Disclaimer: I just own the plot.

Review Responses:

The googoos doll - glad you're liking the story and thank you for the very flattering reviews. As for Draco and Sev, there won't be a new godfather it'll just be Sevvie being godfather and stepfather. Thank you for saying you think it all fits in so well, I always saw Sev's home life as being unpleasant even before I read book five. I'm not JK, I'm not rich enough to be her, but I'm extremely flattered by the comparison. You're not the first one to suggest some evanescence song lines to go with this fic, I have to listen to something by them one day. Those words are lovely and they do fit Sev and Narc rather well. I'm already working on another fic but I'm afraid it's not about Sev and Narc but about the Weaselys, particularly Bill and Charlie when they were at Hogwarts but coming through to when they're grown up as well and it will also ignore OotP as I haven't forgiven it yet for what she did with my beloved Percy! I did plan on Greg making appearance in the later parts of that fic though, can't explain why as it would give away too much but he'll probably get a cameo. However, if she ever posts, I have a friend who's writing about Sev's younger years to fit in with my Wedding Bells trilogy, she's only posted one little one shot at the moment but it's worth checking out, you can find her on my favourite authors page if you're interested it's honest_iago. Thanks for the reviews.

Errisar - I always thought Sev's home life must have been bad and it was planned to have been even before I read OotP, hence his mother being such a bitch. It is going to get happier from here though, after all Sev's got Narcissa to look after him now (as long as she doesn't try to kill him again anyway! LOL!) Good luck with the exam grades and on getting the courses you want. I hope my essays went ok but I'm still waiting for results as well. I'm afraid that not only is this chapter late but I have no clue when the next one will be but the A/N explains that. Thanks for the review!

Bonezz - not long to wait now, the wedding's in chapter 24. I've no plans for Lucy to gatecrash I'm afraid, he's having too much fun ruling hell at the moment. I'll try to review your story when I post this but, as the A/N explains, I'm having a bit of difficulty getting on the internet at the moment so if I haven't reviewed it when you read this then I do apologise and I promise I'll read and review when I can. Yeah, Sev's mum was pretty evil and it's partly her fault that he's such a grumpy, cynical, child-hating individual but he was her loss. Thanks for reviewing!

Soccergirl2044 – Glad you liked these stories. Lucius' one redeeming quality is he only ever hurts Narcissa physically once, he's not the hitting people type I don't think. He tends to prefer messing with her head and running her down, unfortunately he doesn't need to use violence to hurt her. Good guess about Sev and Narcissa, as you now know they will end up together! You'll get to see Ron, Harry and Hermione in the next chapter and Draco and Ron will get on better from now on. As for Harry and Hermione, well I don't Draco's as keen on either of them but he doesn't really hate them any more. Thanks for the reviews!

A/N: Once again I have to apologise for the late update, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record aren't I? I am truly sorry but it isn't my fault, my computer is refusing to connect to the internet and I can't work out why! Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem as I generally update on the university computers anyway but I'm home for Christmas so it's a bit difficult. I'm using the computers at my local library but there's hardly ever any stations free and the internet here goes down pretty often so I don't know when the next update will come. You definitely won't have to wait much beyond the second week in January when I get to university and hopefully not that long. I'm sorry and I hope the annoyance won't stop people reading.

I Found a Little Courage to Call it Off

_emphasis_

Chapter 22

By an unspoken agreement neither Narcissa nor Severus mentioned the visit to Severus' mother again. Both content to leave the past where it belonged. Narcissa sent off the invitations to be printed and then they started preparing in earnest for their wedding day.

Narcissa had dragged Severus to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and several other places he would rather not have gone, in order to choose a cake. She had put Molly in charge of getting him some new dress robes, as she felt it would be inappropriate for her to see them before the wedding.

Severus and Arthur did not have a fun afternoon when shopping with Molly Weasley, who was determined that they both try on at least a dozen sets of robes each before she decided which ones they should each wear.

"Is your wife always like this?" Severus grumbled after the eighth set of black robes he'd tried.

"Yes," Arthur sighed. "Trust me don't fight her, you'll only make it harder on yourself."

"Are you two going to show me those robes or not?" a voice came from outside the changing rooms.

The two men sighed and left the cubicles, both taking a deep breath before stepping out to get Molly's approval or, as it turned out, disapproval. "No, no, no! They won't do, I don't like that style Severus, you look like you're going to a funeral rather than a wedding and Arthur dear I don't think that grey's your colour after all. Try these instead!" she handed them each yet another set of dress robes.

The two victims changed dutifully but before they stepped back outside Severus stopped Arthur. "Arthur, I was just wondering, well Narcissa and I both were, if you and Molly would be the witnesses at the wedding?"

Arthur beamed, "Really? We'd love to!"

"Also," Severus hesitated uncomfortably, "I wanted to ask if you'd like to be my Best Man."

Arthur beamed even more, "Of course I would! I've never been a best man before, do I have to make a speech?"

"Only if you want to. Mainly, I need you to look after the rings." Severus handed him a small black dragonhide box.

Arthur opened it to reveal two plain silver wedding bands, one, the smaller of the two, with a pattern that looked of Celtic origin engraved all the way round it, the other completely plain.

"Wow!" Arthur exclaimed, "They're really nice!"

"Narcissa chose mine and I chose hers, something she insisted on. I'm just glad she settled on something plain for me! The woman can be a little extravagant when the mood takes her."

Arthur chuckled, "I'd noticed." He was cut off from saying anymore by an annoyed Molly wanting to know what was taking so long.

They stepped out of the changing rooms again and she looked them over critically. "What was taking so long?" she asked curiously.

Arthur smiled at his wife, "Severus was telling me he and Narcissa would like us to be the witnesses at their wedding."

Molly almost burst into tears on the spot and hugged Severus, much to his distaste as the shop was by no means empty.

When she was told about Arthur being Best Man she actually did start dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

The most positive thing to come out of it though was that Molly finally decided that the men both looked very handsome and were perfect in the robes they were now wearing. Severus in a black robe which, to him, looked exactly the same as every other black robe she had made him try on and Arthur in a very dark green, so dark it was in fact verging on black itself.

With many of the things for the wedding either bought or ordered Severus raised several objections as to who was paying for it all, saying that he knew it was traditional for the bride's family to pay but that he'd never heard of the bride herself paying for the wedding. Narcissa had quietened him by saying that left to him she'd end up being married in Hogwarts by Albus Dumbledore and that that just wasn't going to happen, under _any_ circumstances. It was a low blow but probably close to the truth and Severus decided, just for once, to let her handle things financially.

*******

Not long before Christmas Narcissa and Molly ventured into the muggle world to look at wedding dresses and spent much of the day going from one shop to another.

"It's no good!" Narcissa moaned, "I don't like any of them!"

The assistant was sure that the next dress would be the one and while she raced off to fetch it Narcissa wandered away

Molly suddenly heard her say, "I've found it!"

The first thing Molly noticed was that Narcissa had walked right out of the bridal section into the evening wear and she hoped that what Narcissa had found was nothing more than a pair of shoes, but she hadn't. It was a simple floor length dress, in a deep forest green with thin straps and a high waist.

"I want it," Narcissa said.

"But Narcissa, dear it's green!" Molly pointed out, feeling that green was not the colour wedding dresses were supposed to be.

"Oh, don't be so old fashioned! I love it!" Narcissa exclaimed. "Besides, I am Slytherin so it's rather fitting."

Once Narcissa had made her mind up, she was not to be argued with and they were soon heading back with the green dress.

"When you said you didn't want a traditional wedding you meant it, didn't you?" Molly asked.

Narcissa laughed, "Definitely! You've got to admit it's a gorgeous dress!"

"Oh it is," Molly agreed, "It's just that it's green!"

*******

Christmas drew nearer, as did the date for the wedding, and Narcissa began to panic over what on earth she could give Severus as a wedding present.

She was watching him work in his lab at Hogwarts one day when an idea struck. She loved watching him work, he looked so focused and peaceful, it was clear that he loved potion making.

He glanced up to see her staring. "Why are you looking at me?" he asked.

"You just looked...I don't know...intense. You know what I mean...no you don't." She added, as understanding failed to dawn on his pale features. "You looked, focused, resolute..." she trailed off quietly and blushed slightly, "I don't know, I suppose I was just thinking how much I love you."

He smirked at her and she hurriedly changed the subject, "What are you making?"

"Nothing."

She picked up a few ingredients, only to have him take them back from her looking possessive and irritated. "Narcissa don't mess with the ingredients!" His potions ingredients were sacred, no matter how much Narcissa had claimed his heart there were certain things even she couldn't get away with and messing about with his potions ingredients was one of them

"Doesn't look like nothing, looks like a Wolfsbane potion to me," she pointed out.

"That would be because it is." Severus answered shortly.

"Who's it for?"

"A vampire!" he said sarcastically.

"Ha, ha! I kind of guessed it would be for a werewolf, I just wondered who you'd be making a potion for."

"Remus Lupin. I'm only making it at Dumbledore's insistence!" he added quickly before she could think he actually wanted to help people.

"You're making a wolfsbane potion for a man you claim to hate? Oh, you darling man!" she kissed his cheek, "You are so selfless and you're not half as cold and uncaring as you like to make out!"

A faint tinge of red graced his skin.

"Oh look, there is enough human left in you to blush."

He gave her a glare, which was only half serious, and she settled down to watch him again until suddenly the idea dawned on her. She knew exactly what to get him as a wedding present.

*******

Narcissa was not the only one pondering wedding presents, Severus had asked everyone he could think of for advice but no one had been particularly helpful. Eventually it was Greg Zabini who gave him an idea.

"Severus, you said it yourself she's the woman who has everything. However, she's not entirely happy, so look for something in her life that she's not happy with and do something to make her feel better about it."

It was this that gave Severus an idea.

*******

Next chapter we're at Hogwarts and there's a quidditch match. Then it's on to Christmas.

I don't know when the next chapter will be up, I'm sending it off to my beta reader today but like I said in my author's note it's difficult for me to post at the moment. I'll try not to make you wait too long.

Please review!! I value every one of them.