I remember there has been a time when I actually managed to post new chapters on weekends instead of someday in the middle of the week… ah well, at least I post at all, right?

Silver Scribes: Ah, I fear you still have to wait a few chapter's for Angelina's ex' identity to be revealed…

TriGemini: Glad you liked it! I feared someone would say 'it's too easy' that Angelina doesn't want to hear about Adrian's death eater activities. I'm glad I got it out the right way.

Redcandle17: I start to feel with Angelina right now. Having too much time at one's hands can get really boring… I should make sure she gets something to do before she ends up in trouble.

SlythsRule: I certainly will!

Bratski: I never forget my stories. It just takes me some time sometimes to get to write something… but I hope to write this one with no more than one (at most two) week in between each chapter. (and it wasn't really a fast update, when you posted the review for the one chapter, the other one was already up :))

Iheartsiriusblack: Kiss of the rose?

Rupert's honey: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it!

Paixamouretchocolat: Thank you.

Angelina-fan: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy this story so much. And I can reassure you: The story seems to be longer than my other HP-stories (which oddly all three ended at 18 chapters). I won't say anything to the ending up happily together part but I don't plan on either of them cheating on each other (It wouldn't fit with the way I think of their characters in this story, Adrian keeping to family tradition –his grandmother doesn't look kind on adultery – and Angelina keeping to their conditions for the marriage to work out.) I'm also not saying anything about when Angelina is getting pregnant as I think it of a spoiler (opposite to the no-cheating). But they can still have sex when she is pregnant. :D

Tiarwen: I'm glad you liked it. And this one here doesn't have a sad ending. :D

And since she wished for it, and since today is her birthday I dedicate this chapter to PikkuEnkeli88! Happy Birthday!

Chapter 10

The Reception

"I still don't understand why I shouldn't be downstairs with Adrian." Angelina said while Sophia tried different hairstyles on Angelina.

"Because you shall have an appearance that will make this Crowfeather-girl want the earth to open and swallow her." Sophia smiled and held up Angelina's hair, then shook her head and let it fall again.

"I hope Julia is alright."

"Ah, don't worry about the little angelo. Dyson will make sure she has everything she wants. The way he acts around her lets me hope he'll be a father himself one day. And it would better be in a marriage than through one of his affairs he thinks I don't know of."

Angelina had to smile at this.

"Ah this is it!" Sophia made a quick move with her wand and Angelina's hair curled itself at the back of her head, a few strands falling over her shoulders.

"Yes, it looks fantastic." Sophia exclaimed and nodded while she looked at her granddaughter-in-law.

"I almost wished the two of you would get a girl instead of a boy. But then no one keeps you from getting me a whole quidditch league of great-grandchildren, right?"

Sophia patted Angelina's shoulder.

"Come, we should go now."

"So, how comes I had to find out in this way that you're married?" Marcus Flint asked when he stepped next to Adrian.

"What do you mean?"

"I am not thinking of anything bad going to happen and then, all of a sudden I'm receiving an invitation to a reception because Adrian Pucey has recently married Angelina Johnson. A Gryffindor?"

"Flint, this isn't Hogwarts anymore."

Marcus sighed and shook his head.

"Right. Okay, but at least tell me one thing."

Adrian raised his eyebrows and waited for Marcus to say what he wanted.

"Is she such a wildcat in bed as we expected she'd be back in school?" Marcus asked grinning.

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out!" was Adrian's only reply.

"Aw, come on now!"

"Why should he tell you if he hasn't even told his own cousin?" Dyson asked and slapped Marcus' shoulder as a greeting.

"Because he knows you too well?" Marcus asked in return. Dyson rolled his eyes and was about to reply that Marcus himself was no better than him when it came to women when his eyes fell to the staircase.

"Adrian." He said and nodded in the direction of the stairs.

Adrian looked towards where his cousin pointed and saw his grandmother standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the top of the stairs. He was about to ask Dyson what he had meant when he caught sight of a movement upstairs.

Their eyes met and her warm, brown ones held his blue eyes captive when she walked down the stairs. Everything around him seemed to fade away until there was no sound but her footsteps on the steps, no light but the one in her eyes, no colours then the green of her dress, and the gold of her necklace and the brown of her skin and the black of her hair.

He hadn't really noticed that he had walked towards the stairs until she was standing right in front of him and her hand was lying on his palm.

"You look beautiful." He told her and kissed her cheek before he turned back towards their guests.

"Thank you." Angelina replied and they were already facing an older witch and wizard who wanted to congratulate them and – of course to see the bride.

Half an hour later Angelina felt as though her brain might explode any moment. She had never before been introduced to so many people at one time. She had been introduced to every single member of Adrian's family. To every single aunt and uncle, cousin, cousin-in-law, and to the girls three of his cousins already had.

All of them had had the same smile on their face when she had met them and she started to wish Dyson had explained her back in Argentina whom of these cousins she should stay away from.

But she knew one person for sure she wanted to stay away from. The person Marjory Pucey was talking to right now: Denton Weatherfly. After meeting him this one time she had actually hoped to never see him again.

Angelina was standing next to Adrian who was engaged in a conversation with Dyson and Flint at the moment. She looked over Adrian's shoulder and saw Julia sitting on a couch with the three other girls of Adrian's family. Her sister looked towards her and smiled and after saying something to the other girls she arose from her seat and made her way towards Angelina.

Then suddenly everything seemed to happen in slow motion: Julia tried to avoid an older woman who was taking a step back and thus fell against Denton Weatherfly who spilled his glass of champagne over his robes.

Weatherfly turned around furiously. Angelina didn't even hear what he said to her sister. She only saw how Julia landed sitting on the floor. She turned fully around and was about to run to her little sister but before she could make one step Weatherfly was flying through the air and lying on his back only seconds later.

He tried to sit up again and find the source of his fall when he saw Adrian towering over him, the little black girl on his arm, his wand pointing at his face.

"You better stay away from my family or you next time I won't care how well protected you are! And now leave my house!"

"Adrian!" his mother tried to pull his arm away but Adrian shook her off.

"Stay out of this mother." He told her calmly.

"I said you should leave!" he said turning back to Weatherfly. The man on the floor hurried to arose and with a last furious look at Adrian and Julia he left the house. Marjory was looking after him, thinking whether or not she should go after him and try to appease him.

Adrian walked back to where Angelina was standing and let Julia down. The girl immediately ran to her sister and hugged her around the waist while Angelina's eyes were glued to her husband. But he already walked away again. He went towards the stairs and walked upstairs. About the middle of the staircase he stopped, turned around and yelled

"The reception is over." Before he walked on.

A mumble rose amongst the guests at this. Sophia came up behind Angelina and put her hand on the young woman's elbow.

"Go after him." She said softly when Angelina looked at her.

"I'll see that the guests will leave, and I'm sure Dyson will help me. And then I'll bring Julia to bed."

"Will you read me a story?" Julia asked.

"Of course." Sophia said smiling and stroke over Julia's head.

"Now go!" she told Angelina again and shoved her gently towards the stairs.

Angelina opened the door to their bedroom silently and stepped into the room. She saw Adrian standing at the window, looking out of it into the night.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and turned his head slightly.

"I didn't come to hear an apology from you." Angelina replied and went to stand closer behind him.

"I came to thank you for helping Julia."

Adrian turned around to face her. His eyes rested on her face but nevertheless Angelina felt as though he wasn't really looking at her. His hand reached out for one of the strands that curled around her neck and he played with it between his fingers.

"I shouldn't have acted so fast." He whispered as though he hadn't heard her at all.

"If you hadn't I would have probably jumped at him and tried to scratch his eyes out or something. I wouldn't have even thought about using a wand. It would have been a worse scene than what did happen."

His eyes met hers and she found him even smiling a bit.

"You really are a lioness, aren't you?" Adrian brought his free hand to her hair and pulled the single pin out of it which held the hair magical up. The pin fell to the floor as his hand tangled in the black mass of curls and he pulled her slowly towards him.

The kiss that met her lips was almost chaste but she could feel that he was holding back – as though he feared to hurt her.

"I wanted to kill him." He admitted as he parted his lips from hers.

"You didn't." was all she said before he captured her lips again. She was right, he hadn't killed him. But Adrian knew he would have, had it been Angelina Weatherfly had touched he wouldn't be alive anymore. But he thought this to be one of the things that were better left unsaid. And so he simply pulled her towards the bed and continued to kiss her while he took the dress off of her.