A night to remember (Rich and Bri)

[Richard Romain]

Richard apparated into the prepared apparation zone across the street from Wizarding Florence's finest restuarent, Il fiore di Firenze. The flower of Florence. And, true to it's name, the typical Florentian building had rose bushes growing along the outside of it. The line outside the restuarant was long but Richard wasn't worried about that. He'd booked in advance, made sure they were to be treated as VIPs and, just to be sure, Richard had bribed the doorman earlier.

The reason he was waiting for that he was waiting for Briony to appear. They'd both agreed to dress up for the occassion, to mingle with the high class clients the restuarant was famous for. To that end they'd decided the first time either of them would see the other's outfit would be when they met up outside the restaurant. Richard had taken a look in his closet at the time before selecting an armani suit, just because it was high class and fitted with the others to be honest. Although this was a wizarding restuarant, the Italian wizards paid as much attention to fashion as their muggle counter parts.

((Richard's suit - ))

[Briony Romain]

Briony finished getting ready in their home and she patted her hair, she was wearing one of those small black top hats, and she had decided well in advance what dress she was going to wear because she had had it custom made in advance, just to show off to the clientele that would scrutinise her upon entering.

Sighing happily Briony grabbed her clutch bag and hurried outside of the house in her massive high heels that she had also had custom made, but began to wonder if they were a mistake, shrugging she closed her eyes and she apparated with a small pop outside the restaurant.

The air was warm, fragrant, and the atmosphere a perfect mix between electric and lulled, just how Briony liked it.

Brionys heart caught in her mouth as she saw Richard, in his suit, he looked so wonderful, so handsome and she just stared at him for a moment before walking slowly up to him, her dress hugging her body and her eyes framed with intense black eyeliner, and paled with make up.

"Hello Sexy." she purred

(Briony's Dress: )

[Richard Romain]

Richard turned when he heard the pop, having been waiting patiently for only a minute or two for his lovely wife. Of course, when he saw her in her outfit he had to remind himself that they were in public and as such ravaging her was not deemed a suitable way of greeting her. Her dress hugged her body in all of the right places, her eyeliner and make up framed her face and highlighted her eyes beautifully. And her legs... the dress stopped high enough to show plenty of leg while also being just long enough to be considered tasteful. The little top hat was a nice touch as well but his attention was mostly focused elsewhere.

Thanking god he was wearing that aftershave she liked. He licked his lips as he looked her up and down again, this time to show her he was eyeing her up as well,

"Mmm... looking at you I'd say you were the sexiest one out of the two of us." he replied as he wrapped and arms around her shoulders and kissed her lightly on the lips, restraining himself, "I promised you the best lasagna I could. And so here we are to get it."

[Briony Romain]

Briony, if she couldn't control herself, would have blushed so badly when Richard eyed up her body in the outfit she wore and she too did the same to him, she let her eyes softly wander all over his body, nicely shown off by the tailored suit that he was wearing and she almost purred.

When Richard pulled her close, licking his lips Briony knew they were up for some fun when they returned home later that evening, resting her head lightly on his chest before twirling herself away from him with a teasing look on her face.

"You flatter me my love, but tonight we are a respectable married couple out on a date."

Placing a finger on his lips Briony grinned and linked arms with her husband, walking arm in arm up to the door, having now mastered walking in these massive heels that almost made her as tall as her husband, which was saying something.

"We have reservations don't we?"

[Richard Romain]

Richard smiled as he received the same look that he'd given Briony. It made him feel as if he'd made the right choice when he selected the suit, even if it did hug his ass to show it off a bit too much in his opinion. Seeing her twirl away with her teasing attitude in full swing, Richard smirked. This was going to be good fun,

"Well then my dear we'd best act all refined and restrained." he winked at her, "Ravaging your wife is not the done thing in public so I've already had to start on the restraint part."

Happily linking arms with his wife, Richard realised with a small, amused, smile that his wife was about the same height as him in her new heels. Richard smiled a little,

"We have reservations." he confirmed as they walked past the line straight to the doorman, "Il signore e la signora Romain."

The doorman smiled wide,

"Signor Romain! Un piacere." he greeted Richard, holding the door open for them. Nodding his thanks, Richard led Briony into the finely decorated interior of the restuarant. One of the waitresses greeted them before moving them over to a table for two not face from the main window, a bottle of white wine chilling in a levitating ice box. Richard pulled Briony's chair out for her and bowed his head,

"Si prega di sedersi il mio amore." he told her before pulling out a single white rose from behind her ear as she sat down, presenting it to her with a smile, "Per te il mio amore."

[Briony Romain]

As Richard lead the way into the restaurant Briony couldn't help but smirk as she glanced down at Richards ass which was very well displayed in the tight fitting suit trousers. Taking a moment to look around the restaurant Briony felt like she was dressed up in the exact wrong way, gothic when she should have gone pastel.

Not that she OWNED any pastel because it looked completely foul.

"It certainly is affluent in here, I already feel like a specimen under a microscope."

Smirking shyly Briony took the seat that Richard pulled out for her and she grinned as he pulled the Rose out from her ear, it was cliche, and it was so cheesy, but Briony loved it, and she placed the flower behind her ear.

"Gratzie il mio angelo, mi amore..." she whispered sensually

Briony sat up straight in the chair, legs crossed behind her, and she looked around, patiently waiting for the menu, and the wine list.

"So Richard, tell me, how are you feeling about starting term soon?"

[Richard Romain]

Richard chuckled lightly at her statement about the people in here. Yes, they were indeed the highest levels of the upper class. Richard wasn't used to moving around in this circle so he might have overdressed a tad. He smiled at Briony,

"The men are jealous of me because I have such a beautiful woman with me." he grinned reassuringly at her, "And the women are jealous of you because you have the figure and the natural good looks that these rich bitches spending thousands of galleons trying to buy."

Seeing that Briony had responded well to his move, cheesy as it was, Richard was glad he'd done it. He'd always known that Briony approved of certain cheesy gestures, as long as they were also rather romantic,

"Il mio piacere il mio amore..." he purred in return as he sat down in his seat. He smiled a little at her question about the coming term, "I think it's going to be eventful. Word is that there are a lot of kids with potential coming through to Hogwarts this year. Of course that's just the word about the purebloods. The half-bloods and muggle-born may prove to be just as impressive. How are you feeling about being in charge of the school at such a crucial time my love?"

The waitress who had seated them returned and presented them both with their menus before holding the wine list out for Richard. He shook his head and gestured at his wife,

"Lasciala scegliere." he instructed the waitress before smiling at Briony, "Order anything my dear, I have paid in advance for anything we order."

[Briony Romain]

Briony smirked, she knew that Richard was only flattering her but it was very very welcome, she noticed that the room was crowded and she looked around, to the surface there was nothing wrong with her but Richard should know that she was a little aprehencious.

"Well, that may be true but they shouldn't waste all that money when they could just go out and move their rich asses to do some exercise, just like I do, but then I guess I wouldn't look so good, according to you."

With that Briony scoffed as she looked around the room, there were some people looking in her direction, knowing that she was the Headmistress of Hogwarts, and therefore she was the object of intense gossip.

"This year is going to be hard. Id be a fool not to see that. But I can handle it I know I can, I'll need the help of my deputy and I have to go over the protocalls for spies that may infiltrate the school. What's going to be interesting is my development in the student club."

Briony grinned and pointed to a Rose wine on the list and then because she already knew what she wanted Briony asked briskly:

"To start with I'll have bruchetta, and then a lasagne, easy on the White sauce, and I will have a chocolate mousse for dessert."

[Richard Romain]

Richard chuckled a little. He too had been looking around the room and the thought of any of these rich snobs performing any kind of exercise was, quite frankly, laughable. Wizards and witches, when they were wealthy, used magic for everything. When you use it for literally everything it's little wonder that you lose your trim frame,

"Yes well I think the idea of exercising offends some of these people." he commented, rolling his eyes, "They do seem the type to have magic or servants do everything for them. I'm surprised some of them will be doing something as mundane as chewing their food without the aid of magic."

Richard was trying hard to ignore that fact that they were both receiving a lot of stares, glares and gawping expressions. He tuned it all out to listen to Briony,

"It will be a hard year." he agreed before winking, "But you're right... you'll come out running and master this job. Within the year Hogwarts will be spy-free and pumping out hugely talented soldiers and spies."

Richard chuckled as Briony rattled off what she wanted to eat. To be honest, he was sure that he could have rattled off the exact same list for her,

"I'll have some garlic mushrooms as a starter. Fillet steak as a main course with diane source. Medium rare but more rare than medium." he paused before shrugging and handing the menus back, "And a coffee for desert."

[Briony Romain]

Briony couldn't help but chuckle, she knew that these people here would love to have some sort of potion that allowed them to remain thin without exercise and who knows there probably was one, but there was also the knowledge that without it they'd turn as fat as they should be, where as she would stay thin. Well, toned. Not that thin.

"I agree with you, if there was a potion that allows them to run on automatic pilot they'd use it. You know, there's a new saying going around, 'Theres a potion for that.' there's a potion for everything! Hard work has been totally forgotten."

Fuming a little Briony was about to snap and tell all these people to politely fuck off and eat their own dinner when she heard Richard speak again, flushing lightly Briony knew that she could do it but it was going to be hard. It was nice to know someone appreciated it a little bit.

"Why thank you Richard, hopefully, thanks to Professor Smith the students will be taught only the best methods in order to defend our country. They must be reassured of the importance of this fact regularly. They need to comprehend the threat out there."

With that Briony smiled briefly at the waiter, eyes cold and flashing at him as he took too long to move off with their dishes, then the muttering started up again, Briony could hear someone muttering about the state of her dress.

"I realise why we never go anywhere crowded on dates now."

She grimaced and began to nervously tap her foot.

[Richard Romain]

Richard shrugged a little. He had been born into a comfortably wealthy pureblood family but that didn't really matter to him. No, his family had been what the muggles called 'health nuts'. They completely ran with the idea that magic was something that grew with physical strength when some russian wizard had suggeste it some 200 years ago,

"Yes well a potion is no substitute for hard work in my experience." he commented lightly, "To me, hard work still pays off. It's the reason I have a body to be proud of that can dodge as many projectiles and spells as I want it to after all."

Richard could tell that Briony had been close to turning around and verbally abusing half of the restaurant. Truth be told he wasn't far off doing it himself considering all of the leering that the fat men were doing in regards to his wife. If it were up to him there would be a lot of men in this restuarant who couldn't have children if they kept it up,

"Well Cobalt is a good teacher. He taught me for awhile after all. Not to mention you'll be teaching them how to fight as well. If they become even fractionally as good as you then I know they'll kick ass." he told her happily, "Yes we will show them the grave threat to our nation."

He smiled at her remark. It was true though. Neither of them liked going on dates to puplic places because they simply disliked a lot of people. Well... only idiots really. Just didn't help that half the world was populated by idiots. He held her hand across the table,

"Want me to put up a silencing charm around us?"

[Briony Romain]

Briony nodded, she was glad that she had married someone who had the same views that she did, there would be no short cuts in her household, even the food was made without the use of magic, much to Kayla's dismay, but she had gotten used to it in the end.

"You do have a very nice body that you should be proud of, I however, have been getting lax in my training because of all this paperwork, perhaps one day soon we should spar together again."

Smirking slightly Briony remembered the first time they had and she chuckled darkly;

"Just don't cut up grandmother again huh?"

With that Briony snapped back into hearing everything around her, even one comment that she was getting a bit too lose around the stomach and her eyes flashed, she almost sent a fist into the womans face before Briony noticed the state of the womans own stomach. Jealousy.

"I do so wish that people would keep their remarks to themselves, it is very annoying to hear the hypocrites talk...but I think that a silencing charm would be a good idea."

[Richard Romain]

Richard had been drilled as if he was a german muggle soldier, to make sure that, if push came to shove, he'd even be able to kill his enemies with his bare hands. It wasn't the only thing he could do with his bare hands either. He wasn't a bad cook either,

"Why thank you Briony. I do enjoy the fact that you enjoy my body." he replied with a wink before looking Briony up and down, "Your figure is still brilliant. As for sparring... well it's a good idea as long as you go easy on me."

He winced at the memory. He really hadn't wanted to hit her but his spellwork had been a bit... trigger happy in form,

"Yeah... I think I'll be avoiding that." he paused, "How about we do it in front of the students? Show them a good sparring match."

He'd seen her almost jump up and attack someone but he'd not been too concerned. After all, he didn't much care. Richard threw up some silencing charms around their table and the immediate area so they couldn't hear what was going on around them,

"There we go..." he smiled faintly, "Just you and me in this whole world now. And then food of the god! Lasagna!"

[Briony Romain]

Briony grinned, she enjoyed the fact that she was able to flirt with Richard safely now, it always had some element of being forbidden when they indulged in school, mostly because it could scar the first year children into never coming back to Hogwarts.

"Hmmm then I think that it should become a regular thing, we can give each other a different type of work out for a change."

With that Briony smiled softly, Richards expression said it all, he was still sore about that day, but in a way so was she, she was just glad that there was a lull in the anger so that Briony would forgive him. Yet that feeling was one shed rather not dwell upon.

"Oh? What a novel idea...I do rather like that, a proper duel, to show them just how good we are, and to illustrate to any spies just how dangerous we can be..."

Briony smirked liking this idea more and more and it grew evil as her thoughts grew steadily darker. However when the lasagne came all that was forgotten and she bit her lip, readying her knife and fork before beginning to eat very daintily.

"Damn this is good...Ohhhh..." she pouted "I can't be a slob like at home, I have to 'savour' the taste."

[Richard Romain]

Richard felt liberated. He was finally free to interact with his wife in any manner they wished when they were out of the house. He couldn't flirt with her at school because it scared the kids. As for outside of school, the British ministry was constantly on his ass either about giving information or accusing him of actually being a spy,

"Yeah I think we can both benefit from that." he smiled a little bit more, "Of course when you're in a bad mood we can do target practice with me as the target. I get to improve my dodging ability and you get to release the tension from the job."

The damage he'd done to the portrait had been repaired but it was still very much a touchy subject. Oddly enough it was probably him who made it so touchy. After all, he was the one who still reacted visibly when it was mentioned. He tried to clear his mind of it,

"Yes the students will have something to aim for if we show them a duel with intensity and power. Of course we can do it in both muggle and magical duelling. Show them how to fight best when without a wand." he smiled a little, "And we can have at least one professor ready and waiting for any spies. After all, they might attack when we're weakened. We might draw them out."

Richard rather enjoyed it when Briony ate lasagna at home because it was so in contrast with her daytime persona. He smiled a little bit and added another charm, this one taking longer than the others,

"And there... we... go!" he declared happily, "Charm that shows people what has been happening in the area over the past five minutes. So everyone will see you eating daintily while you actually just enjoy the lasagna."

[Briony Romain]

Briony was glad that she had a husband that seemed to understand her so well and she smiled widely as he said that she could do some target practice on him, hopefully with her spellwork as she had been neglecting that lately.

"You're so kind Richard, thank you, and I think that I might have to give you a few rewards if I do end up hitting you, which I probably will."

Once again, Briony was glad that she had a husband who actually thought on his feet and was constructive in what she wanted to do, after all, it was her goal to try and make sure that the spies within Hogwarts itself or the village surrounding it were killed as soon as possible.

"I like your thinking Richard, that is what they might do indeed, I think however that there should be some sort of teacher with good abilities watching out, not one who...is fair to say pretty mediocre, and we have a lot of those."

Feeling like she would like nothing better but to spring across the table and kiss him Briony smiled happily at Richard, picking up her fork and getting stuck into her food, taking a peice of all the layers as she ate.

"That's much much better, this is the way you eat a lasagne." she grinned

[Richard Romain]

He grinned happily as she agreed with him on the idea of using him for target practice. It was a good idea to him for two reasons. The first was that it would help Briony to relieve some of her stress. The second was that it would force his dodging to improve, something that he needed to keep improving constantly,

"Well it's no problem at all Briony. Anything to help you out." he smiled at her suggestion of rewards and nodded with a happy grin, "I'd love to be rewarded. After all, you give the best massages and there are other... more intimate, rewards."

Richard, having little to no faith in the abilities of people other than himself, Briony and Cobalt, chuckled a little bit darkly as he took a sip of his drink,

"So that means... Cobalt?" he joked lightly, "If you and I are duelling. Or you if Cobalt and I are duelling and so on. The other professors... I find their abilities and convictions lacking."

Seeing her happy now that she could eat the way that she enjoyed most, Richard grinned happily as she began to eat it properly. He ate his own food slightly faster as well,

"This is the way all food should be eaten Bri!" he chuckled a little bit, "Manners like the ones used here are like a form of torture."

[Briony Romain]

Briony was lucky to have such a loving husband who was even willing to let himself get beaten up in order for her to relieve some stress which she could have done on plates or something, or kept inside like she usually did until a killing spree was needed.

"Well then you shall get plenty of massages, I'll do it nice and proper like a massager would do it, candles, nice scented oils, some heat going on, all for you my love."

It was typical of Richard to suggest Cobalt, but he was the best for the job, Lolita was more suited to protection charms or slow out of range attacks which were only good if they were aware the danger was coming. Which they wouldn't be.

"Just so your mind is at ease love, I know how much you like your old favourites, being only one other person, who you actually trust."

Bring chuckled and soon she had half the lasagne down.

"Its a guilty pleasure eating like this here, I expect to be kicked out soon."

[Richard Romain]

Richard wasn't especially looking forward to being beaten and bled from spells (he wasn't someone who enjoyed pain after all), but for Briony it was something he was only too glad to do. And after all, the philosopher's stone would heal him to full health in a second,

"Well thank you Briony!" he told her with a grin, "That sounds lovely Bri! We'll have to buy up some candles and oils along with some basic healing salves or something yeah? Can't always use the stone after all."

He knew that there were probably other professors with skills but the reason he only trusted in those of Briony and Cobalt was because he knew their strengths a lot more than those of others. Richard smiled a little bit and shook his head slightly,

"Well since you put it that way... favourites shouldn't be chosen after all." he winked at her, "How about I protect the contestants from any outside attacks? Along with... Lolita is good at defence yes?"

Finishing half of his meal rather quickly, Richard sipped at his drink and smiled happily across the table at his wife,

"Yes well my charm work is good enough that we won't be caught." he paused before grinning cheekily, "I think."

[Briony Romain]

Briony was amazed that the promise of a massage was good enough for Richard, it wouldn't be for her, however she knew that if Richard asked her to train with him she knew she would, even if he could kick her ass in a most unpleasant way.

"Yes of course, some salves will be needed, just to make you feel tip top, after all we shall both be tired after it's over wont we?"

Smiling gently Briony didn't expect this from Richard and she blinked slightly at what he said, she didn't even think Richard had even met Lolita, let alone liked her or trusted her, so this was very surprising to her.

"Well then, this is unusual, but yes Lolita is good at defences, if we tell her, no German will pass through these Walls. She does the most wonderful guards with charm work."

With that Briony chuckled lightly and shrugged her shoulders, cutting up some more lasagne with her fork and eating it.

"Well, if they can see, screw them, they shouldn't be so nosy."

[Richard Romain]

Richard had toyed with the idea of training more seriously with his wife but he didn't want to push them to go all out against each other right away. If they built up to full on sparring then it would be gradually so that they could go at it hard and strong and still be loving afterwards,

"Yes I think we might be. Although..." he purred the last word and winked at her happily, "We might have to burn off our adrenaline."

Seeing that he'd surprised his wife he gave her a smile smile to show that he was trying to be more trusting, it was something he wasn't very good at and he wanted to change that,

"Well then that's good, I'll work with her on the defence." he smiled a little more, "I've heard good things about her. Thought I'd see if I should trust her. With your defence."

He grinned happily and nodded in agreement. After a few more moments he finished as much of his dinner as he could before pushing his plate away slightly,

"Ah... that was so much better than Italian food in british restaurants."

[Briony Romain]

Briony smiled, of course they would have to do it somewhere like the basement so that there would be no damage to the house, and if needed they would still be near help and medical supplies if things went really badly wrong.

"Oh I see...so a massage isn't good enough for you eh?" she smirked

Still really quite shocked at her husbands sudden idea to change his untrusting manners, Briony nodded, she knew that Lolita had excellent command over her work and that she wouldn't let him down, but if needed then they should meet beforehand.

"Well I think that's a great idea, you should go and have a meeting with her, you know just to see if you want to work with her, and, I'm a little worried she hasn't been out of the library in ages."

A few seconds later Briony's plate was clean and she was smiling, contented and full in her seat like a cat who had just drank a lot of cream.

"Wonderful. Now to enter, my lasagne haze."

[Richard Romain]

Richard would admit, in no uncertain terms, that the reason he wanted to do the training sessions in their basement was so that there was absolutely no chance that anything he could do would destroy something valuable. He'd learnt his lesson with the portrait of her grandmother,

"Well we'll see where our energy takes us shall we?" he teased back, "Who knows... maybe you will want a reward of your own."

It was rather unsettling for Richard, to have himself change his hard and fast beliefs on a whim. He'd decided, only a few seconds ago, that perhaps trust was not a bad thing. Others held it in a number of people and it only served to strengthen them. He smiled a little bit more,

"I'll have a nice little chat with her to be sure." he agreed quietly before chuckling, "Well I've not spent a lot of time in the library at all. Seems oddly fitting that I should go in to remove a book-lover."

Seeing Briony settle back in her seat, a clear lasagna dish in front of her, and a contented look on her face, Richard smiled happily,

"I take it you enjoyed it meine leibling?"

[Briony Romain]

Briony grinned softly, she knew that Richard tended to get a little bit, explicit sometimes, but there were some occasions that really just made Briony want to lie down with him and just snuggle together, as odd as that sounded coming from someone as cold as Briony normally was.

"Maybe my reward will be a candlelit session with wine in front of the fire, and a nice romantic sleep in bed, as opposed to your vulgar thinking."

Wondering what had made him change his views so quickly Briony bit her lip and thought for a moment, surely it wouldn't have been just been because of her would it? She hadn't even dropped any hints that she wanted him to change.

"I think it would be lovely for you to drag her out of there, she's not been right since I fired Frank I don't think, I feel sort of bad...actually...no I don't."

Briony smirked and nodded her head as Richard asked if she liked the lasagne, it definately was yummy, she would have to come here again.

"It was georgeous, now, will we be having any dessert? I'm sure I could go for some chocolate mousse or pavlova."

[Richard Romain]

Seeing his wife grinning, Richard smiled widely in return. He always loved it when he did something that made Briony smile because whenever she did her eyes would light up and he would know that the world was a good place. At her suggestion, Richard smiled softly at her,

"Well now that sounds lovely." he said honestly, happy that they would do something so romantic, "I do enjoy our vulgar activities but sometimes just holding you is what I want so I think that would be the best reward ever."

Richard had changed his views since coming to the country. It was something that was born both of his love for Briony and out of necessity. He had to adapt and becoming more trusting for Briony so she didn't feel like he was constantly being suspicious. He smiled a little bit,

"Yes I'll try to get her out of the library. After all, it's not a very friendly place." he chuckled a little bit, "Personally? I'm glad you fired the guy. He was... well creepy."

He chuckled a little bit and waved his wand a few times, taking the privacy charms down long enough to signal a waitor,

"I'll have some ice cream please." he turned to Briony with a small smirk, "Decided my dear?"

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