Wedding Preparations
In mid March, a week before the end of term the trial of Draco Malfoy took place. It was presided over by Amelia Bones as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement since Minister Scrimgeour did not feel the need to keep Fudge's law entitling himself to oversee cases. It resulted in Malfoy being sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for many crimes including abduction, rape, perverting the course of justice and attempted murder. As the death of Harry Potter was still a matter for debate the court issued a statement inviting him to come forward now that he had been cleared of any wrong doing. Not all the news was good, since in the reshuffle at the Ministry Umbridge had moved back to her previous position in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
David and Albus discussed Harry's response at length before David drafted a letter confirming Harry was alive and expressing a wish that the court systems that allowed his trial to be tampered with and then his incarceration as a dark prisoner be investigated and improved upon. Albus believed that David's best chance of as normal a life as a zia could get would be for Harry not David to destroy Voldemort. They had visited the Department of Mysteries and confirmed that both prophesies referred to David. On hearing the second one, David refused to divulge its contents other than to confirm that it did indeed suggest that he would defeat Voldemort. The concept that he had to conceive a child before he could confront him was a cause of dread. While he and Remus now had a sexual relationship he still could not stomach the thought of the intimacy that conception would require. Had their roles been reversed and Remus been the zia it might have been possible, but with things as they were he believed it would take years before he would be ready to face Voldemort for the final showdown.
David's fears led to an in depth discussion with Albus over the nature of prophesies. Albus did not speculate out loud as to why David was so interested in whether the prophesy would come true but did realise that there was something in the second prophesy that David was dreading. It was an educated guess that it was something to do with the child mentioned, since a female teacher had initially been expected, but David did not say what about the child had got him so concerned. Albus offered David what comfort he honestly could. They discussed how many of the prophesies recorded by the department never came to pass and how therefore contradictions were inevitable. He also cautioned David not to wait until he believed conditions mentioned by the prophesy were fulfilled because they might never come about.
When the Minister personally responded to 'Harry's' letter, David resisted the invitation to talk things over in person and continued his correspondence by letter. When he had written the first one he had included enough personal information to verify his identity. Scrimgeour worked fast once he gained office to solidify his position by fast tracking the investigations he had used to throw doubt on Fudge's premiership. Once the Draco Malfoy trial was out of the way and Potter had been cleared he turned to those involved in the dark prisoner conspiracy followed by Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy senior.
It was finally revealed how Albus's hair had been stolen for use in polyjuice potion. It seemed that Lucius Malfoy had been extremely angry when Harry had tricked him into freeing his house elf, Dobby. He had researched the exact details of how house elf bonds worked and discovered recourse for if a house elf was freed accidentally without the agreement of the head of the family. As with all magic, intention was the key thing, even though Lucius had himself freed Dobby, he had not intended to do so at the time and Dobby was not completely out of his control. He was able to insist that Dobby become his elf again, if he could find him to do so. His son had overheard Harry talking about how Dobby had knitted him some socks and had then discovered that Dobby was working at Hogwarts. Lucius Malfoy came up with an excuse to visit and brought the elf back under his control giving him strict orders not to tell anyone one or act in any different way to before. Lack of clothes might be the mark of a house elf's enslavement but it was a symbol not a necessity, as always the intention was at the heart of the magic.
Dobby had been forced to steel the hairs while supposedly ensuring they were safely destroyed so that they could not be used in a potion. The orders Malfoy had given him were very carefully worded so that there was no way he could inform anyone of what was going on without directly disobeying an order which he could not do. David had considered contacting Dobby after he escaped and was now fervently relieved that he had not done so. He put his energies into sorting out a way to ensure Dobby could get his freedom for real.
It turned out that Pansy Parkinson had been tricked into helping with the Malfoy plot. She was guilty of being a bit foolish but nothing worse. She had indeed hexed Hermione on the train, but she had not known precisely what the hex she sent would do, which could count for how Hermione survived it since she would not have put the correct feelings behind it. Malfoy had taught her the hex and suggested she use it to get revenge on Hermione for beating her to the headgirlship. She had a long uncomfortable interrogation which was followed by an appearance in front of the Wizengamot, but it was ultimately proved that she had not attempted murder, and she was released with a warning.
While Scrimgeour was making his clean sweep of the previous administration's skeletons, Albus and David worked with the shadow dragons to put together a document about their foundation, aims and uses. Since David had conducted a mind-ritual with David Dragon, Dragonmaster of the shadow dragons, he was the only one who knew all the signals and operating parameters. He presented the information to Scrimgeour, and made sure to explain that he was only coordinating things in the short term and was not trying to build his own empire as the new dragonmaster.
Scrimgeour had been an auror all his working life but had only been aware of the shadow dragons in a vague manner since they had disappeared before he became head auror. He knew the sort of work they had accomplished and was keen to bring them onside. The question was settled amicably with Scrimgeour suggesting a six months' to a year's training and adjustment period before the agents got back out into the field so that the reporting system could be overhauled and new safeguards developed to prevent them being rounded up in secret in the future. The one non-shadow dragon dark prisoner who had survived turned out to be a United States national whose reason for coming to Britain he could no longer remember, but the records suggested that he had disappeared with the cooperation of, if not at the request of, someone back in the US. Until the exact circumstances could be discovered he had been offered asylum and rehabilitation by the British Ministry.
As the spring term drew to a close there was one notable event, unless you count the rumours as to why one of the DADA teachers was marking most of the potions homework for two weeks. With Draco Malfoy expelled and currently residing in Azkaban the school needed a new head boy. David stayed out of the debate over candidates as much as he could since he did not feel able to be impartial. He could remember what Ron had seen in the Mirror of Erised and knew that along with quidditch captain who he currently was, he wanted to be head boy. Theodore Nott and Justin Finch-Fletchley were raised as possible candidates along with Ron.
David's plan of being uninvolved in the decision was thwarted when Fillius, the amicable and generous man that he was, noticed that he was not involved and asked for his own opinion 'as someone outside of the house prejudices.' David had been given the temporary Slytherin housemastership on the same idea; since his sorting had taken so long he must have been difficult to place and share qualities from different houses.
"Nott is a loner," he said, "the position would force him to work with others which would be good for him, but I think someone who has already shown himself able to do so would be a better choice given the shortness of the time involved. Finch-Fletchley is a good solid candidate but he can be quick to jump to conclusions and unwilling to hear someone else's side of the story." He was remembering the incident with the snake in the duelling club. Events over this school year and shown that Justin had still not learnt to question the surface appearance of things.
"And Weasley?" prompted Fillius.
"Weasley would be my choice," said David truthfully. "But I'm probably biased since I've seen more of him over my efforts to protect Miss Granger." It was a partial truth, but he felt he really should admit to his bias, given that three people in the room were well aware of it. "Judging by the way he stood up to Umbridge shows moral fibre and given how Malfoy turned out I think that is a necessary quality." He kept his comments calm and collected so as not to actively try to persuade his colleagues but was pleased when after a lot more discussion Ron was elected as the new head boy.
School broke up on the 24th March and David and Remus returned to Lions' Den for the final run up to their wedding on the 4th of April. Their friends had been informed of the date back in January, but the invitations had only just been sent out so as to keep the secret of exactly who Remus was marrying as long as possible. Unlike a muggle marriage where the match needs to be publicised to prevent bigamy, the wizarding variety included spells to check that the intended partners were not yet bound to anyone else, whether legally or through a soul-bond, so there had been no need to notify anyone in advance. With everything else going on they did not want to deal with the backlash of David marrying a lycanthrope until after the deed was done.
Remus recalled Minerva's shock when he had handed over her invitation. It was not until that moment that he realised she had assumed that David was also a werewolf, not that him being a zia made that impossible but it did give Minerva another explanation for why he did not seem to bothered about getting paper qualifications. She had assumed he had felt they would not help him get a job.
Remembering the frantic scramble whenever he left for the Hogwarts express with the Weasleys, David had expected the week running up to his wedding to be equally chaotic. This was not the case. It probably helped that Molly had organised a wedding the previous summer, but there was also the fact that she was orderly; it was her children who were not. All the preparations were completed with three days to spare. Then Ron and Sirius descended on their respective best friends and took them out to mark their last nights as bachelors. Both found this odd since they had felt bonded ever since their discussion after David returned from his visit to Azkaban, but they went along with their enthusiastic friends.
Ron had got all his brothers involved, even Percy, and had tried to organise a night out in muggle London. Fortunately he had admitted that the muggle customs defeated him and asked Hermione's advice. Hermione had recognised that David had changed a lot after Azkaban although he did not talk about it and had run their ideas past Sirius to check they would not cause any problems. Sirius vetoed what Fred and George had done to Bill the previous summer which had involved alcohol followed by rope, a parking meter and extremely little clothing. He also pointed out that David was not legally able to drink in the muggle world and it would not do for him to be discovered breaking law by someone like Rita Skeeter. Sirius gave his opinion that David would probably prefer to play quidditch and have a few butterbeers afterwards than spend time crammed into a club in London with the general 'meat market' attitude of most of the patrons.
In the end David had a meal out with all the younger Weasleys, Fleur and Hermione followed by some butterbeers at Hermione's home while the non-muggle aware were introduced to the delights of the Star Wars trilogy. David knew of it but had not got around to seeing it himself and so was happy to finally put pictures to the sounds he could remember coming through the wall of the Dursley's living room and into his cupboard. Sirius's plans were by far the more adventurous and ended with Remus unconscious on the floor of his hallway. Thankfully there was no longer a screaming portrait to be disturbed by the commotion.
When Remus turned up at Lions' Den in the middle of the next morning he looked horrible. David was tired himself, but not ready to kick the bucket as Remus appeared to be. "Have a good time?" he asked cautiously. All Remus did in response was to order him never to 'listen to a word Sirius says if 'you'll love it' is part of the sentence' before he collapsed into a chair and fell asleep.
The Weasley family and Sirius turned up at Lions' Den the night before the ceremony so as to be on hand early when the preparations started. Given the threat from Voldemort which had now increase to the couple since he would want them for breeding his future servants, David and Remus were planning on spending their honeymoon at Lions' Den. Instead of them going away, everyone else would keep away.
As was traditional, the pair had to be kept apart from the night before the wedding until they met for the ceremony. Remus moved back into his old room temporarily. In his absence David found he had difficulty getting to sleep. He could feel Remus's nerves adding to his own through the bond, but had been strictly instructed not to contact him telepathically (it seemed Severus knew about that aspect of zia bonds even if nobody else had done) and of course not to see him face to face either. So David cast around for something to read to take his mind off things and his eye fell on the book on soul-bonds that Molly had brought up when he had been ill. He read a couple of chapters dealing with the problems of long separations between bond-mates and then flicked through the book to find a more interesting part. His attention was caught by the chapter entitled, 'Behaviour of the Bond after the Ceremony' and saw that it referred to the marriage rather than the acknowledgement. He thought it would be prudent to read this part and settled down to it.
Most of it was pretty obvious. The connection between the partners increased, but David noted that this happened at the point each admitted his trust for the other and he reckoned that for them this had already happened. There were descriptions of the abilities the bond would share between them and the extent to which each would be able to harness the other's energy. Then towards the end of the chapter there was a paragraph describing how until the marriage was consummated the bond distance the partners were able to get from each other without feeling weak would decrease. David looked over the numbers and did the mathematics in his head. Since he and Remus shared a house and worked in the same place they would probably be alright for about six months. The distance started at about three-quarters of a mile, but by then it would have reduced to less than a hundred meters and start to become apparent given the size of Hogwarts. He thought he had been nervous before, but now that there was a time limit he felt ready to panic. Why had not any of his relatives told him this? He could only suppose that it had not been an issue for so many generations that they had not thought about it.
David forced himself to meditate in an attempt to calm down and partially succeeded before he gave up his pride and used the sleeping draft his father had thoughtfully supplied him with.
David's nerves returned at full strength as soon as he woke up to find himself alone and remembered why they were sleeping apart. He had been told to stay in his room until he was called for and so dozed fitfully until Ron and Hermione entered about eight o'clock bringing breakfast with them.
"So mate, are you looking forward to tonight?" asked Ron with a wink.
David choked on his toast. "Ron!" Hermione scolded. "You shouldn't ask something like that. Besides," she continued disapprovingly, "they've been sleeping together for months."
"So?" asked Ron. "They were engaged and had an acknowledged bond so they were hardly going to break up. Seventeen year old men need some action," he concluded pointedly.
Hermione glared at Ron and David had the impression this had been discussed before. "I just don't feel right breaking the school rules or abusing my privileges like that," she declared. Hermione looked at David and noticed that he was still having problems eating his toast. She took it for embarrassment and changed the subject.
When they had finished eating they went into the bathroom so that David could bathe to ritually purify himself while Ron and Hermione recited a dialogue about the qualities needed for a successful marriage and the duties he had to his spouse. When this was done David dried himself but did not dress. He returned to his room so that his close family and friends could draw symbols on his body in woad. He was not meant to know what they had drawn and tradition had him standing still and blindfolded while they worked. Nobody had thought that that would be a good idea and so Hermione had worked out a personalised obscuring charm which would allow everyone except him to see his body. She had also obscured the mirrors until he was dressed.
David was very glad that Remus had pushed him beyond his need to have his clothing spelled so that it could not be removed. If he had still been like that he would never have coped with people painting his naked body, even though they were his friends. It was still extremely difficult, not to mention that it tickled. The ordeal was doing nothing for his nerves and he was trembling. Severus, who as his nearest relation had gone first, paused to inquire whether David would find it easier if they stunned him and woke him up when it was done. The idea of people touching his naked body while he was unconscious was far worse so David accepted the second option of a mild calming draft instead. He was able to still his body and Severus continued.
David tried to work out what each person was drawing but found the task impossible, apart from the contribution of the twins of a hand on each of his buttocks; they had drawn around their own to get it right. While he was being painted Hermione attacked his hair with a mixture of brushes, combs and a potion. It appeared that uncontrollable hair was a David characteristic whether adopted or not. The biggest test was when Albus made his contribution, but once that was over both of them felt that their relationship had truly been healed from the damage Draco Malfoy had done. When everyone had finished Hermione produced a camera and took several photographs in order to capture all the images. Her wedding gift was going to be a scrapbook of the day, including photographs, quotations and the inevitable press cuttings.
Since David was a ruling zia his steward, Sirius, was supposed to dress him for his wedding, but they had decided that Sirius's proper place was with Remus and Ron was to act as his proxy. David's wedding robe was a more archaic version of the formal one he wore. They were in the house colours of royal blue with a crimson trim and had David's cat insignia repeated in golden thread around the hem, neck and down both of the front edges. The robe did not join at the front but hung open leaving a four inch gap showing David's golden tunic and loose trousers. He wore high boots which concealed the pair of mismatching socks Dobby had gifted him for the occasion along with many apologies for what he had been force to do. Dobby did not know the extent of the damage his actions had caused and David had no intention of informing him.
Once he was covered Hermione came back briefly from visiting Remus to remove the obscuring charm and take more photographs. She gave David a hug and assured him all would go well before leaving to join the other guests and allowing Ron to help David into his robe. Severus came in a few moments later, dressed in his formal attire as dowager Sire Crimson and sent Ron away to see to his own clothing. Ron briefly hugged David and repeated Hermione's assurances before he left.
Severus also embraced his son before holding him at arms length and looking him up and down. "Trust Weasley to forget your headpiece," he said with a mock Snape sneer. Severus moved across the room to the cupboard where David's usual formal attire was kept and retrieved the crimson circuit. He placed it carefully on David's head and smoothed his curls around it. "The only ring you can wear is your bonding one," he said reaching for David's hand to take the wooden ring he wore.
"I haven't been wearing that for a while," David told him gleefully. "I can now make the ball glow red. I don't need it anymore. I am truly capable of wandless magic; truly a zia. Apart from Remus you're the first to notice, although nobody else knows the significance anyway."