"I still can't believe McGonagall let us do this."

Ginny chuckled nervously to herself, spreading an old, worn quilt under the shade of the old tree down by the Black Lake. The sunlight streaming through its branches created interesting patches of shadow upon the young couple as they settled down to eat the steak-and-kidney pie and treacle tart they had packed.

"Y'know," Harry said between bites, "I still can't believe Mum made all this for us for a picnic!"

"Yeah, well, you know Mum." Ginny twirled her hair around her finger. "She'd feed you a hippogriff if it came down to it."

"Or a Horntail." Harry laughed enchantingly before peering in the basket with a frown. "Why didn't she make any of your favorites, though?"

Ginny's eyes shifted. "She was a bit more focused on feeding you."

Those beautiful orbs of emerald narrowed suspiciously. Ginny's heart hammered against her breast.

I've blown it, haven't I?

But Harry simply shrugged and conceded her point, his charming face going pink. It broke Ginny's heart to know how foreign the concept of being loved was to him.

I have to do this.

Eventually they finished as much of their meal as they could.

"Are you sure you're a Weasley?" Harry teased as they packed up the leftovers.

"Hm?" Ginny asked distractedly, her hands fiddling with the pockets of her jeans.

"You didn't eat much."

"It's like Mum said on your birthday," Ginny pointed out. "Appetites come and go. Besides, mister, you ate less than I did."

Harry avoided her eyes. "Yeah, well... You know me..."

Ginny's eyes softened and she opened her mouth to respond when Harry's shoulders twitched and he started to giggle.

"Hee-hee! That's cold."

Ginny peered around him and laughed. "Don't look now, Harry, but the Giant Squid is tickling the back of your neck."

"Ha! I always knew it was a big softie!" Harry proclaimed once it had ceased its playful torture. "Remember when it saved Dennis Creevey when he fell off the boats?"

Ginny chortled. "He was soaked!"

"Think we can feed it?" Harry asked eagerly.

Ginny thought for a moment. "Mum probably won't be too too thrilled, but I don't see why not." Hopefully she'll have other things to be thrilled about by the time we get home.

Harry beamed as he hand-fed leftover pie and tart to the eager squid. Ginny offered up a few handfuls herself, but Harry just looked so happy and his radiant smile kept her very much distracted.

"Maybe we should lie and tell Mum we ate all the food?" Harry suggested once their leftovers were running low.

"Nah, best not. She'll see right through it."

"I s'pose you're right." Harry scooped up one last bit of treacle to offer to the squid. "Last call! Bottoms up!"

The Giant Squid took the tart from his small hands and departed. Harry waved, and it waved back.

"Want to get going, Gin?" When he received no answer, he turned. "Gin?"

Ginny was knelt before the base of the tree, examining the carvings.

"Have you ever noticed the initials on here?" she asked.

"'Course I have. We put our own, didn't we?"

"Yes, but look here."

Frowning, Harry knelt next to her and examined the myriad of couples' initials etched into the bark. He read the particular initials his girlfriend was pointing out, and his breath caught in his throat.

JFP + LME.

"Th-these were..."

"Your parents." Ginny backed up and gave him some space. He leaned his head against the carvings, and his shoulders shook.

Eventually she took him in her arms, turned him around and lifted him to his feet.

"This is such a tranquil spot. I wonder how many happy memories this tree has witnessed."

"I dunno," Harry mumbled.

"But you know what you really should know?" Ginny asked, her heart now hammering in her throat.

"What?" Harry's voice was small and hoarse.

Ginny rested her forehead on his. "Just how much I love you."

His eyes were as wide as saucers now.

"You were just a fairy tale when we first met. I bet I must have been pretty pathetic back then."

Harry chuckled wetly.

"But then you started spending the summers over, and I got to know the real you. The you who became my world, my everything. Not the Boy Who Lived, but the sweet, kind, noble git I fell in love with. It's nothing short of a miracle that you've grown to be as amazing as you are today. I don't think I'd know what love is, much less be able to feel it the way I know you do, had I been in your shoes. Which is why..."

She swallowed back bile, anticipating the worst.

"Which is why I have something to ask and something to give."

If Harry's eyes had been saucers before, they were twin moons now, as Ginny went down on one knee, still holding his small hand in her own.

"Harry James Potter..." She let go of his hand, which dropped numbly to his side, and pulled a small black box from her pocket, opening it with a snap. "Will you marry me?"

There was a long and airless moment in which Harry stared, awestruck, at the golden ring inset with an emerald heart surrounded by small rubies.

Then he collapsed into her arms, sobbing. And somewhere amidst his hiccups, Ginny could somehow make out the word "yes."

NKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNKNK

Honestly? When Molly Weasley had been told that her two youngest children were going out for a picnic, she had expected them to return home calm, collected and content.

But here Harry was sobbing and could only shake his head when asked what was wrong. Ginny, meanwhile, was grinning like an idiot. Just what was going on here?