Chapter 28: Weddings and kids and parents, oh my.
The next day at work I was going over the report on last nights raid when James came in.
" Hey Padfoot. How you doing?"
" I'm good. You?"
' Good." He didn't say anything more but picked up a sheet of paper.
" Did you want something?"
"Yeah, I wanted to ask you something Sirius."
" Uh oh. Something's up. You called me Sirius."
"Shut up and listen. I want you to be my best man."
" What?"
" Are you deaf?"
" Me?"
" Yes you."
" Why me?'
" Come on Padfoot. You're my best friend. I want you to be my best man. Will you?"
" Of course Prongs."
" Great. Now get back to work. I want that report on my desk my Monday." He smiled as he pulled the door closed behind him.
He was as good as his word. In two weeks it was the big day.
" James are you ready man? They're all waiting."
" Padfoot. I don't know. I can't do this."
"Relax Prongs you look worse than you did when we got sorted."
"I wish it was that easy."
"Me too. I'm going through it in a month remember?"
"Padfoot, why am I this scared? I've never been this scared in my whole life. And I've done a lot."
" I don't know. Just get out there and say what you're supposed to say."
" Oh God. What I supposed to say?"
" Oh god is right." I pulled him out and we walked up to the front. I looked out and saw all our old school friends. I saw Remus and Peter and Mari in the front row. Addi was her maid of honor. Remus mouthed how is he?
I made a scared face, then shrugged. Remus smiled. Dumbledore and all our teachers were there. Then the music began to play.
Lily walked down the isle on her fathers arm. Expect for Mari at our wedding I have never seen anything so beautiful. She was absolutely glowing. Lily seemed to light up the room. James took her hand and they turned to say their vows. When they said I do, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Even I had to blink back tears.
At the reception there was dancing and I made the announcement about my own wedding. Everyone clapped and James teased me relentlessly.
"If it wasn't you're wedding day, I would dump wine on you." He just grinned. When the photographer tried to take their picture I jumped in and waved. James shoved me away, but I wouldn't give up. He did. They never did get a picture without me in it.
There was no time for a honeymoon, not with Voldemort growing more and more powerful. Mari had joined the all night waiting parties, along with Addi and most of the time Lily. Who had announced her pregnancy three months after the wedding and all of us instantly became overprotective and refused to let her come on raids. But of course she did. Finally we had to do a charm that refused to let her leave the house. I mean, it wasn't a gender thing. Lily could out charm me any day. I just didn't want her to get hurt especially when she was carrying my best friends child. She was one of my best friends and my friends took delight in calling me a mother hen.
My wedding was much more simpler than James's. I only had a few friends and family there. James gave me a similar pep talk and had to drag me out to the altar. Mari came out on Dumbledore's arm. I had never told him what I had overheard him say. If he didn't bring it up I decided I wouldn't either. I had never told anyone. Not even James.
When Mari came up the isle, I never saw anything more beautiful. Her long red hair was swept up in a bun and the white dress she wore was enchanted to sparkle like the sun. She glowed. I think there were whispers and mummers, but all I could see was her. I could barley say I do, I was so unaware of my surroundings. She smiled nervously as I took her hand but when she looked into my eyes all our doubts vanished.
Some might say we were rushing things a bit. We had known each other almost three months. In my mind we had waited too long. I had just been so scared to ask her. I had lost so many people. That was part of the reason I think I waited so long to ask her. I was afraid if she found out the truth she would run. I lost Erin, I couldn't lose Mari.
I was so happy. I had a lovely young wife, my best friends were all safe. Life for us was good. But Voldemort shadow was creeping over all of us. Mari and I had moved out of the apartment and we now lived in a little town outside London. Lily and James had moved to a small town called Godric's Hollow. Odd because muggles lived there too.
One day in May, Mari had a little surprise for me. I was going over a report on Voldemorts latest attacks trying to find a pattern.
" Sirius, I'm pregnant."
" Yep, That's great."
" Sirius, did you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah sure."
She turned to go when the words sunk in.
"You're what?!"
"Pregnant, silly. Four months. That's why I've been so sick lately." I jumped up and swung her around we laughed and I owled James and Remus instantly. They wrote back and congratulated me. Remus and Addi had decided to wait for a little while until thing cooled down. I tried to be home more now, but instead I was home even less.
One day about two months later I heard a knock on the door. Mari was out with Lily and Addi baby shopping. I'll tell you this aurors don't get paid very much in muggle money, or wizard. But we got by. I was practicing some new spells with my wand. Barty Crouch had given us permission to use the unforgivables with battling Voldemort's followers. But none of the marauders felt this was right. We thought no one deserved to have them perform on them. The knock came again. I thought for a moment. It was day and even though I was a well known and hated auror, no death eater would come in broad daylight. Anyway I had several dark reversal charms on my house. We all did. Finally I got up and answered the door.
A tall man with light brown hair and blue yes stood there with a short woman with strawberry blond hair and green eyes.
" Hi could you tell us where we could find a Marianna O'Connell?"
"Mari? She's not here right now."
"Oh." They looked disappointed.
"But she should be back soon. She's out shopping."
"Oh?" Is that all this guy said?
" Yeah, do you wanta come in and wait?"
'Oh no, we don't want to intrude." The woman said.
"Don't worry about it. Come on in. I'm Sirius by the way."
"Seined, and this is my husband Alan. We're her parents. Are you her boyfriend?"
"Oh, uh no. I'm her husband."
" She didn't tell us she was getting married!" Alan said.
" She didn't'? We sent the owl. Oh well that won't be the first time Ernies collapsed on delivery. He's getting old."
"yes, that must be it." I could tell they had no idea what I was talking about. I glanced around the room for anything wizardry. There were tons of things. There was my diploma from Hogwarts and my awards. There was my auror's certificate and of course there were pictures.
We had tons of pictures of the marauders and school and our families. Our wedding, Lily and James's wedding. Addi and Remus wrapped in each others arms. Peter smiling nervously at the camera. He always hated having his picture taken. All of us together. And they were all wizards pictures. A.k.a. they were moving. Except for Mari's pictures.
"So Sirius, right?" I nodded " What do you do?" Alan asked
"I'm sorry sir, but that information is classified."
"What?"
"I can't tell you."
" Why not?'
"Please I 'm not allowed. But I can tell you I work for the ministry."
"What's this?" Sinead picked up the report I had been working on the night before.
"Oh nothing." I grabbed the paper and whispered a spell that would erase it.
"Well, you have a nice little house here. How long you been married?"
"Just six months."
"Really? Where did you meet?"
This drilling by the in laws was getting tough " My sister went to her school, I was at her graduation and we hit it off."
"What in the world?" Sinead picked up a picture of the marauders. The same one I have here. This time Prongs was yelling at Wormtail while Moony and I were poking the giant squid.
" Oh that's uh,"
"They're moving."
" Yes they are."
"And is this where you went to school?" Alan pointed to my diploma.
" Uh ," But I was saved from answering. By Mari entering
"Mum! Da! What are you doing here?"
" We came to see how you were doing. And we find you're married and with a baby on the way." her mother said.
" Yep. I see you met Sirius."
"Yes, we did." Her father said. Just then the phone rang. Yes, we had a phone. We figured it would be cool.
"HELLO?"
"James?" I can barley hear you."
" Sirius, other way. Honestly I thought you took muggle studies." Mari turned the phone right side up.
"I told you we just took it so we could understand muggles better so we could play more tricks on them. Moony is the only one who acutely paid attention. , What Prongs?"
"DOUMBLEDORE CALLED A MEETING. HE WANTS EVERYONE THERE."
"uh, okay. I'm not sure what you just said. I think I lost my hearing."
"Give me that." Mari grabbed the phone from me.
"James, Sirius will be there, and next time don't shout."
She hung up.
She turned to her parents who were giving us very weird looks.
" James, our friend. He goofs off all the time doesn't he Sirius?"
"What?"
" Oh, just get going."
"What you say?"
"Go!"
"I can't hear you." She shoved me out the door. The call turned out to be a last minute raid. In which I came out with a broken arm. Madam Pomfrey fixed me up pretty good but I had to wear a cast for two days.
I came home pretty late but I saw the lights were still on. As I undid the protective charms and opened the door I saw Mari was on the phone.
"It's okay Lily. He just got in. Sirius, is James on is way home?"
"Yeah, He got hit with a rebound curse so Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep him for a few more minutes. Make sure he stops singing 'I'm a little teapot.' He should be home anytime. Tell her to tell him to call me tomorrow."
She hung up with Lily and came over to me. Her parents were still there.
"Oh, Sirius. What happened?"
" Oh, this?" I pointed to my arm. " Some overly large death eater fell on me. No big deal. I get it off in two days. It's healed just fine But Madam Pomfrey insisted I wear this stupid muggle thing."
"It's called a cast, and it's not stupid. She just wants your arm to be safe. In your line of work you need everything to be working ."
"Which reminds me, I need to work on those summoning charms. I need to get the report for tonight down. And we should probably recast the repelling charms on the house and I should ask Dumbledore about any more he might have and"
"Sirius, relax. You're only 18. You can't do everything. You can't save the world by yourself. And don't worry about me. We have the escape routes to Remus and James's. And I know how to use floo powder. "
"I know I just worry about you. Any death eater would jump at the chance to get back at me. And everyone knows I have a lovely young muggle wife who is extremely pregnant."
She giggled. " I just get so worried when ever you go out. I worry I'll never see you again. "
"Hey it's me."
"That's what I mean."
I glanced up at her parents who plainly had understood none of this.
"I think we have confused your parents." I whispered. She laughed.
"Sirius, if I were to tell them, about you I mean, how do you think they would react?" She asked softly.
"I don't know. Some take it really well. My dad loved it when Mum told him. But my grandfather didn't ." I thought for as second about him. I hadn't heard from him since I was thirteen. He still wrote to my sister, but never to me.
" When we were born and when I got excepted to Hogwarts and Addi didn't he paid attention to her but never me. He hated me. " I recalled his last words. How he had said I was a freak.
Freak. I hated that word. I had been called that so many times. By muggles and wizards alike. Being half wasn't easy. Many thought I couldn't do as good a job because I had muggle blood in my veins. None of my friends cared. And although I thought of myself as a wizard, neither did I .
" I'm going to tell them They deserve to know. I just wanted to know if it was okay with you."
" Yeah, they should know. It would save on the explanations."
We turned and walked in to the kitchen, Mari attached to my free hand.
"Mum, Da, there's something we have to tell you."
They looked up expectantly.
"Now this may come as a shock but I, we want you to know. It would explain a lot of things that go on here and I just want you to know I love Sirius for what he is."
" Well,?" Her dad asked. We took a deep breath.
" Sirius is a wizard."
" A what?"
" He can do spells and magic. It's real. All of it."
"Are you feeling alright?" Her mum asked.
" I'm fine mum. But it's true. He can."
" There are no such things as wizards." Her dad laughed.
" Show them Sirius." I took out my wand for a second and paused. Should I do a spell? Something not to complicated but not something that would shock them to death. Just then I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. No, not here. Not now.
" Mari, get your mum and dad and go to James's. use the fireplace. Go." I whispered.
"Sirius, what?"
" Just go. Tell James to come."
She led her parents over to the fireplace. I pointed my wand at it .
" Lomus." I lit a fire with the end of my wand. I handed her the floo powder jar and she threw the powder in. Calling " James Potter." As she stepped in.
"Now you." I led her mother to it.
" No, you're insane. I'll be killed."
" You saw Mari do it. Just say James Potter and you'll be fine. I'll be right behind you."
She stepped nervously into the fire but it worked. Her father was less easy to persuade.
" I don't know what's going on. But I demand to know."
" Sir, I can tell you this, if you stay here you will die."
" Die? Why tell me."
" There are people out there. Evil people who hate muggles, They would kill you for the fun of it. And I warn you it would not be pleasant. I've seen them torture muggles for lack of anything else to do. If they find you here it would go even worse for you."
" And why is that?'
" I am what's called an auror. I fight death eaters or dark wizards. If they found a muggle in the presence of an auror, I don't want to think about what they would do."
" And what about you?"
"What about me? I've been captured before. I know what those curses feel like. They are not pleasant. I am ready I can defend myself. You can't."
"I can fight."
" No, I don't mean that. I'm sure you can. But no one can defend themselves when they have the full body bind on them Or they are controlled by the Imperius curse. Now go." I pointed my wand at him.
" No. If you are going to stay and fight, so am I." Then the fire was blown out.
"They cut it off."
I heard the sound of laughing outside. Voices I closed my eyes. I recited every anti-dark arts curse I had ever heard. They pounded on the door. Mum, Dad, I thought, If you can hear me, help me. Make them go away. Make someone come, Please. The door was blown open. I dove behind the couch and pulled Alan with me.
"Where is he?'
" Yohoo, filthy mudblood, where are you?"
" Oh yeah right like I'd come to that." I called throwing my voice to outside.
It confused them for a minute. James, I thought, where are you?
" Black, I have on thing to say. You are a disgrace to the title of wizard. Filthy muggle loving mudblood. Well we have a little present for you. He's right outside. A very good friend of mine. "
A feeling of coldness and dread crept into my body. A feeling I would get to know very well in the years to come. I heard the low hissing of breath being drawn in. All the happiness and light that usually surrounded our little home was sucked away. All the things that I had been through can back into my mind screaming to be remembered. My mums death, my dad's death, the Potters, facing Voldemort. And I knew what had entered my home. A dementor.
" I thought you might like to meet him. You might get to be very good friends. He might even like to give you a little kiss." The death eater continued. I felt the blood leave my face. Then I remembered what our dada teacher had said. When they brought dementors to our school we thought they were crazy. I fainted six times, much to the delight of Snape. I kept hearing things. Things I didn't want to remember. But then I remembered our DADA teacher of the year had taught us how to drive them off. A happy thought. I needed a happy thought. Graduation? I settled for the first time I had ridden the Hogwarts express. I concentrated on James and Remus and the bond we had made that had lasted through so much. Then I stood up.
"Ah come out of hiding have we?" I pointed my wand at the dementor who slid toward me, it's breath rattling.
"Expecto Patronum!" Out of my wand came not one , but four slivery objects, They were shaped like a dog, my normal patronus, a stag, a rat, and a wolf. The marauders. I smiled as the dementor glided away.
Then from outside there came more shouts.
Then James 's voice
"You okay in there Padfoot?"
"Yes! Ladies and gentlemen the death eaters have left the building. All expect for the one in my living room. Someone needs to do something about him. No matter how hard I try this death eater removal cleaning solution doesn't work. I want a refund."
He was taken away quickly. I set about redoing the spells and putting up some new ones. Turns out they had already known about the raid and where on their way. Some of Dumbledore's spies told him. And you'll never guess who. Snape! I know. I wouldn't have believed it either. You should have seen me try to thank him. I followed him around for days. I think I only made him hate me more. Oh well, lots of fun was had by many.
There is the next part. Hope you like.
By the way to everyone who says I'm shadowing Peter's betrayal too early, sorry. I didn't really know I was doing it. But I thought about it and I came up with a solution, Sirius is writing this in prison so he already knows, Duh! And I know he trusted Peter completely. He's just showing how many times he could have seen it and didn't Because he trusted Peter. He overlooked it. Does that help?
Anyway, we're almost down and Sirius still won't go. He is insisting I keep writing. He is pushing the story about Cassi, and the one about Orion and Fiona. I might humor him and write them. But if they try to invade my brain, I refuse to write anymore.
Sirius: Aw, come on. We're not that bad.
Me: You got that stupid goldfish song stuck in my head. I have been singing it for the past two days!
Sirius: So? There could be worse songs.
Me: Name one.
Sirius: ( starts singing. Very flat.) Opps I did it again. I played w/ your heart. Got lost in the game.
Me: NOOOOOOOOO! Anything but that!
Sirius: (Thinks for a minute.) Hogwarts, Hogwarts. Hoggy warty Hogwarts.
Me: The Hogwarts school song?
Sirius: I like that song.
ME: Oooookay. (Very fast) Got to go, see ya, bye.