Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from the Harry Potter books - Those all belong to J. K. Rowling.
***A Keeper***
May 2, 2001
The Burrow
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This May, the third anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts was especially warm. Ginny, Andromeda, and Fleur's little hellions screamed around the Burrow, leaving no room save for 'Aunt Pansy's' untouched.
Pansy loved the little angels, who had given her dubbed her their aunt simply because she was their mother's best friend, and loved their uncle. But some things were simply not to be tolerated, and Pansy drew the line when she found James, Teddy, and Victoire rummaging through the duffel bag she and Ron had brought to the Burrow for their two day stay.
Pansy loved London. But nothing could compare to the Burrow. All her life, she had been taught to think of the ramshackle home and the gingers that lived in it as indecent, and something to be avoided. This was generally inserted into a lecture on finding a husband.
"You don't want to end up like the Weasleys, do you?" was the constant refrain.
Now, as she looked out of one of Molly's picturesque windows, a blissful look swept over her face.
If anyone asked her that question again, she knew her answer would be an unequivocal 'yes'. The Weasleys knew how to love, the Weasleys knew how to nurture. The Weasleys knew how to discipline without physical torture. Hell, she had seen James in more pain from his mother's scolding and subsequent shunning than a quick crucio would put him in.
Ginny had a knack for punishments that ingrained into her child's mind the impropriety of his actions. That particular time, James had ignored his cousin Teddy in favor of playing with a little girl he met at the park.
He hadn't liked the fall out.
"Aunt Pansy?" a small voice lisped, interrupting her reverie. Pansy looked down to see Harry and Ginny's eldest, James Sirius, gazing up at her, an envelope clutched in his small fingers.
Pansy crouched down. Her feet wailed as her heels were forced to bend in ways they weren't exactly meant to. "How can I help you, James?" she asked, a smile on her lips.
"Uncle Ron tolded me to give 'is to you," the toddler warbled. Pansy scrutinized the envelope James held out to her. After she had visually ascertained that it probably wouldn't explode on her when she touched it, she took it from the boy. A genuine smile warmed her face as she stood up. James took that expression as his dismissal. Grinning a two-toothed grin, he scampered out of the room.
Pansy leaned back into the curtain, using her body to hold it back and give her enough light to see. She cleanly tore the envelope open with a finger. She turned the paper into the light as she slowly drew out a card.
A smirk grew on her face as she viewed the image on the card. A sweaty, disheveled Ron scowled into the distance, dressed up in his full Keeper's regalia. Behind him, the goals rose into the sky.
Across the bottom, magical ink wrote and rewrote a sentence in flowing, loopy letters.
If your boyfriend looks like this…
Pansy opened the card to read the rest of the sentence.
HE'S PROBABLY A KEEPER!
Pansy giggled as she remembered the day she and Ginny and Daphne had found this particular card, shopping in Diagon Alley. Ron's accidental purchase of the Chudley Cannons, a year after the war, had resulted in the team flying (quite literally) to the top of the league. Pansy sobered as she read what was written underneath the printed script.
Orchard, was all it said, in Ron's scrawling hand. Pansy didn't hesitate. She threw off her heels, donning the nearest comfortable shoes she could find. These shoes happened to be Ron's sneakers. They were too big, and flapped on her heel as she rushed out of the Burrow, making her way toward the orchards at the back.
Ginny and Molly peeked around the corner and watched the woman run. After a moment, they returned to the kitchen with sparkling eyes and excited faces.
Outside, Pansy finally arrived, cheeks red and close to sweating. Sitting under a tree was the only redheaded Weasley who belonged to her.
"So?" he asked. She slowed to a stop just in front of him. A grin appeared on his face as he saw the shoes she was wearing. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion at his 'so'. Beaming, Ron shifted so now, he was kneeling before her, one knee down, one knee up. "Is your boyfriend a keeper?"
Pansy gasped, tears welling up in her eyes as she clapped a hand to her mouth. "Ron?"
His grin didn't fade, yet he adopted a more serious expression. "Pansy," he said. "I've loved you since, well, if not since I first saw you yelling in a pub, then shortly after. You know Quidditch. You know me, and you love me despite the fact that I tend to forget and leave my clothes on the floor where you threw them, and track mud all over the flat after practice, and never wake up before noon if I don't have to, and – " He was babbling now, trying to convey the way he felt about her only with words.
"Okay," Pansy said, laughing through happy tears that were streaming down her face. Ron stopped. He stared up at her with an adoring expression, offering a sparkling diamond ring. Slowly, she calmed. She stared back at the man who had given her a place to belong after her horrible mistake, when she wasn't sure she had one. The man who had helped her face down her mother and father, who had helped her to find the courage to follow her dreams. The man who comforted her when the weight of her past mistakes threatened to stifle her.
This was the man who was knelt before her, asking her to marry him.
"Yes," she whispered, holding out her hand like the girls in romance novels do. A smile blossomed on her face. "My boyfriend's a keeper."
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a/n: This was actually inspired by a meme I accidentally stumbled across. I thought it was just too good to pass up. Review:)