Here we go, another chapter. I appologise for the rather abrupt time jump but I have to keep with what Andraste has written for Ruby's point of view :)

Chapter 2

The rest of the summer passed with a blur of Georgeness. It was the best summer of my life. We spent endless days on the beach and in our little clearing just spending time together and just generally being in love. But sadly we had to return to school to prepare for our extension exams, our M.I.C.E (Magical Incantation and Critical Exams) which very few students ended up taking so there were very few from our old year.

So on the 1st September we rolled into Platform 9 ¾ ready to face to school year, hand in hand. There were a lot of whispers, the usual summer gossip, people debating what had happened over the summer, who was seeing who and such. I had my hand firmly stuffed in the pocket of my jacket. People would find out with time. Despite the fact that we were heading back to school for our final year I had a huge grin plastered across my face, I always missed school and at the end of the year I was getting married, it was perfect. We picked a carriage on the train and suddenly someone was standing in the door way. "I never has a change to offer my congratulations" it was Lupin.

"thank you" I smiled,

"so when's the wedding going to be then"

"well according to Alice the 20th April when the orchard at the burrow is in full bloom and it is a glorious sunny day with a fantastic sunset"

"Ahh it's at The Burrow"

"yeh, we wouldn't have it anywhere else" I smiled at and hugged my fiancée, "you'll be there of course" I looked back to Lupin,

"I wouldn't miss it for the world" he smiled back. "Anyway I was just passing through, I need to go order the first years into something resembling a Hogwarts student" he then left us sliding the carriage door closed behind him. I curled up against George and let the hours pass by on the Hogwarts Express.

When we arrived at school we were ushered into the great hall for the usual feast and sorting ceremony, excitement was in the air and it felt like home already, it was amazing how much everyone loved school! With the sorting over Professor McGonagall was still standing at the front, "Students" she shouted, "on top of all the usual school announcements I have one to add". The entire hall was in silence, McGonagall never made announcements, "I would like to congratulate two of my students". Ohh God she was looking at me. "Ivy Fitzgerald, Captain of the Gryffendor Quidditch Team and George Weasley are engaged to be married next spring". The school were all on their feet ,erupting into cheers and claps and "CONGRATS" shouted from all corners of the room, and boys patting George on the back and girls giving me tight hugs.

I went up to talk to McGonagall, "Professor", she turned around,

"Congratulations Ivy"

"Thank you"

"I trust that you'll still be participating in your M.I.C.E"

"of course" I replied, good studious student smile on,

"good, good" She replied, pleased. Hagrid came ambling over to us, "Congrats Ivy, those Weasley's are a good bunch"

"Yeh they are" I smiled, George joined us.

"Professor, Hagrid"

"Congratulations, George" they both chorused,

"Thanks" he grinned, "I'm the luckiest man alive". McGonagall chuckled,

"I've no doubt about that". I blushed. "I trust that you two won't distract each other too much this term" she then said sternly.

"Certainly" we both grinned, looking at each other out of the corner of our eyes.

The feast came to a close and we showed the first years the way to the dorm and introduced them to the Fat Lady, who also offered her congratulations, I'd forgotten that there were no secrets around here. She declared that the password for this year was 'eternal love' just for us. Ohh dear, this was going to last a while, well at least it was easier to pronounce and better than 'pistachio'. I showed the girls to their dorm and after their demands to see the ring I went back down to the common room to sit with George, the first, second and third years were required to go straight to bed but the rest of us stayed up later. I curled up against George and tried to ignore the wolf whistles from Seamus, Lee and Dean.

The term passed in the usual confusion of Quidditch practice on cold frosty mornings and evenings of prep and reading by the fire. Snape was as curt as usual and Flitwick and Madame Hooch pleased to have me back for M.I.C.E level amongst others. Despite the dark and cold days our last Christmas term quickly drew to a close and we were all packed off home for Christmas. This year Molly was holding a special 'family' Christmas, we would all be there, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Ron, Ginny, Fred and Ruby, Harry would be there as always so Sirius would turn up, Lupin (well I knew that he was technically family) as he no where else to go and Hermione would come over for a few days as well as George and I. It really was going to be a full house. So we returned to Kings Cross to be greeted by Arthur and Molly and to my surprise Ruby and Fred. "RUBES WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE" I screamed excited, dropping my satchel running up to her. "Hey Ives, thought we'd surprise you, how's school?"

"The usual, Peeves hid all of our mid term tests and McGonagall was furious and got The Bloody Baron on him, Umbridge is still trying to get Trelawny sacked as 'Divination is a waste of students time'" I said in my best Umbridge impression. Ruby laughed,

"Just the usual then"

"Just the usual" I grinned back, linking arms, just like we used to do, and strolling through the station and piling suitcases and bags into car boots and squishing in.

We pulled up to The Burrow and piled out of the car chasing each other up the drive and jumping on brooms and racing around and around the house, the Christmas spirit in the air. My parents were still on their cruise so again I had to spend the holidays there not that I minded, I got to spend time with George. We immediately ran to the garage, we had Christmas decorations to put up. We grabbed boxes and legged it back to the house trailing tinsel behind us. "TAKE A ROOM EACH, PAIR UP AND DECORATE" yelled Bill, despite being the oldest he acted like one of the youngest, he was worse than Fred and George, put together. "WINNER GET'S OUT OF WASHNG UP FOR THE HOLIDAY" Yelled Ginny,

"DEAL" the rest of us shouted back, we all hated washing up. I grabbed Georges wrist and dragged him into the living room "Now" I turned to face him,

"you know I love you and all but did you really have to pick the largest room in the house? " George moaned

"It means we get to make an impression. It's not like we actually have to move, just sit down say Wingardium Leviosa a few times and we're done, I mean Ginny can't even do that"

"ahh now that sounds more like it" he grinned before slumping on the sofa wand in hand. It took all of 10 minutes before we were finished, tinsel and garlands of winter plants hung from the beams in the ceiling along with a large bunch of mistletoe hanging in the middle so that everyone had to walk under it and the tree stood proudly in the corner of the room, themed Gold with little cherubs flapping their ting gold wings hanging from it's branches. "All done" I announced to George, who hadn't really done anything. "Well done you"

"why thank you" I smiled, George was just staring at me smiling before standing up and walking over to me, "I think we had better take advantage of this"

"take advantage of what? " I was confused,

"look up". So I did, I was standing directly under the mistletoe,

"ahh"

"ahh indeed, Merry Christmas"

"Merry…" he took my chin in his hands and kissed me before I could finish my sentence. I ran my hands up his firm chest and stroked my fingers across his cheekbones and then through his hair pressing myself against him until there was a cough behind us. I quickly dropped my hands down and spun around, it was Charlie. "having fun there you two, I take it your done" he grinned glancing up at the mistletoe as I blushed a deep shade of red before defending myself "we are getting married"

"ok, ok, keep your socks on" he laughed, "I'll go tell the others your done and mum and dad will have to judge". He turned and walked off.

"Opps" I grinned at George, it was my turn to grin,

"opps indeed" he replied, a smile spreading across his face to,

"that was very naughty of you George Weasley"

"I know, but when do I ever stick to the rules, things wouldn't be fun other wise, I mean would you have ever seen so many different expressions on Snape's face without me around. I laughed, "I like it when you laugh" George then said, stroking my cheek, "it makes me feel happy and proud. I mean your just perfect and I can't ever be cross with you around"

"ditto" I said before kissing him quickly.

Bill appeared telling us to get out of here, Molly and Arthur weren't to know who had decorated each room to make it a fairer competition so we all crowded into the kitchen as they went around the house with a clipboard. This was taken very seriously in the Weasley house. Finally after a lot of debate Molly and Arthur reached a conclusion. "And the winner is… THE LIVING ROOM"

"YES" George punched the air and high fived me

"Go team" I joked. Before hugging him,

"NO DISHES" he then cheered.

"Well done you two we were very impressed" Molly said.

"Ahh thank you"

"It's pretty" chirped Ginny

"thanks Gin" I said smiling. I love Christmas.

Christmas day came and we all sat around the living room, in front of the fire and we were opening our presents. Ruby and I got our first Weasley jumpers, hers a yellow and mine a light blue (matching our rings, go coordination!), I gave Ron and Harry a extra large box of chocolate frogs each, Molly and Arthur a whole new set of kitchen pans much to her delight, Ginny a necklace with a tiny snitch on. It was time for me to give George his present, "Now for yours" I told him,

"yay" he grinned,

"come with me" I pulled him up, threw his coat and hat at him, put mine on too and dragged him outside,

"Ohh now this is a surprise" as he saw the shape with a bow on in the middle of the drive, "now I really have no idea" he laughed confused,

"Open it". He pulled of the bow and cover to reveal an owl, "he's called Ptolemy"

"he's beautiful" he gasped before picking me up and spinning me around, "thank you so much" he finally put me down,

"I'm glad you like it" I kissed him, I saw Ruby grinning, leaning against the back door. "Now it's time for your present" he grinned.

"Ohh present" I kissed him again,

"yep" he grinned, follow me, he set off running and I jogged after him jumping on his back and making him give me a piggy back and led me towards the shed. "Now it's my turn to be confused" I joked, kissing the back of his head before jumping down.

"I'm glad it means that you really have no idea, it makes it a better surprise"

"just as well I like surprises"

"it is" he grinned that perfect grin of his again, before ducking into the shed and retrieving a long, rectangular box, "Happy Christmas, and it's from everyone, me, Mum and Dad, Ginny, Ron, Bill, Charlie, Fred, Ruby and Lupin"

"why was it in the shed"

"well me thought you might guess after a while, it is actually really obvious"

"fair enough, but I want to open it in front of everyone"

"they'll like that". We walked back to the house, George carrying the box under his arm. I was still trying to work out what it was.

We walked back in "has she opened it yet" someone called,

"NO" I called back, "I wanted to open it with everyone"

"you didn't have to" Molly said coming into the kitchen,

"but I wanted to" I smiled. We placed the box on the table and I ripped the paper off and opened the plain unprinted cardboard box and gasped. Nestled in red coloured paper was a Meteor broom. I slid my hands under it and gently lifted it out of it's box amazed. "thank you, how…" I stammered, Meteor's were really hard to get hold of and very, very fast. "your welcome", George had come up behind me and wrapped his hands around my waist, "don't worry darling, we know people who know people" Molly smiled, "I'm glad you like it"

"like it, like it, I love it, thank you all so much" I looked at all the faces of the people who had become such a large part of my life, all the people that I loved. My family. A warmth spreading through me, I was happy, I was home.