Ch. 1: Bliss
You'd be surprised all the times that I almost told you
But I stayed cool
I almost broke but I
Knew I would get to hold you
Cause I'm no fool
~I Got U by Selena Gomez and the Scene
I knew that everything was right in the world for a grand total of five reasons.
1. The sun was actually shining through our bedroom window in our quaint little Scottish town, which hardly ever happened in the winter.
2. It was late in the morning; we had actually managed to sleep in long enough to have a decent amount of sleep.
3. There was a young woman sleeping in my arms who felt softer than the most comfortable of blankets
4. We were both, ah, in our birthday suits, as it were.
5. She wasn't crying in her sleep.
This hadn't happened since she had come back from America; almost every night for a good number of months now had been tear filled and anxious. I had tried to comfort her every night, but there were just some times when I knew nothing I was saying was going to get through to her. All I could do on those nights was hold her until her tears quieted and she fell asleep.
But the fact that all those facts above were true meant that this was the first night we had had with absolutely no negative aspects.
I might have been awake, but I didn't feel like waking up, nor did I have to. It was Saturday and I would not be teaching Herbology today. So I tightened my arm around her stomach and kissed the side of her neck before nestling there, closing my eyes calmly and mumbling "mmm".
We lay there like that for a long while, me calmly relaxing around her. I couldn't hear any telly on in the living room, which made me mildly concerned about the kids, but they often were quiet when they knew we were sleeping in the morning. Not to mention, the house was rather spacious, so it was hard to hear what was going on down on the first floor to begin with.
I tightened my hold on her waist as she stirred delicately in my arms and trailed kisses along the back of her neck down to the base of her spine. She turned around, yawning, and pressed her nose to mine.
"Morning," she mumbled softly. I gently traced the side of her face and whispered back, "Morning," with a cheeky grin on my face. She opened her eyes and smiled at me in response, her lips pressed to my cheek as she did so. I shifted slightly and gently rested my foot on her leg and she curled into my embrace.
"Mmm," she sighed, her lips now to the base of my chin, "This is nice."
"Isn't it always?" I laughed, still in my mode of intense cheekiness. She laughed and ruffled my hair slightly as her legs shifted slightly around me. I sighed and pressed against her, making her mumble happily.
"Make love to me," she ordered quietly in my ear. I laughed, tracing the side of her waist.
"Isn't it a bit early right now?" I chuckled.
"So?" she furthered, pressing her chest against mine and making me groan slightly.
"Well I mean, the kids are probably up, it's past breakfast, we were up so late last night doing the very thing you suggest, it's not healthy to be constantly-"
"I think it's very healthy, and I think you agree."
"Fine. The kids are up and we should get them food items, or else we're being terrible parents," I laughed, uncurling from her reluctantly and standing up to go grab my boxers from the floor. She sat up with the sheets wrapped around her chest and frowned at me, her hair a mess around her face.
She watched me dress with a very strange expression, a more thoughtful one than usual. It reminded me of how she looked as I told her about my parents (the parents I had yet to take her to, putting it off as I was.)
"Let's get married," she murmured softly as I threw her an oversized shirt to wear. I raised my eyebrows at her and smiled.
"We are planning, love," I grinned.
"No. Let's go get married now," she insisted, pulling on a pair of shorts and walking over to me and putting her hands on my waist, "Let's go get married and never have to worry about separation ever again."
"Love…" I sighed, "We've been through this. We aren't going to be separated again."
"I don't want to worry about it," she whispered, holding me tightly around my (increasingly soft again, now that I was eating regularly) middle. I looked down at her teal eyes and kissed her forehead.
"I know. It's only another month. It'll be amazing, I promise," I kissed her nose and loosely held her hand, "Bloody brilliant."
She smiled slightly and looked down at our intertwined hands, "I've been thinking about something."
"Yeah?" I asked cheerfully, running my finger through a lock of her hair.
"You've given me so, so much, especially these past few months," she whispered, looking up at me earnestly, "I honestly would not have progressed this far in the healing process without you."
"Glad to be of service," I smiled and kissed her temple.
"I should give something back to you for all you've put up with these past ten years," she furthered, squeezing my hand tightly.
"You've already given me everything- your love, our marriage, a family. You don't need to give me anything else," I smiled down at her lovingly, earnestly.
"I want to," she whispered.
"What else is there to give? I don't want anything else," I laughed, running my thumb down her cheek.
"I… I want… Upon the event of our marriage," she smiled warmly at me, "I'm going to add a dash Longbottom to my name."
I stared at her, my eyes widening in shock. I understood this woman before me. She was fiercely independent and I was terrified she wouldn't even marry me in the end, much less change her name. I loved her independence. I wasn't upset when I thought she would remain Maggie Johnson.
"You… You sure… I mean, wow…" I whispered.
"And the children are Johnson-Longbottom too. Honestly, to be a good family you should add the Johnson to the beginning of yours, but since Longbottom's at the end that would be the shortened version, and I'm OK with that," Maggie said, relieving me with her usual independent streak.
"Really?" I asked breathlessly.
"Maggie Longbottom has a nice ring to it," she nodded. I picked her up fully off the ground and kissed her on the lips, swinging her around the room. I was filled with deep elation, elation I wouldn't have even known I would feel about this declaration.
"Wow," she laughed as I finally let her down, looking up at me in amusement, "I didn't realize it meant so much to you."
"Actually, nor did I," I smiled slightly, "But I can't deny it, I feel so happy about it. I guess… the fact that I didn't think it was going to happen just didn't make me sad, if that makes sense."
"Sorta," she grinned lopsidedly at me as I leaned down to give her another kiss.
"That's not my… only idea," she interjected between kisses, making me stop my quest to memorize the taste of her lips.
"Oh?" I asked curiously, running my fingers through her hair.
"Well, you aren't going to like this idea but… It's only a month until the wedding," she paused, "It's not that long."
"No, generally a month is a short time," I laughed, "What are you getting at?"
"Well… Wouldn't our… You know," she laughed slightly, her cheeks even coloring in that beautiful way they did when we were quasi-kids, "Wedding night be more… meaningful… passionate… whatever you want to say, if we were to wait to make love until then?"
I swallowed, "Yes, but… a month…"
"You just said-"
"I know what I said," I sighed, "Alright. It's a good idea, but if I just can't bear it any longer-"
"I think we can do it," she beamed, "I believe in us."
"I had to go without your love for years though," I groaned slightly, gently reaching out to touch her cheek.
"And remember how amazing that first real night together was?" she insisted, "This will only be an echo because it's a month, but god damn will it be good."
I nodded again and kissed her hair, "Alright, alright."
She gently reached out and held my hand and we walked into the kitchen together, her smiling like she really hadn't in ages. I was allowing myself the first glimmers of hope that she would be all better again.
Planning for the wedding, however, consumed our thoughts for the next month, and it wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination. While she wasn't bridezilla, she was stressed over everything- the money factor (though we had more than enough for it,) the fact that we had to leave behind her American friends, who to invite in the UK and how to place them, the strangeness of the Dragon riding customs in relation to the wedding, She didn't want to give too much away to me- the element of surprise and all that- but I could tell that she just needed to sleep most, if not all, of the time.
I wanted her to relax; she was under enough emotional pain as it was; but she wouldn't hear of it. There were days when I thought that she would explode from stress and anxiety; others when the lines in her forehead were so creased I wanted to kiss them away. She was a wreck, and I knew it wasn't only from planning. She hid this particular fact very well.
A week before the wedding, as Maggie and I began to panic as to what to do with the twins whilst we were away, a godsend came in the form of Harry and Ginny. As we were all sitting together discussing the various plans for the wedding, Alice came running in, her shoulder length hair tied into two short side braids by her mum.
"Dad? Mum?" she asked cheerfully, "Can you tell Nate he is wrong?"
I turned to look at her, struck as always by her similarity to me, and replied, "Why?"
"He thinks we are going to come with you on your honeymoon, because we can't be left alone. However, I know we can, and I feel you will leave us at home, because you need some well-earned alone time," Alice stated matter-of-factly.
"We don't really know what we're going to do yet-" Maggie sighed, another wrinkle appearing on her forehead.
"We do," Ginny laughed, "It's about time we gave you our surprise."
"What?" Maggie and I asked her in unison.
"Gin and I were going to take the twins off your hands for the two weeks you're in Italy," Harry explained with a smile, "Lord knows, that means they can visit Teddy and Victoire a lot, and they enjoy playing with James, Albus and Lily. At any rate, we certainly have the houseroom."
"You would seriously do that?" Maggie asked breathlessly, "Oh, thank you, guys."
"Our pleasure. Enjoy the alone time," Ginny beamed slyly, "Though, don't think we'll be doing this often, especially if you add, what, seven more kids at once?"
"God forbid it's that many at one time," she groaned, but I chuckled. While it would probably be a difficult situation, the idea of having any number of children just- well- it made me very happy. Seven is better than none (and I really didn't mind that many at once.)
Alice, next to us, was beaming widely at Harry and Ginny, and skipped off to relay the news to her brother as we returned to discussing the wedding.
The day came, and everything was just as chaotic as was expected. Maggie spent the day getting ready with Ginny, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati, so I hadn't seen her for twenty four hours (I slept over at Harry's.) I was filled with intense anticipation for the day- my heart was sort of beating strangely.
"Calm down," Harry grinned as Ron, Seamus and Dean entered the house and I continued to pace back and forth.
"Something is going to go wrong. I guarantee it. Something really horribly wrong is going to happen and we won't be able to get married… again," I moaned, my worst fears bleeding through my psyche.
"You need to calm down- nothing is going to get in the way this time, I swear. Why would anyone want to stop you two from getting married?" Ron laughed, "That is one of those things that indicates suicidal wishes."
"But…. Everything has gotten in the way so far. Everything and everyone. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong," I sighed in exasperation, banging my head against a nearby wall, "Something will go wrong today."
"We have every detail planned out to a t, even if you do not know the exact plans," Harry grinned, "You really do not have to worry about it. I promise. She will be there."
"What if a Unionist comes to attack us?"
"They aren't letting anyone in from America anymore," Harry frowned, "Maggie and the twins were a special case. The borders are tightly closed to everyone with an American passport."
I felt my eyebrows raise, "But things are getting sort of hairy over there- what if someone needs to come here as, say, a refugee?"
"Refugees are mainly going to Canada and Mexico, from what I understand," Harry responded, "The government over there didn't want to send them too far away, so that less of an area is affected by the Unionists. From what I understand… the violent factions are gathering bigger factions in Mexico and Canada anyway, which is bad for the refugees but if the factions are following the refugees…"
"They need to be sent farther away than that, like to Japan or Australia," I frowned anxiously, "Maggie's friends…"
"All who are left over there are fighting, remember? They would be followed to Mars," Harry rolled his eyes, "Just relax."
I felt the ghost, the shadow of a worry light at my heart, but it was a stupid one. An unlikely one. I couldn't shake the image out of my head though: there he was, his dark hair across his face, standing in the middle of the field, looking at my bride with eyes filled with lust and her running forward to him, picking him over me.
But he was dead.
This couldn't happen.
She would never choose such a man, even if he was there with her during the darkest days, even if he was the reason she didn't go catatonic until the end, even if he was the reason (besides the kids) that she kept fighting- no. Even without the magical connection… No. She would never choose him.
Thank god for that magical connection though… without it…
No, she would have chosen me anyway. There would never have been a choice. What Jethro?
I continued to pace around the room until it was time to go, beads of sweat on my forehead, my heart racing. This was it. This was the moment that I had anticipated for over ten years. Nate was next to me, grinning at me lopsidedly, his face obviously contorted with similar excitement.
The field was wide and open and the snow crunched beneath our feet. There were no clouds in the sky above and the sun actually shined brilliantly for the winter. I stood there, looking around as every began to take their seats in the crudely fashioned stands, Seamus behind me and patting me on the back. There was no sign of the bridesmaids, the rest of the groomsmen, or either of the dragons (much less Mags.)
I fidgeted around in my spot, nervousness coursing through me as I waited. Suddenly, an earthly, otherworldly music started playing. I remembered Maggie's descriptions of the music of the Unionists and I began to panic, my hand flying towards the pocket of my robes to grab my wand, my left palm already out and facing the world.
But the procession started soon afterwards and I realized that the music was actually the wedding march, one of the many secrets about the strange dragon rider wedding that Maggie had kept from me on purpose. The music was celtic, but also very gothic, and it sent chills through me that were both pleasant and unearthly.
The music grew steadily louder as the first people emerged: Nate and Victoire arm in arm, both laughing and grinning as they came to stand in front. Behind them were Alice and Teddy, Teddy's hair a Thailus shade of blue that was almost exactly the same shade as the TARDIS (I needed to stop watching muggle telly sometimes.) Behind them were Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Dean and Lavender, and Parvati. They all coalesced up at the front and I swallowed slightly as the music increased in pitch.
Suddenly, the air around us began to rush past us, blowing through my (short, so this was an accomplishment) hair and tossing about my robes. Over the horizon, blocking out the sun, were two huge dragons. One, bright green, dropped to stand behind me, her vivid eyes piercing through the landscape. The other, brilliant TARDIS blue, sailed through and landed a ways off. I felt my heart pounding against my sternum and I wanted to throw up a little bit.
A figure slid off the back of the dragon and they walked forward together, slowly due to the need to follow a human pace. Her dress, I could see from this far away, was just as brilliant of a blue as the dragon's hide. Everything within me was tense and I wanted to run forward to hold her so no one could take her away from me again. She continued to walk forward, her dress fluttering in the wind in such a way that all I could think about doing was spinning her around so it would also spin and spin. I wanted to hold her closer to me than I had ever held her before. As she got closer and I could see her eyes, I felt like the world was on fire- legitimately. Maybe it was the dragon thing.
She came up to me and smiled at me beneath her curtain of hair, her eyes a brilliant teal and her hair the darkest brown. I was amazed with how she could still enrapture me after all of these years. She beamed at me, a genuine smile on her features, such a rare sight these days.
Thailus padded behind her and slowly came to stand near us, humming softly in deep and dulcet tones. Maggie came up and stood facing me, and I instinctually reached out to hold her hands in my own. She smiled at me knowingly and I did my best to not reach out and hold her to me.
The wizard behind me cleared his throat and, his American accent mildly startling, began, "Dearly beloved…" I swallowed and half listened to the words, half paid attention only to Maggie's soft oval face, brilliant teal eyes, dark brown hair. I couldn't get over any aspect of her standing before me.
"And in accordance with the ancient and noble order of those who bind their life so intimately with that of a dragon, you must now exchange blood, so that you may have the deepest bond possible that can compare to that she has with her dragon. For it has been said, that no bond should be deeper than that of husband and wife, and yet, here we have that of dragon and human being far deeper…" I didn't hear the rest of the explanation. I felt my eyes widen slightly as i stared at her. She blushed slightly and grimaced at me.
I was handed a needle by the wizard once he had finished explaining, as was Maggie. I grimaced and pressed the needle into my fingertip, feeling an acute stinging sensation.
"Your blood is being infused into the tip of the needle," the wizard responded to my unasked question, "Do not be alarmed."
I swallowed and handled the now bright red needle to Maggie, who took it and handed me hers. I followed her lead and pressed the needle into the hole I had just punctured, but instead of being stung by the contact, a calm and pleasant sensation ran through me as the microscopic blood cells flowed into my own streams. I swallowed as I felt the tingling sensation reach out through my finger and I felt inexplicably bound to the woman standing in front of me. It was as if something of her had replaced something of me. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply.
"Now, you each must bear the mark of the other. What I mean is, change something in your appearance to match something of the other's. Simply say aloud what it is, and I shall wave my wand over you, and you shall bear the other's mark," the wizard continued. I swallowed, but before I could think of something for me to take on of her (I wished to only have her scars from her time here in the war,) Maggie looked me straight in the eye.
"The scar on your torso," she whispered softly. I felt my eyes widen as the wizard waved his wand over her and she knelt forward, crying out in pain as tears of the emotion appeared in the corners of her eyes. I reached out to hold onto her, shocked by pain this was causing her, until her breathing evened and she sat up and looked at me, nodding. I swallowed. I, too, wanted to bear her scars. But no one of her scars added up to the monster she had taken from me, and what I really wanted was to bear the pain she had experienced over the past ten years.
"Does it have to be physical?" I asked the wizard calmly.
"Well, no, but that's the convention-"
"I wish to feel the emotional burden of the past ten years," Neville whispered, "I wish to take that from you."
The wizard frowned and Maggie opened her mouth, presumably to stop me, when the wizard waved his wand over me and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The sadness, the hopelessness, the anger, the fear- all at once, and in droves. I fell to the ground and clutched at my chest, groaning with the force of the emotion, and it seemed to go on for ages as I felt Maggie's hand on my shoulder. When I opened my eyes, I looked at her with the deepest respect and understanding I had ever felt in my life. She helped me up, concern in her eyes, and only convention kept me from kissing her passionately.
The wizard stared at us as if we were alien and continued, "Now, you must sing the song of the dragon… It is a song we all naturally know, but we just do not know we know." When he finished speaking, Thailus started to hum, as did Emralda. The tune was earthy, airy, ethereal, natural, and it sent chills through me. Maggie, after a time, started to sing along, and I followed suit, the words coming to me without ever having heard them before. Nor did I understand them; they sounded Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Native American, tribal African- every ancient language I had ever conceived of. I held tightly to Maggie's hands as we sung, our voices gathering volume and intensity until, naturally, the song ended, and I felt a magic between us like high wind and swirling currents of water. I swallowed and looked at her and she smiled at me lopsidedly.
"Now, the bonding by words," the wizard continued, "Do you, Margaret Natalie Johnson, take Neville Richard Longbottom to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for better or for worse until death do you part?"
"I do," she whispered, looking up at me and smiling through tears in her eyes. I beamed down at her.
"And do you, Neville Richard Longbottom, take Margaret Natalie Johnson to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for better or for worse until death do you part?"
"I do," I insisted through my own tears, squeezing her hands excessively tightly.
"Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," the wizard announced. I swept her up in my arms and kissed her passionately, very aware of the fact that we were now two versions of the same person, united completely, no longer separate entities. And, somehow, the thought made me ecstatic.
Everyone behind us cheered at the tops of their lungs as we pulled back from each other, her still curled up in my arms. I beamed at her and she beamed back, tears flowing furiously down both of our cheeks. I reached down and lifted her up in my arms, pressing my nose to hers as we ran down the aisle. Thailus flew to the end of it, smirking at us, as Maggie buried her fingers in my hair and kissed my furiously.
"Honestly," Thailus commented as we sat on his back and started to fly to the reception area, "Would you two just unplaster yourselves from each other now please?"
We both laughed in between kisses and managed to throw out, "No!" effectively shutting him up.
The reception went by in a blur of people congratulating us, dancing with each other and goofing off with the kids, and just pure bliss before we found ourselves with our luggage about to apparate to Venice, Italy.
"We'll miss you mum," Alice and Nate cried softly as we gave them hugs, Ginny and Harry standing respectfully away, "And you too, dad."
"Yeah, I'll miss you loads dad," Nate sobbed, looking up at me sadly.
I chuckled softly and kissed him on the forehead, "We're only going to be gone for three weeks, son."
"Still!" Nate cried, "We'll miss you."
"And I'll miss you too," I smiled at the two kids, amazed that I had produced such miracles, that we had, "I'll miss you both a lot. Have fun with Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and all your cousins."
"Teddy's going to visit a lot!" Alice beamed, "I can't wait. I love when he changes his hair color."
"Don't treat him like a circus act," Maggie sighed, ruffling her hair, "But enjoy yourself."
They both nodded and we kissed them once more, before spinning on the spot. Customs flew by, and we found ourselves in the middle of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, alone together at last.
"See?" I beamed at her as I reached to help her out of her wedding dress, trailing kisses down her neck as she breathed deeply and evenly, "That wasn't such a long wait."
"And now we'll never be separated again," Maggie nodded, smiling at me and pressing her nose to my cheek as I tucked strands of her hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek, "We are the same, now."
"You could have warned me about all that," I grinned, "But it was a beautiful thing."
She grinned back at me slyly and captured my lips in hers without another word. And she was right- it was bloody freaking brilliant.
AN: I might be back for a week? It's our fall break so I won't be as swamped, but I still have a lot of work to do. I apologize for the fluff, but sometimes we all need a fluffy chapter. So yeah. I'll try to update but again, I like having four reviews per chapter (I understand everyone is just as busy as me,) but hopefully I'll finish this story over my Christmas holidays. If not… the summer isn't THAT far away… Sigh. Thanks to IloveNerds543, Bubbles of Ebil, lilyllama, Oh-Holy-Ruler-Mika-chan, Royal shadow1, Claire, and TheGabification (same as Bubbles of Ebil lolz.) Dunno if I've replied to your reviews seeing how long it's been… ah well. Four reviews/ample free time required for the next chapter, when the drama begins! Woo! Love y'all, thanks for your patience through this time of my life commonly known as… college… as a science major… Um… Yeah….