There had been a grand total of one fight in the wedding planning. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at this fact; everyone said that if a couple could survive planning a wedding, they could survive anything. And the fact is, he and Ginny had had a blissfully easy go of it. There had been no disagreements.

Except for one.

There had been one fight. But it was a doozy.

Said fight was over the guest list. The Dursleys? No. Harry had, in a rare passive-aggressive display, told Ginny he wanted to send an invitation to Dudley and Dudley alone. In this way he would invite the one surviving family member who he felt had actually grown to feel something for him, while simultaneously snubbing his horrid aunt and uncle and also letting them know that he had found happiness. Ginny thought it was brilliant.

No, this fight, which raged long and hard, was over the addition of a single name to the already-lengthy guest list.

The name was Draco Malfoy.

"Absolutely not," Ginny had said immediately. Harry had expected nothing less.

"Gin," he said, placatingly, "I've invited every single other auror-in-training. It would be terribly rude to exclude him, and I think it would be a nice gesture—an effort to…build bridges, so to speak."

It was known to all, of course, that Draco had very publicly repented of his Death Eater ways, even going so far as to testify against his parents—particularly forcefully against his father—at their trials. Most of those closest to Harry believed that Draco had only done so for the immunity—to save his own hide. Harry believed that, too, at first, until Draco showed up on the first day of Auror training. He had greeted Harry humbly, his eyes lowered, with a low, "Morning, Potter," as he extended his hand. Harry had shaken it somewhat doubtfully, but he had to admit that Draco had done absolutely nothing in the intervening weeks to make Harry doubt his sincerity. He had been quiet, humble, and studious in the course of training. He ate by himself in the Ministry cafeteria during meals and kept quietly to himself off to the side during breaks in physical training. Draco had not sought Harry out to talk about things, and Harry had not yet been able to bring himself to go to Draco. But he could tell that something had changed.

None of this seemed to hold any weight with those around him. Molly was tight-lipped when informed of Harry's wish that Draco be invited. Arthur simply narrowed his eyes, and Harry suspected that his disapproval was perhaps not as great since he worked at the Ministry and would be privy to chatter about Draco's change of attitude. But nonetheless, he looked skeptical.

Ron and Hermione were a different story. Harry winced as Hermione shrilly reminded him of the number of times Draco had called her Mudblood during their times at Hogwarts. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before quietly offering, "Hermione, I know. Believe me, I haven't forgotten. But I also haven't forgotten that he didn't give us up to Bellatrix when by all rights he should have, and I know for a fact that he had to sit through hours and hours of interviews—or maybe we should call them interrogations—with Kingsley after he asked to be an Auror before Kingsley agreed. Surely that's worth something."

The argument went on for days. Ginny said very little after her initial protest, and that worried Harry more than anything. He finally went to her and took her by the elbows. "Please," he said imploringly. "Let me invite Draco. I doubt he'll even accept, but I need to mend fences. I need it desperately, Gin. Please. For me," he finished, a pleading look on his face.

Ginny stared at him. After all he had been through in his 18 years, could she really deny him this one request? Harry's instincts had always been spot-on, as far as she was concerned. Surely Draco wouldn't ruin their wedding. 'No,' she thought to herself, 'it's not Draco I'm worried about. It's everyone else.' But she swallowed that thought and forced herself to smile. "Okay, Harry," she said gently. "If it really means so much to you, go ahead and add him."

The grin she received in return was worth the price of admission, she thought to herself.