Harry Potter and all characters, settings and situations in this story is © J. K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, and all others involved.
All chapter titles are taken from the Ministry of Magic pamphlet, Towards Tomorrow Together by Percy Weasley.
Song lyrics are from Fill Your Heart on David Bowie's Hunky Dory album. (Biff Rose/Paul Williams, 1971. EMI)
CHAPTER TWELVE: All Is Well.
… Happiness is happening
The dragons have been bled
Gentleness is everywhere
Fear's just in your Head …
As he and Draco marched over the crowded lawn, Charlie spotted his father walking with equal determination in a different direction. He watched Arthur until the older man turned his head towards them, then Charlie looked away.
Ron was sitting at one of the painted iron tables, talking to a slim, middle-aged woman with perfect teeth and brown bushy hair. She didn't look out of place. Charlie squeezed towards them.
"Hello Dr Granger," he said.
Ron looked up sharply and eyed Charlie warily saying, "Sally, I think you've met my brother Charlie."
"How lovely to see you again, come and sit with us," she stretched out a clean-looking, tanned arm and shook Charlie's hand. Nothing bad happened to him. Draco gaped. She seemed almost normal. Quite nice.
Ron looked awkward, but carried on gamely: "And this is his, erm …" he knew there was a Muggle word for it and that Sally would know it, but he couldn't remember it, "… this is Draco Malfoy."
Sally stood up and took a step forward to shake Draco's hand. Her hand was soft, warm and dry. Normal. He held it and shook it. Nothing bad happened. He suspected his mother might have lied to him.
"Pleased to meet you, Draco. You're Charlie's partner?" Dr Granger sat down again, and indicated to Draco that he should sit next to her. Nodding, he did. She continued, "I think there was a Draco in Hermione's year at school."
"That was me," he answered cautiously, not knowing exactly what Hermione might have told her parents.
"I think I remember a bit of a rivalry, do I? Hermione liked to come top in every subject and I think you were a bit too clever for comfort."
Draco couldn't help but be pleased with that.
"Swot!" Charlie teased gently, taking the chair beside his.
"We've been here a few times recently and met a lot of Weasleys. I'm surprised we haven't met before, Draco," Sally said.
Charlie and Draco exchanged a look, but Ron hastily answered, "They live in Romania."
Sally gave Ron a suspicious look, "Not because they're gay, then?" She turned to face Charlie, "Why Romania?" she asked.
"It's where the dragons are," he explained.
Hermione appeared, looking anxious, just in time to see her mother's shocked reaction.
"Dragons?" Sally asked. "That sounds a bit dangerous!"
In an attempt to bridge the gap between Muggle and Magical, Hermione hastily intervened: "Draco's a pharmacist, Mum. Or the Wizarding equivalent."
Sally was clearly more comfortable with that. Draco wasn't.
Something crashed onto one of the nearby tables. Crockery and flowers flew off it. Everyone looked round, to see gold skirts sweeping everything aside and at the centre of the chaos, George and Luna, their faces pressed tightly together, hands clutching and clawing each other.
Without fuss, Molly Weasley raised her wand; white and gold fabric appeared, fluttering around the oblivious couple, resolving into the shape of a sturdy, soundproofed tent. As it swept closed, Charlie had a glimpse of his father, seated at a table beyond. He had been watching Charlie, but when his son spotted him, Arthur hastily turned to face the man sitting next to him.
"Nice to see George happy," Hermione said weakly.
Her mother leaned in to Charlie and Draco and said conspiratorially, "You're the first same-sex wizarding couple I've met. The Magical Community does seem to be a bit old-fashioned."
"Not now, Mum!" Hermione said with exasperation. "Everywhere seems a bit old-fashioned compared to Brighton!"
"That's where we live," Sally told them, "well, Hove, actually. You must come and visit. You'd love it. I think Ron gets a bit uncomfortable sometimes because it's all so open."
Ron muttered to himself something that could have been, "The sights you see when you can't use your wand." Hermione nudged him sharply. He smiled at his girlfriend's mother and said, "Oh no, all for toleration, me."
"You'll have to come and stay with us!" Sally said excitedly. "Come and meet Alan, my husband. He'll love you!" She jumped up and led the way. Charlie was trying to gauge Draco's reaction. Was there any way he could be persuaded to stay in a Muggle home?
Alan Granger turned out to be the man in earnest conversation with Arthur. As they approached, Mr Weasley walked away.
…Just remember
Lovers never lose
'Cause they are Free of thoughts unpure
And of thoughts unkind
Gentleness clears the soul
Love cleans the mind …
"Here you are! The photographer wants us to cut the cake now," Famous Brave Harry Potter told his Beautiful New Wife. 'Here' was the pantry floor. Ginny was sulking and swigging champagne.
"I hate my brothers!" she said.
"I know," Harry placated, gently prizing the magnum from her grip. "Today, so do I." He drank deeply and gave the bottle back to her. He climbed through the white drifts of net and lace to sit next to her. She pulled the door closed again and it went quite dark, the only light coming from a tiny window near the ceiling. He put his arm round her cold, bare shoulders.
"The only thing in the papers tomorrow will be Percy saving Charlie from certain death," Ginny grumbled.
"The gossip column might just cover George having it off on a table!" Harry said with equal bitterness.
"Can't begrudge him a bit of happiness, I suppose" Ginny conceded.
Harry put his mouth right up to her ear to whisper, "I won't tell anyone."
Ginny giggled. "He's been miserable for two years. It didn't have to be today he stopped," she admitted, guiltily. They chuckled conspiratorially.
"At least there weren't any journalists around for Ron and Charlie's punch-up," Harry said grimly.
"They didn't! Today's supposed to be all about me!" Ginny whined.
Harry gave her a quizzical look.
She continued, pouting, "My big day, my turn in the spotlight!"
"Not 'us'?" Harry prompted.
"Yes, 'us'. But mostly 'me'. The way everyone's going on about them, you'd think it was Charlie and Malfoy's wedding!" She ticked off the list on her fingers: "George shagging, Ron fighting, Percy's heroics, Charlie's bloody boyfriend!"
"Which only leaves Bill, and it was him who talked us into inviting The Most Talked-About Couple." Harry tipped his head right back, but the magnum was empty.
"And his wife is prettier than me even in a hideous gold dress in late pregnancy!"
Harry kissed Ginny's cheek before answering, "Not to me."
"We might as well not be here," Ginny growled.
"Except the photographer wants us to cut the cake now."
Fill your heart with love today
Don't play the game of time
Things that happened in the past
Only happened in your Mind
Only in your Mind - Forget your mind
And you'll be Free …
Molly took Draco off to meet his Aunt Andromeda for the first time. She had little Teddy, his cousin's son, with her.
Charlie headed off to see Hagrid, but he was waylaid by a hand on his arm. It was his father. They looked at each other nervously.
Arthur spoke first, "Your mother told me to come and talk to you."
"Did she tell you what to say?" Charlie asked belligerently.
"No, she just told me I was a stubborn old fool. She said we'd already lost one son and it was up to me to make sure we didn't lose you, too." There was a pause. "And I know she's right. I was shocked. You never told us." Arthur looked accusing.
"Well, I knew how you'd react, didn't I?" Charlie reasoned.
"Not if you'd told us properly, instead of … I was embarrassed," his father admitted. "Those things Malfoy said you'd done to his son. Everyone was talking about it. I didn't want anyone thinking we approved."
"You still on his side?" Charlie asked.
"Oh, don't be like that! I've never been on Lucius Malfoy's side about anything. I kept expecting you to explain yourself. And then it was so long. It made it too difficult to ask you anything. I suppose Percy's right, is he? You're in love with the Malfoy boy?" Arthur asked grudgingly.
"He's not a boy, Dad!" Charlie burst out. "He's Ron's age! I'd better introduce you. He's not going away, you'll have to get used to it."
"Is that a wand in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" Charlie asked.
"You know perfectly well it's a wand! These Muggle trouser-things are too tight, I can't hide it properly," Draco snapped back. Charlie gave him a hug.
They were standing on a stony beach looking out towards the charred skeleton of Brighton's West Pier. It was February 2005. Charlie was thirty-two and Draco twenty-five.
The pier had seemed to burn down two years previously, when the Magical business community of East Sussex had decided to create an effective disguise for the largest gay wizard club in Britain. They were creative when it came to cashing in on the Pink Galleon. Charlie kept trying to convince George to extend his business in that direction. The building only appeared to those who approached it with a wand on their person. That was what Charlie and Draco would be doing later on, but now they were waiting to meet someone.
Sally Granger walked down the slope towards them, carrying steaming brown paper bags. They took them gratefully. Draco peered into the bag curiously.
"Cornish Pasties. From that lovely place on Gardener Street," Sally explained.
Charlie watched Draco tuck in. "Muggle food again, Draco? What would your mother say?"
"Nothing coherent since the stroke," Draco answered. "Thank Merlin Auntie Andromeda's taken her in. Once a week's as often as I can put up with her. How are you, Sally?"
Sally replied, "Up to my eyes trying to sort out Hermione and Ron's wedding. They're having the two ceremonies, you know, and the Muggle one's here. But Ron doesn't have a birth certificate or anything of course. Alan's had to go up to Knockturn Alley to see a useful little chap who can apparently sort one out for us."
"I love weddings," Draco mumbled through his meat and swede.
Sally twinkled at him, "Does that mean you two are planning one?"
Draco and Charlie looked at each other, puzzled.
"Erm. We're still both men," Draco explained slowly.
She waved a dismissive hand, "Civil partnership, whatever. Everyone calls it a marriage. You really ought to visit more often, then these things wouldn't be a surprise. The law got passed last year some time."
Sally started walking along the beach towards the Muggle pier. Charlie followed, feeling uncomfortable. He's going to ask me, isn't he? And what will I say? It's all very well, me spending all these years saying I would marry him if I could. I never thought I'd get called on to actually do it.
He watched Draco's beautiful blond head, bending down to chat to Hermione's Muggle mother. A wave swept up suddenly and soaked Sally's right shoe. Surreptitiously, Draco charmed it dry. And Charlie knew what his answer would be. In fact, he wasn't even going to wait to be asked.
He jogged up to the pair in front of him and snatched up Draco's hand. Draco stopped walking and turned to watch Charlie drop to one knee and ask, "Draco. Darling, dearest, most divine Draco. Will you marry me?"
Sally held her breath. The very waves seemed to stop moving until Draco's face split into a grin and he answered, "But of course!"
EPILOGUE: The Future Will Be Brilliant
"It has to have an astral connection," Luna said.
"What, like a zodiac thing?" Charlie asked.
Draco snorted, but Luna nodded solemnly, "A heavenly body or constellation. Like my name," she insisted.
"Very well, you're doing us a big favour and we agreed you could have a say in the name," Draco conceded. "But not Virgo or Uranus."
"Leo's a zodiac sign!" Charlie offered.
"No son of mine will be a Gryffindor lion!" Draco said firmly.
"He might be my son!" Charlie protested, "That's why we mixed the come before she put it in!"
"She might be a girl!" Luna pointed out. Then she started listing: "Jupiter, Pisces, Libra …" the two men shook their heads. She stroked her rounded belly meditatively. " … Mercury, Capricorn, Scorpio, Venus …"
"Scorpions are cool! They're like mini dragons!" Charlie enthused.
"Scorpius for a boy, Scorpia for a girl!" Draco offered.
The others agreed. Draco lowered his face over Luna's lap and whispered, "Hello Scorpius Weasley-Malfoy."
THE END