7 YEARS LATER
Seven years ago I had stepped out of Hogwarts for the last time and now, here I was, standing in front of the doors to the great hall once again. Inside the room, everyone from my year was busy mingling and catching up on what they'd been doing over the past few years and I was so unbelievably nervous. Only a few metres away from me were some people that had been my closest friends. Some of us had naturally drifted apart.
Letting out a deep breath, I stepped into the room. Looking around the room, I smiled instantly at the sight of Hannah as she rapidly approached me. We hadn't seen each other in over a year since she'd moved to France for work. She pulled me into a hug and by the time she had pulled away, Zach had come up beside her.
"You got married!" was the first thing Hannah said to me. She motioned to the ring on my finger. I looked awkwardly at Zach as he stood by her side. He raised an eyebrow and I looked back at Hannah.
"So did you." I said nodding to her own ring.
Hannah, as if detecting the awkwardness, looked between Zach and I. Her eyes widened in realisation. She went to say something but Zach beat her to it and excused himself to get a drink. Once we were left alone, Hannah looked back at me.
"So you found a guy to match your high standards then," She said teasingly before sobering slightly. "I thought you said no to Zach."
"I did," I said with a small sigh, "We were too young to get married."
"I guess you're right; you were fresh out of Hogwarts when he asked." She took a sip of her drink. We were fresh out of Hogwarts when he asked me to marry him the first time. We were older the next four times. I fiddled with the ring on my finger when she asked, "So where is your husband?"
"He should be around here somewhere," I said dismissively, "I'm going to get a drink, and I'll catch up with you in a bit Hannah."
Walking over to the drinks table, I stood beside Zach and helped myself to some pumpkin juice. From the corner of my eye I saw him turn to face me.
"How's married life treating you bunny?" He asked, making me turn towards him.
"Very well," I said with a smile, "And you?"
"Exceptionally well." He glanced around before leaning down to press a kiss to my temple, "My wife can be maddening but I love her."
"Zach." I pushed him with my shoulder.
He laughed slightly and then asked, "How is keeping our relationship from other people working out for you?"
"You mean apart from Hannah noticing the ring?"
"I don't understand you bunny," He said with an indulgent sigh. "You said to hide our marriage from other people and yet you're not exactly trying to hide your ring."
"It's because you threw a strop when I took it off last time Zach," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Who could forget the silent treatment you gave me when I didn't wear it to a work event?"
"I just don't understand why we have to hide our marriage."
"Because we got married last month, without our parent's knowing. If anyone here finds out, all it takes is a quick owl to one of our parents and then we'll be called in for a telling off – regardless of our age."
"I don't think they'd care," He admitted, "They knew we were dating and that we were living together. Getting married was only the next natural step for our relationship. Besides you know they love us being together."
"They might do but they won't love that we got married without telling them." I took a sip of my pumpkin juice. "They'd be so annoyed to find out that we didn't tell them on purpose. Merlin, we're both only children and they'd hate not being able to have been there. Telling them will only lead to them telling us of like little children."
"Maybe not. I think they'd forgive us if they knew you were pregnant." He said casually.
I choked slightly on my juice, looking up at him in shock. He wasn't supposed to know. I hadn't told him yet. "How did you figure it out?"
"For one thing, you're drinking pumpkin juice when there's various alcoholic drinks around." He slipped an arm around my waist, "And I found the positive pregnancy test in the bin. When exactly were you planning on telling me about the newest addition to our family?"
"When I'd come to grips with it myself," I said, setting my glass of juice down and playing with the buttons on his shirt. I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes. Zach, giving a slight sigh, took a hold of my chin and tilted my head up so I looked him in the eye. "I didn't know how you'd react. We never talked about having children and I wasn't sure if you'd be happy about it."
"I'd have been happy," He said leaning down to press a kiss to the corner of my lip. "Of course I'd have been happy; my bunny has a bun in the oven."
I scrunched my nose in distaste and made sure that he saw it. He laughed at my facial expression. "How very witty."
"You love me; admit it Mrs Smith."
"I might love you but that doesn't mean that I need to love your jokes Mr Smith."
