Chapter Twenty Eight

Disclaimer: Not mine, alas, but I do wish they were. I just want to point out that I have been influenced by many fics and appreciate the talents of many writers.

A big thanks to my brilliant beta, Charmed Nay. Thanks for my friendly muses over at Potter Place!

Hermione looked around in shock. "Severus," she whispered, "what the hell is going on here?" She noticed that his mouth was slightly agape for a moment. "No wonder Minerva has been beside herself!"

Severus nodded and looked around. "What a set of fools! I've never seen such atrocity!"

"Sshh! They might overhear," she whispered, pulling him forward to a stone bench. "Let's sit here."

"You can't be serious."

"Severus," she urged. "Minerva is coming. Sshh."

"I don't care if she is com... Minerva, good evening," Severus said cordially.

"Good, you say? This is ridiculous. Have you not looked around?" Minerva said furiously. "I thought she was joking! If I had known that she was intending to do this, I would have never have agreed to stand in for her."

"Oh, I find it to be quite charming," Severus said sardonically. "Are you sure this wasn't your doing?" He gestured to the miniature stone semi-Roman amphitheater. "I know of nobody else with such skills in Transfiguration."

"Don't mock me, Severus Snape!" Minerva exclaimed hotly. "You know as well as I that Albus is likely behind this. I can't believe this! She told me about the things she had learned, and we had drinks about her findings. She's taken her interest in that blasted play too far!"

Hermione giggled. "Did we really expect Rolanda to do something normal?"

Minerva scoffed. "I shall return. I am to help her ready herself." She sighed. "When Sibyll commented on the decoration, I knew I had to come down to see for myself." Her eyes narrowed, and she lowered her voice. "Do you know that imbecile has weaseled her way into the wedding? She is standing in as a... soothsayer!"

Hermione started laughing. Severus shook his head. "I would imagine her to play no other part." He barked with laughter suddenly. "She is a good actress already, what with her dozens of fake prophecies."

"She did have some that came out right," Hermione reminded him.

"I must leave," Minerva sniffed, giving the seating arrangement one last look around. She walked off, muttering in deep Scottish brogue.

Hermione looked around. She'd thought that it would be nice to have a wedding out near the lake on such a lovely day, but she'd never imagined this. She gasped! "No wonder!"

"What?"

"She went to London to have a look at the Muggle amphitheater there! I mean... there is even a stage here, as if we are going to watch some play! She confiscated Colin's camera right before she and Stuart left! I'll bet she went to take pictures and look at how things were." Hermione shook her head. "I can't believe it."

"I can. She's always wanted to do things the eccentric way. I, for one, am going to sit back and enjoy the show," he said, an evil smirk twisting his face.

Hermione chose to ignore her husband and looked at the other staff members and some people she didn't know finding their own stone seats. They all seemed amused with the seating arrangements as well. Upon the stage to the right, there were what seemed to be the remains of a crumbling building. A couple of columns, pillars, and fallen stone created an archway of sorts. Vines of laurel leaves were charmed for decorations. To the far left, there were stone tables where food and drink had been placed. She couldn't really make out what was on the tables exactly, but the one to the back seemed to have two rather large animals on top of it.

Stuart and Dumbledore came in, nearly causing Hermione to laugh outright. They both wore wool robes fashioned into togas over tunics. Dumbledore had several shades of purple while Stuart opted for white and gold coloring. Hell, they even had Roman style sandals. Both men were adorned with crowns of laurel leaves upon their heads.

"Severus, are you seeing this?" It was then she looked to her husband and burst out laughing. He had the most incredulous expression on his face.

"I've dipped into a batch of some hallucinogen! Not even Rolanda would do this! What kind of fellow would allow his wife to plan such a mockery of a wedding?" he asked. His eyes narrowed. "Or is he the one that planned this?"

Hermione saw that Filius and Pomona, who were sitting across from them, were shaking with repressed peals of laughter. Hagrid, who sat a few benches above and behind them with Fang, was crying loudly. She made out a bit of what he was saying to Fang. "Blimey... righ' beau'iful, tha' is... Grea' man Dumbledore... Married... Rolanda!"

"Oh, good Lord!" Hermione muttered. A large, skeletal Thestral walked slowly to the stage. He was pulling a chariot carrying Rolanda and Minerva behind him. When they got to the stage, Minerva jumped out first, looking extremely displeased. She was wearing her normal attire, but her hair had been pulled from its tight bun. She too had a crown made of laurel leaves. "Must be her one concession," Hermione muttered to herself. Minerva held out a hand to Rolanda to help her from the chariot. Rolanda wore sandals, a fine linen tunic the shade of blue, a wool toga colored deep gray, and her head was covered by a woolen scarf of the same color.

Once Minerva presented her to Stuart and Albus, she bowed once and went to have a seat among the guests. Stuart pulled down her scarf, and everyone gasped. She'd changed the color of her hair to be a platinum blonde. There was a long hair extension added via wooden hairpins. She too had a crown made of laurel leaves upon her head. She did look fetching, younger even.

"She's really playing the part," Severus muttered. "According to Ovid in some of his writing, they used to make those hair extensions from the captured Celts or Germans. I wonder what Rolanda used for her hairpiece. Surely she didn't stoop to coercing a student or two into giving her a few locks."

Hermione snorted in reply. She'd read much of the same, but she was sure that Rolanda's extension was merely bought or Transfigured from something else. She pulled Severus' hand into hers as the ceremony began.

Dumbledore began speaking in low tones. She had to strain to hear what he was saying. After a few moments, Stuart and Rolanda exchanged rings, signed parchments, and were bound by a single ribbon. At this moment, Sibyll, donning shabby black robes, stood up and wobbled onto the stage with the help of an old, wooden staff. Her large glasses had been exchanged for a dark pair of sunglasses. She smiled broadly at the newly bound couple. "Never again shall you be wary of the Ides of March, as it will be a day for us to all rejoice on and celebrate your binding. I foresee a long, happy future for the two of you."

"Good Lord," Severus muttered.

"I know," Hermione agreed. They could hear Minerva muttering something about hoping she wasn't actually jinxing the marriage, and Hermione could have sworn she heard the word tripe. Hagrid began clapping loudly, and the others followed suit.

Rolanda turned to the crowd. "Come on! Time to have some drinks and some food!"

Hermione had to pull Severus forward to greet the couple. "Rolanda, Stuart! I am so happy for you. Congratulations!"

"Yes, good luck," Severus muttered.

"Thanks, mates," Rolanda said jovially. "What do you think?"

"Interesting," Severus said.

"Very," Hermione agreed.

"Oh, I'd hoped everyone would like the change from a normal binding. Never did want one of those, quite boring them." She smiled. "Not that yours was, mind. I was just never cut out for normal things."

"Please, friends, have some refreshments or something to eat," Stuart said gracefully.

Hermione turned around and saw that Severus had already made his way over to one of the tables near Albus and had a glass of wine. She gave her friends an apologetic smile and quickly went to him. "Is there anything that I can drink?"

"You can have a sip of this if you'd like to have a taste. It's quite good," he said, seemingly impressed. "It's all right. I read that an occasional drink of wine helps, not harms, a pregnant woman."

"Only a sip," she said, taking the glass. "Mmmm. Quite right."

He took the glass back and handed her another. "Grape juice."

"Thanks. I'm a bit hungry. Should we go over?" He nodded, and they made their way to the food table. Hermione piled her plate with cheese, bread, and grapes. "What is this?"

"It looks to be a platter of peacock tongues. I would not recommend that," he said, smirking at her horrified expression. "They've really gone all out for this. Ah, here we are." He nodded to a medium-sized roasted pig. "If I'm not mistaken," he began, inspecting it further, "it's been stuffed with a goose. Yes, it has been. They were roasted together. It adds to the flavor." He sliced a bit of pork for Hermione, but she shook her head.

"No, thanks. I think I'm feeling a bit queasy."

Severus placed the portion on his plate and moved forward. "And, here, love, we have a fat, roasted duck. It's been stuffed with a chicken. Interesting," he said, moving past the food. "I think I shall have a bit of beef. Would you like some?"

She shook her head. "This is fine." Since there were no tables, they went back to their bench to eat their meal. She chuckled at Severus' expression. "Tastes odd?"

He nodded before taking a large drink from his glass. "It's been seasoned strangely. It's spicy, yet sweet. There is a good portion of cinnamon mixed with pepper. I'm not sure I would recommend this."

"Oh, hell, I would," Pomona said, hearing what he'd said as she passed by. "It's always fun to see someone's expression when they first taste something such as this."

"How would you know?" Severus asked blandly.

"Well, if you will remember, Poppy and I used to belong to that cooking club in Hogsmeade." Her face went blank for a moment. "Pity those large blokes ruined everything. Anyway, we used to try all types of dishes. Some of these recipes come straight from Apicius' cookbook. He was a great, Roman chef that documented his work. He was a Muggle, but he cooked for some of the wealthy Wizarding folk of the time. They were able to preserve his book with magic."

"Fascinating," Severus said sarcastically, though the woman didn't seem to notice. "I shall call on you if I ever have questions about a meal's origin."

"Oh, jolly good. I won't mind," she said, making her way to Filius.

Hermione elbowed Severus. "Can't you at least try to be nice. If that had been anyone else, that bit of rudeness might have offended her. Besides, you should really...what the hell is Poppy doing?"

Severus followed her gaze and saw their mediwitch dancing around wildly on the stage whilst throwing small flowers at Rolanda and Stuart. The couple waved at everyone and boarded the chariot. As the Thestral began pulling them back towards the castle, Rolanda shouted, "We're off to Rome. See you on Monday!"

Severus didn't bother waving, but he did feel happy for the couple. Both seemed extremely giddy and hopeful. Had he and Hermione looked as they had? For all the ridiculousness, it was a very Rolanda binding; he should have known that she'd be different. The ceremony itself didn't take long. The reception, if that was what this was called, was short indeed. There was a group of people that the couple had talked to for a few moments. He figured them to be Stuart's family. All of Rolanda's kin were either gone or lived too far away to have traveled to Hogwarts. He doubted that she had invited them anyway. Rolanda Steward. He snickered to himself. That sounded odd.

"What is it?"

"Just thinking of her new name," he said.

"Oh, she's not taking his name. She's keeping her own," Hermione stated.

"How do you know that?"

"Minerva told me."

"Well, I suppose that was smart of her. It's not like they will have any children together, so there will be no matching the children's names to worry about. Hooch sounds better anyway," Severus said, sounding biased.

"You know, Severus, if you give Stuart a chance, he'll be a really good friend," she ventured.

"Eat your meal, witch," he said, pretending to be angry. "Or I'll have to punish you."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is." He looked at her plate. Bloody hell! "I didn't realize that you'd already eaten your food. Would you like more?"

"No, but I may have a snack later," she said. "The grapes were really good."

"Imported, no doubt," he said. He was surprised that one of her hands had snaked into his lap. His plate was hiding it from anyone's gaze. He sucked in a sharp breath as she fondled him.

"I wonder," she said softly. "How long will it take for you to rise to the occasion?"

"Hermione," he chided, releasing his breath as he said her name. "Enough. Someone will," groan, "notice."

"Let's have a walk. I'm feeling randy," she said, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder and squeezing his hardening penis. "I want you."

It was a light whisper, but he'd heard it. His blood began flowing quickly through his veins, his heartbeat quickened, and his cock sprang to life. "Then, by all means, you shall have me." He moved away from her to place his plate next to him and pulled her up. As quickly as possible, he led her to the forest. "This will have to do," he murmured, looking at a nearby tree. He waved his wand about wildly to put up a Silencing Charm, a Warning Ward, and a Cushioning Charm. "Stand still," he said quickly before muttering another charm on her body.

She giggled. "This feels strange."

"Does it?" She nodded. He reached down to lift one leg up to wrap around his waist. "All right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said.

He used magic to make her knickers vanish, leant back against the cushioned tree, and pulled her with him. Severus pointed to two small branches on either side of him. "Hold on to those to keep you steady, stand on this stump with your foot, and keep this leg propped up like this."

"It's not going anyplace. You've made it flexible, and I feel as though I could hold it here for a while." She ground her body against him. "Why are you not exposed, lover?"

His eyebrows rose at once. "Eager, are we?" She nodded. He reached down betwixt them to release his erect shaft. Lifting her clothing just enough, he guided himself inside of her. "That feels good," he said appreciatively. The angle was a different one, and he loved the new feel as he thrust into her. Had she always been so wet for him? It seemed as though she was even tighter than ever. Perhaps the one glass of wine had muddled his senses.

"Yes... it... does," she said between gasps.

Hermione's head was back, and her eyes were closed. She was holding her arms above his shoulders as she gripped the branches. She was using the leg that was snuggly wrapped around him to pull him more deeply into her. Severus was amazed that she wasn't uncomfortable. He'd used a Flexibility Charm that Lucius had showed him once. It only lasted a few minutes at a time, but that was all they needed. Her small moans and barely audible words of encouragement were enough to have him antsy and ready to explode alone, not to mention the pleasant friction he was feeling with each thrust.

"I'm going to come," she announced loudly, opening her eyes wide. "Sev... er... us... don't... stop!"

"I can't. I won't. I'm with you," he began mumbling. He absorbed her heat and wetness aggressively with the next few strokes. With a triumphant shout, he reached his climax. Only one thought played repeatedly in his mind. He'd never get enough of his wife.

"Amazing," she mumbled a few minutes later, sliding her leg down and putting her arms around him. She rested her head against his chest. "I love you, Severus."

"And I, you," he said, reaching down to caress her stomach. He knew better than to mention anything to her, but he could feel the change in her even through her clothing. Their child was growing. "Both of you." If she thought that he'd noticed any enlarging of her abdomen, she might go into another snit.

"I don't know what came over me. I just needed you." She moved away to allow him to fix his trousers and clean the both of them with a couple of quick spells.

With a brief smirk, he said, "Please approach me at anytime you have such a need. I will be happy to help you." Hell, this pregnancy thing wasn't all that bad. He'd noticed that she wasn't as nauseated as she had been. Sure, she had her little fits of insanity now and again, but for the most part, she was quite affectionate and more vocal about what she wanted. Making love to her had never felt better. He wasn't exactly sure if it was the happiness of knowing that she was carrying his child or if it was the change in her confidence during sex. She didn't mind taking charge at times or speaking about what she liked.

"Would you like to go have a walk on the path around the lake? There is still a great deal of light left in the day," he said, looking through the canopy of leaves above them.

"I'd like that," she accepted, taking his hand.

After walking and talking about their classes for nearly an hour, he guided her to a small clearing just off the path. He sat down and pulled her next to him. He decided to ask her something that he'd asked twice previously. Each time, she'd changed the subject. "Why haven't I seen Weasley much for the last two weeks?" he asked, catching her off guard. He took note of her blush and knew that she knew the truth. "Don't change the subject on me this time, Hermione. Why won't you tell me?"

"Severus," she said softly. "I promised."

"You also promised me to be honest. I'm asking you a question, and I expect an honest answer."

"Will you swear to me that you will not tell the Malfoys or the Weasleys?" she asked, sounding cross.

"What does this have to do with...you don't mean...?" Good Lord! No! They hadn't. They couldn't.

She nodded. "Promise me, Severus. The Malfoys especially can't know."

"Fair enough. I'll not speak of this to either family." For now.

"Minerva and I went to my old chambers. We'd decided to let me keep it as the office I will be using permanently since we will move the class to the refurbished one near there. Well, when we entered, we were surprised to find that the fire was burning in the grate, and the room was quite cozy. Then, we heard the moaning."

"Moaning?" Severus blanched. "Oh, dear God. Why Weasley?"

"Oh, honestly! Don't put down Ron! I could say the same about Draco," she chided. "Anyway, we went to the bedchamber to have a look, and we were shocked. I thought Minerva was going to faint at first, but then she pulled me back. We sat on my couch and waited. Finally, all of the moaning stopped. That was wh..."

"You mean to say," he began incredulously, "that she allowed them to finish?"

"Well, to be honest, the damage had already been done, and she was trying to save everyone some extra embarrassment. I would have liked to have left, but she felt that it would be good for me to learn how to deal with those types of situations." Hermione looked away. "They came into the living area and saw us. I wanted to just melt. The three of them were speechless when Minerva took them to task."

"The three of them? I thought it was Weasley and Malfoy?"

"And you forget, lover, that Luna Lovegood was here," she said, facing him again. "The three of them had a go in my old bed."

Severus was flabbergasted! "I can't believe it."

"Minerva asked them how often they'd been making use of my old chambers, and they swore that they'd never been there before. They were simply looking for a place where the three of them could talk privately, and then something happened between them."

"Didn't she have her own chambers for the weekend?"

"They tried that. Apparently, Dumbledore charmed it so that no males could enter. Ron thought of my chambers. I don't like that they used my chambers that way, but I should have changed the password. That was irresponsible." She reddened slightly. "Minerva was kind enough to point that out. Therefore, I was a little at fault for trusting students to be responsible."

"So, that's why one hundred points went missing from Slytherin! I tried to find out who'd lost the points, and nobody knew what happened. I might have known, seeing how Gryffindor lost one hundred points as well. I thought it to be odd that Draco had suddenly taken an interest in Hagrid's class. He's always hated it."

"That's their detention. Each evening they have to go and help him with something. They begged and pleaded with Minerva to not tell their parents. Luna's father would have been furious. She's not allowed back at the castle until she comes back for school. Ron and Draco have detention for a month with Hagrid."

"So..." he said thoughtfully. "The three of them...?"

She grinned. "Between us, Ron told me what happened. I suppose it's all right to tell you since you know about this. Ron and Draco have feelings for each other, but they are confused about it. Ron loves Luna, but he is curious about Draco. He thought that Luna coming back had hurt Draco, so he sought him out to have a quick word with him. Luna overheard, and she decided that she wouldn't mind trying something different." Hermione closed Severus' mouth for him. "So, well, they got together. Now, Draco and Ron didn't do anything together, but they both had a bit of fun with her."

"I can't believe it. She's underage!" Severus said in disbelief. "Both boys are eighteen!"

"Severus, Luna is seventeen. She's an adult as well. It was a mutual decision. I think that they might have a go at a polyandry relationship."

"What?"

"Honestly! You know, Severus, where there is one woman with two or more male mates? There's even a binding ritual that can be done, should anyone care to make the relationship legal," she said.

"I know what it is," he said, suddenly furious. "Draco will never go along with that." How could he get involved with such rubbish? He had his family name, dignity, and appearances to keep up. Narcissa would be so hurt. Surely Lucius would disapprove as well.

"Severus, I'm not saying that he will. They are just thinking about things. Apparently, they liked the idea of being together as a trio, and from the sound of it," she said impishly, "they were having a good time."

"What all did you see?" he asked crossly. "Did you see their bodies?" He knew that it was ridiculous to worry, but what if she'd seen one of the youthful boys? What if she thought that perhaps he was lacking? Of course not! I'm more than enough and have never had any complaints.

"For only a moment, I saw Draco's arse, but trust me. It wasn't appealing. He was moving behind Luna." She laughed at his expression. "She was straddling Ron. His arse is not a sight I care to dwell upon," she said with a laugh. "He's got a skinny little bum. Nothing like this." She reached behind him and caressed part of his arse.

"Hermione, if you don't stop that, I shall have to have you again. Wouldn't you like to wait until we return to our chambers? The comfort of our bed?" Severus asked silkily.

"Kiss me," she said softly.

He kissed her lips chastely. Deciding that he didn't care to wait until they returned to the castle, he slowly lowered her onto the ground to kiss her thoroughly. "Hermione, we really have to get a handle on ourselves," he said cheekily. "How often can we do this without someone happening upon us?"

"You are right, but isn't it a little exciting at the same time?"

"Indeed."

"You don't even want to know about my new fantasies."

"I think that I really do want to know, Little One. Tell me."

"You, me, and an Invisibility Cloak." She nipped at this neck. "In a corridor."

"What's gotten into you?" he asked, giving her a warm smile. Her little fantasy had its appeal. Perhaps a less used corridor in the dungeons would be worth looking into.

"You." She cupped his arse to pull him tightly against her body. "I hope."

He growled in response.

~~~~~~~~~~ SS ~~~~~~~~~~~~ HG ~~~~~~~~~

Harry couldn't believe what Ron had confided in him. "The three of you?" he asked in awe. "Er, was it... you know, fun?"

"Hell, yes," Ron admitted. "I would have thought that I would have been jealous, but I wasn't. When he touched her at first, I felt my heart drop. That's when I heard her moan. It sent a jolt right down to my... er... I liked what I heard." Ron lowered his voice. "I really liked what I heard when she made Draco moan. That's when I got involved, and things just happened. There was no talking." Ron's face and ears became as red as his hair. "Didn't know that ruddy McGonagall and Mione were spying on us though."

Laughter overtook Harry. He could just imagine Ron, Draco, and Luna walking out of the bedchamber to hurriedly get to the hall for the evening meal only to find a furious McGonagall and an embarrassed Hermione waiting for them. "I can only imagine what a surprise that was."

"I'll say. She went mental on us, she did. She was on about morals, letters to our parents, misuse of trust, and then she turned around to have a go at Hermione."

"Why? Mione didn't approve."

"It seems she is holding her partly responsible for giving us the password to her quarters in the first place." He nodded. "She's right, you know. If we hadn't had that temptation, we would never have gone in there."

Harry shook his head. "Don't put it off on Mione. She trusted us, Ron. Besides, you'd have just gone to some abandoned classroom or unused corridor to get it done."

"Too right you are, Harry," Ron said thickly, taking a bite of his apple. "We nearly didn't get her to change her mind about owling our parents. It was Dumbledore that made the agreement with us. I didn't think he minded too much...until he told Luna she wasn't trusted to stay without a guardian, that is."

"Good Lord, Ron. Can you imagine the howler that your mum would have sent?" Harry imitated Molly Weasley's voice and said, "Ronald Weasley! How dare you have that menage a trois? I am absolutely disgusted! We now have to meet with the Board of Governors, and it's entirely your fault! If you so much as think about taking your bits out of your pants again, you're coming straight home!"

"Don't do that," Ron said, looking around. "You're a little scary, Harry. Your face looked just like hers. Sounded just like something she would have said!"

"Well, at least she didn't give you the talk," Harry said.

"Oh, no! What did she do?"

"Asked if I would wait until her daughter was out of school before moving our relationship into something more." Harry's face turned red this time. "That was the night of your party."

"What did you tell her?" Ron demanded.

"I couldn't lie, Ron."

"What did she say?"

"I told her that I love Ginny, and that I will marry her as soon as she is out of school."

"Oh, no. A Wand Wedding!"

"Eh?"

"You know, the types of weddings where the girl's parents force the poor, trapped bloke into marrying their daughter because they caught him having a bit of fun. They literally hold their wands on him until the binding is completed," Ron said gloomily.

"Well, they don't have to force me, Ron. It's what I planned on doing anyway. I love your sister, mate," Harry said. "If they asked me to do it sooner or later, it would be done."

Ron nodded. "Welcome to the family, mate. I suppose you're an honorary Weasley then."

"Thanks."

"Nah, you've always been one, you and Hermione both. Do you want something from the kitchens? I'm going down to nick a few sweets."

"Surprise me," Harry said, smiling brightly.

"Good deal." Ron walked a few feet and turned around. "Eh, Harry?"

"Yes?"

"If Draco and I would happen to have a relationship... with Luna of course, what would you think about it?"

He could see that his friend really wanted his honest opinion. "Well, I'd say that I knew you and Draco had noticed each other. Well, I saw how he started acting, and then you sort of didn't mind. I know you love Luna, and if she approves, I will support you."

"Thanks, Harry."

"I would worry more about his father," Harry pointed out.

"No, it's his mum that is pushing at him to start planning his future. She wants him to think about a more serious relationship with Daphne Greengrass."

"What does he think about that?"

"Says he's not interested in that right now. Living for the moment, he is," Ron said with a smile. "As we all are."

"That's all we can do, Ron." Harry said, giving his friend a reassuring smile.

"Right. Don't let mum worry you about Ginny. Whatever will be, will be. I know you love her." The redhead quickly turned to leave.

Harry's smile faded as his friend left through the portrait hole. He loved Ginny, but he had a few things to feel guilty about. Bella was the main thing. He'd also been dishonest with the amount of lovers that he'd had. She need not know the truth about that. Some things were personal. Hell, that was before he and she had been attracted to each other mutually. Harry wondered if part of him had always been attracted to her. He closed his eyes and conjured her image. It was the image of them together just after they'd made love the first time. Her bright eyes had been wide and curious, brimming with love. He hadn't minded that she'd had another lover before him. It actually made things a little less awkward for the both of them. She'd asked if he was disappointed, and he'd simply kissed her to reassure her. Things escalated from there. He did eye Dean Thomas scornfully for a week or so after, but he'd gotten over it. That was before him and her business, just as he had his own business. As far as he was concerned, he would be her last lover, her husband, and the only lover that mattered.

The cozy fire lulled Harry into a light sleep and into a dream.

Ginny was looking at him with a sweet smile, and she turned to flee the room. He went to chase after her, but a movement to his left caught his attention. Bellatrix Lestrange! Starkers and walking to him slowly.

"Lord Potter," the woman screamed in orgasm. He began cackling loudly as he thrust a few more times, finally finding his release. He pulled away from her, turned her over, and positioned himself between her thighs. "Oh, Merlin, yes," she moaned as he entered her again.

"Mate! Wake the fuck up," Ron's voice urged.

"Wh-what?" Harry sprung up with his wand drawn. "What is it?"

"You were having a nightmare, mate. The whole damn room became breezy and cold. I thought Fawkes had come for a visit when I heard the Phoenix song start. You all right? Was it about Voldemort?" Ron asked, looking worried. Harry didn't answer right away. "Here, mate. It's chocolate cake from Dobby. That'll make you feel better." After a moment of staring at Harry, Ron asked again, "Was it about Voldemort?"

Harry looked him squarely in the eyes. "Yes, I think so. It's a bit foggy now. Nothing to worry on though."

Southern's Notes: I hope this chapter ties up your questions about Draco, Ron, and Luna for now. Thanks to Betz for the polyandry idea. Most of you have been asking about Harry and Bella. This is the last bit that I will mention about that whole Nox! thing. You can decide if you want to think of this as a dream or as a memory/dream of what truly happened. : )

Up Next: Things will be speeding up for us a bit, as time will begin to melt away. We are going to mostly see how the couple fares through the pregnancy, living at his home during the summer months, and how the birth goes. We will also see more with Viktor and the ruddy Succubus. Only a couple of chapters left, mates. Thanks for sticking with the story.