Ron Weasley was sitting on his bed, looking nervously at his best friend, who had a sheet of paper and was quizzing him. They both knew that Ron couldn't afford to make a single mistake in his proposal, so they went over the details constantly. "Alright mate, let's go over this again. 1st step?" Harry asked.

Ron's face contorted into one of despair and Harry almost screamed in frustration. Ron didn't even know the first step! "Er… Yeah… were we starting with making the portkey or starting with when I take her outside?" Ron asked.

Harry sighed in irritation, but at least Ron hadn't been as naive as Harry had originally thought. "Ron! I told you! We're starting the night of! Your mum is taking care of the portkey!"

"I still can't believe you told her Harry." Ron said shaking his head. Ron was thinking back to the week before when Harry had told his mum what Ron was planning. Harry glared at Ron for getting off task again.

Ron groaned. "OK, ok! Fine! First I ask her if she wants to go for a walk. Then we get our coats and go outside. I then proceed to ask her if she'd like to go somewhere more romantic. Then Hermione and I take the portkey to Paris and go to the restaurant, whatever the heck it's called. Then we-" Ron was cut off by Harry cursing loudly. "What?" Ron asked, not at all understanding what the big deal was.

"You don't know what the restaurant is called." Harry said disappointedly, not even realizing the similarity to Dumbledore that had entered his voice. The calm disappointment that had ways made Harry feel a hundred times worse for whatever it was he'd done wrong.

"I know where it is though! I really do Harry!" Ron said desperately. "I'm not going to blow this! I mean, I know I mess everything up, but this is one thing I won't let my big fat mouth or lousy memory mess up! I can't mess up Harry! I just can't, so I'm not going to!" Ron took a shaky breath and plowed on. "Bloody hell, Harry! I go to sleep dreaming about exactly what has to happen when! Every nightmare I've had since I decided I wanted to propose has revolved around me screwing it up completely!" Ron paused, and contemplated whether or not to add the worst part of the dream. Unable to help it, he mumbles, "Half the time she ends up with Krum." Ron kicks the wall in irritation.

Harry was silent for a moment. He hadn't realized how completely terrified Ron had been about the whole thing. "Look, Ron, you'll be fine. I know it. Sure, you tend to be a bit of a git most of the time, but Hermione loves you anyway. You know she won't care if you mess everything up. Just calm down, and concentrate. What do you do next?"

Ron nodded and thought about it for a moment. "We go eat. After that I pay and we leave." Harry wondered how well his little pep talk worked, because Ron still seemed extremely tense. "We then go to the top of the Eiffel tower in the elevator because the stairs are murderous and evil. Then we stand there and stuff and I faint

because I'm so nervous and she has to call an ambulance. Did I get it all?" Ron asked. "Er… no." Harry said. "You got the end wrong."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ron. You're joking right? You don't faint, you ask her to marry you!" Harry groaned and fell into a chair opposite Ron's bed.

"Whichever happens first," Ron muttered glumly. Harry couldn't take it anymore. He needed help. Time for the Weasley women to intervene. Harry walked out of the room and downstairs to get Mrs. Weasley. And Fleur. Well… maybe not Fleur. It's not like he wanted to kill Ron or something… then again, she'd been proposed to by a Weasley and quite frankly, Ron needed all the help he could get.

~*~

Hermione walked up to the door of the burrow and knocked. Hopefully Harry wouldn't be there this time. It sounded mean, true, but every time he was, Ron stayed locked up in his room the whole time she was there, and quite frankly she hated it. Why was he being so distant and moody?

Mrs. Weasley opened the door and said "OH! Hello Hermione. Ron's in his room. You can go on up if you'd like." Mrs. Weasley had told Ron that he and Harry were not allowed to plan while Hermione was over anymore. She knew Hermione was sick of it, and quite frankly, she was too. "It's rude," she had told him.

"Alright. Thank you Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said and went upstairs, just glad to finally have some time to spend with Ron.

When she got to Ron's door she knocked and waited. "Come in," he said and she slowly pushed the door open. As Hermione walked in, she saw Ron slipping what looked like a black box into his sock drawer. She didn't get her hopes up though. Knowing Ron, it was probably just a sock. "Hi Ron," she said quietly, closing the door behind her.

Ron whirled around in shock. "Hermione- hi! I- I didn't know you were coming over today. How are you? It's good to see you. Here. Sit down. How is work going? Is-"

"Ron. RON! Calm down. Stop freaking out. It's just me, ok? Just Hermione." Ron started to calm down and she just sighed. "I'm only going to be here for a little bit because my parents were expecting me home at six…." Ron looked terrified for some reason and Hermione sighed. "Of course… I could always leave now if you wanted me to. You look a bit uptight," she said, not really wanting to leave. She'd hardly seen him lately as it was.

Realization hit Ron as and he immediately tried to calm himself down and act more hospitable. "Oh, no. No, it's fine. You don't need to leave. Sorry. Just a little stressed out," he said, trying to make a bit of an excuse.

When it came time for Hermione to leave, Ron walked her to the door. She was just about to disapparate when Ron's usually tight tongue came unraveled. "Hey, Hermione!"

She stopped and turned to face him. "Yes, Ron?" Why was it not until she had to leave that he had something to say? She wondered bitterly.

"Well…I was thinking…. Christmas Eve? Just us. We could do something special, if you wanted?" he blurted without thinking, but he compensated for this slip of the tongue by deciding that Harry and his mum would be glad he'd gotten somewhere, and any chance he'd had for regretting his asking now was washed away when he saw the look of pure joy on her face.

Hermione swallowed her excitement so that she could squeeze out a coherent, "Yeah. Sure. That would be great! Where are we going?... So I know where to meet you."

Ron smiled at her. "Actually, Hermione, just come here. I want it to be a surprise."

~*~

"You WHAT?" Harry screamed. It was only the first of November and Ron had already asked Hermione about Christmas Eve! Ron couldn't understand why Harry was so uptight about it. He'd been thinking more along the lines of "HEY! I finally did something right!"

"Well… I asked her to meet me here for a date. Harry! I had to say something! I couldn't not tell her, mate! Do you know how angry she's been with me recently."

Ron's words did nothing to change Harry's mind. "I don't bloody care, Ron! It's November first, for Merlin's sake! It's almost two months away! Are you out of your mind?" Any normal person would have merely stated that Ron was, in fact, out of his mind, but Harry was a tad bit nicer to his best friend than any normal person would be.

"I don't know Harry! Go ask Ginny! I'm sure she'll give you a fantastic answer to that question! She'll even tell you why she thinks so! But come on! What was I supposed to do? I mean, so what I'm going to freak out and die? At least I was able to bloody ask her in the first place! Ron took a shaky breath, but he absolutely couldn't calm down. Of course, that should be no surprise to any woman, because when men are acting like idiots, nothing gets in their way.

"Ron, relax, or I'll get your mum to calm you down, then tell George what you're doing on Christmas Eve, just to annoy you for annoying me so much!" Harry threatened, which did indeed seem to work.

"GEORGE?! Harry, no! Are you trying to ruin my life? Really, Harry! I'd die if you told George! He'd tell absolutely everyone else in the world, and that would mean that Hermione would know and… please Harry, don't do it," Ron said helplessly. Harry wished that he felt bad for his threat when he saw his friend in such a state, but he honestly couldn't.

"Alright, alright. Calm down. I'm not going to tell George…. And remember what I told you: never take anything from George that is going to "help" you. All that means is that he's trying to fool you around," Harry added, just in case.

Ron glared. "Harry, trust me. I don't need you to remind me of that. Do you honestly think I don't remember after the last time?" Ron shuddered at the thought. So much hair…. "I'm not as dumb as Ginny thinks! Give me a break!"

December 23

Ginny waltzed into Ron's room without knocking and smiled knowingly. "Hello Ronald, darling brother of mine, who is ready to take the next step in his relationship!... And don't worry. I swear that I didn't tell Hermione. Back to the point, relax. You won't die tomorrow… unless, of course, someone drops an anvil on your unsuspecting little head, and, for some odd reason, I don't think they will," Ginny said cheerfully.

"Shut up! And how did you know? Did Harry tell you? He swore he wouldn't! Did mum? She said she wouldn't tell anyone but Dad because it was... why am I telling you this?" Ron said, stopping abruptly. How was it that no matter what was going on, Ginny was always able to find a way to weasel it out of him?

"You're telling me this because I am the most wonderful sister in the entire world. And I knew you were because I'm a girl and girls are very perceptive." Ginny babbled on.

"Well, that's no bloody help! It just makes everything harder! Why do girls have to be perceptive? Not only is it unfair, but it makes it next to impossible to keep a secret!" Ron exclaimed.

"Ron, you have a very limited vocabulary." Ginny pointed out, happy to be able to find something else wrong with her brother.

"I do not!" Ron said indignantly, though if you asked him how he'd said it, he wouldn't know what to say, as he doesn't know what the word indignantly means.

"Then what does mean?" Ginny challenged proudly.

"Well, it's the fear of… Hmmmm… oversized hippos?" Ron suggested hopelessly, praying that he was right.

"Well, you're closer than I was when Hermione asked me if I knew what it meant, so I'll give you that! Bye!" She said cheerily and bounded off down the stairs to breakfast.

"SO YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO TELL ME WHAT IT MEANS?!" He shouted after her, but his devilish sister just kept right on going.