Chapter 22- A Birthday and a Wedding

*****Draco*****

Draco read the latest tripe being printed about Dumbledore. He wondered if Death Eaters were in the Prophet, or if Skeeter was just pushing anything that seemed outrageous enough to prompt purchase of her knew book. And now she'd gotten someone to interview her about it.

Draco thought back with annoyance to his fourth year when he had been one of the ones giving information to the distasteful woman. Not his proudest time.

It said Dumbledore dabbled in dark magic in his youth. He probably had. The most powerful wizard of his age probably got bored with Hogwarts courses and went looking for what the school wasn't teaching him. That didn't make the man evil. It didn't mean there was that big of a divide between dark and light. Plenty of the same spells could be used for torture and death as could be used in building a house, or dismantling one. There were plenty of interesting things in Knockturn Alley- the one time Draco had been there when he was twelve. Probably some 'dark' spells that didn't really harm anyone. But Draco didn't know much. Maybe he'd been afraid to learn.

And the stuff with the sister that almost no one knew existed... probably she'd just been a squib. Pureblood families hid them all the time. Locked them away or sent them off to the muggle world usually- so they didn't end up like poor Filch, bitter and not able to really be in the world he was in. Cleaning a castle by hand when magic could do it instantly. Watching over children he hated… it was kinder to send a squib child away, wasn't it? Could he do that with his child? Didn't most families, particularly muggle families who had a witch do the same thing? Send their child off and rarely see them after that? When the girl 'died' she'd probably just been sent away at last. Or the girl had magic and couldn't control it, and had killed her mother and maybe herself.

The bits of the article mentioning Potter… had more truth, but no more value.

Yes, Potter got individual attention from the Headmaster. He'd come closer to killing Tom than anyone else as a baby, and sure, that time could be written off as a fluke, or something the boy's parents did, but that didn't explain the end of Potter's first year, or second, or any of them. Potter was different. In ways that no longer made Draco incredibly jealous, because he had no desire to be that way himself. Potter did all the difficult things, no matter how dangerous or stupid. But that didn't make the relationship between Dumbledore and Potter sinister. Though perhaps it had been, Draco wouldn't have known. Potter didn't have parents looking out for his interests. Not that parental guidance went so well for Draco, or Theodore Nott. Draco's mother wanted him to be safe, he reminded himself again. She didn't want him to be a Death Eater. And his father...

"Dumbledore's death is rumoured to have come at the hands of sixteen-year-old Theodore Nott. The boy has not been seen since that day. If this is true, was the boy destined to be like his father, imprisoned last June for alleged Death Eater activities? Could Albus Dumbledore have done more to lead his young students if he did not have such an obsession with a single one of them in Harry Potter?"

It played on emotion more than truth. Beginning with that Theo had been seventeen for months. The article made it seem like since he was sixteen, he couldn't be blamed for his own actions. People didn't become responsible adults overnight; it didn't really matter if Nott was sixteen or seventeen at the time.

Yes, Potter did take up more of the headmaster's time than any other student, but did anyone really expect individualized guidance from the Headmaster of Hogwarts, especially Albus Dumbledore? That's what Heads of Houses were for, and other professors, and prefects, and head boy and girl. Any time Dumbledore spent watching Potter, he would have otherwise been doing something else to fight Tom.

The rest of the paper was harder to read anything important from. The most important thing Draco found was a small piece about a quidditch game cancelled because of the weather, that then went into an overview of the teams. Would Potter have noticed what was wrong there? Weather didn't cancel quidditch games, spectators too afraid to leave their houses did. Their world was closing in on itself.

*****Ginny*****

"It seems stupid. Can't they just apparate with him a bunch in public places and not leave an easy trail? Throw in a couple port keys, get him behind some wards… really, it's not hard to figure out where he'll be at the end of it, so what's the point? Getting him behind some good defenses with lots of us around- like at the Burrow where he's going anyway- as quickly as possible seems like the thing to do," Ginny complained. No one would listen to a fifteen-year-old girl though. She hated being the youngest. Did no one else think this was an unnecessarily complicated Mad-Eye Moody plan? Not that Ginny really knew the man well, since he hadn't actually taught them her third year. But the Death Eater obviously did a pretty good impersonation to not get caught. They seemed equally crazy, and Ginny thought it was his plan for sure.

And maybe if she'd been allowed to participate in the plan, she would have been pulled into the excitement of it. It was all very Gryffindor. Ginny hoped she had learned better, probably from Draco. It was full of unnecessary risks to too many people, in a way that Ginny wasn't even sure would make Harry safer. It would keep him out of Ministry trouble, perhaps, but did that matter so much? The Ministry wouldn't snap Harry Potter's wand. They knew Tom was back. Harry was… the image of the side of the light, more so than ever with Dumbledore gone. Dead. They could make his escape the second he turned seventeen if they had to- and was that at midnight or whenever he was born, if anyone could prove that? Why did they have to send Harry to those horrible muggles every year anyway, especially this last year when whatever protections he had there would last so little time?

"It does sound crazy, but it worked two years ago, though the complication factor is stepped up some. The Order really wouldn't want us talking about it around you too though, to be honest," Tonks shrugged. Probably most of the Order's doubts would be about Draco.

Ginny was thinking and talking about Harry on Draco's birthday, her boyfriend, her fiancé even, who had a long history of not getting on with Harry.

The whole family- Andromeda and Ted, Tonks, Draco, even Ginny and Lupin were around the table eating a lovely meal. Tonks and Remus were dating finally. Ginny wondered if Tonks being clawed by Greyback in the last battle had anything to do with it. That Tonks was much more at risk from other people than she was from Remus Lupin. And that Tonks was a competent fighter who could take care of herself.

And she was still thinking about stuff that wasn't about Draco!

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to be talking about Harry on your birthday, Draco. It's so good to see you, and also really to leave the house for a while. Especially when I don't even have my own room- which isn't to say that Fleur isn't great," Ginny said. "Though it will be crowded in a couple days when Hermione's there too.

Draco shrugged, "It's fine," he said. "I like hearing what's going on," he said, looking around the table.

"We agreed to be one of the safe houses," Ted Tonks spoke up. "Just today," he added. "And we don't know who's actually coming here," he added, looking at Dora.

"I don't think it's me," she offered. "But I won't know until the day of."

"Probably one of my brothers," Ginny complained. "Almost all of them are doing it, and they wouldn't let me. Even if it is a dumb plan, I don't want to be left out," she admitted. "Presents or pudding?" Ginny asked Draco. To try to be a better fiance than she had been.

Tonks had already done the customary amount of squealing over the ring, after Ginny had put it on after arriving at the house. She still hadn't yet told the rest of her family. But soon, probably. The elder Tonkses appreciated the ring as well. If this house were as big as Grimmauld Place, she and Draco would sneak away for some time alone, but no such luck here.

It was still a nice evening, and Ginny was sad to leave hours later.

*****Draco*****

"We're getting married!" Dora announced, Remus Lupin following behind her. She did have a small, plain ring on her left hand. Lupin looked positively queasy but was smiling broadly. Draco wondered who had asked whom. Not that it had to be a bad thing.

"Congratulations, sweetheart," Ted said first, hugging his daughter, and then her fiance.

"Not a union I would have expected when I first met Sirius's quiet friend," Andromeda said. "But I did always like you, thought you were a good influence on him," she whispered, now hugging Dora. Draco wondered if the tears in her eyes were for her daughter getting married, or her lost cousin.

"Congratulations," Draco said.

Dora smiled at him widely, and then hugged him next.

"I'm just going to run grab Ginny and then we'll go!" she announced.

"Nymphadora!" her mother scolded. "You can't! Not now. You don't even have robes!"

"Don't care," Dora answered. "I'll give you… sixty seconds after I get back for any transfigurations you want to make, but we are going to a tiny muggle chapel practically in a forest. It's perfect."

Muggle ceremony. But then, Draco wasn't sure of all of the wizarding legalities surrounding werewolves. He hadn't cared to research before. Dora was making her life harder by choosing the man she had. But you couldn't control love, he supposed. And he wouldn't complain over a reason to see Ginny.

Dora disappeared through the floo, and Andromeda ran towards Dora's room. "Making her robes," she said in explanation. Because Andromeda Black Tonks would see her daughter looking properly. And proper wedding garb wouldn't look entirely out of place on a muggle woman, Draco thought. Probably. Not that he knew what muggle women were married in, but the women wore dresses that were not so different than robes, didn't they? Men didn't. There was a first year Hufflepuff boy who wore a muggle dress one Saturday and was teased for it. Draco didn't see substantial difference.

"Brandy?" Ted offered, bringing out three glasses.

Draco had had the drink several times with Ted in the evenings since his birthday, and it was a pleasant experience. Gentler than the burn of firewhisky, less mood-altering, but still strong. Draco murmured his thanks.

"Thank you, Ted," Lupin said. Remus, Draco supposed, if he was marrying Dora. The man looked as old as Ted, or older. Being a werewolf wasn't good for health. But Draco did know the man to be kind. He hadn't shown any house prejudices in class, which could not be said for all of their teachers. Severus didn't have a choice, Draco thought, giving the man an excuse in his head, even though it was impossible to know what to think of him.

"So she wanted to get married before I did," Draco joked. It was a little tasteless, but the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff wouldn't think anything of it.

"She did, I think. She thinks of you as a younger brother, you know," Remus said to him. Man old enough to be his father. The same age as Severus. Severus who doubtless had to spend more hours with that madman after leaving the castle with the other Death Eaters. With Theo. No, he couldn't think of Theo, the man had made his own decisions. But hadn't Severus done terrible things before turning. Unless he had never turned, but he couldn't think that either. Severus Snape had always been good to Draco.

"I know, and I appreciate it," Draco said. He wished that Dora had been around more that summer. It was good of her to go get Ginny, since Ginny was part of their little family now too, since Draco was. And now Remus was. After they had been dating for a month. War did crazy things to people. But Dora was past decided at this point, and Remus was a good man. Once he was committed, he was honorable. He would be a good husband. A good father if it came to that. "You'll treat her well," Draco said, raising her glass and drinking. It could be interpreted as a compliment or a threat, which made it best.

"She certainly wouldn't allow me to act otherwise," the man grinned sheepishly. Were werewolves pack minded in their human state, or was that just myth? Draco needed to find resources on the subject. The man had had a close group of friends in high school that resembled a pack in some ways, and from what Ginny knew second or third hand, Potter and Black had been the leaders. And Lupin- Remus- didn't appear to be an alpha male. Draco really didn't know much about regular wolves either.

Ginny came through the floo first and hugged Draco tightly.

"Missed you," she murmured in his ear.

"Missed you too," Draco answered.

Dora came after, stumbling over her own feet.

"Where's the robe you've totally cheated on your allotted time to make, Mum?" Dora asked.

"They could be so much better, but you'll look presentable," Andromeda sniffed.

"Love you, Mum. They're perfect," Dora praised. "Magic them on?" she asked.

"Magic them on. Like you're a little girl again," Andromeda mumbled, but complied.

Dora was stunning. Pink hair, but long for the moment. Dora did that when she wanted to look especially feminine. Draco preferred the short spikes, but it was her wedding day, so whatever she wanted.

"Ready?" Dora asked, grabbing her parents' hands. "Take Remus's hands," Dora nodded and Draco and Ginny. Remus's hands were large, warm, and slightly sweaty.

They arrived directly inside the large room, which upon quick examination seemed to be its own building with large windows surrounded by trees. An older man met them. Draco pushed back any thinking that the man reminded him of Dumbledore. Every old, white-haired man wasn't anything like Dumbledore, and the resemblance stopped there anyway. The man wasn't nearly as old, tall, or with as long of hair or beard. But the eyes were like Dumbledore's happiest days. And now, the man was dead.

Draco had been to three stuffy pureblood weddings, one that he was too young to remember, and the others had been dreadfully boring with a lot of talking about their genealogies, how they met, how they would continue the line, and a flash of magic at the end, one dull, one bright, and everyone reacted exactly the same to each.

There weren't many pureblood weddings to go to.

This one wasn't like that.

The 'minister' read from a religious text that Draco doubted anyone present believed in except perhaps the man himself. But Draco could see believing in it. And sometimes it seemed like someone more powerful than Tom or Dumbledore was shaping their lives. Someone who led the lives of five generations of Weasleys and Malfoys until he and Ginny. Sometimes he felt that.

Dora was so overwhelmingly happy, and more beautiful than ever. Draco had heard that every bride was beautiful on her wedding day, but Dora was radiant. And she made Remus Lupin shine as well.

Draco and Uncle Ted stood on Remus's side, Andromeda and Ginny on Dora's, for traditional balance, though Draco wished he had Ginny beside him.

It was over quickly, no magical burst of light, though Draco thought theirs would have been bright.

They sealed the bond with a kiss, passionate rather than perfunctory. Draco's eyes strayed easily over to Ginny, who smiled back at him.

The newly married couple departed with hugs all around.

"Seems like a celebration is in order?" Ted prompted. "Even without the bride and groom."

"Oh, she never would be traditional, but staying for a little… impromptu reception wouldn't have hurt," Aunt Andromeda sniffed.

"As if we invited any of our parents when we eloped," Ted got in.

"Yes, well, we all want more for our children," Andromeda said.

Uncle Ted made a lovely cake, and the man told them many stories of Dora's childhood, then of their own dating and early years of marriage, and Andromeda threw in a few that she knew of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. She was smiling through them, even if tears never looked far away.

Without Dora around to make Ginny go back, she stayed for hours, until Uncle Ted and Aunt Andromeda both started making very unsubtle glances at watches and clocks.

He and Ginny hadn't been doing any more than holding hands, sitting with a few inches of space between them on the couch.

"I'll see you soon. I've never attended two weddings in one summer before," Ginny smiled. "Never been in a wedding before either, and soon that will be two as well."

"And your own next summer?" Aunt Andromeda pressed.

"Yeah," Ginny agreed easily, looking at Draco. Draco wondered what their wedding would be like. Not like the ones he had been to before, he thought. Perhaps a bit like Dora's. Probably very like Bill's, which would be soon enough.

"Love you," Draco said, hugging Ginny. "I'll see you soon."

*****Draco*****

Draco had stayed back when Andromeda and Ted went to the door, and opened it quickly. And in walked Potter himself and Arthur Weasley.

"Fred Weasley," the- Potter who wasn't Potter- introduced himself, hand out to Uncle Ted. "Polyjuice was part of the plan," he explained.

He still looked like Potter, until just when Ted released the younger man's hand. The boy grimaced and spasmed uncomfortably. Face pained. Growing at least half a foot in twenty seconds would be uncomfortable. And it was good that the muggle clothes he wore had been baggy to begin with, because he didn't burst out of anything- except that his navel was unfortunately showing. "We'd use it in pranks if it wasn't so damned awful," he said. "We're working on it." He wasn't quite smiling, but he'd been through an ordeal. Being Potter for an hour, and any additional strain.

Fred and George Weasley were working on modifying an incredibly complex potion with confidence. Of course they were.

The red haired twin shook Andromeda's hand next, and nodded at Draco.

Arthur Weasley stood, checking his son over before smiling at the Tonkses. And maybe Draco too.

"Ted. Andromeda. Draco," Arthur Weasley greeted, looking exhausted and old. "Probably need to grab our portkey about now," he said.

"About five minutes. Might as well get ready," Uncle Ted said, leading the party into another room.

"Is- everyone okay?" Draco found himself asking. Dora was one of those fools. And Ginny would be hurt if anything happened to any of her family, and that included Potter- and Granger was probably among them too.

"Mundungus apparated away," Fred Weasley scowled. "Left Moody vulnerable. He didn't make it," the young man said, eyes shut tightly.

The Weasleys held a small, silver-backed hair brush. Draco hadn't seen it in the house before. Not valuable, maybe a thing from Dora's childhood that she'd never cared for. Maybe something given to them by an Order member a week ago.

"Nymphadora will be… I'm glad she has Remus, but I hope she comes home," Aunt Andromeda whispered. Draco had heard that the old man had taught aurors. Draco hadn't really known the man, just an imposter whom he had hated. "Check in on her, Arthur?" Andromeda whispered. "I hope she comes home," Andromeda repeated. Dora hadn't been there much that summer, even less so after getting married.

"I will. She's with Ron right now. Hopefully they and Remus and George are all together and we'll see them all."

"And Ginny's there waiting. Anything you want to say to Ginny?" Fred Weasley offered.

Draco's first thought was to scowl and brush off the nosy request. But something about a death of someone- he didn't even know- but other people cared about a lot- made him want to not miss the opportunity.

"Tell her I wish we were together," Draco said, not making eye contact, but catching an uncomfortable look from Ginny's father.

"Yeah, okay, for Ginny," Fred agreed. "Just to stay in the running for second favourite brother."

"Give our love to Dora," Ted said, and they were gone. Identical uncomfortable expressions as they vanished. Draco hadn't taken a portkey before, always side-along apparition.

Draco looked over and saw Ted and Andromeda holding each other, and felt out of place, until Uncle Ted held out his arm. Draco stiffly joined the hug.

"I didn't know the man," he murmured. "Only saw him once, for real, at the Leaving Feast. I hated the man who impersonated him for a year though," Draco confessed. Ted rubbed his back, like it was a perfectly normal thing when Draco was a grown man. "I was- well, I was in a fight and wasn't really fighting fair, so I- can't really play victim, but he transfigured me- into a ferret, and I have never felt so scared- even when- I should have been. But I was so small and helpless, and he- bounced me up and down, and the other students never let me forget it. And I can't stop thinking about it now, even though it wasn't him," Draco stammered. He was turning into a Hufflepuff. It was Ted's fault. Uncle Ted and his strong, comforting hugs. Like maybe how- like what Dora and Ginny grew up with.

"You can feel and think anything you want to," Ted said. Andromeda was a comforting presence at his side too, arm coming to wrap around him.

"I was going to jinx Harry Potter behind his back," Draco admitted. He couldn't even recall what the fight was over now. They'd had so many.

"And would you do that again now?" Ted asked. "If he didn't deserve it?" the man added. He was always on Draco's side, but not in a… not in an enabling way.

"No," Draco said, hoping it was true. It probably was. Definitely was. Hell, they'd spent most of a train ride in the same compartment without drawing wands, without even raised voices. And a defence practice in the same room without serious bodily harm. And plenty of classes together with no more than glares, sometimes not even that.

Draco was half-asleep when Dora appeared in his doorway. He hadn't closed his door that night so that maybe he'd hear if she came in.

"Hey," she whispered as Draco sat up.

Draco turned on the lamp by his bed. Muggle lamp.

Dora slid down the wall by the mostly closed door. She looked a bit wrecked. Brown hair, but that wasn't surprising.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Yeah," Dora said horsley.

"I'm glad you're home- your home, I mean," Draco said.

"Oh, stop it, it's your home too," Dora brushed off. "Okay that I brought Remus?" Dora checked.

"As long as he's good to you," Draco said.

"I think it was the scratch I got from Greyback that really made him give in- not the greatest foundation, I know," Dora confessed.

"A- bit strange, yeah," Draco agreed cautiously.

"He just spends so much time thinking about how he's a danger to other people, in his particular were-wolfy way, and then seeing that I wasn't safe from that anyway. Not that there's anything wrong with me. Maybe slightly more sensitive sense of smell and taste, but I'm only considering that positive. Just wish it had been Remus's scratch instead of his, but Remus would have never gone for that- and you don't want to hear about that, sorry," Dora said.

Yeah, he really didn't want to hear about that.

"You can say whatever you want," Draco said instead.

"They had- essentially the less experienced half of the volunteers Polyjuice to look like Harry- yeah?" Dora said after a moment.

Draco nodded. It fit with what he'd seen from the Weasleys at least.

"I was surprised when Mad-Eye told me beforehand not to volunteer for that, to have the younger lot do it. And Mundungus, who the old fool had bullied into it," she said. Draco had already heard how that went. "I still- think of myself as part of the younger lot- I thought I'd go with Remus, and I'd be the Harry- which should be silly, because I'm a fully trained auror but- it's hard not to think that it's just because I'm a metamorphmagus."

"I hear you did well when the Death Eaters were at Hogwarts," Draco said. Because he was searching for something to say that was entirely honest and evidence-based. Because he knew her as a cousin, not as an auror. "Maybe you got in because of your abilities, but they wouldn't have kept you if you weren't good," he said.

"Moody thought I was good," Dora whispered. "But Mad-Eye also made an error in judgment that got himself killed."

"One mistake doesn't mean he made many others," Draco said. Though the man had also been locked in his own trunk for about nine months.

"You'll look after them?" Dora asked.

"Who?" Draco asked back, not following.

"All of them. Mum, Dad, Ginny, even Remus? Of course, Remus will probably be in as many dangerous situations as I will. But you'll stay safe," Dora said with strange confidence.

"Last time there was fighting, no one wanted to kill me," Draco started. "But next time, maybe everyone will want to," he said. Almost everyone anyway. "I'll stay out of as much as I can, but you should too," he said.

"But you know I won't. You'll look after them?" Dora asked again.

"I'll try," Draco promised.

"I know," Dora said. "And if you can't do anything about it, it's not your fault," she said. "We all make our own choices. Like it's not my fault that Mad-Eye died. Like it's- not even my fault that Sirius… died. And I'm- going to have bubblegum pink hair tomorrow, just you wait and see," Dora promised.

"I'm not sure what I can do to help anyone," Draco said.

"You're a good listener," Dora said, staggering to her feet. "That can be enough. Goodnight."

A/N: Encourage me to keep writing? I'm out of stuff prewritten, and I'd intended to have this story written by now. I'm never left a Work-In-Progress not finished, and I don't intend to, but this one is being difficult.