KEYNOTE: For the life of me, I can't figure out my own timeline for what part of the year they are in, sooo welcome to summer? I got so focused on plot and the mystery that I was like it doesn't matter what season it is, long sigh. The Natasha fic will be updated for New Years, as that is what the chapter covers ;)

Goodreads: I'm on Goodreads!? So weird, also it is not my goodreads account so not sure how to feel about that. And I would so delete Disorder of the Phoenix if it didn't have such a following.

Beta: Ahrnberg the great!

Chapter 25 - Not Your Bitch

Falling.

Falling, falling, she was falling.

"Can you hear it?" her husband's voice asked.

But she couldn't see him, and she was falling.

"Stop!" she shouted, her hands held out to either side, palms out.

She descended gently, and her feet touched a sheet of ice.

All sound stopped, not that she had heard a sound before, but she heard its absence now.

And the blue-blackness cracked down the centre and revealed the light of dawn. A vast arctic sky opened above her, and the ice beneath her feet was endless, an ocean of ice, of-

"Are you the Morrigan?" a voice from a forgotten dream called to her.

Narcissa spun and came face to face with her reflection, dressed in the same thin shift, but she was shivering as if the cold affected her.

Narcissa couldn't feel it, or maybe she could, she felt numb.

"Are you the Morrigan?"

Narcissa didn't answer.

"Or are you Merlin?"

Narcissa smiled at her false reflection, "I am Narcissa."

Her reflection sneered at her, "Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection, will you?"

Water rushed over the ice and Narcissa slipped, catching herself on her hands in a sort of push-up. She watched her true reflection, she met her own gaze as the ice cracked beneath her hands.

"What do you seek?"

Narcissa couldn't have answered if she had wanted to because the water was pulling her under, and when a wave crested her head, she was swept away under the ice.

And the cold.

She suddenly felt that cold.

She opened her mouth to scream and liquid ice filled her lungs.

The pain was fire beneath her ribs. She screamed, past the sensation and Harry's voice came again, "Listen."

She screamed as the blue-darkness swallowed her, and her lungs-

"Narcissa!"

She sat up screaming.

Harry's hands rubbed up and down her arms, her back. He put a hand to the side of her neck, "Breathe, Narcissa, breathe. Breathe for me, beautiful."

She swallowed and looked around wildly.

Teddy grabbed her hand, "Momma Cissa?"

She pulled the boy into her arms, hugging him close, Harry's free hand alternating between soothing her and his son.

"Narcissa," Harry said firmly, "Look at me, love, look at me."

She looked up, feeling short of breath.

She supposed if she had been a different sort of woman she would have been in tears, "It was just a nightmare."

"Was it?" he asked, "You stopped breathing."

And she knew she had scared him then, because he would never have said that in front of Teddy otherwise.

It made her smile.

"What?" he asked.

"I love you."

He leaned right over Teddy and kissed her, when he pulled back he ordered, "You better keep breathing."

Teddy tugged on one of her curls, "I love you too, Momma Cissa."

She hugged that little boy who had stolen her heart and kissed his cheek, "And I love you too, my little man."

"What happened in your nightmare? My nightmares are about green lights and empty rooms," Teddy asked in perfect English, he was starting to take on her accent rather than Harry's, and every now and then he would say something with Hagrid's accent. Narcissa did her best to correct those moments.

Merlin but was he growing fast, it always blindsided her how smart children could be, but Teddy? Teddy was already ahead of Nym in development, and a part of her worried how he would fit in with the rest of his peers if he continued with this trend.

"My dream was about ice, and I fell into very, very cold water," she said honestly, "I thought I couldn't breathe, but it was just a nightmare, and I'm okay."

Teddy smiled up at her, "I don't want to lose another momma."

Narcissa hugged him close a half-second before Harry hugged them both, pulling them into his lap.

Harry grip almost hurt, almost, but his hold was also warm, it was the safest place Narcissa had ever known.

"We aren't losing anyone else, Teddy, I'll keep us safe, I swear it."

She relaxed into his arms, and despite all that she knew of the world, despite the monsters in her nightmares stretching their claws, despite how foolish it may have been, she believed him.

"Hey, Professor Peverell!" Frank Longbottom shouted to him across the hall as they walked with the crowd to the final feast.

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom?" Harry called back, Narcissa on his arm. Teddy was ahead of them riding in on Hagrid's shoulders.

"I bloody hate you!"
Harry grinned, "I'm sure you all did splendidly."

Actually, he knew they had.

All of his classes, all of his students, because every wizard or witch grading the DADA OWLS and NEWTS had approached him after the tests.

In the practicals, not a single student had received below an E for Exceeds Expectations. And the written exams at a glance seemed to be well above the usual standard. Not even when Dumbledore had been teaching the subject had the tests gone so well.

"How did you get them over the anxiety of performing in front of the examiners?" one had asked him.

"Lemons," Harry answered coolly.

"Lemons?" the wizard had repeated.

"Lemons," Harry confirmed.

Frank caught up to Harry in the crowd, "Alice and I were accepted into the Auror training program."

Harry smiled at him, "I had no doubts."

"You are a terrible person."

"I know."

"Thank you."

Harry dipped his head, and Frank again disappeared into the crowd.

"Sometimes I worry you have too much fun terrorizing them," Narcissa remarked, not sounding worried at all.

"Toddlers think I'm hilarious."

"Good, because I want to start making babies."

"We have a baby."

"Teddy is not a baby, and if he's anything like you, which he is, he will adore having siblings."

"He has Nym."

"Bella's pregnant."

Harry almost tripped, "Is that a good idea?"

"Probably not, she screwed up her conception potion. Kingsley has started taking male conception so she won't have to worry in the future, but the damage, as they say, is done."

"A child is not damage."

"So you do want more?"

"You know I do, but now is not the right ti-"

"Teddy is four, it is the perfect time."

"This isn't the right time to-"

"We just bought a house, we will have eight to nine months to settle."

"To talk about this. And what's the hurry?"

"I just want your babies."

Harry suppressed a groan and pointedly ignored the group of sixth year girls who passed them giggling.

"Narcissa," he warned.

"Harry," she mocked.

"You can have Bella's baby," he said, only half-joking.

"Harry," she said clearly, "that was a given, but I want one of my own. I want a baby."

"I thought you wanted babies."

"I want-"

Harry stopped them, pulling her back into an alcove as the last of the stragglers passed them.

"Harry, what are-" she began

But when he was decently sure that there were no more students coming immediately, he kissed her.

He kissed her until she was arching up into him.

"Would you like me to give you one now, wife?" he spoke into the shell of her ear before he continued trailing kisses across her jawline.

She made a sound low in her throat that was neither confirmation nor a denial.

He kissed her forehead then straightened, her holding onto him for support, "We should talk about this tonight."

She glared up at him, her eyes the vast blue of a winter sky, "If I didn't need them, I would castrate you here and now."

He smirked at her, and she pulled him down for another kiss.

They were the last to take their seat at the head table, but they weren't late.

James was waiting outside of Harry's office, when he heard something explode in the room.

James rushed into the room, wand drawn, eyes wide at the large black spot in the centre of the room.

Harry looked at him, "Ah, James, can you believe it?"

James blinked at him, "Er, believe what?"

"The curse!"

"What curse?"

"The DADA professor curse, it was in the desk the whole time. Teddy mentioned the symbols he had seen carved into the underside of the wood. I can't believe it was this stupid old desk this whole time. DADA has been taught in numerous different rooms, but I never realized it was always the same furniture."

"Um, that's good, I guess?"

"As it means I get to possibly keep my job for next year, yes, I would say so. Now, what can I do for you? I must say, I expected more questions from you, after I told you and Lily the truth."

"The truth?" James asked. "The truth being I am kind of, sort of your father and you're my son from the future?"

"Yes, that," Harry said.

"How can you be the next Merlin?"
The man shrugged, "Not sure, those aren't the sort of questions one asks and can expect an answer to."

"I don't know how to deal with you!" James shouted, "I don't know how to deal with any of this! I killed one of my friends this year and became a father and a grandparent! And I don't-"

Harry sat down and motioned for James to do the same in a seat near him. "It's alright, one thing at a time. You didn't murder Peter, and no one is asking you to be a parent. You and I are family, but you don't owe me anything, James Potter. My father died a long time ago."

"I did murder Peter, and what am I supposed to do if I have a kid one day and he grows up to be like you?"
Harry laughed, "Like me? You're afraid of what, that you might spawn a legion of Merlins? James, I'm not boasting when I say, I think I'm one of a kind. I think the chances of you siring another child like me would be more than unlikely."

"But possible."

"Anything is possible."

"That isn't comforting."

Harry sighed, "James, maybe you should focus on getting through school, maybe actually wooing the girl you want to marry, before worrying about future children, no?"

"I can't not worry, you a freaking legend! A walking, talking, impossible possibility strutting around in the real world. You're dangerous. You could be a Dark Lord if you wanted to be and there isn't anyone who could stop you."

Harry's smile was gentle, "James, I'm your son, I'm Lily's, I'm not evil."

"But you could be."

Harry shook his head, "I don't know what to tell you, there are no certainties in this life, heck, I'm not sure death has any certainties either. We can only do our best each day."

"Doing our best doesn't undo our mistakes."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you Peter's death was a good thing in my eyes?"

James looked at him, his eyes wide, "I thought you weren't evil?"

"I don't delight in the fact that a student is dead, Mr. Potter. But it was because of Mr. Pettigrew in my time, that I became an orphan. He betrayed you all, he gave us to the Dark Lord, and he gave Sirius to Azkaban. He rejoined the Dark Lord and helped start the second war."

James gaped at him.

"I'm not saying you didn't take a prank too far, that his parents didn't undergo a great tragedy, but had someone killed my Peter Pettigrew before he became a traitor, I would have thanked them."

James put his head in hands, "How am I supposed to deal with all this?"

Harry shrugged, "Life goes on."

"But how do you go on when it feels like everything you thought you ever knew has gone dark?"

Harry sighed, "You might be asking the wrong person. I've had so much happen to me over the years I stopped questioning it."

"Then how did you get through it?"

"By accepting it and doing what I could."

James stared at him, looking absolutely exhausted.

"Don't you have a train to catch?" Harry asked, feeling bad. He didn't know how to help James through his troubles.

"I thought you were a good dad. Don't fathers know how to help with stuff like this?"

"Well, James," Harry said reasonably, "My son is four, and so far the most difficult crisis of selfdom he has asked me for help with is choosing which bedtime story Narcissa would like better."

"Really? That's the hardest thing you've had to deal with as a parent?"

"Of course it isn't, but Teddy is a child and you are a young adult. He is far more resilient to this sort of thing than you are. He isn't old enough to truly understand just how special his family is."

"I need you to tell my parents about you," James stated in a rush. "I can't lie to them, not in person, not about something this big. I can't- I need their help and I don't want to be alone anymore."

"I'll send them an owl now, and meet whenever they have time to speak with me. James, hasn't Lily been there for you, and haven't you told Sirius?"

"I can tell Sirius?" he asked, looking at him strangely.

"You don't need my permission. It may be my life, but you have been affected, and you have every right to share that with whomever you like. Though I advise not taking it to the streets. I have found in situations like these, the more honest you are, the crazier they will think you are."

James looked him in the eye and said, "If I have a son one day I don't want him to have your life."

"Neither do I, Mr. Potter, neither do I," Harry stood, "Now, I think it is time for you to catch that train?"

James stood, "Thanks." He went to walk out the door but hesitated, looking over his shoulder, he said, "I don't hate you, Harry, I just… you just seem like someone who's lived through a lot while having far too much responsibility."

Harry nodded, "I know."

James left, and Harry heard him apologize to whoever was coming in.

A moment later Albus Dumbledore walked through the door, "I heard only Mr. Potter's parting remark, the boy does not lie. You are twenty-one years old, no?"

"I'll be twenty-two this summer," Harry said lightly, turning back to packing his belongings. He didn't tell Albus about the curse he had probably broken.

The desk being the cursed object seemed too simple. Or maybe it was brilliant in its simplicity. Maybe all it took was for a DADA professor to touch the desk and be cursed, or if its mere existence in the school was enough, or perhaps he had just broken another curse, one of many.

And it was his uncertainty that led him not to share his curse-breaking with Albus.

"I've come to offer you your position for next year," Albus said, Harry turned back to meet that twinkling gaze, "I would say for the first time in years, I'm offering the DADA position with a real hope that they might accept, but I fear to jinx it."

Harry huffed a laugh, "Then I tentatively accept, unless something comes up."

"Ah, and there you've given me hope."

Harry closed his satchel, and turned fully to the Headmaster, "That isn't the only reason you're here, I suspect."

"No, I fear it is not. You made quite a showing at the Shacklebolt's wedding."

He shrugged, "Bella was certainly entertained."

"You didn't kill anyone."

"It was a wedding, not a funeral, and I have been to far too many of the latter."

"Tales often grow in the telling."

Harry sighed, "Just ask."

"You moved the Earth?"

"Yes."

"The wind?"

"Yes."

"The trees and plants?"

"Yes and yes."

Albus stood straighter, "You called lightning down on a single man."
"I missed."

"You could have killed that man."

"Yes, well, Tom Riddle is good a skirting death."

"Were you really trying to kill him?"

Harry shook his head, "I was playing with him, and no, before you ask, I have never called that much power before. It wasn't something I knew I could do, but in the moment…"

"What did you want?" Albus asked gently.

"I wanted to break them. They have made me feel so powerless over the years, taken so much… I wanted to strip them of what they held dear, their control, their belief that killing and torture, that fear, is true power." Harry couldn't help the smile that curled his lips, "Terror is easy, but self control, restraint, the will to act only when needed, that's strength. And it is a lesson Tom is long overdue in understanding."

"You sound as if you have a vendetta against Mr. Riddle," Albus said warily.

Harry pulled the band of his satchel onto his shoulder, "Did you have any more questions, Headmaster, I told my wife I would be home soon."

"You moved into a house on the outskirts Hogsmeade, did you not?"

"I did."

"That would not be such a commute if you decided against apartments in the castle, Mrs. Peverell already handed me her resignation letter."

Harry had to fight not rolling his eyes. If Narcissa wasn't looking for work, that meant she was truly serious about babies.

A spurt of jealousy went through him, at not being the one to stay home with the babies. He liked teaching, but he liked being a father more.

But then he remembered that his father-in-law had sued the goblins for Harry's ancestral vaults. Well, Cygnus Black had merely threatened to sue, but it was enough, and the Peverell vaults, because, yes, there had been more than pixie dust, did have money, and Narcissa had both her dowry and the Malfoy Vault and properties.

Harry didn't need to work if he didn't want to.

"Mr. Peverell?"

"If my wife and I have another child, I will take my leave of my position."

Albus's eyes widened a tad, "And if it is mid-year?"

"I do not need the money."

"Be that as it may, I would venture the students need you a great deal. You are the best Defense professor Hogwarts has ever seen."

"I know Transfiguration is your strong suit, but you used to teach this subject."

"Yes, and not all of my students passed their exams. Your class has helped students in other classes as well. It can be quite dangerous to allow students to flex their powers as you have allowed. But not a single student has been seriously injured in your classes."

"There's always a first time."

"Yes," Albus agreed, "But better it be here where there is help ready, better they have a safe place to make mistakes and be corrected for them, understand the risks and dangers. We've all sat in on your classes over the year and none of the staff would be comfortable orchestrating such chaos. I let my students experiment, but in small groups or individually. I don't think you understand how impressive it is that you were able to impress into nearly the entire student body how dangerous magic can be."

"You do realize most of my students loathe me, correct?"

"They respect you, and if I may, the Slytherin students have truly improved with just a year of your guidance."

"The Slytherins are often among the most powerful and talented, that whole ambition trait. That wasn't me, that was all them."

Albus shook his head, "Slytherin is often the house of the elite, students who grew up with much handed to them without a real understanding of the cost of their privilege."

Harry felt his expression hardened, "I disagree."

"Let me finish, you have given them the opportunity to shine as individuals."

"I've simply treated them as I have treated all the rest."
"Whatever you have done, Professor Peverell, you are a jewel to this community. You have no idea the lives you've changed."
"I'll work part-time, but I warn you Dumbledore, I will put my family first."

"Why?" Albus asked bluntly, "You could be anything you wanted. You could be a leader in our community."

"Because family is all I have ever wanted, and I have sacrificed enough."

"And yet you are playing cat and mouse with a dark lord."

Harry smiled, shaking his head, remembering a much different conversation with this man not so many years ago, "If Tom comes at me directly, I will end him. But I will not spend the next decade of my life chasing rats into their nests. Better to draw him out at my leisure."

"And the people who he hurts along the way?"

Harry walked up to the other man, and leaned in so that his face filled the old man's sightline. And Harry articulated slowly, "Tom is afraid of you too, Albus Dumbledore. If you want him dead, go kill him yourself, I am not your dog."

And then Harry walked away, feeling some little part of him that still looked up to the old man release.

Harry didn't hate Albus, but he was no longer Dumbledore's.

"I'm an old man, Harry," Albus called out to him.

Harry turned back and said only, "So is he."

Narcissa was pretty sure she was in heaven.

Harry had given her complete freedom on how to design the house, except for equipping the kitchen.

Which was fine with her, she could stir a cauldron, but she did not cook, or bake, or have any relationship to the kitchen but designing the colour scheme that would pair well with the dining room the kitchen overlooked.

"Momma Cissa?" Teddy asked, leaning against her back. They were sitting in the bedroom.

Well, they were sitting back to back on a king size mattress in what would one day be the master bedroom. Teddy was drawing Thestrals and Narcissa was sorting through colour swatches over a blueprint of the house.

The house was big enough to feel roomy, but just small enough that she nor Harry would be run ragged keeping it clean, with the help of a few charms.

It wasn't the mansion of her parents' estate, nor the disaster of a family hovel that was her uncle and grandfather's home, but it was a fine house nestled against the mountain with large windows with views of the lake, the castle, the town, and the Forbidden Forest.

It already felt like home.

"Yes, Teddy?"

"Daddy's late."

Harry came into the room then as if summoned, "James asked me to write a letter to the Potters. Narcissa, how do you feel about adopting an owl?"

"Daddy!" Teddy exclaimed throwing himself off the mattress into his father's arms.

"Sorry I'm late, little buddy, just finishing up the year."

"Poppy is in love with you," Narcissa remarked, snapping her fingers making the blueprint magically grow into a little model, and she began twirling her fingers to change the wall colours. She was getting better at wandless magic.

Her knew hew new wand still wasn't the same as her old one.

"Did you defend my honour?" he teased.

She didn't even acknowledge that one, "She said you were the finest DADA professor Hogwarts has ever had and that you should give lectures to the community. She thinks less people would find themselves in the hospital if they listened to you."

"I think Poppy almost gave me a plaque for how many nights I spent in her wing."

"I know she knows nothing about your past, but I think she knows all the same that you're one of hers."

Harry plopped down on the mattress, "Are we going shopping, or are you and I going to transfigure all that?"

"Andromeda and I are going to transfigure it all, along with a few antiques we've collected over the years, or inherited."

"You don't want my help?"

"I'm helping," Teddy announced, "Momma Cissa already promised I could help."

"My mother is visiting in a few weeks."

Harry smiled, "I am not afraid of your mother, love."

"You should be."

"I think I'm more afraid of Andromeda, and she likes me."

"You will be among that rare species of men to like his mother-in-law."

"Oh, I didn't say I liked her, I just said I wasn't afraid of her. Walburga on the other hand," he shook his head.

Narcissa looked up with a smirk, "You're afraid of Aunty?"

"Let's just say I'm afraid I might do something regrettable. I told Sirius and Regulus they are welcome in our home if they need it."

She smiled, "I was going to ask, Aunty won't let them at Andromeda's without supervision, and Bella simply doesn't haven't the patience."

"I can't believe she's pregnant."

The look she gave him said clearly that if Teddy wasn't with them she would have words for him, or maybe not words exactly.

"I've designated one of the larger bedrooms for a nursery," she said instead.

"I want that one!" Teddy said, pointing to the room at the end of the house, it had the best view of the Forbidden Forest.

Narcissa twirled her finger over the room and Teddy's name appeared in script. He giggled, recognising the shape of his own name.

"Does Regina get a room?"

"She has to share with you," Harry told him solemnly, "Sadly, none of us here are Ancient Egyptians who worship cats."

Regina looked up at him, the look she gave him was one that demanded recompense.

"What did Jamie want you to discuss with the Potters?" Narcissa asked.

He sighed falling back on the bed, Teddy patted his head and Regina jumped on his stomach and began kneading. "He wants me to explain the future to them."

"Your grandparents?"

"Have you ever met them?"

"When I went to the Evans to check on Lily, I met them for the first time."

She stretched out beside him, "You met all four of your grandparents on the same day?"

He sighed, "They kept calling me Rell, and just felt… wrong."

"Hence why you've started having almost everyone call you Harry now. Why did you go by Rell anyway?"

"The daycare, a lot of the kids couldn't say Peverell, and it was their policy that we couldn't use our first names. Silliness. But going by Rell was better than Pev, Ev, or Pervel."

She winced, "So Rell."

"Rell, and it was one of the best years of my life."

"You consider the year you were a single father working at a daycare to be one of the best years of your life?"

"Well, that was before Naomi, but yes, I do, nothing tragic happened and I got to spend a lot of time with Teddy. Being Rell was better than being Harry Potter, the child hero, or Henry Peverell, the lonesome librarian, Rell was a daycare provider and Teddy's dad. "

Teddy had gone back to drawing but paused to pat his father on the head again.

Narcissa grinned, "And this year?"

"It's been an adventure," he said smiling, "And I like who am."

"And who are you, Harry?" she asked.

"Teddy's father," he said, leaning closer to her, "your husband."

They kissed and Teddy's patted them both on the head, Harry and Narcissa pulled back laughing and pulled Teddy down to them.

Teddy started trying to tickle them, which descended into pillow warfare.

Regina sprung away from her perch on Harry's stomach with a meow of disapproval. She watched the chaos with her tail twitching agitatedly as her humans smacked each other with sacks of feathers.

With summer came a wedding invitation to a summer wedding.

"You know you don't have to dress up that much, right?"

Narcissa gave him a withering look. Her hair was braided up into an elegant bun interlaced with jasmine flowers.

Her dress was muggle designed, purchased from a French boutique whose waiting room Harry and Teddy enjoyed greatly.

Teddy was particular to the lone lovebird that kept trying to sing to him. Teddy had lectured an entranced shopkeeper about needing to get a second bird. The shop keeper trying to explain to Teddy that they kept him alone to keep him singing had amused Harry, because there was just no way to say; 'we keep the caged bird flightless and loveless for our own amusement,' to sound acceptable to small animal loving child.

Narcissa ran a hand down the tailored dress that flowed down to her ankles. The dress was varying shades of blue that ended in a skirt of white and grey petals.

"You'll be more beautiful than the bride," Harry told her.

"Says the man wearing a suit," she straightening his silk tie. A tie that mirrored the design of her dress but was green and brought out the colours of his eyes. "And besides, there isn't enough white in this dress to distract from a wedding gown."

His smile turned wicked, "Love, your enough to distract in a potato sack, of which Mrs. Petunia Dursley would be very jealous."

"You really don't like them, do you?"

"She and Vernon used to keep me under their stairs when I was a kid, they worked me to the bone while half-starving me while spoiling their son Dudley to the point of obesity and willful stupidity."

Narcissa frowned, "What about your second life?"

Harry felt his face darken. And she reached up to cup his face, he bowed his head, closing his eyes as he said, "The Dursleys are not good people."

"What did they tell you?"

"That I was worthless, that I would never amount to anything. I hardly finished school before starting full time at the library, and if Naomi hadn't found me, I might still be there now."

She traced one of his loose curls, "Does it ever get to be too much, those two separate lives."

He pulled her into a hug, "If I think about it too hard, it feels like Voldemort's Horcrux is still inside of me, one fighting for dominance of the whole. But if I just let it be… then it's… I was the same person. I thought your experiences change you, made you who you were, but despite Henry Peverell and Harry Potter being different, I am the same person."

She hugged him back, "Well, let's go rub it in your foster family's face just how much you're worth and what you amounted to."

He held her closer, "The most beautiful woman on the planet as my wife and the most adorable boy as my son. Marge is going to want to drown us all."

And about the last, he sounded completely delighted.

"You didn't have to invite me to this," James told her.

Lily lifted her chin, "I needed a plus one."

"So what am I?" Severus asked grumpily.

"A family friend."

"Joy," Severus said drily.

James looked around at the people slowly filling in the aisles, "Lily, why aren't you one of the bridesmaids?"

"Because my sister's horrid friends pressured her out of it, none of them like me."

"Oh," James said. "And where are your parents?"

"Trying to convince Tuni to change her mind."

"Didn't your parents pay for the wedding?" Severus asked.

"Nope," Lily said popping the 'P', "My dad got in a fight with Mr. Dursley."

"About what?" James asked.

"Why aren't you happier to be here?" Severus asked suspiciously, "You've been weird, I mean weirder than normal for months."

"Har- Professor Peverell is going to be here, isn't he?"

"Yes, and he's who my father started the fight over," Lily jumped in, smoothing it over for James.

"Why?" Severus asked.

"My father insisted Peverell, we call him Harry, by the way, Harry would be invited to the wedding."

"Because Harry's foster family were the Dursleys?"

"Yep, and Mr. Dursleys went on and on about how terrible Harry was, and Father thinks it goes deeper than Harry being a wizard. He thinks Vernon might be a bad person. My parents will always give us free choice, but I think if my dad thought they wouldn't elope he would have just forbidden her to marry him. But anyway, after the fight, he refused to pay a penny for today despite it being here. Tuni had to use all her savings for her dress."

James and Severus exchanged a look.

The seats were filling up, Rose Evans sat beside her daughter as Mr. Dursley, a small man with big hands, and Mrs. Dursley, a large woman with small feet sat on the opposite aisle. Their daughter, Marge followed behind them with a sour expression and too much makeup.

James nearly gagged as Rose, Lily, and Severus wrinkled their noses.

"What is that smell?" James asked in a strangled voice, eyes watering.

"Their perfume," Rose said under her breath.

In a voice that wasn't hushed at all, Marge said, "Harry RSVPed, he's bringing his runt and his street slag with him."

Mrs. Dursley laughed as if Marge had just said anything outrageously funny, "He won't make it here if he knows what's good for him."

"Oh, he will show up," Mr. Dursley growled, "for a librarian, the boy was always dumber than stones."

"Dumber than stones?" Severus asked quietly, "Is that really the best he could come up with."

"Hard to believe he's talking about our professor, isn't it?" Lily whispered back.

James suddenly had a lot more sympathy for Harry, if he had to grow up with people like this… it was amazing he was as kind as he was.

"I can't believe he's had two wives in four years," Marge remarked as more of their families filed in on either side, "They must be uglier and stupider than he is." Then in a false whisper loud enough for everyone to hear, "Do you think he killed his first one?"

"I'm going to commit murder soon," Rose muttered under her breath.

"Mum!" Lily laughed.

"Honestly," Marge went on boldly, "his second wife must be a lower class bint to marry such a chav."

Severus tapped James's shoulder, and James turned to see the Peverells standing not two meters behind the Dursleys.

Harry might have been wearing a muggle suit, but he looked like a lord, his long hair tied back with a silk ribbon, his glasses making him look intelligent, his broad shoulders and narrow waist a show of a healthy man. The fury in his emerald eyes paired with the arrogant smirk on his lips setting him apart from the chatting wedding goers, both those scowling and those enjoying the summer heat.

And Narcissa Peverell…

She was beauty personified, she was nothing short of regal. Her form-fitting dress, the updo of her hair, her tasteful makeup, and delicate jewellery marking her as higher class than anyone in attendance, except perhaps her husband.

And judging by the arctic coldness of her almost painfully beautiful face, James had no doubts she had heard Marge Dursley's last comment.

Teddy was holding onto his father's hand, his hair was formed into large curls and were a solid raven black like his father's, his eyes the same emerald green.

Ever quiet, he was the perfectly mannered child.

And by the outraged expressions on the Dursleys' faces, as they had turned at the hush in the crowd, they were taken quite off guard by the man their foster son had grown to become.

Harry was filled with a petty-vindictiveness at the expressions on his foster family's faces.

He knew exactly what he, his wife, and his child looked like. Harry had never given a damn about class, but it wasn't every day someone called him a chav and his wife a bint.

Harry could almost feel the wrath spilling of Narcissa in cold waves, and he was going to release her on them.

She didn't need magic to tear them into bloody little pieces.

"Marge, Mrs. and Mr. Dursley," Harry said smoothly, "may introduce my wife, Mrs. Narcissa Peverell and our son, Theodore Peverell. Narcissa, Teddy, this is my foster family."

The Dursleys eyes flicked between each other while the rest of their family, cousins, and friends waited like hyenas, scavengers ready for scraps.

It really was a hateful family who attracted negativity, and they all delighted in nothing more than petty one-upmanship. Marge's last remark had dug them in deep.

"It is a shame we weren't invited to your wedding," Mr. Dursley said, ever the tough guy, ever the bully.

The look he gave Narcissa made Harry want to strangle him.

Narcissa made a show of looking down her nose at the smaller man, "Our union was a private affair, we feared you would feel out of place on my parents' estate."

The contrast in their accents Harry saw set Mrs. Dursleys' teeth grinding.

Marge's face reddened, which did spectacularly nasty things to her green eyeshadow and magenta lipstick, "We're his only family, how emba-"

"Embarrassing," Harry finished for her, "no, Marge, there is no more embarrassing experience than the thought of you attending."

"Besides," Narcissa said coolly, "My husband's choice in friends far exceeds the government's choice in foster homes."

Mrs. Dursley snapped, "Why you rude, self-imp-"

"Daddy?" Teddy spoke up for the first time, "Can I sit with Lily?"

Marge's eyes went wide, "He knows the Evans family?"

Harry smiled, "I'm a professor at their school. And if Rose thinks it's alright, you may, Teddy."

He heard the whispers spread out from there, because being a professor at a private school was a respectable position.

Judging by Dursleys panicked expressions, they knew they had just driven themselves to an edge of a metaphorical cliff.

Rose opened her arms for the little boy and Teddy left them to sit between Rose and Lily, while Harry and Narcissa sat behind the Dursleys.

Soon after the music started playing.

And Harry had the delight of watching Vernon's groomsmen do a double-takes as they passed Harry and his wife.

Harry-Hunting had been a reality for both his pasts.

But it was Vernon's expression that took the cake.

He began his walk down the aisle, chest puffed forward, nearly marching to the platform of potted petunias.

But then he saw Harry, and then he saw Harry's wife; he stumbled forward tripping over his own feet, he had to catch himself on the steps.

People laughed, on both sides of the aisle.

Neither Harry nor Narcissa laughed, but they didn't need to look at each other to know they were both smirking at their enemies failure.

The resolve to crash this wedding settled between them unsaid and as strong as titanium.

Eirik Evans had lived through a lot, but this might have been one of the worst days of his life.

He knew his eldest daughter was bitterly jealous of her little sister, for more than just her magical gifts, but that that bitterness seemed to have corrupted her heart felt like a personal failure.

Where had he gone wrong as a father that his Petunia would choose to marry a man like Vernon Dursley?

Petunia should have been going to college, she was such an intelligent girl, she had a head for business and mathematics. She could have run the Dursley's business, but Eirik knew, just knew, that Vernon planned to make her either a housewife or a secretary.

Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, but if Petunia would just go to school, travel, find herself, she would see there was more to life than appearances.

She had fallen in love with the first man to give her shred of appreciation, and as Eirik walked his daughter down the aisle, he knew that this was his fault.

When he sat down beside Rose, he couldn't meet his wife's eyes, not even when she took his hand.

When the officiator asked, "Is there anyone who has any reason to protest this marriage, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

Eirik closed his eyes and fought back tears, he had a million protests, but Petunia had told him again before the procession that this was her choice.

So he would hold his peace.

But apparently, he wasn't the only one with reservations to this union.

"I have many reasons," Harry Peverell said, standing up, "I have many, many reasons to protest this union."

Vernon growled at him, "Sit down."

"Wait," Harry said in a condescending tone, "I have not listed my reasons yet."

Eirik opened his eyes, blinking fast. Petunia looked incensed at this interruption, but all he felt was hope.

Come on, son, say something that stops this hell.

"Vernon is loud, he bellows, he shouts with his mouth full, and he snores like a trumpeting elephant."

Vernon's face began turning pink.

"Vernon also has a terrible sense of humour, he laughed himself sick at the idea of his older sister drowning a puppy because it had an underbite. Which is a rich reason to drown an innocent puppy when you take a look at her jaw set."

People on the Dursley side sniggered and Vernon's face turned red.

"That's awful!" Teddy exclaimed.

"I know son," Harry said continuing, "but Vernon Dursley is an awful person, selfish."

The groom's face turned purple.

"Glutinous."

Eirik began to worry the boy would faint as his cheeks puffed out.

"Stupid as a snail on asphalt, you should have seen his marks in school, it's a miracle he graduated. But then given how much he cheats-"

"YOU FREAKING WANKER! SHUT UP!"

"And he has a terrible temper," Harry concluded with a soft smile.

Eirik could have kissed him.

"Are you quite done?" the officiator asked, the groomsmen holding back laughter.

Petunia and her bridesmaids looked crushed.

Harry at Petunia, and said, "I grew up as that man's brother, and I'm telling you, Ms. Petunia Evans, that you are worth a dozen of him. You can do better, you deserve better."

"Sit down," she said, her voice trembling.

Eirik's heart broke, he knew that tone.

But he gave Harry a grateful look anyway.

Better to have tried and failed.

Harry nodded at him, his face was devoid of humour as he sat back down.

The two were presented as man and wife.

And Eirik could only hope that Lily would forge a better future for herself.

Narcissa had been curious about Harry's upbringing, and though she wanted a wedding herself, she decided that, while the Potters and the Evanses would be welcome, Harry's foster family, Petunia Dursley included, would be as unwanted as Walburga.

Narcissa knew how splendid she looked, and she understood why Harry had said she didn't need to dress up.

She was very nearly overdressed, despite the fact she was wearing a summer gown, and in muggle fashion no less. Some of her nightgowns were less revealing than this dress. And she knew her beauty would have made her stand out in this group.

Lily Evans was a beauty in her own right, but she was still young, as Rose Evans was a bit too old. But of their age group, none of the friends, relatives, bridesmaids, nor even the bride herself could hold a candle to Narcissa.

It both pleased her and left her unable to relax even with Harry at her side.

The bride had given her such a scornful look that she had given Narcissa the impression of a horse that had gotten something stuck on its upper lip.

She wanted to warn the girl if she kept making expressions like that the effect might be permanent.

Teddy played mostly with Lily and Rose who both adored him, Severus Snape and Jamie trailing after them. Narcissa was grateful when food was served.

She found herself ill-prepared for conversation. She didn't know much about muggle society or politics. And while she had plenty to say about their new home and her growing relationship with her step-son, those felt too personal to share with this group of people. So she stayed on Harry's arm like a decoration as he navigated the verbal arena and that might have done her family proud if they hadn't been so pathetically vulgar, with the majority of the Dursleys' associates being woefully uneducated.

And of course, her family would never have gotten on with a muggle family so… so… so muggle.

"I can't believe you said all of that," Severus said as he passed Harry a dish of mashed potatoes.

Harry shrugged, "It was my last shot. But if she has a whale for a son, she can't say I didn't warn her."

James sniggered and Lily looked at Harry sceptically.

Teddy was sitting on Rose's lap and asked, "Are Grandma Rose and Grandpa Eirik going to our house? They need to meet Regina."

Rose hugged Teddy, "I know we aren't really your grandparents, but-"

Eirik looked at Harry, "But after what you did today, son, you're family. You will always be welcome in our home."

Narcissa caught Harry's hand under the table, and he squeezed her hand back tightly.

Eirik and Rose weren't Teddy's grandparents, they were Harry's, and they were Teddy's great-grandparents.

"Thank you, I didn't intend to embarrass your daughter, Vernon is just…"

Eirik nodded, glaring up at the head table were his new son-in-law sat. "If I were still in the Navy…" he said darkly.

Rose touched his arm and Teddy said, "It's okay Grandpa Eirik, it's not your fault. Even bad people love people."

Narcissa felt her heart twist, she was so lucky, so very, very lucky to have such a family. Even if Harry's extended family never learned that's what they were.

Teddy's gentleness, his big heart, was a reflection of his father's, her husband's; her Harry's heart.

Dinner was over too soon. The dancing started, and it was a lovely space, pretty little lights decorating a net above the dancefloor.

But the dance music ceased to be dance music after the second song.

Perhaps the songs weren't awful, but while Narcissa might accept swing or even a step dance to folk music in place of a traditional waltz, she refused to sway or jump up and down to whatever atrocity blared through the speakers.

At home, with just Harry and Teddy, it might have been fun, but in public?

She watched from a table with Severus Snape as the others had their fun on the dance floor.

As the night wore on, Petunia was dancing with her sister, a real smile transforming her horse-ish expression into something sweet and pretty. At this time is when a slightly drunk Vernon Dursley sat beside her.

She held her ground, her eyes searching for Harry in the crowd, but she didn't spot either him or Teddy.

Restroom perhaps?

"Where's your husband? Are you here because that freak got you knocked up too?"

She narrowed her eyes on him, even drunk, he hadn't dared approach her when Harry was near.

"Do you even know what the first one's name was?" he slurred, then he whispered, "I bet he kept her parts for ingredients. He's twisted, you know?"

Why did everyone assume she was jealous of Naomi Lupin Peverell?

Harry was a widower, but he was also twenty-two. What did she have to be jealous of? That they had had a child together? Teddy was a gift to this world, Narcissa couldn't dislike the woman for delivering him.

Or did people think that Narcissa could never be loved the same as Harry's first wife?

Narcissa might be young herself, but she knew enough to know every relationship was different. She was not the same person as Naomi and she did not expect to be loved in the same way.

"Did you hear me, bitch?"

Narcissa stood, and the fool grabbed her wrist.

His skin was clammy and she could smell the foulness of his breath as he said, "You aren't going nowhere."

In her periphery, she saw a white gown approaching them.

"Let go," Narcissa said in her clearest tone.

"You're so expensive," Vernon leered, looking her up and down slowly.

It made her skin crawl, she eyed the table for something she could use against him, too many people were watching to use magic.

"How much did that freak pay you for this evening? I'll double it," he said, pulling her forward.

She heard someone gasp, but Narcissa didn't pause as she let the muggle's pull propel her toward the table as opposed to his lap. She grabbed a serving knife off the table and slammed the blade down through his other hand that was holding onto the table for support.

Fun thing about human physiology, it wasn't that difficult to break the skin, muscle, and tissues. If someone was willing to cause significant, gory damage, they could, and Narcissa did.

The knife's point pierced the wood on the other side of the man's palm.

Vernon Dursley screamed like a rabbit as he pulled back, letting go of her hand. Then he roared, pulling the knife out, and his other hand came around in a fist toward her.

The split second she had to bring her arms up she froze, but it didn't matter, because Harry was there.

And not only was Harry a taller man, he was sober. Harry's fist caught Vernon's cheek, sending the leecher crashing back into the table.

His wedding tuxedo a ruin of blood, drink, broken glass, and cake crumbs.

Harry had her in his arms, leading her back as he checked her for wounds.

He pulled the kerchief out of his pocket to whip the blood drops from her hand. "Your dress is fine, are you?" he asked, his tone light, his gaze murderous.

She nodded, "Yes, I'm alright."

Vernon was struggling out from the table, his hand gushing blood as he rolled to his knees.

No one helped him stand, "I was attacked! Call the police!"

"I called an ambulance for your hand," his best man said, looking pale.

"It was her, that craz-"

"You propositioned her."

Everyone went quiet, stepping back from the bride.

There were no tears on her voice or in her tone, but there was a profound sorrow in her eyes, one that Narcissa recognized all too well when Lucius had turned on her.

"Petunia, I wouldn't she's a-"

"I heard you!" Petunia shouted, "I saw you grab her! The way you looked at her, you, you… you Bastard!"

Something like fear passed over Vernon's face, "Petunia no, this is our wedding I…" He tried to stand but ended up falling back on his butt, either he was that drunk or he was losing too much blood.

"Fool shouldn't have pulled the knife out," she murmured to Harry.

His response was to hug her.

"Petunia- I-" Vernon looked like he was trying.

Narcissa had no a bit of pity for him.

She saw Eirik's expression, and she was pretty sure if your father-in-law looked nearly relieved to see you bleeding to death, you were never going to have a cordial future.

"I want a divorce," she said.

"It's our wedding d-"

"Oh praise God!" Eirik said audibly as Lily let out a whoop of joy.

"No!" Vernon cried.

The officiator of their wedding pushed his way through the crowd, "You don't need a divorce."

"Excuse me?" Petunia asked him flatly.

The man blushed, "I am- was one of Vernon's friends, but I don't actually- I'm not licenced, you would have had to go to a courthouse to get the paperwork signed for it to be an official marriage."

The look she gave him made him take several steps back, "No divorce papers, right? That's a good thing, right?"

Marge pushed through the crowd, and pointed dramatically at Harry, "This is his doing. He cursed us!"

She was as drunk as Vernon, swaying on her feet.

Narcissa smiled at her, "No, my husband didn't curse you people, Harry is the only one among you who turned out to be a decent human being."

And it was like all hell broke loose after that.

There was screaming, vulgar cussing, the children were all taken away, Teddy had luckily already been put down for sleep that night in Evans's guest room. There weren't that many other little ones in the group, and no one but Marge wanted to stay.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley went to the hospital with their son, while Marge screamed at Petunia that she had to marry her brother.

Eirik Evans firmly, but not roughly, manoeuvred the creature out of the house before slamming the door in her face.

After which the entire house fell completely still, at which point Petunia broke down sobbing. Lily rushed to her sister's side.

"Don't worry, Tuni, we have cake!"

This caused the girl to cry harder.

"Do you need help getting home, James?" Harry asked.

Wide-eyed James shook his head, "I was supposed to stay until morning…"

Rose came in with leftover cake smiling like a madwoman, "Stay! Stay! Sev, feel free to call your mom to stay longer. We have some celebrating to do."

Petunia hiccuped, "Celebrate? I just broke up with my husband."

Eirik pulled his daughter up as Rose said, "Come now, Petunia, you didn't lose anything."

"Just my heart," she said miserably.

"Better than your dignity," Narcissa told her.

Petunia glared at Narcissa, but she dug into the piece of cake her little sister placed before her.

Narcissa thought the girl would come out stronger for this. Narcissa looked up and saw a peculiar expression on Harry's face as he watched the Evans, Severus, and James seat themselves around the dining room table with slices of leftover wedding cake.

"Harry," she asked, "are you alright?"

He turned to her with a smile, the light in his eyes dancing, "I am, I just… Do you ever get those moments where you're just so incredibly grateful for being alive, for being a part of the lives of the people around you?"

She smiled back up at him, "I do."

AN: Reactions, thoughts, ideas, or boop noodles? Pretty please?