Chapter One: The Plan

Harry was sat up in his bed pondering what life would be like after Hogwarts. He glanced at his trunk, his four poster bed and ran his fingers across the luxurious covers beneath him. 'I'm never going to have anything like this again,' he thought. Even with all the money he knew he had stored away in his vault, he was adamant nothing could buy the security and comfort he felt inside these walls, which were, in themselves, rather bland. Cold and stone. Never the less, he'd grown up within them; he'd made friends that he'd always want to stay in contact with; he'd lost loved ones and, at the same time, gained irreplaceable memories.

Harry's eyes wondered about the room just trying to take it all in. After all, these were the last days they'd have there. NEWTs finished, graduation looming and stress mounting. Making eye contact with Ron, he noted high levels of anxiety – but more than was necessary given the current situation.

"Are you alright, mate?" he asked.

Ron could only shake his head. Running his hand through his hair, Ron resumed lying and staring at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?"

Ron sat back up and almost went to say something but movement in his peripheral vision caused him to close his mouth.

"I'll tell you later," he replied with an exasperated sigh.

Harry looked over his shoulder and noticed Neville was with them in the room. "Ok."

Fortunately for the both of them, Neville had received the less than subtle hint and had tactfully headed towards the door. "See you guys at dinner," he said as he left, not giving them time to respond.

Waiting for the door to close, Ron turned back to Harry with a hard glare.

Harry felt marginally uncomfortable with the intensity of what Ron was about to say so swung his legs over the left side of his bed, placed his hands together and braced himself.

"Ok," he said again. "What is it?"

Ron exhaled heavily and looked at the floor.

"Shit. Is she pregnant?"

The expression on Ron's face turned to confusion and he frowned. "Hermione?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Who else?"

"No. No one else." Ron said dismissively with a small wave of his hand. "But no. God no. She's a right prude." He paused. "It's bigger than that."

"Go on, Ron. You're giving me a headache."

Ron stood and walked to the edge of his bed, knelt and slowly opened his trunk that was not even remotely packed, given that there departure was imminent. After rummaging around for what seemed like forever he emerged with a brown paper bag. Ron sat down opposite Harry and revealed what was actually in fact a rough, old piece of parchment.

It was now Harry's turn to look confuse; 'What could honestly be so insanely important that could trigger such a worried reaction?'

"I've been thinking, Harry..."

"…Yeah…"

"A lot is about to change. I mean, we're graduating for Merlin's sake! And, with everything that's gone on, whoever thought we'd manage to do that – together, at least. McGonagall let us retake our last year and I think we did alright – with 'Mione's help." Harry noticed Ron was talking a little faster than usual, almost never even pausing for a breath. "Well, yeah, Ginny's graduating too because she never left. So that's it. The Weasleys are all out of Hogwarts now for a few years. 'Mione and I have to look for our own place – move out of the burrow, you know? Out from under Mum and Dad's feet – I guess you and Ginny do too. So much is changing. We might not ever come back here and this was practically my home for seven years – all the mischief we all got up to. I just don't want to forget any of it-"

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. I'll miss this place-"

"-I'll miss you too, mate. You take good care of my little sister, right? I mean, of course you will, you're loaded. What are we going to do? So much stuff!"

"You know I can always help-"

"-I don't want your money." Ron interjected. "I just want us to always see each other, you know? Never truly leave any of this."

"It's a bit hard for us to grow apart you know – after saving the world together – and the fact that I am dating Ginny."

"I know, mate, I know…" Ron sounded like he was still trying to convince himself though.

"We saved the world. How is that not enough? Ron, look, we've been best friends since meeting on the Hogwarts Express before we were even sorted – then you have the troll, the stone, all the stuff with having to save Ginny, rescue Sirius and Buckbeak, the Tri-wizard Cup – admittedly we had our disagreement then but we pulled through that – then the Horcruxes, all the life-threatening situations we've miraculously found ourselves in and not even mentioning the encounters with Voldemort."

Ron shuddered slightly and then laughed uncomfortably. "The last two kind of link together there, mate."They laughed together for a while. "Jeez, I can't believe I still can't – there's something about his name that I – eugh! Hermione can!"

"Ron, it doesn't actually matter - It's over and done with and we'll never have anything like that to deal with again."

Ron snorted and glanced down at the parchment still in his hands and Harry could feel the mood revert back.

"Look, whatever it is you can tell me and I'll deal with it with you – that's what we do, remember?" Harry casually moved over to sit next to Ron and jokingly slapped him on the back.

"It's not exactly something I need to 'deal with' exactly." Ron hesitated as he looked for the right words. "But I could do with some advice."

"Ok. Now that I can do." Harry let out an expulsion of air. "Just calm down first, ok?" Ron nodded. "Seriously, mate, breathe!" Ron laughed again a little reducing the tension that was lingering around them.

"It's just I've had a thought. We're not really teenagers anymore… we're practically adults. There's a lot going on and I want to try and change with it, you know?"

"I… think so…." Harry was getting really fed up with trying to read through the lines. "No, actually, I don't"

Ron handed Harry the parchment. At first, Harry hadn't a clue what to do with it. Whatever was wrapped up in this package was giving Ron enough grief that he really wasn't sure he wanted to get involved. Then, thinking of all the times Ron has been there for him throughout the years, he began to unravel the brown paper beneath him.

"Careful!" Ron hissed. It was so abrupt that Harry nearly lost all concentration and dropped what was in his hands. Recomposing himself he continued to manipulate the parchment and the 'thing' was decreasing rather dramatically in size.

Eventually Harry worked away all outer layers to reveal a small, rather quaint, blue box.

"Shall I?"

"Yeah, you can open it."

Harry found the small catch at the front and twisted the silver clasp in his fingers. Opened it and inhaled at the beauty and enormity of what he was now holding. Everything just fell into place – Ron's anxiousness, the need to keep it on the down low and all the talk about change. In Harry's hands was a box, but in that box within a soft blue velvet surface lay a gorgeous diamond ring. It was a silver band with a significantly sized diamond in the centre. Surrounding the central diamond were many tiny diamonds that provided a elegant frame of extra sparkle.

Harry looked up from his hands to Ron who was quite clearing waiting for Harry's approval.

"So you…" Harry was completely lost for words.

"I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me."