another sip, smiling. “And I suppose that Draco was out?”

Now it’s Astoria’s turn to laugh, shaking her head. “He’s completely hopeless,” she says. “I even told him point-blank that Harry fancies him, but he still refuses to believe it’s anything but wishful thinking.”

“And yet they’re on their third date this week?” Luna’s smile is warm; the firelight is golden on her cheek. Astoria doesn’t even bother pretending, just gets up to squeeze in next to Luna. The armchair is plenty roomy enough, and she leans in to press a soft kiss to Luna’s cheek.

“We, on the other hand, know exactly what we want,” Astoria says, laughing as she curls into Luna’s side.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Luna says, shifting from her seat and disrupting Astoria’s position. Astoria sighs; she’d just gotten comfortable too.

“What is it?” she asks, curious. Luna hums; she’s out of sight around the corner, but returns a moment later, holding a single blue rose.

“A gift,” she says, presenting it to Astoria with a smile. Astoria sits up, reaching for the flower—when her fingers touch the stem, they tingle with magic. She takes a breath.

“Thank you,” she says. Sometimes Astoria forgets that Luna, for all her unique opinions and free nature, still comes from a pure-blood background.

“Are you—“ she starts, stopping before she can finish the thought. Of course, Luna is sure. And she’s sure too.

“Yes, of course,” Astoria says, pulling Luna down onto the armchair, laughing as their legs tangle. Luna tucks her face into Astoria’s hair, and Astoria barely has a chance to save the blue rose from being crushed, setting it on the side table before Luna’s wrapping herself around her.

“I love you,” Luna murmurs. “You’re the best.” Astoria’s heart is beating warm in her chest, echoing the beat of the heart pressed against her. She reaches up to thread her fingers through Luna’s hair, holding her close.

“I love you forever,” she murmurs back. “Let’s get married in the spring.” Luna hums and Astoria settles further into the armchair with a sigh. Fingers grazing the wood of the wand tucked into her pocket, she turns on the wireless in the corner.

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming, from tender stem hath sprung...1

Luna shifts, breaking the moment's mood by laughing, but as Astoria meets her smiling gaze, she doesn’t mind in the slightest.

Notes:

1 Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming *, originally Es ist ein Ros entsprungen *, (stanzas 1-2) translated by Theodore Baker.

Created for the HP Femslash Minifest prompt for December 2020: Songs, and (belatedly) for the Wireless Festive Minifest 2020.

My Blanket Statement.

This story was also podficced on the Care of Magical Shippers podcast, episode 18. (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5)