A/N: Okay, so I wrote a headcanon post on tumblr and I didn't intend for that to turn into a nearly 3000 word one-shot, but oops. There's some notes at the end about timelines and names and stuff.
Also I highly recommend listening to the song Lucky ft. Colbie Caillait by Jason Mraz, which is where the title of this piece comes from. It's also the song they dance to.
Seamus paced the little side room, anxious to get the ceremony underway, and wondering what Dean was thinking in his room on the other side of the hall. It felt stuffy in this room, though Seamus wondered whether that was the room itself or just his imagination. He had not particularly wanted to get married here, he would have much preferred open moors or a grassy green knoll, but it was important to Dean that they get married somewhere with meaning, and Seamus mostly just wanted Dean to be happy.
Professor McGonagall – she insisted they could call her Minerva now, having graduated and fought along side each other in a war, but she would always be Professor McGonagall to him – had been kind enough to offer them the use of the Great Hall and the Hogwarts house elves, and Dean's face had lit up at the prospect. Seamus let him take the reigns for most of the process, though he (with Ron's help) had gone about setting the menu, after ample taste testings. He had booked rooms in Hogsmeade for Dean's family and friends, and for his few relatives who were too old to floo or apparate willy-nilly. With some effort, Seamus had even persuaded McGonagall to lift the anti-muggle enchantments for a whole week, so that their families could help them with the final preparations.
They weren't expecting a too many people – within both their families, though more so Seamus', it was not the most popular relationship. Dean's mother had been the most accepting, and when Seamus had rowed with his mother over the relationship, it had been Dean's family that sheltered him, until Mrs. Finnigan had come around. In the end, she said, it was his happiness that mattered most, and if she had been able to accept that she had been wrong about Harry Potter and You-Know-Who's return, then she could certainly accept that she had been wrong about other things as well. But there were still a great many of her relatives who could not be made to see reason. Their friends, however, had all been thrilled, and all had said they would be in attendance, though their numbers had been thinned by the war.
Seamus' heart dipped a little as he thought of those who could not be there. He felt a little unsure of how this whole wedding should go – they were the first of their friends to make that leap since the war ended, and it felt a little bit wrong somehow, getting married when so many were missing. When the war had ended, Seamus had felt so relieved that the two of them had survived, he couldn't bear not being with Dean any longer. So maybe it had all been a little rushed, but rushed was exactly what he needed.
As he paced, his mind racing, Seamus looked around at the room, taking in the various decorations for the first time. There were silks in a variety of greens draped around the walls, artfully arranged (no doubt meticulously by Dean), to look like great rolling hills. Higher up the walls, blue and white silks met the green, mimicking a clear blue sky. He stepped back to take it all in, and suddenly his mind felt at ease, as though he really were standing in the brisk Irish air, with a view that could knock you off your feet. He smiled, thinking of how well Dean knew him to put something like this together, not only because it meant that Dean knew what he would find calm and reassuring, but that he knew Seamus would need it.
"Seamus?" Neville poked his head through the door. "It's time."
Seamus nodded and wordlessly followed Neville out into the Hall, the lump in his throat growing a little as he heard music emanating from somewhere above him.
The Hall was magnificent. Giant gold silk curtains flowed from high in the rafters, separating the hall into two, so that the entrance to the Hall, where the tables were set up for the reception, could not be seen, but for through a small entryway in the curtains. Gold chairs with red cushions had been set up in rows facing the teacher's dais, which lacked its long table, instead, a wide, elaborate golden archway made from intertwining vines stretched across the space, glinting in the sunlight that filtered through the large paned glass windows.
Seamus stood with Neville next to him, waiting for Dean to appear, and looked out at the crowd. His parents and younger sister were sitting in the front row, along with his paternal grandmother. Dean's family sat on the other side of the aisle, his sisters all chattering happily in their pretty new dresses. Behind them, interspersed with various family members, were Harry and Ginny, her head resting happily on his shoulder as she gazed around serenely, Ron and Hermione holding hands next to them. Not far away was Ernie MacMillan and Susan Bones, and as she brushed a strand of hair from his face he suddenly looked a bit less pompous than he had at school, as though she took some of that away from him. Luna sat a few seats over, in sunshine yellow robes, and as he watched, she waved enthusiastically to Neville, who blushed nearly as scarlet as the seat cushions. Parvati sat with her sister, looking as though she had lost a limb without Lavender sitting next to her.
Dean entered the Hall from a different side room at last, and Seamus smiled as he saw him, all his nerves and anxiety fading away the instant their eyes met. He walked up to the dais, standing across from Seamus with a wide grin, and turned toward the archway he had made. Seamus followed his gaze and found, to his surprise, Professor Flitwick standing between them. He had not noticed his old teacher's appearance, he had been so caught up in his thoughts.
"My esteemed ladies and gentlemen," Professor Flitwick squeaked loudly, drawing everyone's attention, "it is with great pleasure today, that I join these two young men, whom I have known for some time now, together for life. Before we begin, please join me in a moment of silence, for friends and family lost in both the First* and Second Wizarding Wars."
The wizened man bowed his head, and many of the onlookers did the same, others simply closing their eyes. When Seamus opened his, he saw that a few of his friends had tears running down their cheeks. He felt the tug of sadness too, but now that they had paid their respects, there would be time to remember their friends in much happier ways.
"Right, now, I should like to make this short and sweet, not unlike myself," Professor Flitwick continued after an appropriate time, and the guests tittered with laughter. He turned to Dean first, and motioned that he should read his vows first.
Pulling a neatly folded piece of parchment from his pocket, Dean began reading, looking up at Seamus every few words.
"Seamus, you are my everything, and have been for much longer than I realized," he spoke, his voice cracking with emotion. "You have brought light to my life, and color to my world, from the moment we met, sitting next to each other in this very hall. You became my best friend, the one person who could read my mind, and never faltered from that role. You were patient with me as I took my sweet time working out what exactly our relationship meant to me, though I suspect you figured it out long before I did. Loving you though, has been the most amazing thing I could possibly do, far beautiful than anything I could ever paint."
It looked, for a moment, as though there might have been more he had written, but then Dean folded the parchment and put it back in his pocket, and looked up at Seamus, his eyes sparkling. He pulled the ring from his breast pocket and took Seamus' hand, slipping the thin gold band onto the fourth finger. Seamus did not need Flitwick's prompting to pull out the slightly crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, though he hardly looked at it at all.
"Dean, you are the one person who I can always count on, always trust, not only to be by my side, but to tell me when I am being a complete and utter arse. You have always challenged me, and forced me to become a better student, a better friend, a better person. When I think about my role model in life, it has always been you, and I could not imagine a better one. You are it for me, the only one I want, for always."
He pulled a ring from his own pocket and fiddled with it for a moment, his fingers tracing the engraving along the inside, before his placed it on Dean's finger.
"Very nice, very nice," Flitwick piped up, and his voice tore Seamus' attention away from Dean for a moment, at whom he had been grinning like a mad fool. "Dean Edgar Thomas, have you come here today of your own volition?"
"I have," Dean said firmly, nodding as he did so.
"And do you wish to be joined with Mr. Finnigan in marriage from this day on?"
"I do," Dean answered, turning to look at Seamus as he did so.
"Excellent," Flitwick continued. "Now, Seamus Eoin Finnigan, have you come here today of your own volition?"
"I have," Seamus said, chuckling in his head at the old-timey question. It hardly seemed like anyone got forced to the altar by their families these days.
"And do you wish to be joined with Mr. Thomas in marriage from this day on?"
"Yes, I bloody well do," he replied eagerly, his excitement mounting as he said the words, barely processing the laughter of his guests.
"Lovely! In that case," Flitwick beamed as he spoke, "I am delighted to pronounce you man and husband, husband and man! You may kiss the groom!"
Seamus stretched forward on his toes, his hands cradling Dean's face as he pressed his lips against his husband's, the word resounding in his head like a heartbeat. Husband. Husband. As their lips met, an explosion sounded in the air above them, as fireworks erupted, a surprise Seamus had planned. Dean looked up at them in astonishment and wonder, his hand tightly grasping Seamus', before he pressed his forehead against the Irishman's, laughter bubbling from his lips.
Their giddiness was short-lived, as a few moments later, the fireworks exploded again, larger than before and with an even louder bang. Dean and Seamus had ducked to avoid the fiery sparklers, but it was not enough. When they stood once more, Dean's eyebrows had been badly singed, his cheekbones darkened with ash, and Seamus' hair was sticking up in all directions, the tips burnt and smoking. Both of their shirts had a few small holes, particularly in the sleeves. Dean took one look at Seamus and doubled over laughing, clutching at his stomach, and after the initial shock subsided, Seamus joined in, laughing until tears streamed from his eyes.
"Well," Professor Flitwick said, trying to regain his composure. "Allow me to present, if you will, Mr. and Mr. Finnigan-Thomas!"
Seamus raised his and Dean's clasped hands high above their heads, to laughter and cheers of their guests, and neither of them could contain their giggles as they ran down the aisle, through the little entryway in the curtain, which was now smoking slightly, having been hit by an errant firework, and into their reception area. Guests followed at a leisurely pace, wiping away tears of mirth and smiling more than most of them swore they had done since the war started.
"Bloody brilliant," Ron laughed, as he ventured over to the couple, greeting them both with a clap on the back. "Think you could do that when we-" he stopped suddenly, the tips of his ears turning scarlet, and he looked pointedly away from Hermione, who simply rolled her eyes.
Ginny rushed forward from behind Ron and Hermione, practically shoving her brother to the side as she launched herself at Dean, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Congratulations!" she squealed, hugging him tightly, and Dean returned the gesture after a moment's hesitation. "I'm so happy for you both!"
Seamus felt a brief tug of jealousy as he looked at the two of them intertwined, the memories from sixth year still fresher than he'd like. From Harry's carefully blank expression, Seamus guessed that similar thoughts were crossing through his mind. It was silly though, they were all sorted now, everyone settled with who they ought to be with, no reason to be jealous of one another. As he reminded himself of that fact, Ginny extricated herself from Dean and wrapped her arms around Seamus as well. Harry let out a snort of laughter at what must have been a very shocked expression on Seamus' face, having not anticipated that move at all.
"Really, I'm so pleased," she said, this time at a more normal pitch, for which Seamus was thankful.
"Well, we're both glad you could be here," Seamus answered, feeling a touch awkward with her arms around his neck. They had never really been that close.
"We wouldn't miss it," Harry replied, flashing them a genuine smile. "Can't believe we've already got mates who are married," he mused, and Ron nodded solemnly, looking as though he would like very much to steer clear of the topic.
"I imagine it won't be long before we have even more," Ginny added, finally releasing Seamus so she could wink cheekily at Hermione, making Ron blanch.
"We're going to go grab a table before they're all occupied," Hermione interrupted diplomatically, inclining her head towards the round tables, which were quickly filling up with guests.
"Okay, see you," Dean chirped happily, not in the least bit disappointed to be able to return his attention to Seamus. "Reckon it'll be long before Ron works up the nerve to marry her?"
"Nah, if he's got any sense he'll ask her tomorrow," Seamus chuckled. It had long been a joke between the two of them how oblivious Ron was to his feelings for Hermione. Not that either of them had been any better, in the end.
There were many more well-wishers waiting to congratulate the two of them, at it felt to Seamus as though the flow of them was never-ending. All he really wanted was to be able to enjoy the rest of the night of feasting and dancing with his husband. By the time the guests have stopped wandering over to offer their congratulations, the two of them are so hungry that they practically shove the food into their mouths, Seamus doing a rather accurate impression of Ron in his early school days. When they're called to the dance floor, Seamus takes Dean's hand and grins as the gold silk curtains fall away, and leads him out to the newly cleared space. Music swelled from overhead once more, and Seamus smiled at Dean's choice of song. It was a muggle one, and he had the vague feeling he'd heard it before, but as he listened to the words dance around them, they just seemed to fit. A whole different kind of magic.
The song ended, and after the couple took a bow, another song began to play, Seamus beckoning for others to come join them. Neville and Luna were the first, followed shortly by Harry and Ginny, Hermione and a reluctant Ron close behind. Others gradually followed suit, and throughout the night, Dean and Seamus never once returned to their seats. The more butterbeer everyone drank, the dorkier they danced, reminding them of their night of revelry at the Yule Ball in fourth year.
Except this night was so much better.
*I added this because I read a fic in which Dean's father didn't actually abandon him and his mother, but was actually killed by Death Eaters, and to my knowledge there's no canon reason why that couldn't be true, so yeah, I'm going with it.
†Notes on etymology: Dean's middle name is Edgar because JK Rowling was originally going to name him Gary Thomas. "Gary" is Germanic, meaning "spear", and Edgar has a similar meaning, but I liked the sound of Dean Edgar better than Dean Gary. Eoin, the Gaelic form of Ian/John, also just seemed like a good fit for Seamus. His first name is a Gaelic form of James, and I think James and John have a similar feel to them, so I could see someone liking both. So Seamus Eoin.
‡Timeline-wise, in my head Deamus gets together right after the Battle, and tells their family immediately, Seamus spends the summer living in the Thomas' guest room (even though he sneaks into Dean's room every night – Dean's parents pretend not to know, but they do), and by the end of the summer, Seamus' mother has come around. Dean goes back to Hogwarts on September 1st, but Seamus does not, having finished his seventh year already. Seamus proposes to Dean on Christmas, and they get married the following summer, when all the castle repairs are finally complete.