"She showed up at your work?" Blaise paced as Susan sat perched in his favorite chair and sipped at her wine. "And you just let her in?"

"Was I supposed to make her stand outside the building all day? The woman made an appointment. What was I supposed to do?" Susan rolled her eyes.

"Leave her outside." Blaise nodded. "Don't accept appointments. She's dangerous. I mean, you're not an older wizard, but still. She always has an agenda. She always wants something."

"I'm sure she usually gets it. She's an interesting woman. Formidable and intriguing. Try to remember that I'm not a milquetoast miss." Susan smiled up at him. "I'm a full grown witch with all the requisite bad assery. We got along well enough. I don't think she means to make you crazy."

"I don't think five minutes with her could possibly reveal all the twists and kinks in her personality." Blaise rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I've never had a real home. I lived in the Slytherin dungeon dormitory longer than I lived anywhere. Trusting her to be stable is folly. She might love you today, but if the next husband wants to leave you with elves, you'll know all their names and speak perfect elvish before the year is out."

"Your childhood wasn't ideal, but neither was mine." Susan took a longer sip of her wine and examined him though the fringe of her lashes. "My Aunt tried her best, but she was never one for children. She had goals and enough ambition, but she wasn't given over to hugs. It was always the greater good for her. I was left with a rotation of her colleagues' families."

"So we both had shite childhoods." Blaise stopped in front of her. "I need to be the center of attention and you need to scare everyone to death. How do we make this thing between us work?"

"You grew up with no roots, and I grew up with them strangling me." Susan set her glass down on the table beside her chair. "Maybe it will be difficult to get around all of that. It took me a long time to let the others in. Hannah dragged me around Hermione and Luna for months before I was more than moderately polite. I'm not nice."

"You actually are." Blaise rolled his eyes. "You're fierce and you're terrifying, but nice. So, you have a hard time trusting that someone will stick around. I do, too."

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" Susan stared down at her manicured fingers. "Our magic works, but do we?"

"Draco didn't think it would work with Hermione. He asked for a laugh and a bit of fun." Blaise stalked across the room and sat on the arm of her chair. "We look like the oddest pair in the bunch. Maybe we are."

"It doesn't mean we can't make it work." Susan nodded. "But we need to get rid of this chair or enlarge it. I don't like having to crane my head up to look at you."

"So, should we head to the Ministry?" Blaise grinned. "No muss, no fuss. Just married?"

"Is that supposed to be a proposal?" She flicked her fingers and he tumbled into his brand new settee. "Because we are going to have to lie to our friends if you don't do a better job of it."

Blaise rolled his eyes and dropped to his knees.

"Why did you start up with me again when you wanted to be with Hermione?" Lavender took a deep breath and looked her husband square in the eye.

"Do we have to start in on this now?" Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It doesn't matter anyway."

"Actually, it does." Lavender licked her lips. "We need to be honest with each other and start working towards restoring your honor."

"Honor starts at home." Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Fine. We start here. I get it."

"Hermione, she's like this force of nature. It's easy to let her take over. She knows everything, and she's always right. After the war, everyone said we made a great couple, but it was just that. Everyone else." Ron rubbed his hands through his hair and blew out his breath in a loud sigh. "It was easier for us to go along. Harry and Ginny. Ron and Hermione. Everything was supposed to be perfect, but it wasn't. She wasn't happy with just getting her N.E.W.T. testing done. She started studying. One master after another. I know she's bloody smart, but it made me feel stupid. Yeah?"

"You're with me because I'm not smart?" Lavender clutched a pillow against her chest.

"No." He shook his head vehemently. "I'm with you because I love you."

"But, you love Hermione, too." Lavender sunk her teeth into her lower lip. "I know you do."

"Of course I love her, she's been one of my best mates since I was eleven." Ron blew out his breath in an audible push. "That's why I thought it might work with her and me. Everyone said so. It was meant to bloody be, wasn't it? Only, it wasn't. I didn't want her. Ever. I didn't want to be shackled to her for the rest of my life because being married to her would have been hell. She's so judgmental, and she's always bloody right. Who wants that?"

"You asked her to marry you." Lavender crossed her arms over her chest. "Everyone was pretty sure you wanted that."

"Well, everyone was bloody wrong." Ron sighed. "It would have been a splinched up mess. Body parts everywhere. No question."

Narcissa watched Theo as he searched through their library. His frustration was clear to see. She waited for him to look up from his current tome of disappointment before she waved at him. The boy was still too flighty and quick with the hex.

"What has you so distraught, Theo?" She smiled at him and gestured to the tea tray beside her. "Tell me about it while you have some tea."

"There are books mentioned in the catalogue, but they are no where to be found." Theo sighed. "The family journals and records are missing as well. I want to give Draco and Hermione a history of their keep for their wedding, but source material is lacking."

"I am afraid the family journals and records were burned by our hated houseguest as a punishment." She frowned. "He knew how families value those and took particular delight in destroying them. He didn't destroy any of our other books, so it is odd that they are missing."

"They are all marked with a G.G." Theo shifted nervously in his seat. "Could they have been given to Gellert Grindelwald?"

"Lucius' grandfather was somewhat enamored with the man." Narcissa tapped her finger on the side of her teacup. "It is, at the very least, possible. The Black library might have something of use."

"I've already been through it." Theo sighed. "Potter gave it all to Hermione after the war."

"That was Walburga's. It's an impressive collection, but I was talking about the library at Black Manor." Narcissa frowned. "I might be able to lift the enchantment on the grounds with a little help. Draco and Hermione could always restore it. Perhaps, as a legacy for their children? Do you think they'd appreciate it as a gift for their wedding?"

Theo stared at her, blinking.

Narcissa smiled. It was such fun keeping the younger generation on its toes.

Grá perched on the crenelated tower and watched as the two wizards tossed a ball between them. He dragged in a bit of air and blew out a small smoke ring. They practiced everyday, but none of them ever wanted to ride him. They preferred their stupid sticks.

Sticks were worthless. They burned. They broke. They were limited.

Grá blew another smoke ring. He longed to take his full form and glide through the air as once he had, the sun on his wings and the brush of the wind on his body. He glanced toward the pair of wizards perched on their sticks, and slumped against the warm stone.

Millie sat beside Hannah and watched Hermione research. It was like watching a storm from a distance. She whirled her hand and more books joined the slowly spinning cyclone above her. It was quite the sight.

"They won't fall on her." Hannah grinned at Millie and shoved a tea cup into her hands. "She's learned to call the books and hold them until she needs them."

"She could set them on the table." Millie eyed the spinning books warily. "What if she gets distracted?"

"When she's like this, Voldy could reappear, alive and kicking, singing a cabaret piece, strip off his robes, and she wouldn't notice." Hannah smirked. "Susan has done all sorts of things to break her concentration, but none of it has ever worked."

"I bet Draco could distract her." Millie grinned. "I mean imagine him all sweaty from an afternoon out on his broom, traipsing in here and dropping his outer robes on the floor."

"The elves would scold him." Hermione glared at the witches across from her and let the books settle on the table in neat stacks. "Then I would have to console him. It would be fun."

"More fun than research?" Hannah smirked.

"More fun than research with you tweaking my nose." Hermione smiled. "I suppose I should take a break. I think I've worked out a spell to summon the knives to us."

"We need more than one?" Millie paled and shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "That seems excessive."

"The only way to make the spell work is to balance it." Hermione flicked her wrist and several runic arrays appeared in glowing script between them. "If we ask it for an athame from your family, we wind up pulling all athames any witch or wizard in your family has ever used. That's chaotic at best and almost brutally ridiculous. Calling for a family blade pulls swords and cutlery as well as ritual blades. I think Blaise would probably enjoy cackling over that. I can only balance it, if we call for the ritual athames of our lines at once. Maybe its the presence of mine?"

Hermione tilted her head. She contemplated the only remaining array with a critical eye. a sudden smile flashed across her face, and she began twirling her wand and twisting it in precise motions as the array flickered and changed with each movement. When the thing flashed golden, Hermione sat back with a smug grin.

"I think my athame is going to be reunited with its sisters." Hermione grinned. "The array works."

Millie examined the symbols floating in the air. This was a major working. There were adjustments for both temporal and physical interactions. There were risks to this kind of magic. She had never devoted herself to this kind of magical study, but she knew the risks.

"This is too much." Millie shook her head. "I can't even begin to understand the details of that spell craft, but I know its dangerous. This is just my wedding. We don't need to do all this. I'll by a new blade. I'll let you bless it. Luna can soak it in some hallucinogenic potion."

"It isn't too much." Hannah slung her arm around Millie's shoulders. "You're one of us."

Continued protests died on her tongue. She blinked and glanced between Hermione and Hannah. These witches thought she was worth this kind of effort. She blinked back the hot rush of tears.

"You belong." Hermione leaned across the table and gripped her hand. "And Luna can find another way to expand our boundaries. Hallucinogenic athames sound like a bad idea."