Ron sat quietly on his favorite couch. He had never thought of it as his favorite couch until now, but that was before. Before everything, especially before he had turned completely and utterly mental.
The couch felt quite comfy indeed, a great place to "gather his thoughts" (aka, stall). He wanted to do this, right?
Of course you do. Blimey, life without Hermione? I can't even think of such a thing. He thought. This is ridiculous. I know I want to marry Hermione, so why do I feel so nervous? Ron suddenly felt very frustrated. Why should he feel nervous? He frowned, but then stopped when Hermione's face filled his mind.
"Ready to go, Ron?" It was Harry who spoke. He had stepped quietly into the living room when Ron wasn't paying attention.
"Huh?" Ron exclaimed. Harry raised his eyebrows at him.
"You're going to go pick up Hermione, yes?"
"Yeah," Ron said distractedly.
"Well, if I remember correctly…" Harry indicated his watch. "You were supposed to pick her up fifteen minutes ago and go to dinner together."
"What?" Ron jumped up and looked at his own wrist. But his watch was not there.
I can't believe I forgot to put on my watch! What the heck is wrong with me? Ron thought, angry with himself as he remembered that he had left it on the bathroom sink. Usually he never forgot to put the watch on. It had been a gift from Hermione last Christmas.
"Uh, yeah I'm leaving."
"Now, right? I mean, not that I want to kick you out or anything…" Harry glanced awkwardly at the door. "But you did promise Ginny and I this place for the evening."
Oh, I bet you're gonna have a nice, relaxing dinner while I stress out at a ridiculous, restaurant… Ron thought, wanting to blame his frustration at himself on someone else. But instead he merely said,
"Yes, sorry, mate. See you later." And he quickly walked out the door and disapperated.
Hermione was waiting for him at the corner of Fifth and Seventh Street, just as they had planned. She was rubbing her arms with her gloved hands to warm herself, and she was searching through the crowd of people walking busily on, looking for someone…
She looks so beautiful. Ron thought. He couldn't help but smile. Hermione was very pretty indeed, being very dressed up and having just coming from an important meeting at the Ministry of Magic.
Oh no… Ron stopped smiling; a terrifying thought suddenly occurring to him. What if she doesn't say yes? He had never thought of this before; being so caught
up in the very idea of asking Hermione to marry him. He had been focusing on how he was going to propose, where to get a ring, how beautiful Hermione was…
But he was far too close to Hermione now; she would probably notice him walking away from her now on the busy, cold street corner. And he definitely couldn't just leave her there…
"Oh, there you are, Ronald! I've been freezing my butt off here looking for you." She flashed him a smile.
Gulp. 'Ronald' is it? What could I have possibly done wrong now, I've only been here ten seconds. Ron thought grumpily.
"Hi," Ron said, not knowing what else to say. After an awkward pause, he said, "Erm…Sorry I'm a few minutes late. Harry and I got to talking…" Ron faded off.
"Oh, that's alright." Hermione said softly, looking up into his eyes. She wanted to kiss him, wanted him to hug her close so that she would feel warm again. But he didn't pull her to him. He didn't even take her hand.
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him, but merely said, "Shall we?"
"Shall we what? Oh yeah, yeah let's get going."
They walked side by side in silence, passing the busy city streets of London.
What is up with him today? Hermione wondered silently to herself. She laced her hand into Ron's and leaned in, planting a soft kiss on his lips. But then she pulled back sharply.
Why isn't he kissing back? She wondered. Suddenly, a terrible thought entered her mind.
Oh my gosh. He's going to break up with me. He's going to take me out to my favorite restaurant, and he's going to break my heart. Hermione fought her nerves down.
But he would never do that… right? We've been together and in love for too long, and we've been best friends for even longer… but now her worries had set in.
The couple continued down the cold street, both now in very bad moods, but pretending not to be, which of course makes a bad mood far worse. When they rounded the corner and arrived outside their favorite restaurant, a long line of people going out the door and around the corner could be seen.
Great, thought Ron. This proposal date is off to a fantastic start. But then he remembered: he had luckily remembered to make reservations the night before.
"Come on," he said, giving Hermione's hand a squeeze as they wove their way through the crowd. "Good thing I made reservations!"
When, after standing for what felt like hours, and growing hungrier and hungrier all the time, Ron and Hermione had finally been seated, the line had somehow stretched even longer.
"Well, that was good thinking on your part." Hermione teased, suppressing a smile as she looked at her menu.
"What do you mean by that?" He hadn't meant the words to sound so accusing, but that was how they came out. Hermione was rather taken aback.
"Er… I was just teasing you, Ron."
"What did you mean?" He said through gritted teeth. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he couldn't seem to stop himself either.
"I meant nothing, Ronald," She said, her voice rising in pitch a little. "I was only teasing you about remembering to. Normally I have to remind you four or five times. I'm just pleasantly surprised, that's all."
"'Pleasantly surprised?' By what, the fact that I can remember to make dinner reservations for my girlfriend and I?"
"Ron, stop it." Hermione said in a low voice, and leaned in towards him, as if hoping this would make their argument quieter.
"Stop what? I'm trying to have a nice dinner with you and you're fighting with me."
"I'm fighting with you?" Hermione scoffed. "More like you're fighting with me." By now, some of the people at the other tables near them were throwing them curious glances.
"Oh, so now it's my fault that we're arguing?"
"Well, yeah!" Hermione huffed, folding her arms in front of her defensively. "You're the one picking a fight with me, Ron. I was only teasing you, you don't have to be so sensitive about it."
"I'm not being sensitive! I don't like being made fun of by you, so if that makes me sensitive then yeah, sure, I'm sensitive."
"This is not the time or place to be doing this." Hermione said, lowering her voice for a second time.
"Why don't we just…go." Her face no longer showed anger, but rather a strange sadness. It killed Ron to see her this way, and wondered how on earth he had upset her so much. They argued all the time, especially before they had started dating.
"Fine." Ron said, throwing down his napkin. Silently, and standing a good distance apart from each other, they walked briskly out of the restaurant (leaving behind the curious and annoyed looks from other diners there) and disapperated.
They arrived on the third floor of the Burrow, where Ron's bedroom was located.
"What are we doing up here?" Hermione inquired, her voice rising again.
"I…er… I told Harry and Ginny they could have the house this evening…" Ron said, feeling his face and ears flush with red. A sure sign of nervousness for him.
"We didn't have to leave the restaurant, you know." He spat, his voice rising to a shout. "I don't know about you, but I'm starved!"
"Well, Ronald, guess what, it's not all about you, is it? That's a big part of a relationship, considering the other person!" Hermione was shouting now, too.
"You want me to consider you more? Fine. I thought I was doing a bloody good job of it, but I guess not."
There was a long and painful pause. What is this, our third year at Hogwarts? Ron thought to himself. He was acting completely ridiculous towards Hermione, and they both knew it. Yet Ron still remained silent.
Finally, Hermione broke the silence.
"Ron I…maybe you don't want me to be here right now…" Hermione seemed tearful. This struck Ron as odd, they often argued, always had. Had he really caused her to cry?
"Hermione, wait!" He cried, a bit too loudly. Hermione waited anxiously.
"Will…" Ron blew air out through his nose nervously. Then he said, "Will you, Hermione Jean Granger, do me the honor of marrying me?" He bent down on one knee then, and opened up the small velvet box to reveal a beautiful silver band, with a single diamond in the center and two little diamonds clustered on either side.
Hermione's eyes widened. All her doubtful worries of him possibly wanting to break up with her seemed silly now, childish and immature. Then she ran towards her boyfriend and threw her arms around his neck.
"Yes!" She cried. "Yes, yes, yes." And then Ron kissed her passionately, and she kissed him back. There was a long silence now, but this time a happy one. Finally, the two broke apart, both gasping a little. Hermione's cheeks were pink, and Ron could feel his ears burning. A few tears, this time happy ones, escaped from the corners of Hermione's brown eyes, and Ron wiped one away gently with his thumb.
"Oh, don't cry, Hermione." He whispered softly. He hated to see her upset. But now, Hermione was positively radiant, and her eyes shone. She was grinning brightly up at him. Then she put out her hand, and Ron slid on the ring.
"I can't believe we're getting married!" She whispered, both of them chuckling a little at themselves.
You can imagine how confused Harry and Ginny must have been. Harry had been anticipating a lovely, quiet evening with the love of his life. He had even cooked for Ginny, and he never cooked (now he remembered why. He hoped that Ginny hadn't noticed the slightly burned chicken). Candles were lit, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gone away for the weekend…no one but Harry and Ginny were home. Ginny looked simply ravishing in her dark purple dress, her hair curled…
After beginning what Ginny called a "delicious" (though Harry couldn't be too sure…) dinner, talking, laughing together, they heard shouting upstairs. For a moment, Harry became quite alarmed. But then he recognized the very-familiar sounds of his two other best friends arguing.
Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry. "I can't believe those two. They were supposed to enjoy a really nice evening. Ron had planned it out specially for Hermione."
"Shouldn't we be used to it by now?" Harry joked, stroking Ginny's hand gently from across the table with his thumb.
Suddenly, Hermione came running down the stairs. She burst into the kitchen, and seemingly oblivious to the date Harry and Ginny were on, she exclaimed, "Guess what! Guess what! Ron and I are getting married!" She flapped her left hand in their faces, showing off her ring to prove it.
"What?" Ginny cried in surprise. Harry wasn't sure what to say, "Congratulations," or "Get out, can't you see Ginny and I are on a date?" He settled on "That's great, Hermione, congratulations but…" He glanced at Ginny. "We're sort of… on a date right now."
"OH!" Hermione remembered. "Right, sorry Harry, sorry Ginny! I was just so excited… I'll let you get back to your dinner then."
"Aren't you and Ron fighting?" Ginny asked, trying to suppress her grin.
"Well, yes…I mean no. I mean, we were fighting, but now we're not." Hermione tried to explain. "But that's besides the point. We're getting married!" And she practically skipped out of the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Ron had wandered over to the stone wall which overlooked the small hill with the old Quidditch broom shed. Hermione had told him she would be right there, that she wanted to tell Harry and Ginny. Ron had wanted to come, but he had suddenly become overwhelmed by how badly he had conducted himself before. He had needed time to think for a moment.
Blimey, he thought to himself. I can't believe I ruined the proposal. The one chance I had, and I ruined it. He seated himself on top of the wall. But even though I did ruin our date, Hermione said yes… And at this, he couldn't help but grin broadly. The smartest, most beautiful girl in the world said yes to marrying me. To marrying me! He felt almost giddy at the thought.
Just then, he heard Hermione's voice.
"Ron," Hermione's voice cut through the stillness of the chilly autumn air. "We need to talk." She did not say it accusingly. In fact, she was still smiling, though trying not to. She looked cold, for in her excitement had forgotten her jacket. Deep down, though he did not wish her to be cold, Ron was glad for another excuse to wrap his arms around her.
Hermione seated herself comfortably next to Ron.
"Hermione I… I'm sorry. I tried to…and then I got so…and then you…" Hermione's big eyes looked up into his own. She smiled a reassuring smile and said softly, "I know."
"I meant what I asked. I love you." Ron stated matter-of-factly.
"And I meant my answer." Hermione said in the same tone. Then she leaned into Ron, felt his warmth flood her cold body (she was still in that dress), and whispered. "I love you too."