The Wedding - COMPLETE

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Updated 5-13-07

Dear Reviewers - I ordered a gigantic box of magical chocolates for all of you. I hope you enjoy them. See? Whichever chocolate you pick is the kind you like best. Neat, huh? The Chocolatier assured me that there were no terrible flavors like those yucky schoolboy jelly beans. Best of all, NO CALORIES! Now you can be licking chocolate off your fingers while you read. It's lucky there aren't any pages to turn.

A special thank you to our new reviewers. You got here just in time for the chocolates! Everyone's interaction makes it more fun for all of us. I know when I read someone's else's story, I love to read their reviews, too. ffpoisongirl asked if I was on vacation because the chapters were coming faster. I did have a bit more time the last couple of weeks. So I used some of it for my addiction - AFF.

Lastly, Shiloh, Hermione will NOT be emptying any kitty litter trays due to the danger of TOXOPLASMOSIS while she's pregnant. A heads up to any of you who might be in this situation. You can read about it here.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/toxoplasmosis/factsht_toxoplasmosis.htm


Now on with the show...
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Chapter Thirty-Two


The Ministry Again

Lucius and Hermione decided to keep the news to themselves for awhile to enjoy their treasured secret, but they finally felt it was time to share their joy with their friends. When Hermione told Ginny she was expecting, Ginny whooped and hugged her friend. “This is wonderful news. Are you excited? When are you due? Can I be godmother? Do you know if it’s a boy or girl? Is Lucius excited? Have you decided where to put the nursery? What names—”


Hermione clamped a hand over Ginny’s mouth feeling her smile under it. “Yes, I’m excited. I can’t remember most of your other questions, except we’d like you and Severus to be godparents if you wish.” They were sitting in Ginny’s living room on her blue sofa waiting for Severus to return so they could go to a midday lecture by the Curator of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. Hermione had been doing some research for a Ministry client on the Druids and suggested the lecture to the Snapes.


Lucius had declined to go, having absolutely no desire ever again to see ‘that hellhole’. He had also fallen a little behind in his work while micromanaging his wife’s pregnancy. Luckily for all parties, he’d called a halt to his overprotectiveness for the most part, only backsliding occasionally if she indulged in desserts too many times a week. He didn’t know about the biscuits hidden in Crookshank’s room and she wasn’t about to tell him, deciding virtuously that it would only make him upset. He was nervous enough about her craving for chocolate frogs dipped in butterbeer.


Hermione had risen to get a treatise on ancient potions from Severus’ well-stocked bookshelf across the room when Severus apparated without warning into his living room, his arms filled with a large bouquet of flowers which he offered to Ginny before he noticed they had company. He realized within seconds he wasn’t alone with his wife, and merely greeted Hermione with a nod and a brief hello, but a slight wash of color transformed his cheeks from ivory to blush pink. Snape hadn’t expected Hermione to be there so early and Ginny knew that her husband was a bit disconcerted although nothing could be read in his manner. She rose from the sofa and kissed the glow on her husband’s cheek, then waved her wand and the flowers sorted themselves into vases throughout the house, innocently showing Hermione that this was a regular occurrence with the couple.


“They’re beautiful, Severus. Where did you manage to get so many different types, in so many colors?” Ginny asked, pleased with the blooms.


Snape shrugged, “The Muggle flower market has many more than this. It also has numerous herbs that I can use in my formulas. I found it a few years back and have made use of it ever since. I went there today instead of to the regular flower vendor. I’m glad you like them.” His dark eyes began to glitter even if the rest of his face remained solemn.


Hermione knew from living with her own easily aroused wizard that if she hadn’t been there, Ginny’s thanks for the flowers would have been much more demonstrative.


Ginny turned to Hermione, “May I tell him?” At Hermione’s nod, Ginny exclaimed, “Severus, Hermione and Lucius are going to have a baby and we are to be godparents. Isn’t that exciting?”


Snape bowed slightly to Hermione and congratulated her, “I’m very pleased for the both of you. You’ll make splendid parents. Lucius is a very lucky man.” He looked at Ginny and got a happy nod, “And Ginny and I are honored to accept as godparents.” He held out his hands, “Well, are you both ready?” The two women grasped hold of him as he apparated them to the front entrance of the Ministry.


The three of them found seats on an aisle near the back of the small auditorium. Her pregnancy was currently pressing most impertinently on her bladder, causing Hermione to need multiple trips to the loo, so they chose an easy exit.


The lecture was on artifacts of the Druids and other ancient magic folk and the speaker clearly loved her topic, showing the audience numerous fantastical creations, among them a small, oak stick that could grow into an entire tree when held under the light of a blue moon (artificially induced by the speaker) and then shrink back to a stick when the light was removed, a faery ring made of moonbeams and mermaid scales, which kept anyone entering the ring from aging - as long as they stayed inside the ring, a small wooden boat that could hold as many people as one needed, growing as more entered it, and the original Excaliber from the Lady in the Lake which unaccountably made Hermione giggle, earning her puzzled looks from Snape and Ginny. The speaker ended the lecture with a darkened room and a succession of various sky marks used over the centuries. The penultimate display was the Dark Mark, drawing murmurs of fear and anger and one stifled shriek, but it morphed into a multicolor, giant pictorial of the four shields of Hogwarts at which everyone clapped in relief and the lights came up.


As they slowly filed out of the auditorium, Hermione was still smiling about Excaliber and idly wondered what Snape called his cock, but didn’t want to ask Ginny because she’d likely be asked for the name of Lucius’ private appendage in return. Neither could she ask Lucius; he probably wouldn’t appreciate her interest, even if it was merely for fun.


In the hallway Hermione declined the tentative lunch plans she had originally made with her friends saying she needed to see Arthur if he could spare a few moments, so Severus and Ginny apparated home hiding secret smiles, the dark-haired wizard’s hand sliding under his wife’s hair and grasping the nape of her neck in anticipatory possession.


Hermione got in the elevator to ride to the Minister’s floor. She inquired of the receptionist if Arthur was available and was told he had a few minutes before a meeting with the Hogwarts School Governors and to go right in.


“Hermione, it’s nice to see you.” Arthur shook her hand in pleasure, “I’ve just had a note from Ron who says to say hello. He’s doing rather well with his brother Charlie in Romania, learning to raise dragons. Apparently he has an affinity with the unhatched eggs, of all things, knowing which ones need exactly how much light and heat to develop. He says he can’t explain how he knows, but he sees some sort of patterns in their shells that no one else can see. Strange, how things work out. How are you?” Arthur guided her to a chair in front of his desk and sat in the other visitor’s chair.


“I’m very well, Arthur. I came by to tell you some news that I wanted you to hear from me. Lucius and I are expecting our first child in seven months.”

Arthur gazed at Hermione speculatively. “I hope this is happy news for you. How does Lucius feel about a halfblood Malfoy baby?”


“Actually, it was his idea. I wanted children but never thought he would, so it was a happy surprise when we compared our wishes and discovered we both wanted children.” Hermione grinned, “We’re both ecstatic about it. Lucius is a bit of a martinet about regular meals, sleep and exercise but mostly, I’m basking in the attention. I just didn’t want you to find out from another source and start thinking this was any kind of secret and that the Death Eater world was being surreptitiously repopulated. It’s not. Ever.”


“Thank you for telling me, but I had no qualms about that the minute you married Malfoy. There was an attraction between the two of you, and you could never lend yourself to any of the Death Eater credo, ergo Lucius would have to change. I’d put my Galleons on you, any day. And I have, literally,” he chuckled. “Send Molly an owl, will you, and update her on any new feminine specifics. I know I won’t have asked you the right questions and she’ll be angry that I don’t know the answers when I let her know you stopped by. So keep me out of the cathouse, will you?”


Hermione couldn’t restrain a small gurgle of laughter, “I think you mean the doghouse. Just don’t say cathouse to any of the Muggle attaches, okay?” Arthur, the eternal Muggle enthusiast liked to pepper his speech with Muggle words and phrases, but sometimes they got a little away from him. She stood up and shook hands again with him, “And Arthur? Lucius says he sees patterns in investments like Ron sees patterns in dragon eggs. I guess neither one can translate his intuition to others, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It’s interesting that they both have such rare abilities.” She smiled in farewell as she left Arthur’s office.


Hermione wandered down the hall and into the elevator lost in thought. What had Arthur seen that had given him the impression there had been an attraction between them? She acknowledged that she had been attracted to Lucius, but had there been anything on his side? What a novel concept. That hopeful belief sustained her all the way home.


That afternoon Hermione arrived home unexpectedly early, after declining that late lunch with the Snapes, and she wanted to select flowers for the dinner table as usual, so she went to her expropriated silver jewelry box in her new bedroom to get out her iPod to listen to while she meandered through the blooms in the garden - but it wasn’t where she’d left it. Maybe she had put it in a drawer? She searched through her lingerie, thinking it had possibly slipped down among the silky garments somehow, but it didn’t surface. A search of all her drawers was fruitless. The iPod was gone. Why would anyone want to take her…?!


Lucius! What a sneak thief. He probably was the culprit. He disliked Muggles and all their inventions – except one or two, she snickered – and he’d probably scuttled it, the bastard. Just because she hadn’t been able to hear him the other day when he called to her in the garden. He had definitely been incensed when he discovered she was wearing a Muggle toy. Well, he had no right to get rid of her property just because it annoyed him, not that right or wrong was much of a concept in the Malfoy dynasty.


Hermione immediately apparated to the door of his study and knocked. And knocked again. Finally, she opened the door a crack and put her head around the edge, to see if Lucius was there or not. Yes, he was sitting at his desk facing the window working on a pile of parchments, AND, she fumed, totally ignoring her. She started to march over to him and give him a piece of her mind, when the entire scene settled into her brain and she stopped in her tracks. Lucius was tapping his quill on the desk and swaying, each of his shoulders going up and down in turn, and he was humming, his hair swaying from side to side with earphones clearly clamped to his head. HER earphones. At that moment, he added a few words in a low, vibrant baritone, “I don’t get no satisfaction…”


Hermione’s mouth dropped open in shock. That toad! He was listening to her iPod. After he’d reamed her out for having one. She should…should… Hermione sighed, staring fondly at her mate. He actually looked really cute swaying to Muggle music; she couldn’t embarrass him, she just couldn’t. Her husband was happy. That was more important to her than getting even with him. Hermione crept back out the door and went out to the garden to work on her bouquet for the table, a warm, happy feeling settling into her, too.


As she selected an array of white and pink roses, she giggled to herself, seeing again her husband’s body twisting in time to the unheard song. He was certainly getting an education on Muggle music – today he was listening to the Rolling Stones. Most of the songs were oldies but goodies from her parents’ era because she hadn’t kept up with the newer Muggle tunes and she was familiar with all the tunes her parents had played at home while she was growing up. Apparently Lucius liked them, too. Or at least he was giving her Muggle world a try. Maybe he was attempting to learn something more of her second world by listening to her music. If so, she was doubly glad she hadn’t barged in with her temper flying. By the time Hermione had finished cutting the blooms, she had ascribed Lucius’ behavior to his trying to please her, and to compromise, and all manner of sweet, giving behavior.


If Lucius had known that he was being awarded wings and a halo for stealthily ripping off her iPod, he would have thrown up.


The rogue iPod appeared back in her silver box the next day, the charge dead. At least now Hermione knew what to get her formidable husband for Christmas.


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A visit with some other characters this chapter. I hope you enjoyed seeing some place other than the estate. Hermione was getting cabin fever and needed to get out and DO something besides behave like Lucius' idea of a mother-to-be (although the need to pee all the time followed her off the estate.)

As always, this is the section where I beg, whine and carry on about wishing for more reviews. Puleeeeeease? (Okay, that should do it.) 8-)
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