Chapter Forty-one;

[January 1st, 1999]

After Sirius and Severus left the shrieking shack, Severus had to go work on some potions and was taking lunch in his potions lab, which left Sirius to go to the Great Hall by himself. When he entered, he expected not to see anyone, as last night was New Years, and he figured everyone would've drunk themselves to death or at least in a coma until late in the evening. He was surprised when the Great Hall was full – or at least the Order, staff, and few students that stayed over break.

Sirius walked up to the table and took a seat next to Remus. "'Lo" he greeted at Remus, grabbing some food for his plate.

Remus gave a curt nod and Albus leaned forward to look over at him. "Oh, Sirius. We missed you and Severus yesterday, how was your New Years?" He asked, his eyes twinkling madly, throwing Sirius a smile.

"It was great" Sirius said, smiling back.

"That's great news. Ah, also, have you heard the news?" Albus asked, turning his attention back to his plate.

"News?" Sirius asked, looking up at Albus.

Remus nudged his side. "On a Hogsmeade weekend sometime this month – some children are going to visit Hogwarts. They're from a wizarding orphanage, lots of the kids lost their parents in the war, and they want to see where the war took place and learn about Hogwarts."

"Oh, that sounds… ah, interesting? How long will they be here?" Sirius asked.

"Just a few hours on a Saturday." Remus said, eating his food.

"Ah" Sirius said, digging into his food.

After lunch, Sirius traveled down towards the potions lab, walking inside and taking a look around. The lab was empty, which made Sirius frown, but he also saw a few cauldrons lit up, so he decided Severus stepped out for a minute. He walked over towards a stool and took a seat, shuffling through some parchment that was sitting on the desk in front of him out of boredom. He looked up when he heard the door open and Harry, Hermione, Ron, Remus, Tonks, Albus, Minerva, Arthur, and Molly walk in. Sirius quirked his eyebrow. "We set Peeves on Professor Snape's classroom." Harry said, smirking.

"What? Why?" Sirius asked, trying not to laugh at the thought of the mischief Peeves would get up too.

"So we can ask who is planning your wedding" Molly said as everyone conjured up a chair or pulled chairs out from under the small desks.

"Um… I'm… I'm not sure. Why do you need Severus out of here to ask that?" Sirius asked, a bit confused.

"Because we figure if we brought the subject up to Severus, he would either kick us out, or tell us none of our bloody business" Remus stated, smiling.

"Then none of your bloody business" Sirius responded, smirking.

"Sirius…" Harry whined.

"You should really pick a date, there is a lot of planning to do with a wedding" Hermione stated, nodding her head in agreement with herself.

"Well… I suppose we should think about it a bit…" Sirius said, looking at the ground in thought.

"I could help" Molly said, smiling warmly at Sirius.

'Of course you can' Sirius thought, rolling his eyes.

"I'll be glad to help with Molly" McGongall said, nodding her head.

"Of course - we're all interested in helping." Albus stated.

At that moment, a scowling upset Severus walked into the room, giving everyone a firm glare as they turned to look at him – then walking over towards his cauldrons and stirring each one slowly, not saying anything. "Sev, we're talking about the wedding." Sirius said.

Severus flinched, turning to look at Sirius, his eyebrow raised. "What wedding?"

"Um. Your wedding, Professor." Hermione said, frowning.

Severus rolled his eyes. "We're not having a wedding, if anything it will be a very small ceremony that will last ten minutes and then it is over."

"That doesn't sound like mu-" Molly began but was interrupted.

"Yes, well, it's either that or nothing." Severus spat, adding in an ingredient and then walking out of the room.

Sirius stared at the door after Severus shut it and sighed. "Small ceremony it is."

"You're not going to argue? Surely you want an actual wedding, Sirius." Molly said, frowning in disappointment.

"I agree. We should celebrate this occasion…" Minerva said, sighing.

"I guess… I mean, of course I want a huge wedding to show everyone how 'whipped' I am" Sirius said, smirking at Remus and chuckling. "I'll talk to him about it, I guess."

Everyone stood and nodded their head, and then they left one by one. Sirius turned towards the door that led to Severus' chambers and walked to it, pushing it open and spotting Severus on the couch, lying back with his head against the arm of the couch. Sirius morphed into a dog and trotted over towards the couch, laying his head against the couch next to Severus' head. Severus cracked an eye open and gave a small smile. Sirius licked Severus' cheek. "Don't lick my cheek, mutt" He muttered.

Sirius morphed back into a human and was now on his knees head resting on the couch. "Love, are you sure you don't want a wedding?"

Severus gave a glare. "Positive…"

"I see."

"Do you want one?"

"… Only if you want one."

"I want a yes or no answer."

"Sev…"

"Sirius. Yes or no."

Sirius sighed. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I… I don't know, it's formal, isn't it?"

"Nothing about us is formal…"

"I love you."

Severus blinked. "I love you too, Sirius."

"Then that's formal. We love each other, I proposed – so you can't say us not being formal is a reason."

"Sirius…"

"Sev. Come on… wouldn't a wedding be… fun?"

"Fun…?"

"Yes, fun."

Severus stayed quiet, turning on his back to stare at the ceiling. Sirius smirked and grabbed ahold of Severus' hand, pulling it to his lips and kissing his palm. "Molly and Minerva said they would help with the arrangements."

Severus scoffed. "Did they now?"

"Yes, it'll be easy. We'll have a few months as well to plan. We can take things slow." Sirius said, smirking.

Severus huffed and closed his eyes. "Fine. Have the biggest wedding in history if you want."

Sirius smiled widely. "Excellent!"

After that, things went quiet once again. Sirius watched Severus and smiled when he closed his eyes, his thoughts roaming back to when Remus explained the whole kids' thing – it made him think they were getting married, wouldn't the next step be kids? He knew with the help of potions they could have kids, but what if Severus didn't want kids? Sirius smiled and leaned over to place a kiss to Severus' cheek. "Sev – what do you think about kids?"