“i love you,” ginny is sayi of them all, hoking bak tears, oimes that drao had ever seen her ry. “i love you, i love you, i love you, and that, luna lovegood, is hat i was goihe ability to stand with these people a so long fighting. s.” it’s like her w out to the r everyone, io this irle of love that she has i, harry most of all. “and now it’s over. there are some days—a lot of days— and look around and don’t know what to do with myself, beause there are so may pes where the people i love should be standing, so many things that i an do now that had seemed impossible ohs ago—and i don’t know how to ha then i look at you and i know that it’s okay, beause i kly what i’m going to do. i’m going to love you, luna. for the rest of my life, i’m going to love you.”
drao squeezes his hand again, and when harry looks over, there are tears shining in his eyes.
“i love you, too.” luna is not o like ginny, but she looks radiahe happiness p off of her ihe rest of the rowd. “i love you with everything in me. i have f as i an remember.”
there’s a momehinks she is going to ry, but then she shakes her hair bak from her fae a beautiful, watery, radiant smile ahrough it. not that it would have mattered. lu she wants, whes, a her vows, there was n with that. weddihe oears are always a good thing.
in his head, he an hear dra him. not always, he would have said, if harry had mehought out loud, and then he would have some story about some family member or aheir twisted love affair and harry would stop listening half way through just to wath him, to see the way he talks and looks at the world a he looks bak at him, like harry is the best thing iire world.
it’s rude, to do this at a wedding, but all the time that ginny had to waste listening to harry pihinks he’ll be fiven.
“it’s okay if you have to stik with maybe’s.” harry has leaht into drao’s ear, ahan a raised eyebrow from fleur, who seems to have appoihe guardiae, ie. “if you a. beause i know. i know that you love me, and i know that i love you with every ahing inh of my soul, do you uand drao malfoy? for the rest of my life i’m going to love you, ahing you an do about it now.”
drao doesn’t answer.
& have to.
like harry had said—tears at a wedding are always a good thing.
drao
&he whirlwiions, drao fiing aross from ron’s aunt muriel.
everyone had warned him about her. about how mean she was, how she does people’s feelings, how there is (no matter how unomfortable) that she will let go unsaid. her one joy io gee, is ruining an otherwise pleasant oasion by making people squirm.
“so you’re the potter’s boyfriend?” she wrinkles up her nose. drao a about—him or harry or the fat that they are together, or if she just didn’t like his ologne. so many things about him ould be uak in nothihan a seo even know what hit him. “i knew your father.”
this, at least, was hat he would have seen omi many people here wh up a death eater at a wedding, espeially wheer was a family member rotting away in azkaban. but those people aren’t aunt muriel.
“and your mother. and your au her away the first time.” she’s taken hihat makes her shoulders heave and beo the table, wed fingers urling arouable loth th it. drao is already oh a gss of aves him away, staring aross the table again, her beady eyes steaming from the effort of athihey had me o ommittee.”
drao didn’t know what to say. it’s was muh of a feat, seo azkaban. ed that she was guilty. “are you still?”
wroio from the way she holds herself, her phtening. “no.”
“why not?”
“i got old. got sik. got useless.” her voie raises to reah the table aross from them, a heap of redheads all intend on ign her prese shut up ihis lot dido deal with me.”
it must be a bitter life that she leads. drao would have almost thought that this war was a blessing for her, if only for the fat that it drove people into her house. everyohe meaarve for a little bit of human ontat. it’s the ohat draws them together.
& was a rge house,” he says fairly, mostly to draw the attention bak iers and also beause he felt bad for her, just a bit.
“yes. yes, it is. you used te house, too.” her wai a upward so a gss of hampags from the hands of one of her many nephews and finds its way there, hat her nearly full gss was right in front of her. “and now you have a ottage.”
“i like it better there.”
“so i’ve been told.” she tilts her head. “you’re hem, you know.”
& off guard. the entire oion was giving him whip sh. “who?”
“your parents, your aunt, all the rest. they walk through a room like they’re arved from sto everyoo pay homage. and a lo