Riddled

((Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter of Soul Searching! Especially Thiliapetiolaris who pointed out I forgot all about the riddle! Anyway, I hope this clears up the ending a bit more for everyone!))

An arm wrapped lazily around Harry's back, fingers splayed and yet clutched at the skin.

"Morning." A soft voice muttered into his chest. The blonde curtains fell back, revealing stunning grey eyes as the man slowly pulled out of his sleeping position. Harry smiled, beaming, he bent down and captured the blonde's lips, licking and nipping at them until they were slightly puffy and red. He smiled at his work when he was done.

"Morning love." He murmured, running a hand through his lovers silken locks. Draco smiled, tilting his head into the motion for a moment before his eyes locked on something over Harry's shoulder, most likely, the sun through the blinds.

"Ass!" Draco snapped pulling back and fumbling around the room, still naked.

"You still have half an hour before they get here." Harry murmured "And you know I can't wake you."

"What, would you rather I sleep through this?" Draco growled, and Harry had to bite the inside of his lips, or 'I wish I could sleep through this' would spill out and Draco would be put in a foul mood, or more so than normal. Instead he merely stood and grabbed his own clothes from the wardrobe, pulling on the first set he found. He nearly jumped when Draco bit his neck, normally that only happened if he was in a really great mood, to tell Harry he would be in for sex not to long after. Harry turned and wrapped his arms around his lover's waist, pulling him tight.

"Oh?" He asked raising an eyebrow to the bite on his neck.

"Mmm, they can't all be on time." Draco murmured, his voice very nearly a purr. Harry chuckled and kissed the man softly. They had been so busy that they hadn't managed to have sex in a while, and sleeping naked together, while pleasant, wasn't the same as orgasm.

"Maybe they'll let us keep the cake samples to play with?" He suggested, and Draco's eyes hooded a bit, but the sparkling in the silver increased.

"I suppose your house elf will clean up the bed?" He asked, and Harry frowned. Draco pulled away and sauntered off. "You can't keep putting it off Harry, you already live here."

Harry sighed, it seemed all they did recently was fight about everything. Was he moving in? Was he doing this for the wedding? Who was he inviting? Would he just make a few decisions! Harry shook his head, closing the wardrobe that held exclusively his cloths. He wasn't moving in until after the wedding, and even though a lot of his things were about, it was still Draco's house. Draco wanted him to bring Kretcher over already and finish the move, but something about that seemed so… final. Well, either way, it would be happening soon enough.

Harry felt his stomach drop a bit as he looked at the ring on his finger. It was silver, with a golden vine twining over it. Binding him. He twirled it on his finger before slowly following his lo- no his fiancé.

Teddy sprung into his arms before ye had reached the bottom of the stairs, making Harry grab quickly onto the banister so that they both didn't tumble to their dooms.

"Draco says there's gonna be cake today! That sound like so much more fun than all that boring stuff yesterday." He smiled, and his hair was a brilliant pink. Harry laughed and set the boy down on the stairs so they could continue walking.

"Aren't you suppose to be going with Ms. Brown to the museum?"

Teddy pouted and crossed his arms, sitting down on the stairs.

"But you never let me do anything for the wedding!" He exclaimed. Harry frowned and knelt next to his godson, looking up at him through the boy's volatile blue green hair.

"We have one meeting for cakes, yes, but most of the other meetings will be boring things. We have to make arrangements with the Ministry, and there will be a whole bunch of things we need to do to make the Pure-Bloods happy." Harry said, "I wish I was going to the museum instead, to play with all the exhibits and see dragon skeletons."

"We're going to a muggle museum." Teddy pouted, sounding only slightly less sulky.

"Even better! They have dinosaurs!"

"What are those?" Teddy asked, looking up, a bit of curiosity sparked in his green eyes and his hair was changing slowly to orange.

"They're kind of like dragons, but some of them are even bigger! And they would all fight each other, and there were more kinds than there are broomsticks!" Harry said, and Teddy's eyes lit up. He nodded and hurried down the stairs to begin to tell the other children about dining-snores. Harry chuckled a bit and moved into the kitchen where Draco was flipping a few eggs.

"Didn't Astoria leave us any?" He frowned, wrapping his arms around Draco's waist and looking over the man's shoulder. The man smiled a bit and leaned around to kiss him, even when they were fighting Harry couldn't stop touching Draco. Something about that always seemed to cut the arguments short, no matter how long they had been, or how loud.

"No, Brown's in her phase again, she was starving so Astoria gave the rest to her." Harry nodded and kissed Draco's ear. A few of the children squealed and ewwed the kissing, but it only made Harry smile. Harry had quickly gotten used to the large number of children around the house at all hours. Different parents had different schedules, and Draco's Daycare was a success in its own right. They had needed to hire on three more people to keep up with the children, and between that and the potion, Draco was nearly out of debt. Harry grinned as Draco elbowed his ribs gently, shaking him loose. When he combined his vault with Draco's they would be in the green again, and he had insisted on paying for the wedding. Draco had argued at first, but Harry had made a convincing argument involving much whipped cream, a bridal tiara and a new spell he had read in Wizard's Wands. By the time Draco had finished shaking he had agreed without meaning too, and Harry had it on paper. He smiled softly, remembering that night. He had cast extra silencing charms and Teddy had still grumbled that they shouldn't fight so late at night.

He sat down at the table where Gizzel was coloring furiously with crayons, large slashes of orange, purple, red and some sort of pukish brown decorated the paper and part of the table. She smiled when she saw Harry and handed it to him.

"Pwesnt!" She grinned, looking too adorable for words. Harry thanked her profusely and used a sticking charm to hang the drawing to the walls next to many of its brethren.

Draco came over as Gizzel bounced off to find Astoria, and set a plate of food in front of Harry.

"I think I want a daughter." Draco murmured, watching the girl leap into the woman's arms crying 'Miz Gween, Miz Gween, never mean, Miz Gween'.

"I think we'll have a bit of a problem with that, neither one of us is really equipped."

"There are ways." Draco said, a bit dreamily as he watched Astoria spin the girl around. By the time he looked back Harry's face was sheet white. "Oh not like that you dolt, adoption."

A bit of color returned to Harry's face at the words, but only a bit. He hadn't even thought that far yet. They were getting married soon, yes, but that wasn't going to change much. Draco opened his mouth, as if he was going to start the argument about children once more. They'd had it four times in the last week, and Harry was tired of it. He didn't understand what Draco was talking about, and when he did it all sounded like blood prejudices and idiocy to him. As if sensing his mood Draco scowled and shook his head. He sighed softly and then tucked into his food, Harry following suite quickly after. By the time their breakfast was done the children had left of the museum and there was a knocking at the door. Draco waved for Harry to take care of the dishes as he went to answer it. That was an excellent plan in Harry's mind. He took his time doing the dishes, making sure each one was clean before putting it away, and had managed to do some of the children's when a stinging charm caught his ass. He frowned, rubbing the sore spot and slowly moved into the living room, where Draco was already sampling a cake.

"Ah, Mr. Potter! A pleasure to meet you!" The baker smiled and rose to his feet, extending a hand. Harry took it after a moment's hesitation, and their wedding planner scowled. She was a small witch, with large glasses and a bowl cut, who looked generally unpleasant, but she certainly got things done. Harry sat down next to Draco and cake was immediately shoved into his mouth. He moaned a bit and Draco nodded.

"Yes, I think this was the baker." He said and he and the little witch, whose name Harry hadn't bothered to learn (he referred to her as the Beatle) nodded and began to make arrangements with the man. Draco took a moment to cast Harry a withering look, which might have had more of an effect if Harry wasn't presently eating the best cake of his life. Draco scowled and began to tune back in to whatever the Beatle and the Baker were talking about. Harry sighed and put the cake down, watching Draco with careful eyes.

The whole process of planning the wedding was boring. Harry wished he could be doing something else, but Draco insisted on dragging Harry along. Harry sighed, wondering how they could possibly be soul mates when so many things between them were so different.

"Perfect! And we're done early." Draco smiled. Harry felt a hand brush against his knee and smiled a bit. At least the sex was good. Actually, that was an understatement, it was fantastic. Harry dropped a few galleons on the table and the Beatle swept them up, distributing them out to the baker and pocketing the rest. Harry wondered for a moment if she meant to keep them but she gave him a smile and he decided not to ask.

"The florist said she'd be running a bit late, so I'm going out to lunch. Just think, only a few more days!" The Beatle exclaimed, sounding too happy for Harry's tastes. Draco escorted the woman and the baker to the door. When he came back there was a twinkle in his eye that made Harry shiver. He smiled as Draco knelt down between his legs, nuzzling his thighs.

"We have the house to ourselves." He murmured, kissing up the inseam of Harry's trousers. Harry shivered, running his hands over Draco's shoulders and shifting forward a bit.

"Andromeda." He managed right before the teeth started scraping gently at the cloth. He closed his eyes and moaned a bit.

"Has been bed ridden for a while now. I doubt she'll come down any time soon." Draco murmured as his fingers drifted up to Harry's pants buttons. Harry moaned a bit as Draco began lipping and kissing at the skin as his pants were pulled further down.

"We don't have time…" Harry muttered. Suddenly he was cold. He opened his eyes to see Draco stalking back and forth. Harry paused before he opened his mouth again.

"We never have time!" Draco snarled. "Oh shut it. Ever since I proposed you've been acting like… Like a right git! The more I try to get you to show any interest in me, the more you back away! The last time we had sex was when you were using it to manipulate me, which I don't appreciate by the way."

Harry opened his mouth and closed it a few times, like a landed fish.

"Oh shut up. Go… do whatever you want. I'll take care of the rest of the planning. It's not like you want to be here anyway. Hell I'm lucky I could get you to take the day off and you still ignore the planning! Doesn't this matter to you?" Draco snarled. Harry stood, reaching out a hand, which was promptly slapped away. "No, don't go there. I know you'll start spouting Auror business, but it's you're bloody wedding Potter! It's not like it's something small. You haven't even looked at half the plans, I feel like I'm—like I'm alone in this or something! Just… if I'm going to be alone in this I might as well be alone in this."

He always knew when Draco was truly angry because he became less articulate. Harry opened his mouth to try to apologize and then turned away. Draco didn't want him here? Well fine, he didn't want to be here anyway. Harry stalked out the doors, hearing a shriek of rage right before they slammed behind him.

'Damn it, when had things become this uncomfortable?' He thought stalking down the lawns. He started to turn back again but then disapperated. He snarled as Ron and Rose looked up briefly at him before returning to their game.

"Have another fight?" Hermione asked, not looking up from her book.

"He had the nerve to call me a git!" Ron scowled and shooed Rose off to play with Hugo. Harry shook his head as Ron's face scolded him for speaking like that in front of his daughter. "Sorry."

"We're getting rather used to it." Hermione sighed, putting the book down. "This is the third time you've appareated into our living room in as many days."

"He's just been different lately!" Harry snarled, "What?"

Ron had raised an eyebrow, something rare for him.

"I still don't like the git, but I think you're calling a kettle black." Ron muttered, pulling himself up onto the sofa from where he had been sitting on the floor.

"What do you mean? He's been throwing himself into the wedding preparations—!"

"As is normal for someone who has a wedding." Hermione interrupted. Harry scowled.

"And he's been acting off!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry," Hermione sighed, standing up. Harry took a step back, when she had that look in her eye it meant she had something to say that he wouldn't like. "I think you're afraid of commitment. I understand that, every time you've thought you had a permanent family before, something's changed, but I honestly think Malfoy's good for you."

"Afraid of… Hermione that's absurd." Harry sighed.

"When was the last time you had sex?" Hermione asked. Harry snorted and Ron promptly exited the room. Ron had been… fairly accepting of the whole ordeal, but he still couldn't stand to hear about sex.

"I don't know, a week, maybe more. He keeps biting and stroking and cooing and then… something comes up."

"And I take it that something isn't what should be coming up?" Hermione asked with a slight smirk. Harry gave her a dirty look but shook his head.

"He wanted to have sex in the middle of the living room today. I didn't think it was a good idea, with Andromeda around and there not being much time and…"

"Harry, before he proposed how often were you having sex?"

"Once a day normally, sometimes we couldn't get away from the kids or I was too tired, but we tended to… even it out on the weekends." Harry grumbled.

"And after?"

"I don't know, once in the past couple weeks."

"If I'd only had sex with Ron once during our wedding planning I'm sure he would have gone batty." Harry sighed, he accepted that Hermione and Ron had sex, but it was one of those things that rather seemed like he shouldn't know about it. It still seemed like one of those things, like talking about your sibling having sex. "What I'm saying is that you seem to be punishing him for wanting to be more deeply connected with him. And from what you would tell me, he was often the one turning you down before. He's probably not used to it, and on top of all the other stress he's dealing with I wouldn't be surprised if he's a bit annoyed. The real problem is, Harry, you've been acting differently."

"Not you too…" Harry grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"When you think the whole world's gone crazy, it's probably you and not them." Hermione said. Harry sighed. "You're getting married in just a few days. You need to come to an understanding of what that means. Harry, putting off the problem won't solve anything."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. A moment later there was a tapping at the window. Out of sight, Ron must have let the bird in, for it soared straight to Harry.

'I give up, everything is all off… I can't seem to get anything right anymore… It's just… all off.'

Harry stared at the paper, his mouth hanging open.

"What does it say?" Ron asked, coming back into the room.

"Oh Harry…" Hermione shook her head. Harry dropped the paper and disapperated.

He panted when he reappeared. The distance was two to three times longer than any recommended apparition distance, and he sighed as he braced himself on the cliffs. Why would Draco call the wedding off? It was absurd! Sure they'd been fighting recently, and maybe they hadn't had sex in a few days, but that was no reason… Harry did want to get married, didn't he?

He sighed looking out at the vast beach before him, his mind wandering back to the Egyptian desert. He and Draco had started honestly getting along there, and he'd even gone back with him on a few trips. Ament still would tease him about the one riddle he'd never solved, though he knew Draco had figured it out straight away.

'What holds two people together but only touches one?' It was absurd anyway. Nothing could hold people together if it only touched one. He sighed, knowing that he shouldn't be thinking of it so literally. He thought it was ridiculous that he was thinking of it now. His time of greatest need should have been when he was deciding whether or not he was going to accept the validity of the soul searching potion.

'Because you're scared.' Some bit of conscience nagged him. He shook his head, ignoring that.

"What touches only one person?" He murmured allowed. He looked himself over and nodded. "Clothing and… jewelry…"

He looked himself over with a frown, what tied him to… He closed his eyes. His ring. It tied him to Draco, marked him as Draco's, and Draco's ring marked him individually as Harry's. Harry shook.

It took him three jumps to get back to the house. He approached it nervously, testing to see if the wards were still keyed in to him. He wasn't sure how upset Draco was, but he didn't want to walk into anything… excessively unpleasant.

He smiled a bit, feeling the wards wash over him like silk curtains, welcoming him home. Knowing he hadn't been kicked out of the house was a good first step. He opened the door, looking around for his fiancé. He didn't call out though, he wanted to come upon Draco without warning, not give the man a chance to build up a wall. With all of his Auror training, Harry moved silently through the house, first the living room, then upstairs to their bedroom, then back down to Draco's lab and his old room (it should have been a clue that they were living together when Harry's whining about lack of natural light had them switching bedrooms entirely). With a frown Harry started to wonder if Draco hadn't left, when he heard a small curse coming from the kitchen. Smiling, as it was better to smile away nerves than to fret them away, he hurried into the kitchen.

Draco was standing over the stove cursing it for all sorts of things that Harry couldn't believe were the machine's fault. Harry closed his eyes, gathered himself up, and moved across the room. He wrapped his arms around Draco, the same way he had this morning, kissing his neck and ear. He sighed in relief when Draco moaned, rocking his head back into Harry's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Harry murmured, kissing the man's little bits of exposed flesh. "I'm so sorry."

He closed his eyes and apparated them to their bedroom, doing his favorite trick and purposefully leaving all their clothes behind. Draco gasped, turning around to face Harry, but Harry couldn't stand to look in his eyes yet. Instead, he bowed his head, sucking gently along Draco's collar bone and pressing him backwards until they were tumbled out on the bed.

Slow, leisurely kisses traced up and down Draco's body, Harry took his time to explore all the familiar lines and tastes. He closed his eyes and let his mouth move from memory, his hands move based only on the shivers of his love's body. Soon Draco was gasping under him, whimpering and whining in a way that always made Harry smile. He rolled off of the man and onto his stomach, opening his eyes at last. Draco's eyes were glazed with passion and Harry felt his body flood with response, had he not already been hard, he would have hardened immediately at the look on Draco's face.

"Take me. Punish me." Harry growled, his voice hoarse with lust, longing, and apology. Draco's face started to clear for a moment but Harry pushed himself up so that his ass hung wantonly in the air. Draco gasped, moving so that he could bite the round hemispheres, making Harry pant with lust. Harry closed his eyes again, rocking back into his lover's hands, moaning as Draco took his time to explore and reacquaint himself with every bit of Harry's body. He felt Draco move away after a few seconds, reaching out for the bedside where they kept a small pot of lubrication, but Harry reached out and pulled Draco's hand back, sucking his fingers into his mouth. Draco let out an animalistic moan, making Harry shiver and suck harder and more playfully at the man's fingers.

"Punish me." He murmured when Draco had finally pulled his hand away. Draco shook for a moment and then slowly moved his now wet fingers to Harry's ass. Harry thought about groaning in frustration that Draco wasn't just pounding into him, making it as painful as pleasurable, but the groan turned into a moan as Draco's wonderful fingers danced inside of him, pressing buttons that made his body light up like a Christmas tree. Soon he was riding back against Draco's fingers, whimpering and whining in the same way he had loved to hear Draco cry.

"Mine." He heard from above him as the fingers pulled out and Harry felt himself being filled. He dropped his head onto his arms, panting.

"Yours." He promised breathlessly. Draco snarled and began pounding into Harry with such fervor that Harry wondered if he wouldn't break apart from the force of it. Then Draco moved his angle just a bit and Harry screamed, biting into his own arm with the pleasure, now sure he would break apart if Draco kept hitting him there. Soon he was panting around the moans, hissing and shaking as he held himself off, not touching himself and positioned so that Draco couldn't touch him either. He felt Draco gasp, felt the plusses shutter, and felt himself fill. Harry moaned deeper, barely avoiding cumming as he felt Draco's slick seed coat him, fill him, run out of him and drip down his balls. He closed his eyes, enjoying the way Draco collapsed forward onto him, pinning them to the bed.

"Wonderful…" Draco murmured after a few moments, gathering himself enough that he could start kissing and nipping and Harry's neck. Harry shook his head however and shifted, pulling himself from under Draco so he could face him, the morning the loss of connection all the while. He heard Draco swear and braced to be yelled at. "Shit, I'm sorry, I got carried away and…"

Harry blinked, trying to figure out what Draco was talking about the moment before Draco fell forward, pulling Harry's whole length into his mouth and down his throat in a quick, practiced motion. Harry's head dropped back on his neck, and with a few careful, well thought out swallows, he was cumming hard down Draco's throat.

Shivering he closed his eyes. Why had Draco done that? He wondered. He didn't understand why he was curled up around his waste, petting him and practically purring.

"D-Draco, we need to talk." Harry said slowly, wincing through his closed eyes as he felt Draco's body stiffen at his side.

"Speak." Draco's voice was calm, composed, and all together too unfamiliar for Harry's tastes.

"I…" He broke off, un sure of where to start. He grabbed Draco's hand and held it between his own two, looking into Draco's eyes now and noting the mask which was so hard in place. "I still want to get married."

The mask fell, shattered with a single strong emotion. Utter confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want it to be over. I'm sorry I've been acting like such a git, I didn't even realize it was me. I know it's been inexcusable, and I promise I'll try to work on it, but I still want to marry you. Draco, don't cancel the wedding."

"Cancel… What are you talking about?" Draco asked, pulling Harry's face up from where it had hung.

"You said you gave up, that it was off…" Harry said, now as confused as Draco. He watched as Draco's face hardened briefly.

"Moron. If you tried listening to me more you… I've been trying to get our wedding as close to the vision I had of us as possible, but it hasn't been working. I've been telling you that for a week now, that I was worried I would never get the flowers right. I meant that I was giving up on that, if you had listened to me more-"

Harry cut him off with a kiss, throwing him backwards on the bed once more and sucking at his face like a starved dementor. Draco pushed him back with a laugh, carefully stroking Harry's hair, smiling at his idiot partner.

"You may exchange the rings." The priest said in an air far too formal for how Harry felt. His eyes were lit up with excitement as he stared at Draco,

"With this ring, I bind myself to you." He murmured. Draco looked up, a bit surprised. "That we may always be held together by our rings and never be separate again."

"About damn time." Draco mouthed before placing a ring on Harry's finger and repeating the lines.

"I now pronounce you dually wed. You may kiss your mate."

Harry wasn't sure if they made it to the permission, he held Draco in his arms and kissed him deeply, winding one hand through Draco's hair, and letting the other thread between Draco's fingers.

If one were specially charmed, or maybe a sphinx, one could hear the soft click of the two rings above the roar of the crowd, and see the riddles fall into place. Not all of them had answers, but all of them could be solved.