Chapter One- A Romantic Predicament

"Hermione, will you marry me?"

There was a long stretch of silence then a simple reply of, "No."

Ron Weasley, who was kneeling, fell backwards and groaned in frustration. "What was wrong with that one?" He asked irritably.

On the edge of Ron's bed sat Harry, who shrugged his shoulders and timidly responded, "Well," he let out an annoyed breath and looked up. "Well, you can't really call that proposing..."

Ron looked up at Harry with wide, disbelieving eyes, "What the hell would you call it then, twenty questions?!"

Behind Harry, stood Ginny, who had her back towards both of them as she rummaged through Ron's junk on top his dresser. She resisted the urge to laugh at yet another argument the two men started since they had begun the planning on Ron's engagement issues.

Harry shrugged again and tried placing his thoughts into words. "It's not that the question itself wasn't a wedding proposal; obviously, it was. It's just that it was so- so... plain. It wasn't romantic or at all interesting. D'you know what I mean? I mean, honestly, if I were a woman, I don't think I would say yes right away; I'd have to consider the possibility that if I'd say yes, it could very well entail that I would spend the rest of my life in boredom with a pathetically, dreary man..."

There was silence and after a moment Ron raised his head up from the floor and stared blankly at Harry for a while, making him a little uneasy and squirmy. Ron blinked a few times, "...All because you didn't like how it was asked?" Harry smiled slightly and nodded slowly, almost nervously, in response. Ron laid his head back down on the floor and bluntly said, "Harry, you're a git."

Ginny chuckled and plopped herself down next to Harry, making their bare arms touch and once again making their breath hitch and get a sudden light headed feeling. It happened all the time and the trouble was that neither did anything about it. Ginny blinked a few times to focus again then as she moved a little away from Harry said, "Well, don't entirely scoff at Harry's statement because it's slightly true..."

Ron looked up at his sister incredulously, "What?"

Ginny giggled, "Not exactly the boring life and equally pathetic man part, but the blunt proposal, yes. Women like romance, whether they admit it or not. And Hermione... she likes romance."

Harry looked over at Ginny in surprise, "Really?"

"Yeah... she does," Ron answered abruptly and the attention shifted to Ron. He rolled his eyes slightly, "Yes, Ginny, I know she likes romance, and if I knew any better from the seven years we were actually intimate, I also know that she tells you everything..."

Ginny bit her lip in an attempt to stop grinning, "Yeah, like that one time when you took her to her favorite restaurant and had her favorite flowers all around the table and even made the ceiling enchanted to a clear, starry night... or that other time when you made a picnic and got her favorite singer to serenade you two as you talked and ate... or even that other time when you flew your broom with a smoke spell and wrote that you loved her in the sky..." Ginny was grinning now and was about to go on until Harry interrupted.

"Ron!" Harry looked as if his world had turned upside down. "I never knew- I never thought..." Harry shook his head and looked down then looked up again. His voice shook with restraint from amusement, "You're actually a tender, loving, sentimental man..." Ron narrowed his eyes and Harry broke into peals of laughter. "I... can't... wait... to ... tell... your ... brothers," Harry said as he laughed. Before Ginny could stop him and before Harry knew what was happening, Ron tackled him and both toppled over the bed.

Ginny sighed as they both wrestled on the floor, "Harry, in case you didn't notice, all the Weasley men have that sentimental and tender side." When hearing those words, Ron stopped for a moment and snarled dangerously up at Ginny, giving Harry a chance to get a better position and tackle Ron again. "Well it's true! Look at Bill! Once he realized that Fleur liked him, he literally swept her off her feet and took her for a ride on a baby dragon! Fleur instantly fell in love with him, and she doesn't even like dragons. Honestly, would you two please stop!"

They both stopped but still in their last stance both on the floor with Harry, hands choking Ron's neck, while Ron was pulling Harry's hair to try and get Harry away. They let go and lay on the ground, breathless from their grappling until Harry said, "I must admit, I'm a bit jealous... I don't think I have an ounce of romanticism in me... growing up in an unfeeling household does that to you."

"Harry, you're not unfeeling," Ron said, rubbing his eyes.

Ginny looked down at Harry and caught his eye, "I bet you could be romantic... you just probably never had a chance to try."

They looked at each other for a little longer until Ron shouted, "AGH! Sod it all!" Ginny blinked and forced herself to look at Ron and Harry did the same thing.

"Wha-?" Harry was about to ask then Ron sat up.

"What the bloody hell am I going to do? I did everything! I'm out of ideas! Drained! Empty! Cleared out! What happens to a bloke then, eh?" During this exclamation, Ron had somehow managed to stand up and looked at Ginny and Harry with a somewhat crazy and fanatical look.

"What do you mean, Ron?" Harry asked, scooting a bit away from where Ron stood since he seemed a tad off balance.

"I mean that I've used up every little thing that is the slightest bit romantic!" Ron said, now pacing back and forth.

"Oh, Ron, I doubt that..." Ginny said, but ended up receiving a menacing glare from Ron.

"Trust me, Gin... I did. Just think about all the things Hermione has ever told you about..." He continued to pace as Ginny thought.

Harry sat cross-legged and watched Ginny think. Soon Ginny looked up at Ron with the most astounded expression Harry's ever seen. Ginny said softly to Ron, "My, God... you have."

Harry and Ginny looked over at Ron, now sitting with his head in his hands.

Harry soon broke the silence with, "Bugger."