"Draco! You came!"
Draco smiled and obligingly shook the other man's hand. "Of course! I had to see what woman in her right mind would marry you, Goyle."
Gregory Goyle smiled and then nodded his head respectfully over Draco's shoulder. "Good afternoon, Professor Snape. Thank you for coming." Snape nodded his head nobly and said nothing. Goyle smiled widely again and looked at Draco. "Oi, you brought your kid, too! The missus is going to be really happy! Oh, hey Potter. Thank you for coming."
"Merlin, Goyle. How many times must I tell you?" Draco asked in exasperation.
"Oh, right, right. Sorry bout that. I mean, thank you for coming, Potter-Malfoy," Goyle quickly replied.
"Gregory, you are not supposed to hold up the guests in the line and you are definitely not supposed to ignore introducing your celebrity friends to your new wife!" Goyle swallowed and turned to his side where a petite woman with corkscrew blonde hair and a quite noticeable bulge in her abdomen was hissing at him. She smiled prettily at Draco.
"Ah, you must be the prettiest bride I have ever seen, madam," Draco declared as he let loose his polished charm. He took the blonde's hand and gave it a courtly kiss, which caused her to giggle and blush. "Allow me to introduce my husband, Harry, and our daughter, Maia. You'll have to forgive Maia. For a three year old, she is quite non-talkative, but she mentioned to me that she liked your dress. Compared you to a Fairy Princess, I believe." This statement earned him another giggle and blush from the bride while her new husband looked on in happy incomprehension.
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" the new Mrs. Goyle exclaimed. "I am so happy that you travelled all the way from America for our wedding! Please enjoy our reception!" Draco kissed her hand again and moved his group through the rest of the receiving line.
"I have scraped better tasting liquid from the bottom of Longbottom's cauldron," Snape groused and nearly flung his champagne flute down onto their table.
"Be nice," Harry hissed. "They did the best they could. They are probably saving up for the new baby."
"I wonder if Goyle even knows why his wife is getting fat," Draco mused as he watched his enormous schoolmate nearly crush his petite bride on the dance floor. Harry laughed and biffed his husband on the shoulder. "Ah, Harry, don't abuse me in front of the media. I'll receive letters," Draco teased.
"Ugh, I forgot. It's nicer in Vancouver. They don't follow us, at least," Harry griped. "Maia, use your utensils. Severus, can you hand me your napkin?"
A black eyebrow went up. "Why must I lose my napkin because the brat has used hers?"
"Because either she uses your napkin or your robes," Harry answered promptly with a smile. Snape surrendered his napkin. Maia finished her piece of cake, miraculously without any of it staining her lilac dress. Lilac, Draco had informed Harry, was the 'in' colour that spring for children, and his daughter was going to be fashionable, regardless of said fashion's ability to show food and drink spills. While her dad was talking to her father, Maia slid down out of her chair and put both hands on her Sev's leg.
"What?"
She pointed and twisted her hand while staring at him.
"I refuse to answer you until you use your words. You are at least partly human and you will act like it," he instructed.
"Wanta dancing," she answered quietly, tugging on his robe.
"That's nice."
More tugging on his robe. "You dancing with me," she ordered.
"And in what level of hell do you see me dancing at all, not in the least with you?" Snape asked curiously.
"I cute. You love me," the child answered immediately.
"Regardless, I do not dance."
"How cruel, Severus, to deny a child a small request such as this."
"Then you take a turn with her on the dance floor, Lucius. Careful, she's had cake."
Resplendent in his dress robes, Lucius Malfoy joined their table after making apologies to the hosts on his wife's behalf. He didn't mention that she couldn't stand "that Goyle woman" and had flounced off to prepare a new wardrobe for her granddaughter for the occasion of her holiday in Britain.
"Come, poppet, I'll dance with you," Draco called out and scooped his daughter into his arms and off to the dance floor.
"He's going to show off," Harry grumbled while watching a house-elf scoot away with Maia's empty plate and dirty napkins. Snape had a new napkin set next to him.
"I should hope he doesn't. Malfoys do not boast," Lucius pronounced and took Draco's empty chair next to Harry. "By the way, why is that twit of a bride telling everyone that you came all the way from America to be here?"
"She's bad at geography?" Harry ventured.
"She's flagrantly committing the sin of boastfulness?" Snape added snidely. Lucius ignored them both.
"Harry, you will be happy to know that the new hospital wing designation for Dumbledore will be 'invited media' only," Lucius commented as he drank from his champagne. Harry held back a grin as the elder Malfoy's eyelid twitched and he placed the glass very far away from him. "Only a select few will be there, so no need to worry about a crush. But Maia will need to be there. She's old enough now to begin training for social and political events."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know, I know. Draco has already given me the speech. Although I refuse to believe he gave his first formal address to a crowd of hundreds at the age of four."
"Well, Malfoys do not lie—"
"In which reality?"
"But perhaps my son exaggerated a bit," Lucius finished, completely ignoring Snape. "I would not expect that from Maia until she was six."
Harry blinked at the smirk Lucius was sporting. "Did you just tease me?"
"Of course not. I must be off. Do not sour the festivities any more with your demeanour, Severus. The champagne is doing enough of that as it is." And Lucius disappeared into the crowd to mingle and charm.
Harry looked at Snape, his eyes wide. "Did he just tease me?"
Severus shrugged. "I stopped paying any real attention to him years ago."
Harry blinked and then jumped as hands settled on his shoulders before a voice whispered low in his ear, "Dance with me, gorgeous." His heart took a second to restart and Draco's head popped into view, a concerned look on his face. "Sorry, love. Didn't mean to startle you," he whispered. Harry shook his head and smiled.
"No, I was still stunned by your father. I think he just teased me." Harry took a deep breath subtly and unclenched his hands.
Draco put a hand to his chest. "Never say so," he declared dramatically, then grinned. "Come, dance with me. I want to hold you in my arms in front of all these people and make the bride jealous."
"She married an ox and has the brain of a gnat. She'd get jealous of a tea cosy," Snape retorted dryly as Maia used his arm to steady her climb back into her chair. Draco chuckled and pulled Harry to his feet.
"So," Draco said as he moved them easily into a turn on the floor. "While we have been in Britain for a total of fourteen hours, I have received six marriage contract proposals."
"For who?" Harry asked sharply.
"For Snape," Draco countered sarcastically with an eye roll. "Who do you think? Maia."
"She's three!"
"Yes, well, that's where the contract bit comes in," Draco answered while sliding Harry through two clueless dancing couples. "Some of them are really quite excellent. Not perfect, but nothing to shake a stick at."
"Draco. We are not putting our daughter on an auction block!" Harry hissed. "I knew we should have gone to Hawaii. You haven't even spoken to Goyle since our own wedding! There was no reason to come to England for our holiday."
"But we were invited, love. Besides, we'll go to Hawaii for our anniversary, just the two of us. Maybe I can get you to wear one of those swimsuits with the string bits that go up the bum," Draco leered.
"You first," Harry laughed. Then his eyes widened in realization. "You're doing this for Maia! You're getting her media coverage!" he accused.
"Well, I don't want her to be a has-been, now do I?" Draco answered smoothly. "If they get tastes of her every so often, then they'll be dying for her. When we return to Britain for good, she'll have her own mass following. She can pick and choose whomever and whatever she likes."
"She is not a starlet and you are manipulating the press to... well, I don't care if you manipulate the press, but I don't want our daughter to be a freak," Harry argued. Draco leaned down and tenderly kissed his husband's tight lips.
"Never, love. I am merely giving her opportunities. If she gets older and doesn't want it, I'll make it disappear for her. As her father I will give her whatever she desires." Draco paused and a smirk bloomed on his lips as he looked over Harry's shoulder. "Although, something tells me that my child knows what she's about."
Harry spun in Draco's arms and gawked at the sight that greeted him. There was Maia standing in her chair, her lilac dress immaculate, waving and smiling at the cameras that the press had placed just on the other side of the hedges outside of the garden tents. The reporters were scrambling to get her attention and answer questions.
"What's your name?"
"Maia Regina Malfoy."
"How old are you?"
"Three. I three."
"Will you come over here and talk with us?"
"No, my daddy not like peoples with pictures."
"Who is your daddy?"
"Daddy."
"What's his name?"
"Daddy."
"Are you having fun?"
"Yes, but I go dancing now with my Sev."
"Maia, you will use my full name. Now, get down!" The reporters all groaned as the show ended and their star disappeared behind the hedges that were taller than she was.
"Ah, the fruit of my loins," Draco sighed in satisfaction.
Harry turned back around to his husband. "If she does want it all to go away, you won't push her?"
"Never."
Harry nodded and let Draco sweep him back into the dance. Draco chuckled at his husband's still stunned expression. "I love you, Harry."
Harry lifted his head and smiled back. "I know," he whispered. "I can see it in your eyes."
And the crowd swallowed them up as they danced the rest of the evening.
THE END