Harry paced his kitchen, waiting for Elodie to arrive. His fiancée. How bizarre.
He had started his day waking in Ginny's bed at the Burrow, and was ending his day making dinner for his new fiancée at his flat. It was mind boggling. In a good way, thought Harry, as he checked the clock again. The marriage law was stupid, but it had forced him to confront some feelings that he'd been ignoring for quite some time. And things could be much worse, really. He'd been matched with a drop-dead gorgeous girl, who seemed perfectly nice and smart. Poor Hermione had been matched with Malfoy. He wondered how that mess would work out.
He heard a POP, and there was Elodie, standing in his living room. The sight of her nearly took Harry's breath away – her golden curls swept back from her face, tanned skin glowing, she looked like the embodiment of summer. Her floral sundress fluttered around her as she recovered from the turbulence of apparition.
"Welcome to my flat," Harry said with a smile, offering Elodie a hand to steady her.
"Thank you," she said, and followed him into the kitchen, still holding his hand.
"I'm not much of a cook… at all, actually. I hope this is edible." Harry gestured to the pasta and salad set out on his counter. He'd wished he could have asked Mrs. Weasley for cooking advice, but he had a feeling that wouldn't go over well, what with him breaking up with her daughter just that afternoon.
"No, it looks marvelous," Elodie said, peering into the serving bowls, "I'm impressed that you didn't just call for delivery! I brought this." She held up a bottle of wine. "I didn't know what you liked to drink, but the guy at the shop said this was a safe bet for anyone. He probably thought I was batty after I told him it was for my fiancé, huh?"
Harry laughed. "I haven't had much wine, truthfully. I'm happy to try it."
"Well, I was going to go with firewhiskey, but I thought that might suggest something that I didn't intend…" she grinned mischievously.
"We'll get to firewhiskey," Harry said. His grin was plastered on. This girl was too cute. "We'll start with wine." He dug around in a drawer until he found a corkscrew, and handed it to her. He dished up their food as she popped the cork and poured them each a glass of wine.
They sat at the table for ages, chatting about their school days, Harry's adventures, Elodie's job, and, mostly, the marriage law. It was on the forefront of every wizard's mind. They both acknowledged that they'd lucked out. To be matched with someone attractive and interesting was the most you could hope for in this situation.
After the owls had dropped off the match notices, the wizarding world had been thrown into pandemonium. Everyone was apparating all over the place – there had been reports of some really ugly splicing accidents. Hoards of enraged parents had flocked to the Ministry; Shacklebolt had to have extra guards at his door to keep his door from being kicked down. But, for every report of anger or violence on the wizards' news channel, there had been an engagement announcement. Apparently, there were many couples who had accepted the new law without hesitation, and had already set a wedding date.
Harry watched as Elodie poured the last of the wine into her glass. He could feel a pleasant warmth in his stomach - from the wine or from staring into Elodie's eyes, he couldn't tell. He cleared their plates from the table with a flick of his wand. Just as he opened his mouth to ask if she wanted to move to the living room, two owls swooped onto his window ledge and hooted to be let in.
They both hurried to the window and retrieved the parchments from the owls' legs. A small part of Harry worried that maybe there had been enough uproar about the new law that they had rescinded it. He knew that was selfish of him – how happy would Hermione be if she found out she didn't have to marry Malfoy? But Harry didn't want to lose Elodie.
"They want a wedding date," Elodie muttered, talking her parchment to the couch.
"A what? I thought we had three years!" Harry looked down at his own identical parchment.
"We do. But they want us to set a date now, and both sign it. Like a contract. I guess so that they can hold everyone to it, no one can claim that their owl got lost or something."
Under the official Ministry header, the parchment read,
HARRY JAMES POTTER,
Please confer with your intended and agree upon a date for your upcoming marriage ceremony. Remember, it must take place on or before 28 JUNE, 2001. This form must be returned to the Ministry of Magic via owl within the next 24 hours. If for some reason you cannot contact your match to agree upon a ceremony date, please contact the Office of Magical Law Enforcement.
Date of ceremony
Groom's signature
Bride's signature
"So." Harry sat next to Elodie on the couch.
"Right," she replied. Harry thought she looked a little paler now than she had a few moments ago.
"Well, we agreed to take the three years given to us, right?"
Elodie nodded. Harry saw some relief in her eyes. He thought he would probably be happy to marry her next week, but he could tell that she needed more time. No point in rushing it. He wanted Elodie to be happy and comfortable. He wanted her to smile genuinely as she walked down the aisle toward him.
"So, June 2001?" he asked, fetching two pens from his desk.
"I suppose so," she said, taking out her wand. She said a spell that conjured a thick calendar, and it magically flipped open to three years from now. "June 16th is a Saturday, is that okay? Then we wouldn't be cutting it too close to my birthday, just in case."
Harry nodded and scribbled "16/06/01" onto his parchment, then signed his name. He watched Elodie do the same, then they traded parchments and signed each other's. The papers glowed golden for a moment, binding the contract. Harry heard Elodie sigh.
"It's official," he said, trying not to convey his own happiness, "June 16th."
"Our future anniversary," she giggled. "It's weird to know about it three years in advance."
"I wonder how everyone else is doing. I'd hate to see this conversation happening between Hermione and Malfoy…" Harry cringed at the thought.
"I wouldn't be offended if you wanted to go back to the Burrow and check on your friends," Elodie said softly as they rolled up their parchments and went to the window.
"No, no. I'm staying here with you. I'm sure I'll hear all about everything tomorrow."
The owls swooped back over. One of them was carrying a thick roll – a newspaper? This late at night? Harry untied it, and scanned the front page. It was a long list of couples, accompanied by their pictures, birthdays, and chosen wedding date. Even as he watched, new dates popped up on the paper. The owl pecked his hand and hooted sharply, reminding Harry to tie his form onto its leg.
He complied, but then hurried back with Elodie on his heels, flipping pages to the Ps. There they were – Harry James Potter (31-07-80) and Elodie Sophia Quinn (28-06-80): Sixteenth of June, 2001. Their own pictures smiled hesitantly up at him.
"How do they know?" Harry asked. "We only just sent our owls back!"
"I expect this notice is magically linked to our contracts – as soon as we signed it, our date was official and showed up here. Can I see it?" Elodie flipped back to the Hs. Harry knew she was looking for her boyfriend – EX-boyfriend – Jonah. He read over her shoulder. Jonah Abram Hartley (10-01-80) and Cecily Pearl Chambers (22-11-79): Fourth of July, 1998.
Ouch, thought Harry. That was only a few weeks away. He touched Elodie's hand, hoping to comfort her. He knew that she suspected Jonah and Cecily had already been an item. But when she looked up at him, she didn't seem upset.
"Look at how many of them aren't waiting."
Harry ran his eyes down the page. It was true, many of the dates were this year, this summer even. His eye caught on Draco Abraxas Malfoy and Hermione Jean Granger – there was no date beside their names yet. This didn't surprise Harry at all. If he were Hermione, he'd be waiting until the last possible minute, too.
They turned the pages together, pointing out their friends. Ronald Bilius Weasley (01-03-80) and Hannah Louise Abbott (24-05-80): 26th of December, 1998.
"Bloody hell," he breathed. He had assumed that his friend would be waiting as long as possible. Christmas was only six months away. He wondered what Ron was thinking, and whether Hermione had seen this yet.
They put the paper down. Dates were still popping up every few seconds as couples signed their contracts. Harry wondered if all of this had ruined Elodie's wine buzz as it had his.
She seemed to read his thoughts. "I think it's time to break out the firewhiskey, Harry, if you have any." She fell back against the couch with a sigh. He laughed.
A few drinks later, Elodie was lying with her head in Harry's lap, and Harry was absentmindedly petting her hair. He was trying to think of every ugly old hag he could imagine to keep himself from getting an erection right under Elodie's head.
"Do you want to live here when we get married?" Elodie asked. Her eyes were closed, but she was smiling, enjoying Harry's hands in her hair.
"Whatever you want, dear." Harry couldn't focus. Between the firewhiskey and Elodie's perfume wafting up from her warm body in his lap, he couldn't make any decisions at all. He could hardly put together a sentence. His mind kept leaping to images of her, naked, on the couch, in his bed, her golden hair fanned out above her, biting her lower lip, waiting for him.
Old hags. Old hags.
It had never been like this with Ginny. He had liked her, to be sure. He'd worried about her safety and thought about her often. But it had never been infatuation. When they finally did have sex, it had been fumbling and awkward. It was sex, he'd enjoyed it, but there wasn't that burning fire between them that made his stomach flip and his cock pulse along with his heartbeat. As it was doing now.
He had promised Elodie that they could go slowly, not rush. But the liquor in his belly was encouraging a different plan altogether.
"El."
She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. He took that as permission to use the nickname, and permission to continue.
"El, I… can we… I'd like to kiss you again."
His brain was all muddled up. He tried to make his request as innocent as possible – not voicing any of the dirty fantasies that were actually going through his brain.
She sat up. She was still smiling, that was a good sign, he thought. Before he knew it, her lips were on his – she was kissing him! Harry was elated. God, she was gorgeous. And funny. And easy to be around. And they'd just set a wedding date!
He wrapped his arms around her, running his hands over her back, her ribs, her shoulders. Her hands were combing sensually through his messy black hair. Harry thought he might explode from happiness, and horniness. His cock had reacted to the kiss immediately, and now strained against the zipper of his pants as it grew. He thought about guiding Elodie's hand down there, to show her how he felt, but even through the lusty, drunken fog, he knew that might be too bold.
Their kiss was passionate and electric. Elodie bit down gently on Harry's lower lip. He noticed that her hands were sneaking under the hem of his shirt, up over his stomach to his chest. He moved downward and kissed her neck. Her hands gripped his shoulders under his shirt, as if she were hanging on for dear life. Harry kissed her shoulder, her chest – he wished that he could pull down the strap of her sundress and continue on, but he forced himself to come up for air and look into her eyes.
"Elodie, if you want to stop, we should stop now."
"Ohh, Harry," she groaned, "I don't know what I want anymore." She laid her head against his chest. Harry could feel his heart pounding. He didn't know what to tell her; of course he wanted to take her to bed right then, but he wanted her to want that, too. He didn't want to coerce her into doing anything she'd regret.
Elodie spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. "As hard as it is to say, I think we really should take it slow. Slow-ish."
"What's slow-ISH?"
"I just mean… I love getting to know you. I love kissing you, too, but I think our relationship will be better in the long run if we start out with friendship and trust instead of… boning."
Harry laughed. "You're probably right. My fiancée is so wise." Elodie smiled. She curled closer to Harry's chest.
"I'm sorry I got you all worked up," she said, with a furtive glance at the bulge in Harry's pants.
"No worries. My fault."
"If it helps, I'm pretty worked up and… unfulfilled… myself." Harry stifled a groan of lust at the thought of Elodie, wet and yearning for him. He wanted so badly to throw her down and get on with it. But he didn't move a muscle. He waited for her to continue, hoping against hope that she would change her mind. There was a tension-filled silence before Elodie spoke.
"I think that maybe we could get away with some things. Maybe. Without crossing the line."
Harry's mind turned cartwheels. "What kinds of things? And where is the line?"
"I have to get descriptive?" Elodie said playfully, looking up at Harry with one eyebrow raised. "I think we can find ways of satisfying each other without penetration."
Harry didn't even stop to think. That was his green light – not to go all the way, yet, but that was okay. He was overjoyed. He'd been daydreaming of slipping that dress off of her ever since she'd arrived, and now the moment was here. His mouth was on hers again. Their kiss was hotter this time, if that was possible. It was filled with anticipation and happiness and nerves and pure lust.
"Bedroom," Harry whispered in her ear. He led the way, removing his shirt and shoes as he went. He ran his hands through Elodie's curls, following them down to her shoulders, where his fingers caught under the straps of her dress and pulled them down. The dress slipped down over her body and fell to the floor. Harry cupped her bare breasts – they were full and heavy and perfect, like nothing he'd ever seen. He couldn't believe that only a thin piece of fabric had been between him and these all evening. He kissed them and nibbled gently; he could hear Elodie's soft moans from above him urging him on.
He rose and kissed her mouth again. His cock was straining against his pants harder than ever. Harry wasn't sure he'd ever been this aroused in his life. With perfect timing, Elodie reached down and undid the button and zipper of Harry's pants. He slid his hand around to the small of her back and pressed her hips against his as his pants fell to the floor.
They turned together and Harry laid Elodie back onto his bed. He kissed her breasts and her stomach as he removed her lacy underwear and threw them over his shoulder. He heard her sigh with satisfaction as he slipped his fingers along the length of her pussy. Fuck, she was wet. She hadn't been lying. Harry kissed along the line of her pelvic bone, and the tops of her thighs, and finally showering her with kisses in the place that made her moan and thrust her hips upward, into his face.
She tasted incredibly sweet. Harry couldn't get enough. He lapped at her clit with his tongue until Elodie was writhing and wild beneath him. She clamped her thighs on either side of his head as she screamed his name. Harry had made her come. Her pussy grew wetter than ever, practically inviting Harry to stick his throbbing cock into it. But he was determined to follow Elodie's rules. He climbed up on the bed next to her and held her close as she lay in ecstasy, recovering from her powerful orgasm.
Elodie kissed him. Harry knew that she had to taste her own sweet juices on his lips, but she didn't seem to mind. Her hand slipped into his underwear and stroked his length. Her kisses traveled down his chin, his chest, his stomach, reaching the elastic of his underwear. He raised his hips so that she could slip them off and continue her trail of kisses down to the tip of his cock. She took him in her mouth so smoothly, Harry almost came right then. But this felt far too good to let it end so soon. Her tongue and lips glided over him, her hand moving in time with her mouth. Harry stared down at her in amazement.
After a few minutes, Harry couldn't hold back any more. He groaned and thrust his hips as cum came pouring out of him, into Elodie's mouth. She didn't flinch, swallowing it all as it surged into her. When it was over, she crawled back up the bed into Harry's waiting embrace.
Neither of them spoke for a long time. Harry thought that she might have fallen asleep. But when he reached to the end of the bed to pull a blanket over them, she stared up at him with her big blue eyes.
"Can I stay here tonight?"
He almost laughed. "Of course. Please." He draped the throw over her and laid down again. Naked limbs tangled together, bellies full of dinner and firewhiskey, and exhausted from their orgasms, both were asleep within minutes.
