Dinah plopped her bag down on the large bed in her room and unzipped it, then started unpacking. As she carried her toiletries to the adjoining lavatory her mind turned to the awkwardness of the previous conversation with Lucy. Honestly she hadn't even considered that problem before coming here, her mind having been too preoccupied with whether or not Severus and Sirius could handle this visit without killing each other.
She hadn't ever really confided in Lucy the deeper aspects of their relationship. Lucy wasn't aware of the awkwardness of this subject. Wasn't aware that, although they had on occasion slept in the same bed, nothing had ever gone further than that. And, she couldn't help but think with a bitter smile, it probably wouldn't for a very long time. Not unless she spontaneously transformed into Lily Potter.
It didn't take long for Dinah to put away her things, and as she headed out into the hallway she saw Severus exiting from his own room at the same time. She smiled, "Unpacked?"
He nodded, frowning, "I still think it would have been better if this was only a day visit. I'm not sure how long the mongrel will be able to stand me in his home. You did notice that he nearly called me Snivellus earlier."
Dinah sighed and nodded, walking over to him, "He just doesn't understand."
Severus snorted, "Because he's an irresponsible, naïve, childlike-"
"Now come on, that's not helping," she interrupted. "If you're not civil then you can't expect him to be civil either."
"I haven't called him any names to his face," Severus replied simply.
"True…"
"We should go eat," he said, placing a light hand on her shoulder and guiding her towards the stairs.
She smiled at his initiation of physical contact. It was still rather rare, and she was going to indulge in the moment as much as possible. But as soon as they made it to the bottom of the stairs and began to approach the kitchen he let his hand fall back to his side. Well, that was to be expected. The man definitely wasn't one for public displays of affection.
At the kitchen door they could hear Lucy; "I asked you to be nice!"
"It's just habit, Lu."
"Be nice! It's the only thing I asked. Calling people names is not nice! I realize your mother probably never taught you that but honestly!" The pair turned towards the kitchen door when it opened. Lucy reddened, "Oh, um, sorry about that. Please sit down. The food's almost ready."
Dinah glanced at Severus. He had an almost amused expression on his face that made her crack a smile. But it was soon replaced by his usual indifference. She walked forward, choosing a random seat at the table to slide into, and tried to break the tension, "So what are we having?"
"Fajitas, pasta salad, and some peanut butter brownies for dessert. I hope you like it. It's kind of a weird combo I know, but I thought they were foods that most people enjoyed." She placed the pasta salad on the table and waved her wand to bring the fajita stuffs over. Dessert stayed on the counter.
"It looks delicious," Dinah smiled and dug into the pasta salad, which it turned out was rather delicious.
After a few bites she turned to look at Severus, who had sat beside her. He had taken a few bites himself, then looked up at Lucy, and despite his face being expressionless as usual, said, "It is very good." Dinah smiled. He was making so much progress.
Lucy beamed, "Thank you! How do you like your rooms?" Sirius sat next to her, quietly glowering at them.
"They're fine, thank you," Dinah smiled. "This is a nice old house… but there's so much room here for just two people."
Nodding, Lucy said, "Yeah, it is. But I like it. And besides it won't always be just the two of us."
Sirius choked on his food, causing everyone to turn and look at him.
"Relax. Breathe. Chew. Swallow," Lucy instructed. "When I said that I wasn't implying that we were going to fill this house up ourselves. I only meant that Harry, as your godson, will likely be staying here at some point, which likely means Ron and/or Ginny will be here, along with Hermione and at least a portion of the other Weasleys. I may not have a large immediate family but when you're related to the Weasleys you automatically get a large family."
Severus snorted under his breath, but Dinah waved him off and managed to hide her smile at Sirius's reaction; "It must be nice to have a large family. I love my family, but there's always been only a few of us. And Severus-" she paused and flushed, not sure why she had even started going down that path, "Well, never mind." A quick glance at her companion out of the corner of her eye revealed an unreadable expression, as usual.
"Most of the time it's nice. I've enjoyed getting to know them again. After Mum was killed it kind of spooked Dad and he pretty much kept me away from everyone and everything until I had to go to Hogwarts. Of course after Hogwarts I didn't do the things he thought I should so we don't really speak much anymore. That's when the large family comes in handy," Lucy smiled sadly.
"I see," Dinah nodded, understanding, and started to assemble a fajita. As she lifted the wrapped food up to her mouth to take a bite all of the insides spilled out from the back end. She laughed and put it down, "I guess I overfilled it."
Severus chuckled next to her, and she had to turn to smile back at him. It was worth it, spilling her food, if she could elicit one of those rare smiles from him. "Perhaps you should attack your food with a bit less zeal, to prevent such things from happening," he said.
Sirius smirked, "Lucy has the same problem."
"I do not!" she exclaimed, her face reddening.
One of Sirius's eyebrows rose in response.
"Not with food anyway," she took a small, lady-like bite of her fajita, nothing falling out the other side.
Dinah smiled slightly and hurried back to her food, this time careful not to lock eyes with Severus. Although she loved spending time with Lucy and Sirius, honestly their little innuendos got irritating when she was nowhere near such a relationship with Severus. On the other hand, it probably was bad form to be jealous. Still, she wasn't sure exactly what to say as she stuffed the fillings back into her fajita and resumed eating.
"I'm sorry. That was…" Lucy waved her hand through the air, "You probably didn't want to hear that. Believe me I know how it is. I had to listen to Tonks when her and Remus first got together and it got a bit sickening, not to mention way more information about…certain aspects of their relationship than I would ever have wanted to know."
Dinah forced a smile. Normally that comment would have cleared things up fine, if it was only her, Lucy, and Sirius in the room. But with Severus here, listening to every word, gauging her reactions and thinking who knew what, she was still uncomfortable and needed to quickly change the subject. "I suppose it's common for most newly involved couples. Don't worry about it. Anyway, these fajitas are really delicious! What did you put in them? Oh wait, that's a really stupid question, isn't it, seeing as I just assembled the thing myself. I suppose I could ask how you seasoned the meat, though. Yeah, maybe that's what I meant. So-" she froze as Severus reached over and put a hand on her arm. She realized she had been babbling; probably got it from being around Lucy so much. She forced herself to turn and meet his gaze.
"You don't have to try so hard to change the subject, Dinah," Severus said slowly, his expression unreadable but his eyes boring into her own, "I can handle this kind of topic as well as the rest of you can. And I'm fairly certain I know what you're thinking right now. All I can say at the moment is… perhaps eventually."
Dinah's face started to burn and she was fairly certain she looked rather like a large beet right now. She turned back to her plate and began shoving the fajita into her mouth at top speed. This get-together was providing more surprising circumstances than even she had expected. He had never said 'perhaps eventually' before. The most he had ever said was 'definitely not now'.
"Sorry again. I keep steering us right into awkward topics, huh? Dinah!" Lucy said abruptly, making Dinah jump. "Please tell me you're able to drive one of those…oh I forgot the word, motormoblie things?"
Dinah laughed, "A motor vehicle? A car? Sure I can drive one. I've got a license and everything."
"Lovely," Severus muttered under his breath.
Dinah ignored him, "But what on earth would you need that for?"
Lucy blushed, perhaps a bit embarrassed she had used the wrong word, "Well, I've never been in one before and I thought that if you were interested we could use one to go to a Muggle bookstore."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Should have known it had something to do with books," he mumbled.
"Of course we'd probably have to convince these two to come along or get them a baby-sitter." Lucy looked toward Severus, "No offense."
Dinah wasn't particularly surprised when Severus didn't respond other than to raise an eyebrow. "That sounds like it might be fun. But… well…" she turned to look at Severus.
He sighed and shrugged, "I suppose I have no choice. But traveling through the world of the Muggles," he said the last world in a tone of disgust, "We would, I assume, have to dress inconspicuously. Do we even have enough Muggle clothing here that all of us, male and female, could wear?"
Dinah frowned, "You do have a point. I don't suppose you have anything, Lucy? I could lend you something of mine, but for the men…"
"Hmm that does present a problem. Do you have any brothers we could borrow from? Or perhaps your father?" Lucy asked, not noticing the expression on the men's faces at the thought of borrowing Dinah's father's clothes.
"No, no brothers," Dinah grimaced at the thought of Severus dressed like her father, "I'm an only child. But my father's clothes… no, they likely wouldn't fit anyway," She smiled slightly as the men exhaled with relief. "But I'm sure we can figure something out. Well, how about this. We can apparate to my home, and it would only take me a short while to drive to a clothing boutique and buy something for them. That is, assuming you think you can handle staying behind with both of them."
"If you don't mind going out to buy the clothes, I think I can handle the boys. I can handle this one anyway," she pointed to Sirius. "I spent seven years calling Severus Professor Snape and it's still weird not to call him that. I can't tell him what to do but I'm thinking as long as we keep one of them in line…"
Dinah smiled, "All right. And I'll be quick. And, you shouldn't really have to worry…"
"I'll simply retreat to another room," Severus said without expression.
She frowned, "You should try to be more social." At his raised eyebrow she sighed and retorted, "Well it was just a suggestion!"
"Oh, now I feel bad! I don't want you to feel like you have to retreat into another room," Lucy addressed Severus. "I think it'll be fine, really," she rubbed her stomach as if she wasn't feeling well, "Oh, I think I need a popsicle. Does anyone else want one?"
"Lu, it's the middle of winter, no one wants a popsicle. And you don't have to worry about being alone in the room with just the two of us. I can behave myself just as well as…Severus."
Lucy rolled her eyes and mumbled, "That's not very reassuring," before rising from the table. "Well I'm having one. If anyone else would like one there are plenty of orange ones in the freezer."
Dinah chuckled. "Actually that does sound rather appetizing, for some odd reason. But we should really get ready to go if we're going. We are going, right?"
"Sure, if you think now would be a good time and your parents won't mind. I can always eat my dessert there," Lucy said reaching into the freezer, "Would you like orange? I do have cherry and grape if you'd rather have one of those; I just don't like orange so those ones tend to pile up."
"Orange is fine. But I think you've misunderstood. If I'm going out to buy the clothes myself we'll go to my place, not my parents. Really, that will save time as that's where my car is anyway, assuming we're at least all going together to the bookstore. Besides, I'm not… quite sure it's yet time for Severus to meet my parents."
"Ah, yes I did misunderstand. I didn't realize you had a place of your own in the Muggle world. And I get the parents meeting the guy thing. Sirius hasn't met my father yet. Lucky me I got to meet his mother before I met him," Lucy said the last bit dryly, sticking an orange popsicle in front of Dinah.
Dinah laughed, "I doubt that woman would have it any other way. But then I suppose we should go," she finished the last of her brownie and devoured the popsicle in a few quick bites while everyone stared at her. She laughed again, "You know a brownie and a popsicle one right after the other is a bit strange." She stood up. "At any rate, since I am currently the only one that knows the location of my house we'll have to use side-along apparition. So, Severus take my left hand and Lucy and Sirius my right," she said with authority.
The group obeyed, Lucy stuffing her still unopened popsicle into her robes, and soon they had vanished from Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and landed in the spacious living room of Dinah's London home. Dinah smiled and let go of their hands as she looked around. She hadn't been home in some time, and it was nice to see the place again.
Lucy looked around, her eyes wide, taking in all the new sights, "This looks nice," she wandered over to a switch on the wall, "What does this do?"
Dinah smiled, "Flip it up."
Lucy did, jumping when the lights turned on. "Oh! Sort of like a lumos charm isn't it?"
Sirius laughed.
"What? It does the same thing, doesn't it?"
He shook his head, "Just not used to seeing you clueless and exploring new things."
She smiled at him, "Well, you should be," she quickly covered her mouth, blushing, "Sorry! I've done it again!"
Dinah flushed and was about to attempt to come up with some kind of response when she was saved from commenting by the lights flickering and going out. "Hm," Dinah mused, "That's never happened before. I guess it's because there's four of us here that it shorted out. I've never had more than one other wizard in this house at a time before." She gave her wand a flick and the light came back on, "There."
"Completely unnecessary," Severus muttered, "Don't you have to pay to use electricity? Isn't it a waste of your money to have it when you can simply use magic instead?"
"I don't think it's ethical to cheat the Muggle economy," she replied simply. "Besides, I'm not here that often. The bills never run too high. So I'm going to get going, then. Come outside and you can see the car."
They all followed her outside to her grey Volkswagen which was parked in the driveway.
"Wow…I…you ride inside it, right?"
Dinah nodded, "Yes. But I would assume you'd know at least a little bit more about these from your uncle Arthur? I remember hearing about some sort of flying car incident-"
"Please!" Severus interrupted, "Let's not discuss that event in my presence."
Lucy nodded, "I know very little. I know you ride inside. Uncle Arthur's car flew; I'm assuming yours and other Muggles' cars don't. Whoever sits behind the wheel tells the car which direction to go. Other than that I have no idea. Aunt Molly didn't let him take the car out much…and well then there was that incident and I don't think we've seen the car since."
Dinah laughed, "Well, I guess that would make sense." At Severus's glare she cleared her throat and changed the subject, "Anyway, I'd better get going. I'm going to guess at your sizes, but I think I should get pretty close if not perfect. And perhaps we can change the sizes with a spell if necessary. Good luck with the guys, Lucy – If there's any problem you can magically contact my mobile like I showed you once before. I'll have it on me."
"There will be no problems," Severus insisted, walking up to the driver's side with her. "And if you must insist on it I will try to be social."
She smiled, "Thanks."
His mouth turned up at the corners in a very slight hint of a smile as she got into the car. She looked out the window at Lucy and Sirius, "When I'm back we'll all ride in it together and then you can really see what it's like. So look forward to that," with one last wave she drove away, hoping against hope that everything would go well while she was gone.