"What?" I asked more out of shock than having not heard her.
"Isn't it wonderful?" She asked as she walked over with her hand outstretched and jewels sparkling.
"How did he afford that?" I asked marveling at its size.
"It's a family heirloom." She said proudly. "It dates back to the 18th Century."
"D-do your mum and dad know?" I asked dumbfounded but it was difficult not to smile with Susan beaming at me.
"The owl is on its way with the news." She said. "You're the first to know. I thought my Maid of Honor would be a good first tell."
"Maid of…" I muttered. "So, you're not angry with me anymore?"
She sighed. "I wasn't angry with you. I was upset…oh goodness, I sound like my mother. But I tell you everything and it just made me sad that you could hide something from me. You've lied to me for months and you wouldn't even tell me when you knew that your cover was blown."
"What made you change your mind?" I asked.
"Well, for one, I'm getting married!" She sang. "And another, you're my best friend. You probably have your reason for not telling me."
"I will tell you." I said. "I promise. It's just…I need the moment to be right."
"It's fine." She said a smile stretching across her face. "You can tell me about Mr. Defense Club whenever you feel like it."
I could feel the color drain from my face. "How did you…"
"Please, Ruby." She scoffed. "Whenever you come back before midnight you have this dreamy weird look on your face and don't think I didn't notice the snow globe with the unicorn. You don't stare like that at something you bought yourself."
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" I asked.
"I thought you would just tell me." She shrugged. "But then you were gone all night and I confronted you and you still wouldn't tell me. I was already worried about how Mark was acting differently towards me since Christmas and I thought you were drifting away too and then I wouldn't have anyone. My life was falling apart and you wouldn't even tell me who you were seeing. Now that Mark is clearly not going to leave me, I feel better about you and your secret lover."
"Please don't call him that." I said "That word disgusts me."
Susan giggled. "Oh! You said you had something to tell me. What was it?"
I looked at her face and saw how happy she was in this moment and I thought about Severus saying I could tell Susan about us. To tell her would ruin her happiness and she would never get the chance to be newly proposed to again.
"I can't even remember." I said. "Probably something about how I've finished all of my studying today."
"Oh." She said looking down at the floor with slight disappointment on her face. "Good. Then tomorrow we can start making wedding plans!"
"Shouldn't that be something you and Mark do together?" I asked.
Susan started to laugh. "I love Mark but he has no taste and I'm only going to get married once. I need you to help me plan things and Mark's only job is to show up and look sexy in a suit."
Her eyes glazed slightly and she bit her bottom lip with a smirk.
"You're so gross." I laughed.
"I am also tired." Susan said. "I was dreading that I would have to wait up for you."
"I'm tired too." I said realizing it as soon as she mentioned it.
"What did you do today?" She asked. "Anything with Mr. Defense Club or is your secret romance above celebrating Valentine's Day?"
I smiled. "We had a picnic."
It was nice to tell her things without her knowing who exactly we were talking about.
"It's cold." She said.
"It was a bit chilly." I allowed leaving out the detail that we were in southern France. "But it was romantic and sweet."
She smiled at me. "I expect you to bring him to the wedding."
I could just imagine Susan's face if I showed up the day of her wedding with Severus Snape.
"We'll see." I said certain that when I did tell her who Mr. Defense Club really was that the invitation would be revoked.
The next morning I was awakened when Susan dumped the contents of her bag onto my bed. I sat up to find a pile of magazines at my feet. I picked one up.
"Blushing Banshee Bride?" I asked.
"That one has good hair ideas." She said pointing at the cover which had a woman with greenish skin and missing eyes sporting an intricate design of black curled and braided hair on the top of her head.
"If you can grow your hair that long in…when is the wedding?" I asked.
"Mark and I were thinking July." She said with a smile.
"This July?" I asked. "As in five months from now?"
She nodded her head. "It would be great. We'll finish school, get jobs at the ministry, and get married all within a few weeks. We'll be a husband and wife crime fighting team."
"You don't feel like you're rushing into this at all?" I asked picking up a magazine featuring a witch in a red gown with overly puffy sleeves.
"Not at all." She said. "I've liked Mark for a long time and we've been friends for just as long. Now that he and I are together it just feels like this is how it should be. You know?"
"Not really, no." I said. "But I can try to imagine I do."
"What about your guy?" She asked. "Don't you ever feel like you and he are supposed to be together? Like life without him would feel incomplete?"
My heart jumped into my throat. It was odd talking about this with Susan. "It's a bit more complicated than that with him. Sometimes…sometimes it seems like it would be easier if I just dropped him all together but then it makes me sad to think of doing that to him."
"I wish you would tell me who he is." Susan sighed. "Maybe if I knew that I could help you more. I don't understand why it has to be so complicated."
"I told you I will." I said putting the magazine down. "Just not now. Breakfast?"
Susan accepted my change of subject and gathered her bridal magazines. "Let's go."
"Aren't you going to put those away?" I asked pointing at her armful of wedding ideas.
"Why?" She asked. "We can look at them over breakfast. It's perfect."
"Can't you just bring one or two?" I asked. "Seven is a bit much."
"Seven is a good number." She smiled and turned to leave the room.
After I changed and met Susan in the common room, she and I made our way to the Great Hall where we sat in our usual place together for the first time in weeks.
I glanced at the staff table where Severus was talking with McGonagall. He seemed to be deep in conversation and made no glance in my direction.
"Oooooh." Susan cooed. "Look at that one."
I looked down to see her pointing at a tea party length dress. The witch wearing it held a bouquet of black roses.
"For me?" I asked cringing.
"Of course." She said. "That would be a nice bridesmaid dress don't you think? The black flowers make it a bit Halloween-y but we could make it better with a different flower choice."
"It's orange." I said.
"Isn't it great?" She asked.
"It's orange." I said a second time emphasizing the color.
"What's your point, Ruby?" She asked.
"What color is my hair, Susan?" I asked staring at her.
"Oh, that can be dyed." She said waving a hand at me.
I glared at her and she burst out laughing.
"I'm joking." She said. "There will be no orange at my wedding. Except for your hair. I was thinking pink or purple for the bridesmaid dresses."
"No pink." I said. "I don't do pink."
"Oh, I'm sorry." She said. "Whose wedding is this? Oh, it's mine. I get to pick colors and if you complain I will make my dresses orange just so you look like a pumpkin."
I sighed. Susan was snappy and it was probably only going to get worse until the wedding. I was suddenly on board with the idea of July just so we could get it over with and Susan could go back to normal.
Owls began flying into the Great Hall. A barn owl landed in front of Susan and stuck out its leg. She eagerly began untying the message and opened it. Her eyes swept over the paper.
"My parents." She said with little enthusiasm. "They are skeptical since they've never met Mark or his parents. They are offering to host everyone over the Easter holiday. You're invited too. My mother wants to go to dress shopping."
"It's nice that they aren't saying no." I said. "The dress shopping is a good sign that they are ready to like the Wizenbys and in turn give their blessing."
"So you're going to come." She said as a statement rather than a question.
"I'm not sure." I said. "It's Easter."
"I need you there to smooth things over." She said. "My parents love you."
"I'll talk to my parents about it, alright?" I said.
"Okay." She said before grabbing another one of her magazines.
The rest of Sunday was spent looking at magazines only to have Susan decide she didn't like anything we'd agreed upon. This was going to be an extremely long five months.
The next morning Susan and I sat together in Charms for the first time since January. It was nice to be able to talk to her whilst trying out charms. Most of the conversation was directed on wedding plans, Mark, and Easter holiday.
I'd sent my parents a letter explaining what was going on and they agreed to let me go as long as I promised to be home for the actual holiday. My cousins from Aberdeen were coming to visit for Easter and my parents insisted I be there. Susan was still trying to convince me to stay with her but I hadn't seen Callum and Amelia in so long and my aunt and uncle were always curious about my strange wizarding school. I really wanted to see them and I thought that by April Susan would be even more anxious than she was now and I knew I would need a break from her. I didn't tell her that though.
After classes Susan and I spent a few hours in the Library looking through her magazines. She left them in our room before we went down to dinner. I grabbed my bag before we left the room.
We ate dinner with the same conversation of wedding plans that we'd been having all day. Susan was adamant on pink dresses now. I tried convincing her of a nice green or possibly a dark blue but she insisted that her wedding would be ruined unless the bridesmaids wore pink dresses.
When she started trying to convince me to spend all of Easter holiday with her and her family I stood up from my seat.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"I'm going to go study." I said.
"Will Mr. Defense Club be studying with you?" She asked.
"He will." I said slinging my bag over my shoulder.
"Will the two of you be in the library?" She asked hopeful.
"Absolutely not." I said. "We have a better place to study. I promise the night won't be too late though. It's exhausting sneaking through the corridors. Mrs. Norris and Peeves are everywhere."
Susan gave me a worried look. "I hate that you know things like that. Maybe I don't like Defense Club boy. He's a bad influence on you and maybe I should put up more of a fight."
"You invited him to your wedding and now you don't want me seeing him anymore?" I asked.
"If Mark caused me to be out all hours of the night would you let me spend time with him?" She asked.
"Of course I would." I said without a second thought.
She squinted at me. "You're just saying that so I have to let you continue seeing him or else I seem overbearing."
"That's right." I responded with a song. "I'll see you later."
I made my way down to Severus' classroom and walked into his office where he was fiddling with new potions as always.
I put my bag down on his table loudly causing him to turn around.
"Ruby." I said and smiled. "I see you must have told Susan. Didn't I tell you she would understand? She didn't even treat me with anymore disgust than she usually does."
"That's probably because I didn't tell her." I said.
"You didn't?" He asked. "But you two are friends again."
"Yeah." I agreed. "That's because she's getting married."
"Married?" He asked.
"She was so happy, Severus." I gushed. "I couldn't tell her about you. I walked into the room with every intention of telling her about you and I but when I found her she thrust this giant ring in my face and told me that Mark proposed."
"I understand." He said. "When are you going to tell her?"
"Well, she's already said I have to bring Mr. Defense Club to her wedding." I said. "I figure it would be a great opportunity to just show up with you and I'm sure she'll figure it out."
Severus laughed. "She would kill me. You know that don't you?"
"I don't think so." I said. "She wouldn't risk staining her dress with your blood."
He smiled.
"Anyways." I said sitting down at the table and pulling out a book and parchment. "What are the uses of Snargaluff pods?"