The next morning found Hermione thankfully more well-rested than she had been the day before. The sun had risen, peeking out from behind a few fluffy clouds as Mrs. Weasley had drawn up a plan of attack for cleaning the house.

"No doubt we'll be having a gaggle of people in the house at all times, what with all these weddings coming up!" she had stated for her reasoning.

"Mum, you don't even know if we're all getting married yet! Besides, look at it outside! It's bloody gorgeous! Why don't we save the cleaning for when it's rotten out? I don't want to organize linen cupboards all day!" Ginny had battled back, red hair swinging.

"Have you seen the state of this house, Ginevra? I'll not have our new family members over with the Burrow like this!"

"What's wrong with it?" Ginny had asked quickly, a determined flush appearing on her cheeks.

"Dust and grime! Whatever will they think if they come over to see all that dust all over the mantle? And the bookcases! And the dust bunnies under the sofa?" Molly had pointed with one hand while the other remained firmly attached to her hip.

"You think they're actually going to look under the sofa? You're mad, mum," Ginny had countered. "Even if they did, they'd probably think we were having too much fun outside in the nice weather to care about dust bunnies! Like normal people!"

Molly had huffed and begun to open her mouth when Hermione had quietly spoken up.

"Why don't we start with just one room today, Ginny? And then we can do another tomorrow, and another... Is that an agreeable idea?" Hermione had shot her friend a look. Ginny had stared right back, but Hermione could see the tension leave her shoulders and her face soften.

"I suppose that wouldn't be too bad. Mum?" Ginny had turned to her mother begrudgingly.

"Yes, that's acceptable. Fantastic idea, Hermione," the woman had sent her a small smile. "But I'll be making a list and you'll be doing every single thing on it including the linen cupboard, you mark my words Ginny Weasley!"

This was how Hermione had found herself to be dusting books in the living room while Ginny had taken all the pillows to be beaten out on the back porch. One by one, Hermione had pulled the tomes off the shelves, running a rag over the top edges lovingly and wiping the shelf off after she had finished. Celestina Warbeck was crooning on the radio in the kitchen, her voice swaying in and out of earshot. Molly was currently at the kitchen table writing an enormous list of chores for Ginny to complete. This meant that Hermione would also be busy, which she had counted as lucky considering not only did she not have a job, she had no idea of what she wanted as a job. Also, she had a date with George tonight and she didn't know what she would do with herself if she had all day to fret and worry about how things would go. Better that she keep busy anyways.

"Hermione, do you mind helping me with this rug?" Ginny was shifting the coffee table off to the side of the room as Hermione set down her cloth. The two girls heaved the rug outside and slung it over the porch fencing. After casting a quick Scourgify charm, they left it and the pillows to air outside while they continued on in the living room. Before returning to the bookcase, Hermione had helped carry all the blankets, throws and doilies from the living room to the laundry room where Molly had set them scrubbing themselves clean. As Hermione had watched, a doily had sloshed itself around in a tub of rinsing water, wrung itself out and sailed out the open window to hang itself over the laundry line in the sun. No matter how many times Hermione had witnessed such magic, she couldn't help but think that life in the world in which she had grown up was vastly different.

Ginny had settled on a small stool she had placed next to the window and she proceeded to dust the knick-knacks on the window sill and wipe down the glass and ledge with her own rag. Hermione crossed behind the sofa and resumed her dusting.

"So I didn't get to talk to you last night. You were conveniently fast asleep when I got in," Ginny looked at her friend, rag passing softly over a small figurine of a deer.

"Well, as you know, I was up at the crack of dawn," Hermione laughed.

"Nutter," Ginny laughed. "So can we talk about this now?"

"About what?"

"You know what!" Ginny pointed at Hermione's hand. "What happened there?"

"Oh." Hermione felt her cheeks redden as she replaced another book and shook out the dust cloth.

"'Oh', she says. 'Oh'. Just 'Oh'. Come on, Hermione. Give me more than that!" Ginny pleaded.

"Well, George said some very sweet things and then gave me a ring," Hermione tried to play it cool and keep her voice even. Just thinking about his words last night made her heart jump into her throat, threatening to choke off her words with a hiccup of excitement. "A very nice ring."

"I'll say. What sort of sweet things? Did you guys manage to work something out?" Ginny smiled and replaced the things on the window sill, shifting her stool over to the side table before pulling all the magazines out from the small shelf underneath the tabletop.

"We just talked about whether or not we wanted to get married. He suggested that we... pseudo-date and see how things go for a few months and then decide when some of the chaos has settled over this whole debacle," Hermione moved onto the next bookcase after stretching to replace the last book on the top shelf.

"Oooh, that did need dusting, don't tell mum she was right," Ginny pulled a face as a puff of dust was flung off her rag after she shook it out vigorously. "A few months like two or a few months like six?"

"We didn't really specify, to be honest. He had sort of distracted me," Hermione smiled as the memory of him holding out the velvet box for her to inspect the ring nestled inside of it, speaking his honey words that had dripped and slid all the way to her toes. Looking back, they were not overly romantic, which was appropriate since they hardly loved each other, but they been so honest and from the heart it had seemed like the most romantic thing. It still seemed that way. She had clearly seen the care in his eyes as he had made his promises of honesty in all things. Hermione's joints felt loose and she sunk onto the arm of the sofa, dust rag in hand.

"Oh, sweet Merlin, Hermione," Ginny laughed warmly at her friend from across the room. "I can't imagine what my brother could have possibly said to you to turn you into a melty puddle. I really had no idea you even liked him; I would have tried setting you up earlier!"

Hermione shook the images of George's clear blue-green eyes from her head and looked to Ginny again.

"I didn't! At least, I don't think I did. I don't know..."

"So, you're telling me that all this flustery-blustery is from the last 48 hours?" Ginny pressed.

"Flustery-blustery?" Hermione snorted.

"Yeah," Ginny turned to Hermione, standing and pressing a hand to her chest and tilting her head down. She pinched her cheeks, bringing pink to the surface and fixed a secret smile to her lips. "'I just don't know, Ginny!'" The redhead sunk slowly back down to her stool and gave a dramatic sigh.

"I did not do that!" Hermione snapped her cloth down from the shelf with a puff of dust.

"Oh, of course not. My mistake, that's not swooning I see," Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Don't you talk to me about swooning, Mrs. Potter!" Hermione laughed at Ginny as her mouth dropped open in feigned shock. "Oh, Harry, of course I'll marry you!" Hermione pranced around the sofa, simpering.

"And I don't do that! That's a terrible impression of me," Ginny giggled. "Plus, I've loved Harry for a long time; I'm allowed to swoon. What's your excuse?"

"Watch it!" Hermione voiced.

"What are you going to do, tell my brother?" Ginny countered. "Actually, I'm sure he'd love to know how he's rendered you boneless on account of his words."

"Don't you dare!"

"But it's adorable!"

"What's adorable?" Molly had come around the corner to catch their slightly hysterical voices. She looked expectantly between the two.

"Hermione swooning over George," Ginny gave her mum a look and carried on dusting over the fireplace mantle, swiping lovingly over the framed photos perched there.

"I wasn't swooning," Hermione protested.

"I thought we had settled this!" Ginny insisted, laughing.

Molly beamed at Hermione with a knowing look and remained quiet. Hermione guiltily smiled back, turning her head quickly to disguise the ferocious blush creeping up her neck.

"Would you two like some lunch?"

After a quick meal of leftovers that Molly had set out, the girls returned to the living room and agreed to speed through the rest of the cleaning so that they could go into town for some ice cream and a wander.

When they had dusted the remaining surfaces and picture frames, Hermione had levitated the furniture for Ginny so that she could sweep underneath everything, into the farthest corners of the room. As Hermione had magicked furniture polish onto the wooden pieces to make them gleam, Ginny had returned the pillows fresh from outside and they had lugged the rug back to its proper place. With everything back where it ought to be, the two had traipsed upstairs to wash up and change. Bent on enjoying the last of the summer warmth, Hermione pulled on her well-worn jean shorts and a loose leaf-coloured tank. She tried taming her hair back into a ponytail but she was only mildly successful, pieces refusing to lay nicely lest she brush them back and risk creating a frizzy mess. When Ginny had finished piling her long hair on top of her head in a messy bun and tugged a white sundress over her head, the two set out down the hill with a shopping list from Mrs. Weasley.

"So now that we've exhausted talking about me-"

"Hardly," Ginny interjected with an eye-roll. "But carry on."

"-What did you and Harry get up to?" Hermione asked, following Ginny's lead into the produce store.

"Ooooh, Hermione, those things aren't for sharing!" Ginny smirked back at her friend, laughing at Hermione's expression. "I'm only kidding. We mainly just talked about what's going on. A little about setting a date for us. Mostly about my brother's and their pairs though."

"And?"

"Well, Bill's married to Fleur so he's fine; besides, they're already pregnant. Charlie and Alyssa have been together for quite a while so I figure they'll be fine; I've met her a few times and she seems really lovely. You heard Percy, he was going to propose to Audrey before he even knew about the law. Fred and Angelina are... just fine," Ginny laughed. "The only one I'm worried about is Ron."

Hermione grimaced slightly. She had been thinking the very same things.

"Me too," she responded, helping Ginny choose a bag of carrots and moving on to the red peppers. "I feel sort of bad for him being stuck with Lavender. Hopefully he can find a way to make it work with her, for their sake. It's not even that she's that horrible."

Ginny raised her eyebrows at Hermione, holding open a paper bag for the mushrooms Hermione was selecting carefully.

"Well, she isn't. Ron just needs to tell her, nicely, that the baby talk is maddening. I'm sure the war has forced her to grow up a bit anyways."

"Well, we can hope," Ginny laughed.

"She seemed less prone to hysterics when we came back to the castle," Hermione noted seriously, remembering the moments in which herself, Harry and Ron had been snuck back inside Hogwarts through a tunnel to search out Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem. Lavender had seemed a bit harder; they all had. Deatheaters had been instated as staff and Voldemort's reach knew no bounds. Life at Hogwarts last year had been rough on all continuing to attend, including the Gryffindor seventh year. Hermione supposed that most of the older students had taken on the added responsibility of looking out for the younger ones considering they had no idea what might be in store for them otherwise. Thankfully the school had recovered from the final battle with the help of many witches and wizards and even though Hogwarts would never be able to forget what had happened, at least they were all working to make better memories so plentiful as to drown out the bad.

"Mmm, that's true." Ginny set the vegetables on the counter and the muggle woman behind the register smiled kindly and added the totals up. Ginny paid quickly and the girls continued on to the small ice cream shop in the centre of town. Because Ginny spent so much time with Hermione and Harry, she was easily the most comfortable out of her family in the muggle world and as such, usually made the purchases in their town. "She did show quite a lot of courage in the face of Amycus and Alecto. Last year really changed a lot of people so, I suppose that's possible."

"Did you ever get in trouble? I've never really asked." Hermione cast a sideways glance at her friend.

"Hermione, can you really see me sitting quietly on the sidelines?" Ginny scoffed.

"Well, no, but you've never said..."

"You haven't really said much about your time on the run either. I don't know, but I suppose since it's all over now and things are so much better compared to Hogwarts last year, it feels almost like a dream. A bad dream, but a dream," Ginny finished.

"I suppose. It does feel like all that happened in another life." Hermione gazed down at her arm. She had never covered or concealed the scar Bellatrix Lestrange had given her, however no one had ever asked her about it. Bill and Fleur knew most of the story, having been their refuge right after they had escaped Malfoy Manor with the help of Dobby, rest his tiny house-elf soul. Hermione supposed that Luna, Dean and Mr. Ollivander probably had a fairly good idea of what had happened as well but besides Harry and Ron, Hermione had never brought it up with anyone.

"Whenever you want to, you can tell me, you know?" Ginny smiled sadly at Hermione, pushing open the door to the shop. After procuring two scoops of their chosen treat, the two headed outside to sit under one of the umbrellas.

"I know. You can too."

"Well, I don't have any scars that you can see. They only caught me once before I managed to hide in the Room of Requirement with Neville and the others. They were already riled up over something in the news to do with Harry, I can't even remember what. And to add insult to injury I had put myself between a Slytherin seventh year and Hufflepuff first year and so Alecto had taken great pleasure in trying to get information out of me about you, and the Order, the typical questions."

Hermione regarded her friend closely as Ginny paid an overly close amount of attention to the drips of ice cream dribbling down her cone before she swiped them up quickly.

"Oh, Ginny-"

"I wouldn't say a thing, not even that I didn't know. I refused. She used some sort of shocking spell on me until she realized she wasn't going to break me. I think I gave Neville a heart attack when he saw me come through the door. To keep from saying anything I had bitten almost clean through my lip, I had blood from here to Bridgwater." Ginny pinched her bottom lip between forefinger and thumb and pulled it down for Hermione to see. "That's the only scar I have."

Hermione remained silent, the world of peace that she lived in being invaded by painful memories of the past.

"We were captured," she started and swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling as if a pumpkin pasty had taken up lodge and her heartbeat quickened in her chest. "We were captured by Snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor. They suspected Harry was Harry and not 'Vernon Dudley'. It got much worse when Bellatrix saw one of the Snatchers holding the sword of Gryffindor. Turns out she thought it had been put in her vault, but the one she had was a duplicate. Anyways, she proceeded to try and torture where we had gotten it from out of me after throwing Harry and Ron in the cellar. She held me down on the floor of this extravagant drawing room and carved this into my skin." Hermione laid her arm out for Ginny to look but she didn't let her gaze leave Hermione's face. After a moment, Ginny smiled widely, leaning back in her chair.

"Does it feel better saying it? Because I feel loads better after telling you about Alecto," Ginny licked her ice cream happily.

Hermione's heart began to slow to a normal pace again and she let a small smile make its way onto her face. Bellatrix was dead and those people couldn't touch her now.

"I suppose it does. I've never told anyone; Harry and Ron just knew without me telling them," Hermione mused, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She would surely have to tell George the story behind the scar at some point, and having voiced it to Ginny first had removed the daunting hesitation.

"I know." Ginny looked rather pleased with herself. "So, Harry and I were thinking we should get married on the anniversary of the final battle. Thoughts?"

Hermione let out a short laugh as Ginny's transition from talk of torture and scars to wedding plans.

"A May wedding would be lovely, I'm sure."

The girls walked a winding path through the small town's main streets before making their way back to the outskirts and up the gentle slope of the hill to the Burrow in the early evening sun.

"So what are you and George doing tonight?"

"He asked me for dinner, but I don't know if he had anything else planned."

"You're going out for dinner with George? That's lovely, dear," Molly spoke up as the girls passed by the kitchen. The matriarch had dinner preparing behind her as she smiled and clasped her hands together in excitement. "He sent this earlier," she handed Hermione a small folded piece of parchment from her apron pocket.

Hermione cracked the seal and opened it up.

'Hermione,

A reminder about dinner at seven, nothing special so just bring your normal beautiful self.

-George'

"Beautiful, hmm?" Ginny peeked over Hermione's shoulder and Molly took the bag of vegetables from her daughter's arm to chop up for dinner.

Hermione's cheeks coloured.

"I should go get ready," she mumbled before hopping up the stairs quickly, feeling Ginny's eyes on her back until she rounded the corner of the staircase.

After taking a very quick shower, Hermione had pulled on a white summery skirt and a melon-coloured top. Just as she sat in front of Ginny's mirror, her friend had returned to her bedroom and surveyed Hermione.

"Do you want me to braid your hair?"

"Yes, please," Hermione smiled thankfully at the girl in the mirror.

Ginny set about combing and separating Hermione's hair before twisting the strands together loosely. Pulling her wand out of her pocket, she cast a Drying Charm and Hermione's scalp felt pleasantly warm before cooling quickly, all traces of moisture gone.

"Thanks, Gin," Hermione had remarked, turning her head to the side to survey her friend's work. Even Ginny's deft hands hadn't managed to tame the flyaways around her face but that was nothing new for Hermione.

"No problem. Now you're your normal beautiful self," she smirked, falling back on her bedspread.

"I'm just going to drop my backpack at home, I'll be right back." Hermione had stuffed her things back into the bag and trotted back down the stairs, heading for the garden. After apparating home and dropping her bag on the counter, Hermione had spent a few minutes petting a sleepy Crookshanks before heading back to the Burrow for George. Hermione didn't think he knew where she lived exactly, so it was good of him to suggest he pick her up at his childhood home.

She was just walking back through the garden when she heard the crack of apparition behind her before she was promptly tackled from behind.

"Hermione, love, good to see you!"

"Hello, Fred. Please - air!"

"Oh, sorry," the twin released his hold on the girl and winked at her devilishly.

"Oi, get your own fiancé," came from behind them and George appeared into the frame of Hermione's vision. "Hi."

"Hi," she replied with a smile. "You're early."

"Don't sound so pleased!" Fred remarked as the trio made their way into the house.

"This old dodger wanted to close up sooner than usual," George hooked a thumb in his twin's direction.

"Yeah, me," Fred rolled his eyes but didn't elabourate. The three came around the corner into the kitchen to find Ginny, Molly and Arthur already there.

"Boys!" Molly dropped her tea towel to the counter and enveloped the two men in a large hug.

"Hullo, mum," they chorused.

Fred immediately went to join his father and sister at the table, taking an interest in the conversation they had been having. George turned to Hermione.

"Do you want to wait a bit for dinner, or go now?" He cast a sideways glance at his family members perched around the scrubbed wooden table, but none of them gave any indication to have heard his words to Hermione.

"Now's good," Hermione answered, eager to get away from prying ears and potential teasing.

"We'll see you lot later!" George called, shuffling Hermione gently in the direction of the door they had just entered through. A chorus of goodbyes could be heard as the two crossed the back porch and headed for the corner of the property.

"Where are we going?" Hermione questioned, noting that the sun was beginning its decent in the sky earlier now that September had arrived.

"I was thinking the Leaky Cauldron, unless you prefer somewhere else," George offered, scuffing the toe of his trainer against the grass as they came to a halt just outside the wards.

"I do have a craving for some of their fish and chips," Hermione grinned, nodding her affirmative.

George held out his elbow to Hermione with a grin and she let her fingers rest in the crook of his arm, her grip just tight enough to not find herself splinched by Side-Along Apparition.

They landed gracefully in Diagon Alley and started making their way towards the pub. The Alley itself was quite quiet, only a few shops still had lights in their windows as the pair passed by. The pub at the end of the rows of storefronts was still happily bright against the darkening twilight sky. The two entered and George snagged them a small table for two at one of the few remaining open spots.

"I'll go get drinks. Do you know what you'd like?" George regarded Hermione as she sat on a spindly chair.

"Butterbeer, please," she smiled thankfully.

He trotted of to Tom, the barkeep, and returned a minute later with two tall flagons of the frothy brew.

"Fish and chips are on their way," he smiled.

"Thank you," Hermione accepted her mug, sipping some off the top and savouring the taste on her tongue. "So what did you do today, now that business had slowed down?"

"Well, after the craziness of summer Fred and I usually do inventory on the store and Verity talks her way into some time off. Well-deserved, of course," George added. "So she's gone for a few weeks. Ginny's already said to owl her if we end up needing another set of hands for any reason, though I'm not certain we will. We're still filling owl orders but traffic through the store is so slow this time of year. Christmas isn't that far off, though."

"When will you start to see the Christmas crowds?" Hermione blinked at George.

"There's a lull in September and it starts picking up again, to the point of chaos. So we'll have a small breather and then start production for the busy season. There isn't a lot of time between then and now considering how much we have to make. I expect we'll be calling Lee in soon; he's good with production."

Hermione felt excitement bubble tentatively inside her. Contemplating George's response, Hermione decided a small comment would be okay and if he didn't like the idea, he needn't pursue it.

"Well, if you ever need help with anything, you can always owl me, too. I'd be happy to help out if you need an extra person, considering I have no job right now," Hermione said, hoping her comment had come off as nonchalant and in passing.

"Do you have any idea what you want to do? I mean, job-wise. Ministry worker, St. Mungo's Healer, bookshop minder?"

Hermione inwardly sighed in relief as George had picked up on her job situation and not chosen to immediately comment on her offer of assistance, and she laughed at his question.

"Bookshop minder? Why would I ever want to mind a bookshop? Do you even know me? I detest books."

"My apologies. I had forgotten," George grinned and just at that moment Tom had breezed by with stack of plates for hungry customers, sending George and Hermione's down to their table with a wave of his wand.

"Thanks Tom!" George had called as the wizard had whisked away with the magical stack of pub food. He squeezed his lemon wedge over the crispy fish before looking up at Hermione, observing her mirroring his actions.

"Well, to be honest, we could always use a bit of help from the brightest witch of her age."

Hermione blushed and set the squished lemon piece on the edge of her plate.

"Although, I warn you now that the next few weeks are not that exciting, mostly just preparing for the next four months," George continued.

"Alright, well send me an owl next week then if you need me," Hermione smiled, thankful that he seemed in good spirits over accepting her help.

"I will," George took a large bite of fish and chewed, regarding her with bright eyes. "So how long should we give this thing before we decide on the issue of marriage? I don't mean to push but-"

"You're not pushing!" Hermione insisted, swallowing her own bite quickly.

"Either way, I feel like this is something we should agree on right at the beginning," George finished.

"I agree. I was thinking three months, like you suggested last night. I would say six months but then that leaves us with less that three months afterward to... get pregnant if we don't get married, while still leaving enough time so I would give birth before the deadline." Hermione felt a bit uneasy after voicing her opinion; George had not given and indication of agreement or otherwise as she had spoken.

"Well, I have to agree with you. The Weasley's have never been the sort to need a lot of practice, if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed, grateful for the comic relief. "But you never know what could go wrong, I suppose."

"So, three months then?" Hermione prompted.

"December 1st?" George confirmed.

Hermione held her hand out over the table for George to grasp and they shook on it.

"I warn you, I am going to knock your socks off. You won't need three months to decide, love," George's voice rumbled lower in his chest than Hermione was used to hearing and she immediately flushed a dark red. George let her ponder his words while the two ate in a companionable silence. A short time later, Hermione was struck with sudden curiosity.

"George, where did you get this ring? It's really quite something."

"I'm glad you like it," George looked up to meet her eyes hastily after she broke the silence. Taking a sip of his butterbeer and setting his cutlery on his empty plate, he continued. "I found it in an antique shop just a few blocks from here, on the muggle side of London. It looked like something you would like." He grinned, clearly impressed with his choice.

"I do, thank you," Hermione looked down at her hand. He had taken the time to get her something she would like, even though he had had less than 24 hours in which to do so.

"You're very welcome." George grinned again and drained his flagon.

Hermione felt the familiar flutter in her stomach and busied herself with finishing the last few bites of her dinner. The two finished and George excused himself to pay while Hermione stepped outside into the dark Alley. After a few moments George rejoined her.

"Thank you for supper, George. It was good to talk a bit more about all of this," Hermione wound her arm through George's when he held it out to her.

"You're welcome. I had a good time." The man ambled back to the apparition point slowly, hands shoved in his pockets.

"Me, too." Hermione laid her head against his shoulder.

"Am I taking you back to the Burrow, or home?" George asked softly, gazing down at the top of her head, brown curls looking like they might escape her braid at any moment.

"Home, please."

"Lead the way, Granger."

Hermione had gripped George's arm a bit more securely and spun on her heal into the pulling darkness of the abyss.

Reappearing in her apartment with the softest of pops, Hermione pulled away from George.

"This is me. It's not much..."

"But it's home," George finished for her. "Erm, Hermione, I just wanted to say that I probably won't see you until Sunday, if you come for dinner at the Burrow. Inventory, like I said."

"That's alright, you've got a business to run."

George beamed and pulled her gently to his chest. He was gazing down at her so intently, she wasn't sure where to look. His eyes were quietly inquisitive, his nose prominent, his five o'clock shadow endearing, and his lips so very close. He leaned down just a bit closer and Hermione's breath caught in her throat. A self-satisfied smile tugged at his mouth, and George turned his cheek and lowered his lips closer to the shell of her ear.

"Don't get too excited. I won't be kissing you until you ask for it." Again his voice was low and Hermione felt it rumble against her own chest lightheadedly. George hugged her a bit tighter, stepped away and grinned cheekily at her. "See you Sunday, Granger."

As he popped away, Hermione was left standing in the middle of her flat with goosebumps so intense they verged on painful.

What was she going to do?


A/N: Thanks for your feedback so far, glad you guys seem to be enjoying it! Carry on and don't forget to leave me a(nother) review!

(Also, I usually stick to the books for facts but the Mudblood scar discussion with Ginny just happened, so I'm going with it. While we're on the subject, obviously Fred is alive, Lavender is alive and I haven't made any reference to George's ear yet because I haven't decided on its status.)