AN: My goal of this chapter is to lead Antonia to an emotional breakdown. Also, holy shit, 45,000 views on FanFic and 3,600 on AO3? Holy shit. Thank you so much. This fic has given me at least a trillion other fic ideas (therapist/patient Drarry, a Very Drarry Christmas, respective rentboy fics for Draco and Harry, model/photographer Tholin, student/teacher Wolfstar, and many, many more) so I hope you'll stick around for those!
Chapter 36: Calm Before the Storm
Three days left. Draco turned over in their bed, knowing Harry would be there. Draco had been awake for hours, but had spared his fiancée the disturbance of his slumber with bothersome wedding worries. It was the first time in a long time that Draco had spared anyone of his ranting and raving. Maybe he was just feeling benevolent that day.
"Mornin'," Harry murmured happily, his bones heavy with sleep. He leaned into Draco's bare chest and squirmed closer for warmth even though he was already wrapped tight in his blankets.
Draco gave his ear a kiss. "Morning, love."
"Time is it?"
"Ten. Well, ten-ish. Isn't it nice to be off from work?" he grinned.
Harry's grogginess slowly faded. "I'll say," he agreed. "Want some pancakes?"
"Sure," Draco said, not moving at all to allow Harry to get up and make them. "Later, though. Head Aurors need to rest up."
"Head Aurors also need to eat," Harry reminded him. Even so, there were no moves made to get up from either party. "Even the ones who haven't spent a day on the job."
Draco let his hand slide up Harry's sternum to caress his neck. "Have I mentioned how proud of you I am?" he asked.
"Several times."
"Well, I'm saying it again," Draco decided. "I'm very proud of you, my little lion cub."
Harry rolled his eyes but smiled all the same. "Nutter."
"You know, I never did get a chance to properly reward your promotion…" Draco trailed off, moving his index finger in circles at the base of his neck.
A laugh escaped Harry. "The honeymoon is in three days, you know."
"I'm not a patient man," he reminded him.
"That's true," Harry reflected, turning over to face Draco and give him a light peck. The both of them needed a good shave, but neither quite cared. Stubble brushed against stubble when their kisses deepened.
It was the calm before their storm, and they would bask in it together for as long as they could manage. In a matter of hours they would be back to setting up and placating relatives and friends.
Everyone had gotten bawdy and wildly drunk by the end of the rehearsal dinner, and Lucius' good mood and patience had thinned significantly. At least matters hadn't come to hexes and spells.
In their cups, Narcissa and Molly had almost exchanged a few kind words. Pansy laughed at Sirius' jokes, and Charlie discussed the wizarding market with Lucius. With the aid of alcohol, they could almost pretend to be normal.
As Draco's hips gently shifted into Harry's, all thoughts of normality were light-years away. They would seek their solace in each other that morning for the days ahead. They would be husband and man, or man and husband; however that went, by the end of the week.
xxxxXXXXxxxx
A bored Sirius was an incredibly dangerous Sirius. His boredom had led to things like The Great Pudding Incident of 1975, copious amounts of prison tattoos, and
He'd taken off from work to help his 'niece' and godson out with their wedding, but as it turned out, Draco was more control freak than a sharer of power. Slytherins. I'll probably have to shield Harry from damage if he ever does anything wrong to Draco, he noted.
Now waiting for Remus to be done with a tutoring session, Sirius was walking the halls of his alma mater. There was where James and I pulled that prank on Bellatrix, and there was where Longbottom first kissed Alice…
Sirius had to stop himself when he came to the spot where Peter had gotten so sick on chocolate frogs that Moony had given him from his Private Stash that he threw up all over McGonagall's shoes. It would have been a funny memory, her dragging him by the ear to her office, but the humor was dead on arrival. At least Filch had gotten that stain off of the floor.
"Erm, Mr. Sirius?"
The animagus turned around to see who was calling him such a ridiculous name and wound up having to look down. "Oh, hello there, Livvie," Sirius said in surprise. He made up nick names when he was nervous. Thus far, Remus had only liked 'Moony', since the other options were, in his words, 'disturbed'.
Olivia's bob was tucked behind her ears, and her hands strangely… dirty?
"What've you got on your hands there?"
"Nothing, really," Olivia said quickly, discreetly sliding her hands into her robe pockets. "I was just… Doing some exploring around the castle."
Sirius cocked an eyebrow. He knew that lie all too well, even out of a Ravenclaw's mouth. "Right, right. What exactly were you looking for, sweetie?"
Swallowing down a lump in her throat, she was fresh out of lies. "Well," she said, shifting on her feet.
"You can tell me, I'm not the teacher here," Sirius said as he crouched down to her level and gave her a grin. Remus probably wouldn't have done anything either, in all honesty.
"There was this room," Olivia blurted out. "There were books and tea and even a wardrobe there full of clothes. They were all my size." She'd never had clothes like those before. Everyone from Slytherins to a stray couple of Gryffindor girls would turn their noses up at her bargain-bin flats. They were worn out on both sides, and dances were a nightmare.
"Where?" Sirius asked, keenly interested in the cartography of Hogwarts. "What floor?"
His grey eyes met her hazel ones. "It used to be on the fourth floor… But then it was on the fifth. I tried using the dungeon portraits to find it again." She gave her sooty hands as evidence.
"Good plan, but the ones near the entrance hall provide cleaner pathways." His sage advice was delivered with the utmost seriousness.
"Really?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah. Especially the ones of the founders. Good ol' Rowena's should help you get around."
A curious look crossed her face. "How do you know so much about this, Mr. Sirius?"
"First off, it's just Sirius," Sirius told her. "And… Well, your Professor and I got up to a few things that didn't exactly line up with Hogwarts standard rules."
"Really? Professor Lupin got in trouble before?" Olivia's eyes were wide.
"Oh, I was usually the one who got in trouble," he said with a devilish grin. "Remus—Professor Lupin was usually more subtle than I was when it came to pranking and exploring. Possibly the most subtle Marauder to maraud these castle grounds."
"Marauder?" She knew what the word meant, but not why he was using it like it meant the world to him.
Sirius gave her a small smile. "That's a very long story, sweetheart."
"I've got time," she responded, crossing her arms and waiting for his response.
On his knees facing the little girl, Sirius wondered if he really had a choice at all. He was a sucker for kids. "Well, it was what my friends and I called ourselves when we made our map."
"Map?" Her interested was most certainly aroused.
Damn her for being so inquisitive. "Things solidified around the time when Moo—Professor Lupin, told us that he had been bitten. We became animaguses, so we could follow him on full moons and make sure he didn't get hurt." Or hurt anyone else. "And together, we made a map so we could know every nook and cranny of this place." For Moony.
Olivia bit her lower lip in excitement. "Wow."
"It wasn't that hard. That Professor of yours is great with a map charm."
"Not that it was hard," she clarified. "That's just… Really spectacular. Nobody would make a map for me."
Something about that made Sirius' heart twist in his chest. "Oh, Liv. Do you want to know why nobody's made you a map yet?"
"Why?"
"Because one already exists," Sirius told her, reaching into his inner robe pocket.
"Sirius," Remus said as he entered the hall, locating his husband. The Slytherin girl he had been tutoring waved goodbye as she sprinted for the dungeon entrance. Ah, the enthusiasm for learning in grand Hogwarts. When Sirius turned over his shoulder and caught Remus' eyes, he knew something was different. "Olivia, too. Hello, what's going on?"
"We're making a legacy," Sirius told him very seriously, pulling the seemingly-blank parchment out into the open. "C'mere."
Remus followed as Sirius beckoned, dropping down to one knee to keep at Olivia's height as well.
"I realized that Olivia is in this school all summer, and cannot seem to encounter a map anywhere."
Suddenly, Remus knew what was happening. "Oh, we can't have that," he responded with a nod.
"Exactly," Sirius said as his other hand found Remus' there as they knelt on the stone floor. "Every Marauder needs a map, after all." He presented the parchment and nodded for her to draw her wand.
Olivia took out the light-wood rod and held it up, looking for further instructions. "This is just a piece of paper."
"Not if you know the magic words," Sirius told her. "Now, here it is: 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
That made Olivia giggle. Who knew her straight-laced (yet charmingly gay) Professor had an adventurous side? "Alright. I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Ink blossomed across the cover pages, and Olivia's breath caught in her throat. It was some ghostly hand was letting a vial of black smoke empty out on the page in different patterns and words until the words 'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present: The Marauder's Map' were clearly etched along the lines of a perfectly drawn Hogwarts.
Remus and Sirius even felt a sense of wonder, and they made the map their damn selves. It was almost like their baby. Admittedly, a baby they had had with two other boys back in school that had been used for lecherous and illegal purposes, but a baby all the same. Yet there they were, giving it away.
Gingerly, Olivia opened one of the flaps and watched the map unfold in front of her. "Merlin. This is beautiful." What really fascinated her were the footprints along with the name scrolls below them.
Down the corridor from the Defense Against the Dark Arts room were three sets of footprints. Remus Lupin, Sirius Lupin, and Olivia Cross.
"I can't accept this," she said suddenly.
"Why not?" Remus asked, confused.
"Moony, it doesn't matter, she's keeping it," Sirius informed them both, abandoning his attempts at referring to his husband in a professional manner.
Olivia shook her head. "It's too wonderful. I don't deserve this."
"That's complete shi—" Remus gave Sirius a look before he used that foul mouth of his around a student. "It's ridiculous. Of course you do."
"But I haven't done anything," she insisted, the map strangely heavy in her hands.
Remus shook his head and tried to sound as gentle as possible. "Olivia, you don't need to do anything. It's a gift."
"From one Marauder to another," Sirius added.
"We're not exactly using it anymore," Remus continued. "And this map has mischievous exploits in its very soul. So, it belongs to you now."
"Wow," Olivia said again, looking down to it. Maybe she'd show it to Alex or that Hufflepuff girl who sat across from her at lunch… It seemed like the kind of map that you shared with people. "Wow."
Sirius looked at their map in her hands and felt a pang of sadness. That part of their life was over, but not for Olivia. It was like he said earlier; the map would be their legacy. Passed down from witches and wizards to the next generation, and the next generation after that.
Poor Filch was never going to have a moment of peace again.
"And when you're done," Sirius said, pulling out his own wand. "You have to keep the secret." The tip of the rune-covered wand touched the parchment.
"Mischief managed," he and Remus said in unison.
xxxxXXXXxxxx
Pansy undid the clasp on the back of her dress and let it slide off. "I've needed this for too long," she sighed, stepping out of her shoes and walking towards Draco.
"Then a 'thank you' would be much appreciated," he pointed out from the other side of the spa room as he dipped a foot into the piping hot water. The circular Jacuzzi was filled with a mix of Germanium, rose, and lavender oils that had formed bubbles on the surface and the spa 'technician' said would be 'aroma-therapeutic'.
Theo thought that was a load of crap, but at least it smelled nice. Rather than testing the water, he stepped in and sunk down until the water came up around his neck. "If she won't say it, I will," Theo announced.
"Yeah, yeah," Pansy grinned. "Thanks." She sauntered over to the tub in her purple bikini without a care in the world of how expensive this would be. At the Genesis Spa, their pre-wedding deal was among their most popular, second only to their stress-relief package.
When the masseuses had seen just who stepped into their store that day, their jaws nearly fell off of their hinges. It wasn't every day that three celebrities waltzed in and ordered a service usually reserved for brides and their extensive amounts of bridesmaids. Greg was busy with Abbott, and Blaise had flat out refused. Leave it to Zabini to underappreciate a relaxing deep-tissue massage.
After Pansy, Draco finally decided the water was hot enough for his taste. The pungent smell of flora filled his lungs through his nose, opening up a passageway he hadn't even known had been clogged.
While they talked, an attendant filled their wine glasses with a deep red arbor. "I think this is the first time since my Valentine's Day Extravaganza that we've all been in a relationship at the same time," Pansy reflected.
"Better then when we were all single at the same time," Theo agreed. "I fear for what would become of us left to our own devices."
"We found out what would happen if we were during that ski trip in '01," Pansy laughed. It had been anything but cold.
Even Theo had to smile at that one. "Salazar, that was insane."
"Closest you may ever come to a threesome with twins, and you passed it up," Draco sighed, shaking his head.
"They were brothers! That's wrong on so many levels. So very many," he told them, taking a swig out of the delicate wine glass. "Even if my distant ancestors used to marry their siblings, I was not about to take Chip and Rip to bed. Not both at the same time, anyway."
Pansy's laugh floated off of the high-vaulted ceiling. "Their names rhymed? Holy fuck, that's rich."
"Richer than me," Draco agreed, smirking.
"You're impossible," Theo decided fondly, looking up from his slowly-sinking perch in the water to his best mate.
"Seriously, though. How many opportunities to you get for that?"
"Not sure I want to know," Theo admitted. "So, you're the one getting hitched. Cross everything off of your sex bucket list?"
"Everything but twins," Draco mock-lamented before dissolving into laughter.
"Does it count if you've had sex with both of the twins, just not at once?" Pansy asked, finger tracing the rim of the glass absent-mindedly.
Draco snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, sure. Which twins?"
"Er," Pansy let out, gnawing at her lower lip to try and remember.
"Wow, the day has come when Pansy fucking Parkinson has forgotten who she has fucked," Theo teased.
"I know their names!" she lied. "They were both girls. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ones."
"Wait, the Gryffindor ones that Harry and Ron took to the bloody Yule Ball? The Patil sisters?" Draco asked, leaning forward. "How have you never told me this?"
Pansy put down her wine glass and crossed her arms. "I have my secrets."
"Name one," Theo challenged. Pansy couldn't even keep other people's secrets.
"Oh! Have I ever told you about the time I went to that lawyer's apartment and he had a sex swing?"
"Yeah," they answered.
"Skinny dipping with an Unspeakable?"
"Wasn't she married?"
"Yes, but that's not the point. I totally have secrets." Pansy picked up her wineglass again to drink.
Draco was at least amused. "Sure, Panda. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Where had he heard that phrase before? Maybe it was from Harry.
"Speaking of sleeping at night," she smirked. "Maggie and I have finally sealed the deal. It was mind-blowing."
"I'll drink to that," Theodore announced, finishing up his wine.
"My plans have worked out perfectly," Draco sighed happily. "Pansy's got someone who has an IQ higher than her age, and Theo has someone who compliments his dark clothing well."
With a disbelieving laugh, Theo came back to an upright sitting position. "You are out of your mind. I would have seen Colin at the wedding anyway."
"But you saw him when you came to my photo rehearsal," Draco pointed out. "So, therefore, I am the source of your happiness and good fortune. You should be kissing the ground I walk on."
"I have reasons to keep my mouth clean," he retorted.
Draco shook his head, but didn't feel serious about a single thing he was saying. It was all hot air, like the steam rising from the hot tub. "Excuse me," the attendant said, still starstruck by her encounter with the three not-so-heroic war veterans. "Your massage room is ready."
"It's about time," Pansy told her with a scowl. Pansy hadn't even known that they'd booked a room for the massages, but still.
The three rose from the spirals of heat in their swimwear and were wrapped in the finest plush bathrobes. The fabric was a brilliant white, bringing out the darker tones in Draco's skin. Usually, he just looked even more dreadfully English next to brightly colored objects and clothes.
Attendants guided them to a framed rice paper door, and slid it open. Inside, three luxurious and light green massage tables, padded with cushions and an open hole for their heads to rest in.
Theo let out a preemptive sigh of satisfaction. His back was always filled with knots, or so masseuses were always telling him.
After removing the bathrobes they practically just pulled on, Pansy, Theo, and Draco all assumed familiar positions on the slabs. "You're a good man, Draco Malfoy," Theo told him as he settled his head on the soft pillow.
"I'm aware," Draco sighed happily. "And it's Malfoy-Potter, to you."
"When are you going to the court house to change it?" Pansy asked as a muscular Portuguese man began to knead all of the tension from her back.
Draco smiled to himself, feeling a pair of soft hands start on his neck and soothed his aching muscles. The hands were covered in thick oil, seeping over him. "Tonight. We'll also have to get the marriage license there."
"How official," Theo admired.
The hands moved down to Draco's curved spine, right to his lumbar. "Don't be afraid to go harder," he told the masseuse. He was a mess of tension, and the only way those tight muscles could release was through a strong pair of hands.
"Yeah, he likes it rough," Pansy teased from the other side of the room. The poor woman rubbing Draco's back nearly let out a noise. If she was one of their obsessive fangirls, she was at least being tame about it. Nothing was more bothersome than the ones who were vocally inclined.
"You're one to talk," Draco pointed out. "No doubt Maggie's soaking in a tub and rubbing the bruises."
The massage had Pansy in her best position for humor, so Draco wasn't vulnerable to getting hexed. "They're hardly bruises. That girl really knows how to handle herself."
"She'd have to, to get with you," Theo snarked.
"And what exactly does Colin have to do to get with you?" Pansy returned.
Theo smiled. "I'm at least glad you moved beyond the pedophilia jokes."
"Oh, Mr. Nott, those are hardly ever far away," she grinned.
"Enough about us two freaks," he finished. "Today is about our nearest and dearest Malfoy-Potter. He should be the one dishing about how strange his sex life is."
Draco frowned at the thought of the amount of money he was going to have to pay the massage attendants to keep quiet. "Save it for the bachelor party."
"You're going to be covered in strippers, cash, and penis-shaped lollipops. You'll be lucky if you get to tell a nearby rentboy how hot he looks," said Pansy.
"Rentboys? I'm looking for a send-off, not an arrest," Draco laughed.
"Same thing. Now don't worry that pretty little head of yours, there will be no infidelity, just naked men."
"Wall-to-wall naked men," Theo assured him.
It brought Draco back to their clubbing days. Days he could never have again. "I'm sure you'll have no trouble with that."
They had never really encountered much trouble. It was all bright, flashing lights and margaritas with younger faces and less-complete ideas of what their futures would be like. All that was ahead of them were gorgeous dancing men and women and their respective apartments to shag them in.
'Will we ever grow old, my Peter Pan?' Theo had asked him once, sitting in Babylon with his arm slung around Draco. His other hand held a blunt, and the smoke rose up towards the ceiling in billowing puffs. The loud thump from the speakers had them shouting to each other, and the chatter of gorgeous men and women around them rose on high. Pansy had been dancing in between two gorgeously sculpted young men in the middle of the dance floor. The rainbow lights bounced off of her shiny black hair as she laughed, shaking her hips. Her hair had been longer there.
The blonde had just laughed at him. 'Oh, Wendy, why would we ever want to? Just take a look at all the lost boys!'
Their 'lost boys' were getting older, too. After another date with Colin, Theo had seen a past hookup walking down the street with a pregnant woman on his arm. The clubs were filling up with younger and younger men, whom Theo thought must have snuck out of Hogwarts just to get there and grind with strangers.
"It's not as if he's going to corral me in the flat and never let me go," Draco said, trying to convince himself along with the others. "Harry likes to dance, too."
Pansy mumbled a half-agreement. "But you'll never pick up a gorgeous man and kick him out of your flat in the morning again. Unless you and Harry take in thirds."
The idea of that made Draco's skin crawl, even mid-massage. He'd never opposed a party of more than two when he was single, but Harry… Harry was his. All his. And he was Harry's. "I don't like to share."
"I'm pretty sure it will say 'does not play well with others' on your grave," Pansy sighed airily.
"Doesn't matter, especially not if the name Malfoy-Potter is right above it."
Theo would have given Draco a friendly nudge if they were any closer. "You're really in this for keeps." He was impressed. "At the risk of sounding horribly sentimental, I'm proud of you."
"Poof," Draco accused him blamelessly.
"Hufflepuff," Pansy sighed.
"You two are berks."
"At least you know we're being honest," Draco said, for once looking on the bright side of things.
"At least," Theo sighed, leaning up against the strong hands that kneaded the small of his back.
xxxxXXXXxxxx
There it was, right in Harry's hands. Fifty muggle pounds and a couple of name switches later, it was done. It felt strange, looking down at the piece of paper. Sure, it was card stock and adorned in a very, very British way, but it wasn't the sort of paper that looked life-changing in the slightest.
Wasn't this supposed to be momentous? There were two blank places where Draco and Harry would sign their names after the ceremony, and that would make the document official. Harry had changed his bloody last name, and it all felt numb. He wasn't 'Harry Potter' any longer, but he felt exactly the same. 'Harry James Malfoy-Potter'. That would be what he signed on checks, and what he told new people that he met… Headlines would talk about the 'Malfoy-Potters'.
"It's strange," Draco murmured, his hand covering Harry's. "Isn't it?"
"Yeah." Harry felt worlds of gratitude for Draco feeling the same way as him. "It really is."
They leaned back onto their sofa; the thumb of Draco's other hand rubbing the back of Harry's neck. "It was almost too easy, you know? Who knew this whole time that we could have just walked to a government building and gotten one without event telling anyone?"
"You would have never let that happen," Harry grinned.
"Probably not."
"Vegas is still an option, you know."
Draco gave his neck a nip. "No way in hell are you escaping this. Not after the gargantuan effort I've put forth."
"I know," he said with a laugh. "I'm actually looking forward to it, you know."
"So am I." Draco's eyes were still on the marriage certificate, so his words felt like cotton in his mouth.
A thousand things could go wrong, and they both knew it. Their drunk friends could fight and families could clash. Draco could wind up raging at the wedding employees, or worse, the wedding guests. People could arrive late and send everything into a frenzy, and heaven help them if someone objected during the marriage ceremony.
A thousand things could also go wrong with their very marriage itself. Harry could watch one too many programs on child-rearing, or Draco could spend one too many nights clubbing and drunk. He'd never cheated on Harry before, but still Harry felt a nagging doubt that he could really ever see a settled-down version of his fiancée. Lucius and Narcissa would doubtlessly push for kids, and once Hermione and Ron's baby came, it would be a constant reminder.
With so many horrible ways that this could end, Harry Malfoy-Potter then decided that only crazy people got married. As he took Draco to bed, he supposed that Doctor Cheryl could have been wrong. Maybe he was crazy.