It was beautiful. The ring held itself with elegance, the thin, silver band nurturing the glistening diamond situated in the middle of it. It's perfect, Harry thought.
"HEhm."
The shop assistant cleared his throat noisily. Startled, Harry looked up from the jewellery cabinet, not realising how long he had been gazing at the ring for. The shop assistant smiled at him with obvious impatience, and said, with forced politeness, "I take it this is the one you'd like, sir?"
"Uh, yes, thanks." said Harry, embarrassed at the frustration he'd caused the shop assistant. Harry felt nervous enough in the jewellery store, and was constantly on edge that someone might see through his somewhat feeble attempt to disguise himself with George and Ron's new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product – Do It Yourself Disguises ('Simple but Effective Disguise Kit – Warning: Interaction With Illegal Activity Will Cause Disguise To Wear Off). He had never quite got the hang of changing his appearance by using spells while at Hogwarts, and he was not willing to risk his plan by asking Hermione or one of the Weasley's to do it for him. The whole point of the disguise was so Ginny wouldn't find out that Harry was planning to propose to her, and if the whole of Diagon Alley was gossiping that the Boy Who Lived had bought a diamond engagement ring, there was no way she wouldn't find out.
After paying the shop assistant 117 Galleons, Harry slipped the velvet box into his pocket, and walked quickly out of the store.
"Harry, dear, could you take the pea soup out into the garden? Just be careful of the Flutterby bush next to the door, it's overgrown a bit and is tending to trip people as they go outside!"
"Sure, Mrs Weasley."
Harry returned Mrs Weasley's smile, and, skirting around the Flutterby bush, he walked over to the wooden trestle table sitting in the middle of the overgrown grass out the front of the Weasley's house, carefully placing the steaming hot soup in the middle of the table. As he went to adjust the soups position next to the basket of bread, his hand brushed against the large lump inside his robes, where the 'Do It Yourself Disguises' kit and the ring were tucked away. Harry's stomach gave a flip at the thought that he should've dropped at least the ring back at his apartment (a loft he had secured at the realisation that he didn't want to return to Grimmauld Place) before he had come over. However, before he could give this much more thought, a pair of soft, warm hands slipped over his eyes, and Harry got a waft of the flowery smell he always longed for.
"Now how did you get all the way back here without me noticing?" Ginny said, moving her hands from over his eyes to enclosing his hands, and giving him a questioning but loving smile.
"Sorry Gin! Your mum put me to work as soon as I got here, I didn't get a chance to come up." Harry smiled apologetically back at Ginny, all thoughts of the nerve-racking afternoon lifted from his mind.
"Well, I guess that's alright. But you know," she said, snaking her arms around his waist, "There is one way you can make it up to me." Her eyes twinkled mischievously, and Harry bent down ever so slightly to kiss her gently on the lips.
"Oi, you two! We're supposed to having dinner out here! How are we supposed to eat if we're throwing up our soup from all this mushiness?"
George smirked at the pair, "Can't you keep your lips to yourself for five minutes?"
"I could ask you the same question, dear brother. You and Angelina seemed very interested in each other's lips yesterday in the broom shed!" Ginny teased back at George, making him go slightly red in the ears.
"Well, uh, that's, uh, different." George stammered uncharacteristically, and he turned back towards the kitchen, muttering something about having to get spoons. Ginny giggled, and rose up on her toes to meet Harry's lips with her own for the second time that evening.
Streaks of pink and orange adorned the sky as the sun began to set over the dinner party below, the cool evening air spreading through the garden. 6 month old Victoire gurgled gleefully at Mrs Weasley as she brought out the raspberry and apple pie, the rest of the table oohing and aahing as the warm aroma graced their noses.
"Mrs Weasley, this looks incredible!" exclaimed Hermione, as a piece of the pie was passed down to her.
"Anit tashtes preey uncreduble too!" said Ron through a mouthful of pie, already halfway through his piece, despite the fact that his left hand was entwined with Hermione's right, leaving him with only one hand to shovel down his food.
"Honestly Ron, Victoire has better table manners than you!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes at her husband.
Ron brushed off the comment, and, swallowing the last of his pie, returned to the conversation he had been having with Harry across the table.
"Yeah, come by the store tomorrow and you can grab whatever you need. Are you going to tell me what this is for?" He lowered his voice. "Can I assume that all this secrecy is in regards to my sister?" He winked at Harry.
"You know that if I want this to stay a secret, the last thing I'll be doing is telling you!" Harry whispered, his eyes darting quickly at Ginny, who was sitting next to him talking across the table to Hermione.
"Yeah, yeah, alright." Ron said.
Ginny lent her head on Harry's shoulder, her conversation with Hermione having lulled to a comfortable silence. Harry took her hand in his, and looked up to the slowly darkening sky. He couldn't imagine a time where life had been more perfect.