A Very DV Wedding

A Very DV Wedding

Harry was frantic; he couldn't find a pair of socks.

Today, out of all the days in which going sockless was an option, he was suffering from a sock deficit. Harry supposed that he was to blame for his lack of attire and not God, who he had been damning for the past half hour. In his haste to get ready for his wedding day, Harry had bribed Dobby into helping him get ready by furnishing the house elf with a steady supply of socks. A little too hasty with his giving, Harry was now barefoot and in dire straights. It didn't help that (while his feet were naked and vulnerable) chairs, table legs, and edges of carpet were now trying to exact revenge on Harry for sitting and walking on them for years. Perhaps the worst out of all of this was that his hair was no longer behaving itself and had decided to spontaneously combust. His tie was out of sorts, his belt was unbuckled, and he had ripped his sleeve on a stray hanger. All in all, he looked like a man possessed by the spirit of a caveman. Desperate, Harry made a valiant attempt at transfiguring two pens he had found into socks, but only succeeded in turning the pens yellow with pink polka dots. It was at this moment, when Harry had a crazed gleam in his eyes and was standing over the pens with his wand aloft, looking nothing less than a maddened sorcerer, that Hermione and Draco walked into the room.

"Harry, what in the world are you doing?" Hermione asked in a shocked tone. Harry, in a bewildered manner, immediately lowered his wand and sheepishly faced the pair. Draco seemed to be enjoying himself entirely too much.

"Have we interrupted something, Potter?" Draco asked sotto voce, his eyes flicking to Harry's state of undress and dishevelment. Harry blushed and was about to start forming excuses before realizing something.

"Hey, what are you two doing here? We're not supposed to see each other before the wedding!"

"I know, but I just had to see you before the ceremony," Hermione said, her arms spread in a beseeching manner .

"How does that explain him being here?" Harry asked, jabbing a thumb irritably in Draco's direction.

Draco grinned hugely. "Fashion Auror. Your hair looks like a messy sombrero and I only hope that you aren't intending on prancing around barefoot."

"I was trying to transfigure a pair of socks and I am crap at transfiguration, so there are my socks," Harry said in a crazed rush, motioning to the pair of festive pens. Draco snorted once before moving over to the two pens and waving his hand over them. The two pens became a matching pair of white cotton socks with a print of yellow ducks and a small hole in the left toe. Harry raised an eyebrow and picked up the socks, gazing at them prospectively.

"Kinda kinky," he said in a decided manner and a slight smirk on his face, sitting down on the edge of a chaise lounge to slip them on.

"I need to talk to you alone, Harry," Hermione said. Harry looked up from his socks, turning his attention to Draco.

Would you mind giving us a moment? Harry asked, his face softening. Hermione stood between the two of them, feeling a palpable sense of awkwardness in the room. She wondered if the three of them could ever reach a point in their tangled relationship in which they could enjoy a comfortable silence because at the moment Hermione felt like asphyxiating. The two boys looked at each other, dark and light, night and day, before Draco (his face carefully devoid of emotion) nodded.

"See you guys out there," Draco said evenly. When the door shut behind Draco, Harry scooted over to make room for Hermione, who sat down. They sat in a silence for a moment, taking in the situation.

"Well, here we are," Hermione said, reaching out to hold Harry's hand in her gloved one.

"Your dress is beautiful, by the way." Harry's eyes raked appreciatively over the gown.

"Thank you. Can you believe that both Ron and Draco helped pick it out?"

Harry laughed out loud at this. "No, and I still don't believe you. I will need photo evidence and at least a dozen fingerprints attached to the dress."

"You think there are several fingerprints on my gown?" Hermione inquired, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Hey, you might be capable of keeping a huge secret like that from me," Harry responded, his face fighting a smile.

Hermione smirked and Harry thought that the expression suited her, somehow. "Well, there are very few fingerprints and you should believe me. So, am I still going to be walking with you down the aisle?"

"Yes. Draco and Ginny want to do it the same way, also. Oh, and I hired a bagpipe band for the reception," Harry said, his eyes alight with mischief.

"Oh, dear. Narcissa might just go insane."

"No, she agreed, but only for one song."

"And that song is?"

Harry nearly burst with laughter. "I May Be A Tiny Chimneysweep But I've Got An Enormous Broom."

"This sounds like quite the event, Harry Potter," Hermione said softly, squeezing Harry's hand tighter. They basked in the other's company for a while, feeling positively full of happiness.

"To tell you the truth, I'm completely frightened," Harry said, his words betraying the stoic look on his face. Hermione squeezed his hand gently and smiled warmly.

"Don't be scared. We'll make it through this. There is very little that even you could do to mess up this day. You'll see." Harry put her hand down gently and smiled brightly, cheering up in the matter of seconds.

"I just can't wait to see the look on Narcissa's face. I hope she doesn't disown me already."

Hermione looked at him in an 'oh come off it' manner. "With a son like Draco, you have very little to worry about."

***

The wedding was to be held in the Manor gardens. Still wanting to play the diplomat of Malfoy Manor, Sirius had invited everyone he thought that Harry or the Malfoys knew, which turned out to be quite an immense amount of people. Over a thousand guests were present to witness the event, and that thousand was the shortened version of the invitation list. The wedding party were to wait in a gazebo blocked by hedges until they were called. Harry was chatting animatedly with Sirius before Ron appeared, looking smart in blue robes.

"Can I talk to you Harry?" Ron asked, motioning outside the gazebo. Harry nodded and accompanied Ron to a small clearing.

"So, big day and all," Ron began, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"Seems to be. I heard you and Malfoy picked out Hermione's dress."

Ron's face turned into a scowl. "Yeah. Malfoy's a right bastard, all right. Did you know he charmed a sign to my bum that said, 'Fancy A Shag? 10 Knuts'. It was completely immature and irresponsible of him."

"Somehow I think that Hermione those words and that you just wanted to get him back."

"He could have at least upped the price a bit." They descended into a thoughtful silence. Ron shook his head as if physically making himself remember what he was there for.

"Listen, we're still all right, you and me?" Ron asked, his eyelids lowering.

"About what exactly? I for one will never forgive you for transfiguring my underwear into a Niffler."

Ron smiled hugely. "THAT was bloody brilliant. Though I didn't know that you had galleons in your pocket."

"And the Potter lineage was in dire peril that day..."

"And it triumphed. No, I meant...with Hermione and all," Ron muttered, looking elsewhere but at Harry.

"Ron, after all we've been through, do you think that I would have risked so much for someone who doesn't matter to me? Draco once told me that we don't stop caring for people just because they do idiotic things. Real friendship isn't like that."

"Malfoy said all that?"

"Yes. Underneath that rough and arrogant exterior beats the heart of a fluffy kitten."

Ron smiled. "So, even now, we're all right?"

"I mean, I know that it's awkward and everything given our recent past, but are you still okay with it?"

"Oh, come off it. I can take anything you throw at me. Well, except maybe for Millicent Bulstrode."

Something occurred to Harry. "Did you hear anything about Neville and some Pulsating Peonies?"

Ron blinked. "Can't say that I have." Harry looked strangely relieved. "Anyways, I think I can handle it. After all, I've been through a lot worse. Did you know that the Dark Lord licks dice?"

"Did lick dice, Ron. Did lick dice." Harry clapped him on the shoulder. Ron smiled, this time in completely relief and Harry felt that, even with all that fate had both shown and dealt Ron, that he was the most secure out of any of them. "Better hurry of you'll have to sit next to Rhysenn."

Ron fled.

***

When the wedding party came out, everyone stopped talking and stood up from their seats to watch the two couples walk towards the altar. A symphony played on as Harry and Hermione walked in one aisle while Draco and Ginny walked in the other, both couples smiling at the crowd. When they all reached the front of the assembly, both girls leaned in to kiss their escorts cheek before going to sit in their seats. Hermione sat beside Ron, who threw an arm over her thin shoulders, and Ginny sat beside Seamus. Harry and Draco clasped hands as they met at the altar. The music ended when the two boys faced Dumbledore, who had been chosen to conduct the ceremony.

"Dearly beloved," Dumbledore began, a twinkle in his eye as he spread out his arms in welcome. "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of Harry James Potter and Draco Thomas Hephaestus St. John Vivian Augustus Malfoy, III, Esq. In holy matrimony. Today is an especially joyous day as the two men before me have overcome physical, mental, and emotional obstacles in their tumultuous lives to be here today to outwardly demonstrate the love that they so rightfully share. Love, thought oftentimes cruel and detestable, is at its center a beautiful and powerful emotion that can shine light in even the darkest of nights. Now I shall step aside as they said their wedding vows."

"Draco," Harry began, obviously nervous but ever determined, "I know that whatever I have to say will probably sound really stupid because I don't have the gift of articulation or eloquence that you have. But I know how I feel and what I feel is that you are the most important person in my life. For a long time I couldn't understand why you meant so much to me. I thought, he isn't a friend, because he means something different, and he isn't nothing to me because I know that without him I am not me. I spent so much time thinking about what you were to me that I took you for granted. All that time spent and the answer was right under my nose. It wasn't there from the beginning, but it grew, this utter dependence on everything about you. I didn't know how I felt until you weren't there anymore. I remember sitting in a bookshop after I left Hogwarts and how I remembered then the summer before when I missed you and I found you over a great distance and it felt like being in the dark and suddenly finding a light. You opened your mind to me and suddenly I was flying with you, flying like I had never flown before. I know now why that moment was so important to me. It was important because it was like finding something lost, like a childhood memory that you suddenly remember out of nowhere and it turns out to be the sweetest memory you've ever had. I love you, and I promise that will never forget that memory or any other memory of what you mean to me."

Draco had lowered his head at the end of this, clearly overcome with emotion. It surprised those in the audience who knew him, who knew that Draco never cried but that this was probably the closest he had ever come to crying. He finally raised his head and was once again composed.

"When I was thinking of what I was going to say today, I did what anyone desperate would do; I asked Hermione." The audience laughed loudly at this, none louder than Hermione herself. "She told me that all I had to do was tell you how I felt about you. That, I told her, would take up most of the afternoon. So instead I have decided to tell you some things that I don't know myself, a considerably shorter list since I have impeccable reasoning abilities. I don't know when I sorted out how I truly felt about you. I suppose some of us have huge, cataclysmic epiphanies and others just know without giving a name to it. It is only with the ability of hindsight that we can point out specific events and say, 'there it was, right there, that's when this happened'. One time, when you got completely pissed and I had to carry you back to Hogwarts, Ginny took off the spell I cast to make you lighter, thus making me drop you. I got mad at her, and she told me that I could have just cast a Mobilicorpus spell on you and that the only reason I was carrying you was to impress Hermione. The truth is, I had no thought of impressing Hermione. I had even thought of a Mobilicorpus spell, but I dismissed it and wanted to carry you myself. I do completely ridiculous, embarrassing, and oftentimes damaging things but am unable to help myself wherever you're concerned. Somehow you have always meant that much to me, and I think I've known for a long time how much I needed you. But never had I imagined that there was such a thin line between friendship and love of a more romantic sort and how, if you looked at it in the right direction, there was no line at all. I spent so much time trying to draw a line between us that I never realized that there was no line, only a depthless range of things. You are my enemy, my friend, my lover, my brother, a stranger, but above all else, you are everything. I promise to never believe in anything but your word and I will never, ever, let you dress yourself." The crowd laughed appreciatively, Sirius cat-called, Hermione's laugh hitched on a sob, and Ginny just rolled her eyes (Only Draco could say something so romantic and then end it with something like that.).

Dumbledore beamed down at the pair of them. "And now, exchange rings," he prompted, folding his hands behind his back. Harry hastily pawed at the front of his coat while Draco waited patiently, his ring already poised between two manicured fingers. After Harry located the ring and wiped a bit of lint off of it, they put the rings on each others fingers, flinching only a little as a flash of white light swept over the lawn of Malfoy Manor.

"The rings are made a lot like the Epicyclical charm," Hermione whispered excitedly to Ron, "The rings can only be taken off by the other partner or they come off whenever the other partner dies."

"Hermione, love, pay attention," Ron said, patting her hand affectionately.

"And now," Dumbledore announced happily, "You may kiss your partner." Draco looked prepared for this. Before Harry could lean forward, Draco had spun Harry into a dip and kissed him. Harry clung on in confusion until he realized what had happened and kissed back with gusto, kicking his aloft foot gently from the force of it. The assembly erupted into an amused frenzy and many made cooing noises that children make when two adults kiss. Finally having enough, Draco righted Harry and smirked at Harry's even messier hairdo and red face.

"Guh," Harry managed, wobbling a bit on his legs.

Draco looked extremely pleased with himself. "Good to see that you have dispensed of the lip gloss."

"Was that really necessary?" Harry asked, brushing himself off. "You do know that there are some people in this audience who are disturbed just by us pecking each other on the cheek, right?"

Draco looked unrepentant. "Professor Snape has plenty of alcohol he can drink at the reception."

***

The Manor ballroom was decorated, if possible, even more lavishly than Harry's seventeenth birthday party had been. After the feast, everyone pored into the ballroom and found that they had been suddenly transported into an entirely different world. Fairy lights lit up the cavernous room and the ceiling which had been enchanted like the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Gold and silver glitter shimmered as it stayed suspended above the dancers, always falling but never resting. As promised, a bag pipe band had kicked off the reception with a rendition of "I May Be A Tiny Chimneysweep But I've Got An Enormous Broom', the remix. Narcissa had taken it all in good stride and only slightly bitch-slapped Sirius later on.

As the night wore on, Harry and Draco found themselves at the bar.

"You aren't going to order a Mai Tai, are you?" Harry asked serenely, rifling jovially through a selection of colorful drink umbrellas.

"No, but I still like it," Draco said, flagging down the bartender. "I'll have the Luck of the Irish, my good man." The drink was passed to him and Harry raised his eyebrows at the concoction. The drink was pale green with deeper green swirls and was capped off with a shiny green umbrella. Harry was going to inquire about it when Draco nodded at someone across the room. Harry looked through his line of vision and was surprised to see Seamus Finnigan as the recipient. Seamus was dressed in expensive-looking dark green robes and was dancing gaily with Ginny, who was dressed in a nice red number.

Draco raised his glass in salute and sang robustly:

Though all the boys were gay

Chaste and pure she shall not stay

The minstrel boy has finally come to her aid

Now Ginny can finally get some play

Harry gazed at Draco first in awe and then skeptically. "Somehow I get the feeling that this apparent truce with Seamus is not an entirely noble gesture on your part."

Draco bristled indignantly. "Why, I am insulted! Could I have not simply decided that he is an upstanding, witty and accomplished bloke who deserves my unerring respect?"

"You wanted to keep that dragon statue he gave you for Christmas, didn't you?"

Draco scowled. "I found out that if you tug its back leg a bit, it flies for about an hour."

Draco, mon petit!" A voice cried. Draco turned and smiled as he saw Fleur dressed in silver silk. "Come over 'ere and introduce me to your friends!" Standing on either side of her was Blaise, dressed in a black dress that Rhysenn had probably picked out and Malcolm Baddock, who was looking at Draco as if wanted to both punch him in the face and eat him alive. Harry thought that Malcolm was just really vicious.

"Excuse me whilst I charm the masses," Draco said, walking towards the group. Harry leaned back against the bar, sighing in contentment.

"Harry," A voice said, startling Harry. Standing beside him looking nervous was a young man that Harry was sure that he had never seen before. He was around Harry's age and looked like a typical Londoner from all appearances. Thinking it was one of his admirers, Harry absentmindedly rubbed a hand over his scar.

"Erm, hi," Harry answered, feeling awkward and just this side of idiotic.

"I'm sorry to bother you like this, but my name is Nigel and I would like to congratulate you on your marriage."

"Well, er, thanks." The guy named Nigel leaned close to Harry and handed him a small, brightly colored package. He leaned close to Harry, a twinkle of amusement in his eye.

"Every Flavor condoms, compliments of the Midnight Club."

Harry's jaw dropped open in shock and realization, but before he could say anything else, Nigel lost himself in the crowd. Draco had returned just then and seated himself next to Harry, giving him a sloe-eyed look.

"So," Draco began, practically delirious with delight, "Have there been other men besides me?"

"I'll explain later. Preferable after I've had a few drinks with Snape."

"Every Flavor condoms," Draco proclaimed, snatching the package from Harry. He unceremoniously opened the package and picked out one mellow orange and one yellow condom. "So, are you a melon man or a banana man?"

Harry smiled mischievously, reached into the package, and brought out a paler yellow condom. "I'm a lemon man myself." Harry ran a bold hand up Draco's thigh before leaning in and kissing Draco moistly. The lights suddenly went out and a few people screamed. The ground started to tremble ominously and suddenly there was a sound like the sound before an explosion, the sound made as an atom bomb sucked in air before exploding. There was no explosion, but the sound resounded through the room and then there was a bright light, a light brighter than a white emergency room, a light that left no shadows behind. Harry and Draco were startled out of the kiss. As abruptly as it happened, so did everything return to normal. A few seconds went by in stunned silence, everyone adjusting to normal light and the silence. Everyone eventually stared straight at the two newlyweds.

"All I can say is don't hang around for the honeymoon," Charlie intoned, raising his glass in a toast. Everyone laughed and resumed their activities.

Draco looked like he had come to a decision. "Let's dance," he said, jumping lightly to his feet and holding out a slender hand to Harry.

"I can't dance," Harry said apologetically.

"And I hate to dance. Match made in heaven, I always say." Harry smiled brilliantly before taking Draco's hand in his, both hands so similar that they might have been made from the same lump of clay.