I do not own these characters or this world.

Chapter three

The new husbands exchanged a hug or handshake with what seemed like everyone in attendance. The faces were mostly a blur to Harry, no one staying in front of him long enough for him to really take them in, he was just repeatedly saying 'thank you for coming' and politely smiling, until a large hand clasped his firmly.

"Um, hey Harry. How've you been?"

"Dudley!" His cousin looked uncomfortable, such a large space full of people he didn't know, except the man he stood in front of. A man who's childhood he had spent making a living hell. "Draco invited you?"

"Oh, um, yeah, I guess he did. Is that okay?" He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it up as he shuffled from one foot to the other. Harry had never seen him this nervous before, it was odd.

"It's fantastic!" He grabbed the man's hand again, pulled him forward and clapped him a few times on the back. "It's really nice to see you Big D. You gonna stick around for the party?"

"Yeah! Of course." His nerves were gone now, and his smile was huge with relief.

"Good! I'll find you later, we'll have a drink and chat a bit." Dudley nodded yes and hurried along, having held up the line for a few seconds and feeling awkward about it.

Soon the line was finished and bottles started their way around, carried by many house elves. Harry thought they looked familiar, and then he spotted the Hogwarts crest on their tea towels. He also spotted Kreacher with a clipboard, apparently the head waiter, but looking thrilled by the job.

A light bulb flashed and Harry looked into the lens of a large camera, held by a small witch who appeared to be framing for the next photo. Then Xenophilius Lovegood came up next to Harry, notebook in hand, "So Harry, how are we feeling? Excited?"

" , what are you doing?" As he was asking, Draco came up and took his hand.

"Sorry love, another surprise. Xenophilius said he would cover the photography for us as long as we would give him inside access to the wedding. I figured it was going to be in the news anyway, and I'm certainly not going to talk to anyone at the prophet. If they want details, they'll have to pay Xeno for them."

The wedding party spent a while answering questions, posing for pictures, and laughing at each other's overly sappy answers to the questions they were given. Soon it was just Draco and Harry, neither ever being one for photos, but found it easy to look happy while with the other.

Soon everyone was sat, drinks in hand. Draco and Harry had a small table to themselves, with a dark green tablecloth while the others were covered in white, just in case being settled under the archway, up on the platform didn't have them standing out enough. Soon Ron, sat at the table closest to the front with Hermione, his parents, his unmarried siblings, and Dudley, stood and sent up a shower of sparks to get the crowd's attention. An elf hurried over and handed him a microphone. He nodded his thanks, and though Harry saw no speakers, Ron's voice came out loud and clear.

"Hello everyone. I am not one for speeches, as I'm sure you'll soon be able to tell, but I'll do my best.

Harry has been my best mate since the first train ride to Hogwarts. I've proven a few times that I am willing to get in tremendous amounts of trouble in order to be your friend. From spending more nights out of bed then in them at Hogwarts, to breaking into, and sometimes robbing, the most well protected places in the country, I was there for you. And you were there for me.

You were there, failing divinations right beside me, and I can tell you all, I've never had more fun failing a class. You waited patiently for me to stop being a complete prat during a few of our fights. You always let me know when I'm being an arse.

Without you Harry, I wouldn't be with Hermione. She would have been killed by a troll first year if you hadn't thought to go save her. My sister, Ginny, would have been dead our second year, if you hadn't been there to save her. Dad would be gone without you too," Ron sniffed loudly, Hermione took his hand and smiled encouragingly up at him, and he continued on, "Sometimes I think about how different my life would be if I hadn't asked to sit with you that day. Thank Merlin I did!"

The crowd laughed and clapped, and Ron waited for them to settle. "Harry, you know I had trouble trusting Draco at first, but seeing you with him is something I had never seen in you before. I know you love me, and 'Mione, I hope you love my family as much as they love you, but your love for Draco? Wow. It's everything I could have ever hoped for you mate. Keep it up!" He raised his glass to the couple, and everyone laughed as they drank, and Ron took his seat, his neck and ears a flaming red, but otherwise he had made it through swimmingly.

Hermione stood next, Ron passed off the mic and everyone quieted back down. She pulled a piece of parchment from her pocket, and cleared her throat. Harry smiled as he imagined her rehearsing her speech in front of the mirror ever since Draco asked her to be his Best Lady.

"Draco, you have been a pain in my arse since day one," Draco, who had chosen that moment to take a sip of his water, choked mildly. "Every lesson, every year, I had to work my hardest to stay at the top of our class, and even at my best you were right behind me. With your breezy facade, I was sure you weren't trying nearly as hard as I was. Then, Harry brought you into our group, and I got to know you, and I found out, despite all your years of trying, that you are a tightly wound, studious perfectionist, just like me. Our competition grew a little friendlier during our late night study sessions, Harry and Ron snoozing on the table beside us." Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged, another roar of laughter crossed the room.

"Ron got it right when he said we have never seen Harry as happy as he is with you. It truly is spectacular to see. I hope you two have all the time in the world together. I am so glad that you are now part of our group, for life." Everyone clapped, and then she added, "Oh! And sorry for punching you in the face third year." Everyone laughed again, some with a bit of uncertainty, until they saw Draco smiling at her with daggers in his eyes, clearly already planning how he would get back at his friend for the embarrassing comment.

*CRACK!*

Kreacher appeared at the foot of the platform's steps, the crowd had gone silent at the loud noise. The elf snapped his fingers once. then opened his mouth to speak, his deep, bull-frog voice now amplified for all to hear. "If you have more words for Masters Potter, please feel free to come up at your leisure," He snapped his fingers and Hermione's mic moved to hover in midair by the stage. "But we elves will be serving your dinner now. Thank you."

Elves started to come around, each with a different dish of food, going from table to table offering what they had, and their dishes never seemed to empty. Harry caught 's eye as the food made it up to their table, and mouthed a 'thank you,' knowing how much work she had put in.

stood, and cleared her throat. The mic sped overhead and into her outstretched hand. Everyone quieted, "I need to say my piece before I am too emotional from all of this talk to say much of anything. Harry dear, one thing I have plenty of, is children. I thought seven was more than enough, but it turns out we were missing one. Thank you for joining our numbers." Harry swallowed, then nodded. She patted her hand over her heart, let go of the mic so it could return to the front, then sat and buried her face in her husband's shoulder.

Dinner continued on, the mic flying from table to table, as people shared stories of Harry and Draco's enemies turned friends, turned to so much more. Some were sweet, others funny, but all very nice to hear. Soon the elves were coming around, cleaning the dishes up. Kreacher made a table appear at the front, and a tower of individual tarts floated in and settled on it, most of which, Harry noticed, were his favorite treacle tart. The top tear was a small cake with figures of them in miniature.

"I am not that much shorter than you," Harry whispered to Draco as he took his hand, the camera's bulb flashes as they cut the small cake, which surprised Harry by bursting into a bunch of confetti that showered down on them. Harry laughed, holding out his hand to catch some as it fell, when he heard metal clinking against glass. He looked up and met Hermione's eyes, puzzled. Even more so once the others started joining in, hitting dinner knives against their champagne flutes. Tiny tinkling sounds filled the air and Harry turned to Draco and raised an eyebrow.

"It's a muggle thing, they want us to kiss."

"Muggles hit glass to make people kiss in front of them?" Draco laughed and nodded, then grabbed the back of Harry's neck and pulled him in as the crowd cheered. There were quite a few wolf whistles from the corner table that sat Lee Jordan, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnagin.

The two pulled apart, but stayed in each other's arms. Harry's eyes hooded and looking at Draco with longing. He desperately wanted to strip the man right there and have his way with him, but the applause of the crowd brought him back to the moment. Harry let his arms fall, and Draco looked equally disappointed. Soon house elves were stepping up, filling trays and taking tarts to tables. Draco grabbed two and jerked his head in the direction of their table.

Soon they were cutely feeding each other bites of tart, while the last few people gave toasts. Luna said a long bit about how love was an amazing thing, only going off about some unknown creature for a few minutes. Andromeda Tonks thanked the boys for inviting her and said they were a beautiful couple, before holding the mic up to Harry's godson, Teddy, whose face was covered in tart. Teddy shoved it away, yelling, "NO!" Then started to cry when his own amplified voice scared him. The crowd laughed as Andromeda let the mic go so it would float away and hugged the sobbing toddler to her chest.

Soon there was a *Crack* as Kreacher appeared by Draco's side and motioned for him to bend down. Draco did, leaning so his ear was close to the elf, who did his best to whisper. Harry was only able to hear the tone of his voice over the din of the crowd. Draco straightened up and smiled a thanks to Kreacher, then turned and took Harry's hand and pulled him to his feet. Harry followed apprehensively, he usually would have followed Draco quite willingly, but since he was leading him to the center of the tent, he was worried. He turned back, trying to catch Hermione or Ron or really anyone's eye who could explain what was happening, and saw that their table on the platform had vanished, and a band was setting up in its place.

Right. Shit. The couple leads the dancing. Fuck.

Draco stopped, turned to face Harry, took one of his hands and rested it on his hip, taking his other and raising it, while letting his own fall to Harry's hip. "Breath love. Don't worry. I don't know if you noticed at the Yule ball, but I actually know how to dance." Harry made an exaggerated annoyed face at Draco, but did breath a little easier.

Draco looked to the stage, gave a sharp little nod, and the band started to play. Violins, guitars, drums, all joined together to form a familiar melody. The crowd sighed as the vocals started, apparently also recognizing the song. Draco started them moving into a Viennese Waltz, the lessons his mother had put him through coming in handy. Harry moved easily, barely paying attention to anything but Draco's eyes as the words from the young witch who led the band drifted over him.

You smiled and then the spell was cast

And here we are in Heaven

For you are mine at last

Harry sighed as well, and let his hand fall down to Draco's waist, pulling him closer. Draco's hands came to rest on Harry's shoulders, actual dance steps abandoned for holding each other close and swaying. Too soon the song was over, and the band switched to something fast, and everywhere chairs were being pushed out as people rushed to join them on the dance floor, which was forming around them as more tables emptied, leaving only a few around the perimeter for guests to rest their tired dancing feet.

Harry was surprised by Draco, who had started dancing like a mad man, a huge smile on his face. Harry joined him, thinking only for a minute that he must look silly, but the thought disappeared as he took in the faces around him. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, and many more coming to join the newlyweds. Soon that song was finished too, followed by another slow one. The couples grabbed each other, but when Harry reached for Draco, he only took his hand and led him away. Harry pouted, but soon saw that Draco was leading him to a table, where the minister sat alone, his guards seated as closely as they could while still being at other tables.

"Hello Minister," Draco greeted him. Harry smirked at Kingsley and gave him a head nod as a greeting, having known him before he had taken up the title and still feeling a bit odd addressing him as such.

"Hello Potters," giving Harry a smirk of his own, and the brunette redded, enjoying that he and Draco could be addressed as such from now on. "Would you care to join me for a drink?" They both agreed and sat, Kingsley held up his wand and three goblets appeared, one landing in front of each of them.

"Oh sir, one of the house elves would have been happy to serve you."

"I'm sure they would have Draco, but I don't think my guards would have let me. They insisted on checking over my dinner," the Potters exchanged a look. "Oh no. No. They insist on doing it everywhere I go, but especially tonight when so many ministry higher-ups all in one place. One case of accidental food poisoning and we'd need to shut down for a week. I told them it wasn't necessary since I heard Molly did all the cooking, but they insisted and it's not worth the fight." They both relaxed a little, but Kingsley seemed to be a bit nervous.

"I, um, am sure you both are aware of the intense watch the ministry has been keeping on you, Draco. Minerva wrote me and told me Harry would be sitting in on her meetings with you. She did, she told me it was happening. Didn't ask. But that woman has known me since I started school, and honestly still scares me a little, so I wasn't gonna argue.

She didn't really explain why, but even Hogwarts rumors reach the ministry eventually. And we've kept tabs on you since then, so we knew of your living situation. But, I wanted to let you know that we won't be doing that anymore."

"You… you won't?" Draco asked, slowly rotating his goblet back and forth in both his hands.

"We won't. You have done nothing since Voldemort's demise that has shown me anything to be worried about. And we have more than enough knowledge that shows us you were never really his man. That wasn't enough for some, but it's enough for me. That, and, not long ago a very wise man told me to put my trust in Harry. And if Harry trusts you, then I do as well."

They were both momentarily shocked, but soon recovered. "Thank you minister, that means a lot."

"Yeah, Kingsley, thanks."

Kingsley smiled at Harry's informality, it was rare he got to just feel like a person these days, instead of a political figure. "So, Harry, when are you going to be finished playing at auror training and just join ranks?"

"I told you sir, I want to do it right. I know I've seen a lot of what's out there, but as long as there are others who have had different experiences, I want to be able to learn from them."

Kingsley laughed and shook his head, the idea that the golden boy still had something to learn truly amusing him. "Well, gentleman, I have to be going. The ceremony was very nice, but I have an early meeting, and I should probably bow out before anyone from the ministry makes too big of a fool of themselves in front of me." They all stood, Kingsley shook Harry's hand, then turned and clasped Draco's in both of his own. He leaned in closer to make sure only Harry could overhear, "Enjoy your life son, after all this time, you've earned it." A dazzling smile broke across Kingsley's face, but it almost paled in comparison with Draco's.

The three were momentarily bathed in light as the flash of the photographer's large camera went off. They let their hands drop and the minister left with his guards. Draco gave Harry a small smile and started to lead him back to the dance floor. For a moment, Harry though he saw Xenophilias's long blond hair moving in the falling twilight, towards where the minister and his guard were now invisible in the darkness.

The night wore on, filled with dancing and drink. Draco had insisted on stealing Harry's tie and throwing it to a group of drunken single men, who looked like they would have easily fought to the death for it if Neville hadn't sprinted straight for Luna the second it touched his finger tips, picking her up to spin her in a circle, then planting a sloppy drunk kiss on her lips while the crowd cheered him on.

With a wave of Draco's wand, he made a beautiful arrangement of silver and green roses appear, unnaturally beautiful. He handed them to Harry and let his hand linger on his for a moment as he leaned in to whisper. "They are enchanted to fly right at 'Mione, but don't make it look too obvious, kay?" Draco's eye's left his and Harry followed his gaze, Ron was standing off to the side near the front, very close to where the girls had started to gather, Hermione laughing with Luna near the front. Draco gave Ron a wink, which made him flush green for a moment, then he visibly gulped and nodded.

Draco snapped his fingers and the mic flew to him. "Okay ladies, gather round. My gorgeous husband is about to throw the luckiest among you this magical bouquet. I've bewitched it you see, so whoever catches it is sure to be the next to get engaged. Ready?" The girls cheered, and Draco handed off the bouquet to Harry, who looked over the girls, checked Hermione's position, turned around, and threw it.

The flowers spun, top over stems, a few times, before landing perfectly in Hermione's arms. She turned to the group, a huge smile on her face and the bouquet held high above her head. They all were chattering loudly, until one by one they grew quiet. Hermione looked at them all, and saw that they weren't looking at her at all. So she turned to see what the spectacle was, to find Ron, down on one knee.