Past and present

Remus opened his eyes and smiled down at the little boy who was standing near his bed.

"Daddy I'm hungry !"

"Shhh... sweetheart, don't wake mummy up, I'm coming. Let's have breakfast."

Lifting Teddy in his arms, Remus tiptoed out of the bedroom and climbed down the stairs to the kitchen, from which came a very welcoming smell of strong coffee.

Andromeda, who was spending a few days with her daughter and her son-in-law, was the one responsible for it. She sat Teddy in front of a bowl cereals and pushed a cup of coffee toward her son-in-law, along with the latest edition of the Daily prophet.

"It's so strange for me to see Sirius like this", she said. "If I hadn't been myself at the wedding, I could imagine that this picture had been taken some twenty years ago."

She was talking, of course, of the photo in the front page of the newspaper, showing a radiant Hermione, in a vey elegant wedding dress, looking adoringly at a gorgeous man in the prime of youth who was no other than her cousin Sirius.

"And how do you think I feel each time I look in a mirror ?" grumbled Remus pleasantly. "You, and Hermione and Tonks insisted so much for us to take the stuff that you are as responsible for that crazy situation as Dumbledore himself."

"Don't tell me you regret it ?" she asked with a teasing half smile. "You can't, not after Teddy told you how handsome he thinks you are without the lines on your face."

Remus smiled as well. "I was afraid he would be confused, or even scared by the change."

"My dear, you should know how children, especially wizard children, adapt well to any kind of change and unexpected situation."

"Now", she added, "don't you think we should keep that newspaper and send it in a few days to the bride and groom ? They must know what they are to expect when they come back. They have turned Hermione into a feary tale princess who rescued her prince from the Realm of the Dead."

"Yes, and Sirius into some kind of romantic cursed hero. I wonder if they'll be more amused or anoyed by all this."

And so, one night a few days later, Sirius and Hermione heard the soft sound a a bird's beak tapping on the window of the little cottage where they had decided to spend a few days in the end of their honeymoon, with Remus as their Secret Keeper.

The howl had brought a thick pile of newspapers, joined to a note from Andromeda, and also a letter from Harry to Sirius.

While Sirius was opening Harry's letter, Hermione read Tonk's note aloud :

Even if I'm sure you don't need any other reason to take you time before you come back, I think you should know what kind of frenzy your so-called 'clandestine marriage' has put all the press !

Love

Andromeda, Tonks, Remus and Teddy

As she perused the numerous papers about their wedding, Hermione sighed a little, wondering how Rita Skeeter and her collegues could write at such a lenght about an event from which every single one of them had been so strictly banished. For it had appeared to be the one possible solution if they didn't want their peace and happiness to be spoiled by a curious, admirers, and above all by the horde of journalists thoroughly decided to get answers to their many questions about the « wedding of the year ».

As far as she was from liking to be that much under the spotlight, Hermione could have resigned herself to her renewed celebrity. But of course, she had got used to fame during the first year after Voldemort's fall. Wasn't she one of Harry's two closest friend, the one who had always stayed at his side ? But Sirius was far from being at ease when surrounded by the avid curiosity of a huge crowd, and the questions asked to him were much more uncomfortable.

And so, mostly for his sake, even if she too really prefered a quiet, intimate wedding anyway, she had suggested to use a Secret Charm. Thanks to it, that famous day, the only people at their side had been her parents, Harry, Ginny, Andromeda, Remus, Tonks, Teddy, Neville, Luna, and even Ron, who had come quite unexpectedly, without Amanda, though he had only stayed for the ceremony. Hermione had been glad that he had come.

The honeymoon had been a whilrwind of fun and marvels, while they transplanned from place to place. Sirius wanted her to see the most beautiful or entertaining place of the wizarding world, places that as a Muggle-born she'd never had the opportunity to see. The had attended an elvish music festival, had visited a fantastic beast preserve ceased by Newt Scamander himself and the biggest magical fun park in the world. They had even fought a snowball battle in the Sahara. And there had been also many tender, intimate, wonderfull moments, such as their present stay in that lovely cottage of the Lake District.

At that moment, Hermione interrupted her musing to look at Sirius, ready to show him the most absurd sentences she had found in the papers. But she was suddenly startled to see his deep frown of worry as he was reading the letter Harry had sent.

TBC