A/N: Okay, before you kill me, I did mean to have this up a long time ago. But, as it were, all my teachers thought it was funny and they scheduled tests in the following three weeks, just before the important exam I'm writing at current. Yeah – I was not impressed.
Anyways, here you go. Thanks to CatAnne78, muentiger, Puckabrina dreamer, Nizuna Fujieda, Batmarcus, PheonisMinx, Guest (times two) and joe for reviewing.
To Joe: I actually forgot to answer the question, sorry. We're out of the parallel world now, so it'll be easier to write and update. I'm hoping I can write more now, but wish me luck!
And this is also dedicated to Joe - I appreciate your honesty.
Chapter 25: The veela and the shifter.
The following day Skye was awakened early with a sharp rap on the door. She groaned, reaching for her wand to defend herself if necessary, nothing but the sound of wood being knocked pressing through her muddled mind. The bed next to her was empty, and she briefly wondered where Draco was as her hand closed around her wand. She didn't need it, she needed physical training if she had to win. She could fight, but the martial arts and other fighting techniques were alien to her.
She was emotionally exhausted. The previous day, after having told Storm everything, she'd felt shattered, yet relieved, her shoulders lighter, but gloom had settled too. So much so that she asked if she could have another day or two to come back to her senses. She had no idea why Traveling took so much out of her, why she had the need to sleep. Or maybe she did and just refused to deal with it.
She heard the door open, the creaking caused her to shiver. She made a mental note to oil it later.
"Morning, Anna." Draco answered. So that's where he went, Skye thought, relaxing into her pillow.
"Yeah, hey Draco. Where's Skye?" Anna asked, her voice sharp.
"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" Draco asked, amused, closing the door behind him.
"No, I don't. I want this to be perfect, and Skye's my maid of honour, so she gets a special dress and everything!" Anna said out of breath, a Romanian accent slipping through. Skye wanted to bolt out the door and yell at Anna that she refused to wear a dress. Then the words 'maid of honour' reached her, a bit too late, and she relaxed again. She couldn't find the strength or the will to move from the soft bed.
"Anna, calm down. She's asleep. And don't you dare wake her, we both know…" Draco trailed off. Immediately Skye's ears peaked, what did they know?
"Yeah, we do, but I just need to ask…"
"No." Draco said firmly. "She's been booked off by the resident medi-witch. She's tired, Anna, and sick. Please." Draco was asking nicely. Skye saw Anna in her mind's eye, impatiently pursing her lips, or nervously biting her lip.
Anna huffed; Skye guessed she'd been pursing her lips. "You win, but I need to go over best man duties with you either way."
"I thought Sev was best man!" Draco was frowning, Skye could sense it.
"Both of you are, Draco! Both his brother and father are to be there." Anna persisted, pressing something into Draco's hand, the cling of the ring reverbrating against his won ring.
"So we cut the ring in two?" He asked, confused.
"That's the idea."
The conversation carried on, but Skye tuned out by rolling to her other side. She felt sick, and she hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. Draco'd made her dinner the previous day, including the pickles in a smashing Greek Salad. Skye'd heaped the salad onto her plate, putting some of the roasted potatoes and fried chicken on the plate too.
"Skye, love, you aren't on a diet are you?" Draco'd asked carefully, the idea striking him as preposterous. Skye was a food-lover, she loved to eat, it explained the bit of fat she had on her hips, but dieting? It just didn't seem like her.
"No, I just have an odd craving for pickles." She replied, holding her dish defensively. Draco laughed, his hand on her shoulder. She was such a child sometimes.
"You're one very odd person, Skye."
"I know." She said proudly, glancing up at him. He shook his head, sitting down next to her, his own plate of food perched on his lap.
"Enjoy it, Skye." He winked at her. She frowned, looking at her dish of food before picking up the fork and starting to eat.
She told him about the other world, or some of it. About Aves and her brother, about Lia and Zach, about Lia and the other him. At one point she sat up sharply, a pain searing through her stomach, where the wound was. Draco sat up too, his hand on her back.
"Skye?"
She smiled, shifting her expression into a 'eureka!'-expression.
"I'm poisonous." She said, pretending that she'd remembered something. With that she launched into the tale of threatening Zach. Draco thought it was funny: her spit could cause erosion; he never wanted to get into a verbal fight with her.
The door to their room burst open, and Skye knew it was Anna. Anna sat down on the bed, her weight becoming known slightly. Anna must've burst in when Draco's back was turned. Said man was currently in the kitchen, humming to himself. Skye rolled around to look at her best friend.
"Morning." Anna said softly, gently wiping Skye's hair out of her eyes. Skye blinked a few times to get rid of the sleep in her eyes.
"Morning, sleepyhead." Anna whispered. "You okay?"
Skye shifted a bit, before feeling a sticky wetness near her stomach. She sat up quickly, immediately regretting it as a sharp pain shot through her. She ignored it, lifting the duvet off her form.
"Anna, could you maybe get me wad of toilet paper please?" Skye asked, seeing blood on their sheets.
"Why?" Anna leaned over. "Merlin, Skye!" She hastened to the bathroom, her medical mind failing her for the space of a second. Then she sprang into action, Skye was in the air, levitated, and she was cleaning the sheets. "Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded.
"I didn't know!" Skye answered, unnerved by being magically manipulated by another.
"Where'd you get hurt?"
Skye was more worried about the amount of blood dripping from the wound. What about the baby?
"In the other world! Please!" She shrieked; her voice high in desperation. Anna's head snapped up. She lowered Skye and cleaned the wound, closing the wound. Her eyes widened as it refused to close entirely.
"Skye – what were you cut with?" Anna asked, her voice low.
"I don't know!" She lied, "Please, Anna."
Anna pursed her lips and summoned some muggle medicine. She tended to the wound, putting a large, white bandage over it.
"You'll have to clean it a lot, okay?"
Skye nodded, looking away. She couldn't lie, she hated to lie, and now she had to lie to everyone she loved. She felt like slamming her head into a wall.
"Skye? Would you be my maid of honour?"
Her head snapped to Anna violently. Of course she'd heard her earlier, but it wasn't wise to tell someone like Anna that you'd been eavesdropping.
"What?"
"I'll repeat it once, but just because I love you. Will you be my maid of honour?" Anna asked, sitting next to Skye on the now clean sheets.
"Of course." Skye grinned, excited at the idea of Anna and Laud finding happiness. "Wait – who's leading the ceremony? It can't be Laud, because he's the groom, and I guess dad and Draco are the best men, aren't they? And…"
"Skye, calm down, I've sorted it all out and… wait, how did you know your dad and Draco were co-best men?" Anna narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"I was on the verge of reality and dreamland." Skye put her hands up in defence. Anna laughed suddenly, putting her hands around her best friend in a hug.
"I love you, Skye." She laughed. Skye patted Anna's hair.
"I love you too, you silly horse." Skye shook her head as Anna sat up.
"I'd be offended by that, but I'm just too damn happy!" Anna exclaimed, hugging herself. Skye wanted to laugh, Anna was really cute when she was happy.
. . .
It was early when she woke up. A week had properly flown by, with her being a teacher and having returned to her classes, with Anna's massive wedding having to be planned, Draco, looking after herself and the baby, time was limited. She relaxed when she got into bed at night, but that was almost all. She refused to train hard or carry heavy objects; she kept it calm and even walked to places she normally would have ran to. The others didn't like her always being late to either the training or Anna's wedding things. Surprisingly, the only one that understood her dilemma and told the others to just shut up, was Sage. More than once they'd asked him why, more than once he pretended not to have heard the question.
Annabelle had confided to Skye about the boy from another world with who she shared a mind, Roderick Lestrange, son of that world's Bellatrix. Skye shuddered at the thought. Bellatrix having a child. But Annabelle, soon nicknamed simply 'Belle', made it plain that Roderick was just prone to violence at some times, otherwise he was a nice kid. Skye refused to believe it. Belle was moved to Malfoy Manor, due to her previous home being a beach chair. The bat moved with her, it's tiny teeth nibbling on the back of a quill (it wasn't as perverted as Skye'd originally thought).
She stood up, groaning. She'd confided about the cut to her friends, but just saying that it was just a cut that wouldn't heal. She went to the bathroom to clean it, bending low over the sink to first wash her face.
She was feeling sick, and she could feel bile rise up her stomach. She bent over the loo and emptied the contents of her stomach, cursing herself for eating all the spicy food the previous night. She'd heard some women didn't have morning sickness at all - it looked like she was one of the unlucky ones. She was just glad that Draco wasn't there to hear her. He was still out with the boys.
She lead herself back to the basin shakily, wiping her mouth with a bit of toiletpaper. She hated the feeling of vomiting. She quickly grabbed her tootbrush and violently attacked her mouth with it and more than half the tube of toothpaste.
She looked tired, she realised once she was done brushing her teeth.
It was no surprise either, after the night she'd just had. It had been Anna's bachelorette party, and it was the one thing Anna had allowed Skye to plan. Skye told Luna, Narcissa, Storm, Annabelle and Mrs Le Roux to hide; while she met Anna a while earlier for what Anna believed was going to be a quiet dinner.
When they entered Skye's quarters, Anna was bombarded with congratulations and presents. Skye left the party of women at the enlarged dinner table, fetching the dinner, full plates filled with roasted chicken and potatoes, rice and a portion of mixed vegetables, followed by a desert of heated dried fruit and custard. Of course Skye hadn't been the one to cook, she was a disaster in the kitchen. Draco'd made the dinner – wanting to shield Anna and the others from Skye's awful and possibly poisonous cooking skills. Even Annabelle, who, for a vampire, ate a lot of normal food and almost anything, didn't trust the Empress' cooking.
The meeting of Annabelle and Skye had been brief. Skye had been on her way to class one morning when she was suddenly cut short by a new presence, with black hair and icy blue eyes. Something told her this girl, she appeared to be sixteen, knew who she was. And upon seeing the ageless beauty the girl possessed, she instantly knew that this was the bat's master.
"Annabelle?" Skye asked. The vampire nodded, keeping her lips tightly sealed. "You smell the blood, don't you?"
Again she nodded. She dared to take a breath, and the smell of poisoned blood hit her in the face. She recoiled. She wasn't subjected to the Empress, but getting on her good side was necessary. What she'd done in the past was unforgivable, even if her father had deserved it. The images flashed in front of her eyes: she'd murdered him, his blood had been everywhere.
But the smell of the blood made her feel sick. She knew that was more than mere blue, royal, blood.
"Empress, I must know – is the True Shifter alive?" She spoke quickly before holding her breath again.
"Yes. You're under his rule, not mine. We share the crown now." Skye nodded to the flying lessons, where Draco was busy teaching the seventh years, which included Zane. Annabelle possibly glowed.
"It is said that his blood, even a single drop of it, can stop a vampire's thirst for millennia." Annabelle said quickly, excited. "I hate feeding."
"It does?" Skye was surprised. She grinned. "I learn something new everyday. Well, you'll have to ask him yourself."
Annabelle nodded. "Not now, he's in class." Skye added quickly. The vampire nodded and asked if she could accompany Skye to her class. Skye bowed her head in consent, and the odd pair fell into step next to each other.
From then the two of them didn't talk much, they simply fell into step next to one another every morning, Belle travelling from Malfoy Manor to walk with Skye. Belle had learned that to gain Zane's blood, she must prove herself to him. She must gain his trust, and she had no idea how to do it.
Once the delicious meal was over at Anna's bachelorette party, and the dishes vanished, Anna was thrown with a pink stuffed elephant and several suggestive pieces of lacy lingerie.
"Really, guys, lace?" Anna laughed, holding a piece up in the air. The women laughed at her joke. Then the real presents came.
Skye gifted the pair some handcuffs and a blindfold, which lay atop a stack of fantasy books she thought the pair would enjoy.
Luna was more considerate; she bought a large baby bottle with random baby things like a diaper and a dummy. She was confused when they all laughed, and said the nargles had told her that someone was expecting. Anna was a bit frightened, until Luna said it wasn't for Anna.
"It's not for you, you silly girl, it's for Skye!"
Skye burst out in laughter, but accepted the bottle. She promised Luna she would use it one day. Luna shook her head, tutting under her breath. She pulled out another parcel and handed it to Anna. It was a series of homemade soaps and other bathing products.
Laud would love it, Skye thought, he's all for nature.
Annabelle didn't know Anna that well yet. The meeting of Belle and Anna was odd. The two just stared at one another for what felt like an hour, but was actually two, and Anna finally nodded in approval, jumping up to find Zane. All the professors were swamped with work, more than just one essay to mark and grade. Skye had been in the corner at the meeting of the two, attempting to grade papers, but failing as she repeatedly dozed off. Her head falling against the window. Anna had to unstick her cheek from the window.
Belle gave her a bat, oddly enough it was deaf. Anna squealed (not helping the poor bat's loss of hearing) and went about giving it a name. Oddly enough, she named it Batsy, and Annabelle chided her for not being more original.
Now the bat's name was Mimosikial.
Narcissa and Storm gave her a set of towels and bedding, a light blue to match her eyes. Anna commented that it would spruce up Laud's hut, which was "awfully boring, not even a single curtain!"
"Then I'm glad I have these." Mrs Le Roux then said, handing over her own, very large, parcel. It was the same shade of blue that the towels and bedding was.
Once that was over, the fun started.
Belle opened up a bottle of wine, which Skye heavily avoided, and they played silly party ganes. Skye appointed herself guardian over the party goers. The first game was Monopoly, and Storm kept shouting ''Attack!'' at her pieces, and when no action came, she scowled at the board. Finally they took pity on her, and played a simply game of magical snakes and ladders. Skye didn't find it funny when she had to run arounf, climbing ladders, seeing as she and Narcissa were the only snakes. She soon turned it into a came of veela, ravenclaws and human and ladders.
Storm was the first to be tipsy, she wasn't used to drinking, next was Luna (though she just danced to no music at all in the middle of the room). Anna was last, and she and Skye sat talking into the middle of the night, where Skye fell asleep. Ana just smiled and covered her best friend with a snug blanket.
Anna had glanced around, her heart a bit empty. Pansy should've been there. She should've given Anna some horrible pink, lace underwear-set to go with the cuffs Skye'd given.
Out of nowhere a small parcel appeared. Anna reached down and flipped the small card open, not forgetting to send her magic over it in case it was cursed.
I don't want to be a martyr, but I'll have to be. P
She opened the box, finding a small vial in it. It was obviously an expensive sort of lotion. Anna looked at the small note again. It was Pansy, it could only be her. It was a very literate for her to say. Not that Pansy wasn't smart, she was just more straightforward than this.
She did understand one thing, though, and that was that Pansy wasn't against them. She left after that, taking it with her.
Skye didn't know about it, that was why she called some house elves to help her clean the mess.
The wedding would be on a beach – Anna loved the beach. Skye had her own fond memories of a beach. Maybe she should visit it again before she died.
She vaguely wondered where Draco and the others were…
. . .
"Draco, this is not funny!" Laud yelled, slamming his fist against the door. He was in a dark place, he was locked in the back of a truck. Déjà vu? Definitely. Laud knew Draco had done it, because at Draco's bachelor party, he and Blaise had locked Draco in the back of a truck. It was payback.
"I think it is!" Sage called back, banging on the outside. The bachelor party had been held all night. He'd expected a quiet dinner – it wasn't his first wedding, after all, but this one felt different.
He did love Storm, and Lila, but Anna was… she was just so fiery! She knew what he was thinking, even at times when he fell into silence, or when he went into an extreme babble-mode, she just nodded, reading behind his rants.
"Please, guys, I'm going to be late!" He shouted, glancing at his watch. He couldn't see anything. He slapped his hand against his forehead in frustration. The guys had taken him to a beach, where they sat around a campfire sharing tales. Draco shared his first kiss with them (''It was in the Forbidden Forest - and it was weird.''), Sage shared the tale of his finding out he was half-siren (''And, out of nowhere, I had this thing missing between my legs! I was not impressed.''), Zane spoke of his parents, his eyes glazing over as he remembered them. Severus told a lot of stories about Skye, including one where she woke up screaming because a rat was hunting her. Blaise had shared the tale of his falling for (and stalking) Luna Lovegood, and Laud just opted to tell them about Lila and his destiny bearer title.
"He's already going mad, Blaise." Draco laughed. Laud laughed silently. He knew they wouldn't let him out until moments before the wedding, like they'd done with Draco, only they'd sent Anna to fetch him.
They'd probably get Skye to fetch him. It was becoming a sort of ritual in the family. Laud made a mental note to lock Severus up too – he'd been left out of the family captivity ritual.
The night had been filled with magic tricks and mazes, he thought, remembering a sort of scavenging hunt involving a bunny dressed in a tight purple dress. Laud panicked at first, then he noticed that it a stuffed animal.
He heard pops outside, knowing they'd left him. He slammed against the door, hearing the chains rattle. He kept slamming for what felt like an hour, yelling his voice hoarse – he had to get out, and if a bystander would help, he'd take it.
The doors were suddenly blown open. As he'd predicted, it was his sister. She looked both amused and annoyed.
"Come on, bro, it's time." She held a hand out towards him, he took it and jumped off.
"Skye, you're not dressed yet." He pointed out. She looked down at her pyjamas and nodded.
"It's a pyjama wedding, Laud, didn't you get the message?" She asked, frowning. Laud froze until he saw her laugh inwardly.
"Skye! You almost got me!" He moaned. She burst out laughing.
"It's not my fault you're gullible, Laud." She said, linking her arm through his.
"No, I'm serious, why are you still in your nighties? The wedding is in," he glanced at his watch, "an hour." The idea of an hour later he'd be tied down didn't phase him. He was as calm as cucumber.
"Because I need to put my glamours on when no one's looking. And thus far my home's been filled with people. If I take you there, they'd all leave." She explained.
"Why do you need your glamours for Anna's wedding? All of those invited know who and what you are…" He was confused. Why did she need her glamours, unless she got hurt and was hiding it, but they all knew of her poisoned cut… "Skye, did you get hurt again?"
"No, just the cut, bro." She answered, avoid the first question. He narrowed his amber eyes and looked down at her. She was strolling absentmindedly, humming to herself. She was glowing, as if she'd just had a very interesting moment with her husband, Laud compared it to an expecting mother's glow.
"I feel pregnant." Sage moaned, reaching to Zane for a hug where he was against the wall on the floor. "And I want a pickle." Zane sat down next to him, wrapping the now smaller man in his arms.
"You are a man, Sage, somehow I don't think it's possible for you." Laud sneered playfully.
"I blame Skye. She's hurt, so I keep having her moodswings – why'd I have to be connected to her like this?" Sage groaned, falling to his knees in front of a toilet. It was night, and Zane had woken him, saying that Sage was being sick. Anna had been at the wizarding hospital, otherwise she'd have been the first person they'd gone to.
Laud thought it was a typical morning sickness, but Sage was male…
"Skye, you're pregnant!" He yelled. Skye choked on her own spit, inhaling it down the wrong pipe, her hand slipping from his arm. Laud knew he was right. She heaved, and he clapped her back to help her get her breath back.
"What?" She demanded breathlessly.
"You are! I know you are! Deny it?" He dared her, unable to hold back his excitement. He was going to be an uncle!
"Denied." She said simply, grabbing his arm, giving him no warning and turning on the spot, sucking both of them in a suffocating darkness.
She left him on his own after that, strolling to her and Draco's quarters under a disillusionment charm. It always fascinated him that wizards and witched could disappear just like that.
With a sigh he headed to his hut in the Forbidden Forest, knowing that Anna would be in Romania at her parents' house.
He had no idea what was going to happen! He'd taken care of the honeymoon, as that was what she allowed him to do, but the rest she'd done. Skye was to take him to the destination, and that would be the end of it. Or the beginning, depending on who you were.
He donned the light blue robe set out for him – he was glad it wasn't a modern tuxedo, those things didn't sit well with him. He mulled over his thoughts for a few minutes, wondering about life, love, his sister, the future… it was truly a scary thing, the future. He just hoped he and his soon-to-be wife would survive. He knew it made him selfish, wanting for them to survive, not even thinking about the others. It was only human, he thought. But the problem was that he wasn't human, was he? Not yet.
"Laud?" Skye said from the door. His head snapped in her direction. She was dressed in a light green dress coming straight down, a simple flower decorating her hair.
"Sis, you're beautiful." He said, getting up and enfolding her in his arms. "And I'm sorry. I won't tell anyone." What he wouldn't tell, was obvious, and she nodded lightly.
She pulled back. "The bride beats me. Speaking of, I need the ring." She held her hand out to him. He handed her the ring, and she pocketed it.
"Shall we?" She held out her arm to him. He shook his head, holding out his own arm. She laughed and grabbed onto him, sending them into the crushing darkness again.
They arrived on a beach, where everyone was already seated. Skye and Laud made their way to the front.
"You're early." Skye said at the waiting crowd. Her watch told her there was still thirty minutes left, and there was no way the bride was going to be early, she make sure of it. "Really, even the one doing the ceremony isn't here yet." She shook her head, as if disappointed in the early arrivers, and apparated.
This time she arrived in Romania, where Sage, Zane and Draco were quarrelling.
"You have to put it on, Zane! It's tradition!" Draco insisted.
"Are you kidding me?" Zane demanded, pushing them away. "I said I'd conduct the ceremony, she didn't say anything about a Dumbledore-esque robe!"
"He invented a new word." Sage said calmly. Skye crept up behind the true shifter, holding her finger to her lips, motioning for Draco and Sage to remain quiet, while her other hand took the robe. She pulled herself to her full height, still shorter than Zane, and pushed the material over his head.
"Skye one, Zane zero." She cheekily, and childishly, sticking her tongue out at him.
"I hate it when she does that." Zane mumbled as Skye passed him.
"I heard that!" She called back as she entered the room where Anna was supposedly getting dressed. Anna, however, was far from dressed.
"Anna, you're not dressed." Skye pointed out the obvious. Anna rolled her eyes, then laid eyes on her friend.
"It's considered a crime to steal the bride's glory, Mrs Malfoy." Anna rebuked her. Skye laughed.
"Yeah, right. Come on, get dressed." Skye urged her, seeing the dress hanging nearby.
"I'm waiting for my mother, silly girl." Anna laughed, just as the door opened again. Mrs Le Roux entered.
"I just got off the phone with your father, he says…"
"Please, I don't want to know what that man said." Anna interrupted her mother. She had no respect for her biological father. Her stepdad was the man that raised her and loved her, and he was worthy of the word 'dad'. Mrs Le Roux looked oddly satisfied.
"Very well, then, darling. Skye and I are here to help. And Skye, might I say, you look lovely!" She exclaimed. Skye bowed her head in thanks, taking in the mother of the bride in. She was wearing a long, sky blue dress.
"As do you, ma'am." Skye replied gallantly.
The trio of women set to work, getting Anna in her dress. A few moments later they stood back and admired their work. Anna's mother would be taking her in.
Skye first went out to find Draco and her dad, breaking Anna's ring carefully into two pieces and giving each a half. They shook their heads at the lunacy of it all.
Skye and Draco would be apparating together, they didn't know they waited for one another, but they always apparated together. Skye knew she'd have to stop soon, but she was giving herself time.
"Skye?" Draco drew her attention.
"Hm?"
He drew her in and kissed her. Out of habit her hands went around his neck. His hands twisted around her waist, drawing her closer, hearing her heartbeat loudly in his ears. Something softer too, but he dismissed it as the blood rushing in his ears. He pulled her with him to the beach, concentrating hard on the destination and not on her body so close to his.
Once at the beach they broke apart, their breathing fast. At the same moment Anna and her mother appeared, and Skye signalled to the piano player to start playing the wedding march.
Skye couldn't believe Anna had chosen the wedding march of all things, but tradition did go a long way. She linked her arm through his, and they walked down the aisle, a prelude to the wonder of the bride.
Zane was at the front, still dressed in his midnight blue Dumbledore-esque robe. Anna had chosen him to do the ceremony, because he had the magical ability to perform a marriage, it came with being the True Shifter. A ministry official would've been so boring, in her opinion, and she didn't want Skye to do it, Skye was, after all, her maid of honour. And Laud, who also had the authotity, was the groom.
The entire party stood up as Anna walked down the aisle. Her dress a light blue, fitting with the beach theme, coming straight down, a few layers of darker blue covering her form, clinging to her form. Several gasps could be heard from the party. In the front Skye stood near the altar, where Draco made her sit down next to her dad in fear of her collapsing – she was weak, it was evident from her pale features.
Laud was struck dumb when he saw Anna, his jaw dropping open. Draco rolled his eyes, but smiled. Laud deserved every last bit of happiness he got.
"Dearly beloved," Zane started, looking down at a few notes as the party was seated and Anna was in front, "we are gathered here today to join this veela and this shifter in holy matrimony…"
The ceremony wasn't a simple one. The two repeated the vows as Zane read them to them, and the deal was sealed with Anna's ring being melted together by both Draco and Sev, whilst Laud's ring was handed over by Skye. They were slipped on, and the promise was made with a kiss.
. . .
"Anna!" Skye was the first to hug the couple as they arrived at the party, hand in hand. The party was being held at their Romanian home – Anna said it felt right. Right there in a clearing, the grass just flattened to serve as a make-shit dance-floor. It was decorated in greens and blues, fitting Anna's wedding theme. Skye half expected fairies to come dancing out at random times. Everyone was already there when the couple arrived.
They were showered in leaves and butterflies ("There is no way I'm having confetti thrown at me at my wedding!").
The couple sat at the head table, with Mrs Le Roux and Mr Le Roux, on Anna's side, and on Laud's side it was Severus, Draco and Skye. His parents were long gone, he said, and insisted on it being the three of them, his father, his sister and his brother.
Draco, foolishly, decided to open the field to speeches.
"Evening, everyone!" He called, tapping his wineglass lightly with a teaspoon. The chatter died down around the flattened grass' tables. "I thought as brother of the groom I should step up!" He set the spoon down and lifted the glass again. "To the bride and groom! May your endeavours into the unknown be wonderful!"
The entire reception burst out in laughter. Draco laughed along, "Right, I'm never saying that again." He sat down again, hiding his very red face in his hands, his head rocling back and forth, giving the floor over to Mr Le Roux.
"Anna, darling, you lied to me. He is not the Minister of Magic… he's better." Mr Le Roux looked fondly at his new son-in-law. "I wish you the world, darling, and all it contains. To the bride and groom." He raised his glass, as did the guests, echoing his last words.
"Skye, you're up." Draco whispered, put off by no one having laughed at his joke.
She stood up, her air imposing, but when she smiled fondly a collective sigh was breathed by the crowd. She guessed she was still public enemy number one. She wasn't wearing her Glamours – Anna had forbidden it, so the Malloys had taken the day off.
"Not that I could say much, but if you two get divorced, I'm declaring myself neutral. Well, after failed attempt humour… I wish you two all the happiness in the world. To add to your father: I wish you the world, and all it contains, I wish you love – and hope it remains." She put her arms around the beaming newlyweds. "And, uh, do make use of the handcuffs I gave you, won't you?"
At that the reception laughed, and Skye bowed grandly, raising her glass, but not drinking from it, seating herself again.
The couple opened the dance-floor in a graceful waltz, shocking both Skye and Sage – Laud wasn't much of a dancer normally.
The next moment everyone was on the dance-floor. Skye and Draco, somehow having the ability to dance a perfect waltz when the music came on, they're movements being exactly on time.
Finally the traditional father-daughter dance arrived, and Anna and her father took the floor in splendour and majesty. Laud asked Skye for a dance, seeing as he couldn't exactly dance with his mother.
"Just take it slow." She said as he pulled her close, twirling her around.
The couple was waved off in a thestral-drawn carriage – almost all the guests could see them, the thestrals. And that was what made life sad at that moment. That so many had seen someone die.
Skye decided then and there that this should end now, and soon too. She would begin her quest on the morning, tonight, she'd rest.
Skye returned to her table again, finding a parcel on her seat. A wrapped square parcel, roughly folded, a note on it.
Read it, all will be revealed.
Confused, she tore the messy brown paper, and looked down at the blue faded cover. The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
"But I have this book…" She mused loudly, startled when a pair of hands wrapped around her waist. She was glad that the dress hid her small bump, and that from the angle she was standing, Draco wouldn't be able to feel it all that much.
"Let's go home." He placed a kiss on her shoulder. She nodded, turning to face him.
"I love you, Draco." Her hands curled around his arms, and he concentrated on getting them out of there.
"She find it?" Ron whispered to Hermione, who nodded and lead Ron back to the dance-floor.
. . .
A/N: Please review! I'll make you guys a deal, the minute I get, let's say 8, hugs, I'll update.