Chapter 26

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you to June for all of her help with my stories.

Chapter 26

“Do you think our surprise will go off without a hitch?” asked Crookshanks.

“I don’t see why not. All we have to do is wait until everyone is in the Great Hall, then — right before Albus starts to talk — all the lights go out, and voila!” Osiris said as he sat on Crookshanks’ back. “I just have to make sure I don’t forget that spell I found, so that nobody else can use the Lumos spell.”

The pair continued on into the castle, looking behind them every once in a while just to make sure their surprise was still there.

* * * * * *

Back inside the castle, Severus had just arrived in the Great Hall with Raven. He immediately walked to Remus and Tonks, who were sitting with their four-year-old son, Sirius, and their newborn daughter, Lily.

“Remus, Tonks — I’m so glad you could be here,” Severus said as he leaned down and kissed Tonks on the cheek, and shook Remus’ hand.

“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” stated Remus.

“I’m sorry, but would you mind helping me with something, Remus?” he looked at Tonks. “You don’t mind if I take him away for a few minutes, do you?”

“Oh no, go right ahead, we’ll be fine,” affirmed Tonks.

“Is there something the matter?” asked Remus, after noticing that Severus was a bit more nervous than he should be, even as father of the groom.

Severus looked around and spotted Harry and Draco. “I’ll tell you in a moment.” He took Remus by the arm and walked towards the two younger men. Harry and Draco immediately realized something wrong.

“What’s the matter?” asked Draco.

“Osiris and Crooks have been missing since yesterday evening.”

The other three men’s ears immediately perked up.

“Oh no, you don’t think …” began Harry.

Severus shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about it, but you know what happened the last time they were out of our sights for this long.”

“Do I? I still can’t get the smell of horse manure out of my red teaching robes,” replied Harry.

“Oh, Severus. I don’t think they would do anything like that for the kids wedding,” said Remus.

“No, nothing like that. But I just don’t want to take any chances that they try something equally as … pungent.”

The four men decided to each take a different part of the castle. There was still twenty minutes before the start of the ceremony, enough time for each man to run to a different section of the castle and cast a locator spell on the animals. After the last time the pair had gone missing, Harry realized they had done something so that they were not visible on the Marauder’s Map. Severus knew Osiris had been into his spell books, but ever since Albus made him the Deputy-Headmaster he had very little time to search for the spell his cousin had been using to keep himself and Crookshanks invisible to the map.

Unbeknownst to them, however, Osiris had taken care of making sure any locator spells were of no use as well. He and Crookshanks had been planning this for months, and there was no way they would be found out now.

* * * * * *

Odette was alone in the Room of Requirement. Rosmerta and Hermione had gone together to the Great Hall to finish greeting the few guests they had invited, and to position themselves for the ceremony. As the young soon-to-be bride looked at herself in the mirror, she noticed the blue-eyed man’s face over her shoulder. She smiled and turned to her father.

“Well, how do I look?” Odette looked on the verge of tears. She was nervous, and so was he. Lucius felt the familiar prickling of tears in his eyes and fought to keep them at bay. He smiled and approached his daughter and took her by the hands.

“You look positively ethereal, my sweet girl,” he said as he kissed her forehead and looked at her from top to bottom. “I just want you to know, if you ever feel the need to come home for whatever reason, you will always have the door open to you.”

“Daddy, you know Raven and I never argue like that,” she scolded.

“Odette, darling. You are getting married. Couples sometimes disagree on things. I just want you to know there will always be a place for you, should you ever need some time alone. I know Raven is a wonderful young man, but if one day you should argue about whose turn it is to beat the house elves…” He was stopped by his daughter’s laughter.

“Oh, Daddy!” She lightly slapped him on the shoulder, then together they turned and walked out. For a moment before her father walked into the Room of Requirement, she had wondered if her life would change so drastically as some of her friends had told her. She supposed it would; after all, Raven and she would be husband and wife. But for the most part she knew that things between them would only get better.

* * * * * *

It was five minutes before the start of the ceremony. Severus, Remus, Harry, and Draco walked back to the Great Hall and took their places. Severus sat down next to Hermione and whispered in her ear.

“What? You don’t think?” asked Hermione.

Severus shrugged. “Perhaps you should hold my wand. I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for casting an Unforgivable at my own cousin.”

As they all sat patiently, a harpsichord began to play. Raven and Odette had decided on a Muggle-style wedding. As the doors opened, Maximilian Malfoy walked in with Artemisia Potter on his arm. They smiled and walked the path down the aisle. Behind them came Armando Potter and Samara Malfoy, then the Maid of Honor Katrina Snape. Kat looked ahead of her and saw her own intended, Vladimir Malfoy, standing next to her brother. She felt a tear slowly begin to fall as she realized that in a few short months she would be in Odette’s place.

Raven smiled, then turned to his friend and said, “It’s still not too late for you, mate.” They both chuckled and returned their attention back to the aisle. As Kat approached, Raven gave his sister a hug and a kiss, then stepped back into place to await his bride.

After several immensely long seconds, Odette came into view on the arm of her father Lucius. She wore a floor-length dress with an empire waist and a long veil. She looked as though she were glowing as she walked down the aisle. Raven felt his heart begin to beat ten times its normal speed. This was it; they were finally going to be together forever.

Odette and Lucius finally made their way to the altar and to a smiling Albus Dumbledore. Lucius turned to his daughter, lifted her veil slightly, and kissed her. He then turned to Raven to place her hand in his, and patted the young man on the shoulder. He took his place next to his own wife, and the music stopped.

The moment had finally arrived. As Albus cleared his throat, the unthinkable happened: all the lights went out. One lone silky baritone voice could be heard.

“I’ll kill them.”

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll have the final chapter up tomorrow.