Author's Note: Thanks so much everyone for reading and reviewing, MNF
Chapter 26:
Invitation
Wednesday, May 31, 2000
"I can't believe you did that," Ginny said just after Rosie fell out of the Floo and onto her sister-in-law. The two laughing girls barely were out of the way when Junie stepped into Grimmauld Place's foyer.
"What has the two of you cackling so?" she asked.
"Rosie came in too quickly and landed halfway on my back. I fell over into the bench here, and then she slid off," Ginny explained. "I think I know why she doesn't play Quidditch."
"I can fly just fine," Rosie countered. "I just can't stand the sport. Maybe if Dad and Harry had spoken about anything else while growing up, I might have come to appreciate it. Then Charlie came along, and well…at least Mum and I like to shop together."
"Yes, you and Lily do enjoy your shopping trips," Junie said with an understanding air. "Your father, however, wasn't always thrilled with how much you spent. I remember when you were just a moppet, maybe two or three, and your mum had you in a different frilly little dress nearly every day. I swear there were no repeats. Your father put a stop to it after a few months."
"I bet you had nothing to do with all my new clothes?" Rosie asked while looking at her aunt with a cocked eyebrow.
"I kept my spending on frilly frocks for you to a minimum," Junie said. "Where I had a challenging time was in the bookstore. I wanted you to have a wonderful library."
"I still have one since you've kept buying me books as I've grown up. I love to read because of you," Rosie said as she hugged her godmother.
"Why don't you two head up to the lounge? I'm going to ask Minsey to make tea for us," Junie said before she called for the elf. Ginny and Rosie talked and laughed as they went upstairs. While watching their red hair retreat, she realized any children Rosie and Fred had would undoubtedly have some colour version. Genetically getting James' dark hair would be unlikely. Junie grabbed the mail from the table and carried it upstairs with her. Anything dealing with Sirius' business dealings or Wizengamot business would already have been weeded out by David, Sirius' assistant. He also threw out the junk mail, which was a welcomed gift for Junie. Whatever was left was personal mail for the two.
When Junie reached the lounge, Rosie and Ginny were talking about their dresses for the wedding. Junie had chosen a short, pale blue dress for the younger women. The skirt was fully pleated and made of thin gossamer silk layers. The top was like a halter, but there was a slender, tulle-like cape over it, embroidered with sprays of flowers. The waist was decorated all the way around with more embroidered flowers, some of the stems trailing onto the skirt. The dress was for younger women but coordinated well with the golden, more mature dresses Lily and Marlene wore.
"Thank you for picking something that didn't clash with my hair," Ginny said. "The pinky-gold monstrosities Fleur had us wear did not make me look good at all."
"Harry didn't seem to mind," Rosie said. "I caught the two of you making out in the garden."
"I could have been wearing a sack, and Harry would have liked it and made out with me in the garden. That's just how he is." Rosie blushed a bit; he was her brother.
"Well, Bill and Fleur's wedding was something special," Junie struggled to find polite words. In her opinion, everything was over-the-top and quite ugly.
"Don't worry about being kind because he's my brother," Ginny said. "That wedding looked like flowers and fluff had been flung everywhere. My mother had no idea what to make of it and blamed it on Fleur being French. Personally, that's just Fleur. I try to be kind, but I think she's just used to being showered with praise by everyone. No one can tell her no, not even Bill. I like your wedding much better, by the way."
"Thank you," Junie said. "Sirius and I are older and far less flashy. We are both people who appreciate classic styling and quality production."
"I liked the dresses you chose when you married Harry," Rosie said. "The green made my eyes look amazing."
"The green and pink were my idea; guess what colour Harry wanted?"
"Royal blue?" Rosie and Junie both said at the same time. Ginny laughed and nodded.
"So what flowers are you using?" Rosie asked, not wanting to discuss her brother's love for his favourite Quidditch team; well, it was his favourite until he was signed by another.
"I have several, and the different bouquets will have varying emphasis. Mine will be mostly white hydrangeas and three peace roses with some blue forget-me-nots in them. Lily and Marlene will have blue hydrangeas, peace roses, and a few white wisterias. Your bouquets will have peace roses, white wisterias, and forget-me-nots. I didn't want to put too much yellow with the gold dresses or too much blue with your dresses. What do you think?"
"I think you have an awesome sense of colour," Ginny said, "and the whole event will be very classy. Are you really getting married at Hogwarts?"
"We are," Junie said proudly. "It was that or the Ministry building. There are so many people we need to invite because of Sirius' job. If we could, we would have had something small. Did you hear we have two receptions?"
"No," Ginny said. "Why?"
"Because he is the Viscount of Nottingham, we are having a Muggle reception at his eyesore of a mansion. I'm going to invite my mum's relatives to that one. They'll just know we had a private ceremony."
Minsey arrived with tea just then and poured the cups while the girls dug into the tray with gusto. Junie stifled a laugh at the way they were eating. If she did that, she'd be ill and gain five pounds. Minsey left after pouring, and the girls started talking about some poll in Witch Weekly, and Junie started sorting through the mail. One letter stood out.
It was rare that they received Muggle mail, and this one was addressed to "Mr and Mrs Sirius Black," which made Junie chuckle since they weren't married yet. The return address sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. Opening the thick envelope, she pulled out an invitation:
You are cordially invited to the opening of the
Pauline Meadows Cancer Wing
The invitation fluttered to the floor, and Junie missed her cup when she reached for her tea, instead toppling it and the saucer to the floor. Ginny and Rosie were startled by the action and looked at the woman.
"Auntie Junie?" Rosie said. Junie didn't answer. She just stared off at something which wasn't in the room. "Auntie Junie?" Finally, Junie's eyes moved to the girls. Tears began to form on her lashes, and Junie stood, rushed down the stairs, and Flooed away. "What just happened?"
"I don't know," Ginny said, reaching down to pick up the invitation. "Do you know who Pauline Meadows is?"
"I think I do," Rosie said hesitantly. She pulled her mirror out of her small handbag and tapped it, and called out for her dad.
"Rosie, what's the matter?" James asked when he came into view.
"Dad, who is Pauline Meadows?" James hesitated.
"Why do you ask?" A long pause ensued. "She was Junie's mom. She died several years ago."
"There's an invitation here to the opening of the Pauline Meadows Cancer Wing at some Muggle hospital. Auntie Junie opened it, and then she Flooed away. We were having tea at Grimmauld –"
"I'll be right there. Can you call your Mum to meet me there too? I'll get Sirius."
"Okay," Rosie said, and James disappeared.
"Whatever is going on, I don't think it's a good thing," Ginny said. "Do you want me to stick around? This sounds like a family issue."
"You are family, Ginny, and yes, stick around to at least talk with Dad and Uncle Sirius."
James and Sirius arrived only a few minutes later, but Ginny and Rosie were anxious when they came. Sirius had tore up the stairs, looked at the girls, and then picked up the invitation, closed his eyes, and swore.
"Shite."
"I take it you hadn't told her yet?" James said softly to his friend.
"Time just seems to get away from us," Sirius said as he sat down heavily in the chair. "We're both going here and there, rarely home at the same times. Then the wedding stuff has just exploded, and honestly, I forgot how close we were getting to the opening date. David, my assistant, has been dealing with the hospital lately, not me." Sirius left the room, went back down the stairs a bit slower than he'd gone up, hoping he could find his fiancée.
"Can somebody clue us into what's happened?" Ginny asked. Lily rushed in, and James handed her the invitation. She read through it and sighed.
"Oh, Sirius," Lily said. "I told you this might backfire when you started it." Lily sat down in the chair vacated by Junie. "Girls, Junie's mother died of cancer almost ten years ago. She was offered treatment at St. Mungo's as the wife and mother of a magical person, but she refused. Pauline was Muggle-born, and she didn't think it was fair that she receive treatment that wasn't available to all Muggles. She and Junie fought over it for months. She saw her Muggle treatments and death as a way to raise awareness of the plight of Muggles to magical healers. While those close to Junie understood what Pauline was trying to do, it's not like anyone else cared. The person who was most moved was Sirius. Eight years ago, he became involved in the project through Lady Sarah, the Muggle royal he was dating."
"Their relationship ended, though," Rosie said. "I remember her; she was very elegant."
"She was," James said, reaching for a small macaroon from on the tiered tray. "Sirius stayed involved in the project and has probably donated fifty percent of the funds needed to complete the renovation. It was because of this he could name it after Junie's mum. That was two years ago."
"But Auntie Junie only got her name in January," Rosie said. "They weren't a couple two years ago."
"No, but Pauline's death hit all of us hard," Lily said. "None more than Sirius. He was thankful when his parents died since they didn't appreciate who he was, and they never loved him. That wasn't true with Pauline. We all loved her. It was an agonizing death, and watching her mother slowly fade away was traumatic for Junie."
"You know that Sirius and Junie weren't even friends before this year," James went on. "He'd done something dumb while we were at school and," he paused. "I think this was his way of apologizing to her. He had no idea they'd end up together in the end. Or maybe somewhere in his heart, he did. I don't know; Padfoot can be rather quiet about such things."
"Anyway, Junie has never been happy about how her mum died. She still has a fair bit of anger in her. I'm sure seeing that, seeing her mother's name on a cancer ward brought the worst memories back," Lily said. "I'll see if I can figure out where she went, although I suspect it's Sunderland."
Sirius came back, looking a bit dishevelled. "She closed the Floo connection to her house, and she wouldn't open the door when I Apparated into her rear garden. I Floo-called Minerva, but she's not in her office either. I'm guessing she's at her house and just won't open up for me."
"Well, Marley should be done with classes by now, James can you go get the boys and take them home while we head out to see Junie?"
"Sure, sweetheart. I'll even order a curry for us for dinner," he said proudly. Lily patted him on the shoulder and then left. They'd had a phone for nearly twenty years, but it was only in the last few months James had discovered how to order takeaway food.
"I'll get Rosie back up to Hogwarts," Ginny offered. "If you need to chat, Harry and I are home tonight," she said to Sirius, and he nodded at the young woman. Rosie gave him an awkward, sideways hug before they left.
That left James and Sirius, and James needed to be going. "Why don't you come with me? We can have Remus come over, maybe watch a movie; something with lots of car chases and explosions?"
"I want to be here when she comes back," he said. "I need to explain everything to her."
"We can let Lily and Marley know to Patronus us when she's ready to come home. You can't just sit here and stew. Come with me," James said. Sirius shrugged, which James took as an affirmation, and the pair left the room to go to the backyard and Disapparate to Diagon Alley and the primary school.