A/N: Please be sure to read the first part of this chapter in Chapter 36!

October 9th, 2004

"Well, isn't this lovely? Everyone seems to have such sweet, kind words! The famous Harry Potter, our world's hero two times over, managed to reform a Death Eater! Truly, a magnificent trick. I'm still rather convinced it's an extremely powerful confundus charm, or perhaps a well brewed love potion. But we all know potions was never Potter's strong suit, eh?" The crowd seemed uneasy at him making the same joke that I had made. It was clearly less appropriate coming from him. "No, I must admit that even if magical coercion was uninvolved that this is Potter's finest work. A true accomplishment." Father paused and continued with a frown, "You praise my son for changing his ways, when in reality he is no better than the lot of you: blood traitors. I had hopes for my boy, my only child and heir to the noble house of Malfoy. Yet he has disgraced the name by marrying to a blood traitor, befriending Harry's mudblood friends," He made a grand gesture to Hermione, "And having the ilk of the Weasleys as makeshift in laws." He laughed wickedly with a wild gesture to the table with the most Weasleys seated. Mum reached and took father's arm in her hand and hissed something sharply at him. He didn't even look her way. He simply shook her hand off and continued on his tirade, now speaking directly to me, "Congratulations Draco. You always were a disappointment to the Malfoy name, but now you truly have out done yourself in marrying Potter. I thought you could redeem yourself after the war. But it appears I was wrong." He raised his glass for a second before tipping the last of the firewhiskey into his mouth. He let the tumbler drop to the table. It didn't break. He turned and stormed off into the house. I watched my mother follow behind.

I didn't need to look about to know that everyone was staring at me. I felt utterly paralyzed. I did not think I was capable of movement. Just as I was beginning to consider apparating to the middle of nowhere, Ron stood abruptly and said, "Right, that'll be enough of speeches then. Let's drink a little more and forget that happened, eh?" His wand in his hand at his side flicked and the bottles appeared around them again, eagerly refilling glasses as the music started to play a jaunty tune.

"What do you need?" Harry's voice seemed to be coming from very far away.

"A minute. Some space," I muttered, unable to focus my sight anymore and unable to look in any direction. I could barely move my mouth.

"If you need to go take a minute inside you can."

"Can't move."

There was a pause and then his hand was on my waist as he forced my right arm around his shoulders. He helped me onto my feet. I panicked as I thought of someone worrying that I had been injured if they looked at Harry hauling me to my feet. I made my legs move and stood straight. I pulled away from Harry and muttered a thanks before heading inside. He knew better than to follow. I knew many of our party had turned to see me go. I pretended I didn't care.

I headed inside and immediately turned into the living room to get out of sight. I half expected to see my parents here, but the house was empty. As I sat down on the sofa I noticed a small scrap of paper sitting under a mug on the end table beside me. I tugged it out and recognized my mother's handwriting immediately.

I'm so sorry. It's best we leave after what he did. I love you both. I will try and talk to him. Please try and forgive him.

I placed the paper back on the table. I sighed heavily and collapsed onto the couch on my side. I couldn't bear the weight of being his son anymore. I was a shame and a disgrace. That much he had made clear. I wiggled out of the suspenders digging into my shoulders. I had shuffled the jacket off onto the back of my chair awhile ago. I wanted nothing more than to forget this had happened. Hadn't Harry mentioned that Hermione had an eerie ability to cast strong Obliviate charms? Perhaps she would be willing to do me the favor. I knew what she would say though, "You can't just remove painful memories, Draco. You need to cope with them in due time."

I stood and started pacing. I didn't know what to do. I reminded myself there was nothing I could do about my father being an ass. He wasn't going to apologize. He never had had to in his whole life, and he wasn't about to start now. I sighed and glanced at a small mirror that rested on the wall. It was purely decorative. But I got a good look at myself. I had more color in my skin than I used to. I looked frazzled. My father saw me as a disappointment. A let down.

"I will never make him happy," I murmured to myself. "There is no point in bending over backwards to please him."

It had never occurred to me before. I don't know where this thought had come from. It was like a spark of insight coming from nowhere. I felt the weight steadily lift from my shoulders. A radical thought occurred shortly after this. I smiled to myself and ran up the stairs in seconds. I ran into the office and scrawled a message on a bit of parchment. I opened the window to the street below. It was dark out now. No Muggle would notice. I turned and nodded to Reg who had been watching me curiously. He flew over to the window sill and looked at me expectantly. I handed him the roll of paper, "To father, Reg. Thank you." I scratched his feathers just behind his ear before he flew off. The note was simple:

Father,

Until such a time as you can learn to love me for who I am and who I love, I do not want to speak or communicate with you in any way. I will not step onto Malfoy Manor property until such a time either. I'm more than happy to talk and visit with mother, but neither will occur on your land. If she wishes to see me or talk she can come to our home at any time.

Draco

I watched Reg until my eyes could no longer make him out in the dark before turning out of the room and heading back down the stairs. Harry was walking into the room at the precise moment that I was. He rushed straight toward me, "Are you okay?" He asked frantically as he wrapped his arms around me. I relaxed into his touch and kissed his cheek, "Yes, I'm fine. They've left. I actually sent him a letter just now."

Harry pulled back and tipped his head to the side slightly, raising an eyebrow. I smiled, "Don't worry. I just said I didn't want to talk to him anymore. Mum's more than welcome to come by whenever she wants, but I told dad I had no need for him until he could accept things as they are."

"You what?" Harry whispered in shock.

I nodded slowly, knowing he had heard me but was merely in disbelief. He hugged me close again, "I'm so proud of you for standing up to him."

I pulled back only enough to kiss his forehead, "You gave me the strength I needed. Now all I have to do is go out there and apologize to our friends and family."

Harry shook his head, "No, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do. They need to know I don't condone what he said."

"They already do. There's no need to explain yourself to them. They all know you now. It is not your job to apologize for your father's cruelty. You shouldn't have to clean up his mistakes," Harry explained as he fixed my hair that had gotten ruffled from my tumble onto the couch.

I hummed in thought and fixed his bow tie that had gotten slightly askew, "I suppose you have a point. What do I do though? Just head out there and pretend like nothing happened?"

"Essentially, yes. Why don't we go out together, would that make it easier?"

I nodded slowly and took his hand in mine. He lead the way back outside. To my immense relief, nobody noticed our reentry into the yard. Everyone appeared too busy enjoying each other's company and the music to care about anything else. Harry glanced at me, "Not so bad, is it?"

"No. But I think I want to just sit a while. You go have fun," I squeezed his hand momentarily before letting him go. He seemed to hesitate briefly, but finally stepped away and made a beeline for a rather giggly Minerva McGonagall. I smiled to myself as I sat down at my seat at our table. Minerva had swooped Harry into a hug he had not expected. It was entertaining to see all of our friends and families in varying states of inebriation. Hermione was perhaps the most comical with her ridiculous muggle moves on the dance floor. I watched the crowd quietly, sipping absently at a small glass of wine. It didn't take long to feel like an outsider looking in. I wondered if I ever would feel totally a part of this community, the witches and wizards who had always been on the right side of history. Harry's friends and family that he loved so dearly. Would they ever be able to see me as one of their own? At times I felt the taste of inclusion on the tip of my tongue, but in moments like these the gap seemed as wide as ever.

Harry seemed to quickly distract and forget about my absence from the crowd. I didn't mind. I knew he was just busy enjoying himself. But I was beginning to feel somewhat lonely. I wanted everyone to go home so that I could spend time with my husband. Just as I was starting to get a bit disgruntled the music cut itself off abruptly and Ron's voice carried over the crowd loudly, "Oi, shut it for a moment, would yeh?" Everyone settled down and turned to see what Ron had to say. He stood in the midst of the yard and shouted, "I'd like to dedicate this song to the groom. The only man I would ever, and I mean ever, dance with." Everyone started to laugh and look to Harry who was blushing slightly from the alcohol. But to everyone's surprise, let alone my own, Ron turned away from Harry and walked instead to my empty table.

The music began to play and I couldn't help but smile and shake my head.

"No, no, no running away, we have to," Ron insisted, holding his hand out to me.

I rolled my eyes and finished the last of my wine before taking his hand and letting him pull me to my feet. Only Harry and Hermione were able to piece it together. The two of them were snickering to each other as Ron lead me onto the dance floor just as the chorus struck. He abruptly spun me about, making me burst with laughter as he tossed me about terribly. We drunkenly meandered across the floor as the muggle borns sang along with each other very loudly, "Sweet Caroline," a group of them would start for another group to sing, "BUM BUM BUM!" obnoxiously in reply. A brief glance about proved that the majority of our friends were extremely confused, though everyone wore a smile on their face. It had to be a ludicrous sight. Two wizards, former enemies, both purebloods, dancing to a muggle song.

When our moment had ended and attentions shifted to Hagrid singing his own rendition of the song in his thick Scottish accent, I couldn't help but ask Ron why he had bothered to do such a thing with me. It seemed quite unlike him. He simply shrugged, "I noticed you were moping in the corner and I figured nobody should be moping on their wedding day. So I thought I would do what I could to make you laugh."

I was genuinely surprised, "Well look at that, Weasley, you actually have half a mind."

"Yeah, yeah, Malfoy, don't make me regret being kind to you," He laughed as Harry came over. He bid us farewell and returned to Hermione's side, who had returned to dancing like an idiot by herself.

Harry smiled gently, "Hey there, Caroline."

"Oh, shut up," I rolled my eyes and pretended to walk away from him.

He grabbed my wrist gently and pulled me back toward him, "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't notice you weren't feeling good over there. I should have been paying better attention."

"You were having fun, you can't be blamed for that."

"Perhaps not, but this isn't just my day. Your happiness is just as important as mine. How about I make it up to you?"

I sighed softly. A small part of me had been a little bitter that he hadn't noticed. He knew this, despite the front I put on. He always seemed to know. So I relented, "Okay. How do you propose to make it up to me?"

"I'll give you whatever you want, right here and right now. You just name it."

"What if I ask for a dragon?"

"I'll bet you a galleon Hagrid's got one in his pocket, shouldn't be hard to get you one."

I snickered, knowing he was right. I bit at my lip as I tried to think of exactly what I wanted in that very moment. I looked around at our friends and family that had been with us for the vast majority of the day thus far. I glanced back at Harry and murmured, "I honestly just want everyone to go home so that we can get in bed already."

He didn't hesitate. He turned to the crowd and shouted above the din that it was time for everyone to head home. He waved off any complaints and insisted, seeing to it personally that everyone got to their port key and the fireplace. He escorted each and every last guest until he had cleared the whole yard. I watched in amusement and said my goodbyes as people headed inside. As he went about clearing out the guests, I cleaned up the yard until it was back to normal: plain, boring grass and nothing else. I absently thought of planting a garden sometime soon while I waited for Harry to reappear. The last of the guests disappeared into the house and a few minutes passed before Harry peaked his head out the back door, already missing his shirt, "Are you coming or what?"

My cheeks flushed slightly as I ran toward the back door, undoing my tie as I went. I headed in and followed him upstairs, stripping our clothes off as we went up to our bedroom. By the time we fell into bed, however, we realized just how tired our bodies already were from the long day. The bed seemed to melt underneath us. We shared a look and laughed. The minute we had laid down, the thought of consummating the marriage had gone out the window. "Would you mind if we just slept all night instead?" Harry asked shyly. I immediately agreed and pulled him into my arms. We were both asleep in ten minutes flat.

The End...ish

A/N: The sequel has been published and is titled Legacies and Legends! If you've gotten this far, I just want to say THANK YOU. I see you, I appreciate you.