[A/N: This is for all my Romione shippers! I will go down with this ship!]
Saturday morning I got up as usual getting Mira ready for her fun filled day of hanging out with her mommy and her two delightfully annoying uncles, but our morning routine was altered slightly when in the middle of putting some fresh clothes on her, Ron came into her room.
"Hannah, can I talk to you?" he asked.
"Of course. What's up?" I asked as fought to pull a onesie over Mira's head. She was a rebel against clothes if I ever did see one.
"Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking recently," he said slowly, "about Hermione and me."
"Uh-huh," I said finally getting over her head. Now I had to get her arms.
"And I really love her, like a lot and all that. And I know she loves me too," Ron said.
"You'd be correct," I said getting it over her arms and snapping it closed at the bottom.
"It's more than just the fact that I love her, I mean, it's all to do with how much I love her—how I think about her all of the time, and I miss her now that I don't see her every day and I wish I could see her every day and-."
"Ron, I don't mean to be rude," I said fighting to put socks on Mira, "but does this conversation have a point?"
". . . I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me," he said.
At that moment I decided Mira didn't really need to wear socks today and I didn't care if she ended up ripping her onesie open and taking off her diaper.
"You're going to propose to Hermione?" I asked.
"Yeah. I've been thinking about doing it for ages now. Yesterday after we left the office, Harry even went with me to talk to her parents and get permission from her parents and all that," he said. "They said yes by the way. . ."
Ron marry Hermione? That had been the outcome we'd all been expecting since fourth year, it wasn't as if the idea was new to me. But Ron was actually here talking to me about it. This idea was about to be put into motion.
"Holy crap, Ron," I said.
"I know, right," he chuckled nervously.
"When are you planning on doing this?" I asked.
"Next Saturday. I told her instead of Hogsmeade we could go on a date to the library, the big one down at the Ministry. I knew she'd like that," Ron said.
"Of course she would," I said. I sniffled. There were actually tears in my eyes. I was actually getting emotional over this.
"You're not going to cry are you?" he asked.
"I know, I know. I know you guys aren't even engaged yet, but I'm already so happy for you," I said.
"Jeez, Hannah," he said walking over to me and giving me a hug.
"You've been my best friend since we were like six, Ron. And Hermione, well, she's wonderful isn't she? Obviously or you wouldn't be proposing would you," I said.
"Come on. I was expecting you to say 'took you long enough'. You weren't supposed to cry," he said.
"I know, I suck," I said wiping the tears from my face and letting out a lighthearted laugh. "But it's okay though. I'm really excited and happy for you."
"Thanks," he said. "Do you want to see her ring?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes! That's not even a question, Ron," I said.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tiny black box.
"It's not nearly as big as the one Draco got for you, but-."
"Draco is by nature an excessive person, Ron. Do not judge yourself by his standards," I said. I opened the box. There was a tiny gold ring in the center of which was a nicely sized sapphire and on either side there were two smaller light blue stones.
"That's her birthstone, sapphire in the middle. Apparently my birthstone is 'aquamarine' and all this time I've just thought it was a color, but that's what's on the two sides," he said. "It took me a long while to find someone who'd make this for me without charging me an arm and a leg. Do you think she'll like it?"
"Ron, she's going to love it," I said. "Not even Draco put so much thought into getting my ring."
"Good," he said confidently putting the ring back into his pocket. "But, you know, what should I do if. . ?"
"If what?" I asked.
"If she should happen to say no," Ron said.
"Well. . . It's unlikely that it'll happen, but if she does say no, it's probably got nothing to do with you because she does love you. It'll probably be just because she's not ready to get married yet and if that's the case just give her time, but I can feel it in my soul that she'll say yes," I said. "Don't worry."
Ron nodded. "Good. Good. Right."
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"No. I'm nervous now and I've still got a whole week before I do it," he said.
"I've never proposed to anyone, but as a girl who's been proposed to twice, I can guarantee you that you will be nervous," I said.
Ron nodded and let out a sigh. "I'm really gonna do this." He looked down to Mira. "I'm gonna propose to your godmother, Mira."
"Ron! Ron! Ron!" Mira cheered excitedly, flailing her legs and clapping her hands.
"All right," he said. "Thanks for listening."
I nodded. "I'm really, very happy for you."
"Yeah, I know," he said with a smile.
888
On Monday, I'd enlisted Kaitlin's help in finding a daycare for Mira since I didn't want to go on this quest alone. Tonks had given me a list of wizard friendly muggle daycares and also of just your run-of-the-mill magical daycares.
"Why do all wizards and witches who work in daycares so creepy?" Kaitlin asked.
The strictly magical daycares had turned out to be rather shady, not on purpose, mostly just because wizards in general tended to be a strange lot.
"And I was really counting on those. I can already hear Narcissa swearing at me for putting her in a daycare. I can just imagine the fit she'll have when she learns it'll be run by muggles," I said.
"Who cares? You never liked her anyway," Kaitlin said dismissively as we arrived at the next daycare. It was a muggle daycare called Little Hands and Little Feet Learning Center. Kaitlin opened the door for me to push Mira inside in her stroller. There was a woman waiting at the reception desk talking on the phone. She smiled at us and motioned for us to wait.
"It looks very nice," Kaitlin whispered to me.
"It does," I admitted.
The woman hung up the phone and walked around to the other side of the desk to greet us.
"You must be, Hannah Potter, right?" The woman asked shaking my hand. I nodded. "We got your owl just this morning. I'm Carol. Welcome to Little Hands. This must be Mira."
Mira was currently gazing around while chugging a sippy cup full of apple juice.
"Yep," I said.
Carol then turned to Kaitlin. "And are you also mom?"
Kaitlin laughed. "Oh, no. I'm just fun auntie Kaitlin. But see, Hannah, they accept people from all walks of life."
"Nervous about leaving her in a daycare then?" Carol asked.
"Terrified would be more accurate," I said.
"Lots of new moms come in and are anxious about leaving their children with strangers, but sometimes it's necessary," Carol said. "If you don't mind me asking, is daddy in the picture?"
"Yeah, he's just away finishing his last year of school," I said.
"Oh, good. I'm always glad to hear that. Too many young single parents these days and too many of them just not caring. I'm happy to see some making an effort," Carol said. "Well, follow me, I'll show you around.
Carol took us around the daycare, showed us where Mira would take naps and play with blocks and eat lunch and where someone would change her diaper and gave us a daily itinerary of what she'd be doing all day. I even let Mira out of the stroller to run free with the other children and she practically forgot that I was there.
"It looks like someone approves of daycare," Kaitlin said.
"I know," I said with a sigh.
"You obviously don't have to make a decision right now. You can sleep on it and come back if Little Hands is the place for you," Carol said.
I looked over to Kaitlin. "What do you think?"
"I think it's wonderful and Mira likes it," Kaitlin said.
"True, true," I said with a sigh. "I suppose I'll tell Draco all about it while I'm at Hogwarts tomorrow, but I expect you'll be seeing me again."
"We can't wait to hear from you and your daughter again Miss Potter," Carol said.
888
"I can't believe you're all worked up about a daycare when I've got a real crisis on my hands," Ron said that evening after I'd put Mira to bed.
"What kind of crisis?" I asked.
"How am I supposed to go about asking her to marry me? I mean, what words am I supposed to use?" he asked.
"Ideally, saying 'will you marry me' works wonders," Harry said.
"I can't just ask her that out right though. And anyway, I've got Fred to compete with," Ron said.
"Just be yourself. That's why she loves you isn't it? Just tell her how you feel inside of your heart. Tell her about the tiny ball of light again," I said.
"No. I have to do something to really big show her I'm serious," Ron said. "How did Draco propose to you?"
"Rather uneventfully both times actually," I said. "The first time he just pulled the ring out of his sock drawer and asked me. The second time the three of us, Draco Mira and I, were sitting down at dinner and right while I was in the middle of wiping applesauce from Mira's face he pulls the ring out and sets it down on the table."
"How romantic," Harry said rolling his eyes.
"Ignore Harry. All you have to do is think of what makes Hermione happy. I'm happy just being with Draco so him just asking me like that was enough. All you've got to do is figure out what makes her happiest and then expand upon it," I said.
"Expand upon it. . . Well, she likes books," Ron said.
"That's a start," I said.
"Hmm. . ." Ron said getting to his feet and going upstairs.
"Speaking of engagements, how's wedding things going?" Harry asked.
"Has the dusty pile of bridal magazines not given you a clue?" I asked motioning to the stack of magazines on the table. "I'm rubbish at all this. And all of this would just be made so much easier if I could just find a place to get married."
"Well, what'd you have in mind?" Harry asked.
"Not outside," I said.
"You've something against outdoor weddings?" Harry asked.
"Yes, like the general idea of being outside all exposed to the elements and whatnot. What if it rains suddenly or if it's really windy. And I don't want my dress dragging on the ground outside," I said. "And it has to be a place that Narcissa won't glare at me too badly for."
"I thought you two were getting on well," Harry said.
"As well as we can, but she is still Narcissa Malfoy and she is still going to be my mother-in-law," I said.
"Hmm. . . You know, I've got a really far out idea," Harry said. "I am going to find a location for you."
"Whatever," I said.
"Seriously. Just you wait. By the end of the week I'm going to blow your mind," Harry said.
"I look forward to this," I said.
[Chapter title credit to Jagged Edge for their song "Let's Get Married"]
