Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Since they became engaged, Harriet and Draco felt that their lives had turned into whirlwinds of anxious activity.
It was a rapid and unexpected change from languishing about Malfoy manor, as they had done since Harriet had come to stay, to bustling about, planning the grand wedding.
The couple were lucky to steal a few minutes together when they woke up in the morning or a brief pause before they succumbed to sleep at the end of each exhausting day.
Draco had to fight his mother, the house elves, and the slew of people his parents wanted to hire to do this and that for his nuptials to spend any time at all with his infant son.
Narcissa was always eager to look after her beloved little Scorpius, and that conveniently freed up Draco to examine and debate over napkin options or potential tablecloths.
Draco would have much rather cuddled his baby.
Chubby Scorpius was a true joy to hold.
Snuggly, soft, and sweet, with Draco's blonde hair and Harriet's friendly disposition, the secret Malfoy effortlessly charmed his way into the heart of each person that he met.
As the wedding planning dragged on, Draco started to resent the whole process.
It seemed endless to him, the amount of people that Lucius and Narcissa deemed necessary for the event, the chefs, the planners, the decorators, the bakers, the endless array of supposedly vital services......
Of course Draco still wanted to marry Harriet, he just wanted to do it on his own terms, not the rest of the world's, and certainly not his parents'.
Harriet was in a similar position.
She also found the wedding planning frantic and stressful.
Harriet was very happy that she was still nursing Scorpius because she was fairly certain that if her little one had already weaned, entire days would pass where she wouldn't even have the opportunity to see her baby.
With the wedding planning itself though, Harriet was having a much more difficult time than Draco.
Between the dressmakers, the hair stylists, and the jewelers, the Malfoy-Potter wedding staff put a tremendous amount of pressure on the bride-to-be.
One evening, Draco finally joined his lover in their bedroom after he managed to escape his father's clutches.
Draco had grown tired of sitting through Lucius's many lectures about how important it was that the Malfoy-Potter wedding honor the ancestors of both house Malfoy and house Black.
That particular evening, Draco had barely been paying attention to Lucius's stern voice as the eldest Malfoy droned on and on.
In both families, Draco was the first to marry in over twenty years......
Draco was the sole heir to not one but two prestigious wizarding lines.....
Lucius's greatest mistake was only siring one son and Draco had better not commit the same error....
Draco was too exhausted to care anymore about his father's ideas.
His father's ideas.
That was the problem.
From the moment Harriet had agreed to marry him, Lucius and Narcissa had taken over with their ideas, not the betrothed couples' wants or needs.
Draco and Harriet were marrying for love and yet somehow, their day of sentiment was quickly evolving into becoming nothing more than a very formal, very public declaration of family wealth and nobility.
The couple may have had their opinions asked on a few minor details, but the true mechanics of the operation were being dictated by Lucius, Narcissa, and the worst of everything........tradition.
As Draco walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind himself that evening, Harriet sat in bed and cuddled Scorpius, who slept in her arms.
She frowned while she watched her alpha come and sit down gently on the bed as a defeated sigh escaped his thin lips.
"Another trying day, Malfoy?" Harriet asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.
"Aren't they all now, Potter?" Draco huffed.
"They are for me, anyway." Harriet said with a bitter chuckle as Scorpius wriggled his tiny feet in his sleep.
Draco's voice was low and quiet as he spoke honestly, "........I don't want to do this."
Harriet felt a pang in her heart as she clutched Scorpius and looked at Draco nervously, "You.......you don't want to.....marry me.....anymore?"
Draco sighed again and looked over at Harriet as he huffed, "No, Potter, of course I still want to marry you! But surely you can see, our wedding is going to be little more than a circus! Where's the meaning? The entire thing is only for my parents to strut around telling everyone that their son's mated with 'The Chosen One' and how redeemed House Malfoy and House Black have become! I want to marry you to show my love for you, to make that commitment to you, not to glorify my family names! It's a mockery! I meant it as something beautiful, but they've ruined it now and it makes my stomach turn!"
Harriet frowned as she listened to Draco and tried very hard to understand his viewpoint.
The preparations had been overwhelming for her too, yes, but Harriet wasn't angry at Lucius or Narcissa over it all.
Harriet had no living family to which she was endeared.
During her time with the Malfoys, she had become surprisingly close to Narcissa, and while it seemed like a good idea at first glance to advise Draco to spurn his parents' help, reject tradition, and do things entirely differently, Harriet could understand how such actions would come across as.......terribly rude.
"Draco.....I don't know what you want me to say. Do you want to tell them we're calling it off? I don't think your mother and father are going to allow this to happen without show and pomp." Harriet said with a bitter chuckle, "That's who they are and that's who they want to be....That's really who they want you to be as well."
"I'm not calling anything off." Draco scowled as he glared over at Harriet.
"Alright, then......" Harriet shrugged, "What is it that you want to do?"
"I want you to run away with me." Draco said flatly.
Harriet was taken aback so much that she laughed louder than she meant to as she asked, ".....What?!"
Scorpius furrowed his tiny brow at the noise and squirmed in her arms before she cradled him against her breasts until he cooed softly and burrowed back down to sleep.
"You heard me, Potter." Draco replied as he looked at Harriet with profound sincerity, "Run away with me."
"Where?" Harriet asked with a chuckle, "We can't just disappear, Draco, not for days, they'll notice we're gone......What are we supposed to do with Scorpius? I can't be away from him completely for more than about two hours at a time. They'll definitely notice the baby's gone. Your mother likes to carry him around like a little girl with her doll."
"That's fine, we don't need to be gone for more than an hour or two." Draco said contemplatively as he moved up on the bed to sit directly beside Harriet.
Harriet watched as he looked down at their little boy lying in her arms and whispered, "No one will know we've left until we've already returned."
"I don't really understand what you're getting at." Harriet blinked.
Draco smirked as he looked up into Harriet's green eyes and whispered arrogantly, "Do you trust me, Potter?"
"Probably more than I should~." Harriet replied as she leaned in to kiss her alpha sweetly on his lips.
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To make his plan a reality, much to his dismay, Draco had to do a fair amount of research into the muggle world.
He could only use the sparse, fleeting moments of spare time he had every day to conduct his investigation, but eventually, his efforts became worthwhile.
It really alarmed Harriet one evening as she sat with her future in-laws, her alpha, and her infant son, at the dining table, eating dinner, when Draco suddenly paled and turned a ghastly shade of green.
"Draco, love, what's wrong? Do you feel alright?" Narcissa asked worriedly when the blonde dropped his fork and by doing so, attracted the attention of everyone at the table, including little Scorpius, who blinked at his father from his ebony high chair.
"No, I.....I need to be excused. Pardon me." Draco murmured under his breath as he laid one hand on his chest and rose from his seat.
Harriet exchanged concerned glances with Narcissa as Draco hastily strode out of the room.
Lucius scowled after his son incredulously.
"He was fine earlier!" Harriet said quickly to Narcissa.
"Yes, I know, I saw him this afternoon, he didn't mention feeling off." Narcissa replied.
"I'm sure he's perfectly fine. He's always been sensitive like you, Cissa." Lucius sniffed.
"Perhaps we should call a healer?" Narcissa suggested urgently as her blue eyes flickered between her husband and Harriet.
"I.....I suppose I'd better go check on him first." Harriet said as she too left her seat and scurried out of the room.
Narciss blinked after Harriet worriedly.
Harriet was terribly frightened for Draco as she dashed down the hallway with her eyes wide and her hands trembling.
She charged towards the bedroom she shared with Draco and burst through the door, expecting to find him either asleep or violently ill.
The sight that Harriet was greeted by was not one she had anticipated.
She found Draco sitting calmly on the bed, in a new black suit, lacing up a fresh pair of shiny, leather shoes when he looked up at her and scowled.
"Well? What are you standing there for? Hurry up! My distraction won't last forever. Open that box there and put on your dress. Be quick about it, will you?" Draco huffed.
Harriet was aghast.
Shakily, she walked over to the bed and opened the dark grey box that was sitting on top of the duvet.
She assumed that the box was what Draco had referred to, it had to be, it was the only box in the room.......
Harriet lifted the lid and stared down at the dark dress inside before she asked her alpha with a confused scowl, "......Where are we going?"
"We're going to get married, Potter." Draco revealed as he finished with his shoes and stood.
"We're going to get married right now?" Harriet blinked incredulously.
Draco nodded and glanced nervously towards the doorway.
When he saw no one there, he looked at Harriet again and nodded, "Yes! Come on! We've got to hurry! Put on the dress I bought you so I can take it off you later~."
Harriet grinned at Draco and he smiled back for a second before he turned and closed the door gently with a flick of his wand.
Harriet hurriedly began to take off her clothes and slip into the new frock that her thoughtful alpha had selected for her.
As she changed, she felt Draco's grey eyes watch her every movement and her heart fluttered in her chest.
Married.
They were going to be.....to really be......married?