After Liesel's parents left the house so that they could make the final preparations for Christmas day, Sirius continued the tour of the house. She liked that the kitchen was large, but it was antiquated. He had told her that he had no idea what to put in there and that Duggy and Duffy had acclimated well with the muggle appliances that were there as had Misses Jones, his new housekeeper. He explained that he had granted her leave to to be with her children and grandchildren and that she would be returning on Boxing Day...he was on his own until then. He told her that he wasn't at all concerned though as he had her to make sure he ate well. Liesel rolled her eyes in jest as she shook her head. "Thank god for Mom then," she said.
He took her through the dining room which she thought was as large as a skating rink and Sirius raised his brow as he had no clue what she was talking about. He opened the door to another room that he thought might make an excellent space for a library. It was large enough to seat about twenty people comfortably, but small enough to place secluded reading nooks through out the room.
"Would make a good war room," she said as she continued on. "Uncle Al has one at the manor...this is kind of what it looks like."
Sirius stopped in his tracks and nodded. "Well, if I'm to assume the Head of the House, then I'll be needing one of those."
"I was kidding hon. I like the idea of the library much better."
He smiled and nodded as he took her hand in his. "Ready to see upstairs?"
She grinned. "I guess that's where all the bedrooms are, huh?"
He wiggled his eye browns and grinned at her. "Uh huh," he cooed.
She playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head again. "Continue on, Mister Black!"
He took her hand in his and led her up the stairs. He pointed out that to the right were guest quarters; Remus had a room down that side of the corridor and then she saw a small staircase and asked if they led to servants' quarters and he nodded his reply. He pointed to the left and she saw five closed doors. He moved past her to open one door and told her that it was one of four bathrooms. She nodded as she poked her head in and smiled when she saw the beach-themed colors and starfish, seahorses and other aquatics "swimming" on the wall and ceiling.
"Where do these doors go to," she asked as she returned to the large corridor.
"Well, those two rooms are joined," he said.
"Oh?"
"Yes. One is a nursery and the other is for the nanny."
"Nanny!"
"Well, yeah!"
"Pshaw! Nannies! I never had a nanny!"
"Well I did. They're quite useful!"He opened the door and allowed her to look in at the completely empty palate. "I thought I should let my wife decorate these room to her liking."
She rolled her eyes...wondering when he was going to formally pop the question..."What's the other door?"
"The master and mistress' bedrooms."
"Bedrooms? Plural?"
He nodded. "Yup."
She suddenly appeared troubled.
"Don't like that idea," he asked with a grin on his face.
"No. I don't."
"Ah well," he began and breathed in deeply. "I thought you might feel that way. So I turned the master bedroom into a movie room."
"A movie room!"
"That's what you call it right? Film, cinema...movies?"
She nodded. "Yeah, that's right."
"Phew!"
She giggled at him as she opened the door to the darkened room and he reached in an turned on the electric lights and saw about twenty cushy-looking recliners fanned out in six rows with large speakers in the walls, for and aft. "Whoa," she said.
"I hope to have lots of movie parties!"
She nodded. "That'll be fun!"
He smiled happily. "Yeah, I thought so!" He pointed to a darkened corner of the large room with his wand and illuminated a large popcorn machine and she squealed her delight as she applauded happily. Sirius' toothy smile let her know that he was thrilled that she was so happy.
"So," she cooed. "The master bedroom? Saving the best for last?"
"It's a bit of an empty pallet," he said. "Not as empty as the nursery, but close."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," he said as his smile turned a bit more somber.
"Alright," she said as she turned the doorknob and felt a curious sensation as Sirius hissed. "Did we just program this doorknob?"
"Maybe," he said. Grinning, he picked her up and the door opened. "Alright, yes! No one else is getting into this room unless we let them in, except for perhaps Remus."
"And he has his own room!"
"Exactly,"
Remembering the debacle at their party, she laughed heartily and reached out to turn on the over head light and her face fell as she saw his student's bed in the very farthest corner of the room from the door, in the same place that it was in at the rented house. Sirius let her gently to her feet. "What, did ya run out of money?"
He shook his head. "No."
"You still have that little tiny bed! Sirius!" She turned toward him, with her hands on her hips.
"I like that tiny bed! Besides, I get to hold you close all night." He smiled and licked his lips nervously.
She breathed in deeply and exhaled. Finally she nodded her head. "Well you need a place to put your clothes or it that invisible to the naked eye?"
He pointed to a door on the opposite wall and she walked the length of the mammoth room to open the door to see a large walk in closet that housed his dresser and wardrobe. She saw another door and walked toward it, opened it and peeked inside: it was a nicely furnished study that boasted dark leather furniture and luxurious thick wooden paneling and she saw that Sirius had been using as an office of sorts by the correspondence on the desk. She
nodded and back out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"I ran out of ideas Love. Sorry. I was hoping that you could help me with it?"
"It's okay. I am tired though and tomorrow's Christmas...Father Sandy-Christmas-Claus won't come if we're wide awake you know!"
He nodded as he laughed, casting his gaze to the side. He returned his gaze to her and shook his head. "I've no more surprises Love."
She nodded finally and shrugged her shoulders. "Okay," she replied happily. She was more than pleased. "Lets get some sleep then. My parents like to do Christmas crazy early."
"How crazy-early?"
"Sunrise."
His shoulders fell and he rolled his eyes then closed them, then rubbed at his face hard. "Fuck me," he whispered in his hands, shaking his head.
"I can do that," she replied pushing him toward the tiny bed and watched as his look of query turned to one of lustful abandon as the back of his muscular legs touched the mattress and he brought her down to him in a heated kiss.
Later into the night, she wiggled out of Sirius' arms, donned her housecoat and padded across the room on the cold wooden floorboards, the cold going through her. Sirius opened one eye and then the other and rose out of the bed, knowing where she was going and what she was going to do...she'd need a witness of wizarding lines in order to make the verbal magical contract official, not that it mattered any, he knew because of the story they had heard earlier that evening and her gift of the doll to Doofy, they would follow her no matter what. He donned his housecoat and followed her down the stairs to the living room where she called her two house elves to her. Sirius wondered what she had done with the sword since he saw her break a fingernail and transform the fingernail into the doll and not the sword itself. She thought she smelled the faint scent of Sirius' cologne as she materialized her wand but dismissed it. She completed the oath, renaming the two elves. The little girl elf, she named Clementine. The aged elf took a knee, tears streaking his face when she returned his letter opener-sword back to him. He sheathed the tiny sword in the empty scabbard on his belt and she renamed him Douglas after Douglas MacArthur, after the brilliant American Army General. "A fine Scottish name for Duggy, it means son of Arthur," he whispered.
She smiled brightly and nodded. "Daddy's father's name was Arthur. That was one of the reasons that I thought it should be for you." She reached out and thumbed away the tears from Douglas' face. "Welcome home again," she whispered and she held out her arms and the aged elf rushed to her arms and held on as if his life depended on it.
"Douglass will not fail Mistress Liesel," he said clearly.
"I know," she whispered. Liesel rose to her feet and smiled. "Now back to bed, the both of ya. Mom and Daddy will be here at the butt-crack of dawn!" She saw that Douglas and Clementine's eyes were looking behind her and she felt the hairs rise on her body. "He's behind me isn't he?"
"Yes Mistress," Douglass said. "Master Sirius had to come and witness the binding rite. Clementine and Douglas is bound to Mistress Liesel but Douglas never really stopped. Now Clementine is too! When Mistress Liesel marries Lord Sirius, the he will be Master Sirius! Douglas is soooo happy!" He bowed low to the floor and grabbed hold of his elfin child and disapparated from the room with a fizz followed by a muffled pop.
She turned her head to view him peripherally. "Did I do good?"
He smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah. Ya did," he said and held his hand out for her.