Chapter 166: 22
Chapter 22 - Wedding Bells
"What do you mean, I married them!?"
The Death Eater flinched away from his lord.
"They were handfasted by the curse you placed on Ms. Black."
The Dark Lord let out a wordless yell.
Breathing heavily, he demanded, "Where is Malfoy?"
"We can't find him, M'Lord."
"What do you mean, you can't find him?" his voice had gone dangerously low.
"The Sisters got to him, M'Lord."
Lord Voldemort was quiet for a long time.
And then the red eyed man smiled slowly, "Well, I suppose that is as good an invitation as any."
Narcissa had had nightmares in the past.
But this, this was beyond her, beyond her own fears, her own imagination, this was…
A streak of light cartwheeled by her in the dark.
The space around her was blackness illuminated by some unknown light source.
A low voice whispered in her ear, "Do you believe in the Morrigan?"
Narcissa spun, her feet weightless as she stepped on nothing. "Who's there?" she called into the dark.
Two more streaks of concentrated white-blue light winked into being before winking out.
A flicker.
And all that was left behind was the rippling dark blue.
At her other ear, someone else whispered in a reedy voice, "Merlin believed."
The first voice let out a peal of laughter, "But he was sane enough not to pursue it."
"Pursue what?" Narcissa asked the bodiless voices.
"The truth."
The second voice echoed, "The truth."
"The truth," a different voice cried.
"The truth, the truth, the truth, the truth!" voice after voice echoed and echoed into the vastness.
"The truth!" one screamed, again echoed by voices of a thousand flavours.
A thousand different sorrows.
Lights streaked the darkness, leaving behind sparkles like snowflakes caught in moonlight, and the voices turned to a roaring sound.
Waterfall spilling into the ocean.
A sound that was indistinguishable from a crashing beat, but it had meaning, it was the true name of a bigger whole, it was;
The Truth.
Narcissa came awake gasping.
Sitting up, she leaned against the wall, shivering from the night air against her damp skin.
Oddly, Harry had stayed asleep despite her abrupt motion.
He was a featherlight sleeper.
But sometimes, especially after sex, he slept like the blissfully dead. Tonight was one of those nights, and in his sleep, he curled into the spot she vacated, around her legs, framing her against the wall.
His apartment at Hogwarts was only slightly larger than the average twin bed. Neither of them had offered to enlarge it seeing as it gave them both an excuse to be closer.
And yes, they were married, and she or he could have just stated they wanted to cuddle.
But they were still learning about each other, and she found the care that Harry took with her, making sure she was comfortable in her soundings and with him utterly enduring. She had started babysitting Teddy when she wasn't working with Poppy, and Harry had made it clear that it was not his expectation that she do that.
But she also knew that if they were going to be a family and add to it that spending time was not only essential, but an honour. One she took great pride in.
If Harry was a charmer, then Teddy might very well rule the world one day because he had Narcissa's heart wrapped tight around his little finger.
He would have changed anything for her had she asked.
Well, anything that didn't violate the core of who he was or put Teddy in any sort of discomfort.
She ran a hand over his wild curls.
Merlin help her, she was completely head of heels for this man.
Merlin believed.
A shiver went down her spine.
She looked over the darkened room, illuminated by a small nightlight by the side of the bed, placed for Teddy's benefit incase he had a nightmare.
The dark caused by the night was different from her dream, it was almost like she had been underwater or in a cave in her dream.
She half wanted to wake Harry. But she was embarrassed. What was she going to tell him, she had a nightmare of dark blue where voices said the words 'the truth' on repeat.
But she was shaken and she was afraid.
The compulsion to check on Teddy pushed her to carefully climb over Harry.
He stirred, catching her hand as she turned to tuck the covers around him.
He mumbled something unintelligible without opening his eyes.
She kissed his temple, "Just getting some water, go back to sleep, love."
He murmured something before burying his face into her pillow, his breathing evening out as he fell back to sleep.
She smiled to herself as she crept out.
Teddy's door was ajar just like it always was, she went to the small lump in the bed.
The nightlight in this room was dimmer because Teddy's night vision was truly spectacular, but Narcissa could see by the moonlight provided by the window. A window Harry had warded within an inch of its existence.
Teddy was snoring lightly, his mouth parted and he drooled onto his pillow.
He was the cutest kid on the planet.
Narcissa was very certain he and Nym were going to bring down the school when they started at Hogwarts.
She pulled up the covers Teddy had kicked into a tangle, and just like his father, the little boy curled into warmth of the blankets, burying his face against his pillow.
His kitten Regina hopped onto the bed, curling herself at the back of Teddy's neck. Her purring was the loudest thing in the room.
She smiled, kissing his temple, and leaving the room as quietly as she entered.
Teddy had won her heart with his quiet trust and gentle curiosity.
And Narcissa wanted children, she wanted Teddy, she wanted this life that Harry had made.
When she returned to his bedroom he was blinking awake.
"Teddy?" he asked with a note of worry, she had been gone too long.
"He's sound asleep," she reassured him, going to him.
Harry held open the covers, and she climbed into his embrace, sighing in pleasure as he wrapped his arms around her.
She kissed his collarbone as he settled them.
"You alright?" he asked.
She hummed a note of pleasure, "Yes."
He kissed her, and they proceeded to get less sleep than they ought.
"Why am I this nervous?" Bella asked.
Narcissa laughed as she checked her own hair for the dozenth time.
"You are wearing white," Dromeda stated, "And you look lovely."
She did.
Bella had a penchant for drowning herself in black, letting her hair be wild, and accenting her large brown eyes with bold charcoal.
But today she looked like a queen.
Her sleek black hair braided up, revealing the long line of her neck.
Where she normally seemed so pale, her skin seemed like creme compared to the sharp white of the dress. Her makeup was much more conservative, even with the scarlet lipstick.
She looked… she looked beautiful. Regal. She lacked some of Andromeda's warmth, but Narcissa thought that there was something equally enticing about Bella's edge of wildness.
The dress was an empire waist with a skirt that fluttered and shaped as she walked. The arms were laced and the back exposed. The one difference from how Andromeda had worn the dress and Bella, is that Bella wasn't wearing the veil that Andromeda had used as gossamer train.
Bella wore no veil, though she kept the tiara that had held the veil. She would walk down that ail straight backed and commanding, her bouquet of red roses more of a threat than a direction.
Narcissa fidgeted with her bridesmaid's dress. The red looked stunning on Andromeda, but on her…
Narcissa's wedding colours would be baby blue, not this yule greeting card ad.
Harry waited at the best man's side. Ted was Kingsley's best man, and Harry was in the wedding party because his wife was one of Bella's bridesmaids.
Also, apparently Kingsley didn't have a lot of close friends outside of Ted and Andromeda. Something Harry found a bit odd since Kingsley was a very likeable guy.
Ted had told him most found Kingsley unnerving.
Harry thought that the most unnerving thing about Kingsley was him marrying Bella Black, but then Harry really couldn't throw stones.
Nymphadora was the first to walk down the aisle, her red dress matching her crimson hair so she looked like she was dressed as a rose as she threw out an endless supply of red petals.
Teddy was at her side in formal robes, and both held a basket and were throwing petals. He was supposed to be the ring bearer, and he was, the rings in a little bag on a necklace around his neck, but he had wanted to throw petals too.
His hair was also crimson.
Harry was distracted by this adorableness so that when he looked behind the two little ones, he was caught utterly blindsided.
He probably wore a gobsmacked expression because Narcissa Peverell in scarlet red was…
Harry had never thought of himself as a jealous man, but he suddenly found himself slightly enraged at everyone who saw Narcissa like this.
She was beyond beautiful, she was every fantasy of beauty brought into being, and when her blue eyes caught his gaze she seemed to sharpen.
Her cheeks flushed, but her gate became smoother, surer; seductive.
Merlin help him.
It was all he could do not to go to her and sweep her off her feet, disapparate away and forget that they had responsibilities.
Andromeda followed, and Harry saw, despite the sisters sometimes dramatic differences in hair and eye colour, the same grace and beauty shared between them.
And seeing Bella in white…
Harry suddenly longed for this, for what Kingsley had.
Harry didn't know if it would work out long term between himself and Narcissa.
There simply weren't any guarantees in life, and despite it happening fast, he wanted Narcissa to be truly his.
As the ceremony went on, Kingsley looking loving and proud, Bella nervous and hesitantly happy, Harry plotted a proposal, imagined the type of rings he might pick out.
He would have been fine with a smaller wedding than the Shacklebolt's, but he had a hunch Narcissa wanted something a bit grander.
And he was okay with that.
He looked over at Narcissa as she watched her sister almost hungrily.
Harry let himself dream of a future with her, a real one with more children and grandchildren in the far future.
Harry had spent so long surviving, just getting by, that he had never thought to ask for anything than what he had.
Naomi had been so afraid that despite them having everything, it had been a house built on sand.
Narcissa met his gaze, and her smile was a delightful mix between arrogant, happy, and hope-filled.
Hope.
It was a feeling to hold on to.
Cygnus was pleased with his daughters.
Narcissa and Bellatrix had made admirable marriages, and Andromeda had not fully turned her back on her family.
Of Cygnus's three son-in-laws, Ted was his least favourite, but despite his regrettable bloodline, he was a healer and their daughter, Nymphadora, was already a powerful young witch.
Useful respectability and power, Cygnus could respect, as could his brother and father.
His wife and sister-in-law, however…
"I can't believe they invited her."
Cygnus watched his nephews chat animatedly with Harry as Cissa spoke conspiratorially with Nymphadora and Teddy.
"Enough," Orion told his wife sharply, "Enough, Walburga, what is done is done. It's a wedding, why not have another drink."
Cygnus sipped from his wine glass, knowing from his brother's tone that what he was really saying, 'why don't you go find a bottle and go drown yourself.'
Their marriages had been arranged and miserable for all involved.
Cygnus was grateful that all his daughters had married for love.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Walburga asked, her voice grating, "'It's wedding'? As if that means anything, our marriage was a sordid affair, you got drunk and slept with my bridesmaid."
Cygnus sighed. His brother hadn't ever touched another woman other than his wife, not that she would ever believe him. No, Orion had spent his wedding night nursing his bride as she regurgitated the two bottles of champagne she had downed.
At least his own marriage had gone better than that, Cygnus and Druella had very little in common except when it came to carnality.
He had done his bride in the kitchen cooler room. They had rejoined the wedding party with a 'vitality.'
"Narcissa did best," Druella said snottily. "Though it better be her future son and not that little bastard who inherits."
Cygnus couldn't say who knew Harry Peverell well, but anyone with eyes could tell that Little Theodore Peverell was the apple of his father's. Harry would sooner turn his wand on himself then turn it on his heir in any way.
But Cygnus didn't waste breath trying to explain to his darling wife.
"If you'll excuse me," he said, finally having an excuse to part from his dear family, "I believe my eldest owes me a dance."
In a few steps and several twirls, Kingsley passed his bride.
Bella fit into his arms, and felt grateful, completely grateful that she had found a man that could both love her for who and what she was as well keep her safe.
"You look beautiful, my child. White suites you."
She flushed, looking more girlish than she had since she was eight years old.
"Take pictures," she said, not meeting his gaze, "this is a one time occurrence."
Cygnus laughed and held her close as he twirled them across the dance floor that had been placed in a clearing.
Andromeda and Narcissa had gone a bit wild on directions, and the woods were alight with twinkling lights as people danced or milled around tables of food and wine.
Cygnus kissed Bella on the cheek and as the next song changed he found Andromeda in his arms.
"You missed this with me," she said with only a thread of bitterness.
He bent to kiss her forehead, "I did, and I do regret it, daughter."
"Good," Dromeda said curtly, but she relaxed.
"Who walked you down the aisle?"
"Kingsley," she answered.
He sighed, "I never intended to have fail you all."
Andromeda opened her mouth to say something but a scream cut her off, followed by several pops of people apparating in.
Two curses exploded tables, and the next thing Cygnus saw was Harry Peverell running through the crowd, his power flowing before him like a strong wind.
Cygnus checked the crowd for his other daughters as he drew his wand.
Bella was back with Kingsley and Narcissa was with young Teddy and Nymphadora. Andromeda broke away from him to go to her daughter and husband.
Cygnus was sure he wasn't the only one to draw his wand but he froze when Peverell met the group of masked intruders.
He had never felt another's powers, not like this. Perhaps he had sensed others before, but this, this was a physical force the had his hair standing at attention.
Cygnus couldn't see Peverell's face, nor for that matter the uninvited guests. But everyone seemed to pause.
And then all hell broke loose.
What must have started as a strategic raid, turned to a panicked assault on the wizard who was literally waking the Earth from its slumber.
The ground rumbled as arms of stone rose and came down on Peverell's opponents as if they were mice caught in a trap.
Peverell raised his hands, moving his wand as if he were conducting an orchestra rather than casting spells well beyond what Cygnus had ever witnessed first hand.
The wind lifted three of the intruders into the air and tossed them screaming into the trees which caught them and shook them like a dog with a bone.
Only one of the figures seemed able to hold his ground, in a very literal sense too.
But he was an island in a raging storm as Peverell shook the ground and commanded the skies.
That figure sent fiendfyre, and Peverell sent back a barrage of lightning that left the bystanders with spotted vision and rendered deaf due to the proximity of the resulting thunder.
So it was in a well of silence that they watched Peverell drop his wand, and with just his raw magical force, constricted the fiendfyre, twirling it into a ribbon, then into a thread of glowing sparks that were choked into nothing.
Peverell threw his arms out wide, his robes accentuating the motion. The Earth flattened, the glen in the forest resettling as if nothing at all had happened.
Peverell turned to face them as his enemies who hadn't smartly disapparated away were attacked by a tree.
They seemed to be struggling with unseen bounds and Cygnus felt his heart skip a beat.
Had he really just used that much raw elemental magic, waking both Earth and storm and not killed anyone?
Orion, sipping from his champagne flute beside him, "Quite the addition to the family."
Cygnus turned to look at the crowd.
The were all gaping at the DADA professor who just proved himself to be more dangerous than Albus Dumbledore had ever been.
Most were gaping, Andromeda and Bella were exchanging looks and Narcissa…
Narcissa was gazing at her new husband as if she had been hit by one his bolts of lightning.
Teddy Peverell ran for his father, and the man bent to pick the boy up into a hug.
Cygnus snagged his brother's glass flute and drank deeply.
The future, it seemed, held many surprises.
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