It was a bright summer's day and Bella, Remus and Severus were stretched out on a rug next to a calm lake enjoying the sunshine. The only things which spoilt this picture of carefree relaxation were the heaps of magazines and parchments that surrounded them.

*Do we really need all of this?* Remus asked as he ducked a pile of magazines that Bella had just summoned without even glancing up from her notepad.

Severus looked up from the parchment on which he had been recording a long list of names as Bella dictated them to him. *We routinely organise the lives of several hundred children and not too long ago we defeated the greatest dark wizard to arise in centuries – after that you'd think a wedding would be easy!* he grumbled.

*If we're going to do this, then we're going to do it right!* Bella declared. *Besides it could be worse – we could have family!*

The three of them shuddered simultaneously, remembering the chaos that Megan and Filius' families had caused at their wedding only a few months earlier.

*It's a wonder the church is still standing!* Remus commented. *At least we know where Megan gets her temper now though.*

*OK, enough. We need to stop discussing their wedding and start organising ours,* Bella declared. *Now, we've sorted out the outfits and the ceremony so we just need to agree on the other participants and the guests. We need someone to officiate, an attendant each, four representatives of the elements, and … No I think that's everything actually.*

*Well, let's start with the celebrant,* Severus thought. They looked at one another and then all thought the same name.

*Albus.*

*OK. That was easy. What do we need next, Bella?* Remus asked.

*We all need an attendant to stand up with us, tell everyone how wonderful we are, and pass over the rings and such at the appropriate moments. I'm going to ask Megan,* she informed them.

*If you didn't, I would,* Severus thought. *However, since she can't do two things at once, I'll ask Minerva instead.*

*I choose Sirius,* Remus added, glaring at his future husband when he groaned. *Play nice, Sev.*

*I read somewhere that one of the traditional sacrifices to Hecate is a black dog,* Severus thought casually and then ducked as both his lovers threw cushions at him. *I was joking. And people say I don't have a sense of humour! You two are taking this far too seriously.*

*You think I'm taking the most important day of my life too seriously?* Bella queried. Her voice deceptively calm as she slowly and clearly enunciated each word.

*No,* Severus denied hurriedly. *No, of course not! I just … That is I …. So what else do we need to decide on?*

*We need to choose someone to represent each of the four elements. Water for emotions, fire for spirit, air for mind and earth for body. I suggest we have Filius to represent water and then each choose one of the others.* Remus and Severus both nodded in agreement.

*We could ask Rolanda Hooch to take the role of earth,* Severus suggested.

*I want to ask Harry to represent fire, but I don't know how he'll react when he discovers we're holding it at Samhain,* Remus said.

*I'm sure he'll be OK about it,* Bella thought. *Why don't you go and stay with Sirius and him for a few days and discuss it with them. Then while you're doing that, Severus can talk to Albus, Minerva and Rolanda and I'll visit Megan and Filius. I want to ask Hermione to take the final position if the two of you agree.*

*I'm sure she'll be delighted,* Severus thought. *Now let's see if we can come up with the first draft at least of a guest list.*

*Ugh, no, let's not.,* Bella sighed. *We've been at it for two hours now and that's enough wedding talk for one day even for me! I need to blow away some of the cobwebs with a nice long flight. Do you two want to come or are you both going to disappear into the study or the laboratory with your respective summer projects?*

*A flight sounds like fun,* Remus thought. *Sev?*

*Why not?*

Bella put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly, causing both men to jump. Two house elves immediately came scurrying out of the house and across the lawn.

"You is wanting us, ma'am?" one of them asked.

=I need you to take these things back to the library for me. We're going for a flight. We'll be back in time for dinner,= Bella signed.

"Very good, ma'am," the second elf answered. "Is you having any special requests for dinner, ma'am? Sirs?"

"There is being a full moon tomorrow, so we is thinking a nice steak for Master Remus," the first elf added.

=Steak sounds great, Tibby,= Bella answered. =Sev and I will have salad with ours, Remus probably won't!=

"Very good, ma'am," Tibby said nodding his head. As the two house elves gathered the things together, Bella, Severus and Remus summoned their brooms and took off.

Remus apparated into an alleyway in central London and headed for the expensive looking apartment block opposite. He was stopped in the lobby by a smart-looking security guard seated behind an imposing reception desk.

"Can I help you, sir?" the guard asked.

"My name is Remus Lupin. I'm here to see Sirius Black. He's expecting me," Remus said.

"Very good sir. I'll just call up for you. Won't keep you long," the guard said professionally. He dialled a number and waited for a moment. "Ah good afternoon sir. I've got a visitor here for you, says he's expected." The guard paused. "Yes that's right sir." Another pause. "Very good sir." He replaced the receiver and looked up again. "You can go up, sir. It's the …"

"Top floor," Remus interrupted. "I know. Thank you." He headed for the lift and hit the button for the penthouse. When the doors opened again he was practically dragged from the lift by the young man who was waiting for him.

"Remus," Harry exclaimed, hugging him. "How are you? We've missed you. How long are you staying? Did Sirius tell you he's asked Bill to move in?"

"Harry, Harry, calm down," he laughed, disentangling himself from the enthusiastic young man. "One question at a time. I'm fine. I've missed you too. About a week and no, but it's about bloody time!"

The two of them crossed the landing and Harry pushed open the front door to the apartment.

"Sirius!" Harry called. "He's here."

A tall, dark-haired man emerged from one of the bedrooms. "Yes, Harry, I know. I was the one that told you. Unlike you however[,] I had the patience to wait for him to get into the flat to greet him." Sirius shook his head in amusement at his godson's antics. "It's good to see you Moony," he said, pulling the other man into a brief hug. "Make yourself at home. I'll just put your bags in your usual room." He took the magically shrunk bags from Remus and left the room.

"Come and sit down, Harry," Remus said. "I need to talk to you and Sirius about something."

Harry followed Remus over to one of the comfortable leather couches and sat next to him.

"Is everyone OK?" he asked.

"Everything's fine," Remus answered, waiting for Sirius to come back and sit down before he continued. "We're getting married."

"Wow – you can do that?" Harry asked. "I mean there's three of you. How is that possible?"

"Yes[,] we can do that," Remus answered." "It's not terribly common so Bella's been adapting one of the more traditional commitment services, but it is possible."

"That's brilliant," Harry exclaimed. "Congratulations."

"Yes, congratulations, Moony," Sirius said. "Have you set a date yet?"

"Actually yes. We thought Samhain," Remus said, watching Sirius' reaction. A look of surprise crossed his face, followed immediately by one of comprehension.

"I think they'd like that," he said softly.

"Um, I don't want to sound stupid or anything, but what's Samhain?" Harry asked.

"One of the pagan celebrations," Remus answered. "Halloween."

"Oh," Harry looked at the floor for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. "Sirius' is right. Mum and Dad would appreciate the idea of making some good memories to drown out the bad ones."
"I'm glad, because we want you both to be a part of the ceremony. Severus' is asking Albus to officiate, but we each need an attendant and we need four people to represent the four elements and give the blessings." At Harry's confused look Remus continued to explain. "In many pagan rituals it's common to invoke the spirits of the four elements and ask for their blessing. Each element needs a representative to ask certain questions and then give their blessing. I'll get Bella to owl you the details; she's got it all worked out. We want you to take the role of fire in the ceremony."

"Yes, of course. I'd love to. I have no idea what I'm agreeing to, but I'd love to be a part of it," Harry agreed immediately.

Remus looked over at Sirius. "Would you be my attendant?" he asked.

Sirius inhaled sharply and blinked a couple of times in surprise. "I'd be honoured," he said simply.

Remus looked at him in astonishment, "I don't believe you're shocked that I'd ask you!"

Sirius shrugged diffidently, "Well, I'm not exactly a fan of one of your fiancés and I know the feeling's mutual."
"The pair of you tolerate one another well enough now. In fact, I'm fairly confident that you'll even start being pleasant to one another at some point in the next fifty years or so," Remus said with a grin. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather have stand up with me, although I may regret that when you get to make your speech!"

Harry cleared his throat, "Not to break up the mutual admiration society the two of you have going on over there, but who else is involved? And where are you having it? Tell us all the details," he demanded.

"OK, OK," Remus laughed. "Well, it's going to go something like this …."

"Severus, my dear boy! I wasn't expecting to see you back here this early in the holidays," Albus exclaimed.

"There's something you don't know?" Severus queried, feigning shock. "My, my, I believe the Earth just tilted on its axis!"

Albus brushed off the sarcasm and continued as if his Potions Master hadn't spoken, "Will you join Minerva and myself for tea? I'm sure you have lots to tell us."

Severus smiled ruefully and shook his head, "And there it is," he murmured under his breath. Raising his voice he asked, "Are you sure you're not actually omniscient, Albus? Because if you are I could just save my breath and let you tell Minerva!"

"Omniscience doesn't come into it, dear boy. I simply know you and I know you wouldn't have dragged yourself away from the New Forest more than a month before the start of term unless you had something important to tell me."

He led the way up to his office, where Minerva was waiting for him.

"Minerva, look who I found downstairs," he said.

"Severus!" she exclaimed. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Well it's nice to know I've shaken off my reputation of being as much a part of the castle as the ghosts!" he said. "Albus asked the exact same thing. I'll tell you both over tea."

When they were all comfortably settled with a cup of tea each Severus told them his news. "Remus, Bella and I have decided to get married."

"Oh that's wonderful!" Minerva said. "I'm so happy for you."

"And so am I," Albus added. "Do you have any idea what sort of ceremony you're going to have?"

"Bella's been in a planning frenzy for the last couple of weeks. I expect she'll be owling everyone with the details in the near future. She'll certainly need to send you some information since we'd like you to perform the ceremony," he said.

For a fraction of a second Severus thought he'd achieved his life's ambition and rendered the Headmaster speechless but he was soon proved wrong.

"I'd be delighted. Just tell me when and where. I haven't performed a wedding in a long time and nothing would give me more pleasure," he said.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Severus replied. "It will be on the evening of Samhain, in a woodland glade on Bella' estate. Minerva, would you act as my attendant?"

Minerva flushed pink with pleasure, "I would love to, Severus. Thank you for asking me."

Severus put his tea down. "Do either of you know where I might find Rolanda? I have to ask her to represent earth during the ceremony and much as I enjoy your company, I'd quite like to get back to the New Forest tonight."

Bella apparated into the foyer of a building that had seen better days. A couple of young wizards in robes nearly ran into her.

"I say, terribly sorry and all that!" one of them said. He moved to walk around her but she grabbed his arm.

=Can you help me? I'm looking for Miss Granger's room, = she signed.

"Gosh, I'm not very good at that sort of thing. Sign language and that. Slight communication problem, what? I say, Peregrine old thing, come and give a chap a hand here?"

A tall blonde wizard with a white silk scarf draped around his neck strolled over and Bella repeated her query.

"Granger? Is that the new girl? Frizzy hair and an absolute menace of a cat?" he asked. Bella indicated that he was probably right, so he continued. "Second floor, third room on the left."

As she headed up the stairs she heard him remark to his friend, "I say, move along there, Eustace, we'll be dashed late for the Prof. Mulligan's Theoretical Arithmancy class if we don't run!"

She followed his directions and quickly found Hermione's room. She knocked on the door. A muffled voice came from within, "Just a minute!" This was followed by a loud crash. "Damn it Crookshanks, get out of my way you flea-bitten waste of space!"

The door was wrenched open. "What do you want?" a very harried looking Hermione demanded before realising exactly who her visitor was. "Oh I'm sorry, Professor Pettigrew. Would you like to come in?"

Bella looked over Hermione's shoulder. The small study-bedroom beyond looked like it had been hit by a hurricane – possibly more than one.

=I'll tell you what, why don't I take you out for a drink. You look like you could do with a break from your … um … unpacking? And you're no longer my student Hermione, so please call me Bella. = she signed.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder and blushed. "It does look a bit of a mess, doesn't it? Prof … I mean Bella. I was trying to unpack when I came across an interesting article in this month's 'Magical Review' and then I tripped over Crookshanks when I was trying to answer the door and I think I knocked a couple of piles of books over." She grabbed her handbag and slammed the door shut, casting a couple of wards to keep out unwanted visitors. They left the building and headed for a local pub, chatting about neutral subjects such as Hermione's new job as a research assistant to one of the professors at Merlin college and her foppish neighbours.

Once they were settled at a discreet corner table in the pub, drinks in hand, Hermione asked Bella what she wanted.

"I mean, I assume you weren't just ' in the neighbourhood'," she said.

=I'm getting married and I want you to take part in the ceremony, = Bella signed.

Hermione squealed in delight and then blushed when she realised several of the other customers were staring at her. "That's wonderful, I'm so happy for you. What do you want me to do?"

=We're having a ceremony dedicated to Hecate and we want you to give the blessing of the Air element. =

"I'd love to. I've never been to a proper wizarding wedding though. What exactly happens?" she asked.

Bella pulled a roll of parchment from her robes. =Order of Service, = she signed passing it over to Hermione. =We've had to adapt one of the more traditional ceremonies slightly because triad weddings are so rare but I think it's all self-explanatory. Look, I hate to make this such a short visit but I promised Sev I'd try and get back tonight and I still have to visit Megan and Filius. See if you can come down and visit before the term starts and we can discuss anything you're unsure about. Besides I'm sure Remus would love to see you. =

"I'll see what I can do. It was nice to see you again … Bella," she answered, hesitating over her ex-professor's name.

=You too, Hermione, = Bella signed getting up. Looking around to see she wasn't in anyone's way, she smiled at Hermione and then disapparated.

The ceremony was less than an hour away and Bella was nervous. Actually to be fair, she'd skipped nervous about three hours ago and by now she was well on her way to panicked. Megan had checked, double-checked and triple-checked all the preparations; she had supplied soothing tea and 'sisterly' advice, and had pretty much reached the end of her tether.

"All right, I have had enough. Sit down and take some deep breaths Bella. Everyone knows their lines; none of the attendants are going to lose the rings and no-one's going to trip over their robes. This wedding has been organised to within an inch of its life and nothing is going to go wrong. Short of a devastating comet strike causing a tidal wave to wipe out Hampshire, there is no contingency for which we have not planned. Now stop fussing and concentrate on the fact that in a couple of hours time you're going to be a happily married woman before I turn you in to the first ever happily married hamster!" Megan instructed.

Bella sat down and stared at her. =As my attendant aren't you supposed to be supportive? I feel like one of your third-years! = she complained.

"I've been supportive, currently I'm wondering if Sirius and Minerva are having the same problems!"

=Sirius won't be. Remus doesn't worry about anything, ever. If he is by some strange chance feeling nervous then he's probably meditating. I have a sneaking suspicion Sev might be a tiny bit nervous though. =

In another wing of the house Remus was sitting on a bed, cross-legged, eyes shut, running through some soothing deep breathing exercises. Sirius was staring at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"After everything you've been through, I can't believe you're getting nervous about a little thing like a wedding!" he said, shaking his head in wonder.

Remus opened one eye and looked at him, "I'm going to remember that you said that when it's your turn!"

"I'm not getting married," Sirius declared.

"Uh-huh, has anyone told Molly that? Because she's been flicking through Bella's wedding magazines with a very determined glint in her eye," he said.

"Oh Merlin," Sirius groaned. "I can see it now. Bill and I squeezed into damned uncomfortable looking dress robes and hundreds of redheaded Weasley cousins running around causing havoc. Not to mention Fred and George and their limitless stock of practical jokes! Do me a favour – if it ever looks like happening, cover for us while we elope?"

In yet another wing Severus was pacing distractedly. "Explain to me why we can't all wait together?" he demanded.

"Because Megan, Sirius and I didn't want to have to explain to Albus or your guests that you were all going to be late for your own wedding because you were having steamy sex in the shower when you were supposed to be dressing," Minerva answered, fixing him with her sternest glare.

"Honestly Minerva, we were slightly late for one rehearsal and the three of you carry on as if we can't be in the same room as one another without ripping each other's clothes off!" he complained.

"You were three hours late, Severus and we weren't willing to take the risk! Now would you please stop pacing before you wear a groove in the floor."

"I'm not pacing," he argued. "I don't pace. I am simply moving about the room in a purposeful manner while waiting for you to decide that it's time for us to leave."

"Whatever you call it, could you please stop doing it, it's very irritating. Besides it's time to go, thank Merlin."