𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭 {𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲}

| 𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄 | 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty, love, and fertility. Together with Eros, the god of war, she became the mother of Harmonia, the diety of peace; warrior twins Phobos and Deimos; and Eros, the god of love.

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a n g e l

Rutherford was a stout, polished man with opal-white hair and a brushy moustache to match. His pinstripe shirt barely held his overflowing belly in, and he always had on the same long black coat. He strutted about our street every day, puffing at a thick cigar that never seemed to burn out. Up, down. Up, down.

He was polite and just friendly enough, but kept a haughty air that many Ministry old-timers had. On the weekends, I would invite him to sit in our garden, where he could stretch out his legs and read the papers for a bit. While he did not seem particularly nimble or strong, his keen blue eyes saw everything, taking notice of even the slightest change.

Your daffodils have begun sprouting, he told me when the sprouts were still barely visible through the thick layer of soil. There's a crack on this pipe, he observed another time. It wasn't there yesterday.

It was admittedly unnerving, having someone constantly hovering around like that. His presence was a reminder that there were Death Eaters out there who might possibly want to hurt us. But it also meant that should something happen, the Ministry would be alerted at once.

But nothing would happen. Voldemort was dead. I had given my life in exchange for Draco's, but by some divine hand, I was spared. I wouldn't have to do it again.

I tried to carry on my life as normally as I could. I went to work, I was never late. I filed papers and ran around departments delivering messages and documents. I had lunch with Lorcan, Hermoine, and Codrus. It was always a struggle to keep my food down, especially after riding the erratic lifts, but I never let on.

The only thing that changed was that I stopped joining them on the weekends for drinks down at the Dragon's Horn. This made Draco happy, of course. He could spend more time with me.

Hannah and Susan began to come around more, often bearing freshly-picked berries and specially-brewed potions for pregnancies.

"When are you going to tell him?" Susan sighed as she watched me down another vial. This one was for healthy fetal heart development. It tasted like how I would imagine animal innards to taste like.

"Maybe when the baby is born," I joked. They didn't laugh. In fact, they were frowning.

"Angel, is there a reason why you don't want to tell him?" asked Hannah, blue eyes blazing with concern.