The Dinner
a Harry Potter story
by midnight_angel_girl
Scene 1:Oliver And Percy's
"Hey Ol, you almost ready?" Percy called down the hallway.
"Almost." Oliver grabbed a handkerchief and headed to the kitchen where Percy was waiting for him. They were heading to Percy's brother, Bill's apartment, and Oliver figured he'd need the handkerchief since he was fighting a cold. Percy had cancelled the dinner three days ago, and it had been rescheduled for tonight. Both Percy and Oliver would have preferred to wait until Oliver was better, but Gringott's was sending Bill to South America on Monday, and he wanted to have this dinner before he left. "Ready as I'll ever be." he said, entering the kitchen. "You owe me."
"What? I rescheduled dinner for you and took a day off of work to take care of you. Besides, you like Bill and Charlie, and you'll love Mariah."
"Dinner with Snape when I'm healthy isn't on my list of fun things to do, let alone dinner with him when I'm sick. So you owe me."
"Fine. Tonight when we get home, I'll do that thing you like so much." Oliver pretended to consider Percy's offer. "Twice." Percy finished.
"Deal." Oliver gave Percy a quick kiss on the cheek.
"I love you."
"Love you too...oh shite." Oliver turned away from Percy. "Heh-kehshh, huh-eckshhoo, eh-cheshhh. "
"Bless you hon."
Oliver blew his nose. "Thanks. Ready to go?" Percy nodded, and they apparatedd to a spot near Bill's apartment.
Scene 2: Bill and Snape
Bill bustled about the kitchen preparing dinner while Snape watched in some bit of amusement at his lover's frenetic pace. Finally, Bill put everything in the oven and turned to him. "It'll be ready in an hour." he told Snape.
"Fine. Bill, why are we doing this?" he asked. "Do I have to?"
"Yes. It's important to me. I want to...I want to introduce you to my family; I just figured it'd be easiest to start with Charlie and Percy."
"They hate me." Snape stated flatly.
"Sevi, that's not true. Charlie and Mariah don't know you. And I doubt Percy and Oliver hate you. And now, they'll get to know you as my lover, not Professor Snape, big, scary, evil potions master." he teased. "Now get out of my kitchen and let me cook. I can't understand how someone so great at potions is such a lousy cook."
"And I can't understand how such a great cook is so horrible at potions."
He paused as Bill turned away from the food and sneezed powerfully. "Huh-choo, Hah-ehchoo, Huyachoo. "
"Or how someone with as bad of allergies as you have half the time never has a handkerchief." He pulled his own from his pocket and handed it to the other man. "Hang on to it; you'll need it again, I'm sure." He said as Bill blew his nose and went to wash his hands.
"Go pick some music or something. Everyone will be here soon." He shooed Snape from the kitchen.
Scene 3: Charlie and Mariah's
Charlie Weasley blew his nose and looked at the clock. It was time for them to get going to his brother's for dinner, and his wife was still in the bathroom. He knew it wasn't taking her this long to get ready; Mariah was strictly a wash and wear kind of girl, but she had been fighting a bout of food poisoning, so he was growing concerned. "Mariah, honey?" He knocked on the door. "Are you alright?"
"Umm, yeah, I think. Charlie, get in here."
Charlie opened the bathroom door. "Still the food poisoning? Do you want me to call them and tell them we can't make it?"
"No. I don't think I have food poisoning after all." She held out a small white stick.
"What's that?"
"Umm, Charlie, we're pregnant. That's probably why I've been sick lately."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm late, Charlie."
"Not yet, but we will be if we don't get moving."
"Not that kind of late. I was 'late,' so I bought a pregnancy test, and I'm pregnant."
"Are you sure?"
"The test said 99% accurate, so 99% sure. I'll call the doctor on Monday."
"How- hold on. Eh-chushh, Chishshoo. What about your job? You can't work in a potions lab if you're pregnant, can you?"
"I'll talk to work on Monday. I'll probably have to take a step back from research for awhile, but I can work with the data reports and stuff and do editing for the journal. The institute said they'd still keep me on, don't worry."
"I'm not. Wow. I'm gonna be a dad. Wow. We've got to call my parents."
"Later, or we'll really be late. We'll tell your brothers at dinner. Now, let's get going. I want to meet this Severus Snape. You said he brews the wolfs bane potion.."
"Honestly, 'Riah, don't you think about anything but potions? Huh-chishooo. "
"Bless you. Just you." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now, let's get going."
Scene 4: All together
"Sev, can you get the door?" Bill called when there was a knock at it.
"Yes." Snape opened it to find Percy and Oliver standing there. "Come in." he ordered. They stepped into the apartment as Bill's head poked out of the kitchen.
"Hey Perce. Hey Oliver. Good to see you guys. Have a seat. Dinner'll be ready in about 45 minutes. Charlie and Mariah will be here soon. I'll be out in a minute."
Oliver, Percy, and Snape sat stiffly in the living room. "So, Professor Snape, are you glad that the school year's nearly over?" Percy asked to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Yes." After a few moments, he spoke again. "It will give me more time for research."
They sat in silence a while longer until there was another knock at the door. "I'll answer that." Snape rose and opened the door. "Come in." he told Charlie and Mariah. They entered the apartment as Bill came out of the kitchen.
"Hi guys. Sit down, sit down. Oh. Introductions, since Mariah doesn't know everyone. Mariah, this is Severus Snape and Oliver Wood. This is Mariah Stavros."
Snape looked at her, interested. "Mariah Stavros. The one who wrote the article on the use of tannis root in the Wolfsbane potion in order to lessen toxicity?"
"The same. You read that?"
"Of course. I've been a great follower of your work."
"Thanks. Bill has told me that you're the potions master at Hogwarts and that you brew the wolfs bane potion yourself."
"I do. I've been using the tannis as suggested per your article and monitoring to see the effects. I've also done a bit of my own experimenting."
"You'll have to let me know about that sometime. I'd be very interested in seeing what you're doing."
"Of course."
"Hetchoo." Bill interrupted. "Heh-choo, heychoo, harahhchoo. Sorry. Excuse be."
"Bless you." Percy told him. "Allergies bad?"
"Yeah." Bill turned his head and discreetly blew his nose as Charlie sneezed.
"Uhchoo, huhchoo. "
"Bless you, too, Charlie."
"You should work on something for allergies next, Mariah." Oliver suggested.
"I'm afraid I'll have to leave that up to Professor Snape here. I'll be taking some time off from potions research."
"Why? Your career is going so well. Taking time off now would be seriously detrimental to your career path. You can't be serious." Snape was shocked.
"I'm not leaving the field, just the lab and only for a year or so. My team will do the research, and I'll be doing the data analysis and writing and all the other stuff. Plus the institute's been after me to do some editing for the journal. And I can work with the potions trials in the testing phase. The institute will find a place for me."
"But will you really be happy outside the lab?" Bill asked. "Heckshoo, huheckshoo. Sorry. My allergies are really bad tonight.
"I think so." Mariah smiled, pressing her hand on her stomach.
"Why this sudden decision?" Percy questioned.
"It's not a sudden decision. I talked to work about it when Charlie and I first got married, and Charlie and I have discussed my career and what we'd do when I got pregnant."
"You're pregnant?" Oliver said, grinning. "Congratulations. I'd shake your hand, but I still haven't quite shaken this cold. Thanks for that stuff by the way."
"Not a problem. How'd it work for you?"
"Pretty good. Huh-chushh . I'm still sneezing and coughing, but I feel better than I normally do when I'm sick."
"Good. Good."
"What kind of potion is it?" Snape asked, leaning forward with interest.
"It's one that helps with sneezing, coughing, headache and congestion. Then, there's another one that also helps with sleep. It's similar to Muggle cold medicine. I make it for Charlie, Percy and Fred since they're allergic to Pepper-up."
"I'd be interested in learning how to make it -" Snape started.
"Sev, let's talk about the baby. Enough with potions for now. Honestly, do you ever think of anything else? Hey-choo, harachoo. "
"Gesundheit. Just you."
"You know something, Bill," Charlie told him laughing. "I think our other halves are too much alike. I asked Mariah the same question before we left, and her answer was the same. Eshoo, ihchoo, heh-uhchoo. "
"Bless you, sweety. Now, I'll be thinking about the baby, too. My family." She sighed happily, leaning against Charlie.
"You'll just have to step back a lot at work and use caution with the trials. Nothing like the wolfs bane potion right now; no testing potions to make vampires harmless or anything."
"That's right. You helped develop the wolfs bane potion."
"Yeah, she did. And she was involved in the testing. She came home from work one day, said she was working on a new potion, and would I still love her if she became a werewolf."
"What?" Percy was shocked.
"Hey, it's a trial. Accidents happen. They didn't on this one though."
""Good." said Bill as the oven timer went off. "Dinner's rehh...ehchoo, ichoo, heh-ehchoo."
"Dinner's ready." Snape finished for him, looking at the clock. "I think it's time for you to take some more allergy potion. Try the one I brought with me so I can see how much I need to work with it."
"Huchoo. Yes, Sev." Bill went to take the potion as the rest of them went to the dining room for dinner.
Not mine, just having fun.
This story follows "It is only with the heart" "It is the time you have spent," and "Sick day?!?!" I changed Mariah from Charlie's girlfriend to his wife just because it went with the ideas that kept coming.