Let Me Stumble Into Your Arms

Chapter 8

The wedding is hosted in Hogwarts - of course it is, where else? While Hari assures Draco that everything is fine, he feels a sense of unease wandering these corridors. An unwelcome spectre in a cemetery who's presence defiles the graves. He made so many mistakes here, it was such a dark time in his life. They approach the towering doors of the great hall. Draco feels Hari take his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

"Ready?" He chuckles. "I can't wait to see what the Maid of Honour created for us,"

"I bet her taste in decorating is abhorrent," Draco groans. Hari laughs and the doors swing open. The grandeur of the hall remains intact. The ceiling a torrent of rain and thunder clattering overhead. The teacher's table now adorns a white tablecloth and stitched bows across the front. Hermione bounds up to them.

"Do you like it?"

Hari knows he can answer with nothing other than "Of course! I love it!" And engage her in a hug that leaves Draco thrown to his lonely place at the sidelines.

"What about..." Hermione's gaze leaves the oblivious Hari's, her face falling when it lands on Draco. "///You? Do you like it?"

"I-" he stares at Hari, giving him a hopeful smile betraying the abject worry in his eyes. "I like it,"

I like it because no matter how it looks, it makes Hari happy and that's what matters.

"Who's officiating? How do magic weddings even work?" Hari asks, confused. He's never even attended a wedding in the Wizarding World, barely any as a Muggle. One of his aunt's cousins twice-removed weddings yes, but that was a microcosm of shitty people. Not to mention, the whole Muggle/ Wizard contrast.

But Hermione is a Muggleborn too. Hari trusts her to make this awesome.

He changes with Draco, in one of the old Gryffindor dorms. Not his old one, or perhaps it is and has just been renovated. Hari stares into the mirror, adjusting his shervani. "This feels... right," he smiles, embracing the absorbance of his culture. Something he never felt that he'd be able to do after it was suppressed for so long. His magic and his parents, two things overdue to be lived out.

Draco does a small twirl, taking Hari's hand softly. "I don't like the romance thing... I'm aro, of course I don't. But you... you make me happier than I ever thought I could be. I think we could be more than friends. Not romantic, but more than friends,"

"I mean, we are getting married," Hari chuckles. "I know you've rejected the idea of a QPR but-"

"I never rejected it! You never asked. Also, how do you know about Queer Platonic Relationships?"

"It's hard to be ace without seeing random aro stuff online too..." Hari reflects.

"I know today isn't for us, it's just a wedding for your firends but, can it be the start of us being more than friends too? Please?" he asks, a desperate twinkle in his eyes. "I haven't been ready for that bit I think I am. Andbeiung here with you, this day feels more specil than it ever could,"

I only wish my parents cared enough for it to mean something to them too.

^

White accents stitched into centuries-old chair at the head of the teachers' table don't reduce the room's grandeur in the slightest. Splitting the hall in half would've looked awful, so each table is mixed with a small one reserved at the back for anyone who shows up late, or just decides to wander in. Neither groom cares about the seating plan anyway, and everyone mills around staring at the wonders of the Great Hall.

While they wait for Hermione to start the ceremony, music and art reverberates through the hall, each guest's individual favourite.

"I felt so alone when I was here," Hari swirls wine around in his glass. "But turns out, I had a lot of firends,"

"I felt like the world was against me, but it didn't matter because I could force myself to the top," Draco laughs bitterly, drinking his butterbeer. "But I was in so much denial of who I really am. My father sucked,"

Two claps cut through everyone's conversations. Hermione stands on the front steps of the hall, overlooking the guests.

"The ceremony will now begin, will the grooms come to the front,"

The music changes to ordinary Muggle wedding tunes. Hari takes Draco's hand in his own, caressing the skin with his thumb as a comfort. They appear at the bottom of the stairs, staring into one another's eyes.

During the ceremony, Draco's eyes wander. It's difficult not to get distracted during a long, boring ceremony.

The slightest noise erupts form the main doors. Draco stares at them, anticipating the arrival of another random guest.

White hair with black streaks. An imperious form, tall and lithe and shining like moonlight even in the golden glow of the hall.

Narcissa Malfoy strides into the hall. Draco catches her eyes, she meets his. A timid smile towards him, eyes filled with tears. Draco quickly wipes his own away.

She's here, his mother is here! A flood of emtions makes him buckle against Hari, resting his head on Hari's shoulder.

Someone in his family loves him. he has onc person, and one person is enough when previously, you were unloved.

Hari notices her too, stroking Draco's hair just as the ceremony ends. He smiles, looking between Draco and Narcissa and thinking hr can forgove her of everything she's done just to keep her in Draco's life. Providing she does love him.

Hermione naively concludes the ceremony with "You may kiss,"

Hari and Draco just hold hands, walking back down the aisle to a shower of silver and gold ribbons.