Let Me Stumble Into Your Arms

Chapter 7

Hari sits against the headboard, finishing signing his wedding invitations with a silver pen, sweeping the 'i' of his name in cursive. Draco enters with a tray of morning breakfast: toast and butter and a treacle scone, the flavour Hari is obsessed with. He slides into bed beside Hari, wrapping an arm around the shorter's shoulders. "Have you decided on placement yet?" 

"Well Hermione will be my maid of honour... as for the other bridesmaids, Ginny and Luna," 

"Can Luna be my bridesmaid?" Draco asks, somewhat sheepishly. "You're not that close to her and I don't know anybody... her hair matches mine and would look with my aesthetic and-" 

"Draco," Hari chuckles, leaning in to rest his head against the protruding collarbone. "Of course Luna can be your bridesmaid! That will be beautiful! Actually, we canask her opinion on the decorating..." 

Draco smiles, enjoying Hari's enthusiasm. Seldom expressed so freely, a beautiful part of the man often suppressed by shame and anxiety. "That's a great idea. I assume your best man will be Ron?" 

"Well, it'd be a shame not to let the people who pushed us into this wedding be the most involved," Hari grins. 

"What are you thinking of?"

"I'm just saying, maybe if they want us to have this wedding so much they can help us plan it. Every aspect of it. Down to each," Hari's lips spread into a smirk with each word. "Excruciating. Detail," 

Draco sighs, a grin spreading on his face to match Hari's. "You should have totally been a Slytherin," 

Hari picks up the phone and calls Ron and Hermione down. He knows they've been having marriage troubles recently, perhaps that's why they've been so insistent on Hari and Draco getting married. The same way married couples have new babies to fix their issues. Therefore, both jump at the chance to assist in wedding prep, telling them they'll be right over. 

"We should get dressed," Hari sighs, staring down at his polar bear pyjamas would the kind of nostalgia as if he'd already removed them. 

"Do we have to?" Draco tugs down the sleeves of his silver and green pyjamas, over his hands, hiding behind them. 

"Ron and Hermione will bitch at us if we don't," he sits up with a groan, phantom pains becoming more frequent with age. "Also - and I hate to ask this - please try to stay adult?" 

Draco's smirk is so malicious, deceptive, it wouldn't look out of place on his father. "Oh trust me, I wouldn't miss out on this amusement," 

* 

"Hari! It's so nice to see you again!" Hermione wraps her arms around Hari's shoulders, relieved to see him again with the same intensity as she had when they'd evaded death from Voldemort. 

"You too," he looks at Ron, who's rather quiet and sulking behind her. "Um, hi Ron?" 

"Hi Hari," he smiles, the smile doesn't reach his eyes. 

He looks between them, feeling guilty for dragging them into this in the depths of their issues. "It's that bad, huh?" 

"We're seeing a therapist... we're trying," Hermione explains. "It's a personality conflict, apparently," 

That makes sense. Hari sighs. "Are you sure you'll be okay doing wedding planning today?" 

Immediately, she brightens up. "Oh yes, of course!" and almost drags Hari through his own house to the kitchen, where everything is laid out. 

"Okay, are we doing separate parties or one party for both of you?" Hermione asks. 

"Separate," Hari and Draco share an uncomfortable look: Draco isn't having a party, Hari is. "But that's Ron's thing, it's not a hen party," 

"O-Oh. Of course,"  she nods, stepping back to give Ron centre stage. 

"Any ideas?" Hari chuckles. 

"I can definitely get tickets to a Quidditch match - good seats too, since we're close to the Ministry," he grins, eager now. Enthusiastic to spend some time alone with his best friend who's unfairly drifted away. "And I could reserve the Leaky Cauldron for afterwards, invite everyone from Hogwarts! It'll be awesome!" 

"Yeah!" Hari matches Ron's anticipatory enthusiasm. He too is more than ready to branch his life out again. Realising Hermione is being left out, he sifts through the wedding binder to find something the maid of honour can do. "Hey, we can start making the origami statues today! The head of the table will be a lion and a snake, and then everyone else gets swans! Tacky I know, but I kinda like the elegance," 

"Perfect!" Hermione chuckles. "The two non-purebloods making origami decorations the Muggle way!" 

Hari tries to smile, it comes out more as a smirk, gong to the living room to produce the entire packet of unopened white paper. "Yeah, this'll be fun," 

Two hours later, Hermione is ready to eat her words. Hands shaking with pre-blisters after the incredibly monotonous task of constructing 120 origami swans. Are there even that many people coming to the wedding?! 

When she eventually falls asleep on the table, and Ron has spiralled himself into plans for the bachelor party scribbled on 5 different pages of a notebook, Hari decides they've suffered enough. 

"Okay!" he stands up and claps, rousing Hermione with a squeak. 

"I wasn't sleeping!" 

"It's getting late," Hari states, and it is. Night falls slowly on the horizon, Hari watching it through the window. Confined in the orange glow of the kitchen. "You guys should go home - or you can stay here if you like..." 

From his place on the counter, Draco shakes his head frantically. He has been big for too long to avoid being judged by the couple, having been desperate for the to leave for at least an hour. 

"Oh - yeah, you should go," he whisks to the coat rack and hands the coats to on and Hermione, each of whom are packing up. 

"We'll have a great time next weekend," Ron assures with a grin, hugging Hari close. Missing him so much, the stark transition from basically living together as teenagers to distant adults jarring him physically and mentally. 

"I know we will," Hari chuckles. "Bye bye,"

He waves at Ron and Hermione as they leave, the latter so sleepy she falls asleep against Ron's shoulder. Once the door closes he chuckles endearingly. "At least they're too tired to fight," 

Walking back into the kitchen, his smile twinkles up to his eyes when he finds Little Draco sitting at the table, rocking back and forth. Smiling up at his caregiver, thumb in his mouth and ready for bed.