“I assure you, the feeling is quite mutual,” Stefan took her hand in his.
“How long has it been since we’ve had a real date?”
Stefan squeezed her hand, “too long, way too long. I’m not even sure I know what to do with you anymore.”
“I have a few suggestions,” Dierna replied brazenly. She didn’t miss the way he frowned at that comment, “what?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Stefan, what is it?” the last thing she wanted right now was an argument, but she wasn’t going anywhere until she got an answer.
Stefan mentally shook himself before giving Dierna a smile, “it’s nothing really, we’ll discuss it tonight.”
Dierna was not happy with that response. But it didn’t look like she was going to get any better, at least for the moment.
“I promised your mother I would have you home early, we should get going.”
Dierna rolled her eyes, “don’t worry about my curfew, I’m sure I can talk my way out of it.”
“Sorry, but I’m going to have you home on time whether you like it or not.” He held the door for her as they headed out, “while I don’t doubt your ability to argue the fuzz off a peach, I think it would be best for the safety of my own life to get you home in a timely manner.”
It was Dierna’s turn to frown at him.
Stefan wrapped an arm around her waist as they walked down the road, “I love you very much Dierna, but…” he felt Dierna tense next to him, “but, I’ve had a lot of time to think over the last few months. I’ve realized that we have a lot of issues to work through.”
“What exactly are you saying Stefan?” Dierna mentally cursed herself for how high pitched her voice sounded.
Stefan could have kicked himself. He stopped walking and with a hand on Dierna’s arm turned her to face him, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you have nothing to worry about. I just meant that we’ve been separated for nearly a year and for part of that time you thought I was dead. And, it doesn’t help that I know the time I spent locked up in Malfoy’s dungeon hasn’t left me unchanged. I’m sorry if I started badly, I didn’t want to scare you. What I meant to say was that we have a lot of catching up to do and a lot of things to talk about before I give you your engagement ring back.”
“You still want to marry me?”
“Sweet Circe, yes. But I’m also going to be sensible about this. I want to take you away and marry you tonight, but if I did that your father would never forgive either of us. We both need to be patient.”
“I was afraid you had changed your mind.”
“I would never do that, I love you far too much to turn back now. But I do realize that you have another year of school left.”
“I am of age you know…”
“Um-hmmm… that doesn’t mean I’m going to take advantage of that.”
“You’re too damn sensible sometimes MacNeill.”
“And you spend far too little time thinking about the consequences of your actions.”
Dierna snorted, “don’t you start telling me what to do, I get that enough from my parents.”
“But you don’t listen to them, and someone has to keep you in line. It might as well be me.”
Dierna tried to elbow him, but Stefan twisted out of the way. She settled for pinching him and then took off running before he could retaliate. But she didn’t make it very far. Before she had gone more than twenty feet down the road Stefan grabbed her from behind and swung her around so that she was facing him.
“Are you trying to bait me?” he asked as he leaned down to kiss her.
“Maybe…”
“You’re a brat.”
“You like it.”
“Do you think we can continue on to dinner like two civilized adults? I did make reservations…”
Dierna brushed a kiss across his cheek, “does that mean I have to behave myself?”
He wrapped his arm back around her waist, “if you want dessert it does.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Alright I know you’re hiding in here,” Sirius said as he walked into the living room. Kamen and Olivia had left a short while ago. He was now feeling very pleased with himself over how excited the boys had been by the few purchases he had made for them.
“Now where are you?” He tried to ignore the tell tale giggles coming from behind the sofa. “Behind the curtains? No… Maybe under this pillow? Guess I was wrong again.”
“Well, I guess I’m just going to give up, I don’t know where Willow could be hiding.” He sank down to the floor and laid down, his arms pillowing his head, “I guess I’ll just lay here for awhile and rest my eyes, I need to get my strength back before I start searching again.”
He closed his eyes and waited. He didn’t have to wait long. There were a few more giggles before a flying weight pounced on his stomach. “Oof…” Sirius winced a bit as he opened his eyes, “what are you trying to do to me kidlet?”
“I captured you, you’re my prisoner,” Willow declared.
“You think so? I beg to differ,” he grabbed her and held her down with one hand while he tickled her with the other. “I think you’re at my mercy now princess,” he said as she shrieked with laughter.
“I swear, it’s like I have three children instead of two,” Elizabeth smiled to herself as she watched from the doorway.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sirius said as he scooped Willow up into his arms.
“I’m sure you don’t,” Elizabeth gave him an exasperated look. “I think it’s getting to be someone’s bedtime.”
“Really? I’m not at all tired,” Sirius replied as he tried to keep Willow, who was climbing him like a tree, from falling.
“Very funny. Perhaps since you got her so wound up you would like to put her to bed?”
“She’s not wound up, just energetic.”
“Are you putting her to bed or do I have to?”
“I suppose I can,” Sirius gave a long suffering sigh, “What do you think princess, are you ready for bed?”
“No.”
“Of course… your favorite word, I should have known,” Sirius tossed her over his shoulder, “I think its bedtime anyways, whether you want to go or not.”
“Very good Sirius,” Elizabeth gave him a cheeky smile, “you actually stood up to her. You’re getting much better at not letting her control you.”
“It’s a good thing I’m so fond of you woman, I don’t usually stand for that sort of attack on my personal character. If you really wanted to make it up to me you’d come upstairs and help me get this munchkin into bed.”
“It’s a good thing I’m so fond of you, after calling me ‘woman’ I’m not usually inclined to give aid to those in need.”
Sirius was still smiling when he came back downstairs a half hour later. The simple act of putting a child to bed and reading a story to her could all but make him forget about the horror his life had been during his years in Azkaban and the way the war had torn everything apart. Family was quickly becoming the one constant in his life, and he loved it.
“Did I thank you for the sheets yet?”
“Several times,” Sirius replied as he poured himself a drink.
“Just so you know,” William stood up and paced across the room, “I appreciate the gesture, but you’re still not my favorite person. If you were trying to get on my good side…”
Sirius held up a hand, “I was just putting myself in your shoes and imagining the horror of pastel sheets.”
William nodded slowly, “I do appreciate it.”
“And I’m glad we’re able to have a conversation without you trying to tear my head off.”
William snorted, “That’s only because of my mother.”
“Did she tell you to start being nice?”
“No,” William looked at his step-father seriously, “I haven’t seen her this happy since before Da died. She was miserable until she found you. What she saw in you, I don’t know, but you’ve made her happy again. And, Willow deserves to have a father, she doesn’t remember her own. For their sakes, I’m glad you’re here.”
“What about you?”
William shrugged, “I could care less whether you were here or not, I don’t need a new father and I don’t need you to be my friend.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Sirius smiled a bit weakly, “these are dark times, and you can never have too many friends when things get rough.”
“True…”
“Although you seem to have made some friends on your own… how is the Brotherhood treating you?”
“I know you don’t like them…”
“You’re right there…”
“But, Dumbledore supported them, so they can’t be all bad.”
“I think that’s your way of saying you’re not too sure about them yourself.”
William shrugged again, “I can’t say that I agree with everything they have done or asked me to do. But their cause is just. They want to see Voldemort defeated.”
“If you are so intent on seeing Voldemort brought down, I would rather you joined the Order of the Phoenix than stay with this Brotherhood.”
“Why? So you can keep an eye on me?”
“Partly,” Sirius’ look was grim, “but also I trust the leadership of the Order.”
“Sorry, but I’m fine where I am. Besides, we’re going to need all the allies we can get before this is over. I think it’s good that I stay with the Brotherhood; they might be willing to work with the Order. Have we made any other plans for alliances?”
“Between you and me, Minerva is hoping that our people get to Midgard before Voldemort’s do.”
“Who exactly are we going to ally with there…? I would think that Voldemort would try to ally himself with the giants, are we going to do the same?”
“I’m not really sure, apparently Remus’ priestess has a few connections there that might be willing to help us.” Sirius couldn’t help but laugh at William’s contemplative look, “what are you trying to figure out?”
“I’m trying to remember what we learned about the magical groups from the North in Binns’ class… and hoping that they’re somehow related to the Veela.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Mum, can we talk?”
“Of course darling, come in and sit down.”
Dierna crawled up on her parents’ bed and sat down cross legged across from her mother, “you don’t think Dad will interrupt, do you?”
“I take it this isn’t a conversation you want him to be a part of,” Morgan said as she laid her book aside.
Dierna blushed, “I would rather he didn’t hear anything about it.”
“Well now, I’m very curious to hear what this is all about.”
Dierna sighed, “It’s about some stuff that Stefan and I talked about tonight. Well… he did most of the talking, and it wasn’t all very… flattering.”
Morgan tried to read her daughter’s face to see where this was going, but she was still very much in the dark.
Dierna sighed, “I basically… propositioned… him tonight.” She looked down at her hands, “I told him after all that had happened, after almost losing him, I was tired of waiting. That I wanted us to…”
“What did he say to this?”
Dierna blushed darker, “I basically got a lecture. He told me in no uncertain terms that he would not sleep with me.”
Morgan’s eyebrows rose, but she didn’t say anything.
“I asked him if it was because he was afraid Dad really would kill him, but he said it was because he didn’t want me to do anything I’d regret and he loved me too much to do that to me.”
“I’d have to say that you have found yourself an amazing man. Not that I am at all pleased to hear about the position you put him in, but he handled it incredibly well.”
“I feel so guilty now, but I don’t know if it’s because of what I asked of him, or because of how he responded.”
Morgan was quiet for a long moment as she thought about what to tell her daughter. She finally spoke, very slowly, “I’m glad that you feel guilty, because, not only are you too young to make a decision like that, you put Stefan in an incredibly awkward position. Besides that, I know that you’ve brought this topic up with him before and he has refused. It makes me seriously question your set of morals.”
“I… I’m sorry Mum, I just…”
“Weren’t thinking?”
Dierna nodded.
“It seems you use that excuse an awful lot. Perhaps if you did think more things through you would not find yourself in positions such as this.”
“I think I feel even worse now.”
“Then I hope that you learn from this. A large part of relationships is respect. Stefan has made a decision, and I think you need to respect that. Especially since his decision in this matter is the better one.”
Dierna sighed and looked down at her hands in her lap, “why do I feel so much worse after talking this over with you than I would have if Dad had yelled at me?”
Morgan gave her daughter a slight smile, “maybe because I do not look for fault the way your father does.”
“I really do want you to be proud of me Mum, I hate having to tell you stuff like this.”
“And I am proud of you; I just want you to make wise decisions.”
“Is there room for a third?” Serena asked from the doorway.
Morgan looked at Dierna, “is this conversation done for now.”
Dierna nodded in confirmation.
“Of course darling, come in,” Morgan patted the bed next to her and suppressed a sigh when Serena sprang onto the bed. “And what do you want?”
“I’m hiding.”
“Oh no… do I even want to know?”
Serena grinned wickedly as she pushed her straight black hair out of her eyes, “I… borrowed… a couple of things from Kamen. He realized they were gone and I decided it was time to make myself scarce.”
“What did you take?” Dierna asked as she stole one of her mother’s pillows and made herself more comfortable.
“Some decorations he acquired for his flat.”
“Let me guess,” Dierna cocked her head to the side as she thought, “large posters of naked women?”
“Nope.”
“Those tiki statues he was talking about buying the other day?” Morgan suggested.
“Even better,” Serena smiled smugly, “since you’ll never guess I suppose I’ll tell you. He lifted a couple of Gryffindor banners from the school, he’s going to hang them on his walls.”
“Don’t tell me this,” Morgan clamped her hands over her ears, “I don’t want to know that he’s been stealing stuff from the school.”
Both of the girls started giggling. “Do you honestly think that’s the first thing he’s taken from the school?” Dierna asked as she tried to catch her breath.
“Something else I’m sure I don’t want to hear about…” Morgan said as she shook her head. “He’s graduated, I’m going to try and put that all behind me.”
“Don’t worry Mum, we’ll still be around for another year to cause all sorts of trouble at school,” Serena assured her, “you won’t even have time to think about all the stunts Kamen pulled, I’m sure we can more than make up for them.”
“That is not what I need to hear,” Morgan leveled her daughters with the best impression of her husband’s stern look she could muster, “you have your NEWTs to be thinking about. You should not have enough free time to plan anything that your father will make you regret doing.”
“Mum,” Dierna pulled a comical face, “after all the stories we’ve heard about your days in Gryffindor… you have no right to tell us to behave ourselves.” She punctuated her statement by swinging her stolen pillow at her mother, who retaliated. Soon pillows were flying as mother and daughters pelted each other with the remaining pillows.
“Are you holding a convention in here?”
“Yes,” the three girls replied together. They dropped their pillows simultaneously, and all looked just the slightest bit guilty over being caught in the midst of a pillow fight.
“You two, out of here and to bed,” Severus told his daughters.
“Do I have to go to bed too?” Morgan asked cheekily as their daughters left.
“I might just have other plans for you. Provided my pillows are returned to their proper place of course.”
“Spoil sport. You have no reason to be so uptight over a little fun with pillows.”
“They are for sleeping on, not for play.”
Morgan rolled her eyes, “honestly Sev, there are times when you are no fun at all,” she playfully tossed a pillow at him.
Severus slowly shook his head at her as he caught the pillow and placed it back on the bed. He sat down on the mattress and looked at the woman he loved for several long moments. At night his thoughts started to wander to darker topics, like now… he tried to shake them off as he settled himself against the headboard.
“Sickle for your thoughts?” Morgan asked as she cuddled up next to her husband.
“Your rate has gone up, it used to be a knut.”
“Your thoughts are worth more.”
Severus kissed the top of his wife’s head, “nothing that concerns you, just a bit of my own madness come back to haunt me.”
“I think I can chase the shadows away,” Morgan looked up at him, concern and yearning clearly written on her face.”
Severus started to tell her that he just wanted to sleep, but stopped himself, “I suppose it won’t hurt to try,” he said instead as he lowered his head to kiss her softly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
