Chapter 11: Holiday to France
A month after they completed their research they turned over their findings to St. Mungos and other potion research facilities. The news that werewolves could receive a far superior treatment than the Wolfsbane potion made headlines all over the world. They gave a demonstration in Diagon Ally. Remus, who was a registered werewolf, had been placed in a magically reinforced cell so the spectators would feel safe. When the full moon arose and the only change to Remus was his body's physique and his eyes, everyone gasped in shock. The potion had been credited to not only Severus but also the late Lily Potter effectively putting both of their names in the history books as the people who liberated werewolves from their curse.
They also released the findings about werewolves who are treated with the new potion were also unable to transmit their infliction to others. This news had shocked the world. It also drew out the most notorious werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. Greyback didn't like the idea of this new potion being used to 'cut the fangs' of 'proud werewolves.' The beast had attempted to destroy one of the facilities were the potion was being studied unfortunately for him Remus had been at that very facility allowing them to run tests.
Greyback had burst in with the intent on killing the researchers and destroying the all of their current findings. He rushed on one of the medi-witches his claws preparing to rip out her throat when suddenly he was stopped. Remus had caught the arm of the man who had inflicted him with the disease and was gripping it tightly. Remus stared at him with his golden yellow eyes. Even though it was a full moon night and Greyback was fully transformed Remus was now stronger. He threw the beast against a near by wall which caused the wall to crack and the transformed Greyback to collapse in a slump. The DMLE arrived shortly after, and were surprised by the sight they had found.
Greyback had been apprehended and due to his NUMEROUS crimes he was sentence to death by being pushed through the veil. Remus had been given and Order of Merlin: First Class for apprehending Greyback and was even offered a position within the DMLE. He declined however, and three days later it was announce that Remus Lupin would be taking up the post as Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the next year. Many of the Dark faction had tried to protest this but with the Black family now squarely on the side of the Light faction, Sirius deftly blocked all of their opposition thereby clearing the path for his lover to pursue his dream of being a Hogwarts Professor.
Harry's tenth birthday was fast approaching. When Minerva returned from Hogwarts after the End of the Year feast in late June. She suggested to Sirius and Remus that they take Harry on Holiday this year to France. They both thought it would be a marvelous idea, Harry had never been out of the country and Remus said it would be a great oppritunity for him to experience a new culture. Narcissa and Draco had of course been invited as well, and on the day of their departure Minerva had been surprised when Narcissa and Draco joined them, but they were not alone.
As they walked up the path towards the others Draco was holding his mother's left hand and her right hand was intertwined with Severus'. They stopped in front of Minerva and greeted her. The old woman looked at Narcissa and wiggled a finger at the couples intertwined hands, "When did this happen?"
Narcissa and Severus both looked down at their hand and quickly let go of each other, their pale faces turning red. Minerva stood there patiently waiting for an answer when Draco spoke up, "Uncle Sev asked mum on a date last year after he was done with Uncle Remus' potion…they've been together ever since." The boy said smirking.
Minerva turned looking to Remus and Sirius, "And neither of you bother to inform me?"
"I was kinda busy with all the werewolf stuff to notice Sirius was the one who told me." Remus said.
"Gossip much Padfoot?" Severus said narrowing his eyes to the Black Patriarch.
"What? I only told Remus…and Andy…and Castor…and Augusta." With each name he said his face lost its defensive expression, "Yea okay I'm a gossip."
Minerva chuckled, "You two don't have to be prudish around me hold hands, snog, do what you like."
"Minerva!" Narcissa cover Draco's ear at the 'snog' comment, "There are children present."
Draco looked up to his mother, "Mum I already know what snogging is. Harry and I caught you and Uncle Sev snogging about three months ago and told Sirius. He started babbling about you two 'snogging in his house' while he was still waiting for a Uncle Remus to come home to visit. Harry asked him what snogging meant and he told us."
Narcissa glared at her cousin who shrugged, "What? I have guardianship of both of them I decided to enlighten the lads."
"You couldn't wait three more years?" she griped to him.
"Better to learn this things early on so they'll be prepared when they meet that special lady…or chap, what ever floats your boats boys." Sirius said which got him smacked in the chest by Minerva and Remus. He rubbed his chest and looked to Minerva, "You shouldn't take it out on me that you're too busy these days to notice you former students love lives. You're only cranky that you missed out on a bet."
"A bet?" Severus asks.
"Oh yea Minnie here and the other professors of Hogwarts have betting pools on who ends up with who." Remus said.
"You just finished your first year as a Hogwarts Professor and you know about this, yet I've been there for nine years now and no one told me." Severus looked to Minerva who gave him a weak smile.
"We didn't think it would be your thing Severus." She told him.
He narrowed his eyes at her as he took Narcissa's hand into his again, "Can we please get a move on?" he said annoyed.
"Right lets move." Minerva clapped at Remus, Sirius, and Harry. All three of them picked up their bags and went inside Department of Magical Transportation office.
Once inside they spoke to a very bored looking girl at the receptionists desk. She asked to see their passports and began stamping each one. When she got to Harry's and read his name she quickly looked up at the boy with wide eyes. Harry smiled and waved to her. The young woman immediately began apologizing for her rudeness and quickly finished stamping the rest before telling them to 'Have a great trip.' They went to a room full of doors each labeled with a different country's name. After going through he one labeled 'France', they found them selves in a similar building only everyone was speaking French.
On this side, Harry received the same reaction from the receptionist who asked, in a very thick accent, to see their passports. Harry had held his finger to his lips to stop her from crying out his name, "Shhh I'm on holiday." He told the woman who simply nodded and bid them farewell.
With that finally out of the way the group went to a fancy resort hotel, on the muggle side. Sirius said the Inns in the wizarding district were just as shabby as The Leaky Cauldron, and he wanted a proper holiday. Minerva didn't really complain about this though she had to buy an entirely new wardrobe for the trip so she could blend in Muggle France. The old woman was wearing a long blue summer dress that went past her knees, which felt odd to her leaving her bare calves exposed. To cover her shoulders and upper arms she wore a navy blue short sleeved cardigan with matching ballet flats for her shoes.
Remus opted for jeans and a button down dress shirt with loafers for his foot wear. Sirius went with a more vacation style look wearing tight shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops. Severus was dress similarly to Remus but with a green shirt instead of the red. Narcissa, was a vision of beauty, she was wearing a white cotton sundress that was cut just above her knees, her long blond hair draped across her back and shoulders which was visible due to her spaghetti straps. The scar on her shoulder was being hidden by a glamour so her skin looked flawless. Draco and Harry were both wearing similar outfits that consisted of knee length shorts and t-shirts that said 'I'm with stoopid' both with arrows that pointed up to their faces, Sirius had thought it was funny.
As they walked through the lobby Severus notice many of the men, especially the ones that weren't with their wives, were staring at Narcissa. He didn't like that so he gently slipped his arm around her waist placing his hand on her hip which cause her to blush a bit but she smiled. Sirius noticed this and tease him with a little, "Olala." To which Severus promptly flipped him off. Minerva scolds the both telling them to behave as they approach the front desk.
" Bonjour puis-je vous aider?" the clerked said in French.
Sirius looked to her and replied in perfect French, " Réservation pour, Black. Trois salles."
The woman smiled and nodded. After a brief exchange in French and a little help from Severus, Sirius got confused with the muggle money, they were given three room keys. Sirius turned to them and passed them out, "Okay, Minerva you're with the boys." He handed her the key to the family suite, "Cissy, of course your with Severus." He hands the key to his cousin, "And Remy dear you're of course with me." He pulled his lover to him and smooched his cheek.
The front desk clerked pouted at this sight since she had been eyeing Remus while she spoke to Sirius. Sirius had noticed but couldn't blame the girl. Since he had started taking the new potion, Remus had filled out and was now what American ladies would call a hunk. His newly acquired muscles were bulging through his shirt ever so slightly which caught many ladies attention. Sirius knew when they got to the pool all the ladies would be staring at his lover's newly acquired six pack.
The group had been shown to their rooms by the bell boy and after the young man helped them with their bags Sirius accidently gave him an extremely large tip which caused the boy to look at him in shock. Remus laughed at his lover's blunder and the group decided to get settled into their rooms before they would head down to the pool. Harry had immediately unshrunk his book trunk Remus had gotten him two years ago and pulled out a book that he could read while they were at the pool. He wasn't a big fan of swimming so he would sit under the shade of an umbrella and peruse this tome. Remus had placed a charm on the books that Harry had packed so if he decided to read one in the open around muggles it would appear to be a random muggle book the muggles would expect a child his age to read.
Finally everyone was in their swim wear Draco and Harry were wearing some basic swim trunks, as was Severus. Minerva was wearing a purple one piece suit with a matching sarong and a big straw summer hat. Narcissa had on a simple black two piece suit an was wearing a white short sleeved button up shirt that had the bottom tied in a knot just above her navel. Severus had to force himself to not stare at her bare stomach. "Does it look weird?" she asked him noticing him staring, "The sales lady at the muggle boutique said this was the trend right now and it would look great on me."
"Oh she was absolutely right." Severus said unable to look away, "You look stunning."
Narcissa blushed and tried to hide her face now regretting putting her hair up in a loose knot on top of her head cause she couldn't hide behind it.
"Mum you look super pretty." Draco told her.
"Thank you sweetie." She rubbed his head a bit.
"Everybody ready." Sirius's voice came from behind them. They all turned to look and their mouths dropped open. Sirius and Remus both were wearing nothing but tight speedos. Remus looked completely embarrassed, but Sirius had his hands on his hips standing proudly before them.
Narcissa covered her sons eyes, "Sirius that's inappropriate attire!" she whispered angrily.
"Oh no it isn't dear cousin. I asked the shop keeper myself what was the most trendy swim wear for young men and this was what he said." Sirius said, "Don't we look smashing?" he draped himself on Remus' shoulder.
"Well it doesn't leave much to the imagination." Minerva said, "Can we just go to this pool now I'm quite interested to see what its like."
With that the group headed to the pool area. Draco had looked at the massive pool in awe. While Harry didn't much care for swimming he had to agree to pool was cool. Sirius immediately grabbed Draco and lifted him up jumping into the pool with him. While Minerva elegantly slipped herself into the shallow end. "Oh this is lovely." She said as she sunk down into the cool water.
"We should get one at both houses." Sirius said.
"Finally you've said something I can agree with Sirius." She responded as she laid back and floated in the water.
Severus had opted to do a bit of sun bathing saying he was tired of people telling him he was too pale and he laid back on one of the lounge chairs. But that didn't last long. He noticed a lot of men were eyeing Narcissa particularly after she removed her white top and was just in her two piece swim suit. He quickly got up and went to her before any strange man could try to hit on her.
Remus was having a similar predicament as Narcissa. The ladies at the pool were eyeing him hungrily like he was a juicy piece of meat. Since he was just in a speedo his new muscular form was laid bare for all to see. The attention he was getting was making him a bit nervous until Sirius, who had snuck out of the pool, crept up behind him and pushed him in before jumping in after him and giving him a passionate kiss in front of everyone. After Sirius, not so subtly, laid his claim on his smoking hot lover the women at the pool turned their attention elsewhere.
Harry had his feet dipped into the water at the steps of the shallow end. He had his book open, glad his uncle had also added an Impervious charm to keep it from getting wet. The book in question was titled, 'Defensive Magic for Intermediate Wizards' He was reading it contently when he heard the voice of a young girl ask, "Does that book really have magic in it?" Harry looked up to find a bushy brown haired girl looking up at him from the bottom step. She was in the water but Harry could see she was wearing a girls one piece suit with flower patters all over it.
"I beg your pardon?" Harry asked making sure he heard her right.
"Your book, the title says 'Defensive Magic for Intermediate Wizards'. Does it really have magic in it? Are you a wizard?" she asked.
Harry was utterly confused, his book was supposed to be charmed so muggles wouldn't be able to tell what he was reading, he decided to try and dodge the question closing his book, "Maybe? What about you are you a witch?" he asked.
The girl looked at him goofily, "Of course not. My parents are Dentists." She said proudly.
"Well My grandmother is a professor." He says back.
"That's so cool!" the girl responded, "Can I read with you?" she asked.
Harry was panicking he didn't know what to do when he heard Minerva's voice call him from a table under an umbrella. "Umm maybe later I have to go to my grandma now." He stood up, "I'm Harry by the way…Harry Potter."
She smiled, "I'm Hermione Granger. Pleasure to meet you Harry." She said before swimming off.
A/N: UGH Sirius are you kidding me! Speedos? Really? That man is bonkers. Listen to me talking like I didn't write him that way haha! Maybe I'm the crazy one. Who know's? Now before anyone says anything about Severus behavior I want to clarify. He is not being possessive with Narcissa just self concious. Due to the fact that she is strikingly pretty and he thinks she's out of his league. (I mean lets be real he's probably right but Cissy doesn't care about that kind of thing anymore since the last guy she was with, who was in her league, was a phsyco) Oh Harry was so scared when Hermione could read the title of his book. He doesn't get that she's a muggleborn so the spell does not effect her.
Up Next: Harry quickly tells Minerva about the girl who can read his book. His grandmother decides to investigate this and has a pleasant chat with the girls parents.