Summer After Seventh Year
The summer flies by. While Draco and Molly have between them managed almost everything for the wedding, there are seemingly endless details to attend to - dress robes must be bought and fitted, of course, but also owls to exchange with their first apprenticeship contacts and about the furnished flat they'll be living in, and Albus is learning a great deal more than he anticipated about exactly what it means to marry an heir: a vast amount of paperwork. And dancing lessons, Draco is adamant.
And there are Draco and Harry and Ginny to spend time with, before they quite take the last leap into adulthood, and Lily who is facing her first time at Hogwarts without a brother, and Rose who will be starting legal studies in the fall.
And there are childhood rooms to sort out, full of memories and emotions and learning new little things about each other. The day Scorpius sees the bundle of every letter he's ever sent to Albus preserved carefully in a box is one to treasure, with the way his fiance blushes and scuffs and mumbles that even before, Scorpius was the most important person in his life. The day Albus sees the same in return is one he'll never forget either, the way Scorpius ducks his head and looks through his lashes and says "you always were the world to me." And so there are walks to take and sunsets and moonrises to steal kisses under, too.
There's the Weasley back to school bash to attend, in support of the younger cousins. And there's Scorpius' birthday, because Albus doesn't forget that Scorpius has made a point of celebrating HIM, just him, besides Valentine's day. They make it early just for this year so that they can manage a full day of being away from other bustle. They visit Astoria's grave to leave flowers and tell her that they're getting married. Albus was nervous about this part of his plans, but the way Scorpius squeezes his hand with shining eyes tells him that he got it right. Then they have a long, leisurely tea and visit the bookstore and the sweet shop, and Scorpius declares it a perfect day.
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The last week before the wedding they spend apart with their families - partly in a nod to tradition and partly, Albus suspects, so that their parents can give them a last chance out if they need to - but they've never been so sure of anything in their lives.
The wedding morning is crisp and clear and Albus is only a little terrified as the Potters arrive at Malfoy Manor to their allotted rooms for dressing. Harry helps him with his charcoal dress robes with the hints of dove gray, and grins at the Pepper Imp cufflinks that Scorpius and Albus bought as a wedding gift to each other.
Malfoy the Dauntless is holding on with all his might as Draco helps him with his dove gray robes with hints of charcoal - he KNOWS his father has exquisite taste but he's dying to see Albus and to see what they look like together with their opposite coloring - but those Pepper Imps at the cuffs help settle his stomach.
Both Scorpius and Albus remember the day in a series of moments: seeing each other for the first time and all nerves fleeing. They'll do this together as they have done everything else important. Walking with their parents toward Hermione; their parents releasing them to each other. Saying their vows and hearing the crowd cheer. Receiving the rings from James and Lily and placing them on each other's hands. Recreating their infamous kiss picture aided by Rose and Lily and James (who can't stand not to be part of it) before the wedding breakfast. Sharing Pepper Imps and whispering "stay for my sweets?" "Always." Hugs and laughter and dancing with so many people who wish them well: the Weasley clan and Professor McGonnagall and Neville and Dean and Seamus and their parents and family friends. Then it's time for them to slip away and Apparate to their new flat, together. Their new jobs won't start for another week, but neither of them wanted to travel somewhere ELSE for a honeymoon.
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They've never had this much space, just the two of them, Scorpius thinks. It's not large - just a little kitchen and breakfast nook, a sitting room full of bookshelves and yes, the small piano Draco bought for Scorpius' birthday, the bathroom, and the bedroom - but compared to a third of a dormitory room it's a palace. He finds himself unaccountably nervous and shy, unable to look at his husband - HUSBAND, what kind of a world is it where that is a word he can apply to himself or to Albus, surely they're too young, surely Albus could do better, and he's fiddling with his rings and he can't breathe and then he hears the door lock and Albus' body is pressing his back to the wall and his hands are turning Scorpius' face up to his and their lips meet and everything makes sense again.
"Merlin, I love you Scorp." Albus' voice is a familiar rough purr in Scorpius' ear and he's sure the temperature in the room rises several hundred degrees at least. "I love YOU, Albus Severus Malfoy-Potter."
Albus is devastating in his dress robes, the charcoal setting off his bronzy skin and ebony hair, his stormy green eyes and wicked smirk ready to set Scorpius' whole world ablaze and make him safe at the same time. The cut of the robes shows every bit of how broad Albus' shoulders are, how strong he is.
Scorpius is the most beautiful thing Albus can imagine, with his sweet, angelic smile (though Albus knows just how carnal that mouth can be) and starry gray eyes surrounded by that silky blond hair. The dove gray suits his coloring, the cut enhancing how delicate and graceful he is, though Albus knows the apparent fragility hides a soul as strong as diamond.
They savor each other slowly, drawing everything out in the luxury of time, kissing and stroking along eyebrows and jawlines and collarbones. There are a few things in those books that they haven't tried yet and now they have all the time and privacy they could need to do so.
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They do emerge eventually that week, and meet their landlady, who pats their cheeks and calls them lovebirds and feeds them tea and scones. They arrange pictures - the one Albus drew for Scorpius so long ago, and newer ones with family and friends, and a very large one of their Hogwarts Express headline-maker. At the end of the week they receive a rush package from Dean and Seamus, a wedding portrait with them surrounded by Harry and Ginny, James, Lily, and Draco. Dean has added Astoria between Scorpius and Draco, and it's beautiful. Not a magical talking portrait like those at Hogwarts, just a bit of magic so that you can see the breeze and the smiles and the way they're squeezing their hands together and look ready to conquer the world.