The Proposal
Chapter 4
Somewhere deep in the Ministry of Magic, a clock chimed 7 o' clock. A very tired Hermione made her way through the golden corridors to the Apparating Section.
If anyone had stopped to notice her, they would have seen slightly puffy, red-rimmed eyes and a slight smudge of mascara on one cheek. But, despite the Ministry still being busy with night shifts and such, Hermione remained the invisible girl—and she liked it that way. Then, she didn't have to explain anything. All she wanted now was to curl up on the sofa at home and watch The Railway Children for the umpteenth time. It always got her at the bit at the end when the steam cleared and Roberta cried, "Daddy! My daddy!"
She reached the Apparating bit of the Ministry, and with a quick glance at the golden statue in the Atrium, disappeared.
...
Ron sat down back at The Burrow and sighed. He surveyed the room in which he sat; the once spotless living room was now carpeted with bags. He glared slightly at Ginny who was now busily showing brand new items of clothing to Fleur, who was staying over in a weekend visit with Bill. She was cooing over them, and saying, "You will look beautiful in zat!"
"I just need to pick up a few things, Ron," Ron mimicked under his breath. He didn't feel like being on the receiving end of one of Ginny's Bat Bogey Hexes. Again.
With an enormous amount of effort, he heaved his tired, aching body out of the squashy armchair, and headed to his room. He decided it was time to write to Hermione.
...
Back at home, Hermione had cleaned herself up, showered and gotten into her favourite pyjamas. Topping it all off with her snugly dressing gown, she sat on the sofa with a box of tissues and a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, which happened to be chocolate fudge brownie— her favourite— and settled down to watch The Railway Children. After about half an hour, there came a tap! tap! on the window pane. Hermione leapt up from the sofa like a ninja and ran to draw the curtains. Recognising Ron's owl, Gwion, she let her in.
Ruffling her feathers slightly, Gwion stepped through the open window and fluttered over to the coffee table, where she deposited the letter that was in her beak. Hermione raced up to her bedroom for treats, before feeding one to Gwion and sending her back into the night.
Hermione sat down and with a shaking hand, opened the letter.
Dear Hermione,
I'm sorry about our date, but something came up and I couldn't get out of it. I understand that Harry broke the news to you; I'm really sorry, I wanted to write and explain, but I just had too much to do—you know what the Ministry's like these days.
(Here, Hermione could imagine Ron grinning awkwardly at her. She gave a small smile and continued to read.)
So, in light of how sorry I am, I would like to invite you as my +1 to the Annual Malfoy Ball. I was going to leave it as a surprise, but I decided it might cheer you up to know now. It's next Sunday evening at 7:30 pm. I'll meet you there.
All my love,
Ron xxxxxx
The letter ended here and Hermione smiled as she counted the kisses. There were six; one for each year they had been going out.
Hermione felt a lot better now. How could I have been so silly? I overreacted, she silently chided herself. But one thing left her puzzled; why wouldn't Ron be picking her up? Whenever they had gone to these big functions, they had always met somewhere beforehand and gone together. So what was different about this one?
She quickly re-read the letter, and with a jolt realised that it was Thursday already and she had nothing to wear. She raced upstairs to find parchment and ink, mentally smacking herself that she had sent Gwion off without a reply. Jotting down briefly her forgiveness, thanks, and her response that yes, she would be there, she strolled over to the open cage in which slept her own owl, Corc, and sent him off to The Burrow with her message.
Then she sat back down in the living room, pressed play, and prepared to cry.
...
Beep! Beep! Beep! Hermione groaned. Her one day off— and she had forgotten to switch her alarm off. Sleepily she reached for her wand, pointed it at where she thought her alarm clock might be, and muttered a spell. She heard a bang, and sat up with a satisfied smile on her face. But it soon disappeared, to be replaced with a look of shock. She had just blasted a hole in the wall, and was now grinning sheepishly at her not-so-happy neighbours.
Hermione quickly Obliviated the couple and repaired the wall, before giving a nasty look to the guilty alarm clock and heading downstairs for breakfast.
As she was eating, there came another tap! on the kitchen window and she glanced up to see that it was Corc with her post. Opening the window, she let him inside and sat back down to read her mail.
As well as the Daily Prophet, there was only one other letter. It was from Ginny. Fumbling with the parchment, Hermione opened it and began to read.
Dear Hermione,
How are you? Harry and I, we're doing pretty well, though I don't suppose you care too much for Harry's well-being at the moment- I heard about yesterday- bad luck. Anyway, considering you have the whole day off today, I was wondering whether you wanted to come to Diagon Alley with me? We can catch up as well as shop for our dresses for the Malfoy Ball (fingers crossed Ron's already told you- if not, I am SO sorry I ruined the surprise). Anyway, respond to this ASAP. If you're good to go, I'll meet you at 10:30am in the Leaky Cauldron.
Love,
Ginny xx
P.S. Harry says he is sorry times one million and hopes you don't want to curse him into oblivion.
Hermione smiled as she tucked the letter away. Writing a quick reply saying she would be there, she ambled up the stairs to take a shower and get dressed. Muggle jeans and t-shirt would do it today, she decided, and she dried her hair with a charm she had learnt.
Now, you have to know that, although it wasn't as bushy and untamed as her first year at Hogwarts, Hermione's hair was far from perfect. So, as normal, she tamed it with another charm she had learnt and added a liberal amount of Merlin's Magical Hair Mousse Formula for good measure. Taking a step back from the mirror, she did one last check, Apparated to London and stepped into the Leaky Cauldron.
She soon spotted the redhead amongst the crowds of witches, wizards and hags that sat around. Upon reaching the table, the two friends greeted each other with a hug, and then stepped out into the courtyard and through the brick wall to Diagon Alley.
Their first stop was at Flourish and Blotts, as Hermione had run out of things to read again. After browsing through the fiction section, Hermione pulled out two books: Opulus's Choice, a novel about a wizard called Opulus and his hectic life, and The Magic of Aqua, which wasa romance novel.
After paying for the books, Ginny and Hermione carried on wandering down the street, stopping next at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
They both wandered over to the counter and asked where the evening gowns were.
"Upstairs, ladies," replied the regal Madam Malkin.
Both girls eagerly climbed the stairs and walked through into the appropriate section of the shop. And gasped.
The gowns were gorgeous! Silks, satins, velvets- every fabric imaginable in every colour available had been woven into the most beautiful gowns and dresses. Being the only two in that part of the shop, they ran about squealing like excited children, pausing only to call the other one over to see what they'd found.
Hermione and Ginny spent nearly the entire afternoon in that shop, trying on dresses, showing them off, weighing up pros and cons about each one, before agonisingly settling on a dress each.
Ginny looked beautiful in an emerald-green ball gown that set off her hair- it had a corset-style top that was decorated with sequins. But even Madam Malkin had to agree that Hermione looked the most stunning.
She was dressed to impress in a forget-me-not blue gown and wrap, decorated delicately with beautiful darker-blue stitching comprised of flowers and swirls.
Both girls couldn't stop smiling as they handed over the Galleons, Sickles and Knuts and left the shop, crossed over to Florean Fortescue's and ordered chocolate sundaes.
Giggling, they chattered about anything and everything, including laughing at the fact that Kingsley Shacklebolt had practically forced Draco into making him promise he would host an Annual Ball for all Purebloods and Half-bloods affected during the war.
Unfortunately, they hadn't noticed how loud they were being, because they suddenly felt a rush of air go past them, and, looking up, saw none other than Astoria Greengrass stalk haughtily past their table, stopping to shoot them both a nasty glare before carrying on towards The Leaky Cauldron.
Both girls stifled their giggles in their napkins until they had calmed down.
"Whoops!" said Ginny, although she didn't look a bit sorry.
"I hope she doesn't tell Malfoy," said Hermione, who was clearly quite concerned now that her head was clear.
"Oh, come on! I mean, what's he going to do? Likelihood is, he's not going to care at all. Now come on and finish your sundae, we have jewellery shopping to do!"
Unfortunately, Ginny could not have been more wrong. Not about the jewellery shopping, that bit was true, but about Malfoy not caring at all...
