You tighten the clasp on your second earring and take a deep breath, looking up at yourself in the mirror, smiling. You brush one last strand of dark brown (with faded pink highlights) hair out of your face before gathering your belongings from the quaint vanity and quickly making your way out through the bedroom door and into the hall.
It had been nine years since you and Draco had gifted each other with promise rings and promised to each be the other’s person for as long as you both shall live. Nine blissful years of sipping on morning coffee together in the sunroom, and walking to farmers markets hand in hand, and even arguing over the proper way to make a pot of tea since Draco insists that heating up the water in the microwave was more efficient. Nine years of basking in the comfort and serenity that came with being in love with your forever person. Of course whenever you wore the rings you knew but today was the day to finally march to the courthouse and make it official.
A large wedding felt arbitrary after all the two of you have been through and all the time already spent together.
When you finally make it to the front door of your shared home, Draco is waiting with a grin on his face. You laid your eyes on him dressed and ready and stumbled, almost tripping down the stairs at the sight of not only Draco, but Jamie in a tightly fitted vest.
Because of the circumstances,Draco had decided to make a day out of your city hall trip. Even without an audience, you could still dress up and take advantage of the occasion.
“You look perfect.” Draco choked out, closing the distance between you and him to get a closer look at your shimmering gown.
“You don’t look too bad yourself.”, You reply without missing a beat.
You link your hands and look up into Draco’s sparkling eyes, admiring how perfectly they complement his lacy overcoat. Then, you look down at yourself in your own bright one-piece and matching white heels. It’s far from a ballgown, but perfect for the occasion.
You stood there like that for a minute, taking each other in and wondering what either of you could have done to get this lucky.
Draco finally places a quick kiss to your forehead and looks up.
“Right then, we don’t want to be late to our own wedding now, do we?”
The courthouse in question is only a few blocks away from the flower shop under your home, and the weather is gorgeous for an unseasonably warm September Wednesday. It was as if the universe was begging you to take your time and walk there, so walking was what you did.
Hand in hand, you and Draco fill the time with jokes about the brightly colored houses that line the streets and comments about the leaves on the trees that were just beginning to show the first flickers of oranges and yellows. The two soon-to-be-newlyweds are practically dancing in the streets.
At the end of the scenic walk was your destination: city hall. The room where the rest of your lives would officially begin for the second time. The room where you would sign a paper affirming in the eyes of the law that you were made for nothing else than to spend eternity together until your last heartbeats.
“You know, I remember the first time I saw you.” Draco says as you and him are waiting in line to meet with a notary.
You scoff playfully.
“You barely said two words to me the first time you saw me.”
“Fair enough,” he admits, “But to be fair, you try stringing a sentence together when you find out the new dame you’re sharing a workspace with also happens to be the most breathtaking woman you have ever laid eyes on.”
“I think after meeting you I had some idea.”
It’s easy to fall back into your comfortable pattern of light discussion, and the reminiscent banter continues all the way through the paperwork process and into the officiant’s office.
“And you’re sure you want to go through with this?” Draco asks.
For the most part he’s joking and of course you know he’s joking but part of him also needs to hear the words one more time. You know the feeling- you could hear these words for the rest of her life and never get tired of them.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. It’s you, it’s me-”
“It’s us.” Draco finishes as all the love in the room floods over him in one big wave all at once.
When the officiant asks if you would like to exchange vows, you and Draco simply exchange a glance and a smile, shaking your heads. You knew you’d already said anything you needed to and you would have the rest of their lives together to say the rest. For now, the feeling of connection that blooms when your eyes meet speaks louder than any words could.
The final moments of the ceremony played out in slow motion. Although a silly certificate had nothing on the years you had already spent together, it still matters. It matters because now there was proof that you were in love and the past two decades weren’t just some magnificently crafted daydream.
“You may now kiss your bride”, said the officiant, but before he’s even halfway through the sentence, Draco grabs you, his wife, by the waist and pulls you in for a kiss you had been waiting to have since time began.
You skip out of the courthouse in a loving daze, relieved that you finally took the biggest step of your lives together.
“I love you.” said Draco, his face morphing into a tender expression of seriousness that you knew all too well.
“I sure would hope so because you’re legally stuck with me now.”
Draco smiles and looks down to the ground, altering the pace of her his so they’re perfectly in sync with yours.
“But just for the record,” you continue, “I will always love you too.”
Draco laughs and looks up at the sky. The sun is just beginning to set and the street is illuminated with its pink and purple hues.
“Should we get ice cream to celebrate?”
“I have a better idea.”
After all these years, Draco knows better than to question you, so he lets you lead him around the cobblestone streets and through a clearing in the woods, right to the community garden that’s been slowly growing ever since the two of you moved to the states together.
“You’re right, this is much better than ice cream.” Draco observes, taking note of how the flowers and other plants look under the dissipating sunlight.
You took his hand and whisk him into a slow waltz-like dance. The two of you have moments like this every day, but this one in particular feels magical compared to all the rest.
Minutes turn to hours and you and Draco spend the first of many nights as husband and wife swaying together in the moonlight until the lines blur between where one body ends and where the other begins. You’re drunk on love and each other, and glowing as bright as the moonflowers had all those years ago.
“I’d do it all again. It was all worth it.” you whisper..
“And I’d go through it all even if we didn’t get our happy ending because getting to have you in my life, if only for a second or a day, would make anything and everything worth it.”