Changing Destiny

Eighty-One: Sea Side Bliss

The gothic manor that was Severus's ancestral home stood like a foreboding sentinel as I walked with almost uncertain steps down the flowered walkway of my sandy wedding aisle to where my husband waited. According to wizarding law, we were already bound as husband and wife, because of our magical bonding, and consummation on the night Severus proposed to me, but we both wanted to make things official for our family and friends.

Lucius escorted me, and Angel stood by Severus's side as Best Man. He noticed my nervousness, and whispered, "Are you alright, little sister?"

I took a few deep breaths, and nodded. "Yes. I'm the Minister of Magic, and yet I hate being the center of attention, and especially so for my wedding."

Lucius smiled. "I was nervous both times I wed. Even Grooms get cold feet."

"That's good to know. Let's get me married."

"Yes, ma'am."

The Ministry official was a kindly spinster looking witch with thick glasses, and she seemed flustered to be officiating at the Madame Minister of Magic's own wedding no less. She asked who gives the bride away to be wed, and Lucius answered, and placed my hand in Severus's.

Severus gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. "I love you too," He whispered.

"Thank you."

The Ministry official directed us through our vows, but my eyes were only for Severus as our eyes met. He gently traced the line of my cheek with his hand and said in my mind, ("For all my life, I have waited for my true mate. For a witch I can call my own for life. I have found you through time and space, and I look at you and see my soul mate looking back at me. I vow to protect you, protect our family, and to be true to only you for as long as we are so bound.") Verbally, he only said the standard vows, but mentally, just between the two of us, that was for us alone.

("I never imagined my soul mate, my husband would be you. But love had other ideas, and now, I cannot imagine anyone else but you to be my mate for life. I vow to love you alone for as long as we are bound, to love and protect our family as we make our way through our journey through life.") I repeated the standard vows verbally, and Severus was told to kiss his bride.

He cradled my face in his hands, and my heart skipped a beat as he lifted my chin gently, and our lips met. It was an unhurried, sweet kiss as our tongues briefly met, and he softly kissed my forehead.

"I love you," He whispered softly.

I smiled, tearing up. "I love you too, so much."

He gently wiped away my tears, and we were announced as married. Our guests were overjoyed, and at the tossing of my bouquet Pansy Parkinson caught my bouquet.

The reception was lovely inside the Prince ballroom, and the dinner even more so. But behind closed doors, Severus and I renewed our vows in a much more intimate way, and it was during our honeymoon in Ireland that I became pregnant with Sebastian. A year followed, and Dorian was born in this renewed timeline, and we couldn't have been happier...

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Two years later, we had Jane and Eileen, our fraternal twins, named after our mothers. Sebastian years later, married his long time girlfriend Rose Mayfair in a low key church ceremony in America. Our family grew large as Jane and Eileen married well into pureblood families and had four children each, four boys for Eileen, (Peter, Anton, Jacob, and Darren), and four girls for Jane, (Danielle, Martha, Rachel, and Christine). Dorian serial dated but never settled down, though the family tapestry dates his children from various women numbering into eight. Sebastian and Rose had three girls, (Candace, Emma, and Heather), and one boy, (Tristan), and all of them attended Ilivermorny.

Even as we both grew old and gray in our golden years, we still loved one another with that same pure love we always shared, and I do not believe either of us would have it any other way...

The End

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Severus looked over my notes, and kissed the top of my head as I sat at my desk. "This is wonderful. You could have written me with more of that sarcasm you grew to love over time."

I laughed, "Oh, hush. I call it artistic license to write of the wizard I love with all of my heart, and then some with some of that private kindness you share only with me."

The doorbell rang, and Winda, our housekeeper house elf who was one of Smocky's daughters popped in. "The grandchildren are here, Master, Mistress. Can Winda put out the Christmas cookies yet?"

"You may with all haste, Winda," Severus ordered, his voice still so smooth, even with the slight rasp of age that I heard whenever he spoke these days.

Winda disapparated away, leaving us alone in the study we both shared to run my husband's extremely lucrative Apothecary and Potions shop in Diagon Alley.

The snow was starting to fall outside the window, and I rose. "Will you take a turn around the hedge maze with me before we greet the children?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Certainly, I am of a mind to fall and break my hip in the gardens, darling."

I smiled, and after a moment, so did he. We bundled up against the cold, and walked the hedge maze we loved so much on our family estate. We made out like young people again, and created snow angels as we kissed and touched one another through our winter clothes. He ended up lying on top of me, and we lost ourselves for a moment staring into each other's eyes.

("You're staring.") I remarked mentally.

He caressed my cheek with his black leather gloved hand. ("Am I? Shall we pick this tryst up later on this evening?")

I nodded, my heart beating fast. ("Yes. If you are certain you want little old me.")

He gently brushed his lips over mine. ("Yes. I will just simply have to turn off the lights while we engage in our tryst.")

He helped me up, and we brushed the snow and ice off of each other. I smirked. "Mmhm. I love you too, git."

He lifted my hand to his lips, and pressed a kiss on my knuckles. "Your git, Miss Insufferable Know It All. Never forget that."

I laced my fingers through his. "Never, my darling Potions git. Never. I am yours, and you are mine."

We walked back into the ancient, foreboding mansion by the sea, and spent Christmas surrounded by our family, and later, in bed where we somehow always knew we would end up in each other's arms, and hearts, and no amount of destiny could change that simple fact for us all...

The End