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If the gods and goddesses unloaded any more information on their families, it was probably going to result in taking off many years of those who were alive and present as their minds and bodies wouldn't be able to handle anything else. Milo was beginning to feel dizzy and he wasn't sure if it was due to blood loss or everything else that had taken place that evening. He always assumed that there was a special friendship between Professor Sprout and his mother, but he never suspected it to be that sort of relationship shared between the two. But as he watched the two women converse in the clearing, it suddenly all made sense in his head.
"Artemis, can we agree that any more information you need to share will be written in a letter or over the course of several letters?" Milo asked the goddess. "I thought I was blunt and direct with my delivery, but you gods and goddesses, you win hands down."
Artemis smiled with a triumphant look on her face, " Of course we do, we would not allow all of you to beat us out, that would be absurd," she said with a small laugh. Milo thought they were coming to the end of the meeting and more than likely, they were all going to find themselves thrown into absolute chaos when they returned. After all, they had no idea what was going on since they departed to the meeting.
The last Milo had witnessed was everyone running off, Remus attempting to attack everything and everyone, Peter paralysed and bleeding out, and everything going to hell. He didn't know if Harry and Hermione were alright, although he was glad to know that Cedric and Ron had made it to the Hospital Wing. He could only hope that they were all alright.
However, before anyone was going to be allowed to disperse and return to what they had originally been doing before their summoning, Nyx wasn't kidding when she announced a marriage between the two. The proposal was not enough for that evening as they were going to have the ceremony right there in front of everyone.
The one presiding over the wedding was Hades himself.
Nyx spoke of the union allowing the Black family to fall under the protection of her once more, but it would only be certain members, those being Sirius' family and that of his cousin that he named, "Andromeda". That was going to open up a whole other field of explanations needed but for those moments, everyone was just supposed to focus on the fact that after so many years, Elspeth and Sirius were going to be married....by the God of the Underworld.
"Shouldn't their son be here to witness this?" Milo asked Artemis. "I know he probably wouldn't understand, but after all, it is the marriage of his parents."
"This is the marriage ceremony, Milo, they can easily hold their wedding for their son to attend. He would not understand what was taking place, it's best to keep this moment as joyful as possible," Artemis explained. "Allow them to share in this moment."
"But they're covered in blood...."
"The blood of hardwork and devotion," She countered.
"Pretty sure it's the blood from their wounds but fine," Milo gave a shake of his head. "You're the goddess here. Let's just focus on the wedding I suppose..."
Moving from Artemis' side, Milo stood in between his two mothers, currently realising that he stood taller than both of them at the time as he rested his arms on their shoulders and watched as Elspeth stood before Sirius, she looked awfully nervous. Something that Mil wasn't used to seeing on the woman's face. Persephone reached a hand out, offering a flower for her to hold and then giving Elspeth's hand a gentle squeeze to reassure her that everything was fine. She was surrounded by those who cared about her and Sirius and supported them.
Perhaps, like Milo, she was just waiting for something to go wrong. With so many things suddenly going right, there was always the fear of something going wrong. But Sirius reached across the way and grabbed both of her hands in his hand, holding them firmly in his. His smile was warm and despite the horrible condition that both of them were in, they were able to look happy in those moments.
"Alright you two, I am going to leave it up to you to say something to each other because I have never been one for marrying anyone-"
Hades received a sharp jab to his side from Persephone rendering him silent. Athena and Artemis exchanged looks before Athena made a whipping motion while Artemis made the noise of a whip. The god sent them both a deadly look not finding any amusement in it, but the goddesses simply looked away.
"I believe what Hades is trying to say is that you two know each other better than anyone else, despite the time you spent apart. It would be best to just speak from the heart before the marriage is sealed between you two. Elspeth, would you like to go first?"
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Immediately, the woman shook her head, earning a wave of chuckles from those that were gathered but she realised that she probably looked incredibly foolish and childish at the time. She bit her lower lip for a second before nodding her head and then looking up at Sirius.
"Remember when we were younger and I told you that I was nervous to be around you?" She asked him. "Somehow, it still holds true, I still get that nervous feeling when I'm around you, but I realised it's not the bad kind of nervous. I'm not afraid to be myself around you, I'm not afraid of you seeing the type of crazy flawed person I've always been. I'm nervous because every moment that we spent together, it always felt like a dream and I always thought I was going to wake up at some point. I was going to wake up and find out that it was just something that I made up in my head and it would all be over so quickly."
She shuffled her feet looking down for a few seconds. " I don't ever want that feeling to leave as mental as it may sound because I still want to feel that jittery feeling because it means you're still around. So if it makes my heart race faster, so be it, it's completely worth it if it means I get to keep you forever."
Sirius smiled and Milo watched as the man had to swallow the lump that was developing in his throat to prevent himself from crying. He nodded his head for a few seconds before he decided to begin his own form of vows.
"I remember when we first started dating and everyone said that it was completely random and unexpected, but it wasn't to me. Because even if we didn't spend time around each other in the beginning and even though it took James getting kicked in the face to talk to each other-"
"You're welcome!" James called out to them bringing the two of them to smile and laugh.
"I don't think it was ever that random or unexpected because I always knew there was something special about you. You were the girl that demanded attention in the room without saying a word and even if I knew hardly anything about you, I could feel my heart race whenever you were around. Luckily, I knew how to keep my cool around you for the most part. You were my first kiss and I think when we first kissed, even back then I realised that I wanted you to be the last person I kissed. Sorry that the dementors stole a few during the time apart...I told them that I was taken, but you know, in my prime, I'm pretty irresistible."
Milo loved listening to their vows because they didn't sound rehearsed, it was truly the two of them speaking from their hearts and talking as if they were alone with each other. However, he really just wanted them to be married.
"KISS HER!" Milo called out into the clearing, only to have both of his mothers place their hands over his mouth.
"MILO!" The two women scolded him in unison, bringing the boy to look back and forth between them.
"Serrymm," his apology was muffled through their hands but Elspeth seemed to agree with Milo's request as she grabbed Sirius by the sides of his face and pulled him right into a strong kiss. James leaned over after a few seconds as the couple didn't break apart, covering his son's eyes.
"Hey, there is a child present!" James called to them.
"Sorry, James," Elspeth laughed as she pulled away, leaving Sirius with a pleasant look on his face, "I forgot you were here."
While Hades took forever to respond, it was Nyx who stepped forward and announced that the couple was married in the eyes of the Gods. Sirius had sealed his protection under Nyx along with Hades as Elspeth was taken under Nyx as well. Their son, Silas, would fall under both, making him a force to be reckoned with when it came time for him to learn the family secrets.
"It is time for our families to return," Athena announced, "of course, there will be meetings in the future especially as the darkness comes closer. We all have to keep informed and updated. This will be our gathering place and now our families may confide in each other during this trialling times."
Milo was about to question what everyone was talking about until he suddenly found himself outside of the clearing. He hated being uprooted so suddenly as he wasn't allowed to say goodbye to his parents whenever things were cut short. But there were others things for him to be concerned with at the moment as he didn't find himself back in the forest. Instead, he was standing near the castle entrance along with Sirius, Elspeth, Professor Sprout, and his mother. They were not alone either as Cornelius Fudge stood with them, several Aurors in his company, along with Professor Dumbledore.
The boy was thankful that he was not the only one who looked terribly confused because it seemed all those that had found themselves in the clearing were puzzled as well, until Fudge reached his hand out and grabbed Elspeth's hand. Immediately, Milo and Sirius went on the defence to stop him from taking the woman, only to witness the man shaking her hand graciously.
"Once again, Miss Hayes, I am astounded by your brilliant work, bringing Peter Pettigrew to justice...he confessed to everything," Fudge said and immediately, nearly everyone started choking as their reaction.
"WHAT?!" Milo screeched, basically verbalising everything that was on their minds in that moment.
"To think that he had gone through the trouble of faking his death, not to mention, he was an illegal animagus, we would have never pieced it together," Fudge confessed, leaving the group to exchange nervous glances. Milo was pretty sure he was about to vomit, what exactly had taken place while they were absent from the scene?
The Minister turned to Sirius with a guilty expression as he could hardly look the man in the eyes. "I think we all owe you an apology, Mr Black. Of course, it may be twelve years too late at this point but-"
Sirius cut him off as he cleared his throat, looking back and forth between Fudge and Dumbledore.
"As late as it is, I'd still like to hear it."