It Happened One Night

CHAPTER 14: Unexpected Dinner Companions







Remus hadn’t really been all that interested in leaving their room, he would have been quite content to spend yet another sleepless night rolling around beneath the blankets. However, the incessant rumbling of his, as well as Hermione’s, stomachs was reason enough for them to shower, dress and make their way down to the hotel dining room.





They were halfway across the lobby when they heard a familiar voice calling out to them.





“Hermione, Remus!” They both stopped, looking very much like deer caught in headlights as Harry and Ginny Potter made their way towards them. “What in the world are you two doing here?” Ginny asked.





“We were Christmas shopping and decided to stay over.” Hermione said. “What are you two doing in London, in a hotel no less?”





“Same thing plus Ginny got it into her head that we should pay a visit to the Dursleys tomorrow. I keep telling her it’s a waste of time, they aren’t going to be thrilled to see me and my witch-wife, but she insists.” Harry shrugged his shoulders in that “what can you do” manner. “Want to join us for dinner?”







“We have reservations in the dining room if you would like to eat there.” Remus said. The small group made their way to the entrance of the dining room and stopped at the desk. “Reservation for Lupin and we have two more people joining us.” Remus told the maitre’d.







“Oh yes, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, if you would follow me please.” The man said as he gathered menus.





“What?” Ginny stopped and stared at Remus and Hermione, Harry continued to follow the host having not picked up on the man’s words. Hermione and Remus both cringed and looked at each other. They were now faced with the very situation they had hoped to deflect by avoiding the Potters.





“Why don’t we sit down?” Hermione said. They joined Harry at the table. Remus and Hermione quickly hid behind their menus, hoping to avoid the conversation as long as possible, but Ginny wasn’t having it.





“What is going on?” She demanded, pulling their menus from their hands.





“Did I miss something?” Harry asked looking around the table.







“Why did they call you Mr. and Mrs. Lupin?” Ginny reached for Hermione’s hand hidden beneath the table and gasped at the thin gold band encircling the ring finger of her left hand. “Oh my god!”





“It’s not what you think!” Hermione said, snatching her hand back and looking to Remus for help.







“You two got married!” Ginny said in shock. Harry’s eyes widened as he stared into their guilty faces.







“When the hell did that happen? I didn’t even think you were really dating….just…..well you know.” He sputtered.







“We were married the night of the Quidditch match.” Remus admitted taking Hermione’s hand in his beneath the table.







“Why didn’t you tell us you were getting married?” Ginny asked, disappointed to have been left out.







“We didn’t plan to….it just sort of happened.” Hermione said, blushing a little. “We weren’t exactly sober when we ran off to Gretna Green.”





“You are kidding right? Surely the two most serious, practical people I know did not get pissed and elope?” Harry looked more amused than angry.







“We’re sorry to disappoint you, but that is exactly what we did.” Remus said.







“Well that was a couple of weeks ago…are you taking steps to dissolve the marriage then?” Ginny asked, noticing their clasped hands. Hermione looked over at Remus and smiled slightly.







“No, we aren’t.” She said. Remus gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze.







“You are staying married then? Officially a couple?” Harry asked.







“For now, yes, we are staying married…..officially an exclusive, committed couple.” Remus said, smiling at Hermione’s surprised look at his use of the C word.







“When are you going to tell everyone?” Ginny asked. “You were planning to tell everyone?”







“We hadn’t planned on it.” Hermione said.







“Hermione! You two have been keeping your relationship quiet for six months already, now you’re married and you think you are going to keep it quiet too? How are you going to explain the fact that you never date anyone else, or the fact that you live together…..what about kids?” Ginny asked. “What are you so afraid of? Do you think they will disapprove?”





“We just don’t want everyone butting in and you know they will, especially Ron. We haven’t even considered kids or anything like that and we aren’t really ‘living’ together at the moment, we still have separate houses.” Hermione had known that as soon as Ginny and Harry found out they were married that it would all have to come out, but she couldn’t help resisting the inevitable.







“I’m confused.” Not that it was an uncommon occurrence for Harry, he spent the bulk of his time trying to figure out what was going on around him. “You two are staying married but you don’t want anyone to know you are married. You aren’t living together and have made no plans for a future. So basically you just have a piece of paper saying you can shag without guilt?”







“Harry!” Hermione was blushing furiously. While she adored Harry beyond reason, she did not want him commenting or even contemplating on her sex life.





“Don’t trivialize what I feel for Hermione by making it out to be just about sex, Harry. Maybe it began that way, but that isn’t the way of it now. We haven’t had a chance to work out any of the details is all, we are still trying to get used to the idea that we are wed. Now, if you would please refrain from making such inappropriate comments to my wife, I would appreciate it very much.” Remus said it quietly, but there was no mistaking the look in his eye. He was possessive and protective and would not have his bride made uncomfortable.





Harry stared at his surrogate godfather in complete amazement. The only thing he had ever seen Remus covet was food. In fact, before Hermione he had never seen Remus with a woman or heard him talk about women. He had even begun to wonder if Remus’s interest lay with men.





“I apologize for being forward. Surely you know I would never do anything to hurt Mione?” Harry replied.







“I know that, but your implication that we are just looking for some sort of absolution for our personal relationship is insulting to her, and to me.” Remus explained. “Whether you intended for it to be or not.”





“I’m sorry. I meant no insult. I love seeing her so happy, I love seeing you so happy. I just don’t understand why it has to be a secret. What are you ashamed of?”







“It’s not shame…and I really don’t care if anyone else approves or disapproves to be quite honest. We just thought maybe we should get things worked out between us before we went public.” Hermione said.





“Is that why you spend your time in London? So no one sees you?” Ginny asked.







“Somewhat, we just like coming to London.” Hermione said. “I hope you two will respect our decision and our privacy. We will tell them all when we are ready.”





“We haven’t said anything before now have we?” Harry asked. “Don’t worry about it, take your time. I do wish you would have told us before you got married, it would have been nice to have been there.”







“Not so sure about that.” Remus laughed. “We have photos and a video and it wasn’t exactly pretty.” Hermione started laughing as well and reached for her purse to show them one of the photographs that she carried with her.





“Oh…..well you look…..happy.” Ginny said, staring at the photograph of Remus and Hermione after the ceremony smiling drunkenly with their eyes glazed. The embrace looked more like they were holding one another up than actually hugging.







“We look stupidly drunk.” Hermione laughed, tucking the photo back inside her purse. “But truth is, we are really happy.” She said. Remus smiled at her and brought their entwined hands to his lips and kissed it.





“Yes we are.” He said and he intended that they remain so.





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So glad everyone is enjoying the story…..sorry, but don’t expect any pups in this one LOL. And Ron will get his, don’t worry.





MistressMalfoy - I will definitely check out the website you sent me, I bookmarked it to examine later. I started laughing when you mentioned calling someone an ass as an obvious Americanism…..I picked up that bad habit from my friend Georgina(Jo) who is British LOL, to her everyone is an ass or a cunt (I hate that word), but I asked her this morning if it was something she picked up over here and she said no, she’s been calling people that since she was young….as to characters being OOC…I just like to play with their potential alter egos LOL…..anyhoo…..thanks again for the review, the praise, the link…..LOL I have to agree with you on the whole RL/HG pairing being overlooked too often….they are actually kind of perfect for one another when you actually consider their characters…