Author's Notes: I know it's been an age... I had a major work thing for the paying job, but it's mostly done. I'll try to get the next part up shortly, maybe another week or so.

Thank you Arnel for beta'ing! Please consider following me on faceboo k. I almost never post, so it's great lol
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

They'd set Hermione to trying to decipher the prophecy, but honestly no one was giving it any thought because Al was marrying Nat today.

He knew he wasn't going to worry about it for at least a week or two. They weren't going to solve it, anyway, without a miracle.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked as he knocked at the door of the guest room in Scorpius and Lily's house where Al and Scorpius were getting ready. He'd seriously considered who he wanted to stand up with him, because at this point he felt like he had a lot of people who could, but in the end it was Scorpius. He'd not been able to do the same for his brother-in-law when he'd married Lily. It had been a rush job, but he wanted that now for both of them.

"Ready," Al agreed with a grin for his father. He was so ready to marry Nat, although what Scorpius, James, and Andrew had told him the night before as they'd hung out for a sort of stag party had him a little concerned.

All of them agreed that once the bond was formed, he was going to want to get Nat alone and naked. Fast.

He already wanted to get her alone and naked and he didn't think he'd be able to take it if that feeling was magnified. He definitely didn't want to hurt her. He'd confided in his dad later that night because he'd remembered his mum had been sick with her pregnancy with Hope and his dad had assured him that while, yes, it was there, it wasn't going to turn him into a raging hippogriff.

Today he was going to focus on Leah and how much he loved her and that everything he did was going to have an effect on her so he'd better have it all together.

But no pressure.

"Let's go," Harry told him with a huge grin as he clapped him on the shoulder. "She looks beautiful."

Al knew that Nat didn't like how she looked, but by the end of the night he was going to convince her that she was everything he wanted and no one else compared.

He walked down to the living room where most of his family sat and waited and moved to the front of the makeshift aisle before turning to wait with Scorpius next to him. His stomach was in knots so tight that he didn't know how he managed to pull in one breath after the other. He knew he was holding on for that moment… he just wanted to see her.

Thankfully he didn't have to wait long. He saw the dress first and it was white with a lot of beading around the long skirt and square cut neckline and thin straps. His gaze swept up as he waited for her dad to walk her down the steps and then he saw her face. Her hair was pulled back with some sort of beaded something that was sparkling and her face… her eyes.

Everything.

He was never, ever going to forget this moment… that moment the knots untied inside him and everything fell perfectly into place.

It felt like it took forever for her father, Curtis, to walk her over to him, but at the same time it also felt like it was exactly perfect, exactly right. Nat looked up at him as she stepped closer and took his hands and hers trembled just as his did, so he gripped them tighter, holding on as everything swirled around inside him. The little man who performed the weddings spoke words and Al heard them, tried to take them in as he promised his life to Natalie Leah Curtis, who would now be Nat Potter, but his ears had a pleasant buzz and when the vows were sealed and they were bound, he leaned in to kiss and he felt it… he felt exactly what his best mates and his brothers had told him.

But he also felt this exquisite ache straight down to his toes that was his love for the woman before him and he wasn't afraid any longer of rushing her or hurting her. He was going to be exactly what she needed. He could feel in the core of his soul exactly what it was he needed to do for her. He'd always been that for her and he was going to be that for her now.

"You are the most beautiful woman in the world," Al whispered against her mouth before kissing her again, raising his hands up to her cheek to gently cradle her face, barely hearing as his family and her parents cheered around them.

She almost shook her head, an instinctual denial, but she held back. She didn't believe yet and maybe it would take time, but she'd believe because it was what he believed and he never lied to her. Al just had to help her see herself through his eyes.

He leaned his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. "Let's go eat something, dance, and then get out of here."

She laughed a little and nodded. "Yeah, alright."

They didn't have cake, since it wasn't something she could eat anymore, but he didn't mind and neither did she. They had each other and he had to stop himself from kissing her nonstop.

"Uncle Al…" Emma cried out as she twirled in a circle around him so that her dress billowed out around her.

"Hm?" Al asked, not really looking down to where the little girl was dancing. He only had eyes for his new wife.

His wife.

It was the thing he'd been longing for since he was… he didn't know how long. Maybe fifteen? Maybe sooner? It had been a long, long time coming and now they were finally here.

"Here!"

He finally looked down and realized he must have been ignoring whatever Emma wanted to say to him, because she'd grabbed his pants and pulled him to a stop, thrusting up one of the fake roses she'd been playing with.

"You have to give the bride a flower!" she insisted.

"Okay, squirt," he agreed, taking the flower to make her happy. She promptly forgot them and ran to where Claire was dancing so they could spin together.

He turned back to Nat and simply looked at her, marveling at her. "Can we leave now?"

Her cheeks flushed to nearly as red as the fake rose he held, but at her single nod he knew he wasn't going to be able to extract them as quickly as he wanted, so he took a deep breath and started the ritual of making their escape.

They'd looked at a few houses over the last week, but they hadn't yet settled on where they wanted to move, so like everyone before them, they were going to the beach house and he couldn't say he was sorry. Some of his favorite memories were of the two of them on the beach and in that house.

But he hoped they'd have their own place soon, a place they could build on together.

He took her hand and headed towards his grandmother, who studied him for a moment before pointing towards the fire. "Go on, then," she said, causing a few people around her to laugh.

Al did not hesitate, but yelled a quick goodbye to everyone before taking Nat over to the fireplace. "I'll be there to catch you," he said as he took a pinch of Floo powder.

"Alright," she said as he went through and sure enough, when she came through a few seconds later, she fell right into his arms, but that was absolutely perfect because it was where he wanted her anyway.

Al lowered his mouth to hers and scooped her up, heading towards the bedroom they would be sharing until they had their own place. He gently lowered her to the bed and propped himself above her, studying her. "You're so beautiful," he told her again, pressing his mouth to hers before she could protest.

"The spell," she said, reminding him that they needed to use the birth control charm, which they'd been granted permission to use by the Ministry. Nat's health was not good enough to take the potion and she'd thrown it up, violently, when she'd tried it. It was a miracle she hadn't been injured more from it.

Al pulled out his wand and performed the spell, which he'd practiced just the day before, before tossing his wand onto a bedside table. He studied her as she studied him and he grinned, "We're married."

"We are," she agreed as she bit as her lip. Every single time she'd ever done that it had driven him just the littlest bit mad, so he acted on impulse and bent his head, nibbling there himself. "Al…" she whispered breathlessly.

"I know," he breathed out as he tried to keep his focus on her. "Slow and steady, alright? We have all night."

She nodded and he went in to kiss her again.

They took their time and it was a challenge for him to hold back, but she was so small, so delicate that he kept the pace easy and light and when the first time was over, she cried but he knew it wasn't pain.

"I just feel so much," she told him as he held onto her, stroking the soft, soft skin on her back. "I'm o-overwhelmed in a good way."

And maybe a tear or two stung in his own eyes. He'd wanted this moment for so long, and it was finally here…

And it was more than he could have ever imagined.

~*~

"James?"

James tried, very hard, not to roll his eyes and hit the gray lockers as the voice behind him registered. He was the last into the locker room because his boss, Marvin Stanton, had needed to speak to him after the practice, and this was the reason he'd tried very hard to not be in here alone.

Heather wouldn't leave him alone. Oh, she hadn't done or said anything overtly in the last few months, not since he'd complained to the coach about her near harassment of him, but he still didn't want to temp anything getting out.

He wasn't going to risk getting a shower. He'd just go straight home to his wife and his sons and try very hard not to wish ill on the woman behind him.

It was nearly a week since his brother's wedding and they were in the runup to the World Cup still. It had been difficult taking the time off to watch Al get married, but it had been important to be there for his brother and for Nat. So he'd done it, but now he had to focus. He was playing for England and the World Cup.

Sadly, Heather was an alternate for England, so he hadn't been able to rid himself of her for the rest of the season.

They weren't going to make it to the World Cup. England was good this year, but there was no beating the Aussies this season. Their team was on fire, and he was pretty sure that while they'd beat Colombia's team in a few days, he didn't like their chances against South Africa, which was their next match up assuming South Africa tromped on the Americans, which was extremely likely given the fact that their star Keeper was out for the rest of the season.

"I'm going home," he said by way of an answer as he slammed the locker door, clenching his hand around the towel he'd been about to use, and turned, ready to tell her off, only to find she had her wand trained on him. "What the—"

It was quite possibly the stupidest thing he'd ever done, but James chucked the towel at her face and it caught on her wand before flying over her head. His instincts, born of dodging Bludgers professionally for years now, kicked in almost instantly and he rushed her, grabbing her arm as an unknown spell flew past his face and they crashed to the floor. She was strong, though, and fought him, kicking out while James yelled out, hoping someone would hear them and come running.

"What is this?!"

James heard the Marvin's voice above him just as he grabbed the wand free from her hand and slammed into her stomach. "She tried to attack me!"

Other blokes from the team came in and for a moment James thought they'd come after him, but in seconds they had Heather restrained in ropes, sitting on the floor with her back against the lockers.

"Go wait in my office," his boss told him firmly. "I've sent for the MLE and they'll want to question you, but you don't need to wait here."

James was not entirely shocked that his Aunt Hermione showed up in the office thirty minutes later, as she was the head of the MLE, but he was surprised to see his dad with her. "What's happened?"

"She's dead," Aunt Hermione said quietly. "She had some kind of poison in a water bottle. When she asked for a drink, it killed her in seconds."

James could only stare at them. "What?"

"She had a note in her pocket from Crabbe," Harry told him. "A note for me."