May 11th: Promises of Forever

[mayorhaggar]

Title: May 11th: Promises of Forever
Characters or Pairing: Astoria/Daphne/Harry
Word Count: 1664
Rating: R for some language
Challenge: Day 11: Promise
Author's Notes: Again, nothing sexual. This is quite a bit longer than any of the previous chapters, and thanks to that I'll be free to get back to some fun times tomorrow!



"Thanks for inviting me over for dinner, Tracey. I only had a light breakfast today, so I'm starved."

"Oh, not a problem, Stori," Tracey Davis said, waving her hand as she opened the front door to her flat and stood aside, holding it open for her guest/co-worker. "I just hope you're still feeling grateful at the end of the night. I think you will by the end, but if I'm wrong, working together is about to become really awkward."

"What's that supposed to..." Astoria began, only to trail off and stop in her tracks when she saw Daphne and Harry standing in Tracey's flat. "Oh, hello," she said, feigning nonchalance. "Did Tracey make plans with you guys and forget? Because I'd be more than happy to leave and let you..."

"Not going to happen," Daphne said flatly. "You're not going anywhere until this is all sorted."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Astoria said. She cocked her head over her shoulder to look at Tracey, and saw her co-worker standing between her and the now closed door to the flat, very deliberately blocking her best means of escape. Tracey smiled at her apologetically and shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't play dumb," Daphne said, shaking her head. "I know you too well. Things were weird last night, and then you left so quickly. We figured we'd give you the night to adjust to the news and then the three of us would sit down and talk about it today, but you didn't respond to my Floo call or my owl. You're avoiding us."

"I wasn't avoiding anybody," Astoria insisted, daring to make eye contact with her sister despite knowing it was probably a mistake. "I left last night to give you guys space to celebrate your news, and I was too busy to get back to you today. There was a lot Tracey and I had to finish before the deadline."

"Liar," Tracey coughed. Astoria turned her head and glared daggers at her, but the snarky brunette just grinned back.

"You've never been a good liar, Astoria," Daphne said. "Or at the very least you've never been good at lying to me. I figured out you fancied my husband, remember?"

"Daphne!" she gasped, shooting a panicked look back at Tracey.

"Relax, Astoria. I'm not telling her anything she doesn't already know."

"You told her?!" Astoria said, staring open-mouthed at her sister.

"Nope." Tracey shook her head and gave Astoria a pat on the shoulder. "I figured it out myself, because I'm just as good at reading Daph as she is at reading you."

"Great," Astoria muttered. "Now the office is going to know I was interested in my brother-in-law. Hell, it'll make a juicy Prophet article too, especially since it'd give you an excuse to get Harry's name back into the headlines. I'm sure the editors will love that."

"Hey, who do you think I am?" Tracey said, frowning. She actually looked rather hurt. "I'm no Rita Skeeter. I'd never publish anything that would hurt any of you guys, unless you killed someone or robbed Gringotts or something. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Secrets? As in plural? What's that supposed to mean?" Astoria pressed her.

"Well, there's Daphne's pregnancy, but that's kind of cheating since she told me herself this morning. There's also the fact that the three of you have been shagging for months."

Astoria could only stare at Tracey, horrified. Denial seemed pointless.

"How long have you known?" she asked quietly, closing her eyes and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I noticed something was up a couple of months ago. At first I thought Harry was having an affair with you, but Daphne told me the truth so I wouldn't confront either of you about it," she said. "That story would've been on the front page for weeks. It probably would've turned me into the Prophet's highest-paid writer overnight, but instead I'm still writing rubbish like this interview with Puddlemere United. Like I said, your secrets are safe with me."

"And you don't...think it's weird?" Astoria asked, keeping her eyes closed. This was the first time she'd had to deal with anyone outside of their trio knowing the truth, and she was very afraid of the reaction. She felt a hand on her shoulder again, and finally opened her eyes to see Tracey smiling at her.

"Maybe it's not 'normal', but I was ready and willing to have a threesome with my best friend and her boyfriend, who's now her husband. I'm sure plenty of people would think that's pretty damn weird too, but to hell with them!" Tracey said. "As long as there's no secrets between you three and you're all enjoying yourselves, fuck what anybody else thinks! And besides, you don't even know HALF of the things I get up to!" she finished with a laugh.

"Thanks, Tracey," Astoria said, feeling relieved. They shared a brief hug.

"Now that that's settled," Daphne began, regaining Astoria's attention, "are you willing to come back to our house and talk everything through, Tori? Or do we need to do it here, with Tracey blocking the door so you can't get out?"

"I won't run, I promise," she said, looking her sister in the eyes and trusting she would see her honesty. "I know we need to talk about this."

"Good," Daphne said. She nodded to Tracey, who waved her wand and temporarily lifted the Anti-Disapparition Jinx covering her flat. Daphne and Harry left first, placing their trust in Astoria to do as she'd promised. She did not disappoint them.

"Okay, Tori," Daphne said as soon as Astoria joined them in their sitting room. "Let's talk."

"First, let me just say that I'm happy for you guys. I really, really am. You guys are going to make great parents."

"Thanks, Astoria," Harry said, standing beside Daphne as they held hands. "We weren't really planning on having kids just yet, but we're excited."

"Nervous, but excited," Daphne added. "Thanks, Tori. I believe you. But I'm sure it made you feel awkward too, and that's what you running out last night and ignoring me this morning was all about."

"Yeah," Astoria said, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I was being a baby."

"No, it's okay," Daphne said. "I understand. I kind of sprung that on you out of nowhere last night, but I'm sure you realize it wasn't intentional."

"Of course. That was pretty obvious by the look on your face when you walked through the door. Scared the shit out of me and Harry," she said, making Harry laugh.

"Right, sorry," Daphne said, chuckling. "But now that we've all had a day to adjust to the idea, we need to talk about what comes next for this thing we've got going."

"I wish you'd given me a few more days to prepare for this," Astoria said softly. "But I guess it's for the best, as much as I'm going to miss what we have."

"So you want to end this, then?" Harry asked. He sounded very disappointed, and that feeling was also evident on Daphne's face.

"What? Of course I don't!" Astoria said. "But it isn't really my choice to make. You guys aren't going to want me around once you've got a kid."

"Huh? When did we ever say that?" Harry asked. He looked legitimately confused, and so did Daphne.

"Wasn't that the entire point of this conversation?" Astoria asked, feeling every bit as confused as they looked.

"Uh, no," Harry said. "We know things can't stay exactly the same now that a kid's on the way, but that doesn't mean we want to stop, either."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, that's pretty much up to you," Daphne interjected, which was news to Astoria. "If you want to 'break up' with us so you can start dating again and maybe get married eventually, we understand and we promise to support you."

"Or...?" Astoria said, looking back and forth between them. "I wasn't aware there was another option."

"Well..." Daphne said, biting her lip nervously. "You could leave your flat and move in here with us."

"You mean..." Astoria gasped, her eyes widening.

"We love you, Astoria," Harry said seriously. "And if you're willing, we want to make it official. Or as official as we can, at least."

"We'd propose to you if we could, but obviously that's not possible," Daphne said. "We can't marry you legally, but we want you in our lives."

"Even after your kid is born?" she asked, wanting absolute clarification. "You're sure you want me here for good? You promise you won't change your mind?" She could feel tears threatening to burst. That wasn't a surprise, but they were of an entirely different nature than she'd expected when this conversation began.

"We promise," Harry said firmly, and Daphne nodded. "We're talking long term. Forever, if that's what you want. It's definitely what we want."

Astoria walked towards Harry and Daphne, whose hands were still joined. They both held out their free hand, and Astoria took each in one of hers. Together the three of them linked and made a circle.

Astoria wasn't naive enough to think that everything was going to be perfect. Not everyone would accept their unique relationship as easily as Tracey had. Many people were going to have some pretty harsh things to say about this, her and Daphne's parents probably included. She'd also never be able to formally marry, and there were still so many details to figure out. Inevitably, new issues would pop up, things none of them would see coming, things they'd likely have to sort out on their own simply because no one else in their lives would be able to relate to their one of a kind situation.

She knew all of those things, but in that moment, standing linked and committed to the two people she adored most in the world, she couldn't bring herself to give a damn.