Chapter 22

Draco sat on his cousin's bed as he watched her add layers of makeup onto her face. As he had predicted, the two weeks leading up to today, the day of Tonks' and Remus' wedding was one filled with heavy planning, arguments, and many tears. However this morning, everything was going as smooth as the latest firebolt.

His cousin had been getting ready for the last two hours, and at this point it simply astounded him. How was it possible that one person needed so much time in getting ready to walk down the aisle? As it stood, Remus already loved her, so why was it necessary to put in so much more effort? Honestly, he never would understand girls.

"Why don't you just use your morphing skills to get ready? You would save so much more time. You could just transform into whatever you wanted to look like," Draco said exasperatedly as he dramatically fell to a lying position on the bed.

"What fun would that be?" his cousin said with a smirk as she turned to look at him. Her makeup so far looked fairly neutral, and if he hadn't been in the room for the entire duration of her placing it on her face, he could have sworn that she was wearing only a little bit. "Besides, if you're so bored of sitting here, why don't you go help set up the decorations? You know what they say about more helping wands."

Draco sighed. "I don't want to. Every single day it's wedding this, decoration that. If I pretend to be helping you, then no one will make me do any more work."

Tonks laughed. "Yeah, cause you're doing so much to help me get ready. Don't worry though little cousin, I would rather not ask for your assistance. I may be clumsy, but the last thing I want is for you to break something, regardless of how graceful you claim to be."

Draco made an indistinguishable sound as he proceeded to hand her the veil. As she placed it on top of the bun of her currently blonde hair, Draco faked a sob.

"Oh Nymphadora, you look so beautiful. You've grown up into such a gorgeous young woman," Draco fake brawled as he dabbed at invisible tears.

Tonks threw her hairbrush at his head, and it hit him right on. As the brush fell to the floor, Draco rubbed the spot where he was sure a bruise would appear.

"That hurt," he complained as he checked his reflection in the mirror. His hair was groomed back with a minimal amount of hair gel. He was wearing a set of dark black formal dress robes that his aunt had procured for him. They were nowhere near as formal as the ones he had back at the Manor, but he couldn't very well go back there and get them, now could he?

"Then don't act like such a berk," she retorted while pushing him out of the way so she could use the mirror herself.

"Gah Tonks, stop hogging the mirror. Seriously, other people need to use it too," Draco grumbled as he could no longer stair at his appearance.

Nymphadora was about to say something that was most likely snarky in return, but she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Are you decent in there, Dora?" Andromeda's voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Yes, come on in Mum," Nymphadora responded as she stood from the chair she had been sitting on.

As the door opened, Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted made their way into the room. The pair gasped as they saw their daughter in front of them.

His aunt's eyes instantly began to water. "Oh Nymphadora," she cried out. "You look so beautiful, honey."

Uncle Ted nodded as his eyes brimmed with tears. "You've certainly grown into a lovely young woman," he said as he placed his arm around his wife.

Draco stifled a laugh as his uncle and aunt repeated an almost exact replica of the words he had teasingly said to his cousin a short while ago. Tonks threw him a brief dirty look that went amiss to his aunt and uncle.

She turned back to smile at her parents. "Thanks Mum, Dad," she said, with her voice breaking slightly.

Draco had to do a double take to notice that his strong cousin was near tears. Weddings were just far too emotional.

Nymphadora hugged both her parents as Draco rolled his eyes. His cousin pulled away slightly to extend her hug to him as well.

Draco looked at his elder cousin with shock. "You don't seriously expect me to hug you, do you?" It seemed like something far too cliché to join into.

"Oh just get over here, will you?" she said impatiently as she gave him a glare. "You're going to ruin the moment."

As Draco made his way over, he debated how to respond. But before he could say anything, Draco was pulled into the tight hug.

"Can't… Breath…" Draco choked out, as he felt the life get squeezed out of him. And with those words, the hug seemed to end.

Ted looked down at his watch and saw the time. "Dora, we better get downstairs. It's almost time for you to walk down the aisle. Draco, Remus has already made his way down, so you better go join him."

Draco nodded as climbed down the stairs. About a week ago, Remus had approached him and asked him to be his best man. Draco had been stunned, seeing that he barely knew the man. But after a few moments, he supposed it made a bit of sense. The wedding was extremely small; the only people attending were him, and his aunt and uncle. And his uncle would be a bit busy walking his only daughter down the aisle.

Draco supposed that Remus would have preferred for Sirius Black or even James Potter to be his best man, but they were both dead. And the closest thing he had to either of them was Harry Potter. But unfortunately for Remus, Harry was busy being locked up in his aunt and uncle's house. So there was really no one left for him to choose. So Draco had agreed to his request. After all, the man was about to become his cousin as well.

He sensed that Remus was relieved once Draco had agreed. Draco checked his pocked quickly to make sure that both the rings were still there. The last thing he wanted was to forget them both and then have the ceremony come to a halt. Okay maybe that was a bit dramatic. Worst come worst, they could simply summon the rings. But at the same time, it certainly would put a bit of a downer on things.

Draco stood at the end of the aisle as he admired all the work that had been placed into this small ceremony. While there were only two chairs for the 'guests' to sit in, no detail had been overlooked. At the end of the aisle, Kingsley and Remus were standing and talking under a floral arch made entirely of roses. Remus was wearing a slightly shabby set of robes and Kingsley was wearing a crimson set. Kingsley had agreed to marry off the couple, seeing that very few others would.

The family had agreed that it was best to ask an Order member, as it wouldn't be safe to let others know the location of the house. And while the house's secret keeper was Ted Tonks, you never knew who might be tortured for information.

Remus looked nervous as he responded to all of Kingsley's attempts at conversation when Draco had joined them.

The three of them turned around as his aunt made a sound to call their attention. And then, with a wave of her wand, the music began to play. He noticed Remus stare astounded as Tonks appeared at the far end of the aisle.

And while he had just seen her moments before, he could swear that she looked far prettier than before. Her robes were a brilliant and pure shade of white. She wore simple jewellery, and Draco seen that his aunt had given it to her. His mother had often told him that if he were a girl, then he would possess the jewellery that her mother had given her. It was the Black family tradition to pass down jewellery to daughters before their wedding. So even though Andromeda had been disinherited, Draco supposed that she still kept some of the less hateful values she had been taught.

Draco smiled at Tonks as he saw her face light up once she saw her future husband. He knew that the two of them would be very happy together.

As the wedding concluded, Draco found himself relaxing in a chair in the house. It had been a long day, and Draco was beyond tired. He closed his eyes and felt himself drifting off into a blissful sleep, however before he could get too wrapped up in the pleasure, his attention had been summoned.

"Draco?" a voice called out, bringing him back into the world of the living.

He looked up to see Remus standing beside the chair. "Do you mind if I sit for a moment?"

Draco gestured to the chair on the opposite side of a table. "Can I help you with something? I know that both you and Ton-Nymphadora must be eager to get on with your honeymoon."

Remus gave a nod as he looked at his new wife. She had a few tears in her eyes as she was hugging both her parents. She had changed into a set of casual robes and had her hair undone from its prior former state.

The couple weren't planning on going anywhere too formal; after all, the world was almost in utter chaos to enjoy a full honeymoon. But they still wished to get away for a few days to celebrate their new status. So Andromeda had suggested that they got to the Tonks' family summer home. She had told them that it was nothing much, but they would still have the privacy they desired. And it helped that the home was connected to the floo network, in case of emergencies.

"I wanted to talk to you about some Order business," Remus said as he took a seat.

In spite of everything, Draco was not an official Order member. He understood their hesitancy to allow him entry, and it didn't help that he was just barely of age. But he didn't mind that fact. He still was a Death Eater, regardless of the fact that he had become a turncoat. And the last thing he wanted was to accidently get caught and give up important secrets.

"What sort of business?" he asked is cousin-in-law curiously.

"As you know, at the end of the month, Harry turns 17. And as you probably have heard, his Aunt and Uncle aren't the most pleasant of people. But because Lily's love saved Harry, and that his aunt has the same blood as his mother, he is safe there. But once he turns 17, that protection ends, and Voldemort will be free to attack him. So either way, we need to get Harry and his extended family out of the house.

"But there is also another way to break the enchantment. If Harry can no longer call the place home before his birthday, the spell will come to an end. So instead of waiting until then, we have decided to get him out sooner. But as you know, both Floo and Apparation can be tracked down. So we need to get him out the fastest way other than those two options," Remus said, pausing as he allowed Draco to absorb in all the information he had been given.

"Flying," Draco concluded as he watched his former professor nod in confirmation. "And what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, if by some chance, Voldemort becomes aware of the day Harry is leaving, he will just kill everyone and then kill Harry. But if there were more than one Harry Potter, then he will have no choice but to split up his forces until he came to the conclusion as to who the real Harry was."

"Polyjuice potion?" Draco surmised. It was the only way you could duplicate a person and have it be a nearly flawless attempt. Of course you could magically enchant transfigured objects, but it would not be nearly as convincing as the potion.

"Right," Remus said grimly.

"He won't agree to that. If Potter, I mean if Harry is one thing, it's noble. If the choice was between his life and anyone else's, he would sacrifice himself first. He's such a Gryffindor in that sense," Draco warned.

"Yes, Hermione has already pointed that out to us, once we approached her with the plan," Remus said as he ran a hand through his aging hair.

"Hermione is going to be a part of this?" Draco demanded. "Couldn't you use anyone else?"

"We don't have a lot of man power. As it is, we need members to stay at the safe houses where a portkey will be. And on top of that, we need someone to fly with each Harry. That itself is about fourteen people."

Draco nodded mutely. He wanted to argue that Hermione should be kept safely in one of the houses, but he had already had that argument more than enough times to know what the outcome would be.

"And you want me to be one of the Potters?" he asked, straightforwardly. He assumed that it was where Remus was going with the conversation, and there was no point dancing around the subject.

"If you don't mind. We were going to use Fleur Delacour, but Bill is rather insistent that she doesn't go. While she may be a Triwizard tournament champion, her fiancé doesn't want anything to happen to her so close to their wedding day," Remus said.

Draco nodded, understanding Bill's predicament. It probably was worse for Bill, seeing how he and Fleur were at a far more advanced place in their relationship when compared to the nonexistent one between him and Hermione.

"And Draco, before you blindly agree, you need to be aware of all the facts. There will almost certainly be Death Eaters following your trail. And while that presents the threat of death, there is so much more to it than that. Remember, you are currently dead to the rest of the world. They don't all know exactly what happened, but as far as Voldemort is concerned, you made quite the valiant attempt before Snape got bored and finished off Dumbledore himself. We all trusted Snape; but we got rather lucky when he chose to leave you to die. And that probably satisfied Voldemort. But if the Death Eaters somehow find out that you're alive, then it could be dangerous to not only you, but both of your parents. You can be assured that if Voldemort somehow finds out that you're alive, he will torture your parents both in the cruelest, harshest ways possible," Remus warned him.

Draco let out a sharp breath. He wasn't exactly fond of his father, but that didn't mean that he wanted the man to suffer under Voldemort's wand. But at least his father was strong; he would be able to last quite a while before Voldemort managed to break him. His mother on the other hand, worried him quite a bit. She was a rather fragile woman, and she also thought he was dead; she probably was blaming herself for his untimely 'death' with each passing moment. Under Voldemort's wrath, she would crumble.

"And Draco, there is also a very, very good chance that your father or your aunt might be one of the Death Eaters trailing you. You would need to think very carefully about how you would react in that situation. They wouldn't know that it was you they were hexing, so you would have to fight them back."

Draco let all of this information settle in. It was definitely not a matter that could be taken lightly.

Draco took a deep breath before sharing his conclusion, "I'll do it. I've thought about all of this, but it doesn't matter. The number one concern is making sure Potter gets to safety, and if he dies before Voldemort, then we are definitely all screwed. So nothing else matters; not the fact that I may die for real, not that I may face my parents, and not that I will be exposed. So I really don't see any other solution. Besides, I said that I wanted to help bring Him down, and now that I can't act as a spy, I need to do my share of work. You can count me in for this," Draco concluded.

Remus gave him a grim smile, "I'm glad that we can count on you. And I know that you're not really and Order Member, so it's wonderful that you're so willing to join in. Besides, we wanted to induct you formally before the wedding."

Draco looked at him, confused, "I'm going to become and Order Member?" he asked. It shocked him just how welcomed he had been when he changed sides. One of his worst fears before turning to the Light was that he would still be thought of as scum, and forever associated as a Death Eater. And why would he want to have to endure that, even if helping a greater cause? But he had determined that it was more important to make sure Voldemort was brought to his demise so he wouldn't have to watch anyone else suffer from his wrath.

"You've done quite a lot for the Order, Draco. You helped over the fight at Hogwarts, and you gave us information about the attack on Diagon Alley. And on top of that, you're agreeing to help ensure Harry's safety, even though it jeopardizes you quite a bit. So yes, I think you deserve to be an Order member after that."

Draco was about to respond, but Tonks chose that moment to come over.

"Remus, are you ready to leave?" she asked, eyeing the conversation between the two.

Remus nodded as he stood up and straightened out his clothes. "Of course, shall we get going?" As Nymphadora turned to walk away, Remus looked over at Draco before saying, "Good luck with everything, I'll see you soon in a couple of days."

Draco shook his head in agreement, as he went to join his aunt and uncle to bid off his cousin and her newly wedded husband.

A/n: So this is a really late post, I know. But today is also my sister's birthday and I'm currently finishing this off after coming home from celebrating. So I'm sorry about the delay, but I hope it was worth the wait.

I know that the last few chapters may have seemed like fillers, but they were all building up for the 7 Potters scene. I wanted to write the wedding, as I probably won't write much about Bill and Fleur's, since JK did such an amazing job with it. And I know that the Dramione in this story has been building quite slowly. But don't worry, I haven't forgot about them, they will happen, I swear. And there will be several more moments that occur between the two of them.