Darkness Shadows Light

CHAPTER NINETEEN - IF IT WASN\'T FOR THE LAST MINUTE, NOTHING WOULD EVER GET DONE

The next two weeks past in a fluof aof activity as exams were taken and hopefully passed. Harry had been thrilled that Professor Dumbledore had agreed to marry them and also very grateful that he had opened up the floo network between their two rooms. It was something they both took full advantage of, especially as Harry had reached the part of his pregnancy where he was extremely aroused most of the time!

At first he had been a little apprehensive in leg hig his lover see his room, thinking that he might find it childish or too Gryffindorish with its red and gold colour scheme, the Quidditch posters, Quidditch books, and the large number of photos of his parents and Sirius framed around the room. But as soon as Snape had seen it, he had pronounced to Harry that it was \"very you\" with no note of ure ure in his voice, almost as if it was what he expected.

Though they spent every night together, they saw little of each other during the day, as Snape was busy supervising and marking exams and Harry was busy revising and taking exams. Harry was confident that he had done well in most of his subjects, especially Potions, though his lover adamantly refused to tell him what his mark was.

Harry\'s classmates had all been surprised that he and Ron had split up, except perhaps Hermioneoughough Ron kept true to his word and merely said they had argued. What the argument was about, he refused to say, but most people believed it must have been fairly serious to bring such a change upon Ron. For Ron now rarely spoke to anyone and spent most of his time in the library studying, which Hermione found especially worrying.

Hermione regretted that she has drifted so far apart from Ron and Harry, realising that she had chosen her boyfriend above her two best friends, but then at the time it had seemed they had each other and needed no third. Now though she was caught in a dilemma. She cared equally about both her friends, but whereas the break-up seemed to have affected Ron badly, Harry actually seemed happier than ever. However, neither was prepared to talk about what had gone wrong and Ron wouldn\'t even look at Harry. She had no idea what she could do to mend the breach.

At last the final day of the exams drew to a close and though most students and teachers just heaved a sigh of relief, relaxed and looked forward to the holidays, Harry was filled with energy, for the next day was to be his wedding day.

Harry awoke alone the following morning, his lover having insisted that they keep to the tradition not to see each other the night before their wedding. Just as he was debating whether to get up yet, there was a knock at his door. Wondering who it could be, as he knew most of his friends had gone to Hogsmeade, he quickly threw on his dressing gown and went over and opened the door.
\'Sirius!\' he exclaimed with joy, throwing his arms around the animagus. Until this moment he had been unsure that Sirius would be able to make his wedding, even though Severus had assured him that he would be there, he had not heard personally from him. He pulled his godfather into the room and cast the usual spells for their privacy.

\'My god, Harry, you\'re huge!\' said Sirius looking with surprise at his rounded stomach.

\'Well it has been a month since I last saw you, but there\'s still a long way to go,\' Harry replied, rubbing his stomach ruefully. It was true that he seemed to have had a growth spurt recently, and he was getting slightly worried about how big he was going to get; though Madam Pomfrey had assured him that the development so far was perfectly normal.

\'So you\'re marrying Snape,\' Sirius said neutrally.

\'Yes I am,\' Harry replied, looking at his godfather with trepidation. \'You\'re not upset are you?\'

\'Upset?\' Sirius said with astonishment. \'Harry, I\'m thrilled for you! I know how much you love him, and even if I don\'t like the greasy git, it doesn\'t mean that he\'s not right for you.\'

\'Thank you for being so understanding,\' Harry said, looking slightly stunned. He had expected a much worse reaction knowing his godfather\'s temper. \'I do love him and he loves me, and it\'s really great that you\'re happy for us. Ron wasn\'t so pleased...\' Harry briefly explained what had happened.

\'So you\'ve been breaking hearts all round,\' Sirius teasedndinnding it quite amusing that Ron had fallen for Harry after his vehement protestations that he was totally straight.

\'I just feel really guilty,\' Harry confessed. \'I feel like I must have led him on or something.\'

\'Don\'t blame yourself,\' said Sirius more seriously. \'From what I saw you never treated him as anything more than a friend. The most you\'re guilty of is being a bit blind to Ron\'s infatuation, even I could see he was falling for you.\'

\'You did?ll yll you could have warned me!\' said Harry, surprised.

Sirius looked a bit uncomfortable and started fidgeting.

\'Well...I kind of hoped you and Ron might work out and I didn\'t want to ruin anything by telling you before you were ready to hear it.\'

\'Sirius!\' exclaimed Harry. \'You knew I loved Severus, how could you possibly believe...?\' words failed him.

\'I\'m sorry, Harry,\' said Sirius, looking very repentant. \'Can you forgive me?\'

\'As it\'s my wedding day, I guess I can,\' said Harry. \'Especially as it helped get me and Severus back together.\'

\'Thanks,\' said Sirius, looking relieved, before changing the subject to a more cheerful one. \'So what are you wearing for the ceremony?\'

Harry shrugged and his face fell a little. His godfather had hit a sore point.

\'Just my old dress robes, not that they fit very well any more even after using an expanding spell on them. It\'s not like I could get out to get anything new.\'

With a broad grin, Sirius reached into his pocket and brought out a small, wrapped package.

\'Well, if you could re-enlarge this for me, I might have a little surprise for you.\'

Harry quickly cast the spell and watched the package grow with anticipation. Once it was back to its normal size, Harry ripped it open excitedly. What he saw there left him speechless, for inside was the most beautiful robe he had ever seen. It was emerald green and made of heavy velvet, trimmed with gold and silver, and as Harry held it out, he could see it had been made with plenty of extra material at the waist.

\'I just hope it\'s large enough,\' Sirius said. \'I never imagined you\'d get so big so soon.\'

\'I\'m sure it will be perfect,\' said Harry in a daze. \'It\'s marvellous, thank you so much.\' He had to fight to keep the tears back, as he was determined not to cry on his wedding day.

Seeing how overwhelmed he was, Sirius said gruffly.

\'It\'s nothing, I just wish James and Lily could be here today for you.\'

\'So do I,\' said Harry, his smile turning a little sad. \'But as they can\'t, I think you make a pretty good substitute.\'

Thuggeugged again, and when they drew apart, Sirius said.

\'Well I guess you\'d better get ready, the ceremony\'s planned for 11 o\'clock.\'

Harry nodded, only then noticing that Sirius himself had on a very smart dark blue robe and had actually had his hair cut.

********

\'Well, I\'m ready,\' said Harry nervously, smoothing down his new robe and looking at Sirius.

Sirius\' jaw dropped.

\'You look amazing, Harry,\' he said sincerely, he noticed that Harry had finally got his hair to stay flat, but there was something else... \'Where are your glasses?\'

\'Um, I found a spell that will temporarily give me perfect eyesight. Why? Does it look strange?\' Harry looked worried, but Sirius was quick to reassure.

\'No, you look great without your glasses, though...\' Sirius suddenly thought of something and chuckled. \'If Snape fell for you like you were, I don\'t know what he\'s going to do when he sees you like this!\'

Harry laughed and couldn\'t help a slight blush. It was amazing to him that not only could Sirius accept who he loved, but could actually joke about it!

\'Well, I guess we\'d better get going,\' said Harry, heading towards the fireplace. It had been decided that the ceremony would take place in Snape\'s chambers to save Harry having to walk around the school and perhaps getting asked awkward questions.

His heart thumping painfully, Harry stepped out of the floo at the other end into his lover\'s living room. There he found three pairs of eyes watching him; Severus, Dumbledore and...

\'Professor Lupin!\' Harry exclaimed with joy, looking into the friendly brown eyes.

\'Just Remus will do now,\' said the werewolf, beaming at him. \'I can\'t believe you\'re getting married, but I\'m so pleased to be asked here to witness it.\'

\'I\'m glad too,\' said Harry before turning his attention to Severus, who couldn\'t seem to stop staring at him. \'So that\'s who the mystery person was. Thank you for thinking of him.\' It meant a lot to Harry that his lover would invite someone who he didn\'t like just because he knew how much it would mean to him to have both his father\'s best friends there.

\'It\'s nothing,\' murmured Snape, still mesmerised by Harry. He had always thought Harry could be handsome if he tried, but now that it was in front of him, he could hardly believe it was true. And this wonderful creature wanted to marry him!

Just then, Sirius came through the fireplace and broke the spell.

\'Now we\'re all here shall we make a start,\' said Dumbledore brightly.

Wordlessly they got into position, Snape and Harry in front of Dumbledore with Sirius and Remus off to one side.

It was a simple ceremony, but as Harry pledged himself to his lover he could feel the weight of every word, and as he looked into Severus\' eyes, he could tell he felt the same way.

Finally Dumbledore drew out two gold rings which they placed on each other\'s fingers and announced they were married.

As Harry and Severus kissed to seal their union, Harry felt a flush of magic go through his body, and seeing his husband\'s startled face, he realised it was not just him.

\'What was that?\' he breathed, wide-eyed.

\'I have no idea.\'

Then, as the other three started clapping and offered their congratulations, it was momentarily forgotten.

\'Well at last you\'ve made an honest man of my godson,\' said Sirius heartily to Snape, clapping him on the back. \'I guess I\'ll have to try and be nice to you from now on!\'

\'My jaw is exceedingly thankful for that,\' Snape replied dryly.

Harry looked from one to the other and saw he was missing something. Then he gasped.

\'Sirius, did you *hit* Severus?\' he demanded.

\'Yes, he did,\' Snape interjected, his dark eyes looking into Harry\'s. \'But I deserved it for treating you like I did.\'

There was a sharp intake of breath.

\'Did Snape just admit he was in the wrong?\' said Sirius disbelievingly.

\'I think he did,\' Remus joined in, his eyes twinkling. \'I must say Harry, you do have a good effect on Severus!\'

Snape glared at them all, daring them to say anything else, which had the unusual effect of making them all laugh.

\'That look only works on your students,\' Sirius said with a grin. \'We know you\'re a softy really.\'

\'Stop teasing him!\' protested Harry, feeling strangely protective of his new husband. Plus he wouldn\'t put it past Severus to start hexing Sirius, despite their truce, if he pushed him much further.

Looking at Harry\'s slightly anxious face, Snape relaxed. He really didn\'t want to spoil their wedding day.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, they had lunch and talked. Remus and Sirius reminisced about Harry\'s parent\'s wedding day and also their school days, which Harry loved to hear about.

\'I think that went pretty well,\' said Harry once they had finally said goodbye to the other three. \'You only came close to hexing Sirius once!\'

\'I thought I was very restrained,\' Snape replied with a dark look, before pulling Harry into his arms and whispering into his ear. \'But now all I can think is that no matter how wonderful you look in those robes, you\'d look far better out of them.\'

Harry shivered at the tone in his husband\'s voice, which promised of delights to come.

\'I think that could be arranged,\' Harry said, his green eyes sparkling. And taking his hand, he pulled him towards the bedroom...