Of Love and Promises

Harry left the jewellery store in Diagon Alley with a lot less Galleons than he had when he went in.

But hey, He thought, It's for a good cause.

In three days time it would be his and Draco's fifth anniversary and he really wanted to make this one memorable for the both of them.

He walked through the crowded street towards the ice cream parlour where Hermione and Ron were waiting for him, Draco couldn't come (He had a class at T.T.F, Teachers Training Facility). Harry found Ron and Hermione sitting at a table outside the parlour waiting.

"Hey guys" He said as he approached the couple, who had been together six years now.

Hermione looked up, "Harry!"

"Did you get what you wanted?" Ron asked,

"Yeah" Harry replied, holding up a bag that was so tiny hardly anything would fit in it.

"Cool!" Ron said, as Harry slipped the bag into another one which had 'Study Guides For Defense Against the Dark Arts' in. (Harry was also studying at T.T.F)

They spent the rest of the morning enjoying the mid July sunshine and eating their way through most of the ice cream the shop had. As the clock struck twelve Hermione, who was in the middle of telling Harry about her Charms course at T.T.F, suddenly paused and coughed very unconvincingly trying to hide a giggle. Harry hadn't really been listening to what his friend was saying, but he instantly picked up on Hermione's rather pathetic attempt to hide her laughter.

"Hermione? What's -" He began but he was cut of as a shadow fell on the table and a cool hand slid across his eyes.

"Guess who?" a sexy voice whispered in his ear.

Harry didn't respond to the question, instead he took the hand off his eyes and kissed the fingers.

"Hi Draco" Hermione said as Draco dumped his books down on the table and pulled up a chair next to Harry.

"Hey Hermione, Ron [He paused] Harry" He said kissing his lover on the cheek.

"I thought you had a class" Ron said.

"Yeah I did. It's finished. Professor Snape {A.N. He teaches at T.T.F during the summer} decided that we didn't need to know anymore on making poisonous potions' He explained, picking up Harry's spoon and helping himself to his Ice Cream.

"Sounds interesting" Harry remarked sarcastically, putting his arm around Draco's shoulders.

"I can't believe that we're still taking classes for potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, charms and care of magical creatures. Three years after graduation."

"Well' Hermione said, matter-of-factly, "You didn't have to go into teacher training."

"Yeah I know" Draco admitted, taking another bite of Harry's Ice cream ["Hey!" He protested. Draco just grinned at him and shrugged] "But I'm too lazy to be an Auror or an Unspeakable and I need a job so I thought, what the hell! Why not teach?"

"I'll second that" Harry said, raising his spoon as if it was a champagne glass.

"Here, Here" Ron chuckled following suit and clinking his and Harry's spoons together, while Draco took a sip of Harry's milkshake.

*****

Harry was exhausted when he got home that night. They had spent all day hanging out down Diagon Alley and it was more exhausting than it sounded. He pushed the door to his flat open and clicked on the lights as he made his way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of Sunny D (Florida Style), he didn't really feel like anything else right now.

He threw himself down on the sofa. And after a minute or two, trying to find the remote, he clicked the telly on. Restlessly he flicked through all the channels and after discovering that there was nothing on the wizard channels or the muggle ones he turned it off.

"I'm bored" he told himself with a sigh as he sat back on the couch. Almost as if on cue the phone suddenly rang, even though the apartment was a wizard one Harry still liked to have certain muggle things in it.

Harry pointed his wand at the phone,

"Accio Phone"

And it flew into his outstretched hand (Thankfully it was a cordless)

H: Hello

D: Hello yourself

Oh hi Draco!

What's wrong? You sound fed up.

[Harry sighed] I'm bored

Well... Under normal circumstances I would come over and we could find a way to get rid of the boredom but... [He paused, for dramatic effect] I can't.

No Fair! Why not? [Pouting even though he knew Draco couldn't see him]

You sound so cute when you're pouting.

How - How-?

Baby! I know you better than I know myself, of course I can tell when you're pouting.

True. Anyway why can't you come over? I miss you.

I miss you too. My mum's coming over with her sister. Probably to check up on me. Y'Know she still calls me her baby! I'm 21 for crying out loud!

[Laughs] You are still her baby though.

Hey!!! [Sounding offended] Whose side are you on anyway?

Don't take sides.

Aww. Come on, you know you're on mine really. [Knock on the door in the background] Mum's here. Gotta go.

Aww. Ok then. Tell your mum I said hi.

Will do. Love you.

Love you too. Bye.

Bye.

*Click*

******

Beep, Beep, Beep...

Harry rolled over in bed, groaned and sat up. He fumbled around on the bedside table for his alarm clock. When he managed to shut it off he reached out for his glasses and slipped on the designer frames. He had long since got rid of the round ones he wore for the majority of his time at Hogwarts. Yawning Harry grabbed his dressing gown and made his way to the bathroom.

******

Harry was walking from his car, which was parked in the student parking lot, to the T.T.F building. Books in one hand and his cell phone glued to his ear.

"Ok. So I'll see you after class. Meet me at the water fountain in the courtyard. [Pause] Love you too Dray. Bye."

He hung up and slid the phone into his pocket as he made his way in to the lecture room and took his seat at the back next to Christina. Over the past year Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione had all become firm friends with her.

"Hey Harry."

"Hi Christina. How are you?"

"Cool. You?"

"Same"

This was all their conversation consisted off because at that point their teacher walked through the door and began to give his lecture on the unforgivables.

"Today we are going to do an in depth study of the three unforgivable curses. The first one we are going to look at is the most lethal of all. [He paused] Now the killing curse requires a lot of magic behind it as well as will power. Unfortunately there is no spell or potion to block or reverse the spell. So it is perfectly understandable that no one in written history has ever survived the curse, except one person. And we all know who he is so I'm not going to embarrass Mr. Potter by asking him about it. [Professor Black cast a quick look at Harry but quickly started his lecture again.]...

Harry was collecting his books and notes at the end of the lecture when Professor Black called, "Mr. Potter. Could you please stay behind a minute?"

Harry made his way to the front of the class and followed the Professor through the door into his office.

"So Harry. How are you?" His Godfather asked.

"I'm cool Sirius." Harry replied looking at his watch anxiously.

"Don't worry I won't keep you long." He said with a chuckle.

"Oh. Good. It's just that I have to meet Draco outside soon."

"This will only take a second I promise. How is Draco by the way? Have you asked him to marry you yet?"

"Sirius!" Harry, said blushing.

"Sorry. I just think that you two make such a cute couple and you're perfect for each other. You should get married. [Harry blushed even more] Anyway, There is a work experience program running at the moment. It allows students to study teachers working at Hogwarts. And you will get a chance to teach a few classes yourself and study properly, while getting paid at the same time. I think you will probably be the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher here. What with all the stuff you know and everything. So I think you should go. What'd you think, Harry? Are you up for it?"

Harry thought about it for a minute and said, "Ok. I'll give it a shot!"

"Good! I'll send an owl to Moony and tell him. Say hi to Draco for me will you?"

******

Draco was sat on a bench playing a game on his cell phone. He looked up expectantly but Harry was no where in sight.

"Come on Harry!" He muttered under his breath.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

Draco looked up and found himself looking in to his boyfriend's deep emerald green eyes.

"There you are!" He said, standing up and putting his arms around Harry. "I was beginning to think you stood me up."

"Me? Stand you up? I couldn't do that." Harry replied with a chuckle, kissing Draco on the nose.

"Come on. Let's go. I'm starving."

*****

They were sat opposite each other in a Muggle restaurant called McDonalds, when Harry told Draco about the work experience thing.

"So are you going then?" Draco asked, pinching one of Harry's chips.

"Yeah do you mind?" He looked nervous.

"Of course I don't mind you going. Because I don't think I could stand another year at Hogwarts without you."

"Oh good. [What Draco had said just sunk in] Wait. What'd you mean?"

Draco looked surprised for a moment then something seemed to click, "Sirius didn't tell you? Honestly Harry did you think that they only ran work experiences for Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Well... actually. Yeah!" Harry admitted, "So does that mean you're going too?" He asked hopefully.

Draco just nodded and smiled as Harry took Draco's hand in his across the table and Draco pinched another chip.

*******

Draco's flat was exactly the same as Harry's. Except the ex-Slytherin was a lot messier than his lover.

Harry was stood in the hallway looking at the photographs on Draco's unit. Draco walked over to where Harry was stood and handed him one of the cups of coffee he was carrying.

"Thanks!" Harry said taking the cup off Draco and having a sip.

Draco slipped his free hand around Harry's waist and asked, "What's going on inside that head of yours?" He looks worried about something. He thought to himself.

"Nothing. You know that." Harry teased.

"Don't joke Harry. I know something's wrong." Draco said more persistently this time.

"Dray I promise there's nothing wrong at all." To prove his point he kissed Draco reassuringly on the lips.

*****

Much later that night or rather early the next morning Harry woke up and found himself in very warm and conformable place. At first he didn't realize where he was but then he turned over on his side and looked at his lovers slim, sexy body.

"He's so gorgeous" Harry thought out loud,

"You're gorgeous too." Draco said sleepily as he turned to face Harry. Harry was about to say something else but stopped as Draco's gentle breathing told Harry he had fallen asleep again.

An hour or three later Draco stirred in his sleep and reached out, trying to find Harry, but he wasn't in the bed. He groaned internally.

"Harry?" He called, hoping, praying that last night hadn't all been a dream.

"Hey sleepy head!" Harry said brightly as he came into Draco's bedroom carrying a tray with a cooked breakfast on.

"Hey! Food!" Draco exclaimed as Harry set down the tray, which had a plateful of fired eggs, bacon, sausages, beans and fried tomatoes, a glass of orange and a single red rose, to complete the romantic gesture. "Is this all for me?" He asked picking up the rose and smelling it.

"Of course it is. Just part of my way of saying Happy Anniversary, love." He said kissing Draco's hair.

"Part of? What's the rest of it?" Draco asked.

"You'll see. You'll see." He replied grinning mischievously.

Draco gave up asking questions and decided to dig in to his breakfast. He lifted the napkin up and gasped as he saw what it had been covering. Underneath was a small velvet red box.

"Harry, What-?" He stammered, Harry just smiled at his and motioned for him to open it. With hands that were trembling slightly he flipped open the box lid, revealing a silver band with two emeralds and a diamond on.

"Wow Harry!" Draco whispered.

Now it was Harry's turn for his hands to tremble as he took the box off Draco and held his hand.

Harry took a deep breath. "Draco, I have loved you ever since we first meet in Madame Malkins ten years ago. Even though we went through all those years at Hogwarts like we did, I knew deep down in my heart that we would end up being together, and I want to be with you forever. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, Draco will you marry me?"

"I - You - Me - Of" Draco couldn't manage to the string the words together to answer Harry. Instead he just nodded his head and he could feel the tears of joy trickling down his cheeks as Harry took the ring from the box and slid it on to Draco's ring finger, where it belonged.

Draco studied the ring on his hand for a moment, taking in how when he turned his hand slightly the light caught on the jewels reflecting beautifully, before turning his head and meeting Harry's lips in a fiery, passionate kiss.

Reluctantly Harry pulled away from the kiss and said, "Come on, hurry up and eat your breakfast. We're going out in an hour."

****

An hour later, when Draco had eaten his breakfast and they had washed and changed they dissaparated to The Leaky Cauldron.

As they walked down Diagon Alley, hand in hand, they started thinking about when to have to wedding and who to invite etc.

When they got to the Ice Cream parlour (Their favourite meeting place) Draco went inside and ordered then some thing to eat, even though he'd just had something to eat he was hungry again, while Harry found a table outside. Two minutes later Draco returned carrying two sundaes.

"Which do you want? Chocolate or strawberry?"

"Strawberry"

"Good" Draco replied, setting Harry's sundae down in front of him, "Cause I want the chocolate one."

They were almost done eating their sundaes when the rest of the group turned up.

"Finally!" Harry said, exasperated as Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Sirius and Christina all pulled up chairs at the table.

"All right we're here. Now what's so important that you wanted all of us here?" Asked Sirius, felling like he already knew the answer.

"Well." Harry began and Draco stuck out his hand, which he had been hiding under the table so far, making the ring visible for everyone.

"Guys! That's brilliant." Hermione squealed as she kissed Draco on the cheek and hugged him tightly, tears welling up in her eyes.

It was Sirius' turn to congratulate the couple next. "I told you, you two should get married didn't I? I glad to see you finally took my advice about something. Just don't go making me a Grand-God-Father too soon!"

This statement earned a sniffle and a sigh from Ginny. "Soz Ginny!" Ginny just dismissed it with a wave off her hand, "Don't worry about it Sirius."

Ginny had married as soon as she left Hogwarts, two months after finding out she was pregnant. To her boyfriend who was a year older and they had met up at Easter as this was the only time during the school year they could see each other. When she had the twins, Adam and Benjamin, Neville Longbottom, left her and ran off with a witch who was three years younger than him. She was devastated and never quite got over it. Although she found that burning the belongings he left behind to ashes and then owling him these ashes helped the healing process. She then moved back in to the burrow to be close to her parents if she ever needed them to look after the twins, which she often did need them for, especially when she got called into work unexpectedly. She worked for the Ministry of Magic now.

*****

Harry and Draco decided to get married before the school term started, which was when they started their work experiences and Draco said he wanted people to call him Professor Potter instead of Professor Malfoy, when they actually taught classes themselves. So they agreed that the date should be August 31st. That was only six weeks away, so they had a lot of work to do and needed any help there was.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius and Christina were all sat around Harry's dining room table helping write out wedding invitations. Suddenly Sirius spoke, "Harry. Draco. I know this is your wedding but would you mind if I invited a guest of my own and his wife and so- daughter?"

Harry and Draco looked at each other. Draco nodded, "Of course you can. Who'd you have in mind?" Harry asked, handing Sirius an invite and envelope.

"Um! I'm not going to tell you. I want it to be a surprise." He said scribbling down something on the back of the invite, "Hermione. Would you do me a favour?"

"Sure! What?"

"Apparate to The Leaky Cauldron with me?" He asked pleadingly. Hermione studied the look on his face and suddenly understood. She nodded, "Won't be two minutes guys!" She reassured everyone and disappeared with a small 'pop'. Sirius waved bye to everyone and also disappeared with a 'pop', leaving a room full of confused faces behind him.

******

Sirius re-appeared next to Hermione.

"Have you any Muggle money on you?"

Was the first thing he said to her.

"Some! I can't believe I'm doing this. If Harry finds out he'll kill us. You do realize that don't you? He'll kill us quicker than you can say Avada Kedarva." she said with a sigh, as they walked through the door, not out to the wall behind which Diagon Alley was but out into the crowded Muggle Street.

"Yeah I know. But he's not going to find out, at least not just yet anyway."

They arrived in the muggle post office and Hermione bought a first class stamp from the cashier as Sirius wrote the recipitants address on the envelope.

She looked around to make sure nobody was watching them and quickly affixed the stamp magically.

On the way out Sirius slipped the envelope marked....

Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

In the post box.

*****