This story is actually cowritten with thewindinthemeadow. T for emotional stress and suggestive content at the moment, although mild smut is possible in later chapters. MxM. Possible spoilers for season 13. Draco is pretty miserable at the start; if you don't want to read that, I suggest doing a search for "fluff." SNS.

Draco

I was pretty scared already, since I knew Voldemort was going to kill me. So it was just one more thing. I had to leave everybody I know and might never see again anyway and go to some strange country in the freaking Southern Hemisphere and marry a random dude. Gabriel Something. Okay.

So, I wasn't that freaked out. I mean, I was, but I guess I was just so shocked that nothing mattered anymore. I'm a total failure. I couldn't kill Dumbledore, my parents don't care about me, I have to marry some dude. Not a chick. A dude. So what's a few thousand miles? It's not like I could feel any more lost.

At least, that's how I felt until I got on the plane to leave. Then it hit me that I was going away from Mom. My father- I guess you could say he cares about me, but he doesn't love me. But Mom, I knew this would hit her hard. And I missed her. She's the only person who I knew will always love me even if I'm girly and pathetic and can't kill a fly.

I took out the picture of the guy who is marrying me. He looks weird. Sorta pouty and annoying. I hope he will just leave me alone in my room most of the time so I don't have to deal with the sense of humor I'm sure he has. Who knows? Maybe I won't mind him. His hair is kind of sweet. All golden and floppy and perfectly messy. And those fierce eyes! Maybe he will defend me like my father couldn't. The guy has eyes like an eagle, only better. I don't know how those eyes can exist. They're not beautiful so much as awesome. But I'm getting ahead of myself. He might hate me and throw me in a basement handcuffed to cry for all I know. Or use me as his boytoy until I bleed to death. Okay, that was morbid. I'm being a miserable Slytherin again. Wouldn't Father be proud?

Do you suppose he will marry me immediately? Do you suppose he has morals or will just want to mess around and marry me whenever? Or maybe he won't marry me at all. Maybe he won't like me. I know I'm not really masculine enough even to be a girl. I'm so pathetic, it's a wonder Dad didn't throw me out on my naked butt to die the day I was born. I hope this guy will like me okay, though. That will make one of us.

Could Gabriel- Farbautison- treat me decently? Maybe. I can't really imagine that his fierce eyeballs would let him get away with crap. He just seems- maybe scary, ok, definitely scary, but not- like, evil. You know, not the serial killer type. He seems like a righteous guy, but in pain. And definitely has a sense of humor. I hope I survive that part. Imagine what Father would think if I start cracking jokes? But I guess it doesn't matter what he thinks of me anymore.

I'm scared. But this has to happen, so I guess I'll just wait it out. I'll die someday anyway.

Gabriel

I have something to add to my list of things not to let Loki talk me into. An arranged marriage to a human I've never met. Apparently, Loki gave a bunch of people special powers and told them his name was Salazar something-or-other. I'm not a detail oriented person.

Then someone called Voldelope (or maybe that wasn't his name. I would've remembered if it rhymed with antelope) went all smash everybody and wants to kill some kid. So now I'm marrying the kid. Weird, right? I'm not sure how Loki got the idea that I needed to marry this Draco guy, but apparently that's the plan.

So Draco was flying over, and we'd get married tonight. I've been married before, but it was never arranged. So this is kinda new. Is he going to freak out on me or something? What if he, like, decides he'd rather die than marry me? Although that would stop a lot of the awkwardness I'm sure is coming. OK, that was a slightly mean thought. I need to grow up if I'm going to get married again.

I mean, the last time it was this girl I got plastered with in Vegas, and then she wanted a divorce. I don't think she even remembered getting married. Hopefully, this thing with Draco will go better. And if he actually liked me, maybe it would be nice to have someone with a heart around. So, like, not a pagan god.

Loki's great and all; he's a good friend, but you get lonely with just gods around. I don't know. What if Draco just wants to live and hates my guts? Or worse, what if his dad wants him to live and he doesn't even care about that? If I have to deal with a suicidal human, I have no idea what I'd do.

I ended up pulling the picture of him out of my pocket to look at. He looked kinda pale and silly, but I guess he is young. And humans grow really fast. Oh no. What do I do when he dies? Humans live, like, a hundred years tops. I could bring him back, I suppose. Or I could just move on like I did all the other times I got attached.

His eyes were pretty, I noted. Scared looking, but bright and alive, and deep, sort of like the sky. I could probably get attached to the kid. Would that be another mistake I'd regret for millenia? Oh, who cared. I'll survive. I always have.

Draco

I got off the plane and collected my baggage. I looked around- the guy was supposed to meet me at this point. Then I saw him, leaning against a wall. He hadn't been there a few seconds ago. Odd. He had that stupid goofy grin, but I easily caught that he was staring at me sharply. Was he- worried about me? I didn't know.

I grabbed my suitcase more firmly. "I'm Draco Malfoy," I said, a little defiantly.

"Yeah, I , uh, have your picture?" he said saucily, waving it in my face.

"Right," I said. "Well, let's get it over with. I want to get my stuff in the car and take a nap."

"Car? Oh, yeah, sure, I have a car," he said, a little off-handedly.

Of course, he was probably a wizard.

"I mean, whatever transportation- our kind- have in your country, is fine," I said, a little quieter.

"Cars work. I can do cars. Especially sports cars," said Gabriel.

"Um, okay- Mr- er, what exactly. Sorry." I ducked my head. "I'm stupid. I just- tell me what you want me to call you- until we're married."

"Gabriel's fine. Can I call you Draco?"

"Of course," I said, hopefully smoothly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Gabriel." I winced and hoped he didn't notice, but who was I fooling? The guy had eyes like a hawk.

I let him take some of my stuff, and we went to his car. He rented a hot pink '67 Chevy Impala. I thought it was sort of a girl's car, but maybe he wouldn't despise my intestines if he was a little weird too. I was going to hop in the back- until he opened the passenger door for me. I waved my cap at him and sat down. He got in the driver's seat, of course. I shut my eyes. I didn't want to know where we were going until I absolutely had to. Not surprisingly, I drifted off in a few seconds.

Gabriel

Minor problem. I should've made a house instead of freaking out earlier. I had nowhere to take Draco. Luckily, he was asleep. That would buy me a little time. And if I needed to, it wouldn't take much grace to keep him out for longer. I made sure he wasn't going to wake up, then picked a rural plot of land.

House building was complicated, so I teleported bits and pieces of my safe houses from various locations and used my grace to make them a coherent picture. It was challenging, and a little loud, but Draco was way too exhausted to notice noise. Poor kid.

I know he's scared of me. Even if I couldn't read his mind, his body language would've given him away. I'm not the reassuring type, so I'm not sure how to avoid scaring him. Obviously, no trying to broach the whole pagan god thing, much less the archangel thing, for a long while. Draco thinks I'm a wizard.

It's a little insulting, but it's definitely for the best. I finished the house in about two hours. I'd worked hard to make it feel like a home. I want Draco to believe me when I say I've lived there for a couple years. He'll probably end up thinking I cleaned it specially because he was coming, but messes are easy to make and hard to snap up. I'm not normally a neat person at all.

I mean, hunters always catch me because I forget to clean up the candy wrappers that seem to collect automatically on the ground wherever I go. I don't feel like I eat that much candy, but unless father is playing a cosmic, multi-century joke on me, I must be eating all that candy.

What if Draco picks on me for eating too much candy? That would be a nightmare. I'll do a lot for this relationship, but giving up candy is just not an option. But Draco seems pretty nervous and desperate for my approval, so I can't see him causing too much trouble about anything.

I set up a bunch of wards around the house. I don't want Draco to get hurt when I inevitably stop paying attention to boring things like safety. My attention span is bad. I pulled into the driveway and stopped.

Draco

I woke up when the car stopped. We were in Gabriel's driveway. The house was beautiful, and tears pricked my eyes. I wiped them away desperately. I couldn't let Gabe see me crying. I just wished that I could have lived at this house under better circumstances. I bet it had five swimming pools and two libraries. Probably a lot of bedrooms, too. I wondered if Gabriel would give me my own room, or make me live in his. It might depend on when we got married. I had never shared a bed with anyone before. Maybe I could have my own bed in Gabriel's room, and sort of climb in if we felt like it? Once we're married, I mean. I hope I wouldn't be sharing his room before we're married. That would be weird.

For some reason, my eyes refused to stop crying once they'd started. I turned away hoping Gabriel wouldn't see them. I really didn't want him to hate me. I got out my door and started trying to open the trunk.

I should have just given up before I scraped all the skin off my knuckles and broke a fingernail. Once I had, though, where was my dignity if I quit?

Gabriel came over and stood behind me. He hesitated, not sure what to do. Then he snapped his fingers, and the trunk popped open. It hit me on the head. Not his fault. I'm stupid; I should have stepped back. I kind of collapsed against him and kept crying. I noticed that my hands were also healed. That was some pretty cool unspoken magic.

"Can you teach me that?" I asked.

"It's tricky magic. Some people can't get it, but you can try," Gabriel said. "It's one of those annoying you either get it or you don't things."

"Maybe later," I said, pulling away but smiling at him so he'd know I wasn't mad or anything. "I think I must be tired- how beat up can a guy get just opening some stupid trunk." Tears threatened to fall again, but I tried Mom's whole stiff upper lip thing. Turns out it's a pile of fooey. All I could do was ignore the tears and watched Gabriel carry all three of my suitcases, plus two duffle bags and a couple of carry-ons, without even blinking. It was pretty amusing.

"It's probably the jet lag. Happens to a lot of people on those mortal airplanes."

I had no idea what he was talking about. I guess I'd already forgotten whatever we were talking about. I followed him inside, and he set my stuff down in the living room.

Picture couch heaven, and that was his living room. It was like a piano store where the pianos were couches. Also, it was super beautiful aesthetically. There were cookies and music and the walls were all different colors, but so pretty! I loved the living room already, although maybe it was a little big. I suppose the guy probably had like multiple house elves or something. That would explain how neat the house was. I grabbed a cookie and turned to Gabriel, watching for our next move. It could be a lot of things. He could shove me against the wall. He could show me my room. He could dismiss me to go do nothing. He could ask me what I wanted for supper. I looked at him and shrugged.

"So, what do you like to eat? Please tell me you're not one of those health nuts," Gabriel said.

I blinked. "What's a health nut? I never paid too much attention to food. It never seemed to be as important as- other things." School, Father's opinions, listening to my parents fight 24/7, trying to impress people without getting myself killed- Hermione's voice echoed in my head "or worse, expelled…" God, she was such a fluff-head.

I shook my head. "Whatever you have is fine. I'm not picky."

"Salad, apple pizza, and cream pie ok?"

I nodded half-heartedly. What was cream pie? Salad and apple pizza would be okay. I'd never had apple pizza, but it didn't sound bad, and there was always the salad. How could cream pie be bad, though?

I was pretty shocked when he snapped his fingers and we were in his dining room. I assume. I was sitting down, which was so confusing!

"Can you not snap me places?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said at the same time. We both laughed a little.

I looked down at my plate. Interesting. The cream pie was the (huge) centerpiece, with apple pizza seated delicately behind it on another plate, and salad- under the cream pie?! What on Earth? I supposed I would have to get used to some cultural changes in the new country. New- Z-Land? Something like that. But seriously, dessert over salad? I made a face and started eating some lettuce- ok, nibbling- from around the cream pie.

It was actually really good lettuce- you wouldn't think. I mean, lettuce is usually just- lettuce. I guess- I don't know. I ended up eating more than usual, and when I stopped, I felt satisfied. On a whim, I stuffed my entire face in the cream pie. After all, Father couldn't see me anyway. It was kind of fun. I got cream all over my face. Then I had a crazy idea. Maybe a bad idea, but maybe not.

"Hey, Gabriel, wanna come 'help' me get this cream pie off my face?" I asked.

"It's beautifully decorative," Gabriel commented. "Goes well with your complexion. I think I'll try it too." He buried his face in his cream pie.

I couldn't reach to lick him with the table in the way, so instead I threw what was left of my cream pie at him. Got him in the face. Not that he could've gotten any more pie on him- he already had cream all over his face and pie crust in his hair and on his nose. It looked so funny, just a pair of fierce, golden-hazel eyes staring out of a bunch of fluffy sugar. Now he had graham-cracker crust all over his face, too.

He licked his lips, trying to be seductive, but just looked silly and- I don't know. Huggable. I imitated him, licking all the pie I could reach off my own face. Then I used some of the cream as hair gel. I must've looked pretty ridiculous, but I think I was having the most fun I'd had in my entire life. I wondered if being married to Gabriel wouldn't be so bad.

Gabriel got the stupidest grin on his face, and I wondered what he was thinking.

"Penny for your thoughts, Marshmallow Boy," I offered.

"Can I have a real penny so I can spin it?" he asked.

I dug out a Knut and tossed it to him. "Best I can do," I said.

I watched Gabriel carefully. I wondered if he was having fun. Did he actually like me? Was I at least okay? Did I botch something by throwing cream pie in his face? He seemed like he was just legitimately enjoying being a goofball, but how would I know? I'd only met him- today, actually. It had been a really long day, starting at 4:00 am English time, 3 pm New Zealand time, a 23-hour flight ending at 4:30 am English time, 3:30 pm New Zealand time, and now it was- I checked my watch, which was now in New Zealand time- 6:30 pm New Zealand time, which was 7:30 in the morning back in the U.K. It didn't really feel like 7:30 in the morning, though. It felt more like 45:00 in the evening- waay past my bedtime, but I don't sleep well in planes. I don't think anybody sleeps well when they know they have to leave behind everything they've ever known to escape being murdered.

I mean, I was used to not getting too much sleep the past year. I was so worried about having to try to kill Dumbledore that I pretty much didn't get a lot of sleep. I guess you could say I was living on adrenaline, but not really. I just felt exhausted, miserable, and depressed all the time. Maybe I will sleep for a week now. I can blame it on jet lag. If I knew Gabriel would leave me alone and not get mad or throw me out, I would probably just collapse right now and forget the waking world for at least 14 hours. But that's probably not going to happen. For all I know, he's a party boy who will want me to get used to staying up until all hours of the morning and is going to try to marry me at midnight or some stupidness. Well, the world is what it is, and if that happens, it's not on me if I collapse. I could use some quiet time and IV fluids anyway. Maybe a nice coma. I noticed Gabriel was starting to look really worried about me. Was he reading my thoughts without permission or something? Maybe my face just really looked that tired and miserable. I realized I'd forgotten to cover up my raccoon eyes with makeup like I usually did. That must've been it.

"Are you ok?" Gabriel asked bluntly.

My mind whirled. Did Gabriel actually care about me? Was he just asking to be polite? Gabriel seemed pretty smart, so I figured lying wouldn't help. Besides, I really had no reason to lie to Gabriel- yet.

"I- not really," I said. "It's, um, just, you know, jet lag and stress and stuff probably." Then I started crying.

Gabriel studied me critically for a moment before snapping his fingers.

Gabriel

I'm not good with crying humans. They're just- complicated, and I'm never sure what I'm supposed to be doing. And Draco was exhausted, so it made sense to knock him out, right? It wasn't like I was scared and panicking with no clue what to do or how to keep Draco from hating me forever.

So I snapped my fingers, he dropped, I caught him, etc. That bit was easy.

So then I… um. I didn't plan this bit. What am I planning to do again?

I heard him freaking out earlier cause he worried I'd make him sleep in my bed before we were married. I'd been thinking to marry him tonight before he slept anywhere but my car, so it wouldn't be an issue. Now I'd put him to sleep before we got married. I couldn't wake him up to quickly run through the ceremony.

He'd probably panic if he woke up in my bed, even though I wouldn't do anything weird or anything. I have three guest bedrooms in here, but I didn't bother with details like making them comfortable. I wasn't expecting guests anytime soon.

Would Draco be mad if he woke in my bedroom, and I hadn't slept there? I only sleep when I feel like it; it's not like I need to. I focussed more on my bedroom than anywhere else when I was constructing this house, so it's pretty obviously my bedroom.

That was the only plan I could come up with, so I put it into place. For now, at least, it worked. Draco slept soundly all night.

I kept an eye on him while flying over to Europe to play pranks on jerks. It was soothing, watching a bunch of scumbags get their just deserts. Draco was still asleep when I got back. It looked like he was actually resting and starting to recover, so I counted that as a win. I hope he's feeling better in the morning.

Draco

When I woke up, it was dark, and I was lying in what I assumed was a bed. I felt like I had slept forever, but I was so tired! Then I remembered that I was in Gabriel's house. I must have fallen asleep on him. Oh, well. He couldn't be that mad if I was still in his house. I pulled the covers over my head, then realized I was boiling hot and threw them off. Then I realized how comfy they had been and decided to go cuddle with my pile of blankets and sheets on the floor instead of putting them back on the bed. It wasn't like I needed or deserved some fancy-ass mattress. I hadn't slept in a bed since- well, okay, I did for a few nights after school- hmm, ended. But other than that, not since forever. So why bother?

Somehow I guess I fell asleep again. I didn't get a chance to check my watch, but I thought it had been a long time. Well, never mind. As long as Gabriel wasn't stopping me, I was just gonna sleep. How mad could he be, if I was just on the floor? I'm sure he had plenty of blankets.

I woke up back in bed. Gabriel must have tucked me back in. The thought of him carrying me made me blush. I was sort of grateful that I hadn't been awake for that, although I also kind of- wouldn't've minded so much. Having somebody look at me like I'm a person and be kind to me and stuff is pretty new to me, and I have to say, it's kinda hot. Part of me just wants to curl up on Gabriel's chest and stay there until Voldemort is dead and everybody else forgets about me.

There was a tap on the door.

I freaked out. I jumped out of bed and tried to hide.

"Who is it?!" I asked, pretty terrified.

"It's me," said Gabriel's voice. I sighed with relief. "Can I come in?" he asked.

I ran to the door and opened it. "Don't scare me like that!" I begged, kind of staring at him. I gave up on deciding what I should do and just hugged him.

Gabriel tensed but then hugged me back.

"It's okay, Kiddo," he said. I wiped the tears out of my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, a little stiffly. I wasn't mad at Gabriel or anything, just not sure how to handle myself. "I- I didn't mean to get your shirt all wet."

"It's just a shirt," said Gabriel, looking innocently confused. "Nothing to worry about."

Well, now what was I supposed to say? Aha, I had it.

"Did you want to come in?"

"I just came to see if you wanted breakfast," he offered.

I sniffled and nodded. "What do you have?"

"Pancakes?"

I nodded again. "Do I need to change first? Um, I mean, dress myself?"

"If you want. I mean, you can just wear pajamas all day. It's what I do whenever I think I can get away with it," Gabriel replied.

I shrugged. "I'm not really a big pajamas person," I said apologetically. "Dad would throw a fit if he knew I was marrying a guy who likes to wear pajamas all day."

"Yikes, fussy dad. I don't think my dad would've noticed if I went naked," said Gabriel.

I blushed fifty shades of crimson and ran back into the bedroom. I was debating trying to hide under the bed when I realized how pointless and pathetic that would be. Suddenly it occurred to me that blushing and trying to escape whenever Gabriel even mentioned hypothetically being naked wasn't going to work very well when we were- married. EW!

Gabriel was in stitches. I pulled a blanket over my head so he couldn't see how embarrassed and horrified I was at having made such a fool of myself.

"See you downstairs," said Gabriel. He shut the door and left. I looked down and understood why he'd shut the door. Dammit.

I ran into the adjoining bathroom and stared at my face in the mirror. Why would Gabriel want to marry me? Dad must've paid him a lot of money. I grabbed a towel and took a long, cold shower, hoping I'd just freeze to death and get it over with. Then I threw on a tux just to annoy Mr. Pajamas and combed my hair before attempting to locate some stairs.

It took me a few minutes to find the kitchen. Gabriel was throwing darts at the ceiling and flipping pancakes onto piles that were already at least a foot high with huge fluffy pancakes a third of an inch thick and as big around as dinner plates. I probably ate less in a typical day at home than just one of those pancakes. I hoped Gabriel wouldn't be disappointed if I couldn't eat very many.

"Hi," I said softly.

"Hello! Pancake?" Gabriel offered cheerfully. Good, he wasn't mad at me. He did try to offer me gluey strawberry syrup, though, and I could see from his own pancakes that- um, yeah, it was mostly red dye and high fructose corn syrup. He did have real butter and real maple syrup, though. He even had that puffy stuff they serve on your pancakes at restaurants. I sighed and grabbed the organic dark chocolate syrup- you can't have pancakes without good chocolate. I added a little whipped cream and dug in. I ate about a third of a pancake before I felt full and sleepy.

"Do you want to get married now or wait 'til the afternoon?" Gabriel asked out of the blue.

He was lucky I was half-asleep, or I would've told him I didn't want to marry him. Instead, I said,

"Don't we need some time to pick out clothes and a church and stuff?"

"What kind of church do you want to get married in?"

I thought about that. I hadn't really thought too much about the logistics of getting married- figured that was Mom's job, or Dad's if he was particular about anything. I guess I had imagined getting married in some kind of fancy gothic or stained-glass churchy type thing with flowers everywhere and me in a tux, my fiance in a flowy white dress- well, that wouldn't do for Gabriel. I supposed we could both wear tuxes.

"Did you already make us reservations somewhere?" I asked. I hadn't expected to him to let me have any say; maybe he hadn't expected that either. I figured any vaguely religious building would be alright, as long as we were both dressed up and said something and gave each other rings. And of course, we needed somebody to marry us. I would understand if Gabriel wanted to avoid having more than few witnesses to make it harder for Dark wizards to track me down.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," Gabriel admitted. "I think there's a nice church a couple miles that way." He waved his hand vaguely.

I nodded. "What's it look like?" I had thought I hadn't cared, but now that I had a choice (apparently), I wanted to at least see the church before I got married in it.

"I dunno. Let's go look."

"Sure," I said. "Do you suppose they're open? Oh, is it a Muggle church, by the way?"

Gabriel blinked. "What's a muggle?"

"Oh. Non-magical people. You know. They call them nomags in the colonies."

"Probably?"

"I don't suppose they'd have a website?" I asked mildly. "That would also be a good way to find out if they do weddings."

Gabriel pulled a laptop out of a cabinet. Surprise, surprise, the internet was good to go. Still, I wasn't 100% sure he'd really lived here before. Seriously, he's marrying someone with a price on their head, who wouldn't want to move to a new safe house?

The little church, definitely a Muggle operation, was very cute, and we agreed it would be perfect. Gabriel called the office, and I don't know what he told them, but apparently they were happy marrying us. There may have been some under-the-table something involved, I don't know.

"Awesome," I said. "Now we just need fancy clothes and some rings."

"Righto, rings," Gabriel said. He snapped his fingers. I had the sense to close my eyes. When I opened them, we were in a mall, in front of a jewelry store.

I ended up looking at a blue zircon ring set in some kind of silvery colored metal. Gabriel found a wild but kind of elegant silver ring with about 30 alexandrite gems set all the way around it. I ignored the prices, since Gabriel seemed to be okay with them, so we checked out. I was maybe a little disappointed that it hadn't been some kind of deep bonding experience, picking out rings, but hey, Gabriel was probably new to this too. Hopefully we'd have more time to figure things out after the wedding.

"I wish there was some way we could make them, like, matching rings," I said, a little surprised at myself. But we'd already bought them, so this was probably impossible and just going to upset Gabriel for no reason. Oh, well.

"Sure, we could go buy more rings," said Gabriel. "Or, we could like, use magic to make these match or something."

I tried not to look shocked. "Um, okay," I said, trying to be lighthearted or something. "Didn't know we were that rich."

"Money's never really been a problem," Gabriel said, smirking.

"Can we use magic?" I asked.

Gabriel looked very pleased with himself. "Of course we can, pumpkin dearest. Don't fret for a thing, my little sugar cube."

I took this as a cue to look sappy and lean my head on Gabriel's shoulder. Gabriel put his arm around me and snapped us home.

The ring magic thing was amazing. Somehow he managed to infuse all of the gemstones in both rings with some kind of glowing- something. Iridescent didn't cut it. It was like stardust and unicorns and the moon in the water.

Gabriel looked really nervous. "Do you like it?" he asked, almost begged me.

I decided we were ready to try kissing.

I was really nervous at first, but it was- kinda really awesome, even though we stayed in our own mouths. I wasn't really ready to go that far, and I guess Gabriel didn't want to push me. He definitely kissed me back, though. I ended up having to tip my head sideways because our noses got in the way. That's when Gabriel put his arms around me. I got a little nervous and I guess I stopped us. When I looked up at Gabriel, he didn't look mad or disappointed or bored or worried. He just looked- I don't know how to describe it. Like I was some kind of super-valuable treasure, and like he was the happiest man on Earth. I looked at my shoes, not sure what to do with that. Gabriel tried to lift my chin and get me to look at him, so I buried my face in his chest instead. It seemed like that was okay with him.

"Gabriel, the wedding rings are flippin' awesome," I muttered.

"Thank you," Gabriel replied. "That- means more to me than you know."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly.

"For what, kiddo?"

"I'm sorry nobody told you how cool you are. Somehow you lived your life and nobody saw that you are so amazing."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew me," said Gabriel. "I'm a screw-up."

I couldn't believe the pain in his voice. I didn't know what to say, since I didn't even know what he thought he did.

"Gabriel- a screw-up- well, that's not a thing. Everybody h-has some reason for being here, it's just I don't know what mine is a-and Dad- I disappointed him so bad- a-and that's why there's a price on my head, and my parents are in danger, too, and I can't stop it, and I can't stop V-Volde-m-mort. I know now that he- he's wrong and it's really bad, but all I ever wanted was to be okay with Dad, and now I feel like he disowned me, but i-it's not like it's his fault I'm worthless and can't even follow instructions, and-" I couldn't say any more for sobbing.

"You're not worthless," Gabriel offered. "And honestly, following instruction is overrated."

I chuckled darkly. "Dad didn't seem to think so. But I'm glad you think I'm not so awful."

"Everyone makes mistakes. It doesn't make them awful," Gabriel defended. "Well, most of them."

"You must've done some pretty good things, though," I argued. "Like rescue a little thin-haired blond kitten with nowhere to go."

"I did do that," Gabriel said. He nuzzled my hair. I smiled and put my arms around his neck.

"I think I'm going to fall in love with you," I said.

"Well, you'd better," said Gabriel. "We're going to be married."

I licked his earlobe. "That's what you get for turning down a perfectly good compliment, Lollipop Brains."

"I don't mind," Gabriel whispered, breath on my ear.

"I guess we better tone it down a notch," I said. "I think I'd rather wait until we're at least married, and preferably know you better."

"Let's get married fast, then," Gabriel said.

"Is that a proposal?" I teased. "Because if so you'd better get on one knee."

Gabriel dropped to one knee in a heartbeat. He waved his arms desperately at me and stared melodramatically into my eyes, then looked down at his cupped hands. "O my beloved, you must marry me, or I shall die!" he intoned, ending with a slight giggle.

I couldn't let him get away with this or he'd never be serious when I needed him to be.

So I got down on one knee, too.

"Gabriel Ferguson, if thou doest not marry me, I too shall die, and I swifter than thee. Wilt thou marry thine own true beloved?"

"I shall love thee with a love deeper than that of Romeo for Juliet," breathed Gabriel. "Always hated that book," he added snarkily.

I patted his head. "Worry thou not. Such folly is not for the true of heart nor the wise of temperament."

"Ah, never really been wise, but-" Gabriel's face settled into what looked like an actual emotion. "Marry me?"

I froze. What, exactly, was the procedure for accepting the proposal when you were kneeling yourself?

I took Gabriel's hands and pressed them to his heart.

"Gabriel, I will be yours as long as we both aren't dead," I said, hoping that was right.

"Forever and a day," Gabriel swore honestly. Then he leaned forward. He was going to kiss me. I had no idea what to do. I decided to bop noses instead.

It didn't actually work. We did bump noses, and then there were lips on my lips again, and I got lost again. Everything was Gabriel.

I don't remember who pulled away first. It didn't seem too important. We just breathed and looked at each other for a minute or two.

"Gabriel, why do you want to marry me?" I blurted. "Sorry." I winced. "I wasn't gonna say that." By now, I was just making it worse.

Gabriel

I'd been expecting that to come up at some point, but it still caught me a little off guard.

"Draco, I'm alone," I started. "It wasn't supposed to be like that, but it is, and- I get lonely really easily. I miss my family, but I can't go back. So I-" To my dismay, my eyes filled involuntarily with tears. Curse these weak, mortal bodies. "I want a long term bond with someone. I didn't realise how much I wanted it until Loki noticed and- ah- arranged our marriage."

I shouldn't've said all that. Humans don't look for weakness in a prospective mate. And Draco wanted a defender to protect him from Validemort, or whatever it was, not a weepy archangel. At least I hadn't let my species slip. That would've really been a disaster.

Draco wet his lips. "Gabriel- I didn't know. I-" How can I tell him that it's totally okay, that I think it's great- he really wants me, I'm not just some arranged marriage he didn't want or took for money- man, that must hurt, to be so- so alone, it's awful being away from my family, and Dad didn't even like me- man, what can I say- I better get this right. "I love you and I'm sorry your family- I'm sorry you had to leave them. I hope they know what they're missing."

I threw my arms around Draco and burst into tears. Maybe that was a little too much, and now he'd realise how stupid i was and give up on me. I checked his thoughts again. I wanted a warning, at least, if he was going to dump me. Man, he's so cute like this- no, that's mean, I want him to be okay, but now I know he's for real, not just some- I don't know, TV show I fell into. Gabriel, how can I show you that you're totally worth being around? Maybe I should run my fingers through his hair or something- yeah. Draco's fingers tangled in my hair.

Dumping someone in a tv show… Now that was a good idea. I'd have to perfect it and try it out on someone. A hunter, maybe. A civilian would just be too confused to be funny.

I wondered how it would work, being married to Draco. Could I tell him who I was? He seemed accepting of a lot more than I'd expected. Maybe I could just leave for my unspecified human job whenever I wanted to work as a trickster. It couldn't be too complex, right? And if I had to explain, the trickster demigod thing wasn't all that scary.

I wished there was a way to make Draco think about nonhumans. Monsters, angels, pagan gods, something. Then I might get some idea of how he would react if he found out who I really was. I tuned in to his thoughts again.

Is Gabriel okay? He's not talking or anything. I wish I knew what he was thinking about. Well, maybe not. What if it's something awful? Okay, I have to do something about this, but what if he just needs me to hold him? I don't know what to do.

Cute, but not very helpful. And I didn't know what to say to get him to think about what I wanted to know.

His eyes are so beautiful. I wonder if he could really be human. What if he wasn't human? That could be so cute. Unless he was something scary, like a vampire or something. But wouldn't a vampire be more likely to buy a concubine than get an arranged marriage? What kind of thing would have golden kaleidoscope eyes? Maybe he's an eagle hybrid. But how could he be genetically modified. Meh, listen to me ramble. It's probably just magic- but still…

Oh. That's- stunningly convenient. And an eagle hybrid? OK… I wondered if pagan god fell under the heading 'scary'. Angel probably wouldn't, but archangel might be a little much to tell him. Should I say something?

"Gabriel?" Draco asked hesitantly. "Are you a human? I mean, er, a wizard or a Muggle or something like that?"

"No," I admitted. "I'm a- please don't freak out."

"I won't freak out unless you're going to hurt me or yourself," Draco promised.

"I'm- I'm- never mind. It doesn't matter."

"But it's bugging you," Draco worried. "You can tell me. I promise I won't judge you."

"You'll think I wear one of those stupid loopy things on my head," I whined. "Or that I'm perfect or something."

"Some credit to my eyesight, please," Draco begged. "I would see if you had something on your head. And I already know you're not perfect. If you were perfect, this conversation wouldn't be possible, because you would know what you wanted to say. I don't think you're perfect. I know there's lots of stuff about you that I don't know yet, and I'm sure some of it is bad. Maybe really bad. But I bet there's enough good to more than make up for that. Plus, what I already know about you is pretty awesome."

"I'm an archangel," I blurted, bursting into tears again and hiding my face in Draco's shoulder. "And I fell from Heaven."

Draco just sat there silently. He might've just been having trouble processing all the information I'd thrown at him, but I felt like he was silently judging me. I cried harder. The silence dragged on painfully.

I forced myself to look up at him. His face wasn't readable, or maybe I just couldn't see it properly through the tears. I couldn't see much of anything. "P-please don't leave me," I begged.

"G-Gabriel- whoa, I uh, um, ah… Slow down! I'm never ever going anywhere. I don't have too much training in how to help archangels who think they fell, but I. Um. I'm sorry."

I wasn't sure what to think about that. Draco knew the truth. Not the details, but the whole, honest truth. And he wasn't running away screaming. I'm not sure what's with these human vessels. Thousands of years in one, and I still don't get how they work. I fell asleep.

Draco

So there I was, just holding Gabriel, and he seemed so stressed out, but then he started snoring.

I sat down on the floor and held him in my lap, leaning his head against his chest and letting him sleep. He probably needed it, if he was just going to fall asleep in the middle of a stressful conversation. I wondered if maybe he had been doing the I'm-a-super-powered-being-I-don't-need-to-sleep thing and exhausted himself. And he's worried I'll think he's perfect.

Today was starting to work on being almost as long as yesterday. In one day, I had eaten a third of a giant pancake, had my first kiss, went ring shopping, been proposed to, and found out my fiancé is an archangel.

Before I took a year off from normal life to stay up all hours of the night freaking out about having to try to kill Dumbledore, I probably would have been strong enough to carry Gabriel a short way. As it was, I probably couldn't carry a shrimp like myself anywhere.

I guess, given that I had nothing to do but think, and that I couldn't move Gabriel and didn't want to leave him, it wasn't too surprising that I fell asleep too.