My Hero, My Friend, My Love

A/N- Okay, you pesky reviewers, here's another chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plot.

Chapter Nineteen: Wedding Presents and Press Releases

An unexpected and uninvited visitor rudely interrupted Ginny and Remus, her husband of less than twenty-four hours the next morning.

"Oh, God," Sirius called from the living room, upon hearing the pleasured moans of newlyweds, "whatever you're doing in there, hurry up."

Ginny turned her head from atop her husband towards the very open door to their bedroom. Her eyes were wide with shock. Surely Sirius wouldn't come back there...would he?

She turned back to Remus, who seemed amused by the entire situation. "What the hell is he doing here...now?" she asked in frustrated tone. She made a move to get up, but Remus pulled her back down.

"Well, don't stop now, for heaven's sake," he said leaning up to kiss her. "Sirius will keep busy for, oh, about twenty more minutes." He reached over to get his wand from the bedside table. He pointed it at the door, saying "Colloportis." He then cast a Silencing charm on their bedroom before they resumed their..."activities."

Half an hour later, two very satisfied newlyweds emerged from the bedroom to find Sirius sitting on their sofa reading a magazine. "Took you long enough," he said, looking up at them.

Remus blushed and hurried off to the kitchen to make tea. Ginny tightened the belt on her robe and glared at their guest.

"And may I ask what possessed you to show up here?" she asked him.

"Well, my dear," he began, looking smug, "let me say that if you two hadn't taken your fireplace off the Floo Network or put up protective wards so that no one, except your family, could get to you, you and Moony would have had several uninvited guests this morning."

"What are you talking about, Sirius?" she asked, not pleased with his excuse.

Remus came back into the room and Sirius tossed the Daily Prophet at them.

"That's what I'm talking about," he said.

The headline read, "Slain Minister's Only Daughter Weds Werewolf."

Remus and Ginny looked at the paper, then at each other, and finally back at Sirius. They both sat down slowly, not quite comprehending what was going on.

Sirius cleared his throat and explained.

"It seems your marriage caused quite a stir yesterday."

Ginny gripped Remus' hand. "But why?" she asked. "No one made a big deal when we announced the engagement."

"Well, I guess most people thought it would never happen. But look at it this way. He's a werewolf, obviously, employed in a relatively new department at the Ministry. He's quite a bit older than you, not to mention your former teacher. Plus, you're Arthur Weasley's only daughter. He was most respected before his death. Your family played a very prominent role in Voldemort's defeat. And you're a best-selling author now too. All in all, it's quite the scandal, so to speak."

Remus' head snapped up to his friend. "Scandal?" he asked in disbelief. Sirius nodded. "But why? Can't they see we love each other, that it's not in bad taste how we came together?" His head was spinning at the morbid possibilities of things that could happen to them.

Sirius just chuckled. "Not that kind of scandal, Moony. It's just exciting gossip now. See, you announced the engagement very publicly. Then everything since then happened very quietly. The wedding wasn't announced to the world, and it was a very small group of guests. The public wants to know details. They want an interview, photos, the whole thing."

Ginny looked worriedly at Remus. "But we don't want any of that. We just want to be left alone so we can enjoy this time together. Sirius, what do we do?"

Remus rubbed Ginny's back to comfort her. He knew she hated attention and would hate having her photo taken or giving an interview. So would he, for that matter.

Sirius looked at his friends and sighed. "Well, for now, go on your honeymoon. Your family and I can deal with this until you get back. The reporter instincts in Shaine came out this morning and she immediately got to work on something called a press release. Read it, and if it's okay, that's what she'll give to the papers for now." He handed them a parchment with Shaine's writing.

"The former Miss Ginerva Weasley and Mr. Remus Lupin were married yesterday evening by the Minister of Magic in front of family and close friends. They ask that all photographers and reporters respect their privacy at this time. They will consider issuing another statement at a later date."

Ginny shrugged, and Remus said, "Yes, that looks fine." He smiled reassuringly at Ginny. "And tell Shaine thanks for us. We really appreciate it. Lucky having a former reporter around."

Sirius smiled. "Yes, it is. Unfortunately, she and Harry have to go back to Ireland after Christmas. You two are coming over for Christmas, aren't you?"

Remus smiled at his friend. He knew Sirius loved having a crowd during the holidays. "Well, since we'll just be getting back from Spain then, we'd like to stay here for our first Christmas together, but we'll spend all Christmas day over there."

Suddenly, Sirius slapped his hand to his forehead. "I almost forgot. I haven't given you your wedding present yet. It's from Harry and me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key and a picture of a house. The house sat up on a small hill. It was two story, with lots of windows and a large front porch.

Remus and Ginny looked at him, confused. Sirius smiled at them. "That's your new house." He paused, letting the surprise sink in. "It's about 30 miles outside London. You have a good bit of land. There's a garden out back and further out, there's a pond. I thought you might like to live away from the city, especially so Ginny could continue with her writing. We hoped it might provide a more creative environment."

Ginny was crying, so Remus stood up to embrace his friend. "We were actually thinking of getting a place similar to that. Thanks, Sirius. It's wonderful."

Ginny, still crying, nodded emphatically before hugging Sirius. "Thank you so much. It's beautiful."

"Well, I must be going. I'm sure you need to leave soon. Have a wonderful time in Spain, and do try and leave the house occasionally." He grinned teasingly as the couple blushed. Hugging them both again, he apparated away.

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Remus and Ginny returned from their honeymoon two days before Christmas. Sirus and her brothers had moved their belongings into their new home while they were away, so there was little to do to fix up the house. The pond in the back was frozen over, but Ginny could imagine the sun shining off the surface and couldn't wait for spring to arrive. Remus was also excited about the new house. He couldn't wait to get to work on the garden.

After settling in, they decorated for the holidays and went through the mail that Sirius had brought over. There were numerous letters from reporters, begging for interviews. One, in particular, caught Ginny's eye. It was from Luna, who was working at Witch Weekly. She turned to Remus.

"Well, it seems as though we're going to have to do something about this. Why not Luna? At least I trust her," she said.

Remus sighed heavily. He'd hoped they would be able to avoid such a spectacle, but it seemed he was wrong. He nodded. "Yes, that's fine. But I want it understood that we see anything she writes first. And if we don't like it, it doesn't get printed, alright?"

Ginny agreed and went about to reply to her friend, as Remus continued with the mail. He found a letter from his boss and opened it, dreading what it might say.

Sure enough, the dreaded dragon situation he'd been dealing with for months was getting worse. However, it seemed as though the Ministry had finally agreed with him that the Aurors needed to be involved. His eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw who'd been assigned- Kingsley Shacklebolt and Ronald Weasley! He knew better than to tell Ginny about this now, so he hastily shoved the letter into his pocket.

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Ginny woke up alone in bed late on Christmas Eve. She laughed aloud at the realization and made her way downstairs to find her husband.

There he was, in the living room, fire blazing in the fireplace, and working. He looked up and saw her. He rolled his eyes, playfully.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Not alone," she said coming over to curl up next to him. "Do you ever think that maybe one year we can actually sleep on Christmas Eve without ending up on the sofa?" They both laughed and Remus reached over to play with her hair. She closed her eyes, since she loved it when he did this. "Working?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied. "What else would keep me from being in bed with a beautiful young woman?"

"Is it the dragon situation?" she asked. She looked up as he nodded.

"Aurors are involved now," he said. "Shouldn't be too long until it's over."

Ginny sat up and began rubbing his shoulders. "That's some relief off you, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, but I still will have to be involved, just in a more limited capacity." He sighed loudly. "The Aurors they've assigned, it's Kingsley and Ron." He looked at her, waiting for her response. She merely nodded. But she saw the look he was giving her.

"What?" she asked. "Ron's a great Auror. I trust him. He'll be fine."

Remus smiled at his wife. She was so hopeful, so optimistic about everything. That's what he loved best about her. He leaned over to kiss her.

They broke apart, and he went back to working. After another hour, he saw that she had fallen asleep. He stifled a laugh and stood to pick her up. "I must carry on with the tradition and carry her to bed," he said to himself.

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Christmas was an uneventful experience. Harry and Shaine spent most of the afternoon packing, as they would have to return to Ireland the next day. Fred spent most of the day chasing after Molly who, at ten months old, was crawling at an alarming pace. Ron had to deal with Hermione constantly suggesting young witches he could date. As the only single Weasley left, he was left to defend himself. He swore he'd decided to be a confirmed bachelor, like Sirius.

Sirius laughed at this. "Good, I could use another lonely man like myself. Moony had to go off and get married," he said throwing some balled up wrapping paper at his friend.

Remus pretended to be offended. "Ginny snagged me. It isn't my fault that she's perfect!"

All the Weasleys and Sirius and Harry talked of Hogwarts and how they missed it. George brought up some interesting news.

"You know next year, they're starting a new class, War Studies," he said. When the others looked puzzled he explained. "Dumbledore feels it's important to study both wars with Voldemort and even the one with Grindelwald so that history doesn't repeat itself. I even heard they want to use Gin's book as one of the texts."

"Yes, I've heard that as well. The publisher is trying to work a deal," Ginny said, modestly.

"Well, that sounds like a good idea, but who's going to teach it?" Harry asked, looking at Sirius.

"Don't look at me! I just heard about the new class before the term break. Besides, I have enough going on with D.A.D.A. I don't have time for another class," he said.

"I guess they'll find someone new," Ron said. "Moony, what about you?" he asked, looking to his old professor.

"Not interested," Remus replied. "I like my job at the Ministry. Besides, I don't think an old castle is the right environment for your sister's writing." He looked at his pocket watch. "It's getting late, darling. We need to be going."

Ginny beamed at her husband. "You still use that?" she asked, referring to the watch.

"Of course," he replied. "It's my favorite gift you've ever given me, other than your heart." She kissed his slowly and lovingly, as everyone else grumbled. She leaned up to whisper in his ear. "Let's continue this at home, shall we?" Remus blushed, but grinned at her. They quickly apparated back to "Lupin Cottage," as they'd dubbed it.

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Two weeks later, Luna's interview was published in Witch Weekly, along with two photos the couple allowed Colin to take. It was a nice article, summarizing how they couple came together through their letter writing and spending time together as friends. They did leave out the part of Sirius' objections. Remus and Ginny also shared things that they themselves didn't know. For example, when Luna asked them when they knew they were in love, Remus said he knew he loved Ginny when she said in a letter that to befriend him completely meant to love the wolf aspect of his life. Meanwhile, Ginny knew she loved Remus when he gave her his mother's ring for her birthday.

Luna had brought up the prospect of children, but Remus politely declined to answer the question, not wanting to bring up that painful aspect of their situation. They ended the interview by stating that they just wanted to enjoy their new marriage like any other couple and without the press' involvement.

All copies of Witch Weekly that month sold out in less than a day.