Author's note: Apologies for the overlong delay. I hadn't quite worked out what to do with these two till today. Story should be finished within a week now. -ff
"Should we practice our vows?"
Scorpius laughed and straightened Albus' tie. They'd decided to go with Muggle suits for their wedding—tuxes, Albus kept calling them, perhaps inspired by an advert he'd seen in the newspaper. It was their final fitting, and Albus, Scorpius' typically cool and collected Albus, couldn't stop confirming the details of their wedding that weekend.
"We're repeating our vows after Percy—Uncle Percy, I suppose—says them to us, Al. No, I don't think we need to practice."
"And did you tell my mum which kind of lilies we wanted?"
"One, I'm somehow not surprised that you know one lily from another. And two, we put the order in for the flowers a month ago. You need to relax, OK?"
The seamstress, with whom Albus and Scorpius got on quite well, was putting the finishing touches on Albus' trousers. She looked up at Scorpius and smiled. "It's more fun if he doesn't. He's cuter then, isn't he?"
"He is, but I don't want him like this in three days. You sure you can't come, Sam?"
She shook her head. "Would if I could, but I'm holding down the fort at Madam Malkin's while she's on a weekend trip. You know that already."
"Thought it was worth one last try."
Sam straightened up and looked Albus up and down. "Much better," she said. "And Scorpius, naturally, your suit's fitting you perfectly. How Al grew an inch somewhere in there is beyond me. And those are the shoes you'll be wearing?"
Scorpius nodded. "Do you like them?"
"They look a lot like every other pair of men's shoes ever. So sure." She grinned. "That'll be on the house. I didn't have to do enough to justify charging my favorite customers."
Scorpius tossed her a Galleon. "You're taking this anyway," he said, looking down at his wristwatch. "Oh, Albus, we're absolutely needed at the Burrow by two minutes from now."
The two of them changed in record time, waved to Sam, and ran out to the streets of Diagon Alley, relieved not to have to duck in a dark corner to Apparate. Within two jumps, they were standing on the doorstep of the Burrow.
"And why were we so needed here?" Albus asked.
"Why do you keep forgetting what day it is?" Scorpius shook his head and rolled his eyes as Lily burst through the door and fastened her arms around Albus.
"Happy birthday, brother!" she said in a lilting tone. "You know you'll be messed over on presents the rest of your life, right? Everything's going to be a combination Scorpibus gift."
"Scorpibus?" Albus cocked his head and extricated himself from her embrace, which, to Scorpius, looked aggressively tight. Lily, the little Gryffindor Beater, seemed to forget the extent of her strength most of the time.
"Every couple needs a combined name!" Lily skipped into the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was putting the finishing touches on what seemed to be a feast of truly epic proportions. Albus stared at it, goggle-eyed.
"It's your last birthday before your wedding, Albus," said Mrs. Weasley—Scorpius was supposed to call her Molly, and he tried, but it never worked. Hopefully, he'd be able to transition to calling her Grandma. He doubted that, though. "Did you really think we wouldn't make it extra special?"
"I guess I didn't think of it. Kind of distracted, you know." Albus slipped his hand through Scorpius' and grinned. "Where is everyone?"
"Out in the backyard. Had to conjure a couple extra tables for the crowd we've gathered, but there you go. Ginny! George! Help me carry everything to the table!"
Ginny and George came into the kitchen, giving Albus and Scorpius hugs in turn.
"Happy birthday, Al," said George. "And happy conclusion of your bachelorhood."
"It is," Albus said, slipping his hand into Scorpius'.
Ginny kissed Albus on the head, though she had to get on tiptoes to do so. "Happy birthday, boy. You two, get outside and sit down."
Albus and Scorpius complied. Scorpius took a seat between his father and Albus, who was directed to the head of the table.
"Getting invited to birthday feasts now, then?" Scorpius elbowed his dad.
"Apparently so. It looks incredible. How she does it without house elves, I don't know."
"Where's Mum?"
"She'll be here. Had to go pick up Al's gift."
"She'll miss the meal."
"That's her problem." Scorpius' dad licked his lips as they all got their first look at dinner. As soon as the plates hit the table, the group began gorging themselves on steak & kidney pies, honeyed biscuits, cheddar ale soup, and, after a fashion, pumpkin pasties, treacle tart, and chocolate cake.
"I'm not worth this," Albus said to Scorpius.
"You're worth more than this," Scorpius assured him. "But we ought to take what we can get."
Albus had expressly requested that no one go overboard on gifts, and they didn't. Scorpius' mum and dad gave him a pair of cufflinks engraved with Albus' and Scorpius' initials, and had gotten Scorpius the same. George presented him with a sampler of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' best-selling stock, Bill and Fleur gave him a recipe book filled with French meals, and Lily handed him a sack full of Galleons to go toward furnishing Albus and Scorpius' flat. Hermione told them they'd be getting their gift, new Ministry robes, whenever they needed them next.
"That's from all of us, but you can pretend it's just from me," Lily said sweetly.
"Thanks, everyone," said Albus. "You're all excused from giving me gifts that have nothing to do with Scorpius for the rest of my life."
"The odd thing is, he isn't joking," Harry said, looking at Albus fondly. "Give my son a husband and a good meal, and he's satisfied."
"Everyone should be so lucky," said Albus, taking Scorpius' hand.
"You can kiss, you know," Ginny said, smiling wryly. "It's not like it's something we've never seen before."
"Hey, we're discrete," said Scorpius before recalling the last time Ginny had forgotten to knock before coming into Albus' bedroom, and the time George had dropped by unannounced to return a midsized cauldron he'd borrowed, and the time he'd taught Scorpius to swim until they got distracted by each other's bodies, and the time ... well, maybe they weren't so discrete. He leaned over to kiss Albus, quickly and chastely to the sounds of whoops and hollers from the Potter, Malfoy, and Weasley clans.
After being told there was no possible way anyone would accept their help in cleaning up, Albus and Scorpius participated in a few games of Two A Side with Rose and Hugo, and then got soundly defeated at Exploding Snap by Ron and Harry before heading home.
"We're not shagging, you know, for a few more days," said Albus after they popped into their bedroom.
Scorpius groaned. "You don't have to remind me." They'd opted to take a break from sex for a month before the wedding in order to make the honeymoon more special. It was an idea suggested by Fleur, who was perhaps too open about her sex life than any relative should be. Whether it was a good idea or not remained to be seen. All Scorpius could thought was that April 2, the last time he'd made love to Albus, had been a very, very long time ago. He was stellar at wanking now, which he supposed might serve some purpose in the near future. The not-near-enough future. Albus pulled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it in the laundry bin. "I wish you'd at least do me the courtesy of changing in the loo."
"And you could do the same," said Albus as Scorpius divested of his jeans and t-shirt. "It's driving me mad, too, you know. But Fleur promised it'd be worth it."
"I'll probably have forgotten how by the time we're in Hawaii."
"I trust you more than that. Haven't you been wanking?"
"Like crazy," Scorpius admitted.
Albus laughed. "Me too. I guess that's not the whole of it, though."
"You guess? Remember sex? Remember being sucked off?"
"Too well," said Albus. "I'm going to take a shower."
"Tease."
"You wouldn't stick around if you didn't love it."
"Shove off."
"Love you, too," Albus said, laughing as he turned on the water and stepped into the bath.