Thank you to Sarah, the Great Beta, who did an astounding job whipping this story into shape.

Also, my apologies to those of you who love the sweet and mushy stuff; this is as fluffy as I get...

Chapter 29 – Epilogue

Nearly two weeks later things had gone back to normal. After all of wizarding Britain had partied itself into a slump students had returned to the reopened Hogwarts and their parents back to work. The Weasleys had all been woken from their enchanted sleep and were very put out at missing all the action. Harry and Hermione were complete mended and had said goodbye to the Hospital Wing, hopefully for the last time.

Wizengamot trials had begun for Death Eaters and those still stubbornly loyal to the late Dark Lord. There had been nearly one a day since Voldemort's death. Harry had been asked to sit in on each and every one—though he personally knew only a few and recognized only a few more. At least he had Dumbledore with him and occasionally, Hermione and Ron. Draco had even attended his father's trial, standing with his mother as witnesses to Lucius's desire to repent.

As Draco Malfoy's fiancé, Lucius Malfoy's future son-in-law, and the two-time savior of the wizarding world, the Wizengamot had looked to Harry particularly for the final word on Lucius's destiny. Though Harry loved Draco and wished to see his family together again, he felt honor bound to be honest. He told the Wizengamot that he'd never witnessed Lucius's regret at serving the Dark Lord but he believed in Draco one-hundred percent.

That was good enough for the wizarding world and Lucius was set free of Azkaban, sentenced to a year of house-arrest and weekly meetings with a Parole Auror. And in return for speaking for him at his trial, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy gave Harry and Draco's union their blessing, not to mention a rather extensive inheritance.

Yes, it was the evening of October thirty-first, the students and professors of Hogwarts were sitting down to a more cheerful Halloween feast than had been seen in many years, and things were back to normal.

Or almost normal...

"I'm so hot for you," Draco rumbled low in Harry's ear as he leaned across Harry under the pretense of reaching for more yams.

After Draco and Harry's engagement, house tables in the Great Hall had been demolished. Everyone wanted to follow the famous Harry Potter's lead the first day he left the Gryffindor table to have breakfast with his fiancé. Now house banners hung, proudly intermingled, along the Great Hall walls, while one huge Hogwarts Crest dominated the center of the room, dangling from the enchanted ceiling. Blue, Yellow, Green, and Red uniforms were almost evenly interspersed throughout the four tables. In light of encouraging this new inter-house unity, Harry and Draco—the celebrity couple—changed tables once a day, Hermione and Ron (who had reluctantly accepted his best mate's relationship with his worst enemy) moving with them.

Harry could help neither the smile nor the blush that crossed his face now, where he sat across from his two best friends at the one-time Hufflepuff table.

"Keep it in your pants for a few more hours," he teased out of the corner of his mouth.

Draco sighed in defeat and Harry let relax the sexual tension that had been coiling like a spring in his lower stomach. He focused again on the conversation Hermione and Ron were having with one of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team beaters. They were discussing ways they could promote more inter-house harmony on the Quidditch Pitch without completely changing the way the game was played at Hogwarts.

"Perhaps we could sort teams by year, instead of house," the Ravenclaw beater suggested.

"No," Ron countered reasonably. "Then first years would be trampled and seventh years would always win."

And that was all Harry got to hear before he felt Draco's hand on his thigh, inching closer to the junction between his legs every second.

"That's it!" Harry suddenly said, quite loudly. He shot a meaningful look up at the Staff Table where Dumbledore caught his eye and nodded. "We're going now! C'mon Ron—Hermione."

He heaved a thoroughly pleased Draco off the bench by the collar of his robes and stomped out of the Great Hall amidst a flurry of live bats, courtesy of Hagrid. Ron and Hermione followed with hesitant confusion.

"What're we doing, mate?" Ron asked once they were out of range of the crowded Great Hall.

Releasing Draco to push open the front doors of the castle, Harry led the way across the grounds toward the lake.

"We're moving the ceremony up a few hours," he said shortly.

"What did you do, Malfoy?" he heard Ron hiss at Draco. Draco only chuckled.

When they'd circled the lake and were far out of sight of the castle, Harry came to a stop in a small clearing between the shore of the lapping lake and the shade of the looming forest. Draco crossed over to the edge of the water and stood idly by, watching Harry pace. Hermione and Ron settled onto an outcropping of rock, Ron with his arm around Hermione.

They had to wait only a short time until Harry spotted a small group of people coming around the lake toward them. Moments later, they were joined by Dumbledore, Lupin, Narcissa, and Lucius—who'd been given special permission by his Parole Auror to be here this evening under the watchful eye of Dumbledore.

"Impatient, are we?" Dumbledore smiled. He crossed over to where Draco was standing and turned his back on the lake to face the small crowd.

Suddenly much less cross and much more at peace, Harry, too, went to the lake's edge, taking his place beside Draco.

Behind him, his best friends, his parent's best friend, and his soon-to-be parents-in-law gathered together to watch the ceremony.

"We are gathered here today," Dumbledore began. "To witness the union of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter..."

Harry couldn't breathe.

He was, quite literally, out of oxygen and could not get anymore through his mouth or nose.

With the kind of strength loaned to a man in a panic, he grabbed Draco by the arms and tossed him sideways, throwing him roughly onto his back on the grassy lakeshore. It took him nearly half a second to gulp down a mouthful of air and then he rolled over on top of Draco and attacked his mouth again.

The sun was setting on their wedding day; their guests, after many congratulatory hugs and hand-shakes, had departed back to the castle. Draco, true to his word, had been and was still hot for Harry. He'd waited only long enough to ensure that his parents were out of his sight before throwing himself at his new husband.

Now, after savagely stripping them both of their clothing, Draco was wrestling Harry for dominance of their first night together as a legal couple. And after biting Harry's chest hard enough to break the skin and opening up his mind to flood Harry with his raging lust, he had it.

Going suddenly weak in the knees, Harry was easily flipped by Draco, landing on his back in the grass with his arms pinned over his head by one of Draco's hands. The other, he discovered suddenly in a jolt of pleasure, was to be used to prepare him.

"I love you so much," Draco growled as he bit a line across Harry's collar bones.

Harry moaned in desire and affection. He had been pleased to discover not long ago that during their more animalistic affairs, Draco felt no qualms in voicing his most intimate feelings for Harry. Something about the carnal snarls, erotic grunts, and wild thrusting made saying 'I love you' much less like professing his deepest secrets and more like staking his territory. Either way, Harry loved it.

With his mouth already open and the words forming on his tongue, Harry was caught mid-reply, as a talented finger brushed the sweet spot deep inside him.

"Oh god," he choked out instead, rutting helplessly against Draco.

"And my fingers love you, too," hissed Draco, dragging said fingers in a long, slow circle around Harry's inner channel.

A shudder rippled up Harry's spine and his arms jerked desperately. Draco released them, trailing his hand down Harry's chest and twisting it into the dark curls at the base of his cock. He ran his thumb tauntingly up the underside and swiped it over the head.

Harry was so mesmerized by watching that thumb rise up to Draco's mouth, a bead of pearlescent fluid balancing on the tip, that he didn't even notice when Draco's fingers left his arse. Then, just as his tongue darted out to lap up a taste of Harry, Draco slammed deep inside Harry.

"And my cock loves you," he grunted over Harry's strangled groan.

He pulled out achingly slowly, before driving back inside in a quick, smooth thrust. Again and again he did this, dragging out Harry's climb toward orgasm.

Harry tried to keep his mind cleared but his lust and Draco's lust alike were clouding it up. He tried to use this to his advantage, hiding his intentions from Draco's mind as he slipped his hands around Draco's back to caress his clenching arse.

Draco cried out as Harry pushed two magically lubricated fingers into his entrance. Once Draco had been stretched to Harry's liking he did something he hadn't done in a long time—too long.

Dipping into the store of magic that was as equally a part of him as it was apart from him, he doused his body from head to toe in shimmering power.

And just like that, Draco's smooth, flawless thrusts came to a grinding halt.

Draco was hovering over him, pushed up on his hands, his hair dangling in sweaty tendrils around his face. His eyes were screwed shut and his mouth gaping in a show of sheer ecstasy. Harry had but to lay a hand on his shoulder and push and Draco toppled sideways.

Harry was on him and in him in an instant and Draco's eyes flew open as a constricted moan slipped through his teeth.

"What about your arse," Harry demanded in a husky voice as he pounded into Draco. "Does your arse love me, too?"

Recovering from the shock, Draco wrapped his arms around Harry and drew him down, capturing his mouth in a blinding kiss.

"Love...you," he panted once they'd broken apart for air.

With a crooked smile, Harry reached across Draco and twined their left hands together with their rings touching. "I love you too, Draco—my husband," he breathed.

Then they both crashed over the edge of everything, falling into eternity, held tightly in each other's arms.

Some time later they could be found still naked, still lounging in the same clearing beneath the stars. It was far past curfew but neither of them intended to leave the other tonight.

Draco, leaning against a tree trunk, was humming softly to himself as he drew hovering, fiery shapes in the air with his wand, like the tip of a Muggle sparkler. Harry was sprawled on his back in the grass, lulled into a half-sleep by Draco's soothing melody.

"Why did you rescue me anyway, Harry?" Draco demanded suddenly, his humming cutting off mid-note.

"What are you on about?" Harry mumbled without opening his eyes.

"When you thought I was the traitor..." Draco clarified. "Why didn't you give up on me then? Why didn't you just kill the Dark Lord and go on with your life?"

Harry sat up then, looking around at Draco curiously. "What's got you in such a morbid mood?" he asked.

Draco raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Morbid? Hardly. I'm just curious about how my husband got to be such a self-sacrificing, hopeless romantic."

Harry laughed, laying back down and folding his arms behind his head. "Well, if you must know, I never thought you were the traitor."

Draco stiffened doubtfully. "Not even before you found me in the closet?"

"Not even then."

"How could you have trusted me so completely?" he asked suspiciously, as if trusting him could possibly be more stupid than tickling a sleeping dragon.

"Because," Harry said simply. "I remembered the first time I ever heard your mind."

Draco's brow creased into a series of thoughtful wrinkles. "When you were practicing at Grimmauld Place?"

Harry shook his head. "There was a time before then...A time you don't know about."

"When?" asked Draco.

"In that alcove—the very first time I kissed you. It seems like an age ago now..."

"You heard me then?" Draco balked. "But...you can't hear me unless I let you."

Harry smirked at Draco's discomfiture. "I have a theory," he said.

"Oh, do enlighten me, Potter," said Draco, leaning forward with mock enthusiasm. Though they were now bound both magically and legally, they had agreed to retain their own surnames.

Harry ignored his sarcasm. "I think everything was too new," he explained. "Our specific abilities took time to develop, after all. We had only just begun our transformations at that time and I believe that you weren't yet immune to me—or else my abilities were raging out of control. In either case—or neither case—I heard your last thought just before you walked out of that alcove."

"I can't remember what I was thinking then," admitted Draco.

Harry smiled. "Your exact thought was; 'am I doing the right thing?'."

It was rare that Draco ever let his Slytherin mask down. Even though Harry was now adept at seeing right through it Draco always kept it in place—maybe just to make Harry's life more difficult. But now it fell and Draco's shock and awe leapt out at Harry. Rising slowly onto all four's, Harry crawled toward Draco on predator's paws.

"And that..." Draco said slowly. "That was all it took for you to trust me?"

"Unequivocally," Harry growled, his voice low with renewed yearning.

Draco's eyes sharpened when he heard Harry's tone and then they slid out of focus. Harry knew that look well by now—Draco was listening to the emotions sliding off Harry's psyche; the passion and desire that Harry displayed proudly.

When Harry was a mere pace from Draco, the prey struck the predator. Toppling backwards, the two fell into a wild tussle. Harry saw stars when Draco pushed him over and slammed his shoulders and head into the grass. A wanton moan rippled up his throat and over his tongue and he rutted violently against Draco. With a low chuckle, Draco leaned down and took Harry's mouth.

And this time the stars that exploded behind Harry's eyelids had nothing to do with pain.

End.

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