Work Text:
Sweet Sangria
“I can’t do this. The one thing they asked us to bring and I can’t make it!”
Marcus wrapped his arms around her waist, “neither of them are expecting anything fancy.”
Hermione rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat helped to calm her nerves. “Do you realise how many different versions of holiday sangria there are? Can’t we just pick up a bottle or two of wine?”
Marcus kissed the top of her head and hugged her close. He loved this woman. If it couldn’t be perfect she wanted to do something different. But this time, less than perfect would just have to do.
She took a deep breath and snuggled closer into his embrace.
He felt more than heard her mumble something against his chest. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
She groaned against him, “don’t make me say it again.”
Marcus chuckled, “oh I’m going to make you say it. I can honestly say I didn’t hear your words.” He had a good idea of what she said, but making her say it again was always fun, since he knew they were words she very rarely said.
“Ouch,” he brought his hand from her waist to his chest to rub where his cheeky wench bit his nipple through his shirt in protest. “You know paybacks are a bitch, right?” She tried to twist out of his one-armed embrace and he held her tight. “Oh no, you aren’t going anywhere.”
“Except we have places to be.”
“They can wait a bit. We still have drinks to make .” He walked Hermione back until she was pressed against the kitchen wall, his head dipped low to the soft skin under her ear and bit lightly, “now, tell me what you said.” He continued to nip and kiss at the sensitive skin along the side of her neck and throat.
Hermione’s head tipped back, her body melting into his, and her hands gripping his shoulders. “You want me to say…oh, yes, right there.”
He pulled back, and he’d swear she actually whimpered. “You know.”
She reached up and tangled her hands in his shoulder length hair and pulled his head back down to hers. “I don’t care what I was saying, I need you to keep kissing me.”
Marcus grasped her around the waist and lifted her so her hips were level with his and she was pinned between him and the wall. “You make me crazy, woman!” His lips claimed hers in a crushing kiss.
A shimmer of apparition had them turning their heads and drawing their wands at the intruder.
It took Blaise a half a second to raise his hands in surrender. “You two must fight as well as you fuck, considering it looks like you were minutes away from fucking anyway.”
Marcus rolled his eyes and tucked his wand away. Hermione was less inclined to do so. Marcus pushed her arm down to her side, “you don’t want to hex him, luv.”
“Are you sure? I really think a sting wouldn’t hurt him too badly.” She rotated her hips against his grinding against his still present erection. “We could just knock him out for a little while.”
“By all means, continue what you were doing. I’ll just grab a brandy and wait.” Blaise chuckled as Hermione flicked her wand and sent a highball glass sailing towards his head.
Blaise ducked his head to the side and tried to catch the glass, except it sailed past his head and his hands and smashed against the wall. He turned to look at the debris, “damn, that would have hurt.”
Hermione squirmed against Marcus in an effort to go show Blaise what hurt looked like. Damn him, he had to go and interrupt and she was horny now and wouldn’t be able to satisfy that need prior to Adrian’s party. Marcus pressed his body closer into hers to stop her moving, he whispered into her ear, “if you don’t stop that, I will take you here with Blaise watching.”
Hermione dug her heels into Marcus’ arse, “promise.” She felt his cock twitch against her sex and smiled.
“Blaise, leave!” Marcus growled.
“No can do, mate. Adrian sent me to get you two and the holiday sangria. Though, why he needs a special wine, I’ve no idea.” Blaise started opening random cabinets in the kitchen. “Where do you keep your food?”
“I fucking hate him right now.” Hermione grumbled as Marcus lowered her to the floor. “We will finish this later.”
“Absolutely.” Marcus kissed her thoroughly before reluctantly stepping back. Marcus shifted his focus to Blaise, “the food is in the pantry, asshole. What do you want anyway?”
“Ades is getting antsy and wants to get set up. The two of you were taking forever, according to him, and I was sent to retrieve you. You’d think he’d never proposed before.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. Blaise was truly an idiot some days. “That is because he hasn’t.”
Blaise shrugged, “that makes sense then.”
“If you’re going to be here, you can help.” Hermione stated firmly as she started pulling ingredients from the cabinet and the fridge. “Grab the crystal decanters from the closet under the stairs. The large ones, not the small ones.” She attempted to head off any questions. “Marcus, I still don’t know which recipe to use.”
Marcus laid his hand on her arm, “we’ll make it up as we go. You have the cinnamon, oranges, and cranberries, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good, I’ll grab the bottles of sangria and cider.”
Blaise came back from the hall with a box of decanters. “These?”
“Yes. Set them out on the table and we’ll fill them as we mix.”
Hermione set to slicing oranges while Marcus placed a handful of cranberries in each of the decanters as Blaise set them out. The cranberries in the decanters were for decoration, they wouldn’t add anything to the flavour. The cinnamon and cranberry simple syrup she made yesterday would provide that flavour.
Once she was done slicing the oranges she handed the bowl to Marcus to add them to the decanters. She wanted each decanter to be identical as there would be one per table. In a large pitcher she combined the sangria bottles and the cider, stirring carefully as she poured in small amounts of the cinnamon-cranberry syrup.
“Marcus, taste this please.” She held a spoonful out to him, “is it too sweet?”
“Needs just a bit more, the cinnamon isn’t really detectable yet.”
“Can you add a cinnamon stick to each of the decanters?”
“I got it,” Blaise hollered.
“Thank you,” Hermione called back. She added another cup of the simple syrup to the mixture and tasted it. That was much better. “The wine can be added to the decanters now.”
The boys set to filling each of the decanters as Hermione went to change her clothes. She wanted a shower to calm herself, but that would have to wait until after the party. She sank down on the side of the tub and breathed a heavy sigh, she still wasn’t sure the holiday sangria was right or what Adrian wanted. But she did her best, and apparently that was good enough. Hermione hated it when she couldn’t do something perfectly, it was a serious flaw and she knew she should let it go. Easier said than done.
“Now that is a sight I love to see,” Marcus admired her nearly naked body and once more wished they hadn’t been interrupted.
“You love me more when we’re naked.” Hermione attempted a smile.
Marcus kneeled in front of her, his palms resting on her bare thighs, “I love you, every day, all day, naked or clothed, depressed or happy, I love you.”
“I love you too,” tears started to form in her eyes.
Marcus took the edge of his shirt and dabbed at her eyes, “now listen here, you did an amazing job and Adrian will appreciate that. Amelia will appreciate that. We are going to celebrate with them and then I am going to come back here and ravage you until you feel better. Even if that takes days.” He kissed her lightly and helped her stand. “Now, which slinky dress can I convince you to wear?”
“I’m not wearing anything slinky, I’m going for elegant.”
Marcus had to smile and the defiance in her tone. There was his Hermione, stronger than she knew. “Well then, I guess we should get dressed.”
*~*~*~*~*
The white tent was situated about 10 metres from the edge of the Ij in the beautiful Diemerpark. Muggle fairy lights were strung all throughout the event tent giving an elegant ambience to the setting. Hermione directed Blaise to set one decanter per table, coordinating with Luna as to not disturb the centre pieces. Marcus went to see Adrian and keep him calm. They’d received his patronus 10 minutes early and in the shortest of terms, Adrian was freaking out.
Adrian and Amelia’s friends and family had started to mingle and gather waiting for their hosts to arrive. Only a few of them knew that this was more than a Christmas celebration.
“Luna,” Hermione greeted her friend with a hug, “it’s lovely to see you.” Luna hugged Hermione in return and stared out over the Ij. “Are you all right?”
“Quite.” Luna smiled, “I was simply thinking that it’s a shame the Aurora Borealis is typically not visible in Amsterdam. It would be a wonderful addition to the evening, don’t you think?”
Hermione smiled, “It would. Perhaps we’ll get lucky and it will be extra strong later on.” Hermione felt Marcus come up behind her and wrap his arms around her. She couldn’t help it, she smiled.
“What are you ladies up to?”
“Wishing for the Aurora Borealis.” Luna answered.
“How’s Adrian?”
“Nervous, but ready.”
“I guess we should get in there then.”
Marcus kept Hermione close, unwilling to let her go just yet. “We can watch from here for a moment.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
They watched from the sidelines as their friends gathered, talked, laughed, and enjoyed a beautiful evening. They enjoyed holding onto one another as Adrian, in the middle of the gathering, got down on one knee in front of Amelia. Hermione teared up just a little as Amelia flung herself into Adrian’s arms before he could even ask the question. The answer was certainly an obvious yes. As Adrian slid the ring on Amelia’s finger Hermione glanced up at her husband and had to smile even more. The Aurora Borealis was dancing across the Amsterdam sky and lighting up the Ij.