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CHAPTER 17: Wand Point Wedding





Remus once again found himself suspended by his foot in midair as everyone gathered their wits.



“Arthur, you take Fred and George and collect Reverend Le Fey.” The Weasleys nodded and popped out of sight.







“Now Harry, you behave yourself.” Sirius said, removing the silencing spell. “Let’s proceed indoors shall we?”





“Wait!” Ron vanished for a few seconds and then reappeared with a pint of ice cream. “She’s going to be mad enough about this; I didn’t want to forget her treat too.” He said sheepishly.







Sirius rolled his eyes and opened the backdoor so Severus could bring him in.





“Can’t you let me walk?” Remus groused when his head hit the doorframe and Severus merely offered an insincere ‘Oops’.





“No. I know you too well, and you are fast, if you run we may not catch you and as I said before, you have unfinished business that requires your attention.” Sirius said. He closed the door once everyone was inside.





“You better not have come back without my ice cream if you know what’s good for you!” Hermione yelled from the living room.





“See, aren’t you glad I remembered?” Ron held up the ice cream and reached into a drawer for a spoon.





“Alright everyone, it’s time, gird your loins you know how unstable she’s been lately.” Harry said, taking a deep breath and marching into the living room like a soldier heading into battle. The others followed him in with Severus bringing up the rear as he smacked Remus’s head once more into a doorframe.



“Damn you Severus, that hurts!” Remus growled. Hermione heard his voice and jumped up from the sofa to face the group. Remus’s eyes widened when he saw her.





“Oh fuck.” He said softly. She looked beautiful, and very pregnant. She was wearing a pair of red, plaid pants that tied under her belly, and a tight red thermal shirt that couldn’t quite cover her protruding middle.







“Happy Christmas Hermione, I brought you a gift.” Severus smiled and released the spell and let Remus thunk to the floor.





“Oh my god, what have you done?” She cried, rushing over to kneel in front of Remus. “Are you hurt? What happened to your nose?” She asked, touching the swollen and bruised bridge gently.





“Harry hit me.” He said, his eyes locked on her stomach.





“And your head? How did you get the bump?” She asked, not touching the already bruising goose egg for fear of hurting him.





“Snape did it.” Remus watched her struggle to her feet. Severus rolled his eyes and grabbed her under her arms to pull her back to her feet.



“You know you can’t get up, why do you keep getting on the floor?” Snape grumped. Remus stood, and swallowed hard. He understood what his unfinished business was now.





“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MINDS?” Hermione screamed, her face red as her voice ricocheted off the walls. They all had the good grace to flinch. They never knew which way she might go. She would either be furious, or she would start crying again. You just couldn’t predict it. Ron stepped forward and shoved the pint of Cherry Garcia into her hand. “OH! Thank you.” She considered opening it and digging in, but she probably should handle the situation first.





“Did you do that?” Harry asked Remus, flicking his wand in the direction of Hermione’s belly. Remus looked at Harry and growled low in his throat.





“If you want to keep your arm Harry, I suggest you not point your wand at my mate or my pup again.”





“Easy Remus.” Sirius said from behind him, pressing the tip of his wand into Remus’s spine.





“So you admit that the baby is yours? You got her pregnant and left her!” Harry said, pressing his own wand into the side of Remus’s neck.





“That’s an all time low, Lupin. I have no morals what so ever and I haven’t even stooped to shagging and impregnating a former student.” Snape drawled.





“That’s because no woman in her right mind would go anywhere near you.” Sirius quipped.



“Think so? Tina Applewhite had the prettiest rose shaped birthmark on her inner thigh….surely you of all people remember that.” Severus smirked as he mentioned Sirius’s first serious girlfriend.





“You didn’t… Sirius glared.





“Oh yes I did.” Severus drawled. In a flash the two dark haired wizards were scuffling on the ground at Remus’s feet. Ron was trying to break it up and was bitten for his efforts, so he kicked the wizard nearest to him, who turned out to be Sirius.





“ENOUGH!” Hermione yelled. The scuffle stopped immediately. Sirius with a fist full of Severus’s hair while Severus had his thumbs pressed into Sirius’s eyes. “This is the most absurd thing I have ever seen!” She set her ice cream on the table and turned back to glare at them, her hands on her hips. It was difficult to find her intimidating with her swollen tummy and ill fitting Christmas pajamas, but they all stood there with repentant looks on their faces.



“Now, whose idea was it to abduct Remus and bring him here?” Everyone pointed at Sirius. “How did you know it was Remus who fathered the baby?” She had refused to name the father when they asked.





“I knew that the two of you were attracted to each other, so I assigned you together hoping time alone together would make you act on it.” He smiled. “And I knew Remus was in your room the night you came back, I heard you.” Hermione blushed slightly and cleared her throat.





“Harry, why did you hit him in the nose?” She asked.





“He left you. He got you pregnant, left you and made you cry for months on end.” He said, and then turned to Remus. “Your mate? You dare refer to her as your mate when you walked out on her and your child?”





“I didn’t know!” Remus spat.





“Like hell you didn’t, you were perfectly aware she was ripe for breeding!” Sirius yelled.





“Stop it! I am not finished here.” Hermione said through clenched teeth. “Severus, would you care to explain why you were carrying him in upside down, and why he has that goose egg on his forehead?”





“He didn’t want to come. And he accidentally hit the doorframe. Twice.” He said, smiling.





“What did we miss?” Arthur chimed in as he entered through the fireplace, followed by the twins and a minister. Hermione turned to look at them, confused when she saw the clergyman.



“Arthur? You were in on this too? And you two, why are you involved?” She asked.





“Curiosity.” Fred said, smiling.





“Boredom.” George added.





“Who are you and why are you here?” She asked the minister.





“I’m Reverend Le Fey, and I was brought here to perform the ceremony.”





“What ceremony?” Hermione and Remus said at the same time.





“You, my old friend, are going to marry this girl and give your child a name.” Sirius said, poking him with the tip of his wand.





“So he is the father?” Arthur asked quietly. “What did I miss exactly?” He asked Ron.





“He’s the dad, Sirius was playing matchmaker, and then Snape and Sirius got into a fight.” Ron whispered.





“Haven’t you forgotten something very important her?” Remus asked the room. “I…am…a…werewolf…a Lycanthrope. I can not marry her.”





“You should have thought about that before you knocked her up!” Harry snarled.





“Really Remus, I could have given you a contraceptive potion.” Snape snarked.





“What about what I want?” Hermione asked.





“We saw you cry over him for months when he left Hermione.” Ron said. “You love him don’t you?”





Hermione nodded her head slowly and stared at Remus.

“Why did you leave me?” She asked. He looked around the room and sighed. He would have preferred to discuss it without the army watching, but there was no way they were going to let him out of their sights.





“I didn’t want to Hermione. I just couldn’t subject you to a lifetime of dealing with my affliction. Now I have to worry that my pup…erm….child will suffer the same.”





“No need to worry there, Lupin. You were infected by Fenrir as a child, not a natural born Lycanthrope, so you can not pass it on.” Snape interjected, his arms folded across his chest with his wand clearly visible in his hand.





“Well, that’s a relief then.” Remus said, truly relieved at the news.





“Didn’t you love me at all Remus?” She asked. Everyone in the room groaned when her eyes began to fill with tears and her lips began to tremble.





“Quick, get the tissues, the waterworks are coming again!” Ron ran to the coffee table and grabbed the Kleenex box and shoved it in her direction.





“Of course I did! I still do. I just want to be fair to you.” He said, confused by the quickly changing moods.





“Here Mione, have some milk?” Fred said, passing a small glass into her hand.





“And a biscuit.” George handed her a chocolate chip biscuit. She sniffed and drank her milk, handing the empty glass back to Fred. She didn’t trust the cookie, not coming from the twins so she handed it back to them.



“No thank you.” She smiled. “If you want to be fair to me, then let it be my decision Remus.”





“You don’t know what it’s like….”





“But I do. Remember? We handled it just fine, and we can continue to handle it the same way.”





“What if I hurt you or the pup…I mean child?” He asked, knowing he would not come out the victor.





“As long as you take the potion, you would recognize us even in your wolf form Remus. You hurt us more by leaving us.” She said. She began to hiccup and Severus rolled his eyes.



“Not again.” He conjured a glass of water and handed it to her.





“I won’t marry you Hermione, I will not tie you to a man like me.”



“Like hell you won’t.” Harry said.





“I love you Remus, and I am already tied to you.” She said, touching her belly softly. She tugged up the snug fitting thermal shirt and placed his hand against the smooth, tight flesh stretched over their child. The baby rolled inside her and pressed into his hand. “You see? He ties us together.”



“He? It’s a boy?” Remus asked, rubbing his hand in amazement over her belly.





“Yes. We have a son.” She said. Remus inhaled deeply and his shoulders fell in resignation.





“Very well. Reverend, marry us please.” He said.











It wasn’t the fairytale wedding she dreamed of. There was no dress, no catering, no cake or band. Instead she was wed in her pajamas, six months pregnant by a reluctant groom who said his vows with eight wands pointed at his back.





“Do you, Hermione Jane Granger, take Remus John Lupin to be your husband?” Hermione smiled up at him.



“I do.”





“Do you, Remus John Lupin, take Hermione Jane Granger as your wife?” Remus looked behind him at the eight glowering wizards who were just daring him to say the wrong thing.



“I do.”





“Then you are now husband and wife. You may seal your vows with a kiss.”





Remus slid his hands along the sides of her neck and pressed his lips to hers. When she parted them slightly and he was able to dip his tongue inside, it felt like coming home. He deepened the kiss and Hermione moaned softly into his mouth.



“Alright, take it private please before you make us ill!” Severus said. Remus pulled back and looked down at her.





“He’s right, we need to go somewhere we can talk in private.” Remus said.





“Come upstairs to my room.” She turned to look at the group of wizards behind her and it suddenly hit her. They had gone in search of Remus to defend her honor. She started to cry again.





“Oh god, what did you do now?” Sirius asked Remus.





“What? I didn’t do anything!” He wasn’t sure what to do; her emotions were bouncing so quickly he was dizzy. She went from baffled wizard to baffled wizard and hugged them, kissing their cheek.





“Thank you. It was so sweet of you all to go to so much trouble for me; I love you for it, even though I am angry that Remus was injured.” She smiled at the group of men who were too afraid to say anything just in case she bounced to the next extreme. The last six months had been like walking through a mine field and they were wary of every move.





“Come along Remus.” She started to leave the room then stopped. “Oh, hang on.” She ran back to the table to grab her pint of softened Ice cream and the spoon. “Thank you for remembering.” Eight weary wizards sighed in relief as Hermione and Remus retired to her room. The long, drawn out day was at an end and the next three months would hopefully be a little easier on them all with Remus back in the picture. Sometimes it’s easier to be at war than to deal with a pregnant witch.





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Not quite the end yet LOL….there is still a conversation to be had…some lemons to squeeze…..and an epilogue……..