December 1st, 2004

"Erm…Mom, Ginny, I have something I want to tell you," said Ron who as he looked down at his hands. He twisted them together with worry and nerves, but tried to keep his composure. It wouldn't do any good to let the nerves take over.

A look of concern flashed across Mrs. Weasley's face. "What is it, dear?"

Nerves bubbled up inside of Ron regardless of his efforts to stay calm. He was struggling to express what he wanted to say. It should be so simple. Eight easy words and it would all be over, but every time he opened his mouth to speak, his tongue felt heavy like lead.

"Ron, stop it," Ginny commanded as she pulled apart the hands he'd been wringing so intently. "You're worrying us, so would you just spit it out already?"

With a deep sigh, Ron blurted out, "Gonna ask Hermione to marry me."

Before he knew what had happened, Mrs. Weasley pulled Ron into a bone crushingly tight hug. "Oh, Ron. It's about time. I'm so happy that she'll finally officially be part of the family."

"Gin'," Ron muttered from inside of his mother's death grip, "Will you go with me to pick out the ring?"

December 7th, 2004

"Oh Ginny, I'm not sure what I should do," said Hermione, taking a swig of her mimosa.

Ginny stopped cutting her French toast and looked up curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that I talked to your brother a few days ago and now I'm feeling confused."

"Yeah, he has a way of doing that. It'd probably help if he talked in proper sentences," Ginny returned with a chuckle.

"No. No. It's not like that. I'm feeling confused about whether I should stay with him or not."

Ginny's fork and knife clattered to the plate. Shock paralyzed her momentarily as she grasped at what to say. Suddenly, the words came pouring out. "What? What do you mean? I thought everything was going well with you two. Just the other day you were telling me how happy you were…"

"I am happy," Hermione interrupted, "Or at least I think I am."

"So what's the matter then?"

Hermione looked sheepishly at her friend, almost as if she feared Ginny lunging across the table at her. Tentatively, she began to explain. "I asked Ron the other day when he imagined we might get married and he said sometime before we're thirty probably, but that's a whole five years away. I don't want to wait till I'm thirty. I'd planned on having children by then."

Reaching across the table, Ginny laid her hand on Hermione's arm. "Have you told him this, Hermione?"

"Sort of. He knows that I want kids before I'm thirty, but I didn't exactly give him a concrete timeline either. Oh Merlin. What if he takes a whole five years to propose?" Hermione bit her lip as her thoughts wandered to five years down the road.

"I doubt that it will take that long, but if you're that worried, maybe you should just tell him how long you are willing to wait."

Hermione snapped back to the conversation. "You mean like give him an ultimatum?"

"No, not exactly. Just talk to him and tell him what sort of timeline you imagined. If he's dead set on waiting, maybe you two could at least meet somewhere in the middle."

"What if he won't compromise? You know how stubborn Ron can be."

Ginny tried her to best to conceal her inner thoughts. Images of the ring she and Ron had picked out the day prior ran through her mind. Smiling, she tried her best to comfort her best friend without giving away her brother's secret. "Oh Hermione, I'm sure he'll be willing to compromise. He loves you more than anything and I know he wants to make you happy."

December 12th, 2004

"Forever and a day, that's how long I'll love you. I don't remember exactly when it happened. There wasn't ever really a defining moment. It just sort of crept up on me. I remember finding you so annoying when I first met you. I almost couldn't stand to be around you and then at some point I realized I couldn't live without you. Funny how that works. For a long time, I fought it, but I think with the war and the possibility of death hanging over all of us, I realized how desperately I needed you to know that I loved you. Since that realization hit, it's never left me. I need you now more than I've ever needed you. Will you marry me?" said a kneeling Ron. He was doing his best to keep a straight face, but his lips kept twitching upwards as if he were fighting hysteria.

"I don't know, mate. That seems a touch serious. Do you think you can say it without laughing?" asked Harry.

Ron went a deathly shade of white. Green tinged his cheeks making him look like he might hurl on his shoes. "I have to be serious, mate. I'm proposing. It's supposed to be the most serious moment of my life. I mean I'm asking Hermione to spend the rest of her life with me."

"Yeah, I suppose you should be serious. It's just that this doesn't sound like you. It's like you copied down something from a book."

Groaning, Ron started tearing the piece of paper where he had written his speech to shreds. "What am I going to do, Harry? I'm supposed to do this tomorrow night and I have absolutely no clue what to say. I can't make a complete prat of myself."

Harry shook his head and chuckled. "Ron you won't make a prat of yourself, at least you won't if you just speak from the heart. Stop with the fancy speeches and just tell her how you feel. Be yourself. That's who she fell in love with anyway."

Ron dropped his gaze to his feet. "I suppose you're right, mate. I just don't want to disappoint her is all."

December 13th, 2004

Hermione and Ron trod across the icy Parisian streets on the way back from dinner. Wind swirled around them, whipping Hermione's hair into a frenzy. It seemed that very few people were out besides them due to the rapidly dropping temperature, leaving the two of them feeling as if they had the entirety of Paris to themselves.

Ron had plans to take Hermione on a private tour of the Musee D'Orsay, which housed a large portion of Paris' famous art collection. Once they had finished wandering through the museum, he planned to take her out on the topmost balcony of the museum and propose. The balcony overlooked the Seine River and the view from it was breath taking. Everything would be perfect.

As they walked on to one of the many bridges that jutted out across the Seine River, Ron paused momentarily. He stared off into the grey river below, watching little pieces of ice floating in the water. Snow drifted lazily through the air, landing lightly on everything it touched. Within seconds of stopping, Ron's jacket, woolen cap, and scarf were all dusted with a sprinkling of powdery white.

Turning back, Hermione realized Ron had stopped in the middle of the bridge and was busy staring off into space. "For Merlin's sake, what are you doing, Ron? It's freezing out here."

"Isn't it beautiful, Hermione?" he whispered, motioning towards the snow capped city. Lights could be seen shining from the different cathedrals and the old buildings that lined the river banks.

"I suppose it is, but it's dreadfully cold."

Before Hermione was aware of what was happening, Ron had dropped to one knee in the snow, plans of grandeur long forgotten.

"Hermione, forever and a day, that's how long I'll love you…," he began.

"What are you doing in the snow? Ron, come on. Stop acting weird. It's cold," she said, seemingly unaware of Ron's attempts to propose. Ron remained steadfast in the snow.

"Oi Hermione, I'm trying to propose. Do you mind being a little less impatient?"

Dawning exploded onto Hermione's face and she let out an audible gasp. Placing her mittened hands over her mouth, she looked at him intently.

"I was trying to tell you that I've loved you for as long as I can remember. I had all of these fancy words planned out and I was going to try my best to be eloquent for once. I'd even planned to do it in the Musee D'Orsay because I know how much you love it there, but then we walked onto this bridge and the snow was falling and the wind was making your hair swirl up around you and you're just so breath taking. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I can't wait anymore. Hermione, will you marry me?" He finished as he slipped a small, black velvet box from his jacket pocket. Fumbling with it slightly due to his heavy gloves, he finally snapped the latch open to reveal a stunning ruby ring.

"Oh Ron," Hermione said as she bent down to kiss him, "of course I'll marry you."

Ron stood and gingerly slipped off Hermione's left glove. He slid the ring onto her ring finger and stood back slightly to let her admire it. "I hope the ring's alright. All the store clerks insisted that I get you a diamond, but Ginny said something about you not wanting a diamond because of a conflict in Africa. She suggested the ruby instead. If you don't like it, we can always exchange it."

Stepping forward, Hermione silenced him with a kiss. Pulling away for just a moment, she whispered, "It's beautiful, Ron," and happily snuggled into his arms, oblivious to the cold.

Hi there!

This story was originally posted on HPFF for the Coined By Shakespeare Challenge where it won 3rd place. The saying that I was assigned was "Forever and a day". It appears several times throughout this story and was used as inspiration for the story.

I'd love to know what you thought of this, so feel free to leave some feedback in the comment section below!

~Kaitlin/TreacleTart