Hermione Granger stood in shock, eyes wide open, staring down at her boyfriend of three years as he knelt in front of her. He smiled up at her expectantly, causing her over active mind to spin into overdrive. The first thing she thought of was their first date.
"Where are you taking me?" Hermione was wearing dark wash skinny jeans and a light, airy salmon colored bouse. Her date grabbed her hand, gave her a wink, and they apparated away from the outer wards of the Burrow, where she had been staying for the past three months since she graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had insisted that both her and Harry Potter move in so they had some family around; with Harry's parents being dead, and Hermione's parents having irreversible memory loss thanks to the power behind the spell she had used on them before her, Ron, and Harry had left for their horcrux hunt the summer before.
The couple reappeared in the middle of a muggle park. There was a sandbox off to the side, a large wooden jungle gym complete with monkey bars, four different slides, and swings, as well as teeter totters near the sand box. The young man pulled on the young woman's hand, leading her to the jungle gym. He let go of her hand and climbed up the nearby ladder to slide down the tallest spiral slide. Hermione laughed when he got to the bottom and slid straight out onto his butt.
"Oi! Let's see you give it a go!" Still giggling, Hermione followed his lead and climbed the ladder to slide down. When she got near the bottom, a pair of strong hands caught her to keep her from sliding out like he had. She smiled brilliantly at him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running over to the swing set. Breathless, she sat down on the nearest swing.
"Push me!" Her date ran after her, laughing all the while. He grabbed the chains on the swing, giving her a firm but gentle push. The young man continued to push the beautiful young woman, all the more beautiful in her laughter, her long, brunette hair flowing behind her.
All of a sudden, he stopped the swing, jumped in front of her as she was slowing down, and leaned down to sweetly kiss her. When he pulled back, she bit her lip and looked down with a flush. He found this absolutely endearing and pressed another kiss to her forehead. He took her hand once again and helped her up. Without so much as a 'by your leave', he apparated them away.
He took her back to the Burrow, kissed her lips softly, kissed the knuckles of the hand he was still holding, and left. She realized right then that it would be very easy to fall in love with that man. The man that made her laugh without trying, and had kept a smile on her face for the last two and a half hours in his presence.
Hermione continued to look down at the same man from her memory, kneeling on the floor in front of her. She began to cry quietly without even realizing it as her mind flashed back to the first time they had said 'I love you'.
"Hey, come with me." The young man took the young woman's hand and led her outside of Flourish and Blotts, down the street a bit, and up into his apartment. She had been there before, they had dinner there quite often. He continued to lead her by the hand until they reached the kitchen. He pulled out one of the barstools for her and, like a gentleman, pushed it in beneath her.
The man grinned at his girlfriend of one year, having planned this moment to the best of his abilities, even though he wasn't much of a planner. He smiled at her indulgently as she chattered on about someone that she had met in the new muggle yoga class she was taking: whatever that was. He poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her with a flourish.
"Milady." This caused her to giggle, take the glass from him, set it down on the counter in front of her, and grab his forearm to swing him around to stand in front of her. She reached up to his neck and pulled him down for a very through kiss.
They snogged for awhile before the man pulled away. He softly kissed her lips a few more times and then stared directly into her warm, chocolate eyes. Taking a deep breath he finally worked up the courage to tell her the one thing that he had been waiting to say for the last month.
"I love you." The smile that lit up her face was the greatest sight he had ever seen. She leaned forward to kiss him again before pulling back.
"I love you, too." That was easily the best day of both of their lives so far.
Hermione continued looking without seeing. It was ironic that her life was flashing before her eyes, even as a very significant moment was currently happening while she clocked out of her own brain. Another memory began to surface and she was powerless to stop it.
"Move in with me?" The man looked expectant, excited even, for her to answer. He was currently holding his beautiful witch tightly in his arms, her cheek against his chest. When he asked her to move in, she went completely still before pulling back to look directly into his face.
"What?" She had heard him. She wasn't deaf. She was just shocked. They'd been dating exclusively for just over two years now and he was ready to take the next step.
"Move in here. With me." This time he wasn't asking and she raised a single eyebrow at this. "Please?"
She searched his face for an indication that he wasn't sure, or had just asked on the spur of the moment without thinking anything through. After a few minutes, she broke out into a brilliant smile.
"Yes." And that was that. She was moved in completely within two weeks, and they had never regretted the move once.
It had been a year since that last memory. They'd been dating for three years, in love for two, and living together for one. The next logical step was marriage. She just wasn't expecting it. She wasn't ready. Neither of them were ready. They weren't grown up enough. Neither of them made enough money to support a family. Well, he didn't say anything about a family just yet, but that's the step after marriage. The list running through her head wouldn't stop. She was getting dizzy.
She took a deep breath. She needed to at least listen to his proposal. He more than likely spent days figuring out exactly what to say, and it would horrible of her to miss it due to her own musings. She just wasn't sure what to say to him. Did she love him enough? Yes. Did she want to marry him? Yes.
She was ready. She was going to say yes to the wonderful proposal that the man she loved had spent so long practicing. Her soul-search and her internal rant didn't last more than a handful of seconds. She looked down with a soft smile on her face, just as her handsome wizard looked up at her.
Her smile dropped, and she stared, once again, in shock. George Weasley, the love of her life, the man that she just decided she wanted to marry and have a family with, was tying his shoe. Hermione started laughing. She couldn't help it. George stood up and took her hand, they were supposed to be going to the Burrow for lunch. He looked at her with a confused half smile on his face.
"What's so funny, love?" She couldn't breathe. It took her a few minutes to get herself under control from her gasping sobs of laughter.
"I thought you were going to propose." She started laughing again, but he didn't join in. He was always laughing, so this was very unusual. She stopped laughing. "What's wrong, Georgie?"
George swallowed thickly in his throat, then he took two deep breaths, still holding her hand. He turned and took her other hand as well.
"Hermione Granger. Will you make me happier than I've ever been, even after pulling off the greatest prank ever and leaving school in the midst of an explosion of fireworks, and marry me?" Hermione had never seen George so serious, even with the flicker of mischief that passed through his eyes at the mention of how he quit school in her fifth year. There was no other answer for the question.
"Yes." The two beamed at one another, and leaned in for a fierce kiss. George picked up the small witch and swung her around, both of them laughing. He put her down in front of him and pulled a box out of his back pocket. How had she not noticed that before now?
"I've been carrying this around for the past six weeks, just waiting for the perfect time to ask you." George opened the box, pulled out a ring, and slid the ring onto her left ring finger. She grinned up at him and allowed him one more quick kiss before pulling away and running to the fireplace. "Where are you rushing off to?" George sauntered over to Hermione with a wicked grin on his face. She put her hand out to stop him.
"I don't think so! I just got engaged! I'm gonna go show my ring off!" With a last laugh she disappeared in a flash of green flames. George knew that by the time he got to his childhood home, he would be bombarded with congratulations interspersed between the numerous jokes that he would be the brunt of. He smiled widely at that realization. The teaser becoming the teasee. He stepped into the fireplace and followed his fiance to his parent's house.
He wouldn't have it any other way.