ABOUT TIME

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters.

Hogwarts

I had not been having a very good day. My classes hadn't been so bad but both Ron and Harry had seemed like they were a million miles away the whole time. Ron in particular seemed to almost jump out of his skin every time that I tried to talk to him or touched his arm. Which was strange as we had been dating ever since a few days after Fred's funeral and we had done far more than touching each other's arms. He had intended to start his auror training with Harry rather than go back to Hogwarts but both had suddenly changed their minds just days before the start of term, not that Ginny and I were minded in the least.

Ginny had been oddly distant as well, acting like nearly everything made her jump. Oddly enough even Luna seemed occupied and more out of sorts than usual. Even some of the teachers like Flitwick and McGonagall had been trying to hide the fact that they were watching me out of the corner of their eye. At dinner Ron seemed to be unable to stomach even a grape, which I found odd but passed it off to him being worried about an upcoming quidditch match or something like that.

I was more than a bit surprised to find the note attached to a galleon on my bed just after sundown. It all looked completely normal and when I asked Ginny about it she practically pushed me to read the note out loud and then kiss the galleon. Much to my astonishment and concern there was a bright flash of light that lasted only a few seconds. When the light subsided I could see and feel that something had changed. I looked at myself in the mirror and was astonished to find that I was now wearing a rather fancy looking dark blue dress that was just the right amount of sexy and sensible. My hair somehow had been tamed and styled like I'd seen in some of Parvati's fashion magazines.

"You look great, he…come on," Ginny called out to me from the doorway with a warm smile and a look on her face that I'd never seen on her before, a look of utter excitement and anticipation tinged with an outlier of sadness. Before I could respond she had thrown a set of robes over me and led me out of the room.

I could only wonder what was going on as Ginny guided me through the halls and stairways of Hogwarts until even I could figure out where we were headed. We exited the castle through a large set of old wooden doors and I could see a few lights on in the middle of the quidditch pitch. I tried to ask Ginny about it but she would only smile and push me onward. It wasn't until we got to the edge of the pitch that she finally stopped prodding me on.

"Ginny, what's going on, are you okay," I tried to ask in an attempt to not sound as worried as I truly was given everyone's odd behavior that day and now Ginny looking like she was about to cry.

"Sure…just…good luck," Ginny finally answered me with unshed tears filling her eyes and what looked like a fearful look of complete joy struggling to burst forth from her but that it was taking every ounce of her strength to keep it at bay as she gave me a tighter hug than she'd ever given me before. I was about to ask her another question when she pulled off the robes that she had given me and then shoved me out onto the quidditch pitch. I was left speechless when I my eyes came to focus on a very nervous looking Ron who stood in the center of the pitch and was totally transfixed by my appearance. I had gone no more than a few steps when a soft shower of rose petals began to fall out of nowhere, a shower that I don't remember ever ending that night.

"Uh…hi," He managed to mutter out with his ears nearly igniting of their own accord given how red they were and his face wasn't far behind as he shoved his hands into his pockets and look more nervous that I'd ever seen him before.

"Hi uh, what's going on Ron," I asked him with a soft fear of what might be the reason behind it as a small part in the back of my mind started to do the conga at what it thought all of this was really about.

"N…nothing, nothing much, I just thought that maybe we could spend some time together and," Ron tried to answer as best he could without giving away everything, which only made me start to wonder and worry even more as he seemed to be tripping over his words and not actually answering my question. Before I could respond a flash behind me caused me to turn around and look for its cause.

"Hermione," Ron softly called my name with some concern in his words as I then turned around and my heart very nearly stopped cold and the breath that I had been trying to take it just vanished without a trace. There knelt Ron, now wearing the finest set of dress robes that I'd ever seen him wear, with a mixture of sheer terror and incredible excitement on his face holding a small box at his hip.

"R…Ron, what," I force myself to say over the thundering of my heart in my chest as I can feel my eyes well up with tears and my breath catches in my throat as I can't believe that this is really happening to me.

"Hermione, I've loved you almost as long as I've known you but I was always to pigheaded to say something, pigheaded and scared…that you didn't feel the same way, I know I'm not the best looking bloke or always the easiest to be around, and I have that nasty habit of making you mad and…bloody hell I'm not doing this right," Ron said to me as it looked like a speech that he had written down and gone over so many times that he could do it by heart if his mind didn't seize up first and now he felt that he was messing it all up, but as far as I was concerned my mind wasn't exactly working to well right then either.

"Ron please, you're not," I try to tell him in the hope of reassuring him and trying to calm his nerves a little bit, even if it's only for my own selfish reasons of wanting him to get the question fully out so that I can say yes already, as if the answer had ever really been in doubt since I'd heard that he'd been poisoned in Slughorn's office.

"Okay here I go again…Hermione I…bloody hell not again I…bugger it all I'll never get through the whole thing now, Hermione…will you marry me," Ron tried again to go through his speech before I could tell that he couldn't focus on the words anymore and the fear was starting to well up in him that he had messed it all up forever and of course I would say no to what he assumed was a terrible proposal, but at that moment just the opposite was true. It didn't matter at all to me whether he got through his whole speech or not, I knew that I would read it all later on anyway but anything that I needed to know I could see wholly in his eyes, the love that he had for me, a love that we'd both run away from for far too long and should have started years ago. I couldn't let him wait very long as even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes felt like knives going through my body.

"Yes Ron yes, a million times yes," I squealed back to him in a voice that somehow was mine and not my own before I totally lost control of my body and I barreled headlong into him, almost bowling him over in the process. Luckily his reflexes were fast enough so that it didn't happen and instead he picked me up around the waist and for the next several moments my mind was all hazy in a sea of snogging.

"Blimey," Was all that I heard Ron mutter out in between our kisses and my overly loud squeals of delight and joy before the tumult really started. It started off small with the skies around the quidditch pitch suddenly blazing with fireworks that alternated between saying congratulations and she said yes.

"I love you," He and I both say in unison with smiles larger than either of us thought possible while we both try to keep from crying like little babies before the lights come up around the pitch and I see that Ron and I are far from alone. My feet are barely back down on the ground before Ginny hurls herself forward and pulls me out of Ron's hug and into one of her own.

"Congratulations," Ginny exclaimed nearly in a very pleased scream as we hug and oddly bounce around a bit, though at that moment I honestly could care less if later I'd feel like a fool for doing it. Over Ginny's shoulder I can see my parents crying happily and hugging each other standing next to Ron's. Mrs. Weasley looks to be torn between hugging a tearful Mr. Weasley and rushing to me and welcoming me into the family, something that I'm sure that she'll do before long.

"Congratulations Miss Granger," McGonagall stated with a restrained but happy smile and watery eyes as she took the opportunity to get close before the crush of excitement happened and she'd get bowled over.

"Thank you," I start to scream as soon as I'm out of Ginny's embrace before I throw myself at my favorite teacher and give her a hug that I'm surprised by its intensity as I lift her up off of the ground just a bit.

"Headmistress McGonagall…are you…crying," Ron wondered aloud with a curious smile that I was about to chide him for even asking before she interrupted me.

"Nonsense Mr. Weasley, just a bit of dust in my eye," McGonagall answered in as dignified of a voice as she could at the moment while dabbing at her eyes with a white handkerchief before she drew out her wand. I knew that wasn't the truth but I didn't feel like pressing the matter just then. "Now, if we're to have a proper party we need a better dance floor, this grass just won't do," She added with a fully composed expression before she strode around the pitch while waving her wand in strange formations and speaking words that I couldn't understand. Seconds later all of the grass began to glow brightly. Before anyone could raise their voice in alarm or surprise the glowing subsided and in place of the grass was now a beautiful wooden floor, perfect for dancing.

"Thank you," I started to say to McGonagall before Ron pulled me away and out onto the dance floor, leading to the continuation of one of the best nights of my life.

END OF ABOUT TIME

Author's Note: Just a little idea about how Ron may have proposed to Hermione. I just have a hard time seeing Ron and Harry being okay with being away from Hermione and Ginny for so long after what they've all been through. And I never thought that either couple would put off getting married and having kids for as long as they did given how until Voldemort was defeated that's exactly what they had been doing for years, so putting off their lives to save the wizarding world only to save it and then put their lives off again just seems weird to me. That and Ron and Hermione should have had more kids, not as many as the Weasley's but I think that five total kids would have been right, with Rose and Hugo being the youngest. Something like their oldest being a son and then twin daughters, they could have been added into the epilogue easily with a line from Ron or Hermione about them already being on the train with friends or something like that. As for a song for this little story, Everything I Do I Do It For You by Bryan Adams or All For Love from the Three Musketeers soundtrack or maybe that old song Stand By Me. My mind works in mysterious ways as I have more ideas than I can put down in print at one time, ideas for every book. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviews are always appreciated.