Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Returning to Sanity	By : AchillesTheGeek Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 31212 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or films, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 77
- 78
- 79
78 Vows Given and Returned
As might be expected from a group of teenagers who had just received their final school results, the Eighth Year examinees had partied all afternoon and evening at Grimmauld Place, celebrating well if not wisely. When the twins had finished for the day, they Flooed over to join in, finding the party still in full swing. Deciding that everyone had more alcohol, and less food, in them than was good for them, they Flooed away and returned half an hour later with the latest Wizarding craze: Muggle take-away.
It did not take long for everyone to discover that an excess of alcohol and salty, greasy fast food are just as irresistible a combination to Wizards as it is to Muggles; and, as Fred had craftily laced the food with hangover potion, by the time everyone was fed, they were all feeling a lot better.
It was about this time that the Floo started chiming with anxious parents seeking their missing offspring; and so it was that by eight o'clock they were down to the 'hard core': Pansy and Theo, Blaise and Angelique, Neville and George, Hermione and Ron, and Harry and Draco. Harry insisted to all of them that they were very welcome in his house, and he expected them to stay the night. Indeed, when he learnt that Pansy was living with her parents, and Theo in a rather dingy flat with his cousin when he wasn't at St Mungo's, he insisted that they were to stay in Grimmauld Place until they found somewhere decent.
"Are you sure?" Pansy asked, her Slytherin sense of self-preservation rising to the fore as she went on to express concern that they would be putting him and Draco out and might cramp their style.
"Oh, we'll be perfectly all right," Draco smirked in reply, gaining a blush from Pansy.
When, in addition, Blaise and Angelique accepted the invitation to stay the night, the others happily fell in with the plan as Harry opened another bottle of elf-wine, and Draco dealt another round of cards.
So it was that Grimmauld Place was very full the following morning.
Friday 25 September
Hangover cures notwithstanding, the group had partied hard, and no-one was up before ten o'clock. The first person awake was Theodore Nott; this was hardly surprising as he had potions to take and exercises to perform. Once he had finished these, though, he decided that it was far too chilly a September morning to be up when you didn't have to be, especially when there was a nice warm Pansy to get back to.
"Mmmm," the lady in question said as he slid back into her arms. "Brrr, you're cold!"
Theo cast a small warming charm, and Pansy smiled as the delicious feeling of warmth returned to the bed.
"That's better," she sighed. "How is your arm today?"
"Actually," he said, "it's pretty good. The healers are quite astonished – they were pessimistic about me getting full use of it, but it's nearly there."
"Great!" Pansy replied.
"Yes," Theo agreed. "They don't really know why. One of the healers suggested it was because I was friends with Saint Potter."
Pansy snorted. "Yeah, right," she said sarcastically. "We can't give him the credit for everything!"

'Saint' Potter himself was awake as they said this. Having decided that he needed a cup of coffee, he had dressed and made his way to the kitchen, where he now sat fuming over the morning's Daily Prophet.
Draco, woken as the warmth left the bed, came down soon afterwards, and stood in the doorway. He could feel the irritation rolling off Harry in waves.
"What's up, love?" he asked gently.
Harry looked up, and smiled at him, though his eyes were still hard.
"It's this morning's Prophet," he explained. "It seems that our august publication had decided that, now that we have finished our exams, they get to publish whatever shit they want about us again."
"Oh," said Draco. "How bad is it?"
Harry handed him the paper, and Draco read for himself.
'OUR MASTERFUL SAVIOUR!' screamed the headline, and there was a photograph that Draco didn't recognise at all of Harry looking rather pleased with himself, not to say smug.
"Any idea when the photo was taken?" he asked.
"In the Ministry," Harry replied sourly. "On my birthday."
"Ah," Draco said, as he read the article, "yes of course. A photograph taken just as we were leaving, with you happy to be getting out of it, I suspect."
"Yeah," said Harry. "Shame it just makes me look smug."
"Hmm," Draco said, lost in thought as he stared hard at the photo. "Yep," he said, "it's touched. Father will have a field day."
"Really?" Harry said hopefully.
"Uh huh," Draco confirmed. "They're not allowed to do that any more. Ever since…"
"Yeah," Harry said, remembering the photo of the Malfoys that had been doctored to make them look positively villainous that had been published in the Prophet all those weeks ago.
Draco gave a sad smile, and read on.
Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, Destroyer of Voldemort, has demonstrated once again what an incredible person he is in his academic results, which came out yesterday, his results eclipsing even those of his friend, Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of the age, and those of his fiancé, Draco Malfoy.
As our readers will know, the Wizarding world usually awards passing grades of Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, and Average, while less successful candidates receive one of Poor, Dreadful or Troll. Accordingly, the best result is generally taken to be straight Os (all papers marked as Outstanding).
However, there is one other grade that is, very rarely, awarded: the Master grade, awarded to candidates whose work is so outstanding that it simply cannot be compared to that of other students. It is rare for this grade to be awarded: there are usually decades between awards. So you can imagine our surprise when we learned that Mr Malfoy had been awarded an M grade for potions; we were all prepared to rush out the bunting to celebrate until we learned that Mr Potter has received not one, but TWO M GRADES! This feat has never before been achieved by any candidate.
I'm sure that the Wizarding World will want to join us in congratulating Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy on their remarkable achievements, and wishing them well for the future; a future that includes their upcoming marriage, to be celebrated tomorrow. The Prophet hopes to print a page of congratulatory messages – please write in and we will publish the best.
"It seems they've got hold of our results. I wonder how," he said when he'd finished.
"They are public record," Harry replied.
"Yes," Draco agreed, "but not normally published. I can't see father or Kingsley standing for this."
"At least they didn't call you a 'former Death Eater'," Harry said, trying to look on the bright side.
"True," Draco remarked. But there was something else wrong, he was sure of it. Something about the article wasn't quite right. He would chat with his father; he would know what it was.

As the wedding was to be at three o'clock on Saturday, the rehearsal was, naturally enough, held at the same time on the Friday. As they didn't have much to do beforehand, Harry went to Swansea and had lunch with Dudley before Apparating them both to the Manor, where they met up with everyone else. Narcissa had asked him to Apparate directly onto the lawn, rather than into the house, and he supposed that this must be simply to avoid congestion; there was, of course, no difficulty for him to Apparate anywhere in the Manor as the wards had been made open to him. But when he arrived, he found a series of surprises awaiting him.
Firstly, the windows of the Manor were all curtained off, and the sickle dropped: Narcissa had had the whole party congregate outside as she didn't want them to see what was planned for the reception. So it wasn't a great surprise to find a table and chairs set out ready for them in the lee of the pavilion.
Secondly, said pavilion was no longer pure white; it was now very tastefully decorated with dark green and red bunting, with little animal figures charmed to move within it; silver dragons, and lions, happily playing together with golden lions and ravens. It took a moment to take it in, before he realised that of course the animals and colours had been chosen for them: lions for the two Gryffindors, Ron and Hermione, in both silver (matching Ron's robes) and gold (matching Hermione's); and a dragon for his Dragon and a raven for himself. He smiled to see it and wondered if anyone would get the references.
The next surprise was seeing Hermione together with her assistant. He had rather expected Ginny to do the honours, but instead, Hermione had Neville beside her.
"Wow, Neville," he said, "you're being Matron of Honour?"
The gorgeous Gryffindor giggled.
"No thanks," he replied. "I told Hermione I'd stand beside her, but as Best Man."
"And I'm standing with Ron, as Best Woman," a familiar voice said as Ginny appeared out of the Pavilion, followed by her brother.
"OK," said Harry bemusedly, turning to Ron. "So you ditched Percy then?"
The redhead winced. "Don't say that," he begged, keeping his voice low as he knew his mother might turn up at any moment. "I never asked him, so he knows nothing. It's just that Hermione got talking and we decided we wanted Neville and Ginny: but I couldn't ask Neville instead of Percy, mum would have a fit, so we decided Hermione could ask Neville and I'd ask Ginny."
"Good thinking. Though won't it look odd with Ginny as the only female attendant?"
"I think you need to learn to count, Potter," Pansy Parkinson said as she and Draco came up level with Harry.
"I thought you were asking Blaise?" Harry whispered to Draco.
The blond chuckled. "Ron and Hermione told me of their plans, and Pansy and I decided this would work well. I discussed it with Blaise, and he thought it would be a great joke to play on you."
Harry grinned. "All right," he said. "The joke's on me. So, Dudley, looks like you'll be partnering Pansy."
His cousin smiled sheepishly in return. "Yeah," he said, "I already kind of knew that."
"What?" Harry said to the others. "Dudley knew too? Oh, so you all kept it a secret from me?"
The others nodded vigorously.
"Bastards," Harry said, without heat.
"Pardon, Harry?" Narcissa asked as she, Molly Weasley and Margaret Granger came out, trays of tea and cake floating along behind them and then drifting off to settle on the table that had been set out for them.
"Nothing, mum," Harry said, ducking his head sheepishly, ignoring the small snorts that Ron and Ginny failed to keep in.
"I thought so," Narcissa replied firmly. "Now, shall we have some tea before we begin?"

They had their run-through; the only surprise there was that it showed them a rather unexpected side of the Hogwarts Headmistress.
Just before they began, McGonagall, presiding, ordered the three mothers out of the Pavilion and then seemed to take a rather sadistic pleasure in casting rather strong Privacy wards and Silencing charms over the whole room.
"Is that really necessary, Headmistress?" Hermione asked.
"Please, my dear, you're not in school now. Call me Minerva, or Professor if that's too much. And of course, congratulations to all my students; you all did brilliantly in your exams. I need hardly tell you, given the palaver the Prophet made about it this morning, that we were most shocked to see three M grades awarded in the same year; the average is more like one every two or three decades."
Harry and Draco blushed and mumbled their thanks to the Headmistress.
"Now, Miss Granger, to answer your question, no, I suppose it is not necessary; but those three ladies seem to be taking great delight in hiding their preparations from us, so I thought we could get our own back a little. Shall we begin?"

Once the rehearsal was over, Narcissa produced a very sumptuous afternoon tea for them all, and, as a light drizzle had set in, they sat around at little tables placed under the eaves of the pavilion, watching moist air falling lightly onto the lawn as if caressing it. At five o'clock, Lucius Malfoy came out, and apologized for not being there earlier, explaining that he and Arthur had been called into meetings at the Ministry all day.
"Ah," said Draco as Lucius took a seat at the table Harry and Draco were sitting at, "I remember; I had been meaning to talk to you about the Prophet article this morning."
Lucius groaned. "Please, not yet," he said, "I've talked about hardly anything else all day."
Hearing this, Hermione looked up, and came and sat with them.
"Have you found anything about the other issue?" she asked, softly enough that no-one at the other tables would hear.
Lucius looked a little lost for a moment; then his brow cleared, and he shook his head, a small frown coming onto his face.
"I'm afraid not," he said simply.
"Oh," Hermione replied, and the conversation seemed to have come to a halt.
"Um," Draco said, "what exactly are we talking about?"
Lucius sighed. Perhaps, he thought to himself, we should have discussed the Prophet after all. Aloud, he replied, "well, as you know, we have been looking into whether a male couple can have children. So far, we've looked at potions, or spells, or even the Parselmagic that Harry translated; and so far, we've come up with nothing."
"Oh," Draco said, with exactly the same air of finality that Hermione had just used. And indeed there didn't seem to be anything else to say: apparently that route was closed for them. They would have to adopt, or use surrogacy. At least they had Teddy, Draco mused.
"Right," said Harry. His heart was suddenly aching, and he decided they needed to move on. "And the Prophet?"
"There's a big stink brewing," Lucius replied. "The Wizarding Examination Authority is very cross that students' results have been printed publically; there is no precedent for that. The Ministry is very upset that you were referred to so blatantly even though it's still term time. And Goblins are incensed that the paper is being so disrespectful to you in not using your full title."
"Why would the Goblins care if I was called Lord Potter?" Harry asked, mystified.
"Dragonrider Goblin-Friend," Draco said, reminding Harry of the other titles that he held.
"Point," Harry replied, realising that indeed the lack of those titles did reflect on the Goblins, and showed the level of respect that the Daily Prophet had for the Goblin Nation as a whole, which is to say, practically none.
"Right!" Narcissa called brightly at this point, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Now, I understand that Lucius and Dudley have plans for you all this evening, so you'd better finish up and get ready to go."
"Are you not coming, Mrs Malfoy?" Ginny asked.
"'Narcissa', dear, please," Narcissa replied. "We're practically family now. No, we four ladies", she continued, pointing out Molly Weasley, Margaret Granger and Minerva McGonagall, as well as herself, "are staying put here in the lovely warm Manor, having a nice dinner and playing Gefoura while the rest of you are out in the cold and the rain having fun together."
"Gefoura?" Harry whispered to Draco; though he was overheard.
"It's a Wizarding version of the card game Muggles call 'Contract Bridge'," Hermione supplied helpfully.
"Oh", Harry said.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. Dudley had decided to take everyone out to all the fun Muggle things that the wizards knew nothing about: they found a fairground in the North with dodgem cars; and, making use of the possibilities of Apparition, he took them a variety of entertainment venues including ten-pin bowling, pin-ball machines, and pool tables. Dudley found it very rewarding to watch the child-like enjoyment of the wizards and witches when confronted with these Muggle entertainments; even Lucius had a great time, showing a surprising aptitude for shooting pool. Draco reminded him of their visit to the Hog's Head, where Lucius had proved to be an excellent darts player; clearly, his father had just the right hand-eye co-ordination for such games.
The sense of fun was infectious: even the other Muggles they met seemed to enjoy the spectacle, though they were very confused when Dudley told them it was a stag night. The idea of having two ladies along to a stag night was clearly bewildering to them; especially when they were told that one of them was the bride-to-be! Dudley decided not to try to explain that it was also a stag night for Draco and Harry; two men getting married was clearly going to be a step too far for their new acquaintances.
They finished up playing traditional Wizarding drinking games at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, where Aberforth Dumbledore, the landlord, had set aside a room for them. At Harry's insistence, Aberforth joined them, and he seemed to enjoy the evening as much as anyone.
As they were leaving, the landlord handed Harry a small parcel.
"I found these amongst Albus's effects when he died," he explained simply. "I think you should have them."
"Thanks," Harry said quietly, just as the group Apparated back to the Manor.

Out of respect for old customs, it had been decreed that the each of the four had to spend the night in separate house to their partner, a circumstance that Harry really didn't like to think about at all. It came as a shock to him to realise that, apart from being out cold in the Infirmary, he had not spend a night apart from Draco since before Ron and Hermione had gone to Australia back in May. He was not looking forward to it at all; neither, of course, was Ron looking forward to spending the night without Hermione, so they decided to retreat together with Dudley to Grimmauld Place.
Harry's biggest concern was that he might have a nightmare. The thought of having to cope with one without Draco there to help filled him with dread; another very clear reminder of how far their relationship had come and how much he had come to depend on his lover. Still, he thought, he hadn't had many recently, just the one last night; and he was very tired, and pleasantly drunk, so maybe he'd be all right …

Harry dreamed.
Once again he found himself, not in the graveyard, but instead, in his mindscape. This time, instead of sitting in the meadow, he was strolling through an orchard of trees laded with apples. The scent was strong and delicious, and a warm sun beat through the trees. The air was still and crisp, and just cool enough not to be unpleasant, while making the heat from the sun very welcome.
He was not at all surprised to look up and see someone else walking through the dark shadows cast by the trees.
"Hello," he said simply, then stood waiting for the other to respond.
"Hello," the other replied. "Fond of apples?"
"Some weeks they were the only fruit I saw," Harry replied truthfully, remembering back to his time at the Dursleys' house, though finding that it seemed not to sting any more. "Some weeks not even that."
"And now?" the other replied.
Harry smiled. "That problem is all sorted."
"Good," came the rather definite response.
They strolled around for a while, without seeming to get closer to each other; nor did Harry ever see the other's face.
"So," he said eventually, "are you going to tell me who you are?"
"All in good time," was the reply. "Sleep, now."
And, settling down in a soft, comfortable drift of leaves nestled at the foot of one of the trees, surrounded by a gentle red light with a tiny thread of silver that unaccountably made him feel very safe, Harry did.
Miles away in Wiltshire the thread of silver in the light was mirrored in Draco's room in Malfoy Manor by a thread of green and red light that wound around the highly-strung Slytherin and helped him, long after midnight, to finally get some decent rest …

Saturday 26 September
If Friday's Prophet had Harry fuming, Saturday's really got him hopping mad.
To be sure, it started off well enough. There was an obnoxiously sweet picture of him and Draco taking up a quarter of the front page; Well, it was bound to happen; and he could even overlook that it was surrounded by a pink bow and had love-hearts drawn on it. Especially as it was accompanied by an equally syrupy picture of Ron and Hermione; at least his wedding wasn't being singled out to the exclusion of theirs in today's Prophet.
And the accompanying article was written by Dempster Wiggleswade and was admirably factual. It was clear that the concerns that Lucius had mentioned the previous day had been articulated, and articulated forcefully, to the Daily Prophet staff.
Today sees the wedding of four classmates who each had an important role in the Wizarding War. Three of them worked together with unfailing zeal to destroy the Dark Lord Voldemort; while the fourth had to live with him daily, yet aided and abetted the other three in escaping from his clutches when they had been caught by Snatchers during the war. We here at the Daily Prophet are delighted to offer warm congratulations to the four, who are, as we have been reminded, the groom and groom: Harry James Potter Dragonrider Goblin-friend, Destroyer of Voldemort, Lord Black, Lord Potter, and Draco Lucius Malfoy, heir Malfoy; and the bride and groom: Hermione Jean Granger Dragonrider Goblin-friend and Ronald Bilius Weasley Dragonrider Goblin-friend.
The article did not upset Harry at all; he was in fact rather delighted that it put Draco in such a positive light. No, it was the Comments and Letters to the Editor that had him going.
To be sure, there were some pleasant little snippets, and for a moment he was pleased at the good wishes; but then he read one that said 'wishing our Saviour a happy day', and he suddenly realised that the Prophet had suddenly made it all about him again. And snuck in the 'Saviour' title. As he read on, his lip curled; there were letters bemoaning the loss of his bachelorhood; which by itself was fair enough, he couldn't expect that everyone would be glad he was marrying someone else; but they all seemed to say go on.
There were letters bemoaning that they was 'lost to us girls … to a man'; 'lost … to a Slytherin'; and, of course, the jackpot, 'our Saviour has now deserted us for a male Slytherin ex-Death Eater'.
And after the congratulations there were a clutch of letters filled with openly vitriolic attacks: 'how dare he marry a Death-Eater?'; 'a man marrying a man, it's just wrong!'; and plenty of speculation that he was cursed, under the Imperius, drugged with a love potion, or, his unfavorite, simply insane.
By the time he'd finished reading it, he decided there really was only one thing to do with it.
So when Ron appeared for breakfast a minute or so later, there was no sign of the paper at all. And there was a roaring fire in the grate.

At Malfoy Manor, Draco had a rather similar reaction to Harry's; though less so, for his parents had read the paper before him, and summarised the worst bits so he wouldn't have to read them.
"Why do they do it?" he demanded.
"I'm afraid prejudice runs deep, son," Lucius replied. "Think how hard it was for us, as a family, to discard those we had about Muggleborns."
"True," Draco said musingly, though he still fumed inwardly, and was rather grumpy for the rest of breakfast.
"Cheer up, Dragon," Narcissa said eventually. "It is your wedding day, after all."
"I know something that would cheer me up," he said slyly.
"And what would that be?" she replied.
"Give me a preview of the Reception area?" he asked hopefully.
Narcissa laughed. "Nice try," she said. "But you can wait, just the same as everyone else."

Headmistress McGonagall, punctual and precise as ever, started the ceremony on the stroke of three o'clock.
"Dear friends," she began crisply as a silence settled on the congregation, "we are gathered here for a very special and joyous occasion: the weddings of four very special people whom, I am sure, we all hold very dear. I may say that these weddings have come by perhaps more circuitous routes than usual. Over the years as a teacher, one gets to watch all sorts of elaborate courtship dances amongst the students; watching Mr Potter, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, there was a lot of feeling amongst the staff that something matrimonial would eventuate, though there was always some debate as to between who.
"But I think it became clear after the Tri-wizard Tournament that Hermione really only had eyes for Ron; and so, after a rather bumpy ride, it has come to pass. I may say to the two of you that a rocky courtship helps to prove that the love will endure hardship, a very helpful thing to enter the estate of marriage with.
"But of course, if their road was rocky, what shall we say about two young men who came from the two most opposed Houses at Hogwarts, and who seemed to hate each other cordially from the very start? Who had a relationship that involved baiting, and fighting, and conjuring serpents to fight; and that was just the first two years!
"Well, I think we can say that those two men have now realised that they are not so far apart. There are those who, even today, have let their disapproval of this bonding be made known, and describe it as false, as a sham, as a mockery of real love, and call upon us, call upon me, to halt this ceremony. What poppycock. We all owe Harry Potter an enormous debt; it is obvious to me, as I have watched them closely over the last three months, that their love for one another is as true as any couple I know. There is no mockery, no sham, no falsehood. And as the two couples come to speak the vows that they have written, I ask you all to stand to affirm both couples as they proclaim their love and unity."
At these words, the congregation rose to its feet as one, and spoke the words that were on the parchment they had been handed:
We, your family and your friends, affirm you Ron and Hermione, Draco and Harry, as you pledge yourselves to each other. We promise you our love, our support, a listening ear, and an open heart.
As the congregation sat down again, Ron and Hermione extended their wands, and McGonagall touched the free ends together and spoke over them a simple, standard spell of bonding, one that had been used unchanged for centuries:
"Today are these two come to bond together, bound in life, in love, and in magic. Today we witness their bonding, and call on Magic herself to bear witness and grant favour to this couple."
Ron and Hermione held hands, facing each other, and spoke the words that Draco had written for them. As they finished, they touched their wands together, and the enchantment flowed out, wrapping them in gold and silver light as they kissed each other.
And then, in their turn, the bonding spell was cast over Harry and Draco's wands, and they too stood facing each other, clasped each other's hands, and recited their vows:
"We stand here together, in the presence of our families and friends, in the full light of the sun, that all may clearly see that we proclaim now openly and proudly our love for one another, We are come here, and now, together in love, and stand at this point to celebrate our love and consecrate our union. Before we came here, we loved each other; when we leave here, we will still love each other. We came as two; we leave as one couple united in flesh, in thought, in magic, in life.
"Draco/Harry, I pledge myself to you as life mate. To stand by your side. Not in front of you, that you be the lesser, nor behind, to make myself lesser, but as two equals, standing together, supporting each other.
"So mote it be."
There was no time for them to touch wands; as they finished, there was an explosion of light around them as the familiar pattern of the Haussmann shield erupted in red, silver and green, swirling around them in a truly spectacularly beautiful display that had the entire congregation gasping in awe.

And finally, finally, once the ceremony was finished and everyone had been photographed with the two happy couples, Narcissa opened up the reception area and people made their way inside.
There was no doubt that it was worth the wait. Narcissa had joined together the two large rooms she had facing the garden, and created an fantasy world inside. The principal theme was white, with ribbons of gold and silver threaded through; but she had not confined herself to this palette, and there were red and green accents throughout.
As each guest entered the room, the ladies were greeted by small silver ingots charmed into the shape of swans, which gently led each of to her seat; while the same function for the gentlemen was performed by little owls charmed out of gold. But the little creatures did not seem to be in any great hurry; as they led their charges around the room, they would stop and chatter excitedly with one another, and the guests took this as a cue to, likewise, chat with one another; and by this simple artifice, many people who would ordinarily never exchange words with one another found, in the gaiety of the event, that they were actually quite enjoying getting to know one another.
When the guests finally sat down, they found themselves at round tables, eight seats to each table. In the middle was a stupendous creation from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes – decorations that had miniature fountains at the centre which sprayed out water in many colours which burst into intricate patterns before reforming and falling back into a bowl around the fountain. In the bowl were several water lilies, which circulated around, their petals performing an intricate dance and changing colour themselves.
"They're magnificent," Harry said to Fred, as he watched the intricate dance of water and flowers, light and colour.
"Yep," George replied. "But can you spot the pattern?"
Harry watched the flowers, transfixed, and then worked it out.
"Some of them are silver and gold; some of them silver, green and red. The colours of the bonding, and the colours of the Haussmann Shield."
"Exactly right, little brother!" Fred replied.
"Hang on," Draco, standing at Harry's side said innocently, as he pointed at some rather larger flowers amongst the pale lilies, "what about those ones? Why are they blue?"
The twins bent over to see the flowers that he was pointing at.
Big mistake.
The flowers sprayed water all over the twins; and the water changed their hair and skin colours, and at the same time their robes.
Before, they had been the epitome of respectably groomed businessmen, though wearing rather loudly coloured suits.
But now, their suits had been charmed to be the most staid cut and dark black colour imaginable.
Making a rather violent contrast with their shocking violet hair and pink skin.
And thus was Lucius Malfoy revenged for his blue hair.

The reception was easily the event of the season. Not, of course, that it had any competition to speak of; none of the pure-bloods had yet got back into the habit of hosting the large formal gatherings that were the common round of high society life before the war, a fact that Narcissa was trying her very best to remedy. Everyone was in the best of spirits; even the two babies, Miriam Granger and Teddy Lupin, seemed to have caught the general air of joy and happiness, and managed to hardly grizzle the whole evening, despite staying up rather later than usual.
The food, largely catered by Molly Weasley, was magnificent; champagne and wine flowed freely, courtesy of Peter Granger and Lucius Malfoy; and the chatter and banter flowed. Even the speeches didn't seem to dampen the general air of fun. Once the meal and the (mercifully short) speeches were out of the way, the twins came up to Lucius to compliment him on his excellent prank; at first, he was wary, but in the end he agreed to sell them the spells and techniques he used.
Harry smirked as he got to watch Lucius doing the political maneuvering he loved so much, and did so well; but his enjoyment had to be swift as the bridal party rose for the obligatory cutting of the cake. After that, a string quartet came in and struck up the bridal waltz, and the two couples began to dance together.
They spent perhaps twenty minutes on the dance floor, being joined by many of those present; and then Narcissa, seeing that Harry was enjoying the dancing a lot less than Draco was, gamely cut in on them and waltzed her son by blood across the floor, allowing Harry to wander off.
Draco was not entirely surprised to see his husband heading, not back to their seats, but to the table that where Margaret and Andromeda were supervising a very excited pair of toddlers. As soon as he got there, Harry took charge of Teddy; the little metamorphmagus was obviously chuffed to see him, because he stopped trying to make his hair go the same colours as the fountain, and it went black and messy just like his godfather's.
Draco smiled. Harry was so good with them.
He would make a wonderful father, a thought strayed across his head, and he winced.
"Dragon? Are you all right?" Narcissa asked, concerned.
"Ah, yes, quite well; but let's just sit for a minute, shall we?"
They took a seat at one of the empty little tables Narcissa had dotted around the room so that people could move around as they wished and not feel trapped to one seat.
"It's Harry," Draco admitted, looking over at his husband.
Narcissa followed his gaze. At first, she was mystified: there did not appear to be anything the matter with their Raven; indeed, right now he had Teddy on his lap clapping as he held Miriam up and was blowing raspberries on her tummy. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
And then it hit her.
"Children," she said cryptically.
"Exactly," Draco replied. "Father said it's probably not possible."
"Oh Dragon," she said, great sorrow in her tone.
"Yes," he replied, bleakly. "There is one thing though."
"Yes?" she asked.
"He knows that too, and he still went through with it."
And Narcissa understood exactly: Harry was so generous, he wanted Draco so much, that he was prepared to give up the hopes and dreams of the thing he probably wanted most: a family.
"We do have Teddy," Draco pointed out.
"Yes, but he needs so much more," she replied. "It's humbling that he's prepared to let us be that more."
At this point, Lucius came and sat beside her.
"What's up?" he asked, concerned that they were having what looked like an overly serious conversation in the midst of a very joyous gathering.
"Harry wants Draco more than the chance of a family," Narcissa said, unafraid to hit the point dead on.
"Yes," Lucius said, understanding at once. Then he smiled. "We'll just have to be the family for him. All of us."
He turned to his wife.
"May I have the pleasure of the dance?" he asked, with perfect pure-blood politeness, and they wandered off to join in the foxtrot that the band was playing, while Draco wandered over to talk to Harry.

With the two boys – they would always be boys to her – watching Teddy, Andromeda had no problem accepting Horace Slughorn's invitation to dance, especially when Draco assured her that she was by no means too old to dance, and they needed her to show the young ones how it was done.
"Impertinent brat," she said with a smile as she got to her feet. "You're one of the young ones yourself, after all."
Peter Granger also took the opportunity to invite Margaret to the dance floor, and so Draco and Harry had that most rare thing at a wedding reception: a moment for the newly-wed couple to sit and regroup, without having to talk to anyone.
Draco could feel the sadness in Harry, but didn't know how to bring the subject up. Happily, Harry did it for him.
"I love you, my Dragon," he said simply, as he cuddled Teddy to his chest.
"Enough to not regret …" Draco said, the thought unexpressed.
Harry gave him a sad smile.
"Honestly? My heart aches," he replied. "I wish I could have you, and our children. But I've got you, and we'll have Teddy, and maybe adopt others."
Draco looked at his love, unshed tears in both their eyes.
"Thank you," were all the words he could get out.
And then the real world caught up with them: Miriam made her presence known in a loud and smelly way. The two men laughed at each other.
"Why were we wanting children?" Harry asked, and, knowing he was putting a brave face on things, Draco played along.
"No idea. Where's the changing mat?"

The evening finished with the now obligatory Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes fireworks display. This one seemed to feature animals: there was a dragon, a pair of tigers, an otter, and what looked like two dogs, one small terrier and one medium-sized Labrador. The twins were quizzed on what they represented; but their only answer was that those who needed to know would work it out.
On behalf of the Malfoys, Grangers and Weasleys, Lucius then thanked everyone for coming, and had them stand in a circle as the two bridal couples went round and bid everyone 'fair wells and happy spells', as was the old pure-blood custom.
"And now!" he said finally, "the honeymoons!"
Oh crap, Harry thought to himself. He had not thought at all about what would happen tonight; he had just assumed they'd stay at the Manor, or maybe go back to Grimmauld Place. Whatever Draco wanted, really. But it seems the matter had been decided by more far-sighted heads.
"It has been left to me to arrange these," Lucius continued, "so here you are!"
He handed a slightly bewildered Ron and Hermione a small bag and, as the two of them grasped it, whispered 'Portus'; and suddenly they were gone, as the port-key activated.
"Wow!" Harry said. "Um, where have you sent them?"
"That's my little secret," Lucius said; but Draco leant and whispered in his ear, "they're at our cottage in Wales. Molly and Margaret thought that would be much better than somewhere swanky for them."
"I see," Harry replied quietly. "So we're going somewhere swanky, then?"
"You've no idea," Draco smirked, as Lucius handed them their port-key, a long cane rather like his snake-headed one, and Harry felt the familiar pull like a hook in his navel as they were whisked away.

Harry looked around him. He was in a large lobby, the walls clad with white marble, the floor covered with a plush dark-green carpet. The whole room screamed 'expensive, classy and tasteful'; it was probably the last place he would have thought of, but watching Draco walk up to the reception desk as though he owned the place, he could see that his Dragon was in his element, and he smiled with joy to see his husband's eyes shining.
"Come on, Harry!" Draco called, and Harry roused himself from his reverie and came to the desk to sign in.
"Bonjour, Monsieur," the concierge said, "et bienvenue à l'Hotel Malfoy."
Harry looked at him blankly, and the man repeated in English,
"Good evening sir, and welcome to Hotel Malfoy."
Harry smiled at him. "Thank you," he said, as he realised that this must be either the Malfoy's chateau in France or the hotel in Italy that they had been talking about, so Draco pretty much did own the hotel.
"You are most welcome," the man replied, his eyes twinkling. "I wish you a most pleasant stay. I 'ave put you in the Presidential Suite," he said, turning to Draco and handing him keys. "Your luggage is already there. You can call for a house-elf whenever you need anything; breakfast will be served on the patio attached to your suite."
"Merci bien," Draco replied, and, taking Harry by the arm, he led him to their room.

"Harry, come to bed," Draco called. "You can explore some more in the morning."
Harry, who was wandering around the enormous suite, his eyes wide in wonder, cut short his exploration and did as he was bid.
The two lay close to one another in the hotel's enormous bed. The tension that had been building all day was so strong it was almost physically real. Draco gripped his lover and longed to soothe all the heartache away. After a long, slow, sensual massage, he asked Harry to make love to him, a request Harry was eager to grant.
There was a new passion in their lovemaking tonight. Harry hadn't been expecting anything; after all, they were already a couple both because of the bond inspired by the Debt of Magical Emancipation and by their own choice. But somehow the fact that they were now bonded together formally did make a difference. It was as if they truly belonged together, as a single unit, now. Every touch felt like they were being drawn together. That they belonged together.
It was heady and exhilarating. The sheer tension of the day melted away in the face of their mutual longing for each other, and a joyous peace came over them as they reveled together in their manifest need to be together. They kissed each other, and their kisses were like fire, burning love into each other. They caressed each other, and their hands moving across one another felt like water, cleansing the skin, bringing new life and vitality.
In the midst of the fire and the water, their love-making itself began, and magic swirled around them, celebrating their union. As they came to their climaxes, the feeling of oneness was palpable, and a wave of euphoria and certain trust in each other flowed through them.
It was slow, and sensuous, and rewarding, and wonderful, and as Harry cast a wordless cleansing charm and cuddled up to his husband, he knew that, somehow, everything had changed. Even the ache he had carried since the previous afternoon's revelations seemed to be smaller, unimportant now.
"I love you, my husband," he said simply.
Draco, overjoyed to hear Harry say that, kissed him deeply; and then the Raven fell into deep, blissful sleep.

Draco lay beside his sleeping husband, listening to the easy rhythm of Harry's breathing. His heart ached too; he only hoped that somehow he had taken some of Harry's, that Harry would hurt less now. He realised once more that he truly loved Harry Potter with all he had.
That he would do anything for him.
If only I could give him children.
"Would you really, if you could?" a voice asked from the darkness.
He wasn't sure if he was awake or dreaming. Probably the latter; because somehow he wasn't frightened at the thought of a strange intruder in their bedroom who could read his thoughts. Yes, he thought.
"You have to say it." the voice replied.
Draco stiffened. Admit it out loud?
"Yes. I'd do anything for him. Anything at all," he finally managed to say; and finding, as he said it, that it was true, and that he meant it with all his heart.
He was not surprised when he saw a red light curve around his belly. The sudden sharp pains made him wince, but Harry didn't stir. And then the bedroom was dark and quiet again, and Draco knew nothing more until the morning.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Grateful thanks as always to the wonderful Bicky Monster for helpful suggestions.
So now it’s official – Harry and Draco are married, and Hermione and Ron. Just what will come of these last events remains to be seen …
Other locations: See my profile for details about facebook and AO3.
Thanks: To all who are reading! And double thanks and Molly Weasley’s extraordinarily good wedding cake to those who reviewed chapter 77.
See http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/56042-review-replies-for-returning-to-sanity/ for review replies.
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Returning to Sanity