QLFC Round 11 – Top of the Pops
Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On.
Prompts;
3. (scene) two characters dancing
9. (word) announcement
15. (word) necklace
And lasts for a lifetime
xxx
Hermione awoke to the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen wafting through the house. She ached to get out of bed and aid her boyfriend with the cooking, but it was her birthday and Fred had insisted that she let him plan the entire day. It turned out that Fred's plan involved her staying in bed for the majority of the morning, something Hermione wasn't used to, being an early bird, but she was willing to have a small lie in before arguing that she needed to get up. She was, after all, extremely surprised that Fred had even managed to get up this early so it was only fair to him.
It wasn't long before Fred walked into the room with a tray full of varying breakfast foods and a sheepish grin plastered on his face.
"I wasn't really sure what you'd prefer for breakfast on your birthday so I made everything!" Fred proclaimed as he set the tray on the bed and crawled in next to her.
Hermione stared at the tray in front of her. There really was everything; bacon, four kinds of eggs, cereals, toast and jams, croissants, pain au chocolat, pancakes, waffles, porridge, sausages, beans, cinnamon rolls, English muffins, French toast, and more.
"Merlin, Fred, this really is everything!" she laughed. She'd been expecting something out of the ordinary and large for breakfast, this was Fred Weasley after all, but this was above what she'd expected, "I hope you're going to help me eat all of that. You know I don't have the Weasley stomach like you so I'll never be able to manage it all."
"Of course I am," Fred laughed along with her as he dived in for a slice of French toast, "You didn't honestly think I could be sat in front of food and not eat it, did you?"
"No, no, nothing like that," Hermione told him, "I just wondered if you'd made another tray for yourself"
"Damn," Fred said, trying to make himself look disappointed, "Now there's an idea I missed out on."
"You're not fooling me, Fred Weasley!" Hermione hit him playfully, "Even you can't eat all of this to yourself. The only person I've ever seen eat this much food is Ron, and everyone knows he eats more than the rest of you."
"That's very true, 'Mione, but after the amount of time I've spent cooking this I wouldn't be so sure," he told her with a grin on his face before leaning over to give her a kiss, "Now eat up, or there won't be any left for you!"
Hermione laughed and picked up a cinnamon roll turning it over in her hands as she prepared herself to eat the food in front of her.
"Okay, so what's next?" Hermione asked with a grin as they entered the house.
"What's next, you ask?" Fred grinned, "Well, if you're honestly still letting me plan your day then you should take these…" Fred dug around in one of the bags he was carrying until he dug out a bag containing various bathroom luxuries, "and go and have a nice long relaxing bath."
Hermione smiled; she hadn't even seen Fred buy these, but looking in the bag she saw that it was full of all her favourite essentials as well as luxuries. There was even a bottle of Prosecco and some scented candles in there.
"Fred, you didn't have t—"
"Yes I did, it's your birthday!" Fred interrupted
"But—" Hermione tried, but Fred had his determined yet playful face on. She knew what was coming.
"Away, fair maiden. Thou must pamper thyself on this sacred day while I, Sir Frederick, am to slave away in preparation for your return!"
"But, good Sir, am I not able to assist you in any way?" Hermione asked. She was going to go for her bath, the idea was heavenly, but that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun first.
"I can think of many ways you may assist me, my lady, but first you must away. Pamper yourself, good woman."
"If you insist, Sir Frederick, but I must ask—"
"Enough! Be gone with you!" Fred shouted, putting an end to their conversation.
"Good day, Sir Frederick," Hermione replied with a curtsey before leaving for her bath.
Hermione left the bathroom with a smile on her face. She had been right; that bath was heavenly. She made her way into the bedroom and stopped in her tracks. There in the centre of the bed was the biggest box she had ever seen wrapped neatly in red wrapping paper and tied with a rather extravagant gold bow.
As she got closer she saw a tag and turned it over to see the unmistakable scrawl of Fred's writing.
Hermione,
I would love to be here to see your face when you open these; however some last minute complications came up that I had to see to.
I will be home to pick you up at precisely 6:30, so be ready by then.
Love you always,
Fred.
Hermione carefully detached the tag and retrieved a box from her bottom draw before placing the tag in there. It was the box where she kept all of the little things that made her smile; birthday cards, gift tags, photographs, and even things like receipts from places they'd been that made her smile.
Opening the present in front of her she couldn't help but gasp; inside was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. It was a brilliant sapphire floor length dress with off the shoulder sleeves, the neckline and hem were dotted with flowers and the waist was tight with a belt adorned with matching flowers. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She lifted it out and was inspecting it more closely when she noticed another quite large box had been hidden underneath, this time wrapped in blue and bronze. She found a hanger in her wardrobe and hung the dress up on the door before turning back to the box on the bed. This box had yet another tag which Hermione carefully removed before reading.
Hermione,
I bet you gasped! You did, didn't you?
I really hope you like the dress; Ginny helped me pick it out because you know I know nothing of clothes. So if you hate it then blame her (but wear it anyway, I'm dressed to match).
You can't just wear a dress with nothing else though, can you?
Forever yours,
Fred.
Hermione smiled to herself as she put the tag away; she really did have the best boyfriend, and one look in the new box confirmed that. Inside were the most beautiful pair of black heels Hermione had ever seen. They had thick heels, which Hermione was thankful for as she struggled to walk on stiletto heels, and a slight platform. They were simple, but had about six straps going to the fastening, which was decorated with matching flowers to the dress.
The third box wasn't so well hidden – it's hard to hide a box with just a pair of shoes. She set the shoes on the floor underneath where she had hung her dress and retrieved the black and yellow box. This one was quite a bit smaller than the other two so she sat on the bed and put it in her lap as she read its tag.
Hermione,
This one I tried to do by myself, but Ginny told me the first pair I'd picked out for you were hideous so she picked the shoes as well. I wanted to pick it all out for myself, but I'm just hopeless really, aren't I?
I hope you appreciate what I've done with the wrapping too, you're clever enough to understand.
She was, Hermione smiled to herself knowing that Fred had planned this all out so perfectly only made her love him even more.
What's in this box, unlike the first two, was actually picked out by me WITHOUT the help of my sister. Well, I ran it by her first, but she assured me of its perfection.
Happy Birthday, Hermione.
I love you, and I will forever,
Fred.
Hermione looked at the time – 5:30! Shit, Hermione thought to herself, I'm going to be late!
She put the box aside, vowing to come back to it as soon as she was ready. She undressed and put her new dress on as quickly as she could without ruining it. It fit beautifully, and so did the shoes. Hermione couldn't marvel at that fact, however, as it was now ten to six and she still had to do her hair.
One and a half bottles of sleekeazy and a whole packet of grips later Hermione was sat in front of the mirror looking at her reflection and feeling not only pretty but like she was the most beautiful woman on the planet. She felt like something was missing, however, and with a sigh turned to make sure she'd got everything before she left to wait for Fred in the front room. As she did her eyes fell on something on the bed.
"The last box, of course!" Hermione said to herself before rushing over to it.
She opened the box and almost sighed in relief. Inside the box was a beautiful necklace. The jewellery wasn't what made her relieved though, what did make her relieved was the decoration. It wasn't flowers! She loved the dress and shoes, but there was only so much she could take.
Taking it in her hands she inspected it closely; it had a short chain with a silver dove pendant with an emerald olive branch extending from its mouth. It was so simple, yet beautiful. She put it on and found that it sat just above the neckline of her dress. Also in the box was a matching bracelet and set of earrings. Looking herself over in the mirror once more she felt better, but still like something was missing; she still had no idea what though.
Turning back to the bed she reached for the box again, but stopped when she didn't see a green and silver box inside it. In a panic Hermione started searching the whole bed for it, wondering where it could have gotten to.
"Missing something?" a voice said from behind her.
Turning she saw Fred stood in the doorway in a black suit with sapphire blue accents. He looked downright gorgeous. In his hand was a small green and silver wrapped box.
"Fred, I—"
"Hermione," Fred interrupted as he walked closer to her, stopping just before he reached her, "First I must say you look absolutely stunning. Secondly," Fred got down on one knee; Hermione just stared at him in shock, "Hermione Granger, ever since I first laid eyes on you when you were a spunky little eleven year old I've known you were the one for me. At first I wasn't sure how to go about it, I didn't know how to approach you, but then you became friends with my brother and I learned a lot about your personality. Did you ever notice how I always happened to be causing trouble wherever you were?" Fred chuckled at this thought.
"I wanted to ask you to the Yule Ball, but I didn't know how. I know, Fred Weasley nervous – what a sight, but it's true. I was going to ask though, George had bullied me into it, but then I overheard you telling Ron and Harry that someone had already asked you and my heart fell. I tried to make up for it, but just never could while we're in school. When I did get up the courage to tell you how I felt – well you know the rest," Hermione was the one to chuckle this time.
"What I'm trying to say, is that I have loved you for all my life, well, all my life that I've known you, and I know that this love will last for a lifetime, if not longer, and… Hermione Granger," Fred opened the box that was in his hands, "Would you, please, make me the happiest man on the planet – hell, in this universe – and do me the honour of being my wife?"
Hermione stared at Fred in shock before the biggest grin spread across her face.
"Yes, yes, a million times yes!" Hermione nearly screamed. She pulled him up to standing before tilting her head up and kissing her boyfriend. No, Hermione corrected herself, fiancé.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh as Fred covered her neck and face in tiny kisses as they spun in a slow circle.
"Fred," she laughed "Fred, stop it! You're ruining the mood of the dance."
"Oh am I now?" he laughed before returning to his earlier mission.
"Fred, please! Just let me have this once nice dance with my fiancé!"
"Hush, not so loud. No one knows yet!" Fred cried mockingly, as they passed Ginny and Harry – the two people, besides themselves, that did know.
"I was thinking, actually, what if we told them tonight?" Hermione asked as Fred settled his hands on her waist.
Fred almost stopped the dance when she said this, "What, really?"
"Yes, really!" she laughed, "Why wait? Everyone is already gathered here and it'd sure save Penny some strain if we weren't having to tell everyone individually."
"That, dear," Fred said as he dipped the witch in his arms, "is very true. When shall we announce it?"
"After cake?" Hermione proposed.
"After cake!" Fred agreed.
Hermione grinned again the song changed and Fred picked up the pace spinning her around the dancefloor and dipping her any time he could get away with it.
A mighty cheer went up throughout the room as Hermione blew the candles, all twenty-seven of them, out in one puff. They were in the ballroom of one of London's finest wizarding hotels. Fred had hired the whole place out for her birthday, and it was a good thing he had as almost the entirety of her classmates from Hogwarts had turned up, even Draco Malfoy whom she was now friendly with after four years of working closely with him at the Ministry, along with several that hadn't been in her year.
"Speech!" someone yelled from the crowd. It was quickly copied by other people in the room. She scanned the crowd trying to work out who started it. Draco Malfoy was leaning against one wall with a smirk on his face, he knew she wasn't fond of public speaking, so she sent a playful sneer his way. Ron was at the back of the room talking to… was that Pansy Parkinson? Harry was in the middle of the crowd trying to hide the smirk on his lips. So that was who started it.
Hermione walked to the centre of the stage and sent a smile to the band that were waiting to come on that she wouldn't be long.
"Well I don't know what you all expect me to say!" Hermione laughed as she addressed the crowd, "Most of you know I'm not the biggest fan of public speaking, especially when it's unplanned, so I'll keep this short.
"First, I would like to thank each and every one of you for being here. It's not a big birthday, I'm only twenty seven, but the fact that you all came makes me very happy.
"The other thing I would like to let you know is that Fred and I have an announcement to make — no, I'm not pregnant!" she laughed as she heard someone start to shout out, "Fred, come here!"
Fred walked onto the stage, adding a comical trip as he ascended the stairs to calm Hermione's obvious nerves.
"The thing is, well," Hermione turned to Fred, "I might just need that ring you have in your top pocket…"
Fred nodded and reached into his top pocket before dropping the box. He bent down to retrieve it and stayed there before rising up to one knee and opening the box in front of him.
"Hermione Granger, I have already told you this once, and I will tell you again. You are the love of my life, there is no one I would rather spend the entirety of my lifetime with, and I am so excited for you to become my wife!"
"I love you, you big idiot," Hermione laughed as she pulled Fred up for a kiss, she knew he was going to be theatrical but she didn't know he was going to go this far. As they kissed Hermione heard a chorus of "aww" go around the room and she smiled to herself in the realisation that Fred had made this the best day ever, and there was no one else she would rather spend her life with.
Words: 2,810.
AN: I'm really pleased with this. Originally I was going to write a Dramione fic, but then I got inspiration for this and just couldn't stop writing. I haven't had time to go over it yet, and will update it when I, or someone else, has done. This is the most I've written in a long time and so feedback would be amazing.