Chapter 87: The Wedding Plan

Our Children Deserve a Safe Education
by Lucius Malfoy

Our children should be able to attend school without risking assault from their teachers.

Our children should be able to attend school without the risk of being infected with an incurable disease.

Our children should be able to attend school without being exposed to unrestrained beasts which experts have called "murderous" and "wizard killers."

All of these statements were completely uncontroversial during my years on the Hogwarts Board of Governors. I, along with my colleagues, fought to ensure that students' education could be as safe as possible. On occasion, this meant removing dangerous magical creatures from the grounds.

In recent months, I have grown more and more concerned by the frequently-voiced opinion that students at Hogwarts— the shining jewel of British magical education— would benefit from the renewed professorship of the werewolf Remus Lupin.

A significant portion of the Hogwarts student body has written letters to this very publication on behalf of Mr. Lupin. To this, I say that children have parents because children lack the experience to survive in the world on their own. Students should not be granted the right to choose their teachers any more than they should be granted the right to Apparate at the age of six or order firewhiskey at the age of four.

It seems that Mr. Lupin made a positive impression on a great many students. Many men who make a positive impression on children intend to do them harm. Fenrir Greyback is said to be beloved by the children he raises as his own after he renders them unable to live with their parents and siblings. Fenrir Greyback is also responsible for the murders of at least forty children and the maiming of many more.

Even assuming that Mr. Lupin is, in fact, an excellent teacher, I note that there are many excellent teachers who would jump at the chance to work at Hogwarts. An excellent teacher is not so rare an occurrence that he should be paid with the blood of one child, let alone the blood of forty children.

I urge my fellow Hogwarts parents to make their voices heard should the Headmaster and the current Board of Governors consider reinstating Mr. Lupin.

Remus reread the letter for the fourth time. Dora hadn't given it to him when she'd given him the letter written by his former students. He'd found it by accident beneath a stack of books. While the letter was actually more restrained than he would have expected from Lucius Malfoy, it did stir up an abundance of old feelings, none of them pleasant.

Presently Dora appeared beside him. Her hair was her favorite bubblegum pink, and she was dressed casually in trainers and a Weird Sisters t-shirt.

"Are you still brooding over that?" she asked.

"You might have read it months ago, but I've only had since this morning to contemplate it."

"I held back from showing it to you because I thought you would sulk. Clearly I was wrong."

Remus ignored her sarcasm. "Everyone reads his or her own press. It's a compulsion. Don't you read everything the Daily Prophet prints about the Auror Department?"

"I only do that because Mad-Eye might quiz me. It's self-preservation, not a compulsion." She punctuated her declaration with a sweeping gesture that made her engagement ring flash in the morning sunlight.

She rarely wore the ring, not out of any dislike, but because she went undercover often and didn't want to risk losing it or identifying herself. It always delighted him when she did wear it. He hadn't expected himself to be so old-fashioned as to enjoy seeing a physical symbol scream that Dora was taken and his, but it seemed that he was.

Dora noticed his gaze. "I'm off today and tomorrow," she said, suddenly more quiet and less brash. "Not even on call. First time in ages."

"I know."

"I'd almost like to go in. The rumor is that Fudge is demoting Umbridge today, and I'm going to be so disappointed if I'm not there to watch. Do you think they'll make her mop the Ministry floors like her dad did?"

"I think Dolores Umbridge always lands on her feet."

"You think she likes cats so much she's turned into one?"

"I think that she is too skilled to allow a minor setback like her failed takeover of Hogwarts to keep her down for long."

Dora lowered her voice in the way that one did when one was gossiping viciously. "They say Fudge is furious. Fudge doesn't really like Dumbledore— feels threatened by him— but he doesn't really care about Hogwarts one way or other. He wants to be the longest-serving Minister of Magic ever, they say. Dumbledore is popular, so Fudge will side with Dumbledore when Dumbledore wants full control over the school. He's swearing he knew nothing about Umbridge's plans, that he didn't really think the school needed inspecting in the first place."

"It's interesting." Remus glanced around even though he knew that they were alone in Dora's flat. "Dumbledore had lost a great deal of popularity at this time… well, before. He insisted that Voldemort had returned and the Ministry insisted that he was a liar." Remus shuddered inwardly at the memory. "I'm glad Harry won't have to suffer through that."

"Because of you. Because you did a wonderful thing. And maybe one more outcome of that wonderful thing will be Dolores Umbridge mopping floors!" She smiled gleefully. "You're sure you don't want to come to the Ministry today?"

"I'm certain."

"Isn't it time for me to meet your dad, then?"

She'd lured him into a false sense of security with her talk of Umbridge mopping floors. He didn't have a single excuse for putting off the meeting between his wife and his father. He'd promised her. He'd promised her in this world, and he'd promised her on the day of his death in the other world.

"Is it me you're ashamed of, or him?" Dora prompted.

Remus laughed. "Neither."

"Then why are you nervous?"

"There's a… distance between my father and me that I don't think you'll understand. He would never hurt me or disown me the way the Blacks did your mother and Sirius. But we don't have the rapport that you have with Andromeda and Ted. We never will."

Dora shrugged, as if she didn't find his concern worthy of further discussion. "Are you ready to go, or do you need to read Uncle Lucius' letter a few dozen more times?"

"Uncle Lucius?"

"I was trying something out." She twisted her face into a gruesome expression of distaste. "I don't think I'll try it again."

"If you do decide to say it to his face, I'd like to watch," he said wryly.

She kissed him lightly on the lips. "You can watch me do anything you'd like." With that, she snatched the Daily Prophet from his hand. "Get ready."

As with so many things that had happened in the past three years the anticipation proved far worse than the reality. Dora instantly dissolved the awkwardness in the room, her total lack of self-consciousness neatly canceling out Remus and Lyall's over-abundance of self-consciousness.

It made sense, really. Dora was perfectly well aware that families came in all shapes and sizes. Her mother was a disowned pureblood heiress. Her father was Muggle-born, as she quickly explained to Lyall.

"When I was very young and I couldn't control my morphing, my parents had to hide me from the Muggle world because there are things about me that can't be explained. Since my dad's family was all Muggle, sometimes we just couldn't see them at all," she said. Hope Lupin's ring glinted on her finger. Lyall looked at it just as Remus had earlier that morning.

"I'm afraid Remus knows that feeling all too well," he told Dora. "For the first few years we were able to hide his magic from Hope's extended family, but one year Christmas fell just after the full moon and he was covered with cuts that we couldn't heal, and too tired to make the journey in any event."

"I'm sorry," said Dora.

"So am I," said Lyall. "That ring suits you well. You have just the zest for life that Hope had."

"Thank you."

"Give me a moment. I have something for you."

Remus could hardly hide his surprise when Lyall returned an instant later. In his hand was a gold necklace. Dangling from the chain was a Muggle coin dated 1874. The coin had been a gift from Hope's father to her mother; Lyall had had it set and strung. It was one of few pieces of valuable jewelry Hope had owned after the Lupins had begun to spend all of their finances traveling the world in search of a cure for Remus.

Hope had worn the necklace often. If asked, Remus would have thought that she'd been buried with it.

"This belonged to Hope," said Lyall, as he held the necklace out to Dora. "I see that you're wearing her ring. I'd like you to have another piece of her, because she would have adored you. I imagine that it's too old-fashioned for your usual taste—"
"It's beautiful," said Dora. "I'll wear it in trust for the daughter Remus and I will have one day." She cut her eyes sideways to Remus. They had discussed Teddy several times; they had never discussed the idea of having other children. "Or our granddaughter, if we only have a son."

"You've decided that you want children, then?" asked Lyall hesitantly.

"Yes," said Dora, as if this was in no way a loaded question.

"I was concerned about passing along the werewolf curse—"

"Except that's not how it works," interrupted Dora. "You aren't going to bite our children. They'll be fine."

"Precisely how many children are we going to have?" Remus wondered.

Dora was unconcerned. "We'll start with one and reevaluate after a year."

She sounded like an Auror's training manual.

It wasn't strictly unattractive.

"We'd like to get married this summer," said Dora smoothly. "It's rather soon, so we need to make sure that we have your blessing and that there isn't any date that will stop you coming."

"No date could stop me coming," said Lyall. "Choose a date and I will be there. Not that you need my blessing, but you have it." He looked again at the necklace, which Dora had draped around her neck. "I know that Hope would have given you her blessing, too."

They Apparated straight to Dora's parents' house. Remus hadn't seen Andromeda and Ted since his release from Azkaban. He knew that they wouldn't object to Dora's choice— he knew that they knew that objecting to Dora's choice would have done them no good—but he was looking forward to this conversation even less than he had looked forward to the conversation with his own father.

He wasn't going to attempt to convince Dora that she might be ruining her life by bonding herself to him. He'd tried that and it had failed. He wasn't going to run away from Dora and leave her not choice but to build a life without him. He'd tried that, too, and it had failed. But there remained a certain lingering guilt that he could do something so self-centered as consign Dora to the unenviable position of a werewolf's wife. This time he didn't even have the excuse of the heightened emotions of war.

Hope's coin had fallen beneath Dora's t-shirt, but Andromeda nonetheless noticed the necklace right away. Dora told her mother the necklace's history with great enthusiasm.

"That's a very special gift," said Andromeda. "Something that's been a part of so many generations." She looked incredibly sad as she said it, and a look passed between mother and daughter that Remus didn't quite understand.

Remus thought that Ted understood the unspoken exchange and didn't like it at all. "So tell us what you've decided about the wedding," said Ted rather abruptly.

Remus had never even thought about the details. Their wedding had been a non-event the first time around. "I consider myself lucky to be marrying Dora," he said. "It doesn't matter how."

Both Ted and Andromeda nodded approvingly. Dora rolled her eyes. "I think we should have a huge wedding. I'll invite everyone I've ever met, and that way I'll know who the bigots are if anyone objects."

Remus was torn between being glad that Dora actually recognized that bigotry was a valid concern and guilty that Dora wanted to expose herself to that sort of ridicule.

"If you want to be married this summer, you might not be able to invite everyone you know," said Andromeda gently. "A wedding on that scale takes at least a year to plan."

Dora wrinkled her nose. "That sounds dull," she decided. "And Tulip's wedding was too big. She didn't have time to see any of her friends." She looked sharply at Remus. "I want lots of food and lots of music and hardly any ceremony."

"Agreed," he said, and he meant it even if he would have happily gone along with a wedding that had no food and no music and rather too much ceremony.

"I happen to know that Kingsley is authorized to officiate at weddings," she went on. "You like Kingsley. Would that be all right with you?"

"Kingsley might not want to be known as the person who married his colleague to a werewolf," said Remus as delicately as he could.

"And if that's how he feels, I want to know about it. Do you like him?"

"You know I like him."

"I want Tulip as my matron of honor and Penny as my maid of honor, of course. I know you want Sirius as best man. And— Harry, because James isn't here?"

Remus nodded, his throat temporarily too tight to allow him to speak.

"There," said Dora. "The wedding's mostly planned already. We just need to tell the wedding party they have jobs. I'll owl Penny and Tulip and see if they can meet us at Marquelle tonight."

Remus had heard Dora talk about Marquelle— it was her favorite club— but he had never visited before.

As soon as she pulled him inside, he knew that he liked it. He was, as always, aware that if someone recognized him as a werewolf there might be trouble. He was also aware that he was too old to be spending his evening in a place like this.

But he liked it.

He liked the mixture of magical and Muggle lighting, sound, and clothing. It was a true meeting of the worlds that didn't view either as an oddity or something to be pitied.

Of course it would be Dora's favorite place.

"You love it, don't you?" she asked.

"I really do."

They looked around and discerned that neither Tulip nor Penny had arrived yet. Dora laced her fingers through Remus' as she leaned over and made a request of the bartender. The bartender nodded, and in a moment the music changed.

"This is where I cried over you when you went to Azkaban," said Dora. "I dreamed of dancing with you here, to this song."

"Then we'll dance," agreed Remus.

I step off the train
I'm walking down your street again
And past your door
But you don't live there anymore
It's years since you've been there
And now you've disappeared somewhere
Like outer space
You've found some better place

And I miss you
Like the deserts miss the rain…

Remus couldn't help but move awkwardly to another generation's music. (Would the bartender play Abba's Take a Chance on Me or something by the Beatles if he asked?) Dora clumsily trod on Remus' feet over and over while keeping up a constant stream of apologies to the few others on the floor as she managed to elbow them in the face.

Back on the train
I ask why did I come again
Can I confess
I've been hangin round your old address?
And the years have proved
To offer nothin since you moved
You're long gone but I can't move on…

It might be another generation's music, but Remus appreciated the sentiment.

When the song ended, Penny and Tulip were watching them from the edge of the room. Remus was pleased to see that Ayberk had accompanied Tulip; he'd liked Ayberk very much the last time they'd met. Nor was Penny alone; she was accompanied by another young blonde woman who Dora quickly introduced as Penny's sister Beatrice.

Beatrice, more than Penny or Tulip, looked like the sort of friend Remus would have expected Dora to have. She wore nothing but leather and her hair was styled in a short, blunt cut. "Penny and Tonks used to let me tag along after them when they were fourteen and I was ten," Beatrice explained cheerfully. "I've mostly given up following them around, but I'm in town and I wanted to come here tonight."

Tonks beamed at Beatrice. "The more, the merrier," she said.

It was, indeed, a very merry occasion. A strange song was playing in the background. Remus didn't know quite what to make of it, although some of the other patrons seemed to know that a particular dance was required. It was amusing to watch, but Remus thought he would just as soon not try it.

When I dance they call me Macarena
And the boys they say que soy buena
They all want me
They can't have me
So they all come and dance beside me…

They found a table in the corner and put their backs to the room. Voldemort was dead, but she was still an Auror and he was still a war veteran and they needed to maintain a certain level of vigilance.

Dora summoned the waiter and ordered champagne.

"I didn't think this place served champagne," Tulip mused as a glass was deposited in front of her. "Why is there a gobstone in this?"

Indeed, bright pink gobstones glittered at the bottoms of Tulip's and Penny's champagne flutes.

"You'd better drink fast before it starts tasting like a gobstone," Dora suggested.

Tulip and Penny glanced at each other before downing their champagne in quick, matching gulps. As one, they tipped the gobstones into their hands.

Penny giggled as her gobstone transfigured itself into the shape of a crup; Tulip eyed her suddenly toad-shaped gobstone more suspiciously.

"They were never really gobstones," Dora explained. "Those are their real forms."

"Why doesn't anyone else have them?" asked Tulip.

"Because I'm not asking anyone else to be my matron of honor and my maid of honor at my wedding."

After that, there was a lot of laughter and hugging. Eventually, Dora and her friends left Remus and Ayberk alone at the table and went to dance together.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends
Make it last forever, friendship never ends
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is…

"You know what happens next," said Ayberk conspiratorially.

"Dare I ask?"

"She'll gloat because you haven't made a ceremony of asking your groomsmen to stand up for you the way she did with her bridesmaids."

On the one hand, Remus didn't really mind Dora's gloating because he liked to see Dora happy.

On the other hand….

"Do they have owls here?" he asked.

The next morning, Remus and Dora slept late. Dora blinked sleepily at Remus over breakfast.

"You can't propose to Harry and Sirius as well as I proposed to Tulip and Penny," she said, rather smugly.

"Is that a challenge?" asked Remus.

"Yes," said Dora.

"Then I accept. I happen to know that Harry and Sirius are free this afternoon. We'll Apparate to Hogsmeade in an hour to meet them?"

She kissed him. "I'm looking forward to it."

He kissed her. "As am I."

(They kissed many more times. They were almost late meeting Harry and Sirius. It was good that he and Ayberk had discussed this the night before when Dora and her friends had been dancing to that ridiculous Muggle song about wanting a zig-a-zig-a, whatever that might have been.)

Harry was in the garden when they arrived. Remus wasn't certain whether Harry was waiting for them or had merely wanted the challenge of playing with a Snitch outside where it could escape if his reflexes weren't quite fast enough.

From what Remus could tell, Harry's reflexes were always fast enough.

Remus waved his broom, which he had hitherto concealed from Dora, in Harry's direction. "Go get your Firebolt."

Harry took off running as Sirius emerged from the house.

"You didn't tell me to bring mine," Dora objected.

"That's because you're going to be riding with Sirius," Remus explained.

"I'm going to do what?" asked Sirius.

Remus smiled. He liked this part of his plan. "You always promised her that when she was old enough, you'd take her for a ride on your motorcycle. I think she's old enough, don't you?"

Both Sirius and Dora softened. Remus did his best not to gloat outwardly. Harry liked any excuse to fly, and Sirius and Dora would finally have the chance to do something they should have done a decade ago, so his not-much-of-a-plan was already effective.

Presently Harry sped out the door with his Firebolt in his hand. "Where are we going?"

Remus pointed north. "That way, as soon as your godfather gets his motorcycle ready."

"She's always ready," said Sirius, sounding slightly offended. He beckoned to Dora. "Come on. He's right that I do owe you a ride, even if he's wrong about everything else."

Harry was already drifting about in circles on his broom. Remus straddled his own broom and kicked off to join him. "What's going on?"

"We're going flying," said Remus. Harry looked skeptical, which Remus thought was more than reasonable considering how many nasty surprises Harry had had in his short life— and how many of those surprises had been the direct result of Remus' actions. He might have given up the game then— told Harry exactly what he wanted and why he was making a production of asking— but there was a roar and a shout of laughter as Sirius' motorcycle took to the sky. The moment for a quiet conversation had passed.

They skirted around the Hogwarts grounds and flew alongside the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"Wow," said Harry. "I've never seen it like this. Maybe the time Ron and I crashed his dad's car into the Whomping Willow, but we were more worried about not dying than the view." He swooped low to amuse himself weaving in and out of the highest tree branches, an expression of bliss on his face. Remus thought that everyone ought to be able to enjoy something as much as Harry enjoyed flying.

The motorcycle roared beside Remus. The engine wasn't even running; Sirius just thought that the noise made the whole experience more authentic, and there was no chance of being noticed by Muggles while they were still so close to a well-protected magical creature reservation. Both Sirius and Dora were grinning. Remus couldn't quite catch their shouted words beyond repeated references to Tahiti.

It was a far cry from the last time Remus had taken a trip with Harry and Dora on a mismatched combination of brooms and motorcycles.

He shook off the memory of George's unconscious body slumping bloodily against him and pointed to his right. Sirius was already turning; he'd figured out where Remus meant to go. Harry dropped back to play a moment longer at the edge of the forest before catching up with the others and finally flying ahead of them to the top of the hill. (Or was it a mountain? It was either a very large hill or quite a small mountain and Remus wasn't entirely certain which.)

Remus casually conjured four chairs as they landed.

Sirius huffed in distaste and, with a flick of his wand, made the chairs larger and softer.

Not to be left out, Dora made them sparkle with fluorescent color.

Harry was studiously unimpressed by any of them and examined the package that Remus had placed on the ground between the chairs. "Open it, if you like," said Remus.

Harry did, removing two bottles of champagne.

"That's copying," said Dora.

"Copying what?" asked Harry.

"Never mind," said Dora.

"I think we do mind," said Sirius.

"We do?" asked Harry.

"We do," confirmed Sirius. "They didn't fly us here and bring champagne for no reason, so they may as well get on with it."

"Is there something special about this place?"

"When we were in school, we used to skive off sometimes and fly up here."

Dora's hand fluttered to her chest in mock dismay. "And you, a future professor!" she said to Remus. "Skipping classes."

"Only on special occasions," said Remus.

"For example, when it was Tuesday," said Sirius brightly.

Remus didn't bother to clarify Sirius' exaggeration. It was true that had left school grounds with alarming frequency, but they hadn't usually done it when they were meant to be in class. "As Sirius still somehow managed to learn transfiguration, he'll conjure the champagne flutes for us?"

Four champagne flutes suddenly floated before them in the air. Sirius hadn't uttered a word.

"The difficulty is in making the glass thin enough while still getting the correct shape. He did it so beautifully for Professor Palomer during the Triwizard Tournament that she applauded," Remus told Harry.

"Were we meant to applaud?" asked Dora. "Because I thought it was quite boring. I don't think it's appropriate for a motorcycle ride at all."

"Everything is appropriate for a motorcycle ride," said Sirius.

"And sometimes things belong together even when you wouldn't expect them to," said Remus.

Dora caught his meaning and smiled happily, settling into her chair. "Go on, then."

There was nothing to do but go on. He looked from Harry to Sirius. They both looked back at him expectantly if amusedly.

"Two years ago, Sirius, we sat in front of the fire in my house in Yorkshire and I told you that I would tell you everything I knew about the future with two exceptions. You never cared very much about how Dumbledore was going to die, but you were rather cross when I wouldn't tell you who I was going to marry. You said I couldn't possibly manage to get married without having you as my wingman."

"That sounds like something I would say," Sirius agreed.

"I seem to have managed without a wingman, but I would rather not do this without you as my best man."

"We hadn't already settled this?" asked Sirius. "Best man at your wedding, godfather to your first child." Sirius glanced quickly at Harry, almost as if asking permission. Harry nodded, granting whatever Sirius had asked.

"My friends are much better at being proposed to than yours are," called Dora from behind them.

"It's a contest?" asked Sirius.

"Apparently," said Remus.

Sirius waved his hand. "Ask properly, then."

Remus fell to his knees. Harry and Sirius both swallowed their laughter. "Sirius Orion Black and Harry James Potter, will you do me the honor of standing up for me at my wedding next month?"

"Me too?" asked Harry.

"You too," said Remus. "If you're willing."

"I've never been to a wedding." Harry's eyes darted from side to side behind his glasses. "I wouldn't know what to do."

"It's very easy," said Sirius. "You have one job, and it's to stand there."

"I can do that," Harry decided.

"Don't agree so easily." Sirius wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulders. "I believe Remus should make a speech about how wonderful we are and why he wants us beside him on this very important occasion."

"Did my dad do that when you were the best man at his wedding?" asked Harry.

"It was implied," said Sirius.

Remus theatrically turned away from Sirius and focused all of his attention on Harry. "Harry, I have seen you grow from a child to a young man twice. I have placed burdens on you that you never deserved to shoulder. You have always risen to the occasion. You have never been afraid to speak your mind when you felt that it was necessary and you have always been willing to forgive. You are clever, you are kind, you are brave, and you are more of a natural leader than you know. It has been an honor to be a part of your life, and it would be even more of an honor to have you beside me as I begin the next part of my life."

Harry didn't say anything. Remus didn't blame him, and he quickly looked back toward Sirius. "And Sirius, you have a nasty temper. On occasion, you're terribly self-righteous and dismissive of any experience that isn't your own. Also, many of your jokes are objectively not funny. However, I still like you because you're the only person I know who can recite all the moons of Jupiter and never confuse them with the moons of Saturn."

"You know Andromeda. She can do it too."

"Yes, but she has a role in the wedding already."

That was when Sirius broke and laughed out loud. He pulled Remus back to his feet and dragged him into a hug. "Did Tonks insult Penny and Tulip when she asked them to be her bridesmaids?" he asked.

"No, but she did make them think they were about to drink gobstone liquid."

"That's all she did? Then you definitely win."

He knew perfectly well that he had won, and it had nothing to do with a retroactively invented contest that had never had any rules.

To be continued.

Disclaimer: As in chapter 71, Missing by Everything but the Girl was written by Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. Its peak UK chart score was number three in November 1995; it spent over seven months on the UK Singles Chart. Wannabe by the Spice Girls was written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Biff Stannard. It was released as a single in summer 1996 and was number one on the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks. Macarena by Los del Río remained on the UK Singles Chart throughout 1996, peaking at number two.

Recommendation: Up All Night by Gilpin. It is story number 3159138 on this site.

Summary: Co authored with Mrs Tater. The night before Harry's hearing in OotP and, for Remus and Tonks, it really was asking for trouble to go out like this. Risky and unprofessional. In fact, anything might happen... COMPLETE.

The thing I like about this one is that it's simultaneously canon-compliant and extremely funny, which is virtually impossible when you're dealing with a relationship that was nothing but angst on the canonical page.

This is another fic I read a gazillion years ago because I'm old. However, I lost track of it, so I want to thank the guest reviewer who pointed me back to Gilpin's page. The reviewer was actually suggesting another of Gilipin's lovely fics, though, so I'll highlight that one as well:

The Outcast, or story number 3706927.

Summary: Peter knows the best thing in the world is having friends who care about you, because that's exactly what he has. And Remus needs a friend right now. RLLE, or a brief suggestion of it, James hoping for JPLE.