An Unwanted Marriage, But An Unexpected Love

An Unwanted Marriage, But An Unexpected Love


Later on that night after dinner, Hermione and Sara-Jane cornered Barty and Sirius. Hermione said “Okay you two, you both need to help choose what invitation styles we are going to have. Plus we also need to choose cake styles and fillings. Then there is the menu.”

Barty commented “Well, in regards to the invitations, nothing with a tacky and girlie floral pattern, or pink or lilac colouring. Anything after that is fine with me.”

Sirius suggested “How about plain cream coloured parchment, with the combined Black and Crouch family crests as the main heading, with a simple golden pattern around the border, and to finish golden curled script?”

Hermione looked at Sirius in surprise, as she commented “You know, that doesn’t sound half bad at all.” She took a piece of parchment and handed it over to Sirius, and asked him to conjure a rough draft of what he had in mind.

Sirius took the parchment and did as Hermione had asked of him. The end result was surprisingly attractive. Hermione and Sara-Jane beamed and nodded. They officially had their invitations picked out.

Barty took the sample and studied it. He asked “How come my crest has been put before yours, Sirius?” Sirius merely replied “Because I don’t think much of my last name. It is associated with the dark arts and Voldemort.”

Barty raised an eye brow, as he replied “Yeah, and your point being? My own name is also associated with the dark arts and that murdering sack of snake shit, thanks to Benjamin.”

Sirius shrugged and commented causally “It looks better that way. It honestly does not matter whose family crest is first.” He grimaced “I currently hold no pride over my last name, as simple as that” was his added reply.

Hermione and Sara-Jane exchanged a look before nodding. Hermione commented with certainty “I and Sara-Jane are going to change that, we promise.”

Sara-Jane nodded smiling gently “We are going to make sure the future Crouch and Black bloodlines are once again held in high regard. And the names character and what it stands for will no longer be blackened, or held in such distaste.”

Sara-Jane laughed and added “Besides with four Gryffindor’s for parents, they are more then likely bounded to be Gryffindor’s as well.” Hermione smiled and added “Besides, neither I nor Sara-Jane has any plans of having children until Voldemort has been disposed of.”

She shivered as she continued “A world where Voldemort is on the rampage, it is not a world suitable or where I would want to have and raise children.”

Barty smiled and said “Okay. Now I’m officially depressed. Lets get back to planning for this wedding of ours; we’ve got less then two weeks in which to do everything.”

He added “So now we have our invitation design. I’ll take that to the printers for especial occasions, in Diagon ally tomorrow. How many do I need to have made?” he asked.

Hermione replied “Well, there will be about forty five on my side.” Sara-Jane added “And about fifty on mine.” Barty nodded, making a mental count so far. He said “There won’t be any on my side, as I have no one I see worth inviting. I have no actual family that is alive, or in Benjamin’s case isn’t currently soulless, due to the dementor's kiss.”

Sirius nodded “Exactly, I’m the same. The only ones I’d ever think of inviting are Harry, Remus, Barty, and the Weasley’s. There is no one else.”

Hermione nodded and replied “Well, Harry, Remus, and the Weasley’s are already apart of the wedding. So they aren’t going to need an invitation.” She added “And obviously the second groom is not going to need an invitation to his own wedding.” She and Barty exchanged amused smirks.

Sara-Jane added “We need to invite Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, and of course Hagrid and madam Maxima.” Hermione added “And I wish to invite Victor Krum. He and I remained friends after my forth year and the Yule ball.”

She went on “There is also Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Luna Lovegood, Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff, Lavender Brown, and then of course there is Parvarti and her twin sister from Ravenclaw.”

Barty nodded “So that means we need around about 107. We don’t need to include the prick Fudge. He doesn’t require an invite. He’s bloody invited himself anyway.”

Barty scowled at the thought of Fudge, before saying “Alright. I’ll have those invitations custom made. Just give me a list of who is attending.” Sirius added “Then I and Barty will have them sent by owl. Or in case of your muggle relatives, I’ll have them posted the muggle way. They’ll all be sent out by Wednesday.”

Hermione nodded and said “That will give everyone at little under ten days to reply, letting us know whether they are able to attend or not. I seriously hope not too many our unable to accept.”

Sara-Jane then said “Okay. Now we need to deal with the wedding cake and the menu.” Hermione nodded in agreement. She grabbed a muggle booklet off of the coffee table. She opened the booklet to the pages she and Sara-Jane had book marked.

Only one cake had looked to hold promise in both girls’ opinions. The second choice was merely added in for entertainment value, to see how their fiancées would react. They both just wondered if the first opinion would be met with positive reactions from the men.

Hermione placed the book back in the centre of the table and said “Okay. Now here is an example of what both I and Sara-Jane had in mind for wedding cake designs.”

One of the cakes was a three layered heart shaped cake. Two bases were actual cake, and the final and third base was fake, just for mere show. The outside of the cake was made of pure white icing. The edge of all three bases of the cake was trimmed all the way around with pink and lemon coloured roses made of icing.

The top flat surface of the cake was lightly dusted with vanilla and raspberry sugar flavoured crystals. All the way around the cake was pink and yellow coloured swirls made of icing.

The second cake the girls had looked at had also consisted of three layers of cake. Two actual layers and one fake. But instead of being heart shaped, it was round in shape.

It had lilac and peach swirls around the cake. The bottom was decorated with lilac and peach moons and stars. And finally the top flat surface was lightly dusted with peach and cherry flavoured crystals.
Barty eyed the second cake, and was unable to hide his grimace. Sirius frowned at the sight of the peach and lilac paired together. He disliked cherries, of any description, flavouring included.

Barty shook his head and commented “Sorry, but I refuse to eat a cake with lilac and peach flavoured icing. I hate the colour lilac and the taste of peaches.” He added “And I know for a fact Sirius hates cherries. I love cherries, and he loves peaches, so that cake is a definite no.”

Girls both had to stifle knowing smirks. Their fiancées were reacting just as they imagined they would when being presented with the second cake.

Sirius added “Now the first cake on the other hand, now that has true potential. I’m not much of a fan of the colour pink, but with it paired with the yellow colour, it means strawberry and Vanilla.”

Barty added “I love Strawberries and I know for a fact, Sirius is obsessed with vanilla. The roses are much better then the moon and stars. The roses for some reason seem more appropriate. Plus the shape of the actual cake is very fitting for the occasion.”

Sirius asked “What flavour and type of texture comes with the first cake, no bloody second guesses as to what nasty foul shit is shoved inside the second, thank you very much?”

The others snorted at this, before Sara-Jane answered “It has a moist sponge texture.” Hermione added “With vanilla flavoured cream, and a form of strawberry jam.”

Barty grinned and nodded “Now that sounds more like it. The strawberry jam for me and the vanilla cream for Sirius.” Sirius added “Which of you like the strawberry and which prefers the vanilla cream?”

Hermione grinned and replied “I’m definitely all for the strawberry, and Sara-Jane is definitely the vanilla cream lover. It would seem we both have that in common with you.” The others nodded in agreement.

Sara-Jane finished “Both I and Hermione agreed on the sponge texture.” She added “The sugar crystals on top of the cake are not strawberry flavoured, but are in fact raspberry, by the way.”

She waited to see if the guys had any protests over the flavour. Barty shook his head and said “Raspberry is fine with me. Plus I don’t honestly have a problem with sponge; it’s that fruit cake shit that turns my stomach.”

Sirius nodded “yeah, I agree. I can tolerate them and eat them, unlike cherries. And I like sponge, but I can’t and refuse to eat fruit cake. The nearest bathroom does not hold a whole shit load of appeal for me, especially on my wedding day. ”

The others laughed, his bathroom comment was understood loud and clear. For some people fruit, especially raisins and currants, they were great for the use of a decent laxative. Barty and Sirius could both prove this to be correct whole heartedly.

Hermione wiped a few tears of mirth from her eyes, before commenting “Well, it’s a good job we’re deciding to go with the first choice then. And of course we had no intentions of even considering that second cake. We merely showed it to you, to see how you would react. It was for entertainment value only.”

Barty and Sirius mock glowered before rolling their eyes. They had truly been worried there for a moment. Truly worried their fiancées had genuinely liked that cake. Thank Merlin it had only been a joke to get a reaction out of them.

Sara-Jane giggled and said “Yeah, definitely. Seeing as the second choice was a dry fruit cake, which had actual mini peach and cherry chunks inside.” She grimaced, as she added “Sweet Merlin, could you imagine just biting into a fruit cake, which had actual chunks of cherries and peaches in it?”

Both Barty and Sirius had looks of genuine revulsion. Barty wrinkled his nose in distaste, while Sirius mock gagged. They shook their heads, telling the girls how much the men really hated the sound of the second cake.

Sirius said “Okay, moving on, before I’m tempted to empty my stomach of tonight’s dinner. Let’s start with the actual menu. We know we aren’t having a buffet. We’ve decided on a three course meal."

The girls and Barty nodded in agreement. Barty commented “We can’t have chicken, as I’m allergic. I don’t honestly know what it is, but I come all out in this god awful rash.”

Sirius nodded “Yeah I can understand and agree with that. I on the other hand like chicken, but am willing to compromise. Obviously we don’t need one of the grooms coming out in a rash on his wedding day of all days.”

Hermione suggested “How about for the first course, a creamy tomato soup. The main course, we could have lobster with butter sauce.” Sara-Jane continued from where Hermione had left off. “And for desert, we could have a double chocolate cheese cake with vanilla flavoured double fluffy cream, and a side serving of strawberries with fresh whipped cream.”

Barty nodded “I like it. It’s simple and not overly fancy.” Sirius agreed “Yeah, I like lobster a lot. And the tomato soup, even the children will most likely eat that, without making too much of a fuss.”

Barty licked his lips, and then said happily “Double chocolate cheese cake with double fluffy vanilla cream and strawberries and fresh whipped cream. Now that is what I call an irresistible combination.”

Sirius had a glazed over look in his eyes, as he commented jokingly “Hmm, I think I’m gonna drool in pleasure. As will most likely above half of the adults, and undeniably all of the children.”

Hermione and Sara-Jane laughed at their fiancée’s antics. They couldn’t blame them through. The thought of that desert combination even had their mouths watering, just thinking about it.