Draco shrugged. "If you answer me one question."
"And you will shut up if I answer one question?" he asked. "One indiscreet question, no doubt."
"Not really. I was just wondering if you're in love with Granger. And I swear that I'll keep my trap shut if you answer me honestly."
"That would imply that you know what my answer will be which makes it unnecessary for me to answer," he arched his eyebrows.
"I have a suspicion but I'd like it confirmed," shrugged Draco, unbuttoning his shirt. "And preferably before I undress."
"I've seen you in nappies and only nappies."
"Nice. Anyway, will you answer or do you want me to bug you further?"
"Would I show up at your wedding with her as my...d-d-date?"
"That doesn't answer my question. It could just be a ploy to get everyone to believe that..."
"I am beginning to fall in love with her. Given a bit more time, I could love her. Is that enough to still your curiosity?"
Draco nodded and put a hand on his godfather's arm. "Thanks for telling me," he said. "It was a really good answer and now we can fully focus on my wedding!"
Severus rolled his eyes and left his godson's bedroom.
99. The Place of Articulation
Once the air has passed through the larynx, it comes up and out through the mouth and/or the nose. Most consonant sounds are produced by using the tongue and other parts of the mouth to constrict, in some way, the shape of the oral cavity through which the air is passing. Th terms used to describe many sounds are those which denote the place of articulation of the sound: that is, the location, inside the mouth, at which the constriction takes place.
(Yule, 1985)
"You don't mind if I'm going with you, do you?" Hermione asked, fussing with her frock, pulling it a bit there, smoothing a bit here. Severus, for the moment, was unable to answer her question. He had been ordered out of the room by Draco, for making snarky comments, and he waited in front of it for the groom to be ready to be taken to church. He never thought he could be rendered speechless by anything anyone could put on. Take off, maybe, yes, especially when Hermione rolled down stockings or...well. But he never thought he could be this taken away by...a dress. He was. Rendered absolutely speechless and his thought process was reduced to: beautiful...beautiful...beautiful. He couldn't possibly think more.
"Severus?" she asked, thumping him on the arm. "Can I go with you? Aideen'll be leaving in a moment and all her bridesmaids and maid of honour and her mother and whoever is in the car with them and if it's just the two of you...
"What?" asked Severus, slowly discovering how to speak again. But honestly, any warm-blooded man, wizard or not, would be...distracted by the sight of her. Her hair was even more tamed than usual into big, fluffy curls that begged to be touched, held back by invisible pins at the back of her head and from there, flowing down, hiding her neck. Her cheeks were dusted lightly red, or pinkish or whatever the colour was that suited her so well. Her collarbone was exposed for him to look at and he was the only one who knew how it tasted at every time. In the mornings, when he loved to have a little bite of breakfast, when she had just put on perfume and at night, when he nibbled on it for a little snack. Her breasts modestly covered up by the champagne coloured, floaty fabric that would have hung on her if she hadn't known how to fasten it cleverly. A dress made for an ancient Roman or Greek goddess that fell to the floor in large drapes and folds. Everything hidden but the gentleness of her curves and the indent of her waist and...he" target="_blank">and...he wondered if his mouth stood open or if he was drooling.
"Severus? Are you quite alright?" she asked, putting her hand on his chest.
"I'm fine," he croaked and if he was indeed drooling, that was at least an explanation why his mouth suddenly felt so dry.
"Can I go with you then?"
He nodded silently.
"You are really strange. Is something the matter? Would you prefer me to go with Aideen? I thought we had talked about it...it's only fair that she takes only Muggle friends as bridesmaids and whatever else you need as a bride. And I honestly didn't want to do it. Have you seen what they're wearing? I wouldn't want to be..."
"I see what you're wearing," he managed to get out of his very dry mouth.
"What?" she asked. "Severus, really, what's going on?"
"You're gorgeous. Beautiful," he blurted, quite loudly.
"Huh?"
"Beautiful," he repeated, his tone a bit gentler this time and the pinkish-reddish-lovely dusting on her cheeks intensified.
"Thank you. I got the dress and Madame Bovvage's. Do you know the shop? It's in York. I didn't know they had a Wizarding Robe Shop there but there it was and I can eat as much as I like in the dress and don't have to..."
Severus interrupted her. He didn't need explanation. He didn't need reasons. He needed this goddess in front of him to kiss him. Or he needed himself to kiss her. It didn't matter and without any further ado, while she babbled on nonsense about eating and tucking her tummy in and whatnot, he pulled her so close to his body that not a single fold or drape could have fit between them. Her collarbone looked rather inviting but he needed her to be quiet first. No, he needed her to stop saying sentence that actually made sense. She could babble nonsense like his name or whatever other vowel come to her mind and the moment his lips made contact with his, a low groaning came straight from her chest. Those were the sounds he wanted — needed — her to make. No explanations why she had bought this dress.
He slowly moved to her neck and to her collarbone, sampling, tasting when a cough interrupted him. He had quite forgot about his godson and about the wedding and everything else.
"You could think that it was you two getting married," he grumbled nervously. "Granger, you look adequate."
"Thank you," she smiled at him, but at least he didn't manage to make her blush like he had. That should be his prerogative and his only.
"Can we go?" the boy asked, fidgeting with his tie and waistcoat.
"Just a moment," said Severus, recovering just in time. He pulled the little black package he had managed to wrap in time, and to get in time, out of his own pocket and handed it to Draco. "It would be...irresponsible to give this to you in front of all your guests. It's my, erm, our gift for you and Aideen."
"Our?" Hermione whispered, looking at him.
"Our gift. From us to you," he managed to say without a stutter. Even if she had found them a present, it didn't matter. This...it had to come from them as a couple. And they were a couple. If she could take his breath away, and his speech, by merely wearing a dress...he knew he was gone. And he was. Quite clearly. Gone. She had him in her palm. As long as she could wear dresses like this and roll down her stockings and...better not go there.
"It is usually tradition of..."
"Let him unwrap it, Severus," Hermione smiled at him curiously. "And you're complaining that I talk to much."
She was right. He did. Usually. But this present, it was their future and he had only presumed that Lucius, even if he showed up at the wedding, would not be giving this to his son. And he should have it. He should have it and he should get it from someone who cared. He cared, and he could admit to it, and Hermione...belonged to him. They were a 'they', not a 'he' and a 'she'. They. Them. Together. He shook himself out of his linguistic musing and his nervousness and watched as his godson unwrapped the black box and stared at the little black box itself.
"What is it?" he asked, eyes shining.
"Open it," Severus said and he felt a little hand pushing against his, into his and fingers grasping his.
His godson, eyes locked on the box and fingers trembling opened it and he lout out, barely a second later, a loud scream of joy quite suitable for a boy twenty years younger them himself. Or maybe fifteen years younger. Younger, at least.
"Uncle Severus, you've...did you...how...Goblins..." target="_blank">you...how...Goblins..."
"Oh my gosh, you found him this watch-thingy?" Hermione gushed. "But I thought only Goblins made it and you...how did you get there? How did you make them make one?"
He smirked. At least his...Hermione was still more eloquent and he made a mental note to get her a bigger one in time. Not yet and not in the next few months or years even but as soon as...well. He could get her one sooner if it didn't require...marriage.
"And Aideen's on it as well," Draco managed a complete sentence. So, he had talked a little to a Grobdiak, the Goblin who had managed his account and he had brought him into contact with another Goblin whose name Severus couldn't possible pronounce and he had, upon seeing Severus, immediately agreed to make a watch for Draco. A watch which, ultimately, showed the time as well — but it was also a pocket-version of the same clock Molly Weasley had, if he remembered correctly, in her kitchen. So far, only two hands were on it. His and Aideen's and while his was pointed at 'travelling' (which was a bit imprecise. He would have to talk to the Goblin about it before he gave on to Hermione or to himself...probably better get one for himself), hers was still at 'home'. There was room for a few more hands, naturally, but he hoped they weren't needed for a long, long time.
"And don't think you have to hurry with getting children just because the watch adjusts itself," he managed to say before he found himself in a stranglehold by his godson, arms wrapped tightly around his neck and...he hadn't been hugged by the boy since before he had started Hogwarts. Never.
"Thank you," he heard being whispered into his neck time and time again. "Thank you. Thank you."
"How did you get it?" asked Hermione smiling a little slyly, a little proudly, a little astonished.
"I have connections," he said and disentangled the groom's arms from around him. "Pull yourself together, Draco. There is a chain in the box as well and I suggest you put it on. It will show the time for all Muggles except those on the watch, like Aideen. At least that's what the Goblin said."
.
He always could surprise. Giving a watch like this to Draco was such a surprise. Staring at her in wide-eyed wonder as he had seen her in the dress was another. Truly, that he could have it in him...such a thoughtful present, and including her in the giving of it? She didn't know what to say to this and it was probably best that she didn't. She knew he wouldn't be able to cope very well with her telling him that she truly loved what he had done. He never did, and he never did like being thanked. She knew that rather well.
And so, when Draco examined the watch a little more closely, and adjusted the chain to his waistcoat, she turned to Severus and put her hands on his chest. She didn't say anything. She only smiled at him and pushed herself up at her tiptoes and pressed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Even that, he didn't cope well with. She had to smile as he arched his eyebrows. Of course he understood this as a sign of her gratitude. He would and he didn't like it. She kissed his other cheek and then turned to Draco.
"And? Ready?" she asked in what she hoped was an encouraging tone. She had heard that even men could go to pieces in such situations and now that the watch was in his pocket and he looked rather distinguished with it, he did look a little peaky.
"I, erm, I think I am," he stuttered.
"We're apparating to a little back alley and walk the rest of the way. We're early enough so there are not other people around," said Severus, taking Hermione's hand as inconspicuously as he could and looked at her. "Shall we?"
She nodded. "Draco?"
"I'll find my way," he said and a second later, he was gone, popped away and Hermione turned to her...Severus again.
She knew she couldn't hold her tongue. It was just too hard when he looked at her like he wanted to eat her and when he had given Draco that watch in their name. Their name! "That was so thoughtful of you, Severus," she whispered almost reverently.
"They owed me a favour," he replied gruffly.
"Who?"
"The Goblins," he shook his head. "That was what you were referring to, wasn't it?"
She smirked and to take the easy way out, she nodded. "Yes, it was," she whispered before she pulled his face down to hers and let him kiss her. Or the other way round. They were still locked in the kiss and she was revelling in it (truly, that man could kiss once he set his mind to it, and if he didn't set his mind to it, and all the time) and so, she barely noticed that he had apparated both of them behind the church that Draco was supposed to be married in. The groom was nowhere to be found though, even when she could see straight again.
"Where is he?" she asked, licking his taste off her lips and smiling at his expression. Sometimes, it was easy.
"Probably running away," he replied off-handedly and began to walk, pulling her with him around the church to the front. Draco sat there on the stairs, his chin on his knees.
.
It was too early. He wasn't ready. He didn't know how to be a husband. The only husband he really knew what his father and his father wasn't even a husband anymore. He didn't know how to act around Aideen now. What he should do and now they were getting married, the could have sex, and what if he didn't live up to her expectations and what if they were incompatible in that area? What if...he had to sit on the stairs in front of the church, his head spinning too fast for him to follow.
Rationally, he knew that he wanted to spend his life with Aideen and rationally, he knew he just had last minute jitters. He knew he was acting this way because...well, it was nervousness. Nothing more, nothing less. That was what his rapidly dwindling rationality told him. The rest, whatever it was, told him to run but his legs wouldn't budge, wouldn't move, were made of clay. He had invited a whole bunch of idiotic people. People he would have never considered inviting. People who would have never considered coming to his wedding two, three years ago. People who had said they would come. People who would be coming and people he was nervous to see. People who would, no doubt, judge him.
"Draco?" he heard a voice far away but he could only ignore it. He couldn't lift his head. He didn't have the strength and he couldn't run away. He tried to focus on Aideen, she was the one he was doing this for after all and he knew he loved her unconditionally but her face was only blurry in his head. Everything was rather blurry.
"Oi, Malfoy! If you wanna chicken out, you should run now, your first guests have arrived!" he heard a loud voice next to his er. He couldn't quite place it yet and his head could slowly move again — towards the voice.
