Chapter 29
"Hey, Lucy," Hermione said, opening the door to her bedroom that evening.
"Shh," Sirius shushed her from his spot on the bed.
"She just fell asleep," Ginny explained, sitting in the only chair in the room.
Sirius waved his wand and produced a chair for Hermione, "Your meeting go well?" he said in hushed tones.
"Oh, yes. I'm glad I got the opportunity to do this. I considered teaching at one point but now I'm more interested in working in the Ministry," she sat down and reached into the bag she'd brought with her. "I brought this for Lucy. I thought she might like it if she hasn't read it all ready."
Sirius took the book from the girl and looked down at a worn copy of Hogwarts: A History. "Thanks. I'm sure…well I'm not sure she'll appreciate it. Probably at some point though."
"She's been snippy today," Ginny added.
"Well, being forced to stay in bed will probably do that. Plus, she's probably worried about the baby and maybe blaming herself for what happened. That's quite common for women to do," Hermione said.
Sirius rolled his eyes. He was kind of surprised Lucy and Hermione weren't constantly huddled up together reading. The two of them had a love of books he'd yet to see replicated in other people.
Ginny looked up from the papers she'd been attempting to grade, Lucy had promised to go over them later, and asked, "Are you going to the game night thing, Hermione? I thought I might but it sort of depends on if everything gets done with class."
Hermione nodded, "Yes. I am Professor Sam – Professor Snape's apprentice after all."
Sirius looked between the girls. They had every right to go to the game night but…"Don't forget about Lucy and keep your ears open for any noise about the Board of Governors thing. Especially if it pertains to any articles Rita Skeeter might be writing."
"Oh, I will," Ginny assured him, "I want to talk to Dinah too. I thought we could plan that film night for Thursday. The first Hogsmeade weekend is this one coming up and Sirius was talking to me about getting a couple of Lucy's students to come talk to her for awhile so I thought maybe we could get Jania and Agrona to watch the movie with us. Of course that means we'll all have to squeeze onto the bed…"
"We could just use an Undetectable Extension Charm," Hermione offered.
Beside Sirius, Lucy shifted to roll onto her other side. "I'm sure she'll enjoy that, but I think it's time to go."
"All right," Ginny said, "Come on, Hermione, I'll show you where our room is if you haven't been there yet."
Lucy rubbed her face into her pillow, trying to block out the sunlight. She didn't want to wake up. Waking up meant getting dressed and having to deal with problems she didn't want to think about. Of course there was something she could do about her most pressing problem. If she could get up and go to the bathroom maybe she could walk over to the table for some breakfast and from there walk to her classroom to sit at her desk and teach.
She threw the covers back and kicked her feet around a bit, trying to get the blankets off of them. She was surprised Sirius didn't wake up but she gently sat herself up and sat there on the side of the bed, waiting. Lucy wanted out of bed, but she didn't want to do anything to harm the baby. She shifted a little more, getting in a better position to stand from, but an arm snaked around her middle, loosely holding her in place.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sirius asked, sounding like he'd been awake for awhile.
"The bathroom," she said, a little irritated. Did he have to know her every move? Didn't he trust her? Okay, so she'd had intentions of going out to the dining table, but that wasn't the point. "I am allowed to go to the bathroom, aren't I?"
"Hold on," he grunted, getting out of his side of the bed, "let me help you."
"I can go to the bathroom on my own! I'm not a child!"
"No, just carrying one," he commented, helping her to stand. "I don't have to go in and watch you, but I'd like to be close at hand if something happens."
He was being sensible and caring…and it was incredibly irritating. "Fine. Then can you at least get me something to wear today. I refuse to spend the rest of the week in pajamas just because I'm in bed!"
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded as they reached the bathroom door.
"I want the green one!" she called, leaving the door open in hopes of irritating him. Probably wouldn't work, but it made her feel better.
"You lent that to Dinah yesterday," he replied, calm as could be.
"Then the purple."
"Not the red?" It sounded like he was grinning.
"No!" she snarled, "Not the red." She supposed bed rest didn't include standing at the mirror and doing her hair, washing her face, putting on some make-up, and brushing her teeth but she did it anyway. It was something else that made her feel better.
The instant she came out of the bathroom, Sirius was next to her. He held out a fresh set of robes and carefully watched while she changed. It seemed the man knew better than to touch her while she trudged back to the bed and settled in for another day of boredom. She had to keep reminding herself this was all for the baby, but she kept forgetting to do that. Apparently her hormones preferred her irritated.
"You know," she said, "I wouldn't mind being stuck in bed so much if we could engage in certain, entertaining activities."
Sirius chuckled, going to the window to pay the owl delivering the Daily Prophet.
"What?" she asked, her hormones calming down a bit. She didn't feel like punching him in the face anyway.
"I think people usually expect the man to be the one annoyed about not having sex for a couple days."
"Well, excuse me," she rolled her eyes.
He chuckled again and came over to lightly kiss her lips. "It's fine. I'm sure by the end of the week I'll be extremely frustrated. Now, Dinah promised she'd come have breakfast with us. I suggest you try not to scare her away."
"Little comments like that aren't likely to improve my mood," she frowned.
A faint knock from the living room indicated Dinah's arrival.
"I'll be right back. Think about what you want for breakfast."
She thought about it for two seconds then ordered up some veggie omelets. It would probably shock both Dinah and Sirius to see her eating something without apples in it, but right now the vegetables sounded like heaven.
"Why don't you go ahead and sit on the bed, Dinah?" Sirius said as he led their friend into the room. "You'll be more comfortable there than in a chair."
"Sure," Dinah agreed, settling down onto the bed. Lucy noticed with annoyance that she was wearing the green-trimmed robes. "How are you feeling?"
"Better, I think," she said, while Sirius conjured up a couple of bed trays for them to eat off of. "I've been getting a lot of sleep and without the help of potions." Three veggie omelets appeared, along with apple juice and toast with apple jelly, as Lucy shrugged, "I kind of feel like I'm being held prisoner."
Dinah grimaced and nodded, "I'm sure it must feel that way. If there's something I can do to help, just let me know, but I can't really think of anything..."
"There isn't anything I suppose…" she said, pushing her food around her plate.
"Lucy," Sirius said, "A week isn't that bad really. Look, Hermione brought you Hogwarts: A History to read."
Lucy shook her head, not taking the book he offered to her. "Thanks. If I could just have something to do. Ginny's doing most of the class work. I'm just double checking it for her really. I can only read for so many hours…and my hormones can't seem to settle on one emotion," she sniffed and put her fork down.
"Hmm, something to do, huh?" Dinah pondered, poking at her toast.
"Yeah," she said, sniffing and staring at Dinah's uneaten food. "Aren't you hungry? Why isn't Severus…He didn't want to come?"
"I didn't know you wanted him to come," Dinah said, "He'll come if I ask him."
"He doesn't have to. I don't want him to feel forced. Oh! Maybe I could sort some ingredients for him or something!" she suggested as Dora hopped up on the bed and started inspecting their breakfast. "Shoo," she said, "I'm still eating." To prove it she shoved a piece of toast into her mouth.
Dinah took a tiny bit of egg onto her fork without eating it and considered, "Well... I can ask him. I bet there's something you can do to that effect. As long as you don't sort by color this time," she teased.
Lucy giggled, feeling better at the prospect of the possibility of entertainment, "Only if he asks. But really, you should eat."
Dinah sighed, "I'm just not feeling it. I guess you should start timing me. What has it been, two minutes now that I haven't eaten yet?"
"Three," Sirius said, from his chair, "Of course Lucy's only eaten that bit of toast she didn't want the cat to have. Think I should start timing her too?"
"Oh," Lucy grumbled throwing a bit of sticky toast at her husband. "I'm eating just fine!"
"No, no, I'm the only one with this problem. Well, just let me know when five minutes have passed," Dinah requested Sirius.
Sirius kept watch on the time and after two more minutes told Dinah she had to take the stimulant. Breakfast continued on from that point and Lucy found herself entertained so that she didn't think too much about her situation. "So, you have to go now?" Lucy asked, thoroughly depressed at the thought of being left here all day again.
Dinah gave her an indulgent smile, "If I want to teach my classes, I do. I'll be by again at lunch, though. I'll bring Severus and make him give you some kind of 'assignment', okay?"
Some might find it weird but she was looking forward to getting homework from her old Potions master. "Okay. He doesn't actually have to come if he doesn't want to though," she said, picking at the seam of her comforter.
"He won't not want to," Dinah insisted.
"All right." It was silly how little things like people visiting were making her happy but she'd take what she could get. "Have a good morning," she waved.
"I'll walk you out," Sirius offered.
"Thank you. I'll see you at lunch and bring Severus," Dinah smiled, heading out of the room with Sirius.
