No Antidote | Draco Malfoy x Astoria Greengrass Love Story

Alchemy | Chapter 14

Astoria got up out of bed and groaned, of course today would be a gloomy weather. Can't believe it's already the new moon. Astoria sighed to herself.

She threw on a pair of comfy leggings and a long cream blouse plus a coat, and her rain boots, it looked like it would rain. Grabbing her bag, she departed from her estate for Diagon Alley by floo.

When she arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, she had wanted to grab a bite to eat first but she realized the time, she had taken too long to get out of bed because of the depressing weather.

She purposely avoided needing to walk pass Flow, not feeling like making amends with her friends on a day like this, and took the long narrow path to Knockturn Alley.

It used to scare Astoria to come to this part of town, but she was used to it now, she had to come every full moon. She made her way up the stairs to where Yao, the secret apothecary, was.

She remembered the first time she had come here with her grandfather like it was yesterday. Back then the Alchemist he took her to was the grandfather of her Alchemist now. She knew Atticus since then, she loved that he had taken over the Yao, and he was just as knowledgable as his grandfather.

"Astoria!" called Atticus as he climbed down from the attic ladder, "I'll be with you in just a moment" he says. Astoria called out for him to take his time and sat down in the all too familiar sofa by the door.

There were a few clients who had arrived to pick up a few items and Atticus saw to them first before gesturing her to his office. They didn't bother with small talk, she knew exactly what to do. She pulled off her coat and sat down on the chair, rolled up her sleeves to expose her wrists, and rested them across the table.

Atticus grabbed her right wrist first, and closed his eyes as he listened to her pulse. Even without reading his mind, Astoria knew Atticus well enough that he looked concerned by the way his nose crinkled, however without a word he switched to the right arm. After a few more minutes he released her wrist, opened his yes and looked carefully at Astoria as if to judge whether or not he should speak honestly.

"Just say it Atty" she says, nodding to reassure him that she could handle the truth.

"The tonics are not working as well as I hoped" he admitted, "You've been taking them?" he asked to me make sure. Astoria nodded. Every three days, Astoria took drank a tiny vile he created for her. This started when she was seven, back then Atticus' grandfather would be the one to do her pulse each new moon and put together the tonics. By now the tonic's bitter taste were an old friend of Astoria's. "Let's just start by upping the dosages to one a day" says Atticus, giving Astoria a week smile.

"Okay" she said, trying not to show signs of how she felt, worried and angry.

"Has it..." he started to ask, she didn't need him to finish the question for her to know the answer. She shook her head. "Well then, maybe its nothing" he suggested, although Astoria could tell he wasn't so certain.

"How much time do you think...?" she asked hesitantly, usually she tried not to ask questions to things she didn't want answers to.

"Maybe fifteen... twenty years?" he says, looking down as he did. She nodded, but all she could think about was Draco and his talks of being together for the long haul and the idea of getting married to him one day. Things had been going so well, she was beginning to really enjoy her life, even being back home and despite the fact that the countless effort she was putting to make amends with Daphne felt like they were in vain.

"Okay" she said again, her face was expressionless, but he knew her far too well and could tell that she was just putting up a strong front.

"Your stomach is empty" he pointed out.