Chapter One; Love and Marriage
"Look Daddy, I lost another tooth!" Heather cried as she quickly hurried down the hallway and held up the tiny sharp white and pointed object that was now covered with blood. A large grin grew a crossed her face while she stuck her tongue through the new space inside her mouth.
"Me too!" her twin brother Teddy exclaimed while he raced down the hall behind her and held up his own baby tooth while he grinned up at his father.
"Well congratulations you two." Snape said as he grinned back down at both of his children while Ron turned to look over at Harry and Hermione.
"How is it that twins seem to do everything together even when they're not identical?" he inquired but Harry just simply shrugged and Hermione shook her head.
"Alright, we better get dressed and go down to the bus stop now since Harry has kindly decided to treat us all for breakfast." Snape said.
"Can I grab a shower real quick before we go?" Harry wondered.
"Yeah, and can I help?" Ginny questioned eagerly.
"Be careful Miss Weasley, there are four little ears listening." Snape began. "But yes you can, we'll catch a later bus if we miss it." He told him as Harry nodded before he turned around and walked back down the hallway and into his bedroom before he gathered all of his clothes together.
Meanwhile Neville had been busy taking his girlfriend Luna to breakfast separately. They landed their brooms a crossed the street from the restaurant that they would be dining at. Then they looked both ways before hurrying into the parking lot where there was a gigantic fountain inside of it. "It was very nice of you to offer to take me to breakfast Neville." Luna began. "Although a part of me wishes that we could have dined with Harry and everyone else, I find it rather romantic." She told him.
"I'm glad you think so because there's something that I want to talk to you about." Neville began. "You see we've been going out for the last few years now. And other than the fact that you have your job as a magizoologist and I have my job as an auror, there's not really anything holding us back from starting our lives together like Harry, Ron, and Hermione have." He told her with a quick shake of his head.
"So, what are you trying to say?" she questioned him as he took ahold of both of her hands and deeply gazed inside her eyes.
"I'm trying to say that I love you and I want to marry you. I'm sorry I can't afford a ring right now, but as soon as I can I'll give it to you. And then I'll start saving up money for our wedding. That is, I can only do that if you say yes." He told her as Luna felt tears of joy suddenly rolling down her cheeks.
"Oh Neville, of course I'll marry you. I mean, we might be a little bit young but so were Harry's parents when they got married. His biological parents I mean." She replied with a sniff as he grinned at her.
"Really? You will?" he asked her eagerly as she nodded at him.
"Yes I will. Because I love you too Neville and I've always had and always will." She told him as they both closed their eyes and leaned in towards each other. Luna threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.
…
"I wonder where Neville and Luna are." Ginny began as she started heading down to the pool with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "I haven't seen them since I woke up this morning." She finished.
"Who knows." Ron began. "I have better things to do with my own love life than to try and figure out theirs." He told her.
"Now that you brought that up, there's something that I have to talk to you about." Hermione said.
"What's that?" Ron asked her.
"Marriage." She replied.
"What about it?" Ron asked her.
"Exactly." She told him as they all stopped and looked at her.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused." Ron told her.
"Listen Ron, we've been going out since we were teenagers and I want to know where the commitment is." She said.
"I'm sorry but I still don't get it." Ron said with a shake of his head. "We both know that we love each other so I don't see what the problem is." He told her.
"The problem is that I don't want to waste my time!" she snapped. "I want to know that this relationship is going to go somewhere!" she yelled.
"Well it's going to go down the drain if you keep carrying on like this!" Ron shouted back at her as Harry and Ginny's mouths gaped wiped open while their eyes bounced back and forth from one to the other.
"Wow, would you look at the time." Ginny began as she quickly glanced up at the clock on the wall. "We really should be heading back to rehearse before lunch." She said.
"Yeah, you're right. Besides, I've got tons of work and Bible studying to do." Harry told them.
"What are you talking about? Aren't you going swimming with us?" Hermione asked them.
"No sorry, I do believe Ginny's right. We'll catch up with you guys later." Harry said as he and Ginny quickly turned around and hurried back down the hallway.
"What the bloody hell was that all about!?" Ginny whispered. "I've never seen Hermione that pushy before!" she cried.
"I have," Harry whispered back. "But it was back when Ron and I were kids and we first met her. I have no idea why she's acting like this now." He said when all of a sudden they bumped into Neville and Luna.
"So, where have you two been?" Ginny asked them suspiciously with a sly grin. "Getting a little too comfortable in bed are you?" she wondered as Harry lowered his head and grinned continually avoiding eye contact with Neville with great hopes that he wouldn't see how much trouble that he was having with holding back his laughter.
"Yep." Neville replied with a grin while Luna snuggled up against his side and rested her head upon his shoulder. "And that's exactly why that we decided to get married." He told her beaming with pride.
