As this is my hundredth fic, I am entitled to get sappy here.
Wow, I can hardly believe I've made it this far. Thank you. Just thank you to everyone who's been here with me along the way, whether a reader, a reviewer or a friend. How fitting that my hundredth fic, as well as being my first happy story (OMM!) for my favourite couple in the Harry Potter fandom, should be the Christmas present for the truest friend of them all.
So, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, Emma! (EmmaLupinCutterCullenWho) I hope Santa brings you all that you desire, but this fic shall obviously be the best present, methinks ;)
the light that falls upon your face
"Sir, I'm sorry, but as a legal halfbreed the Ministry is not allowed to give you this certificate," the wispy-haired man behind the glass partition droned. It seemed he had given the speech many times before.
"Sir, with all due respect, I need that certificate," Remus said as politely as he could. "Not only does it entitle me to Ministry protection, it entitles me to a legal marriage. My fiancée and all our guests are ready, I just need this certificate."
"I'm sorry, sir, I really am," the man said, irritatingly cool. "But my hands are tied. I can't officiate this certificate and that's my final word on the subject. Good day." He pulled a curtain down and vanished from view, leaving Remus to slam his fists onto the counter and walk back to the small wedding party, shaking his head sadly.
"It's not fair!" Ginny exclaimed before anyone could get a word out. "The whole bloody system's corrupted!" She turned with beseeching eyes to the adults behind her. "Is there anything you can do?"
"Nothing, I'm afraid," Kingsley explained gently. "If the Ministry official won't give Remus the certificate, there's nothing more we can do."
"Oh, this isn't fair!" Tonks whined, stamping her foot. "We're all ready, I've got the dress, you've got the robes, Molly's organised the food and my parents have come down. If there isn't going to be a wedding-"
"I know a way," Moody muttered, his magical eye rolling to look at Remus and Tonks. "Have any of you heard of hand-fasting?"
Most shook their heads, but Arthur and Molly nodded. "We officiated one ourselves when we were seventeen," Arthur recounted with shining eyes. "Thought we were so grown-up - ran away to Blackpool for the day and joined hands at sunset."
"Obviously, our parents caught us and made us have an official ceremony and invite all the distant cousins," Molly said laughingly. "But that hand-fasting is more sacred to us than marriage. The hand-fasting vows are a magical promise that binds you more closely than a piece of paper ever will."
"Yes, well, hand-fasting was very popular when Lord Voldemort reigned the first time," Moody continued. "Plenty of young couples like Arthur and Molly ran away to various places - I seem to remember Gretna Green being the most popular - and performed hand fasting ceremonies. It can be a trial marriage and legally-binding, but you need rings and for it to be as official as a normal ceremony you need someone with authority to officiate the bond."
"Kingsley?" Tonks turned to her mentor, the skirt of her dress swaying in the wind. "Do you have the authority necessary?"
"Not really, Nymphadora-" Kingsley began.
"We can have it officialised or whatever the word was after this war is over," Tonks continued in her wheedling tone. Behind her back, Remus struggled to hold back a laugh.
"Oh, alright, if only to stop your whining," Kingsley said. He offered his arm to the blushing bride and Tonks put a hand on it, the triumphant smirk not leaving her face even as he turned on the spot and they were plunged headlong into darkness.
Heavy rain poured onto their heads as they materialised in front of an unfamiliar building. The temperature was far lower than what it had been in England a moment before and Tonks shivered violently. Short wedding dresses of thin material were not made for torrential downpours.
"Welcome to Gretna Green," Kingsley said, grinning at Tonks' discomfort. "Thought we might as well give this wedding everything."
"It's f-freezing!" Tonks exclaimed through chattering teeth. "This is supposed to be June? I don't envy the Scots."
A loud crack echoed through the street and sent a stray cat running for cover as Arthur, Molly and Ginny materialized not a foot away, Arthur immediately opening an umbrella and sheltering his wife and only daughter beneath it. With a final crack, Remus, Moody, Ted and Andromeda arrived, none of them looking too impressed with the weather.
"Everyone inside before we get washed away!" Ginny shouted, making a dash for it. As a crack of thunder sounded overhead everyone followed her, Remus with his arm around Tonks, Arthur attempting not to stab himself in the eye with the umbrella handle and Kingsley still laughing at Tonks' expression and violent shivering.
After shedding wet coats and shoes, drying formal outfits with quick charms and Molly pouring everyone a share of tea from a flask in her handbag to warm them up, they were ready. Striped umbrellas upended by the door dripped onto the stone floor and made the only sound as Tonks silently took her father's arm and a tinny version of the Wedding March began playing.
Molly, Arthur and Moody sat on Remus' side of the church, all smiling at this radiant being with her bright pink hair floating down the aisle while Andromeda and Ginny smiled and wiped their eyes in a beautifully synchronised motion. The best sight, in Tonks' opinion, was Remus, standing by the famous marriage anvil with Kingsley standing tall and serious behind him. The smile on her husband-to-be's face had Tonks near to running down the aisle, resulting in plenty of light-hearted laughter.
"In the traditions of our ancestors," Kingsley began in his deep, level voice, as their guests sat and the music was stopped with the awful screeching of a needle being unceremoniously yanked from a record, "we are here in this moment to see a moment to see a bond that goes beyond the normal measure of devotion." Andromeda's quiet sobs echoed throughout the room and Ted slid an arm around her as their positively radiant daughter smiled up at the man who had never held her hand so proudly.
"We shall see here a magic like no other and a promise, nay, a vow, made that will never be undone unless the caster of the binding spell chooses to undo it for either of the consenting party's own sake," Kingsley continued, his words instilling a sense of foreboding in the hearts of the more pessimistic guests. Kingsley turned to each of the lovestruck couple in turn and placed a big but gentle hand on each of their shoulders. "Do you understand the meaning of your being here, with these witnesses, and the meaning and magic of your actions? If you do, say 'I understand'."
"I understand," Remus and Tonks replied in unison, never taking their eyes off each other.
"The hand-fasting shall now begin," Kingsley announced. "Please clasp each other's right arms beneath the elbow." Remus and Tonks did as their officiator commanded, him briefly caressing her wrist as a reassurance. "The rings, please." Remus took two matching gold bands that, if anyone would care to examine them closely, interlocked to form the words usque ad mortem, from his pocket and handed them to Kingsley.
"By these rings," Kingsley told them, "you are swearing that your lives are hereby tethered to one another, an unending circle that cannot distinguish where one life ends and the other starts, a single being in your marital connection. If you would swear to this, please exchange rings now."
Tears slid down Tonks' cheeks as Remus, his hand shaking, slid one ring onto her finger and she slid the other onto his. Molly and Andromeda wept loudly, Arthur, Ted and Ginny wiped their eyes and even Moody appeared affected by the emotion of the proceedings, though there was hardly a change in his façade. "If you have any words you wish to say for yourselves, say them now," Kingsley commanded, stepping back to give the couple a chance to speak their own words.
Tonks' mind was in turmoil. She dreamt of saying the traditional wedding vow words since she was three years old and watched her first soap opera wedding with her Muggle gran, yet she had to say something that encompassed the relationship between her and Remus as well. In the end, she compromised, whispering the words engraved across their rings then the traditional words. "Together until death. I do." Remus smiled at her, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, and repeated her vow.
"So romantic," Molly whispered, her voice filling the silence as she sniffed and dabbed her eyes. Ginny clutched her stomach and laughed silently to herself while Kingsley smirked and placed his wind on their touching wrists.
"Teneri," he murmured, and a ribbon of shocking scarlet burst from the tip of his wand, lengthening until it had wrapped twice around Remus and Tonks' forearms and tied their hands together. The tips kept travelling, hovering next to their hearts. Ginny squealed as, for just one moment, the ribbons were suspended in time, then the tips plunged straight through clothes and skin into hearts. The ribbons were hot in their chests, but Tonks and Remus had eyes for nothing but each other, still with hands clasped as the hand-fasting magic loosened its hold and the ribbons simply fell away, dissolving on the breeze that blew through the room.
"I know pronounce you wizard and witch," Kingsley said with a grin, stowing his wand away. Sobbing unashamedly and loudly, Molly and Andromeda stood, clapping for the newly-weds. Tears streamed down both husband and wife's faces as they stood silently for a long moment, gazing into each others' eyes.
"You can kiss her!" Ginny called to much laughter. Remus chuckled and kissed Tonks soundly. Too late for the poor young redhead, Ginny realised she had been very comfortable with the previous arrangement of knowing the ex-professor and Auror were dating but never seeing them kiss.
Making gagging sounds, Ginny turned away from the sweet sight of the newly-weds exchanging their first married kiss. Pulling out her wand, Molly whispered words unintelligible through emotion and sent white and red confetti over the couple. Pulling a magical camera from his pocket, Ted proceeded to take five pictures before the flash alerted his daughter and she turned to him, snatching the camera away before he could take any more incriminating pictures.
"What a beautiful wedding," Andromeda murmured, her eyes still red with crying as she stood on the pavement, holding an umbrella over her head and watching the newly-weds, completely oblivious to the simply disgusting weather, laughing and kissing, confetti still caught in their hair.
"And now back to our home for the reception," Molly said, extending her arm for Ginny to take. "Where it isn't raining." Everyone present laughed and disapparated one after the other with loud cracks.
A loud yelp of surprise came from Ron when Remus and Tonks arrived on the sunlit lawn still kissing and the young man turned faintly green and joined his younger sister in exclaiming about how people older than teenage years should never kiss quite so passionately, or 'ever snog' as Ron so crudely put it.
While the adults filled the garden with loud chatter and laughter, Ron and Ginny remained in their corner with a jug of pumpkin juice between them, pointedly averting their eyes from Remus and Tonks and both silently wishing they had someone to dance with.
"Gin, you want to dance?" Ron asked as they watched couples dancing across the grass.
"First of all, my name is Ginny, not Gin," Ginny scolded. "That's a Muggle alcoholic drink. Secondly, I'd love to dance, dear brother. Just don't step on my toes."
With that the siblings took to the dance 'floor' and proceeded to revolutionize the boring waltz by dancing the twist and various other dances. Molly shook her head fondly and most adults laughed.
In a private corner of the garden, where the gnomes roamed free, Remus and Tonks stood together, looking out across the golden patchwork of fields rolling along beneath the blue sky. Remus kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand.
"So when do I get my honeymoon?" Tonks asked, resting her pink-haired head on his shoulder.
"No honeymoon, I'm afraid," Remus said gravely. "I'm afraid the current climate is too dangerous."
"Danger-schmanger, I want my honeymoon!" Tonks exclaimed indignantly, stamping her foot. Remus chuckled and kissed her once, hard.
"Trust me, Mrs Lupin, the wedding night will more than make up for it."
OMM, I love these two :3
I borrowed a lot of words and the general idea of the handfasting ceremony from mew-tsubaki and her fic Heroic Tendecies. I hope you don't mind, Mew!
Have a Very Merry Christmas/Hannukah/Festive Season, everybody! Siriusly! ;)
Please do not favourite without reviewing, as it is Christmas and, in the spirit of giving, you should present to me some reviews.