Chapter 21
"So, you're really okay with leaving?" Lucy asked, kissing Sirius again.
"Yes," he grinned, "I'll go see Harry and check up on Grimmauld Place at the same time. It's fine."
"Oh! You should take this! Show him a picture of the baby!" Lucy said, grabbing one of the many copies she'd made. In retrospect she'd gone overboard with that, but she'd been so excited at the time.
Sirius chuckled, "I've got one in my bag. And the wedding pictures," he added before she could say anything. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Lucy nodded, getting weepy.
"What's wrong?"
"It'll be the first time since we've been married that…" she paused when Dinah knocked on the door.
Sirius hugged Lucy tight, before opening the door, "Hi, Dinah, I was just about to leave."
"Have fun," Dinah smiled, apparently a bit friendlier towards him than this morning, and stepped inside, holding up a pile of PTPs, "I brought a lot of choices! The television and player are in my bag."
Sirius grinned and said, "Have fun," before heading out the door.
"Wait!" Lucy called, before he could actually get beyond the doorway. She pulled his head down and kissed him like he was going off to war or something. "You'll come back?" she asked, becoming suddenly fearful.
"You won't even know I'm gone," he assured her.
"Yes, I will," she murmured. "You have to come back."
"Always," he said, kissing the top of her head and departing, not giving her a chance to pull him back again.
"Sorry," Lucy said, coming back into the room and using a tissue to wipe at her eyes.
Dinah frowned; "Would you like me to leave then? I have a nice couch waiting for me back at the dungeons and about a billion boring books to occupy my time."
"Nonsense," Lucy said, trying not to feel offended at her friend's words. "You know how emotional I can be and the pregnancy only makes it worse. It's the first night we'll have been apart since we got married. Now," she attempted to change the subject, "what film did you want to watch? Or would you rather talk about what happened between you and Severus?"
"Nothing happened!" Dinah insisted. "I just don't ever want to speak to him again, that's all. Now let's watch the film. Here, pick one!" she held the five PTP boxes out for Lucy to see, "I think you'd like that one... Oh! But that one's really good too. Then again... yes, that one is great! Go ahead, pick!" she seemed rather insistent on getting the subject away from Severus.
"Um, okay. How about that one?" Lucy pointed to a random box. Dinah, the Hufflepuff, was managing to scare Lucy, the Ravenclaw, but she tried logic one more time. "Why don't you want to speak to your husband ever again? Isn't that going to make it hard to be married to him and have a child with him?"
Dinah just shrugged and didn't answer the question, using her wand to remove the telly and PTP player from her bag where they had been comfortably resting in wizard space. She went about inserting the film.
Well, fine. If Dinah didn't want to talk about the issue then they wouldn't talk about it. She had no problem telling Lucy to 'talk' to Sirius about whatever issue was bothering Lucy but talking to Severus was apparently out of the question. That was just fine. She'd be there for Dinah but she was not going to let the other woman use her Snuffles blanket.
"Did you want some popcorn?" she asked, before settling down on the couch.
"Oh! Yes! That sounds just perfect, I'm starving! With lots of butter?" Dinah asked eagerly, plopping down beside Lucy.
Lucy wanted to scowl, but her moods seemed to be going up and down in accordance with Dinah's. She seriously considered sabotaging the popcorn somehow, but she wanted it too so that would be pointless. Instead she waved her wand and some popcorn, with lots of butter, appeared in a big bowl before them. Hermione might not agree but sometimes house elves were wonderful.
Dinah seemed like she wanted to watch all the films she'd brought over before leaving, but she had to concede defeat and go back to the dungeons when Dora sat right in front of the telly and wouldn't move.
"Lucy? Lucy, wake up. Why are you still in bed? Shouldn't you be in class?"
Lucy forced her eyes open, feeling a little drugged, and looked at a very worried Sirius. She sat up and looked around the room. "What time is it?"
"Never mind. Are you okay? Do I need to take you to Madam Pomfrey?"
"Mmm, no," she said, shoving her hair out of her face, "I think I took too much sleeping potion is all. I couldn't sleep and I wanted to fall asleep faster so I took a little extra."
Sirius sighed and wrapped his arms around her, "Okay. Don't do that again. You've nearly missed all of your fifth year class."
"Mm, don't leave me again," she countered, resting her head on his shoulder when it became just too heavy to hold up.
Sirius chuckled, "Okay. I suppose I can let you sleep a little longer since you've missed most of your class anyway."
"Mmm," was all Lucy could muster before falling back to sleep for another half hour.
"You weren't here at breakfast!" Dinah opened their lunch conversation with that statement as she sat down next to Lucy. "Well, that's okay. I did keep you up a bit last night with the films. You want to watch some more tonight? Then again, I could bring over video games this time, or we could play cards or some kind of game. Why don't you join us, Sirius? I promise I'll leave early enough that you two have time alone. I just need something to do to occupy my time."
Sirius chuckled, "I think you're overwhelming Lucy there. I'm afraid she took a little too much sleeping potion last night and is still feeling a little drugged. A game of cards sounds fun though. We could watch some film if you'd like, as long as they aren't girly ones."
Lucy, her head resting on her husband's shoulder again, said, "Sorry, Dinah. I meant to be at breakfast. I really did. But I was in that big bed all alone…I missed my fifth year class too if that makes you feel better."
Dinah sighed. "That's okay. Sorry if I'm being annoying or anything, I'm just trying to find something to do, you know? But a game tonight will be fun! Oh, but... do you think your missed class will be a problem?" she frowned.
"It's fine," Lucy assured her friend, rubbing at her eyes, "I already talked to Minerva about it. She wasn't thrilled, but understood and Ginny is coming this weekend so hopefully nothing like this happens again."
"Right, right," Dinah nodded. They had contacted Ginny and Hermione together to try and get the girl's up to learn the ropes for helping out with their classes, but Hermione was not available until Tuesday. Lucy wondered if Dinah and Severus would still be at this standstill by then...
"They're going to be staying in your old rooms," Lucy said, trying to make conversation.
"Oh. How nice. At least somebody gets to use them. And there's no connecting office, either," she seemed to shoot a brief glare across the table at Severus but quickly turned back to Lucy and changed the subject again, "I'll bring some Muggle snacks and candy tonight! It'll be fun."
"You should bring Godric," Lucy suggested, "Maybe he'll keep Dora occupied if we watch another movie."
"Sure!" Dinah enthused. "He'll like that. Or he'd better like it, anyway. After all, if the dungeons are his then the cat is mine. Right? Oh, don't answer that!" She sighed and stood up from her seat. "I'll see you at dinner," she said before heading out and back to classes.
Lucy turned to Sirius, "She's crazier than I am."
Dinah could not find her cat when she entered the dungeons after dinner. The bedroom door was closed, however, and she stood before it with a determined glare. She would get in, get the cat, and get out. Because she was fairly certain that her git of a husband was in there reading one of his stupid books.
She marched forward and flung the door open, revealing their bedroom with Severus on the bed behind a gigantic tome and Godric laying by his feet. She snatched the cat with a loud growl of, "The cat's mine!" and stormed back out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind her just as Severus lowered the book and growled. But she didn't stay to hear if he had anything to say.
Severus stared at the closed door with a snarl. His ridiculous, childish wife had just stormed in, claimed the cat for herself, and stormed out. Her behaviors as of late were just incredulous, really. He had absolutely no patience for her infantile behavior. Fine with him. She could take the cat for all he cared. As long as she stayed out of his bedroom he was fine with or without the ridiculous furry animal to keep him company. Granted, he didn't really mind having Godric there… but if Dinah wanted him so bad so be it. She wasn't going to inconvenience him so easily. He would not give her the satisfaction.
He smirked and went back to his book. At least her childish behaviors guaranteed him the bed at night. He was making out in this fight just fine if he did say so himself. And because of that he found himself very satisfied indeed.
"Think we should have told her to bring that Twister game you like? Or Monopoly?" Sirius asked that night as they waited for Dinah to arrive.
"No," Lucy giggled, going back to kissing her husband's neck. She doubted they were going to get much alone time if this argument between Severus and Dinah kept going on much longer so she was taking advantage of it while she could.
"Do you think…?" Sirius drifted off, rearranging Lucy so she straddled his lap.
"No," she giggled again.
A knock on the door made Sirius lean his head back and groan. "She has great timing doesn't she?"
This time Lucy just grinned, "I told you there wasn't time. Maybe later." She climbed off his lap and went to answer the door, "Hi, Dinah! How're you doing?"
"Great! I brought cards! And a couple of non-girly action films!" Dinah waved the items in concern before them and positively bounded inside. "Oh, and my cat!" she dropped Godric on the floor where he promptly ran over to start sniffing at Dora.
"Wonderful," Sirius said, only a touch sarcastic, not getting up from his chair. It was kind of rude, but in this case Lucy understood. No need to embarrass himself and Dinah.
"Well, what did you want to do first? We're up for whatever," Lucy said.
"I'll leave early, I promise," Dinah bit her lip, glancing at Sirius. "Can we just play cards though? I want to play cards."
Lucy frowned and pushed a little on Sirius's head as she walked by, "You're fine. We can play cards and watch a film if you want. He's just being whiney. You know how men can be. Plus I think he's embarrassed."
"Oh," Dinah flushed, understanding, "Well, um, here are the cards and the films," she shoved them into Lucy's arms. "Pick what game you want to play and what you want to watch and I'll just use your restroom if that's okay. Give Sirius's mood time to improve."
Lucy plopped the cards and PVD's in Sirius's lap. She kissed him and said, "Are you happy now? You've upset Dinah. Be nice to her and I'll be nice to you later."
"She's been glued to your side for the last two days," he complained.
"Hey," she said, firmly, "There were times last year I was stuck to her side and I'm sure Severus was equally annoyed by it. But they didn't complain; they didn't turn me away; they helped me. I have to do the same for Dinah."
"You're right," Sirius said, brushing his hand across her cheek, "I shouldn't forget that. Shall we play this one?" He held up a bunch of cards colored like the Twister game.
"Sure," Lucy shrugged, "Muggles sure do like their colors don't they?" She dragged Sirius over to the coffee table and sat on the floor with him. Pulling out the instructions that came with the cards, she started to read them, determined not to make a fool of herself playing this Muggle game.