Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

28 March, 1979 - Date Night

The walk down to town was lovely in the warmth of early spring, though by the time they reached the restaurant, Lavinia was cursing herself for wearing heels even if they did look exceptionally good with this dress. They also added a few extra inches of height and if she was honest, she could use all the help she could get in that department.

Of course when she mentioned to Sirius that she felt rather tall he snorted and made a show of demonstrating that the top of her head came up to his chin. She rolled her eyes and knocked him sideways. He responded in kind and Lavinia, hampered by heels, nearly fell over before he caught her hand, laughing and pulled her back onto the road.

Still, they made it to the restaurant, which was a nice looking medditeranean place, in one piece and with plenty of teasing laughter. A hostess showed them to their table with a smile and an assurance that their waiter would be there shortly. He was, which was good because by that point, Lavinia was feeling slightly awkward. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable with him, but rather that she didn't really know how to interact with him in public in such a formal capacity.

Their entire relationship had been based on silly little moments, like the time Lavinia had splashed pasta sauce on her face and Sirius had laughed himself hoarse calling her Rudolph before he bothered to explain who the hell Rudolph was. Or the time Lavinia had come home from her first night shift so exhausted she'd fallen asleep sitting on the kitchen floor with her dinner in her lap and Sirius had found her and simply sat next to her until she woke up. Or when Sirius hadn't noticed the black oil stains on his clothes until Lavinia had joked that she didn't know there was a curse that gave people cow markings. At least half of her favorite memories with him had been spent in leggings and T-shirts in the comfort of their own home, not fancy dresses and high heels while strangers watched.

After they had ordered, silence stretched for a long moment before Sirius broke it.

"So," he started, rather awkwardly. "How was the dress shopping?"

Lavinia sighed, remembering the anxiety of earlier that day. "Honestly?" she asked. "Mildly awful."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Only mildly awful?" he asked, a bit sarcastically.

Lavinia rolled her eyes at him. "Well I did get to wear fancy dresses and look amazing in them," she countered with false vanity. "But..." She frowned slightly. "Well they were all short sleeved," she continued honestly, wondering if this might be a terrible time to be bringing this up. They were trying to have an lovely, simple night, not drag up all her past mistakes and pains.

But Sirius's face broke with understanding and he uttered a little "Ah." On the table, his fingers twitched and Lavinia got the distinct impression he wished he could hold her right now. She smiled, the knowledge forming a warm bubble in her chest.

"Have you talked to Lily about it?" he asked curiously.

Lavinia shook her head, her grin fading. "She doesn't know about any of it and... well I don't want to trouble her. Especially not for her wedding," she explained.

Sirius nodded slightly and she was grateful that he didn't question that decision. She didn't want to explain the admittedly flimsy reasoning that functionally boiled down to simple fear.

"What are you going to do?" Sirius asked now, his tone very carefully neutral.

Lavinia shrugged. "Cosmetic charm probably?" she answered with an uncertain expression. "I don't really know. Do charms like that come through in photos?"

"No idea," Sirius admitted. "But, Vin..." He sighed and again his fingers twitched slightly on the table. "You know no one will judge you, right? At least, no one who matters."