As soon as possible was in this case a week later on New Year's Eve.

On Christmas Eve I had written to Hannah and Neville that I was now engaged and Queenie, Jacob and Min also got a letter.

Grandpa had been able to see straight away that we were hiding something, we were both grinning so much.

Apart from Neville and Min, everyone was completely thrilled with the news and Hannah had already agreed to plan the whole wedding.

We would grant her that wish, with only one slight variation. It would be our second wedding, because the first would be today and only he and I knew about that.

The something Draco had clutched at the lake had been a small box, with an engagement ring, I might have thought, but it wasn't.

Inside the box had been two rings, our wedding rings.

There was a simple reason why he had not given me an engagement ring. I already had one, my mom's.

I wore it continuously since my birthday and would not take it off even for my own engagement ring.

I needed it to keep her memory alive and Draco respected that decision.

And that was exactly why there had been two rings in the little velvet box, very plain in matt silver. My ring was narrower than Draco's but otherwise they were identical.


Again and again that day, I ran my hand over the spot on my right ring finger where my wedding ring would be in less than two hours.

It was completely surreal but I was looking forward to it immensely.

Draco was just taking a shower, which I had already done.

I was now standing in my room in front of the mirror, looking at myself closely.

My hair fell in curls down my back and I had tucked a few strands behind my ears.

I was still wearing nothing except some pretty underwear I had bought especially for today. In white, of course. It was nothing ostentatious but surprisingly pretty and I felt comfortable.

I would marry Draco and if he wanted me to, we would sleep together today. By then he would be my husband but even if not, I was more than ready for that.

I fetched the dark green dress from the ball at Hogwarts from my wardrobe and put it on.

New underwear had been enough of an expense, the wedding dress would have to wait until the second wedding.

The dress from the ball seemed perfect, I loved it and I had worn it when Draco and I had confessed our feelings.

Although I loved the colour I changed it to white, which made the stars less noticeable but I knew they were there after all.

I also made the shoes white to match.

Again I looked at myself in the mirror and stroked the velvety fabric of the dress.

"You look gorgeous," came from Draco behind me, who had probably just come through the door.

He came up to me, already in his shirt and trousers but no tie, wrapped his arms around my stomach and spread kisses down my neck. I giggled because it tickled.

"You have to let me go already, I still have to put on my make-up," I complained, which only earned me a disgruntled grumble.

"You don't."

"I want to. And you still have to tie a tie. And you really must, because you'll kill me afterwards if you married me without a tie," I laughed, freeing myself from his grasp.

"Touché," he laughed and set about knotting his tie.

After applying a little eye shadow and mascara, I declared the make-up project finished.

Draco was now also fully dressed.

He wore a light grey suit, with a white shirt and white tie. He wore his hair unstyled, as he always did these days, which suited him incredibly well.


We heard Grandpa and Pierre talking to each other down in the basement as we stepped out of the room, which made our chances of getting caught very slim.

I wrapped a thick winter cloak around myself and then we disappeared from the house.

Of course we couldn't ask Grandpa to lift the apparition lock, so Draco had deposited his broom close to the house, which we now used to fly to the nearest possible point from which we could apparate.

I still hated apparating, but when Draco did it, it wasn't quite so bad.

We landed in the small park of the village, which was very close to my grandparents' house, in whose park there was also a small pavilion.

In summer, weddings were often celebrated in this pavilion and we had been able to persuade the wizard who married us to marry us there despite the freezing temperatures.

He had looked at us in amazement when we stood in front of his door on December 27 and asked for the next possible date and even more when we asked him to do it outside.

He had told us we were completely crazy but agreed for a little extra commission.

Nice as he was, he had put a warming spell over the pavillion so that I could take off the cloak without freezing. The pavilion was still decorated for Christmas and there were fir branches and Christmas baubles everywhere.

It was wonderful.

"Nervous?" asked Draco as we waited and he noticed me playing with my empty finger again.

"Totally. Aren't you?"

"Hugely," he laughed, showing me his shaking hand.

"Still we can go," I suggested but he just shook his head.

"No way Scamander, I'm not chickening out."


Less than two minutes later, the wedding speaker was ready and Draco and I stood facing each other, looking deep into each other's eyes.

The speaker was rambling something about the magical covenant of marriage, which he read out of some dusty tome. It was probably cruelly old-fashioned and should have arrived in the present century, but I wasn't really listening anyway.

I only had eyes for Draco, whose eyes shone with his smile and the bet.

"And now the marriage vows," the speaker said. That was the moment to wake up from the rigidity.

It had taken some convincing but eventually I had convinced Draco to let me recite my vows first.

Once he had said his, anything I said would seem unimaginative, simply because he was so good with words.

"Draco," I began in a trembling voice.

I had a few things worked out, had it written down but I would be able to say it from memory.

"When we met I never thought I would be standing here with you today.

I didn't even think I could ever feel anything but hate for you.

But you also made it so damn easy for me to hate you. But you make it even easier for me to love you.

You are loving and caring, always putting me first even though I never want you to.

You keep quiet when I need someone to listen and you bring me down to earth when my mind goes crazy again.

You make me laugh when I really want to cry and you tickle me when I insult breakfast.

You know me inside out and it's sometimes scary how much better you know me than I do.

You are my lifesaver, my shoulder to cry on and the one who pushes me to rise above.

I am braver and more vulnerable at the same time thanks to you.

You love everything about me, even the parts of me I hate the most, and I admire you for fighting so hard to be the person you've always wanted to be.

I love you endlessly Draco and I can't wait to wear this ring on my finger."

How I had managed to say all that without crying remained a mystery to me.

Instead, it was Draco whose eyes were glistening with tears.

Unlike me, Draco didn't take out a piece of paper but began to speak completely freely.

"I had so much planned out what I wanted to say. I had a long piece of parchment with which we would certainly have stood here for another hour until I had said everything.

But nothing on this note is something I won't say to you every day of our lives anyway.

And you're right, I can't wait to finally wear this ring either, so I'll make it quick.

Harper, Daisy, Florentine, Flo, Scamander.

I've probably called you every name I can think of.

But there will be added one more today, and it's already my favourite.

My wife.

I love you.

And because I know exactly how afraid you are of being left, I give you today, besides the promise to be the best husband I can be, also the promise to stay with you for an eternity longer with every 'I love you'".

I barely heard the wizard say, "You may kiss each other now," when Draco lips were already on mine.

Soft, warm, and a little salty from my tears.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, all that mattered was us and this moment.

This moment belonged only to us and the thunderstorm that awaited us in the new year as soon as Hannah discovered the wedding rings was beside the point.

From this moment on, I would never be alone again.

There was no more me or him, there was only a we.

Florentine and Draco Scamander.