Chapter 10
"What do you think they're talking about?" Sirius asked, as Larry got up to take pictures of the bride and her friend. Like it or not, and he really didn't not like it, but the two out there dancing were friends, for lack of a better term.
"Well, I wouldn't know," Aunt Mildred said with some self-importance. "Actually, Lucy doesn't appear to be saying anything now. She looks comfortable though. That Severus surely is a striking fellow. 'Striking' is the word, yes, most definitely. But he does have a sort of magnetism, doesn't he, Dinah?"
Dinah seemed more interested in her third piece of cake, at least the third Sirius had seen her with since sitting down, than in what Severus and Lucy were or weren't talking about, but she did manage an indulgent smile at her husband. "Well, I certainly think so. I think the head on the shoulder bit is a lot for him right now, but he's holding his own pretty well, I must say."
"She looks tired," Sirius said, frowning a little bit. "Do you think she looks tired?" he asked Dinah, "Are you tired for that matter?"
Dinah shook her head a little in warning at him, trying to subtly caution him against saying too much, as her family was starting to look curious. But her tone was casual as she said; "I'm just hungry, actually, if you couldn't tell. And believe it or not there's no appetite stimulant involved this time. It's just me."
Sirius grinned. He got the hint. Lucy would be really annoyed if they'd worked this hard to keep the pregnancy a secret until after the marriage only to have him reveal it to Dinah's parents because of his concern. "Severus would be thrilled I'm sure. Have you two talked about how you're going to deal with the students when they find out? They'll have questions I'm sure?" He and Lucy had talked about it a little but hadn't quite decided on a strategy for dealing with the issue.
"Well," Dinah flushed a little, "I mean I'm pretty sure they all know the basics of having babies and how things 'work', being at least eleven..."
"True. I know I did," he grinned, "I meant more of the 'What are you going to name the baby? Are you going to bring the baby to class?' sort of things." He was also curious to know if they were going to acknowledge the pregnancy to the school or just sort of not talk about it unless the students brought it up. Lucy was leaning towards letting the school know somehow after they told their friends and family, but she wasn't sure how she wanted to go about it. Sirius wasn't sure either way.
"Well, I think I'll tolerate them to a certain extent," Dinah admitted. "I'll answer them honestly, though if it starts to interrupt class I'll discourage it. I think Severus will just take points away from the beginning and refuse to answer them," she admitted, her lips twitching into an amused smile.
Sirius laughed, "Yeah, he would and he'd enjoy it too." Looking back out onto the dance floor Sirius saw both their spouses returning. "Severus doesn't look too traumatized."
Dinah laughed, "Oh, good."
Lucy sighed when the music stopped and lifted her head, "Thanks for dancing with me. I think I'll let you return us to our spouses now."
"Mm," Severus agreed, looking a little out-of-sorts but not too bad. He also seemed thoughtful as he turned and led them back towards the table where Dinah and Sirius sat with the Samsons.
They said little else until they reached the table. Sirius immediately yanking her down into his lap. "The students are leaving," he murmured in her ear, "I think it's time for the garter toss."
Dinah jumped up from where she had been whispering something of her own with Severus and nestling her head in his shoulder; "Oh, I want more cake!" she levitated a piece over to herself while Severus watched, annoyed, and then grinned at Lucy; "And I want to see the garter throw! Get going!"
Sirius chucked and scooted the chair back a couple feet, "We're not going far. Lucy had last minute nerves about this and wasn't sure she wanted to do it. Now she has no choice."
"Sirius!" Lucy squeaked, as his hand started to lift her skirt, revealing her fancy blue shoes.
"Don't worry," he grinned, "I'm not having them make an announcement. The only people that are going to see are the ones who happen to look this way." His hand slipped under her skirt and caressed its way up her leg.
It went higher and higher, passing her garter and going on up to stroke her bum. "Hey!" she squeaked again, straightening up in his lap a bit, "That's not my garter."
"My mistake," he grinned.
"Young man!" Aunt Mildred shrieked, "Not only is this completely untraditional doing it at our table, but to think you would go so far as to-" she broke off and shook her head, but she looked more thrilled and excited than she looked disapproving.
Dinah chuckled while Severus glared; "Sirius, really, of all the tables to choose you chose this one?" teased the former.
Sirius shrugged, his hand drifting back down when Lucy tugged on his hair a bit. "We were here," he said, "It seemed fitting. There is exactly one single man at this table and it'd be a little weird to give Lucy's garter to my godson or her relatives."
"Huh?" Larry frowned as Aunt Mildred's eyes lit up. "So... you're just going to hand it to me?"
"Oh, do tell me you're going to let the man put the garter on the woman who catches the bouquet!" Aunt Mildred said eagerly.
"Mum!" Larry shouted, his ears turning a little pink.
Lucy was blushing, trying desperately to keep her dress from riding too far up her legs. "I think we'll refrain from having them do that Aunt Mildred. Most of the single girls still here are younger than me. It might be awkward for all involved."
One of Sirius's fingers tucked under the garter and slid it down her leg and over her shoe. He took a moment to note the red ribbon running through it and the silver lace that decorated it, before haphazardly tossing it in Larry's direction. Then he reached up with the hand that had tossed the garter to turn Lucy's face to him and kissed her. "Now what else are you wearing under there?"
"You'll just have to find out later," she grinned, sort of enjoying how he was eager enough to ask that question in front of the Samsons.
"The red and silver is just lovely," Aunt Mildred said, as Larry inspected the object.
Dinah grinned at her cousin; "So, any new women at that job of yours yet, Larry? You might want to put that garter on your desk or something."
"Oh, shut up, Dinah," he grumbled, stuffing the garter into a pocket before muttering a "Thank you" to Sirius.
Lucy gave Aunt Mildred a sheepish grin, "Thank you. It was supposed to be red and bronze for our houses but they only had the red and silver. I discovered most garters are blue or white so I settled for this. I assume you know about the Hogwarts houses?" She didn't want to confuse the poor lady.
"Yes, yes, Gryfflepuff, Ravendoor, Salaclaw, and Slythers," she nodded importantly. "The last of which has the parseltongue, because snakes slither, you know."
The look Severus was giving his 'aunt' was indescribable. Dinah was trying not to laugh; "Close, Aunt Mildred, close. I'm surprised they didn't do house colors in the garters, Lucy. They seem to do it with everything else."
Lucy nodded, "I was surprised too, but I couldn't find one. That was all I could find," she nodded toward the garter sticking out of Larry's pocket.
"Lucy, dear," Aunt Molly said, coming up to the table, "I've gathered all the girls for the bouquet toss. This way you won't have to worry about doing it before you leave."
"All right, I guess I'll be right—" she stopped as she turned to see all the single girls standing behind the chair she was still sharing with Sirius. "Looks like you all get a front row seat," she told the table. She shifted a little so that her back was more to the girls than it was before and prepared to throw her bouquet. "Now," she said, before tossing it, "I know there's foxglove in this, but don't worry. Severus made sure it would be completely harmless."
With that she performed a few practice throws and then let her bunch of flowers go. A part of her wanted to keep the blooms but she'd have the pictures and they'd last far longer than the flowers anyway. She turned to see a flustered Hermione holding the flowers.
"Oh, um, here. You should have this," she said, trying to shove it into Ginny's arms.
"You caught it. You keep it," Ginny grinned.
Lucy grinned, "You have to keep it Hermione. Those are the rules."
"And we all know Lucy's a stickler for the rules," Sirius teased. He stood, holding Lucy in front of him, "I think it's time for us to go now."
"We'll escort you out," Tonks offered. "The bridesmaids have one last surprise for you two," she said, when Sirius started to protest.
"Oh! Right, I've just got to see this!" Dinah pushed away her empty cake plate and stood.
Lucy laughed, "It must be good if Dinah's abandoning her cake for this."
Dinah giggled; "Well, I could probably have another piece but I'll skip it for now. Aunt Mildred, watch Severus while I'm gone," she told her aunt, patting her husband on the head.
"What?" Severus demanded; "Dinah-"
"Hurry, hurry," Dinah grinned and shooed Lucy and Sirius away from the table.
The newlyweds allowed themselves to be ushered out of the Great Hall amid teasing, cheers, and some throwing of rice.
"Now," Tonks said, as they climbed all the way to the seventh floor, "We know you're putting off a real honeymoon for now but Hermione and Ginny came up with this idea and Dinah and I helped execute it."
Tonks shoved open the doors she'd revealed. Inside was possibly the most beautiful room Lucy had ever seen. It was like a scene from a book. A winter scene in a little forest glen, complete with bed, couch and probably anything else they would need. And it was snowing!
"It's…" she trailed off, her hormones bringing on the tears.
Dinah smiled at the group, "I think that means she likes it."
Lucy took a couple steps forward, "I love it." She'd nearly crossed the threshold when Sirius held her back.
"Uh uh," he said, "Not like that. Like this," he picked her up and held her, "It's tradition."
"I think that pertains to doing this when entering your home, but I'll let it slide," she said, laying her head on his shoulder.
Her husband carried her over into the forest room and sat her down near the bed before he turned to the others standing outside. "Night," he grinned, closing the couple inside the wonderful, snowy room.
"Now," Sirius said, standing behind Lucy and running his finger over the edge of her dress, where the material stopped and her skin began. "I believe we had a discussion about buttons?"
"Mmm," she hummed, "I believe we did, but I ignored it. Stupid me thought making you fight through all the buttons would be fun. Can't remember why right now and if I wasn't wearing a wedding dress I'd tell you to rip it to pieces."
Sirius chucked, his tongue replacing his finger as his hands moved to undo those silly little buttons one by one. It seemed to take an age and a half but finally he had all the buttons undone and the dress pooled at her feet.
Lucy's hormones wanted her to attack her husband, but they were too thrilled by his efforts to remove her corset to make a move.
"This looks exquisite on you," he panted, "but I do not have the patience to properly appreciate it right now."
"That's okay," Lucy assured him, as he laid her back on the snow-covered bed, "my hormones are so out of control right now I don't think I could let you anyway.
They lay there in the afterglow, Lucy's eyes drifting shut and Sirius's hand wandering over her body. It drifted down to rest on what he assured her was a barely-rounded stomach. "I love you," he murmured, "and you too," he kissed her cheek.
"Mmm," was all her brain could manage.
He chuckled, "Get some rest. It's been a long day." That was the last she heard for a couple hours.