Albus Potter and the Prophesied Year

Ch 26 After Boxing Day

Tuesday Albus and Cleo ate breakfast with Cleo's parents, but also Richard and Annabella.

"How was your first night as a married couple?" Cleo asked.

"We moved into a room in the Slytherin Dorm over the Christmas holidays, so it wasn't our first time," Annabella admitted. "It was better, though. Not so much physically better, but emotionally better, if you know what I mean. More permanent. More what we should be doing instead of what we wanted to do but it was maybe not quite right."

"I was told that once you are married your body is not just your own," Albus suggested. "Us wizards have to learn to be patient with our wives, and not focus on our own pleasure, and if we do it will be better for both of us."

"It is not quite as natural as I thought it would be," Richard agreed. "It is something physical you need to learn how to do. It is fun, though."

"Your body isn't changing," Annabelle commented, looking at her changing shape. "We were given some instructions, and when Richard takes his time, and I'm ready, well, I think the wedding helped, because last night was good. More than good."

The couples moved on to the business of the day.

*

The next day, in the middle of the day, Nausicaa Scherica and her husband Bishop Apollo Scherica showed up on the island. They asked to meet with just Albus and Cleo, and the four of them went up to the house on the top of the hill, leaving everyone else in the house that had become the administrative headquarters of the island.

"Why did you wear those robes from Switzerland at your wedding?" Nausicaa wondered.

"We needed something to get married in, and Cleo and I remembered them," Albus replied. "It was the morning of our wedding, and we didn't have much time. One of the witches who tends the garments at the palace was eager to fit us for those robes, and they fit, so we wore them."

Nausicaa looked at Apollo, shook her head, and then put her head in her hands, attempting to compose her thoughts. She finally muttered, "I was worried about those robes." She looked at Cleo and Albus. "Those are very pagan garments. Most Magi are not Christian or any religion. Those robes are pagan garments, and they are garments made for you two. It is just that you need to exercise extreme care when and where you use them."

"Magic, as you know, is not inherently good or evil," Apollo reflected. "It is like a knife that can be used to prepare food, or to kill you. Those garments are the same. They are very powerful artifacts that should be used with great care."

"It probably didn't help that Cleo and I had our wands as well," Albus thought.

"Probably not. Where are the robes now?" Nausicaa wondered.

"Stored in our rooms at Grimmauld Place," Albus replied.

"Don't wear them in public without checking with us first," Nausicaa pled. "I am sure there will be appropriate times to wear them, but I would be very careful about wearing them in a large public setting."

The two couples talked a little more about the robes. They were not classical wedding garments, but obviously special purpose robes. They had to be made for and good for some purpose, but wearing them in a big gathering posed problems.

Eventually Albus and Cleo had to get back to work on things pertaining to the island.

*

Lucius had been even more isolated than he usually was, with no contact with other prisoners for the last three weeks. Something had obviously happened. Lucius thought that Cleo was pregnant with Scorpius's child, but now he did not have a good feeling about what had been happening. Maybe things were going to work out after all, and he could get out of this damn prison, or maybe things had gone terribly wrong.