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Chapter Text

Unexpected Love: The Journey Begins
Written by J.C. Vascardi

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Chapter Nine
Part Three

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Following the attack on the campground, several families opted to pack up their tents and leave, as the attack had shattered their sense of security.  Many opted to stay, however, especially after they found out that the Ministry had called in extra Aurors to patrol the campground overnight, in addition to Harry's guards.  King Edward also called in an extra company of his royal guards, who were ordered to join with the Auror and Potter patrols.  This extra security certainly eased many minds, especially those of the foreign visitors to the Cup who couldn't leave since their international portkeys weren't set to activate until the following day.

Of course, not everyone's minds were so easily eased and Molly Weasley thought they should all leave immediately.  She thought it foolish to stay in a location where the Death Eaters had attacked, especially since the patrols hadn't managed to find the person responsible for casting the Dark Mark into the sky.  Harry decided to remain, however, feeling that it would send the wrong message if the lord of the land left.  He wanted people to believe they were safe on his lands, so what better way to do that than to remain there himself?

"Harry," Molly began.

"No, Molly," Harry said.  "My mind is made up and you will not change it.  You and your family have been good to me over the years and I think of you like a second mother, but I'm an adult now.  Maybe not physically, but legally, and I'm the lord of these lands, so as much as you may not like it, I'm staying."

"You needn't worry, Mrs. Weasley," Asterion said before she could say a word.  "Between the Aurors, Harry's, and the King's guards, I highly doubt that anything is going to happen.  And even if it did, my father and I have placed every protective charm we could think of on this tent.  Nobody who isn't supposed to is going to be getting in."

"I still can't believe that you and your father are mages," Kolin said.  "They're a little more common back home, but not by much.  So, most people go their whole lives without knowing one, let alone two."

Asterion smiled.  "Yes, I know, we are a rather rare breed."  After a moment of silence, he added, "And as this may help to ease Mrs. Weasley's mind, I would point out that my father and I are not mages, but magisters."

"Magisters?"  Hermione asked.  "What's the difference?"

"You remember I mentioned the power scale earlier, Hermione?  After Gavin said he was a hedgewizard?" Harry asked and Hermione nodded.  "Well, to be a Magister means that you're level twenty-two on that scale.  So, on a scale that only goes up to thirty, Asterion and Regulus are definitely on the higher end of it."

Hermione looked curious as she asked, "And how do you know about the power scale, Harry?"

"I've been talking with my Mum and Dad quite a bit," Harry answered.  "And my Grandfather Julian and Great-Grandfather Nathaniel and his brother Sebastian.  They've taught me quite a bit about the wizarding world and its customs, including the power scale."

"How do you find out where a person ranks on the scale?"  Hermione asked.

"Well, there's two ways," Asterion answered.  "People in the Magus range, which is levels twenty-six through thirty on the scale are powerful enough to determine a person's power just by looking at them, as they can see and read the magical auras created by spells and magical people.  There's also a spell, however, which I do know if you're curious."

Hermione nodded and said, "Yes, I'm very curious."

"All right then," Asterion said as he summoned his staff.  "Now, this spell is mage-level, which means that you have to be at least level sixteen on the power scale to cast it.  Any lower and you run the risk of not only the results being inaccurate but also of draining your magical core and shorting out your wand at best and killing yourself at worst, which is why I'll be casting this spell silently.  If you don't know the incantation you can't be tempted to try it."

Raising his staff in Hermione's direction, Asterion said the necessary incantation in his head, causing the large blue crystal on top of his staff to glow brightly for a moment, which was followed by Hermione's entire body lighting up in a myriad of colors for a few seconds.  Asterion smiled and said, "You're currently a Master Witch, Hermione, which is level eight on the scale."

"Currently?"  Hermione asked.

"On the day of your seventeenth birthday," Asterion answered, "at the exact time at which you were born you will undergo what's known as the magical inheritance, in which you'll most likely gain between one and three additional levels of magical power.  There are recorded instances of people gaining as many as six, but that's rare enough that most people think that three is the most that can be gained.  There's no reliable way to determine for sure how much power you'll gain in your inheritance, but you'll get at least one additional level."

"How powerful is Harry?  And Ron?"  Hermione asked.  Ron, who had noticed Asterion casting a spell on Hermione, had come over to see what was going on.

This led to Asterion performing the spell again, this time on Harry and Ron.  "Ron, you're level seven on the scale, so, a Wizard."

"And Harry?"  Ron asked.

"Level thirteen or Master Sorcerer," Asterion answered.

"Blimey, Harry, you're one level below Dumbledore," Ron said in a rather amazed tone.  Harry knew him well enough, however, that he could also detect the faint hint of jealousy in his tone.  At Hermione's confused look, he added, "It says right on our Hogwarts letters that Dumbledore is a Grand Sorcerer."  Turning to Asterion, he asked, "Grand does come after Master, right?"

"Yes, Ron, it does," Asterion said.  "All the different ranges from level six and up follow the same progression of Apprentice, Standard, Master, Grand, and Arch.  However, the word standard is never used and is simply replaced with whatever the name of the range you're in is.  So, Wizard or Witch, Sorcerer or Sorceress, Mage, Magister, or Magus."

Asterion ended up casting the spell several more times as he ended up testing pretty much everyone in the tent.  For the Weasley family, Arthur was a Master Wizard, while Molly was a Witch.  Bill was still in the King's tent and thus couldn't be tested, but Charlie and the twins all registered as Archwizards, while Percy was a Wizard and Ginny was a Grand Witch.  Testing Noah and Kolin next, Asterion determined that they were both Archwizards, while Sirius and Remus were both Master Wizards.  Turning his staff upon Dominick Burke, Asterion found him to be an Apprentice Sorcerer.  Performing the spell one more time, this time on Nick Ollivander, Asterion remained silent for a moment, before he said, "Well, it seems that other than my father and myself, you're one of the most powerful people here, Nick.  You're an Archsorcerer, so one level below the Mage range."

'Wow,' Harry thought.  'I wonder why he was never trained as a Mage?  He'd be a Grand Mage if he did the blood ritual.'

Of course what Harry had no way of knowing was that Nick had been approached by an Egyptian mage trainer shortly after his arrival in Cairo, offering to train him.  Despite a bit of an internal battle over his decision, Nick had ended up turning him down, as ultimately there'd just been something about the man that he didn't trust.  It turned out that he was right not to trust him, as about a month later the Pharaoh ordered the trainer's execution.  It would seem that after Nick had turned him down, he set out to find someone else to train, finding a candidate in one of the Pharaoh's numerous sons, twenty-year-old Prince Ramesses, who despite being older than Crown Prince Khufu was quite far behind him in the succession.  This was because Khufu was the firstborn son of Pharaoh Seti and his primary and first wife, Queen Meritites.  Ramesses, however, was the seventh-born son of Pharaoh Seti and his fourth wife, Princess Nefertari.

Anyway, as it would turn out the Egyptian trainer wasn't skilled enough to be taking on students in the first place.  So, when he performed the blood ritual, or more accurately tried to perform it, he almost killed Prince Ramesses.  The prince had barely enough blood left in his body to keep it functioning when the Medjai found him and put a stop to the ritual, as the Egyptian trainer had royally botched it.  The ritual called for the mage performing the spell and the person undergoing the spell to drip seven drops of blood into a specially charmed silver goblet.  Unfortunately, the would-be trainer somehow got this wrong and used none of his blood and seven pints of the Prince's blood.  Thankfully, the imperial healers had been able to save Prince Ramesses' life, but that didn't save the Egyptian trainer, as in the Pharaoh's mind the attempted murder of his son, even if murder wasn't intended, warranted a swift execution.

Needless to say, when he'd read about the whole ordeal in The Daily Sun, which was wizarding Egypt's version of The Daily Prophet, he was more than a little sick to his stomach that he had almost said yes.  If he had, it would have been him who almost died and he wasn't entirely sure that he'd still be alive.  After all, he wouldn't have access to the imperial healers, whose services were reserved solely for the members of the imperial family.  That's not to say that the healers for the general populace of Wizarding Egypt weren't any good at their jobs, as they were, but they weren't usually looked upon with as much respect as the imperial healers, nor did they have quite the same level of resources at their disposal.

Nick nodded and said, "I already knew that I was an Archsorcerer before today."  Knowing the secrecy surrounding the training and what it entailed, he said, "Before my inheritance, I was approached about the possibility of entering mage training, but it didn't work out since I only gained two levels in my inheritance, instead of the three I would have needed to enter the mage range."

That was a lie, as Nick had been twenty-three when he was approached for training, at which point the Egyptian trainer told him that there was a ritual that could be used to increase his power and push him into the necessary range.  However, knowing that was a secret, Nick decided it was best to lie to the people listening rather than reveal closely guarded secrets that weren't his to be telling.  Judging by the discreet looks he saw them exchange, Nick also knew that Harry, Asterion, and Regulus were aware that he was lying, but none of them said anything.

-o-0-o-

The next morning, Harry Apparated to Seacliff, knowing that his double was still in an enchanted sleep.  Going straight to the dungeons, he headed into Rolf's office and asked, "Everything okay with the prisoners?"

Rolf nodded and said, "Yes, Your Grace.  I ordered most of them placed in the lower levels, but there was one among them that I had to grant better accommodations to."

"Who?"

"Arcturus Lestrange," Rolf answered, and Harry felt himself paling a bit as he heard the name.

Rolf noticed it, apparently, and asked, "Is something wrong, Your Grace?"

"Possibly," Harry said after a moment.  "I need to go have a chat with Nathaniel and Sebastian in the portrait gallery to know for sure, however."

Rolf nodded but remained silent as Harry left his office and made his way to the gallery.  Arriving in the gallery, he said, "Nathaniel?  Sebastian?  I need to talk to you."

"First of all, you can call me Nat if you want," Nathaniel said, as Sebastian nodded and said, "And you can call me Ian."  After Harry had nodded, Sebastian asked, "So, what's up?"

"A group of idiots attacked the World Cup," Harry said.  "Nobody was hurt and my guards rounded up all but one of them.  They were dressed like Death Eaters, though, so obviously it caused quite a panic."

"I can imagine," Nathaniel said, as his brother nodded.

"Problem is," Harry said, "One of them is Arcturus Lestrange - son and heir of Rodolphus Lestrange."

"Ah, I see the issue," Sebastian said.  "You have the meeting of the Tribunal coming up and Arcturus needs to stand in for his father, who obviously can't make it due to being in Azkaban."

Harry nodded and said, "Does Arcturus have to be there?  I mean would things work with only twelve Lords showing up?"

Shaking his head, Nathaniel said, "No, the bylaws by which the Tribunal operates say that all thirteen houses must be represented by either the lord or the heir for any decisions made to be legally binding.  So, Arcturus or his father has to attend."

"Well, then Arcturus it'll have to be," Harry said.  "Frank Longbottom obviously can't come, so Neville will have to represent his family.  I know he dislikes Arcturus, but I'd rather he deal with him than Rodolphus Lestrange, even if there was some way for him to attend the Tribunal."

Nathaniel and Sebastian nodded their heads in agreement.  Harry was just about to ask his great-grandfather and great-granduncle their opinions on what he should do, in terms of whether he should let Arcturus go now or just give him a one-day reprieve when Tilly popped in and said, "Excuse me, Lord Potter."

"Yes, Tilly?"

"Lucius and Draco Malfoy have arrived," Tilly said.  "And His Majesty King Edward is with them."

Harry's eyes widened at that statement, as did Nathaniel's and Sebastian's, as Sebastian asked, "The King has come out of his self-imposed exile?"

Harry nodded.  "He came to the Cup and named six men, including Draco, as his official royal suitors."

"Royal suitors?"  Nathaniel said.  "Well, he would be in his early twenties by now I suppose, so it makes sense.  Anyway, best not to keep him waiting, Harry."

Nodding as he stood, Harry said, "Tilly, tell our guests I'll be with them momentarily."

Tilly nodded and popped out.  Looking at his relatives’ portraits again, Harry noticed, not for the first time, that they didn't look like they were in their sixties.  There was a very small touch of gray at their temples, but other than that they didn't look any older than maybe around twenty-five.  Thus, it was sometimes hard for Harry to think of these two men as what they were to him.  Even though he knew the King was waiting, Harry found himself asking, "You two were sixty-six when you died.  Why don't you look it?"

Sebastian laughed at that question, while Nathaniel just shook his head, as he nudged his brother with his shoulder and said, "That would be Ian's fault, Harry.  We sat for this portrait when we were twenty-four and he adamantly refused to ever sit for another one.  Mainly because he's a vain little bastard who didn't want to grow old, so, he hid our true appearance behind glamour charms and refused to allow our portrait to be updated.  Took me thirty years to convince him to let a little of our by-then gray hair show and it wasn't until the year before we died that he consented to have our portrait updated to show the small amount of gray hair."

"Forgive me, Nat, but weren't you Lord Potter?"

"Yes, Nat was Lord Potter," Sebastian replied.  "However, I believe there's a saying about who wears the trousers in a relationship."  Giving his brother a cocky grin, he said, "Let's just say that I'm the one who wore them in ours."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes.  "That's not entirely true, but I will admit that I did give up a lot of control to Ian over the years.  I became Lord Potter when we were only sixteen, so, I had a lot of control handed to me, running the Potter lands and whatnot.  So I guess when it came to the two of us, I let Ian make most of the decisions that didn't pertain to Potter family business.  It was nice to give up control to someone else occasionally."

"I guess that makes sense," Harry said.  "So, do you think I should let Arcturus out now?  Or just give him a temporary reprieve like I did with Draco?"

"A temporary reprieve might not work," Sebastian said with a sigh.  "The magic-restraining collar that prisoners wear affects different people in different ways.  Sometimes it will take as long as a week for the prisoner to have full use of their magic back after the collar comes off and Arcturus will have to have full use of his magic if he's going to be of any use at the Tribunal."

"I guess I'll have to let him go then," Harry said and fought down the bile that threatened to rise in his throat at the idea of allowing a Death Eater that he'd locked away in his dungeons go with basically what amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

"Well, in lieu of time in the dungeon," Nathaniel said, "you can order him to pay a fine since his offense happened on your lands.  It's up to you how much, but I would say 10,000 galleons, minimum, and tell him he has 30 days to pay or he'll be back in your dungeon."

Harry nodded and said, "Okay, thank you for the advice."  Nathaniel and Sebastian nodded.  "All right, well, I'd best be on my way.  Mustn't keep the King waiting, after all."

-o-0-o-

When he arrived in the main entry hall, Harry found Lucius, Draco, King Edward, and Robert in conversation.  Deciding to make his presence known, he said, "Your Majesty, I’m sorry I kept you waiting."

Edward smiled as he turned to face Harry and said, "No need to apologize Lord Potter.  Your house-elf explained that you were in the middle of wrapping up some family business.  Your seneschal has kept me company."  At this, Edward raised his left hand and ran it through Draco's hair, as he said, "And I'm certainly not going to complain about a little extra time with Draco."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Harry said.

"Please, Lord Potter, there's no need to be so formal," Edward said.  "Not here in your own home, at least.  You may call me Edward."

With a slight bow, Harry said, "As you wish, Edward.  I usually go by Harry, if you'd care to use it."

"Thank you, Harry," Edward said with a disarming smile.  "Now, shall we head for the dungeons and get Draco locked up?"

"I'm really in no hurry," Draco said.

"Oh, dear, sweet Draco," Edward said with a grin, as the hand that had until now still been in Draco's hair moved down and cupped his left cheek.  "You did the crime, you must do the time."  Turning back to Harry, he added, "I do, hope, however, Harry, that you will allow Draco one more reprieve before the school term starts.  I'd very much like him and my other suitors to attend the Founder's Ball with me as my dates for the evening."

"Of course, that's not a problem," Harry said.  "Shall we head for the dungeons then?"

"Lead on, Harry," Edward said with a smile, as he moved to stand behind Draco and wrapped one arm around his chest, while the other moved back up to rest in his blond hair.  With a grin, Edward said, "I do so love your hair, my darling Draco, it's so soft."

"Thank you, sir," Draco said, as Harry led the group to the dungeons.

-o-0-o-

Twenty minutes later, the group, plus Rolf, arrived at a landing near the top of the Nobles' Tower, where there was only one door visible and a small hallway that turned a corner.  Taking a deep breath, as he was tired from climbing up the three hundred steps they'd just climbed to get this far, Draco looked at the door and said, "Finally."

Shaking his head, Harry said, "Sorry, Draco, but that door is not our destination.  There's another staircase around the corner here.  It's another seventy steps up to the platinum suite."

"Oh Merlin," Draco whined.  "Honestly, Your Grace, I don't mind if you don't put me in the platinum suite.  Can't you just put me in this cell and be done with it?"

"No, I can't," Harry said.

"Why?"  Draco said.  "I don't think I can climb any more steps."

"Sorry, Draco, but I don't have a death wish," Harry said.

"What?"  Draco asked, clearly confused.

"I said I don't have a death wish," Harry repeated.  "Edward asked me to put you up in the best accommodations I had in my dungeon and that's the platinum suite."  Pointing at the lone door, he added, "And this is not the platinum suite and is a place I would never even consider placing you, because I'm sure His Majesty would be quite angry with me if I did."

Edward smiled and asked, "And why do you think that, Harry?"

Turning to the King, a grim look on his face, Harry said, "Because that door doesn't lead to a noble's cell.  It leads to the oubliette."

Since the Malfoy family was French and he spoke the language fluently, Draco had no trouble recognizing the French word or what it meant.  "You have an oubliette?"

It was Robert who answered.  "Yes, Mr. Malfoy.  It was built in the 17th century for Lord Thomas Potter, the 146th Duke of Granston."

"Why would you put the family head in an oubliette?"  Lucius asked.

"I'm very curious to hear the answer to that myself," Edward said, prompting Robert to look at Harry, who nodded his head, almost reluctantly.

"It was a very dark moment in the Potter family history," Robert replied.  "Lord Thomas was placed there by his younger brother, Lord Jameson Potter, the 147th Duke of Granston after pensieve memories and a Veritaserum confession uncovered the fact that Thomas had murdered their father, Lord William Potter, the 145th Duke, so that he could take his place as the family head."

Having read about this particular event in some of the family journals, Harry added, "Lord Thomas hated his father with a passion, enough so that he held him under the Cruciatus Curse until he was driven to the point of insanity, before finally putting him out of his misery with the Killing Curse.  Appalled that his brother had used two Unforgivables against their father, Jameson challenged Thomas to a duel for the family headship and Jameson won.  The moment the family magic recognized Jameson as the new Lord Potter, he ordered Thomas arrested."

"Lord Jameson thought that his brother should suffer as their father had," Robert said.  "But he refused to sully himself by using Unforgivables and instead had the center of the Nobles' Tower hollowed out and turned into an oubliette.  As soon as it was completed, Lord Thomas was thrown into it and forgotten about.  Ten years later, his bones were removed from the bottom of the shaft and he was buried in an unmarked grave near the swamp at the back of the estate, as Lord Jameson felt that a murderer didn't deserve to rest in the family mausoleum alongside his victim."

Harry sighed.  "Well, now you know of my family's skeleton in the cupboard.  As Robert said, it was a very dark moment in the family history that successive generations have done their best to forget.  It was recorded in the family journals, to explain the oubliette's existence, but beyond that Lord Thomas Potter is rarely spoken of by the family.  Nobody in the family has borne the name Thomas since and he is the only past Lord Potter whose portrait doesn't hang in a place of honor in the family portrait gallery.  According to the journals, Jameson ordered the portrait destroyed shortly after Thomas, totally unrepentant of what he'd done, was imprisoned in the oubliette."

"So, it hasn't been used since?"  Draco asked.

Shaking his head, Harry said, "No, it hasn't.  There are mentions in the family journal that some of the successive generations of the family had strongly considered removing it as if they hoped to erase the event from the family history, but it was always decided that it would be best to remember the incident if only to hopefully prevent such an atrocity from happening again in the future."

"Well, perhaps we should continue on our way," Lucius said.

Draco didn't look too happy about the idea of climbing more stairs and Edward must have seen it because the blond Slytherin soon let out a startled sound as he found himself lifted off the floor by the King and cradled in his arms.  When it looked like he was about to open his mouth, whether it be to thank the King or protest at being carried, Edward shook his head and sealed his lips against Draco's.  Lucius, Harry, Robert, and Rolf all averted their gazes away, as Edward kissed Draco.  Harry, Robert, and Rolf because they felt that it was a private moment, and Lucius because he still wasn't comfortable with the sight of his only son kissing a man.  Not that he was about to say anything about that, mind you, as he greatly enjoyed his head where it was.

Ending the kiss, Edward said, "We can continue now."

Rolf looked a bit dubious as he said, "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but this last flight of stairs is very narrow and we'll likely have to ascend in single file, and so, I don't think there will be room for Mr. Malfoy to be carried up the stairs the way you're currently holding him."

"That's easily fixed," Edward said with another easy grin, as he adjusted the Malfoy heir in his arms a bit and said, "Draco, wrap your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist."

Draco looked hesitant to do so and asked, "Are... are you sure, Your Majesty?  I can probably walk the rest of the way.  It's only, um, what did you say, Lord Potter, another seventy steps?"

Harry nodded.  "Yes, another seventy, narrow and steep steps."

Deciding that he didn't want to walk up that many steps after all, not when somebody was willing to carry him, Draco did as Edward had told him to do and wrapped his arms around the king's neck and his legs around the king's waist.  Edward smiled as he leaned forward and placed another kiss, more of a peck this time, on Draco's lips, before wrapping one arm securely around the teen's back.  Edward rested his other hand on his suitor's rear end and patted it, prompting Draco's pale skin to turn an interesting shade of rosy pink.  Although Harry suspected it wasn't only because of where the king's hand was, considering just how close a certain part of Draco's anatomy was to the same part of the King.

Turning his face away to hide the grin he couldn't help but get, as he'd never expected to be witness to a blushing Draco Malfoy, Harry took the lead and led the rest of the way up to the platinum suite.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, at the Burrow, Charlie and Noah had arrived about half an hour ago, intending to tell Charlie's parents about some important developments regarding their wedding the following day.  However, as she didn't get a chance to see her son and future son-in-law very often, as they maintained their flat in Diagon Alley and didn't stay with the family when they were in Britain, Molly insisted on spending a little time catching up.  She made tea and Charlie and Noah found themselves distracted from their purpose by questions about their lives and work in Romania.  Arthur was just pleased that they were both happy, but Molly couldn't help but express her concern about their dangerous jobs.

"Mum, we're fine, really," Charlie said, with an exasperated smile.

"The reserve employs a team of top-notch healers," Noah added.  "So, there's nothing to worry about as we've never been injured in such a way that the healers couldn't fix.  There's five of them, in all, and between them, they have just over a hundred and fifty years of experience treating dragon-related injuries.  So, we're really in the best possible hands."

Before Molly could say anything further, and Charlie could tell from the look on her face that she was gearing up to do just that, he said, "Now, Mum, Dad, as much as Noah and I have enjoyed this grilling about our lives, that's not why we came.  There's something very important we need to talk to you about."

With a nod of his head, Arthur placed a hand on his wife's shoulder to calm her down, as he said, "Of course, boys, what is it?"

"Well, it involves our wedding tomorrow," Noah said, slightly hesitant.  "There's been a few, well, last-minute plan changes."

"What kind of last-minute changes?"  Molly asked.  "Charlie, Noah, you can't be serious.  We've been planning this wedding for months now.  You can't just come to us the day before the wedding and tell us that you're making changes."

Charlie and Noah shared a look, before Charlie asked, "Well, you remember last night at dinner in the King's tent that Lord Ollivander announced his decision to personally officiate our wedding?"  Molly and Arthur nodded.  "Well, it would seem that he felt that holding the wedding at the Gwaren Town Hall, as we'd planned, wasn't appropriate with himself as the officiate.  So, he's insisting that we move the wedding to the ballroom at Castle Windermere."

"He says we needn't worry about anything," Noah quickly added, as he saw Molly's face going pale.  "His house-elves will handle all of the decorations.  They'll adapt what we already have if they can, but they'll be adding to it, as well, as he assures our wedding will become one of the social events of the year."

Molly was sitting there in stunned silence, so noticing the looks on their faces, Arthur asked, "There's more that you're not telling us, isn't there?"

"More?  How could there possibly be more?"  Molly asked before Charlie or Noah could answer.  "We've just gone from a simple wedding at the town hall, officiated by Lord Ollivander's seneschal, to a much grander affair officiated by the Duke of Whitehaven himself in his castle!  What more could there possibly be?"

"Well..." Charlie said, drawing out the word as he called upon his Gryffindor courage.  "Harry has offered his ballroom at Seacliff Castle for the reception.  He's already got his elves working on a more appropriate menu than what you'd planned to serve, Mum."

"He's also made all the necessary arrangements for the music," Noah added.  "Celestina Warbeck, Lorcan d'Eath, and the Weird Sisters will all be performing live."

Molly's eyes widened with every word she was hearing.  The plan had been for the wedding reception to be held in a tent in the Weasley's back garden at the Burrow, with music provided via the Wizarding Wireless.  Now they were having a reception in the ballroom at Seacliff Castle, with live performances by three of the wizarding world's most famous musical acts.

"And, um, there's also the matter of the guest list," Charlie said, pushing ahead before his mother could start panicking, as he was sure she was on the verge of doing already.  Although, he knew what was going to be coming out of his mouth next, would possibly make her have a complete mental breakdown.  "All the nobles and their families will be there, of course.  Several officials from the Ministry, including the Minister."  Glancing over at Noah, who gave him an encouraging smile, Charlie added, speaking so fast that his words blurred together, "AndBillpulledusasidetosaythattheKingwouldbethereashisdate."

Arthur looked confused and asked, "What was that, Charlie, I didn't quite get that?"

Cuffing Charlie playfully upside the head, Noah shook his head and said, "Bill pulled us aside this morning.  He is, of course, Charlie's witness and thus has to be there.  But, since he's now an official royal suitor, well, His Majesty the King has decided to put in an appearance as Bill's date."

The next sound in the room was a thud, as Molly fell out of her chair into a dead faint.  A few moments later, after he'd levitated her to the sofa in the living room, Arthur pointed his wand at his wife and said, "Rennervate!"

Molly's eyes flickered open to look up into the concerned eyes of her husband and she said, "Oh Arthur, I just had the most distressing nightmare.  Charlie and Noah were here and they were telling us that there'd been all these changes to their wedding tomorrow - including that the King would be there."

"That wasn't a nightmare, Mum," Charlie said.  "That really happened."

Arthur, Charlie, and Noah all winced because, at that moment, Molly let out an almost ear-piercing shriek that would probably make a banshee envious.  This, of course, prompted quite a bit of movement throughout the house, as several pairs of feet could suddenly be heard running down the stairs and moments later, Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron all burst into the living room with their wands drawn, as Percy asked, "What's wrong?"

"Your Mum is reacting to the news," Noah added.  At Percy's questioning glance, he added, "In a nutshell, your brother and I are getting married at Castle Windermere, with reception to follow at Seacliff Castle, and the King will be there as Bill's date."

"Ah, I see," Percy said, as he and his siblings put away their wands, as they realized that there wasn't a life-threatening situation in progress.

Ginny soon let out a shriek to rival her mother's, as she exclaimed, "What in Merlin's name am I going to wear?!"

Casting a look at his brother, Ron, who was not exactly thrilled about Charlie marrying Noah in the first place, asked, "Blimey, Charlie, what have you gone and gotten us into now?"

Fred and George, meanwhile, wrapped their arms around their little sister and Fred said, "Clothes, dear sister," as George nodded sagely and added, "Yes, clothes would be good."

"Everyone calm down, please!" Charlie exclaimed as everyone turned to look at him.  "Lord Ollivander's house-elves are handling everything for the wedding and Harry's are handling the reception.  All we have to do is show up," and noticing that Ginny and Molly looked ready to say something, he held up his hands to stop them and said, "And as for clothing, Harry told Noah and I to bring all of you over to Seacliff this afternoon.  He said that he'll have Tilly bring a few trunks of his family's old clothes down from the attic.  You can all sort through them and find an appropriate outfit, which Tilly will tailor on the spot to ensure it fits."

Looking at Molly, a smile on his face which he hoped would ease her nerves, Noah added, "Harry knows that you were hesitant to let him buy you those new outfits for dinner with the King last night, so, he figured letting us borrow some of the clothes that are just sitting in cedar trunks in his attic would be an acceptable alternative."

"Why do we even need to borrow clothes?"  Ron asked.  "We've all got a brand new outfit that Harry just bought for all of us."

Ginny looked scandalized and she punched her brother in the forearm and said, "Don't be daft, Ron!  We can't possibly wear the same outfits to the wedding that we just wore to dinner with the King two nights previously."

Percy nodded and said, "Yes, Ron, if we did that we might as well brand the word 'poor' on our foreheads."

Remembering the hideous dress robes that his Mum had bought him about a week before the World Cup, Ron shuddered and said, "What if we can't find anything that we like?"

Guessing what Ron was thinking, the twins grinned, as Fred said, "Don't worry Ickle Ronniekins..."

"...I'm sure we'll find something..."

"...we all like.  These clothes are..."

"...from the private collections of..."

"...one of the oldest noble families around."

"They wouldn't be caught dead in anything as hideous as your second-hand dress robes," the twins finished in unison.  They both cast slightly worried looks in their mother's direction as they said this, afraid they were about to get yelled at for this comment, but Molly was too wrapped up with everything that was going through her head at the moment to pay much attention to her prankster sons.

Charlie sighed and wrapped an arm around Noah's waist.  They'd both been a little upset at how their wedding had been hijacked, but they had to admit that from what they'd heard it sounded a lot better than anything they had planned.  And they both knew that with the King coming the ballrooms at Windermere and Seacliff would be vastly more appropriate than a tent in the back garden at the Burrow.  Besides, they had sat down with Tilly and Lord Ollivander's head elf and answered a myriad of questions that would allow the two elves to get a feel for Charlie's and Noah's likes and dislikes.  Both elves assured the couple that they would do everything they could to make this their dream wedding, so, they couldn't be too upset.

Looking at his watch, Noah said, "Well, it's time we all get over to Seacliff.  Harry gave Charlie and me a portkey that would bring us directly to Seacliff," as he pulled out a small silver ball that resembled a snitch.  "And he's sending Robert to pick up Hermione so that she'll also have something appropriate to wear to the wedding."

"Gather round and let's get going," Charlie said, as his family nodded mutely and moments later, they disappeared.

-o-0-o-

Back at Seacliff, once Draco was settled in the platinum suite, Lucius, Rolf, Harry, Robert, and Edward made their way back downstairs.  Rolf went back to his office while Harry and Robert saw Lucius and Edward to a small garden about ten yards from the front door.  With Eudora's help, Harry had adjusted the Seacliff wards to allow for a small outdoor apparition point that would allow people to Apparate closer to the front door and not have to take the carriages up from the front gates.  As a security measure, however, this apparition point would remain closed most of the time and only Harry, as the lord of the castle and master of the wards, would be able to open and close it to allow for it to be used.

Once Lucius and Edward disappeared, Harry was silent for a moment, as he willed the seals on the apparition point to activate, effectively making it impossible to use it, before he and Robert walked back towards the castle.  "Did you get the invitations ordered?"

After offering up his ballroom for their wedding reception, Harry had sent Robert to a well-respected magical printing shop in Highever that had often printed things for the Potter family in the past to order several gold-embossed invitations for the reception.  They would be magically charmed to act as time-and-date activated portkeys which would allow the bearer and one guest to use them to portkey directly into the entrance hall at Seacliff.  Thus once the wedding itself was over, it would be very easy for the guests to get from Castle Windermere in the Duchy of Whitehaven down to Seacliff Castle in the Duchy of Granston.

Robert nodded.  "Yes, Harry.  Being a priority order, they've agreed to call in some extra employees to make sure they're ready for tomorrow, but they refused any compensation when I offered it to them.  The owner of the shop says that he and his ancestors have happily served your family for seventeen generations and he's just glad to be able to do so again."

As they arrived back at the front door and entered the castle, Harry said, "Well, Robert, if you could accompany me to the dungeons, I have to talk with one of the Death Eaters captured at the Cup, and as much as it galls me, release him."

Harry then explained the situation as the two of them walked back towards the dungeon.  Robert agreed that it was a shame that they had to release a Death Eater, although he did feel it necessary to point out that he doubted that Arcturus Lestrange was a marked Death Eater.  The Lestrange heir had only been eleven years old when Voldemort had tried to kill Harry, after all, and Robert just didn't think that the Dark Lord would mark an eleven-year-old boy.  Stopping by Rolf's office, to collect the magically-binding contract of release that had been drawn up, which set the terms for Arcturus' release, the three men then proceeded to the cells.

As the courtesy Viscount Cumberworth, the cell that Arcturus had been placed in was identical to the one that Draco had originally been placed in.  Entering the room, Harry saw Arcturus lying on the bed reading a book.  If he'd heard his cell door open, he made no indication of it.

"Arcturus," Harry said, finally causing the man to look up, at which point he closed his book, set it on the bedside table, and swung his legs off the bed.

"Your Grace," Arcturus said, in a somewhat cold tone.  "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm here to see to your release," Harry said.

Arcturus looked smug as he said, "Finally realized that I'm innocent, did you?"

"On the contrary, Arcturus," Harry said.  "I've seen the pensieve memory of my guards unmasking you as one of the Death Eaters who attacked the Cup last night.  My seneschal has pointed out that you most likely are not a marked Death Eater, seeing as how you were only eleven when Voldemort died, but the fact remains, I do have proof that you participated in an attack with the Death Eaters.  Thus I would hardly call you innocent."

"Why release me then?"

"I'm sure you know I've called for a meeting of the Tribunal of the Thirteen," Harry responded and Arcturus nodded.  "Seeing as how it's rather doubtful that your father will be able to put in an appearance, that leaves you and I understand you'll need full use of your magic at the Tribunal, so, you can't be a prisoner wearing a magic restraining collar."

"I see," Arcturus said.  He was a shrewd man, however, and asked, "And I suppose there's some condition to my release?"

"Indeed there is," Harry said, as Robert produced the magically binding contract.  "You will sign this contract, which stipulates that the House of Lestrange will pay a fine of 15,000 galleons to the House of Potter for your crime.  You have thirty days to pay or you will once again be a guest of this cell.  By signing the contract, you also admit that you participated in last night's events and that should you ever participate in any Death Eater activity in the future, you understand that I will be turning over all evidence in my possession to His Majesty's Court for perusal."

"And if I refuse to sign this contract?"  Arcturus asked.  "You need me for the Tribunal, Lord Potter.  I shouldn't have to explain to you that gives me all the leverage here and places you at a rather severe disadvantage."

Harry smiled.  "I figured you might say that, Arcturus, which is why I spoke with His Majesty the King about this.  If you choose not to sign my contract of release, you will still be released, because as you say I do need you at the Tribunal.  However, you should know that if you don't sign, the day after the Tribunal business is concluded, the King will be issuing an order for your arrest at which point you will be thrown in the dungeon at Castle Camelot and the fine that House Lestrange must pay House Potter will be tripled to 45,000 galleons.  Oh and since His Majesty does have a rather compelling reason to hate Death Eaters, after what they did to his family, he hinted that once your increased fine was paid, the rest of your family's assets would be seized by the crown, leaving you completely penniless.  So, the choice is yours."

Arcturus laughed and said, "Well played, Your Grace, well played indeed.  I wouldn't have expected such maneuvering from a Gryffindor."  With a shake of his head, he said, "I'll sign your contract of release."

"Good, I'm glad we could agree then," Harry said as he motioned for Rolf to place the contract on the table, along with a specially charmed blood quill which would allow Arcturus to sign the contract even though his magical core was currently blocked by the collar around his neck.

Once the contract was signed, Rolf removed the collar from Arcturus' neck and returned his wand to him, at which point Harry said, "Oh, and Arcturus, before Rolf escorts you out, the King asked me to pass on a message to you.  He said that if he finds out that you've participated in any form of Death Eater activity in the future, he will not be amused.  He also asked that I tell you to stop pestering his seneschal about overturning the convictions of your parents and uncle."

Arcturus looked like he was going to say something, but Harry held up a hand to stop him and said, "While it's true that it may have been unlawful for the Wizengamot to try them, King Edward has since signed off on their imprisonment, thus fully legalizing their confinement to Azkaban.  He says that having reviewed the evidence from their trials, he couldn't come to any other conclusion but that they were guilty and that they should remain where they were.  He was going to have his seneschal draft a letter to you about this, but once he found out you were in my dungeon, he asked that I pass along the message personally."

Arcturus sighed, but remained silent, at which point Harry said, "Rolf, please escort Viscount Cumberworth down to the gates."

Rolf nodded and said, "As you wish, Your Grace."

Once Arcturus and Rolf were gone, Harry turned to Robert with a smile and asked, "Well, I think that went rather well, wouldn't you say so?"

Robert smiled and nodded, before he answered simply, "Quite."

-o-0-o-

About half an hour after Arcturus had left, Harry walked into the drawing room to find Noah, Hermione, and the Weasleys, minus Bill, waiting for him.  He smiled widely and said, "Hello all, welcome to the real Seacliff."

"Blimey, Harry, this place is huge!"  Ron said.  "I know you said that the interior of the tent was full-size, but this seems larger."

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I've since found out that I was wrong about that statement.  My great-grandfather, Nathaniel Potter, and his brother, Sebastian, were the ones who charmed the tent the family used at the World Cup.  They said that they stretched the wizard space as much as they possibly could to fit the full-scale interior of the castle, but there were limits.  Most of the rooms on this floor were made close to their actual sizes, with perhaps a few feet cut off now and then.  Rooms on the upper levels were greatly reduced in size, however, and the dungeons and the Nobles' Tower were eliminated.  They didn't see much reason to include them in a tent, after all."

Molly had managed to calm down by now and said, "Harry, I appreciate you offering your ballroom for Charlie's and Noah's wedding reception."

"It was my pleasure, Molly," Harry said with a smile.  "As I told them, it's my wedding present to them.  I know that it's technically Potter money that's paying for their honeymoon, but that money was bequeathed to Noah fair and square.  So, I couldn't exactly count that as my wedding present, so I figured I'd offer to host their wedding reception.  I hope you weren't too put out over the last-minute change of venue."

"No, it was a shock, definitely," Arthur answered, "but I think Seacliff will be much more appropriate, especially now that Bill's plus one is King Edward."

"Yes, hosting the King will be an interesting experience," Harry said.  "Of course, he was already here this morning.  You all missed him by about an hour."

"Why was the King here?"  Percy asked.

"He accompanied Lucius and Draco Malfoy," Harry answered.  "I guess since Draco is one of his suitors, he wanted to make sure that Draco's new accommodations in my dungeon were satisfactory."

"I am quite surprised that His Majesty chose Draco," Molly said.  "The boy is only fourteen and His Majesty is twenty-four.  That's a rather disturbing age difference."

"Well, Mum, the age of consent in Albion is fourteen," Charlie pointed out, "so, even if this wasn't the King we were talking about, it would be legal."

"And even if it wasn't," Noah said, "it would still be legal if His Majesty says it is."

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this," Hermione said, "but a part of me kind of feels sorry for Draco."

"What?"  Ron looked at her like she'd gone crazy.  "Why would you be sorry for that git?"

Turning to Ron, Hermione said, "Because Ron, as far as I know, Draco is straight, so being with the King must be rather awkward for him.  And Marcus Flint also admitted at dinner last night that he's straight."

"So is Callum McKinnon," Robert said.  "He dated my first wife's niece for just over a year.  They broke up a few months ago, but for Terence's sake, we do stay close with his mother's family, so I know for a fact that Lord McKinnon prefers women."

"Well, I don't feel sorry for him," Ron said.  "Malfoy deserves everything he gets."

"Ronald Weasley," Molly said in her angry tone.  "You will shut your mouth this instant."

When it looked like Ron was going to retort, Arthur shook his head and said, "Ron, don't say another word on the subject.  You have no outstanding contracts or relationships, so, unless you want your mother and I to submit your name as one of the King's suitors, as he said last night that people could, you should do as your mother and I say."

All the color drained out of Ron's face at that and he managed to say, "You wouldn't!"

"We would, Ron," Molly said, "if it'll make you learn to treat people with some basic human compassion.  I understand that Draco hasn't been kind to you over the years, but that doesn't mean you should take pleasure in him becoming one of the King's suitors and possibly having to go against his preferences."

Charlie nodded and said, "Yes, Ron, that is rather bad of you.  Even if Draco is straight, as a suitor to the King, he may well end up in the King's bed before His Majesty makes a decision.  Just think how you'd feel if that was you in that position."

At this, Ron's skin started to look a little green and he moaned, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Tilly!"  Harry said, as the elf appeared, at which point he pointed at Ron and said, "Take him to the nearest bathroom before he throws up all over my rug."

Tilly nodded, walked over to Ron, took his hand, and popped out of the room, taking Ron with her.

Once Ron was gone, Harry shook his head and said, "Anyway, I'm sure by now you've all noticed the trunks," as he motioned to the six large cedar trunks lined up across one wall of the room.  "Tilly tells me that the first three, closest to the fireplace, are full of women's clothes.  The other three are men's clothes, so you should all be able to find something appropriate to wear in them."

"Thank you for helping us with clothes, Harry," Percy said.  "It really would be inappropriate to wear the outfits we wore to dinner with the King last night."

Percy wasn't as into fashion as Ginny was, but he was very interested in politics.  Since the royal and noble families played a very big role in the politics of Albion, he had extensively studied the subject and thus knew what would and wouldn't be considered appropriate when socializing with them.  In royal and noble circles, being seen in the same outfit within the span of a single week would not be considered appropriate.  It would be considered highly uncouth and a sign of both improper breeding and upbringing.

"Well, let's get started then, shall we?"  Harry asked with a smile, as the others nodded.  Molly, Ginny, and Hermione made their way over to the trunks that contained the women's clothes, while the others made their way over to the other three trunks.

After a few moments, Hermione caught Harry's eye and asked, "These all seem rather outdated, Harry."

"By muggle standards, yes, I suppose they are," Harry said, as he eyed the clothes that had thus far been removed from the trunks.  "However, as you've surely noticed by what I'm currently wearing and by what the other nobles were wearing at the dinner with the king last night, wizarding fashions, especially among the noble classes, are more in line with what muggles were wearing in the 18th and 19th centuries."

Hermione nodded and said, "Yes, I noticed, although I have seen some people wearing more up-to-date clothing.  Terence, for example, when he came with you to my house before the Cup."

Harry smiled.  "Well, he isn't nobility, first off, and despite being a Slytherin pureblood, he does have muggle-raised halfblood and muggleborn friends.  His stepmother, Katherine, who tends my greenhouses here at Seacliff is also a muggle-raised halfblood.  Thus, over the years, he's adapted his personal style to be a bit more modern than what would be normal by wizarding standards.  Of course, since we were going into a muggle neighborhood, I also helped him select options that wouldn't look out of place."

"Okay, that makes sense," Hermione said.  "Was it very challenging to help him pick something out?"

"Well," Harry said with a grin, "it was a little, yes.  You see, some of his clothes while they could pass pretty well in a muggle environment would raise eyebrows simply because they're magical.  The first time I met him he was wearing a white silk shirt with a green snake embroidered on it.  Would have looked fine to the muggles if it wasn't for the charm work that allows the snake to move."

Hermione looked up at that, as she asked, "It moves?"

"Yeah.  The charms on it capture the movement pattern of a live snake," Harry said.  "So, it might coil up so that it's completely on the back of the shirt, or it might move so that most of its body is on the back, but its head has moved up over Terence's shoulder and you can see the tongue going in and out of its mouth.  Thing even reacts to both Terence and others touching it as if it was alive, but it isn't."

Grinning a bit, Hermione said, "Wow, I'd like to see that."

"Well, I'll make sure Terence wears that shirt at some point at Hogwarts," Harry said.  "Maybe on a Hogsmeade weekend."

Hermione nodded at that before she turned her attention back to the trunk she was sorting through.  Tilly and Ron popped back into the room at this point and Ron was looking better than he had been.  As Ron walked over to join his family at the trunks, Tilly came over to Harry and said, "I gave him an Anti-Nausea Potion, just in case, Lord Potter, sir."

Nodding, Harry said, "Thank you, Tilly.  Could you get some dressing screens set up in the room?"

"Yes, Lord Potter, sir, right away," as she popped out of the room, only to return moments later with six other elves, as she supervised the setting up of five dressing screens along one wall of the room.  Once they were set up, the other elves popped away and Tilly closed a few of the draperies near the screens.  Pausing to light some of the candelabras on that side of the room to compensate for the loss of daylight, she then popped out.

Once the screens were set up, a few people took advantage of them and began trying on a few of the outfits.  Seated in a chair near the fireplace, Harry couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he saw Fred and George go behind one screen together.  'Well, they are twins,' he thought.  'I suppose they would have seen each other naked before.'  At this point, Harry had the random thought that if he'd had an identical twin brother, he supposed he might have wanted to see them naked, just to compare how identical they were.  Of course, that thought had Harry wishing, not for the first time, that his parents hadn't died, as he thought that he really would have liked being an older brother.

A few moments later, Harry watched as Fred and George emerged from behind the screen wearing matching white shirts with lace at the ends of the shirt cuffs, covered by vibrant red waistcoats, black coats, and trousers with a black and grey herringbone pattern.  As Harry was the only one who'd noticed them, they each held a finger over their lips to keep him quiet, as they walked closer to the center of the room, before striking a somewhat dramatic pose and asking, in perfect unison, "How do we look?"

Several people turned around to look and while some of the Weasley siblings began laughing, Molly gasped and asked, "Fred! George!  What have you done to those clothes?  Harry was kind enough to let us borrow some of his ancestors' clothes and you go and wreck them by sewing them together?"

There had been a few outfits belonging to Nathaniel and Sebastian in the trunks that Tilly had brought down, which the twins had found.  Thus the clothes were made to take the shared liver of the outfit’s original owners into account.  So, the trousers they were wearing, while having four separate legs were connected from the hip level up.  The shirts, waistcoats, and coats, were also connected from about midway down the torso.

"We didn't do anything to them, Mum!"  Fred exclaimed as George nodded and said, "Yeah, Mum, these clothes were like this when we found them."

Before Molly could say anything, Harry stood and said, "I imagine they're right, Molly.  My great-grandfather, Nathaniel Potter, and his brother, Sebastian, were conjoined twins who shared a liver, so those are probably the clothes that Fred and George are wearing."

"They were never separated?"  Hermione asked.  "When were they alive?"

"They were born in 1881 and died in 1947," Harry answered.  "And no, they were never separated.  Wizarding conjoined twins are very rarely if ever separated, Hermione, because regardless of how their bodies are joined, their magical cores are fused.  Thus separation would carry a very high risk of turning both twins into squibs, so, you wouldn't find many parents of such twins who would want them separated.  Along the same vein, you wouldn't be likely to find many such adult twins wanting to be separated either, simply because having grown up being able to use magic, they wouldn't want to risk losing the ability to do so."

Even as Hermione nodded in understanding, Molly shook her head and said, "Well, Fred and George are not conjoined, so take off those clothes.  I will not allow you two to dress like that on your brother's big day.  Especially not with the nobility and the King coming!"

Fred and George grinned and moved to take off the coats, prompting Molly to pinch the bridge of her nose with one hand as she raised the other and pointed to one of the screens as she said, "Behind the screen!"

Ginny, Ron, Charlie, Harry, Noah, and Hermione all had grins on their faces at the twins' antics.  Even Arthur looked like he was rather enjoying it, but he tried not to let it show too much on his face if only to keep the peace with his wife, who didn't find it funny in the slightest.

-o-0-o-

The following day, the large and ornate ballroom of Castle Windermere was full of people.  The oaken floors were polished so well that people could see their reflections.  Several arrangements of snapdragons, in many vibrant colors, were placed all around the room.  With a bit of magic, they filled the room with a sweet smell, which quite nicely complimented the sea air that a light breeze was blowing in through two of the open windows.  The call of seagulls could be heard now and then over the classical music being played by a full orchestra.  A red carpet stretched down the center aisle of the room, with rows of white wooden chairs lining either side.

At the front of the room, under the large stained glass window depicting the Ollivander family crest was a white trellis on a raised platform, covered in red and white roses.  A pair of tall golden candelabras rested on either side of a lectern, on which rested the thick gilt-edged Ollivander family bible.  Of course, with Wizarding society in Britain being polytheistic, worshiping the Greek deities, much of the book's girth was due to the extensive family tree, dating back over a thousand years, that was contained within its pages.  The rest was a collection of prayers and stories about the various gods and goddesses, with this particular copy, since it was often used in wedding ceremonies, paying special attention to Eros and Aphrodite, as the God and Goddess of Love, and Hera, as the Goddess of Marriage.

The guests, dressed in their finest, were beginning to arrive and were shown to their assigned seats by the castle's house elves.  Since the wedding hadn't started yet, soft conversations could be heard all over the room, as family and friends talked about a variety of topics.  Everything from politics and money to the latest gossip, and even a few parents chastising their children for wearing something they didn't deem appropriate for the occasion.  This was especially true since it had gotten out that the King would be putting in an appearance because one of his suitors was the best man of one of the grooms.

Meanwhile, in one of the upstairs bedrooms, Noah Kirke was busy getting ready.  He was already dressed and the hairdresser who had done his hair had just left.  Now, he was just sitting in front of the vanity mirror and taking several deep breaths as he tried to calm his nerves.  He loved Charlie with all of his heart and he'd been looking forward to this day for months.  But, that didn't make him any less nervous now that it was finally here.  He also couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness over the fact that his parents and siblings wouldn't be there.  'At least Uncles Bruce and Tiberius, Aunts Caroline and Lavinia, and my cousins will be here.  I guess that's better than nothing,' he thought.  'Of course, Uncle Bruce is standing up for me, so he rather had to come.  I would have preferred to have Ric stand up for me, but there's no way he'd be able to be here today.  Our parents would make sure of that.'

Noah jumped slightly when a knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts.  Knowing that Charlie might try to sneak in to see him, despite the rule about not seeing each other for twenty-four hours before the wedding, Noah stood up and walked over to the door.  "Who is it?"  he asked in a voice loud enough that it would carry through the door.

"It's me," a voice said.

Noah's eyes widened as he recognized the voice and he immediately pulled the door open and stared open-mouthed at the person on the other side.  "What are you doing here?"

"I can't come and wish my brother good luck on his wedding day?"  Cedric asked, in a mock-hurt tone.

Pulling Cedric into the room and closing the door, Noah hugged him and said, "No, Ric, of course, you can, I'm just shocked to see you here.  Mum and Dad would be furious if they found out you were here."

Wrapping his arms around his brother, Cedric said, "Don't worry about that, Noah, it's been taken care of."

"What do you mean, taken care of?"

Cedric grinned as the hug ended.  "Well, Aunt Caroline arranged for Mum and Dad to be called away from the house for several hours.  So, they won't find out I'm here.  Aunt Caroline is going to help me put on some Glamour Charms and I'm attending the wedding as Cormac's plus one.  He isn't all that thrilled about that, as he's straight and I'm a guy, but then seeing as how he doesn't have a girlfriend, it's not like I'm taking anyone's place."

Noah couldn't help but grin, because it was a sneaky plan that his aunt and brother had put into action.  Not that he was all that surprised though, because what with being the younger sister of Lord Malcolm Flint, it wasn't the least bit surprising that Lady Caroline McLaggen, like the vast majority of the Flint family, had been a Slytherin when she was at Hogwarts.  Speaking of younger sisters, however, Noah suddenly remembered something and asked, "Wait a minute, if Mum and Dad are out of the house and you're here, what about Lucy?  Cedric, please don't tell me you left a two-year-old home alone."

Punching Noah lightly in the arm, Cedric shook his head and said, "Relax, Noah, I'm not that stupid.  Of course, I didn't leave Lucy home alone.  In fact, I have a surprise for you."

At this, Cedric walked over to the door and pulled it open to reveal Cormac standing there, holding Lucy in his arms.  Motioning Cormac into the room, Cedric closed the door behind his cousin and then turning to Noah, who was staring silently at the little girl in Cormac's arms, Cedric smiled and said, "Thought it was high time you met our sister, Noah."

Walking up behind Cormac, Cedric wrapped an arm around his cousin and grinned as he said, "Hi honey."

Cormac rolled his eyes and said, "Oh knock it off, Cedric."  Turning to Noah, he added, "So, Noah, say hello to Lucinda Amelia Diggory."  Smiling at the little girl in his arms, he said, "Lucy, this is your brother Noah."

"Noah?"  The little girl asked in a hesitant voice, having never heard that name at home before.

"Yes, Lucy, this is Noah," Cedric said with a big, goofy grin, which made Lucy laugh.

"Would you like to hold her, cuz?"  Cormac asked.

Noah hadn't said a word this entire time, as he just stared, wide-eyed at Lucy.  Nodding his head, he said, "Yes, please."

Handing the little girl off to Noah, Cormac, and Cedric stood back and smiled as Noah said, "Hi Lucy, I'm your brother."

"Bro?  Noah?"  Lucy asked.  "Like Cedwic?"

Grinning at Lucy's mispronunciation of Cedric's name, Noah said, "Yes, Lucy, like Cedwic."

"Hey!"  Cedric said.  "It's one thing for her to slaughter my name because she's only two, but you can't use that excuse, Noah."

"Oh is wittle Cedwic upset?"  Cormac asked, in a babyish tone, similar to Lucy's, as a means of annoying his cousin.  Cedric seemed to want to play up the whole 'plus one' thing and had been hanging onto him ever since they'd arrived at Castle Windermere like someone had dumped glue over them.  Cormac couldn't help but groan as he thought about what people were going to be saying if the Glamoured Cedric kept it up in public at the wedding.  Not for the first time, he found himself a little upset with his mother.  First, she'd publicly stated that she was jealous that the King hadn't picked Cormac as a suitor and now she was forcing him to take his Glamoured cousin to Noah's wedding as his date.  She was also steadfastly refusing to make Cedric look like a girl.  It's almost as if Caroline wanted Cormac to be gay.

Noah ignored Cedric and Cormac, his attention focused solely on his sister, as he made funny faces to make her laugh and blew a raspberry on her cheek.  He'd seen pictures of her, thanks to Cedric and Cormac, but he'd never thought he'd get to hold her in his arms.  Beyond his parents turning their backs on him, not being able to know his sister was probably the hardest thing for Noah to deal with.  'Actually, on second thought, it's the second hardest thing,' Noah thought, as he did his best not to start crying.  'Hardest is knowing that Mum and Dad will probably try to raise her to hate me.'

After a few more minutes, Cormac glanced over at the clock on the fireplace mantle, before clearing his throat and saying, "I hate to break this up, but you have a wedding to go to Noah, and it's time we got Lucy back to my dad.  He's arranged for a sitter for her and we still have to Obliviate her."

Noah looked horrified at his cousin, as he asked, "Obliviate her?"

Cedric sighed.  "I hate to even consider doing it, but it's necessary.  She's too young to understand that she can't talk about meeting you, Noah, and if she let it drop with Mum and Dad, there'd be hell to pay."

With a nod, Noah sighed and said, "Yes, you're right."  Turning to Lucy, he smiled and said, "I love you, Lucy."

"Noah?"  Lucy asked, but otherwise said nothing, as she didn't comprehend the concept of love at her age.  And she had only just met Noah for the first time less than ten minutes ago.  Noah, at least, had been watching her grow up, even if only in pictures, since she'd been born, and thus he'd had ample time to come to love her as much as he loved Cedric and the rest of his family.

"Maybe when she's older we can do this again," Cedric said, seeing how hurt his brother was at the idea that he'd just met his sister for the first time and now she wasn't even going to remember it.  "Once she's old enough to understand the need to keep it a secret."

Noah nodded and said, "Thanks, guys, for arranging this."

"No problem," Cormac said.  "You have every right to know her, Noah, no matter what Uncle Amos and Aunt Amelia say.  The fact that you like both genders and are marrying Charlie doesn't change the fact that you're a kind and good guy."

Noah grinned.  "Careful, Cormac.  I'm not married yet and if your Mum heard you talking like that she might just overlook the fact that we're first cousins and try and get me to marry you instead of Charlie.  Merlin knows she's always seemed bound and determined to believe that you're gay."

Cormac rolled his eyes, as he took Lucy from Noah and said, "You don't have to tell me that, Noah - I live with her after all."

Both Cedric and Cormac wished Noah all the happiness in the world before they left the room.  Twenty minutes later, Lucy was with her sitter, as the McLaggen family entered the ballroom.  Bruce and Caroline first, followed by Cormac, with Cedric hanging onto him as his black-haired, blue-eyed date named Evan.  After them were Tiberius and Lavinia McLaggen, and then their two sons, James and Duncan.

In a whisper, Cormac asked, "You're loving this aren't you?"

"Annoying you?"  Cedric asked as he wrapped an arm tighter around Cormac's waist, before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek, "Merlin yes."

"I suggest you stop it," Cormac said.  "Or I'll hex your balls off."

"No you won't," Cedric whispered back.  "I'm the Diggory heir and castrating me would be illegal and land you in Azkaban.  Not to mention what your mother would do.  And let's not forget that I'm training as a mage and you're not."

"I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't," and at this Cedric playfully swatted Cormac's ass, his hand lingering slightly longer than necessary.

"Yeah, that's just going to make me hate you more," Cormac whispered in an angry tone.  "I'm straight, remember?"

"So am I," Cedric said, even though he suspected that wasn't true.  It wasn't something he actively thought about, however, since he was afraid of how his parents would react, what with how they'd reacted to Noah.  He was also terrified of the prospect of having Lucy ripped out of his life and being raised to hate him.  So, he tended to do his best to present himself as being straight and think about his suspicion that he wasn't as little as possible.  However, under the guise of Evan, Cedric decided to let some of what he was feeling out a bit.  It had to be said, of course, that he wasn't attracted to Cormac in the slightest, but he did love to annoy his cousin, so if that meant interacting with him as a boyfriend would, then so be it.

-o-0-o-

Not long afterward, all of the guests had taken their seats in the ballroom of Castle Windermere.  In the front row of seats in the middle, an ornate, low-backed mahogany throne accented in gold had been added to the seating arrangements.  It was here that His Majesty King Edward sat, looking every bit as regal as one would expect the King-Emperor to look.  With the King present and with the recent Death Eater attack at the World Cup, security was tighter than it might normally have been.  Lord Ollivander had three dozen of his guards stationed in various places around the room.  This was matched by an additional three dozen guards, with a third each being provided by Harry, Augusta Longbottom, and King Edward.  The other lords who showed up for the wedding, which was all of them except for Lord Diggory, had also brought at least one guard of their own with them.

Charlie and Noah were dressed in matching crimson dress robes with gold trim, in deference to the fact that they'd met at Hogwarts as housemates in Gryffindor.  Coming in separate doors, they walked down the angled aisles to where they met in front of the King's throne.  Bowing to Edward, they then clasped hands and walked the rest of the way down the central aisle to the trellis where Lord Garrick Ollivander stood waiting, ready to officiate the wedding.  Before he could begin, however, Edward cleared his throat and stepped forward.

With a wide grin on his face, Edward said, "It is our wish to invoke our right to the first kiss with both grooms."

There were a few murmurs around the room at this, some confused and some just surprised that the King would invoke that right.  From where she was seated between Harry and Ron on the left side of the room, Hermione whispered, "Right to the first kiss?"

Ron simply shrugged, because while he was a pureblood, the Weasleys were not nobility and thus weren't well-versed in all of the customs practiced by the noble caste.  Well, several members of the Weasley family were versed in such things, but Ron didn't think it was important enough that he should care and thus had never bothered to learn about any of it.  Harry, meanwhile, as one of the most powerful lords of the land, had been studying everything he could get his hands on in his downtime from mage training and thus knew all about this custom.

"I'll explain it later, Hermione," Harry whispered back.  "For now let's just watch the wedding."

Hermione nodded, knowing that during the actual wedding ceremony probably wasn't the best place for Harry to explain what was going on.  So, she was happy to wait until the reception later that night, but wouldn't be waiting any longer than that as she fully intended to get answers out of Harry.  It was one of the great mysteries of life why the Sorting Hat thought that Hermione would be best placed in Gryffindor because her thirst for knowledge went beyond that of many of the most studious of Ravenclaws.

"As you wish, Your Majesty," Garrick said, as Edward approached Noah and placed one hand behind his neck, while he wrapped his other arm firmly around Noah's waist.  For his part, Noah just stared for a moment into the King's eyes, as he wasn't expecting to be kissing anyone but Charlie today.  Although from his training when he was still the Diggory heir, he did know about this particular right of the reigning king.  He just hadn't considered the possibility that the King would invoke it, especially considering that he'd just picked six men as his suitors and one of them was in attendance since Bill was standing up for Charlie.

Bill and Charlie, along with everyone else in the room, could do nothing but watch as Edward's lips met Noah's in a kiss that was far from chaste.  After a moment, Edward dipped Noah backward and it was clear that there was tongue involved, at the very least on Edward's part.  Having been exposed to lots of the nobility through his job at the bank, Bill had known about this particular right but hadn't expected the King to use it.  Then again, even being one of the King's official suitors, they had only just met a matter of days ago, so Bill was far from being an expert on Edward's behavior patterns.

Charlie, meanwhile, like many Gryffindors and redheads, had a rather fiery temper, but he was doing his best to hold it in check as he watched Noah getting thoroughly kissed by the King.  Charlie hadn't known about this right beforehand and while he assumed that Noah had, he figured it was never mentioned as a possibility because Noah hadn't thought it would be an issue.  As the kiss entered its second minute, it was getting harder for Charlie to keep a hold of his anger, but the fact that this was the King, who had the authority to order his execution, certainly helped him in keeping him from saying or doing anything he would regret later.

Finally, after nearly three minutes, Edward righted Noah and broke the kiss.  He looked quite pleased with himself, while Noah was looking a bit dazed.  It had been years since he'd kissed anyone other than Charlie and he had to admit that the kiss with Edward had been very enjoyable.  If he was honest, it was probably one of the best kisses he'd ever experienced, but he still ranked Charlie's higher on the scale, simply because Charlie was the man he loved with all his heart.  Releasing Noah from his arms, Edward moved over to Charlie and grinned.  "Your turn."

Charlie didn't have a chance to comment, before Edward had him in his arms and their lips met in a kiss that was, again anything but chaste.  Honestly, it was almost as if the King was making love to Noah's and now Charlie's mouths, because there was quite a bit of passion in the kisses.  Certainly more than what two friends might use when kissing each other and quite possibly even more than what many married couples would ever dream of using outside of the privacy of their bedrooms.  As he'd done with Noah, Edward soon dipped Charlie backward and began to snog him senseless.

Noah, meanwhile, watched the kiss and despite feeling a bit of jealousy at watching his soon-to-be husband kissing someone other than him, he also had to admit that he was a little turned on by it.  That fact surprised Noah to an extent, as he'd never considered the possibilities that such a revelation would suggest, but he decided it best not to dwell on such things at that particular moment.

Bill, meanwhile, having already experienced Edward's kissing skills firsthand, knew that Noah and now his brother were being thoroughly kissed by a very skilled kisser.  He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit angry, not only by the intrusion into his brother's and Noah's special day but also because he felt a bit odd watching Edward kiss someone, especially his brother when Edward was kissing him less than two hours earlier.  Bill, knew, however, that he'd have to get over that because he was probably going to see Edward kissing lots of people - his other five suitors, for example.

After another minute or so, Edward ended the kiss and smiled.  "We quite enjoyed that."  Returning to his throne, Edward sat down and motioned to Garrick.  "You may continue now, Lord Ollivander."

Clearing his throat, Garrick said, "We are gathered here today to witness the union of Charles Septimus Weasley, son of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley, nee Prewett, and Noah Andrew Kirke, a scion of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of Diggory and McLaggen.  Who gives these men to be united to one another?"

Arthur stood at this and said, "I, Arthur Septimus Weasley, as the head of the Weasley family, gladly give my consent and blessings to Charles on this union, and wish him and Noah many long years of happiness together."

As Arthur was sitting down, Tiberius McLaggen stood up and, receiving an almost imperceptible nod from his elder brother, said, "I, Tiberius James McLaggen, on behalf of my brother, Lord Bruce McLaggen, The Marquis of Levenmore and Lord of Kinloch Hold, and my misguided sister, Lady Amelia McLaggen Diggory, The Marchioness of Taleford and Lady of Willowglen Manor, gladly give my consent and blessings to Noah on this union, and wish him and Charles many long years of happiness together."

Nodding his head, Garrick said, "Very well.  Ladies and Gentlemen we are gathered here in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses to unite this man, Charles Weasley, with this man, Noah Kirke.  If anyone present has a just reason for them to not be allowed to be united in wedlock, please speak now or forever remain silent."  Taking a breath, he then added, "And I would only remind you that here in Whitehaven, marriage between two men is legal, so, please do not interrupt these proceedings with that as your reasoning."

Garrick waited for about a minute and when nobody said anything, he nodded and opened the Ollivander family bible on the lectern in front of him.  Turning to the appropriate page, he said, "I ask that you now stand for the opening prayer to the Goddess Hera."

Whispering to Hermione, Harry said out of the corner of his mouth, "Wizarding society is polytheistic.  Just go with it," as they stood along with everyone else.

Reading from the book in front of him, Garrick said, "We praise you, great Hera, the fair bride of mighty Zeus, mother of stout Ares and skillful Hephaestus, beautiful queen who walks the golden halls of Olympus.  Magnificent are your temples, glorious goddess; with libations and festivals are you honored.  Hera, with your fathomless eyes, your even gaze, and your measured step, your poise and grace are beyond compare.  To each wedding day, you bring joy, most honored one; by your will do lovers join in lawful marriage, as partners form a household and begin a family.  Beautiful, brilliant, and strong-willed defender of marriage, oh great Hera, Queen of the Gods, we honor you and humbly ask for your blessings upon Charles and Noah, on this, their wedding day."

When Garrick finished speaking, several voices from the assembled guests, said, "We praise you, oh great and beautiful, Hera."

"You may be seated," Garrick said, and paused for a moment to allow everyone to sit down, before he took out his wand and said, "Now, Charles and Noah have requested a traditional marriage bonding, so at this time, I'd ask that they remove their robes and hand them off to their best men."

Charlie and Noah removed their robes at this point, revealing that they were wearing matching white silk shirts, black knee-length breeches, white stockings, and black shoes beneath.  Handing their robes off to Bill and Bruce, who carefully folded them up and then held them under their left shoulders, Garrick pointed his wand at the floor and said a spell under his breath which caused an intricate runic pattern to draw itself around Charlie and Noah on the floor of the ballroom.

"Charles and Noah, please turn to face each other," Garrick said, as they did so, "as I call upon the elemental spirits to bear witness to your union."

Raising his wand, Garrick incanted in Latin, "We humbly ask that you come and bear witness to this union, oh Great Spirit of Fire."  As he said this, a jet of fire shot out of the tip of Garrick's wand and formed a circle around Charlie and Noah, as a few in the audience who had never witnessed the rarely used traditional marriage bonding, gasped.  There were, however, also a few murmurs of approval from the members of the more traditional families.

"We humbly ask that you come and bear witness to this union, oh Great Spirit of Earth," Garrick incanted, as a string of rocks emerged from the tip of his wand and formed a solid ring of stone, which encircled Charlie and Noah at about knee height.  The ring of fire was spinning around their legs roughly four to six inches lower.

"We humbly ask that you come and bear witness to this union, oh Great Spirit of Water," Garrick incanted next, as a jet of water shot from the tip of his wand and moved to encircle Charlie and Noah, floating another four to six inches above the ring of stone.

"We humbly ask that you come and bear witness to this union, oh Great Spirit of Air," Garrick said, as a visible stream of air emitted from his wand and, just as the other elements had done, moved to encircle Charlie and Noah, once again floating about four to six inches above the ring of water.

"Oh Great Spirits of Fire, Earth, Water, and Air, we ask that you lend your powers to formalize the bond between these two young men," Garrick intoned, once again speaking in Latin.  At this the four elemental rings, which had previously just been moving around in circles around Charlie and Noah began to speed up, moving in a quite chaotic pattern up and down the length of their bodies.  It was quite the sight to behold as the various rings changed size to pass by one another, while also making sure that the opposing elements never came in direct contact with one another.  Soon, the speed the rings were moving slowed, however, as they synchronized themselves with Charlie's and Noah's heartbeats.

"Now, Charles and Noah, please grip the forearms of your partner's wand hand," Garrick said, prompting Charlie to grip Noah's left forearm as Noah gripped Charlie's right forearm.  "Now it's time for Charles and Noah to make their vows to one another.  They're going to use the traditional pattern of seven declarations of love followed by seven vows to one another, however, to avoid overly verbose speeches and to give themselves a moment to breathe in between, they've opted to slightly break with tradition by delivering their declarations and vows in an alternating format.  So, Charles, are you ready?"

Charlie nodded as he took a deep breath, looked into Noah's eyes, and said, "One of the greatest things about you, Noah, is that you refused to give up on us, even in the face of your parents' hostility and threat of disowning you."

Noah smiled and said, "There's a lot about you, Charlie, that I find great, but to pick one thing, I'd say it's how you've always treated me like a normal human being, even though I was the heir to a noble family when we got together - and not just any noble family, but the family whose lands your family lives on.  The fact that you could look past that and see me as a person and not just your local lord's son impressed me."

"Noah, I'd known for a few years that I loved you, but I think the moment when it became clear to me that I wanted to marry you was when you chose to remain with me, even after your parents disowned you.  I know that was a very hard time for you and many lesser men would have looked at the situation and seen our relationship as being to blame and ended things in the hope of getting back what they'd lost.  So, the fact that you chose me over your family not only reinforced my love for you but also made me realize that you were the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."

"Well, Charlie, like you, I'd known for a while that I was in love with you, but the way you did everything you could to cheer me up when I was sad, both before and after my disownment, is what made me realize that you were the one.  Some people might have looked at us and seen nothing more than a poor boy trying to improve their lot in life with a rich, noble boy, but you proved to me countless times that you didn't care about the money or the title.  You loved me for me and would stay with me no matter what, which is what made up my mind that I was going to marry you."

"I have so many good memories of our time together, Noah, and it was hard to pick out just one, but I finally settled upon the first time I took you home to meet my family.  It wasn't long after you were disowned and I worried that meeting my large family would be hard on you, but you put on one of your best smiles and by the end of that day, your natural charm had won over my whole family.  We had a great time that day and it made me so happy that I could share my family with you."

From his place outside the runic circle, Bill smiled in his brother's direction, although only Noah saw it since Charlie currently had his back to his brother.  Meanwhile, in the front row, Arthur looked extremely proud of his son, while Molly was pulling a lace handkerchief from her handbag and dabbing her eyes.  Ginny, too, was looking near tears, while Fred and George were grinning from ear to ear.  Those who knew the twins well would recognize those grins as meaning that they were plotting something, although Merlin only knew what.

While Percy had had his share of disagreements with his family over certain things, he was also smiling as his brother stood at the front of the room saying his vows to Noah.  He had never imagined in his wildest dreams that any member of his family would be standing in the ballroom at Castle Windermere getting married by Lord Ollivander himself with just about every noble family in attendance, not to mention the King.  Percy had at times felt ashamed of being a Weasley and blamed his father's lack of ambition for the poor state of their bank account, but he didn't feel any of that today.  No, today, he felt nothing but pride, not only because Charlie was happy, but also because a Weasley was the center of both royal and noble attention.

Ron was perhaps the only member of the Weasley family who didn't look all that happy.  He was smiling, but an observant person would recognize it for what it was - a fake smile.  Ron had never been particularly thrilled about Charlie and Noah, because he didn't think it was right for two men to be together in that way, but he kept his opinions to himself because he knew that his mother would tan his hide if she knew.  So, he plastered a fake smile on his face and pretended to be happy, even if inside he felt nothing but disdain for the fact that Charlie was standing up there committing himself to a man.

"You're right that picking one memory is hard, because there's been so many good ones, but one that has always stood out in my mind was the time in Romania when we went out to dinner one night and heard someone use a homophobic slur as we were leaving the restaurant.  You had your wand out so fast to defend my honor that I didn't even see you reaching for it.  Of course, it turns out the slur wasn't directed at us, but at a lesbian couple across the street, and you still charged in and got an apology from the idiot who'd said it.  You were willing to risk your safety to defend a couple you'd never met and I have to say that I found that very sexy."

Harry grinned when he heard this and while he'd already liked Charlie, he liked him more upon hearing this.  He couldn't blame Noah for finding it attractive.  Of course, all three of them were Gryffindors and it was such a Gryffindor thing to do.  Of course, Harry wasn't the only Gryffindor in the room who was beaming with house pride over Charlie's actions, as the Weasleys, Hermione, Cormac, and Neville were all visibly impressed.  Harry couldn't help but notice that Cormac's date was also looking particularly impressed.  Of course, he'd never met this Evan Lockwood before and he was more than a little surprised that Cormac would bring a male date to Noah's wedding, because as far as Harry knew, Cormac was straight.  So, what was going on?  And why did Evan seem familiar somehow?

"The one thing that I feel is the most important thing about our relationship, Noah, is the love that you've freely given to me.  As most people here know, I come from a large family, so, I'm no stranger to love, but there's a difference between familial love and the all-encompassing romantic love that I feel for you, Noah.  And just by your actions, I know you feel the same for me and it makes me almost giddy to know that someone I love so much returns those feelings just as much."

"For me, it's also the love you've given me over the years, Charlie, that's the most important thing in our relationship.  But, what sets it apart is knowing that your love for me is unconditional and that you're not going to say you love me today and then toss me aside like yesterday's trash the next.  I experienced that with my parents and you were there for me to do whatever was necessary to make me feel better and help me pick up the pieces of my shattered life.  I will never be able to find the words to express just how much that meant to me, Charlie - how much you and your love mean to me."

"Something I'd like everyone here to know about Noah, if they don't already, is that in all the years that I've known him, he has consistently remained a good and kind man, who cares deeply about the people that he loves.  Even when his parents turned their backs on him, forbidding him to have any contact with his brother, Cedric, or kept him from even meeting his sister, Lucinda, he has always remained the good and kind man that I fell in love with.  Some people would let such upheaval in their lives affect them in a way that would permanently change them, but Noah didn't and I'll always respect and adore him for that."

From his place in the audience, Harry couldn't help but notice that Evan seemed to be particularly affected by what had just been said, enough so that Cormac even elbowed him in the side and whispered something to him.  Harry couldn't hear what was said, but it only strengthened his curiosity about just what in Merlin's name was going on with Cormac and Evan.

Noah grinned as he said, "For me, something I'd like you all to know about Charlie, if you didn't already and I don't imagine that many of you would know this, is that in the years since Charlie and I have gotten together, he's turned into something of a cuddle monster, in that he loves to cuddle and can't fall asleep unless he's got his arms around me."

Charlie blushed, as he was a little embarrassed that Noah chose that to reveal, but at least he didn't reveal the nickname that he called Charlie in private.  Because Charlie was pretty sure that if Noah had called him his 'Charlie Bear' in front of everyone in the room, he probably would have died of embarrassment.

"If there's one thing that I feel will change about Noah's and my relationship now that we're getting married it's that maybe I'll finally get over my fear that he'll find a nice girl or some hot guy and decide that he'd rather be with them instead of me.  I know he loves me, but, I've always had that fear in the back of my head and I'm hoping it goes away now.  But, if one thing stays the same, I want it to be that Noah will remain the kind, caring, and honestly, the noblest man I know.  If there's one thing I've learned from Noah it's that you don't have to be titled nobility to be noble and that's something that I'll always love about you, Noah."

Some of the lords and ladies in the audience shifted a bit uncomfortably in their seats at these words, while some looked slightly offended because such a statement flew in the face of everything they believed about the natural order of things.  Of course, there were also a few nobles, Harry among them, who didn't feel the least bit offended by it and agreed with every word.

Perhaps most surprising, however, was the smile that showed up on Edward's face at those words, as he reached over to the chair beside his throne where Callum was seated, grabbed his hand, and brought it to his lips.  Whether this was an attempt to hide the smile on his face or not, only Edward himself knew.  Of course, if he was trying to hide his smile, it wasn't really necessary because very few people could have seen it and only Bill had noticed it.  Even Callum hadn't noticed it, but then he was looking at Charlie and Noah, at least until he felt Edward's hand close to his.

"I was just going to say that I hoped my totally silly fear that Charlie would find a hot guy that he likes more than me would go away now that we're getting married, but in light of his confession, I've gotta say I also hope he realizes that I have no intention of leaving him no matter how many pretty girls or hot guys I come into contact with.  You're it for me, Charlie, so you'd better get used to it because you're stuck with me.  And as for something that I hope never changes, well, that would have to be Charlie's unwavering support of me in whatever way I need.  It's gone a long way towards strengthening our relationship up until now and I think it will only make it stronger going forward."

"This last declaration is one I didn't struggle with nearly as much as I did with some of the others," Charlie said.  "Having grown up in a loving home with my parents as a prime example of what a successful and happy marriage looks like, I could only dream of one day having that myself.  And I'm very happy to say that as I stand here today, I'm more sure than I've ever been that Noah and I have what it takes to have just as successful and as happy a marriage as my parents have and that makes me one of the happiest men alive."

Molly's tears began falling even more than they had previously at this statement and even Arthur was looking a little teary-eyed.  Several of the women had joined Molly in crying at this point, as several of the married men throughout the room turned to their loved ones and smiled at them, as Charlie's words served to remind them just how much they cared for the special person in their own lives.

"I think you're going to make me cry, Charlie," Noah said, as he shook his head and added, "Anyway my last declaration is similar to Charlie's.  Growing up, I had three examples of strong marriages to look at, of course, only two of those couples are still in my life.  My Uncle Bruce and Aunt Caroline and my Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Lavinia are both examples to me of what a strong and healthy marriage is supposed to look like and I can only hope that I can have even half the success and happiness in my marriage that they've had in theirs, because then I'll know that I've done something right."

Garrick nodded and said, "Very well, it's now time for your vows to one another.  Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to love, honor, and remain faithful to Noah for the rest of your life?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to love, honor, and remain faithful to Charles for the rest of your life?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to always be honest with Noah, and keep no secrets from him which could in any way harm him or those he cares about?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to always be honest with Charles, and keep no secrets from him which could in any way harm him or those he cares about?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to always trust in not only your love for Noah, but also in his for you, and to believe him on all matters, regardless of what anyone else might say?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to always trust in not only your love for Charles, but also in his love for you, and to believe him on all matters, regardless of what anyone else might say?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to do everything within your power to keep Noah safe from any harm which may befall him, regardless of its source?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to do everything within your power to keep Charles safe from any harm which may befall him, regardless of its source?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to never allow anger to fester between you and Noah, to discuss any issues that come between you, and to do your best to at least understand Noah's point of view, even if you don't agree with it?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to never allow anger to fest between you and Charles, to discuss any issues that come between you, and to do your best to at least understand Charles' point of view, even if you don't agree with it?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to share everything you come to possess in this world, whether it be material, monetary, or otherwise, with Noah as an equal partner and owner?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to share everything you come to possess in this world, whether it be material, monetary, or otherwise, with Charles as an equal partner and owner?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to do everything within your power to help Noah become and remain the best man that he can be and to nurture your relationship together to be the strongest it can possibly be?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Noah Andrew Kirke, in the eyes of the Gods and these witnesses, do you vow to do everything within your power to help Charles become and remain the best man that he can be and to nurture your relationship together to be the strongest it can possibly be?"

"I so vow, so mote it be."

"Very well," Garrick said.  "Having made your declarations and made your vows, it is now time for the joining ceremony, for which I ask that all in attendance please stand."

Once everyone was standing, Ollivander waved his wand and four long ribbons appeared in midair, floating above Charlie's and Noah's joined forearms.  "Mighty Spirit of Air, in your wisdom, do you believe that Charles and Noah have come here today to be joined with no hidden agendas to bring harm upon one another?"

One of the ribbons, an almost translucent white ribbon, began to glow at this point as it began to wrap itself around Charlie's and Noah's joined forearms, tying them together.

"Mighty Spirit of Air, we acknowledge and thank you for your participation in this ceremony," Garrick said.  "My King, lords, ladies, and honored guests, I now ask that you join me in prayer to the goddess Hera."

Upon these words, small scrolls appeared out of thin air in front of every guest, who took and unrolled them, prepared to read what was written upon them along with Garrick.  "Stately Hera, glorious Queen of the golden halls of fair Olympus, comely you are, your shining beauty is unsurpassed.  Great daughter of Kronos, defender of cities, deep-eyed goddess, chosen bride of thundering Zeus, mighty guardian of the marriage oath and bond.  Graceful one, vital one, we praise and honor you.  Sublime Hera, swift of thought and certain of action, we pray to you.  Grant Charles and Noah strength of will, oh wondrous goddess, help them to know their worth, to act with confidence and passion, to risk wisely, and to freely speak their minds.  Bless their marriage bed, their vows, and their devotion.  Peerless Hera, watchful one, we humbly beseech you for your favor on Charles' and Noah's behalf."

As the reading finished, the scrolls disappeared, and Garrick said, "Mighty Spirit of Water, in your wisdom, do you believe that Charles and Noah have come here today to be joined of their own free will?"

At these words, another of the ribbons, a deep blue one that resembled the color of the ocean, began to glow brightly as it wrapped itself around Charlie's and Noah's forearms, entwining with the white ribbon already tying them together.

"Mighty Spirit of Water, we acknowledge and thank you for your participation in this ceremony," Garrick said.  "My King, lords, ladies, and honored guests, I now ask that you join me in prayer to the goddess Aphrodite."

Once again, small scrolls appeared out of thin air in front of every guest, prompting them to take and unroll them as they prepared to read along with Garrick.  "We praise you, Aphrodite, great and beautiful goddess born of foam.  Fairest of all of Olympus' maids, always adorned in the most precious of jewels and with the finest silks draping from your unparalleled form.  With your sweetly scented hair you come, your sea-green eyes shining as stars, and we all fall in supplication at your delicate feet.  You, who looks so kindly upon lovers, we praise you.  You, who answers prayers of longing, we praise you.  You, whose gifts entrance all, young and old, we praise you.  You, who brings sweet bliss, who comforts the bereft, and who binds souls together, no heart can deny you.  Aphrodite, great Goddess of Love, whose beauty would light the night sky, we praise you and ask that you grant your blessings upon Charles and Noah, so that they may always know love for each other and for you." 

As Aphrodite's prayer scrolls disappeared, Garrick said, "Mighty Spirit of Earth, in your wisdom, do you believe that Charles and Noah have come here today to commit to each other in fidelity and loyalty to each other?"

A third ribbon, a deep brown with accents of green, began to glow brightly and like the others before it, wrapped itself around Charlie's and Noah's forearms, entwining with the blue and white ribbons already present there, as Garrick nodded and said, "Mighty Spirit of Earth, we acknowledge and thank you for your participation in this ceremony."

Waving his wand, more prayer scrolls appeared, as Garrick said, "My King, lords, ladies, and honored guests, please join me in prayer to the god Eros."  Turning the Ollivander family bible to the correct page, Garrick cleared his throat and began to read.  "Eros, deep-hearted god, source of sweet need and the searing, purifying flame of desire, the agony we seek again and again, unquestioned guide of those lost in feeling.  Golden-winged god whose madness none may flee, beautiful one whose will none may defy, your gifts unbearable, ephemeral, your blessings ceaseless, endless, and limitless.  Great Eros, we pray to you, consume Charles and Noah, bring them the essence of passion, the wholeness of lust, and the lightness of completion.  Bless them, oh great Eros, God of Love, with long and happy lives together, full of love."

When the prayer scrolls for Eros had blinked out of existence, Garrick said, "And finally, Mighty Spirit of Fire, in your wisdom, do you believe that Charles and Noah together have everything they need to create a happy home, not only for each other, but for any children that may join them in the future?"

At these words, the final ribbon, a deep crimson-colored length of silk which appeared to burn like fire, glowed bright, as it wrapped itself around Charlie's and Noah's arms, entwining itself with the other three.  "Mighty Spirit of Fire, we acknowledge and thank you for your participation in this ceremony."  More prayer scrolls appeared, as Garrick said, "My King, lords, ladies, and honored guests, please join me now in prayer to the goddess Hestia."

Turning the appropriate page and giving the guests a moment to prepare themselves, Garrick began.  "Gentle Hestia, who sits at the fire at the heart of each home, you are a goddess revered above all others.  You are the bringer of quiet comfort, of belonging, of peace, and of a place of love and family.  You grant us the strength to hold together against all ill, oh great goddess, eternal provider of serenity, we honor you.  Hestia, seen in candle glow and soft shadow, we pray to you.  Help Charles and Noah to see you in their work, and to make their home a refuge from care and distress.  Give them competence, efficiency, and wisdom; give them quick, sharp eyes to see what must be done and the will with which to do it.  Oh Hestia, great Goddess of Hearth and Home, we ask that you bless Charles' and Noah's home and keep them safe now and every day of their lives together."

As the scrolls to Hestia vanished, Garrick said, "Oh Mighty Spirits of Fire, Earth, Water, and Air, you have come together to witness the union of Charles and Noah in a marriage binding and found them worthy.  In your endless power and wisdom, we ask that you now bind them together for the rest of their lives."

The four ribbons entwined around Charlie's and Noah's wrists all began to glow brightly.  As the light emanating from the four ribbons got steadily brighter, Charlie's and Noah's forearms, and then their entire bodies began to glow, surrounded by a bright, ethereal white light.  As the pulsing light got ever brighter, Garrick, Charlie, Noah, and everyone else in attendance closed their eyes for a moment to avoid being blinded.  Mere seconds after the last pair of eyes in the room closed, there was a bright flash of light, as the four ribbons binding Charlie and Noah together merged to form a pair of solid platinum armbands with their initials and the date of their joining engraved upon them in gold.

As those assembled opened their eyes, Garrick said, "Oh Mighty Spirits of Fire, Earth, Water, and Air, on behalf of Charles and Noah, whom in sacred marriage binding you have joined today, we once again acknowledge and thank you for your participation in this ceremony."  Prayer scrolls appeared in front of each guest once again, as Garrick said, "My King, lords, ladies, and honored guests I ask that you join me in our closing prayer to the great and almighty god Zeus!"

"Father Zeus, holder of lightning, master of storms, and undisputed ruler of the golden halls of fair Olympus and all who dwell there, we praise you.  All is within your power and all bow to your will.  Great Zeus, who hears all oaths, who sees justice done, who watches over all with your benevolent gaze, and whose blessings are great; awesome Zeus we honor you.  Guardian of our homes, protector of our children, kind Zeus, we pray to you.  Guide Charles and Noah to be just, to act with honor, to keep their promises, to welcome guests freely, and to do what is right.  Watch over their home and bring to it abundance.  Oh great Zeus, King of the Gods, we humbly beseech you, to watch over Charles and Noah, their future children, and to shield them all from harm."

As the prayer finished and the scrolls vanished, the four rings of elemental energy that surrounded Charlie and Noah glowed brightly before they too disappeared into thin air, Garrick smiled and said, "Charles and Noah, I'm sure you've been eagerly awaiting this moment - you may now seal your bond with a kiss."

Grinning at each other, Charlie and Noah, leaned forward and kissed as Garrick announced to thundering applause, "It is my great honor to present to you, Mr. and Mr. Charles and Noah Kirke!"

Following the wedding ceremony, everyone used the charmed invitations provided by Harry to move over to Seacliff for the wedding reception.  Upon arriving, Charlie, Noah, and their wedding party were quickly escorted out to one of the formal gardens to take their wedding pictures while it was still light outside.  The guests, meanwhile, made their way into the ballroom and began mingling.  After the pictures were taken, the wedding party came into the ballroom and a fabulous dinner was served.  Even Mrs. Weasley had to admit that it was far beyond anything she'd planned to serve and was quite happy with the quality of the food.  And having the house-elves around to serve was an added benefit because she could sit down, relax, and enjoy the evening rather than serving everybody, as she would have had to do if they'd had the reception as they'd planned in a tent at the Burrow.

Once dinner was finished, there were speeches given to congratulate Charlie and Noah on their marriage and wish them luck, before they took to the dance floor for their first dance.  About two hours after dinner, the Seacliff elves served coffee and a truly spectacular eight-layer marble wedding cake with chocolate fudge icing.  White icing was perhaps more traditional, but Charlie and Noah were both chocoholics, so, they much preferred the chocolate icing, but used marble cake as a compromise for those who preferred white cake over chocolate.  Charlie and Noah had fun feeding each other and there did end up being a bit of a mess, but it was all in good fun.  Much later that evening, after many of the guests had begun to leave, Harry escorted Charlie and Noah upstairs to a special honeymoon suite he'd had the elves prepare for them, before calling it a night himself.

-o-0-o-

The following evening, Harry found himself in the ballroom at Kinloch Hold for the Founder's Ball.  A part of him still felt a little bit uncomfortable attending such a fancy event, as he wasn't used to dressing up and attending these types of events, but he was sure it would become second nature soon enough.  After this, there was another ball every month, after all, and then he'd have to host the Honor Ball at Seacliff come July.  After being announced upon his arrival, Harry did as he had at the Opening Ball and made his way over to one side of the ballroom, where he was quickly joined by Neville, Cormac, Nick, and Dominick.  Cedric came over and said hello, but couldn't stay because his father had specifically forbidden him to talk to Lord Granston, after the various times recently that Harry had publically humiliated Amos.

After Cedric walked away, Harry shook his head.  "I guess I should have expected Taleford to do something like that."

"Well, you have rather publicly humiliated him a few times now, Harry," Nick said.  "Don't get me wrong, he deserved everything you said to him."

"Yeah and then some," Dominick agreed.  "But, I can still understand that he would be less than thrilled and want nothing to do with you tonight as a result."

"And as head of the Diggory family, he can order Cedric not to talk to you," Cormac said, with a sigh.  "It's just one of the pitfalls of being the heir to a noble family because you can't escape the politics."

Their attention was drawn to the entrance at this point, as the wizard stationed at the door struck his staff against the floor three times and said, "Presenting The Marquis of Charlton, His Excellence the Lord Sirius Black, accompanied by his brother, Earl of Alnwick, The Right Honorable Regulus Black, and his nephew, Viscount Langleeford, The Honorable Asterion Black."

"Hello," a voice said over Harry's shoulder, and he turned to see Kolin standing there.

"Kolin, I didn't expect to see you here," Harry said.

Kolin grinned.  "Yeah, well, I didn't expect to come either, but Regulus asked me to, so I did."

"Regulus asked you?"  Harry asked.  "You mean as his date?"

Kolin shook his head.  "I wish, but no, just as friends."

"You like him don't you?"  Harry asked.

Kolin nodded and said, "Yeah, I do, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.  I doubt he's into men and even if he was, why in Merlin's name would he want to date me?  He's got a son that's only two years younger than me."  In a softer voice that Harry could barely hear, Kolin added, "Not to mention the fact that I'm damaged goods."

Pulling Kolin into a hug, Harry whispered in his ear, "You are not damaged goods, Kolin.  Don't let what that bastard did to you affect your self-worth.  You're a fine young man who deserves happiness just as much as anyone else in this world - well, except for Cuffe.  And he'll be punished soon enough."

"Thanks, Harry," Kolin whispered, although he didn't say what had been on his mind recently.  That being that despite Harry's confidence that the Tribunal would find Cuffe guilty, he'd manage to weasel out of being convicted of any wrongdoing somehow.

As the hug ended, Neville smiled and said, "Who's your friend, Harry?"

Turning to the others, he said, "You may have seen him at the World Cup, Neville.  This is Kolin Mikaels.  He's my houseguest at Seacliff at the moment because some pipes broke in his flat and flooded the place.  He also works for me, as a typesetter at the Daily Prophet."

Neville nodded.  "Ah yes, I think I did see you."

"You were hanging out with the Black family right?"  Dominick asked.

Harry grinned.  "Yeah, he was.  He's here with them tonight.  I didn't know he was coming, but Regulus asked him to come."

Nick looked surprised and asked, "Regulus is gay?"

Shaking his head, Kolin said, "No, he isn't.  We're not dating or anything.  He just asked me to come tonight as his friend.  He wanted me to stand with the family and get announced with them, but, I'm not nobility and didn't want that kind of attention.  So, I slipped in through the side entrance instead."

"As Charlie Kirke so eloquently put it at his wedding yesterday," Asterion said as he came over to the group, having overheard what Kolin said as he approached, "You don't have to be titled nobility to be noble, Kolin.  I haven't known you long, but I have to say that you seem pretty noble to me."

Kolin blushed a bit at that, and said, "Thanks, Rion."

Asterion grinned as he said, "No problem.  And as for my father, I wouldn't be so sure if I were you about his sexuality."  Kolin raised an eyebrow at that, prompting Asterion to add, "I can personally guarantee that my father is nowhere near being a hundred percent straight."

"How can you be so sure, Rion?"  Harry asked.

"Well, Harry, you may have heard Uncle Sirius grilling Dad," Asterion said.  "Trying to get him to open up about some prank I played on him on his last birthday?"

"I have actually," Harry said.  "Regulus always clams up and doesn't say anything, but he usually blushes redder than a tomato.  Just what did you do anyway?"

"Well..." Asterion said as he drew out the word.  "Let's just say that I hired some company for Dad and he had quite a nice wakeup call, compliments of his companion's rear."

Dominick's eyes widened at that, as he asked, "Asterion do you mean that you hired a male prostitute for your father?"

"That's such a dirty word," Asterion said with a shake of his head.  "I hired him an escort."

"But it was a male escort?"  Nick pressed.

"Maybe," Asterion said.  After a moment, he blushed a little himself and said, "And, well, I might have used a little mage-level magic to make the escort invisible and weightless, so that when Dad woke up, well, he may have thought that it was me giving him that wakeup call."

"Oh sweet Merlin," Cormac said.  "Is everyone gay?"

"I'm not, actually," Asterion said.  "I have experimented, but I much prefer women, thanks.  Of course, I was under the impression that you were straight, Cormac, but then you brought a guy as your date to Noah's wedding."

Before Cormac could respond to that, everyone's attention was drawn toward the entrance when a drum roll sounded and the royal fanfare began to play.  When the fanfare ended, the wizard at the door hit the floor with his staff three times and said, "Presenting The King-Emperor of Albion and Iwernia and Emperor of the Empire of Camelot, His Imperial, and Royal Highness Edward Pendragon, accompanied by his suitors, The Earl of Whitecross, His Lordship the Lord Callum McKinnon, Viscount Sarn, The Honorable Marcus Flint, Viscount Bratton, The Honorable Draco Malfoy, His Majesty's Seneschal, The Honorable Sir Brian Dumbledore, William Weasley, and Viktor Krum."

A murmur went up throughout the ballroom at the announcement.  Partially because nobody expected Edward to bring all six of his suitors to the ball as his dates.  Most had figured it would be like a repeat of the wedding the previous day, in which he'd only brought Callum and Bill as his dates.  The larger reason for the murmurs, however, was how Brian Dumbledore was announced.  Harry could hear people nearby talking about it in hushed tones and in turn, asked his companions about it.

"The Royal Seneschal does have quite a bit of power," Nick said.  "In the King's absence, he can hold court from the King's throne, which is something not even the Minister for Magic is allowed to do."

"The position usually doesn't grant a title, however," Dominick explained.  "The fact that he was announced as The Honorable Sir Brian Dumbledore suggests that Edward has granted him the Royal Star of Camelot."

"That's the hereditary knightly title, isn't it?"

Neville nodded.  "Yeah, Harry, it is.  Usually, it's only granted to people who have done a great service to the country as a whole or to the monarchy itself.  I have no idea what service Brian performed to warrant the title, but then the King isn't required to share his reasons for granting the Royal Star.  He's the King, after all, and doesn't have to answer to anybody, save perhaps the Gods themselves."

"Huh," Harry said.  All was silent for a moment before he then turned to Cormac and asked, "Anyway, so, Cormac, what was up with you bringing that bloke to the wedding?  What was his name?  Evan Lockwood?"

Cormac opened his mouth to say something, but once again, he was interrupted.  This time, it was by Evan himself, who had just come up behind Cormac, wrapped his arms around Cormac's waist, and kissed him on the cheek.  "Hey, baby."

Cormac groaned.  "Let go of me, Evan."

"Oh come on, Cormac, you know you love me," Evan said, as he turned Cormac around in his arms and tried to kiss him on the lips.

He didn't get the chance, however, as Cormac pushed him away so hard that he fell to the floor.  This caused several eyes to turn and see what the commotion was about, as Cormac said, "No, Evan, I don't love you.  I never did and I never will."

"You're breaking up with me?"  Evan asked.

"How can I possibly break up with you?"  Cormac yelled.  "We were never together!"

"Cormac Duncan McLaggen!"  Caroline exclaimed as she came over.   "You will stop yelling this minute.  You're embarrassing yourself and this family.  Now, go apologize to your boyfriend."

Turning on his mother, Cormac said, "Mother, get this through your head!  I am not gay!  I'm straight and Evan is not now nor will he ever be my boyfriend!  You bloody well know the only reason I took him to the wedding yesterday is because you forced me to."

"Cormac, don't take that tone with your mother," Bruce said, although he didn't say it as forcefully as he normally would have, because he could understand why his son was so upset.  He had never understood why his wife was so insistent, despite all evidence to the contrary, that Cormac was gay.  Still, he had succeeded in making quite the scene in front of the other nobles, not to mention the King.  "Now help Evan up and then go to your room."

"Father..."  Cormac began.

"You heard me Cormac," Bruce said, his tone taking on a note of warning.

"Yes, sir," Cormac said, as he held out a hand for Evan and helped him up.  Once the other man was on his feet, Cormac left the ballroom as gracefully as he could, despite being able to feel almost every eye in the room following him as he walked.

Once Cormac was gone, Bruce turned to Evan and said, as quietly as he could, "Evan, I apologize for my son's behavior, but you should have known better."  Evan hung his head and nodded, greatly confusing those who'd heard what Bruce had said, which thanks to the silencing charm that Asterion managed to silently cast without anyone noticing, wasn't anyone beyond Bruce, Caroline, Evan, Harry, Nick, Dominick, Neville, Kolin and Asterion himself.

Turning to his wife, Bruce said, "As for you Caroline, a word, please," as he gently took his wife's arm and led her out of the room to have a private word with her in his study, while doing his best to make it look like he wasn't leading her out of the room by the arm like a child who was in trouble.

"Um, Evan?"  Neville asked.  "What did Lord McLaggen mean by you should know better?"

Before Evan could answer that question, Asterion said, "Feel free to answer truthfully, Evan, as I've placed a silencing ward so nobody but the seven of us will hear what you say."  There were a few raised eyebrows at that, especially those who noticed that Asterion had stressed Evan's name a bit more than seemed necessary.

Evan sighed.  "You guys have to promise to keep this a secret and just act normal when I say this."  Taking a deep breath, he added, "My name is not Evan Lockwood.  It's me, Cedric."

"Cedric?"  Harry asked.

"Yeah, Harry."

"You're wearing glamours, but why?"  Dominick asked.

"It was Aunt Caroline's idea," Cedric answered.  "She arranged everything for my parents to be away from the house yesterday and then she helped me apply these glamours.  Then she forced Cormac to take me to the wedding as his date so that I could attend Noah's wedding."

"So why were you acting so lovey-dovey with Cormac?"  Nick asked.  "He is your first cousin, after all."

"That was just to annoy him," Cedric replied.  "None of us get why, but his Mum thinks he's gay and I know that annoys him, so, since it's just a normal part of our relationship to try to annoy each other..."  Cedric trailed off.  "I should have known though that I was probably pushing things too far by showing up here tonight as Evan.  Cormac had reluctantly agreed to have me act like his date for the wedding and the reception last night, but I imagine the ball was too much for him and he lost it."

"You knew who Evan was didn't you, Rion?"  Kolin asked.

Asterion nodded.  "Yeah, I did.  Dad and I both thought it seemed strange that Cormac would attend the wedding yesterday with a guy, since from everything we've heard, he's straight.  So, last night, during the reception, Dad used the Black family spell that allows us to see through Glamour Charms."

Cedric sighed.  "As much as I'd love to stay here and talk with all of you for a while, I suppose I should probably be going before my parents notice that I'm missing and wonder what's happened to me.  They weren't overly thrilled about coming here tonight, considering Uncle Bruce's vocal support of Noah."

"I'll walk with you," Asterion said, as he and Cedric left the ballroom through the side door.

There were no further incidents for the rest of the evening and in time, Bruce and Caroline McLaggen returned to host the ball.  Cormac remained upstairs in his room for the rest of the night, but as Harry would later find out, he wasn't all that angry about that.  He hated attending the balls, so, despite the embarrassment of being publicly dismissed from the ball, he rather enjoyed being away from it.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.