(A/N: I am back once again with yet another chapter for you guys to enjoy. And I do hope that you enjoy it. Anyway, on with the show!)

A Cold Sleep

Part 27

By the time Tom finally returned, looking thoroughly exhausted, Harry had finished his History of Magic homework and was once again sitting in bed reading. As soon as he heard Tom enter, however, he marked his page and set his book aside, eager to greet his partner after a long day.

"Why hello dearest, you look like you've been through hell," Harry said gently and climbed out of bed to wrap his arms around Tom's middle and hug him close. Tom melted into the embrace, wrapping his arms around Harry's shoulders and leaning his head against one of Harry's shoulders.

"Lucius and Narcissa have had me discussing our wedding plans for six hours non-stop. You'd think that they already had this planned out with all the details that they had covered," Tom said with a sigh and Harry laughed softly.

"My Uncles only kept me for two hours, I think that I will likely be sidelined again soon because they didn't go in depth with stuff," Harry admitted and smiled into the kiss that Tom bestowed upon him.

"Well hopefully they speak with Narcissa and Lucius, because those two put me through the wringer and I don't think they left a single detail out. So forgive me if I have the wedding on my mind for the next little while, it's all that I can think about," Tom said gently and Harry's smile only grew brighter.

"Of course, I understand completely. I've been distracting myself with other things, but the wedding is still pretty much at the forefront of my mind. I'm excited and nervous all at once. What colors did you pick?" Harry said in a rush of breath as the excitement of their wedding caught up with him once again. After all, they had only just gotten engaged that morning and they hadn't spent very much time alone together since, well, not without distractions.

"I went very traditional in my color pallet, I picked black and white. What did you pick?" Tom said as they allowed themselves to step back from the hug. Tom proceeded to remove his robes so that he was standing in his slacks and button down shirt. With a wave of his hand he banished the robe to the laundry. Both of them took that opportunity to move to the couch that was situated in the corner of the room, Tom taking a seat on one side and Harry sitting in the middle so that they could cuddle together comfortably.

"I wanted to be symbolic without being tacky. So I picked black, white, and grey for the Dark and the Light and those in the middle. You know, everything our marriage will represent," Harry said and Tom beamed.

"That's perfect. Grey is a perfect addition to the color scheme and I think that the symbolic nature of it is just wonderful" Tom's voice conveyed his joy and excitement which only served to make Harry even more excited about the prospect of being married to the man.

"Great, hopefully my Uncles will have a sit down session with Lucius and Narcissa and we can all be on the same page. If not, well we all live in the same house so it shouldn't be too hard to get people together to talk about things," Harry said and found that even with his training over the last few weeks he wasn't quite able to control the pitch or tempo of his voice due to his emotions. Tom could feel the roil of emotions beside him and instead of saying anything, simply pulled Harry closer and kissed him soundly.

"Alright dearest, now no more talk of the wedding, I think that we should discuss whether or not you have had any dinner. Because I haven't and my stomach is absolutely aching," Tom said, hoping to divert some of that increasingly nervous energy into things more mundane.

"Oh, right, dinner is a thing. No I haven't had any yet. I don't think anyone in the house has had any. We've been eating so late today that it hadn't occurred to me," Harry admitted and frowned as his stomach chose that moment to be remembered with a loud growl. He would have blushed, but Tom had seen him at his worst and as such figured that he was beyond being embarrassed by his normal bodily functions.

"Well that just won't do. Why don't we make our way down to the dining room and see if anyone follows our example. I would hate to think that the House Elves had gone to the trouble of cooking a meal for none of us to actually sit down and eat it," Tom said delicately and stood from the couch as soon as Harry scooted away to allow him to do so. Harry popped up to his feet before Tom could offer a hand, but it didn't bother him that he had done so. Tom was pleased to have a partner that was on equal footing with himself.

"What happens to all of the food that we don't eat? I've always been curious about that," Harry asked as they made their way down the hallway and toward the Family Dining Room. There were far too many people in the house for everyone to eat at the family table at once, but luckily the House Elves didn't mind doing two servings of each meal.

"I believe that most of it is sent off to shelters and soup kitchens. House Elves hate to see food go to waste and so they try to distribute it where they can. Lucius learned that it is better to have designated places for it to go rather than letting the Elves just select a location at random," Tom explained and Harry found himself floored. He had gotten used to Lucius being a generous person when it came to his family and friends, but he had not expected that to extend to those that he didn't even know. No, the front that Lucius had put up the few times Harry had met him had always been so cold and callous, it was refreshing to find out that it was likely a façade.

"I'm actually really glad to know that," Harry admitted and smiled all the way to the Family Dining room.

They were not the only ones who had thought to have dinner at a later time; the table was half-full with the Weasley children. Joining them were Draco, Hermione, and Sirius. Harry didn't know where to sit and so Tom selected a chair for him, pulling it out and motioning for him to sit. And so he did, letting himself breathe in the scent of dinner as he did so. No one really said anything aside from a few muttered greetings as everyone was far too busy filling their stomachs with food after a long day.

(A/N: Well there you go; the wedding colors have been revealed. I hope that you enjoyed it and that you will let me know what you thought of it with a review or a comment. As always, thanks for reading!)