Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The songs are as follows (they belong to their respective owners): Iggy Pop – “I never met a girl like you”. Aladdin (Disney) – “A whole new world”. The Offspring – “Pretty fly (for a white guy)”. Daniel Bedingfield – “If you’re not the one”. Bangels – “Eternal Flame”. Pink – “Lonely girl”. Elton John – “Your song”. Britney Spears – “(You drive me) Crazy”. Carlos Santana and Chad Kroeger – “Why don’t you and I”.

 

Harry was humming a song; he couldn’t get it out of his head.

“Are you ready?”

Harry swallowed as Ginny entered the room and came up to him, smiling widely. She righted his tie. “You look gorgeous.”

Harry didn’t say anything, just kept fidgeting. Her smile grew. “You’ll be fine. The only thing you have to say is ‘yes’.”

Harry nodded.

“Good,” Ginny said. “Now, come on. I was sent to fetch you. The ceremony can’t start without both grooms in place.”

Harry shot a last look at himself in the mirror before letting Ginny drag him out of the room.

He was getting married.

It all started that night at the karaoke bar.

Hermione Weasley, married to Charlie Weasley for five years, had told Harry that she needed a night out. She’d told all her friends the same thing and she’d also told them where she wanted to go and when. No one had ever dared to gainsay Hermione.

Thus they were now all seated, or crammed, around one of the tables in a dark Muggle karaoke bar in London. Harry sat between a sulking Pansy (she’d been sulking since her rather bad break-up with Blaise Zabini several months earlier) and a radiating Ginny. Harry wondered if Ginny was pregnant; he’d heard that pregnant women ‘glowed’. Next to Pansy sat Harry’s best friend, Ron Weasley. He was smiling shyly at Pansy, the letters ‘in love’ clearly written all over his face. Clearly, that is, to everyone but Pansy, who seemed completely oblivious.

Next to Ron sat Hermione, contentedly sipping a drink of some sort and following the various conversations around the table. Beside her sat her husband, Charlie Weasley. On Charlie’s left side sat his brother, Fred. Like Ron, the letters ‘in love’ were written all over Fred as well, but this time it was for Angelina Johnson, the lady next to him, rather than for Pansy. Angelina, although smiling back at Fred, seemed just as unaware as Pansy.

Beside Angelina sat her long time best friend, Katie Bell, who was six months along with twins and had been very close to declining the invitation, as she felt uncomfortable in such small areas as this restaurant. George, her husband of three years, had convinced her to come anyway. George sat next to her, talking to the man to his left – Draco Malfoy. Or Lord Draco Malfoy, as it had been since his father had died in the war. But that was not something anyone was thinking about – neither the war nor Draco’s title bore any relevance to the current situation.

Blaise, Pansy’s ex, sat beside Draco, deep in conversation with Neville Longbottom, who in turn seemed quite surprised to have all of Blaise’s attention on him.

Seamus Finnigan sat next to Neville, holding hands with his boyfriend of Merlin-knew-how-many-years and husband of four years, Dean Finnigan-Thomas. True to his reputation as an exhibitionist, Seamus would steal a kiss from Dean every time he thought no one was looking, and often when he knew someone was looking.

Completing the circle, Colin Creevey sat between Dean and Ginny. He looked nervous, more so than usual.

Harry let his eyes travel back over the circle of friends, landing on one Lord Malfoy.

Well, Draco.

He hadn’t really been Malfoy in Harry’s head for years.

Draco looked very good tonight, Harry decided. As it was a Muggle bar, they were of course all wearing Muggle clothes. Draco, who didn’t have much of a clue when it came to anything Muggle, still managed to put together a very attractive outfit with a tight grey turtleneck, tight navy jeans, tight everything… Harry gulped and turned away.

It had been five years since they’d left Hogwarts, five years since the Dark Lord had been vanquished. Draco, Blaise and Pansy had all been included in the group after they’d turned their backs on their families and their expectations for them to join Voldemort.

“So, Hermione, who got the honour of watching your little brats while you went out?” Blaise drawled.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to call her darling children brats again. “Molly and Arthur were nice enough to take care of all the children tonight.”

“All… what is it, ten of them?”

“No, it’s my three and Katie and George’s son,” Hermione said. “Lavender has your daughter, doesn’t she, Ron?”

Blaise shuddered. “I would not want to be Mr and Mrs Weasley at the moment…”

“Why didn’t Lavender come with us?” Ginny asked, sipping her Sprite. She and Katie were the only ones drinking non-alcoholic drinks – another reason to believe Ginny was pregnant…

“She didn’t want to come,” Hermione said with a pointed look at Ron.

“What?” Ron asked. “Just because she doesn’t like to seeing me… It‘s not my fault.”

“You could at least try to be civilized to her,” Hermione said. “She is your ex-wife, after all.”

“That’s why I’m gay,” Draco said, smirking. “No silly bints around…”

“Hey!” all the females around the tables yelled and Katie leaned over to slap him lightly. Draco stuck out his tongue at her.

“Weasley was bound to become one of the statistics,” Draco continued. “About half of all marriages fail.”

“But those are just statistics, right?” Colin asked nervously.

“Yeah,” Ginny said, “They are and they’re Muggle statistics at that. But still… are you sure half of all marriages fail?”

Draco nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“I wonder what the stats would be for gay couples,” Neville said thoughtfully. “I mean, a gay couple, I would think, would work that much harder to be accepted and be able to get married – so it seems to me as though those couples would last longer.”

“Well, I can’t speak for the Muggle couples,” Seamus said, “but I think our marriage is going very well.”

He waggled his eyebrows at Dean suggestively and got another snog in.

“I think the Muggle laws are stupid,” Hermione said. “The Muggles claim the marriage is a sacred institution between man and woman and that it can’t be about two people of the same sex.”

“How sacred can it be if half of them get a divorce?” Blaise asked.

“Exactly,” Hermione said.

“You can’t help who you love,” said Dean.

At this, Harry looked over at Draco for some reason and he was surprised to find that Draco was watching him intensely over his glass of liquor. Nervously, Harry looked away as the conversation continued around the table.

“I believe all people are more or less bisexual,” Ginny said. “I think you fall in love with the person, not the gender.”

“Amen,” Seamus said. “I’ll drink to that.”

He raised his glass and everyone else followed suit, draining their glasses and ordering another round as well as peanuts to nibble.

Harry’s eyes darted over to Draco again, only to find him eating the peanuts and then slowly licking his fingers clean of salt. Harry gulped, eyes widening.

“Now it’s time for karaoke,” Hermione said, smiling maliciously.

“I’m not going up there,” Angelina said. “No way.”

“Oh yes you are,” said Hermione. “Everyone here will go up on stage at least once this night and sing at least one song.”

“And if we refuse?” Ron asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Hermione said and everyone knew that they really didn’t.

“Well,” George said, standing up, “I’ll go first, just to set the tone…”

He went up to the stage where an unknown girl was currently singing a very bad version of ‘I will always love you’. The gang winced as she missed the finale and left the stage with very little, reluctant applause. The place was quite crowded and the list for people who wanted to sing would grow longer later on in the evening when more visitors were more intoxicated.

George was onstage ten minutes later, doing his crazy version of Iggy Pop’s ‘I never met a girl like you’, pointing at the blushing Katie all the while. He got a huge round of applause and went to sit down again.

”There,” he said. “It wasn’t that horrible…”

Katie gave him a kiss.

“Says you who don’t mind making a fool of yourself,” Ron mumbled.

“Oh, dear Ronnie, shouldn’t you be used to making a fool of yourself, considering you do it at least twice a day?” George asked his little brother.

“Ha, ha,” Ron said, sulking and suddenly taking on a resemblance to the sulking Pansy, who so far had done nothing but glare at Blaise all night long.

“You and Harry can go up and sing ‘Hakuna Matata’ or something,” Draco suggested sweetly. “You’re just like Pumba and Timon from the Lion King. Both stupid and quite obsessed with food.”

“And you can go up and sing something by Justin Timberlake. You’re both equally vain,” Harry countered.

Draco smirked at him, that annoying know-it-all smirk. “Touché,” he said, raising his glass to Harry before taking a sip. Harry watched, confused (as he often was).

An hour later, no one else had dared to go up on the stage and Hermione was getting a bit irritated. Fortunately for her, the gang was getting increasingly drunk. Harry found his gaze on Draco more and more frequently and he noticed that Draco was watching him every single time he looked that way.

In turn, Fred’s gaze was more and more frequently landing on Angelina’s impressive cleavage and Seamus and Dean’s snogging sessions were getting longer.

“I guess it’s up to us, dear,” Charlie said, smiling at his wife. “If we want to get them onstage, we’ll have to sing.”

“But what will we sing?”

“I’ll chose,” Charlie said, kissing her nose before leaving the table.

He pulled his wife onstage fifteen minutes later, whispering to her what they were going to sing. She smiled at him. Soft tones began spilling out of the speakers and Hermione and Charlie picked up a microphone each.

“I can show you the world,
Shining, shimmering, splendid,
Tell me, princess, now when did you
last let your heart decide?”

Charlie sang quite well, Harry had to admit. His voice was very comfortable. Hermione held her own as well as she sang.

”Unbelievable sights,
Indescribable feeling,
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling,
Through an endless diamond sky.”

They did the chorus together, facing each other. They looked unbelivably happy together.

”A whole new world,
Every turn a surprise,
With new horizons to pursue,
Every moment red-letter,
I'll chase them anywhere,
There's time to spare,
Let me share this whole new world with you.”

They finished and the crowd applauded and and whistled as Charlie wrapped his arms around Hermione and kissed her deeply. Catcalls followed them as they returned to their seats and Hermione blushed at the others’ compliments.

“Well, then,” Blaise said, sounding decidedly drunk. “Now that the nominal hostess has done it, I guess it’s time for me to take center stage.”

He stood up, quite unsteadily and looked very grateful indeed when Neville steadied him, standing up next to him and holding him around his waist. Neville, both taller and wider than Blaise, could drink quite a bit more than the other man and was thus far from as drunk as Blaise.

“Thanks,” Blaise said and kissed Neville’s cheek. Neville stared at him as Blaise went and told the girl by the karaoke machine what song he was going to sing. A few minutes later, he grabbed the microphone.

“Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh,
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh,
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh,
And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly for a white guy!

Uno dos tres cuatro cinco cinco seís

You know its kinda hard just to get along today,
Our subject isn't cool, but he fakes it anyway,
He may not have a clue, and he may not have style,
But everything he lacks, well he makes up in denial”

The crowd whooped and screamed as Blaise danced around the stage with surprising grace despite his drunken state. Hermione and Ginny both whistled while Pansy just sulked even harder.

“Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh,
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh,
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh,

Uno dos tres cuatro cinco cinco seís

So don't debate, a player straight,
You know he really doesn't get it anyway,
Gonna play the field, and keep it real,
For you no way, for you no way,
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate,
At least you'll know you can always go on Ricki Lake

The world needs wannabes,
The world loves wannabes,
Let's get some more wannabes,
Hey, hey, do that brand new thing!”

Finishing up, he bowed so deeply he almost fell over and Neville stood up and led him off the stage.

“Don’t I get a kiss for that very spectacular, wonderful performance?” Blaise asked, his words slurring together slightly but looking hopefully at Neville. Then he pulled Neville to him, shutting off any protests (not that there were any) and gave him the snog of his life.

Harry gaped at them. Neville and Blaise? Pansy looked about ready to blow up.

Harry looked over at Draco and mouthed, ‘Did you know?’

Draco just smirked at him, licking some more salt off his fingers. Harry barely held back the drool.

After Blaise, Colin seemed to have decided that he had enough confidence-building alcohol in him and he stood up and was on stage a few minutes later.

“If you’re not the one then why does my soul feel glad today?
If you’re not the one then why does my hand fit yours this way?
If you are not mine then why does your heart return my call?
If you are not mine would I have the strength to stand at all?

I never know what the future brings
But I know you are here with me now
We’ll make it through
And I hope you are the one I share my life with.

He had a surprisingly good voice – very much like the original, Daniel Bedingfield. He could actually hit those notes that Harry doubted he could get out even if someone punched him in his privates… Colin sang the song staring at Ginny the entire time, looking totally and completely besotted with her.

“If I don’t need you then why am I crying on my bed?
If I don’t need you then why does your name resound in my head?
If you’re not for me then why does this distance maim my life?
If you’re not for me then why do I dream of you as my wife?”

He finished the song and went down on his knees. The applause stopped and everyone held their breath; Ginny most of all.

“Virginia Weasley, would you do me the honour and of being my wife?” Colin asked.

Ginny stood up and ran to the stage. “Of course!” she said, hugging him and kissing him. “Yes, yes, yes!”

The crowd applauded even harder, screaming and whistling at them.

She turned to the girl fixing the music. “Think it’d be okay if I sang a song too, before the next one?”

The girl smiled. “Why not,” she said. “What would you like to sing?”

“’Eternal flame’, by the Bangels,” Ginny said, turning back to Colin.

“Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling,
Do you feel my heart beating?
Do you understand?
Do you feel the same?
Am I only dreaming,
Is this burning an eternal flame?”

Everyone in the gang already knew Ginny had a very powerful voice; it pulled the listener in and she could definitely pull this song off.

As she sang, she pulled his hand to her, putting it first on her chest, where he could feel her heart beating and then, in front of the whole audience, moving it down to her still-flat stomach. Colin’s – and the gang’s – eyes widened and Ginny’s smile grew bigger. Harry’s suspicion had been confirmed.

To everyone’s surprise, Pansy stood up next. “Guess it’s my turn,” she said, still sulking.

A few minutes later, she took the stage and began singing the first, depressing notes of Pink’s ‘Lonely Girl’. Pansy wasn’t a very good singer, but it somehow fitted with the song and her mood.

“I can remember the very first time I cried,
How I wiped my eyes and buried the pain inside,
All of my memories - good and bad - that's past,
Didn't even take the time to realize…”

Harry leaned over to Ron. “You really should tell her. She’s completely miserable.”

“But she won’t even talk to me,” Ron said, glaring at the glass in his hand as though it had offended him.

“Go where she has to notice you,” Harry suggested, nodding towards—

“The stage?” Ron asked. “But – no, I’m not going up there.”

“I’ll even give you the song you should sing,” Harry said, trying to make it sound like an offer Ron couldn’t refuse. In Ron’s drunken state, it seemed like he really couldn’t.

“Okay,” he said, albeit reluctantly. “What am I going to make a fool out of myself singing?”

“Do you even know who you are?
Oh, I'm tryin' to find.
A rising dream or a superstar?
Oh, I have all these dreams.
Is life good to you or is it bad?
I can't tell anymore.
Do you even know what you have?
No, no.
Do you even know what you are?
A rising dream or a fallen star?
Is life good to you or is it bad?”

Pansy finished up, putting the microphone back as the crowd gave her a small, polite bout of applause and a few people boo-ed. Ron met her on his way up to the stage.

“You did good,” he said, smiling at her.

Pansy looked at him as though he was a Blast-Ended Skrew and sat down next to Harry again.

Ron took the stage and Harry and the rest of the gang watched him expectantly, as no one had thought he would ever have had enough to drink to actually sing in front of an audience. Harry smiled at this; love, obviously, makes you do crazy things.

“It's a little bit funny this feeling inside,
I'm not one of those who can easily hide,
I don't have much money but boy if I did,
I'd buy a big house where we both could live.

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no,
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show,
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do,
My gift is my song and this one's for you.”

Harry’s choice of song had obviously been good, as the room was silent as Ron sang. His voice wasn’t all that good, but it was filled with feeling and he had eyes for only one person in the room. Pansy.

“So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen”

As Ron sang this passage, Harry looked over at Draco. He was, yet again, surprised. Draco was mouthing the words at him, his intense grey eyes never leaving Harry’s. When Ron was done and the applause was filling the room, Draco grabbed a pen and a napkin. Writing a message, he then passed the paper to Harry. Harry unfolded it.

‘Except I haven’t forgotten,’ it said.

Harry frowned, going over the words of the song in his head and then understanding what he meant. He frowned even deeper, looking up at Draco. Draco just watched him back, grey eyes watching him carefully, completely unreadable. A small, satisfied smirk was on Draco’s lips.

Beside him, Pansy was watching Ron wide-eyed. Ron was blushing and looked like he wanted to drown himself in the beer before him.

“That was very sweet,” Pansy said finally. “Thank you.”

Ron looked up. “You think so?”

Pansy nodded. Then they both leaned forward and met in a kiss.

“Okay, my turn,” Fred said, finishing his drink before going onstage.

He then took the stage and performed an unforgettable version of Britney Spears’ ‘You drive me crazy’, complete with dance steps, hip-wiggling and arse-swinging.

Baby, I'm so into you,
You've got that something, what can I do?
Baby, you spin me around, oh,
The earth is movin, but I can't feel the ground.

Half way through the song, Seamus and George went on the stage as well to act as back-up dancers.

You drive me crazy,
I just can't sleep,
I'm so excited, I'm in too deep,
Crazy, but it feels alright,
Baby thinkin’ of you keeps me up all night.

The crowd was completely wild by the time Fred, Seamus and George were done. Fred went and sat down next to Angelina. He whispered, “You really do drive me crazy,” to her.

She giggled and kissed him lightly on the mouth.

“Let’s see if I can top that performance, then,” Draco said, standing up.

Harry watched Draco, still wide-eyed from the napkin-message. He had good reason to be nervous, he realized when he heard the first notes of Draco’s chosen song.

“Since the moment I spotted you
Like walking round with little wings on my shoes
My stomach's filled with the butterflies... and it's alright
Bouncing round from cloud to cloud
I got the feeling like I'm never going to come down
If I said I didn't like it then you know I'd lied”

Like George and Seamus had done with Fred, Hermione and Ginny both went up to act as back-up dancers this time. The difference between the girls and Seamus and George was that Ginny and Hermione took dancing lessons together and were thus both quite good – and in sync.

”Every time I try to talk to you
I get tongue-tied
Turns out that everything I say to you
Comes out wrong and never comes out right”

Now, Harry couldn’t quite agree with that, as Draco always seemed to say all the right things – it was Harry’s tongue that got tied.

“So I'll say 'why don't you and I get together and take on the world
and be together forever?
Heads we will and tails we'll try again,
So I say why don't you and I hold each other and fly to the moon,
then straight on to heaven
Cause without you they're never going to let me in.”

Harry grinned as Draco sang, never breaking eye contact.

”When's this fever going to break?
I think I've handled more than any man can take
I'm like a love-sick puppy chasing you around
And it's alright
Bouncing round from cloud to cloud
I got the feeling like I'm never going to come down
If said I didn't like it then you know I'd lied”

Draco sauntered down from the stage slowly, light following him as he made his way through the crowd to the gang’s table.

“So I'll say 'why don't you and I get together and take on the world
and be together forever
Heads we will and tails we'll try again’
So I say ‘why don't you and I get together and fly to the moon
and straight on to heaven’
Cause without you they're never going to let me in”

Draco pulled Harry out of his seat, continuing to sing. When the break came, he took the opportunity to lean in and kiss Harry.

”Slowly I begin to realize this is never going to end
Right about the same you walk by
And I say 'Oh here we go again'”

He let Harry go, walking back to the stage where he finished the song.

The crowd, again, went wild and cheered and screamed. Draco stayed on the stage for a few moments, basking in their attention, before walking back to the table where he made Ginny, Colin and everyone else scoot down so that he could sit next to Harry.

“Is it really that bad to say ‘Oh here we go again’?” Harry asked, whispering the words into Draco’s ear.

“Not at all,” Draco said, his breath hitching as Harry began to trace light kisses down his neck. “Not at all…”

Hermione had told him a few weeks later that her plan had been to get him and Draco together all along. The other couples – Fred and Angelina, Pansy and Ron, Neville and Blaise – were just something that happened along the way, as was Colin’s proposal to Ginny and Ginny revealing her pregnancy to Colin (Hermione had known about Ginny’s pregnancy, just not that she was going to reveal it).

And now they were getting married.

Harry walked up the aisle, hand in hand with Draco, unable to keep the wide grin off his face. He felt like the happiest man on the planet.

“Do you, Harold James Potter take Draco Lucius Malfoy to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” Albus asked, his eyes sparkling.

“I do.”

Harry got took the ring from Ron. It was a simple gold band with the date and their initials on the inside. He put it gently on Draco’s pale finger.

“And do you, Draco Lucius Malfoy, take Harold James Potter to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”

“I do.”

Blaise held out the ring for Draco to take and he placed a golden band, identical to the one Harry had put on Draco’s hand, on Harry’s finger.

“I hereby pronounce you married,” Albus said. “You may kiss.”

And kiss they did. For a long time. Until Albus’ gentle, “Hrm, hrm,” brought them back to reality.

“Sorry,” Harry grinned sheepishly, not feeling the least bit sorry.

“That’s quite all right.”

Harry and Draco walked down the aisle to the notes of the song that started it all: ‘Why don’t you and I’. Harry hummed along softly, making Draco smile.

The end.

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Author’s notes: Okay, this was a silly, short fic I wrote just because magicgerbil gave me the lyrics to the song and I just fell in love with it completely. I knew I had to write a karaoke fic… then I entered the slash-marriage challenge and I had to write one of those too and I decided to mix them. This is the result; I hope you liked it, despite the sillyness. Please remember to review!

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