"I wanted the timing to be better for this," Harry said, breaking away from Hermione. She stared at him in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Harry unclenched his hand, and showed her the diamond ring. Her eyes went wide as she stared at it.
"What is this?"
"I didn't get a chance to ask you to marry me, and you didn't get an engagement ring."
He got down on one knee, and her breath caught in her throat. "Since I can't use this as an engagement ring, I am going to use this as a promise ring. Hermione Potter, I promise to be the best husband to you that I can be. I promise to love you, cherish you and protect you. One day in the future I promise to be a great father to our four children," he said with a grin. She lightly shoved his chest. "I love you, Hermione."
She bent down and joined him on the floor, grabbing for his hands. "Oh, Harry."
"One more thing. Will you marry me again?"
She shook her head. "No, for one reason. I love the how we got married. I don't want to have a wedding unless you want one. We're already married and we've been on a honeymoon. It's perfect."
She moved her hands to his the sides of his face. "Harry James Potter, I am going to make you a promise. I promise to be the best wife I can be to you. You said you are going to protect me, and I am going to do the same for you. I still remember the day you saved me from the troll. You became my best friend and more that day. I know all of this happened unexpectedly, but I'm happy that it did. I can't wait for our future together. I love you so much."
He smiled as he reached up to wipe her eyes. He then grabbed for her left hand and gently slid the ring on her ring finger, smiling even more as it fit perfectly. She stared down at it, marveling its beauty. It was a silver band with a princess-cut blue diamond in the middle. There was a small diamond resting on each side of the stone.
It wasn't overly extravagant, but it was beautiful.
It was Harry.
"It's beautiful," she whispered, unable to take her eyes away from it.
"I saw it in the store, and all I could picture was you. It's the perfect ring for you."
"Blue is my birthstone," she whispered, looking back into his green eyes. "Well, sapphire, but that's blue.
"Did you know that today is our six-month anniversary?"
"We've been married for six months?" she asked in amazement. He nodded.
"I wanted to do this on our six-month anniversary."
"I should have guessed," she said with a laugh. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he whispered, pressing their lips together again.
They started off slow, but soon the kiss heated up. Hermione's hands began to unbutton Harry's shirt before she pulled away, biting her lower lip as she did so.
"I have a surprise for you as well. Meet me upstairs in a few minutes."
His eyes grew dark and he nodded. She stood back up and traveled upstairs, pulling the surprise out of the closet. She then went into the bathroom and changed into it, staring at herself in the mirror.
The emerald gown went all the way down to her ankles and hugged her curves perfectly. She smiled to herself as she saw the green reflecting back at her. She had chosen this color for a reason. She had bought this in Australia when she and Harry had gone shopping and has never used it before. She was wanting to save it for a special occasion.
And a special occasion it was.
She opened the bathroom door and told Harry to close his eyes. She then walked out the door and walked over to her husband, biting her lip once again. She then climbed onto the bed and straddled Harry's lap, telling him to open his eyes.
"Wow," he breathed out, unable to find his voice.
"You like it?"
"I love it," he said, capturing her lips again.
This kiss was much more passionate than the one downstairs. Their lips were moving furiously against one another, craving each other. His hands moved across the gown, enjoying the feel of the silk against her skin.
"You're beautiful," he whispered, reaching up to push a piece of hair back behind her head. She ground their hips together and captured their lips together again.
And they had spent the rest of the night showing the other how much they love one another.
The feeling of a pair of lips on her head awoke Hermione. She let out a smile and stretched out, opening her eyes to see Harry lying next to her.
"Good morning."
"Morning," he said, smiling at her.
"I can't stop staring at it," she said, pulling the ring into her view.
"I'm so glad you like it," he said, kissing it.
"What made you decide to do this?" she asked, flipping onto her side so she could see him.
"You deserve the best," he said, placing his hand on her cheek. "We're married, and you deserve to have a ring on your finger."
"Are you saying that you would like wedding rings?"
"Soon," he said, nodding his head. "This marriage is already so different than normal marriages are and we both deserve to have some normal things."
She laughed, lightly pressing their lips together. "Things will never be normal with us."
"That's the joy of being married to me."
"It is a joy being married to you," she whispered, running her hand through his hair. He smiled.
"We're meeting your parents for brunch."
"I forgot," she said, shaking her head. "We better get ready then."
"Beat you to the shower," he said with a grin.
"Harry," she said, stopping him. He turned back to her. "Don't tell my parents about everything that's happened. I don't want to them to worry."
He nodded in understanding. "Of course. They've had enough to worry about without this being added on."
"Thank you," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.
They quickly showered and changed before they started off to her parents' house. They knocked on the door and smiled at Melinda as she opened it.
"Good morning," she said, hugging the both of them.
"How are you, Melinda?" Harry asked, breaking away from her.
"Good as always," she said with a smile. "Joseph will be down in a minute."
"Everything smells so good, mum," Hermione said, sitting on the couch. Harry sat next to her.
"It's just about ready. What is that?"
Her eyes darted to Hermione's ring, and Hermione smiled as she held her hand out to her. "It's an engagement and promise ring from Harry."
"How beautiful," she said, looking at the ring.
"I love it," she replied, smiling at Harry.
"I'm so happy for the both of you," her mother said, smiling between her children. Joseph walked down the stairs.
"Hi, pumpkin," he said. "Hello, Harry."
"Joseph," he said, nodding his head.
"Look what Harry got Hermione," Melinda said, gesturing to Hermione's hand. She held it out to her father.
"Beautiful," he said, staring at the stone. "Engagement ring?"
"Sort of. It's more of a promise ring than an engagement ring."
"Congratulations, pumpkin."
"Thanks, dad."
"I'm going to check on the food," Melinda said, getting up. Hermione followed her mother into the kitchen.
"Need any help?"
"Do you want to set the table?" she asked, and Hermione nodded. She reached up and pulled four plates down and set the table. "How are you and Harry doing?"
"Great," Hermione replied with a smile. "He's amazing."
"I'm so happy for you," she said, patting her daughter's cheek. "The both of you."
"We're happy, too," Hermione said, and Melinda saw the biggest smile that she has ever seen from her daughter.
"Go get them. Brunch is ready."
"I heard what happened to Ron and Hermione," Neville said, as he and Ginny traveled around the school. "Are they ok?"
"They're all right. Hermione said that Harry's not thinking straight."
"I can imagine. I still remember what happened after she was petrified in second year."
Ginny suddenly broke away from him, and he could see the fear that was etched onto her face. "Did I say something?"
"I trust you more than you could ever imagine."
"What are you going on about?"
"You cannot tell anyone what I am about to tell you, and the reason I am telling you is because I would like for you to not bring it up again."
"You can tell me anything."
"Not here," she said, looking around at all the students. "Let's to go the Quidditich Pitch."
He nodded, and they took off down towards the pitch. His mind was going into overdrive trying to figure out what she may be ready to tell him.
They arrived outside of the pitch, and she conjured a blanket. They remained silent for several minutes while she still debated in her mind if she wanted to tell him this or not.
"You're scaring me," he said softly, grabbing for her hand. She closed her eyes.
"I trust you with everything I have, and I hope that I can, because I have an extremely hard time trusting people."
"You know you can trust me."
"Everyone assumed Harry opened the Chamber of Secrets because he was a parselmouth, but he didn't. I did."
"You opened it?"
"Let me explain," she said, and he nodded in agreement. "In the summer before first year, we all went to Diagon Alley to get our school supplies. We were in Flourish and Blotts where we ran into the Malfoys. We got into a fight, and Lucius Malfoy took one of my books and switched it out for Tom Riddle's Diary."
"Who?"
"Voldemort. That was his real name. Anyway, when I arrived at Hogwarts, I discovered the diary. I started writing in it, and it talked back to me."
"It talked to you?"
"It was controlling me. I don't know how, but he was. I trusted him, as stupid as that was. I thought he was my friend. I told him everything. Then, after some time, I wasn't myself anymore. I can't remember most of that year, Neville. Every one of those things that had happened was because of me. I wrote on the walls, I petrified the students, including Hermione. I did all of that because I made a very stupid mistake.
"I tried to get rid of it, then I discovered that Harry had found it. I panicked. I was afraid that Riddle would tell him that I did it. So, I trashed the dormitory and stole it back from Harry. After I did that it all went dark again. The next thing I remember is Harry saving me from the chamber.
"To this day, I still have nightmares about it. I can't sleep sometimes because he's always in my head. It's like he'll never leave. When you brought that up, it scared me. It made me think of that year all over again. I-"
Tears formed in her eyes, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her. She cried into his chest, hating herself for letting out so much emotion, but glad that she was finally talking to someone about what had happened. He rubbed her back and kissed her head, trying his hardest to comfort her.
"You didn't do anything," he whispered into her ear. She pulled back and wiped her eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't do anything. Riddle did. He ordered you to do all of those things. You would never hurt anyone."
"But I did-"
"-You didn't," he interrupted her, pressing his hands to her face. "He did."
She closed her eyes, and he wiped the remaining tears off of her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder, thankful for his support.
"I will never tell anyone," he whispered, "but I think Harry, Ron and Hermione know more about this than they're letting on. Maybe we should go talk to them."
"Your mum is a good cook," Harry said, as he and Hermione apparited back into Grimmauld Place. She let out a laugh.
"I miss her cooking sometimes. Of course, after not eating anything this past year, everything probably tastes amazing to us."
He nodded in agreement. "That's the truth."
"Probably not that much different for you with the way you were raised," she remarked, and he bit the inside of his cheek.
"I know you worry about that."
"You know me too well, then," she said, and walked down the steps to the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Neville, Ron and Ginny sitting at the table. "Hi."
"Hermione, I need to talk to you and Harry," Ron said, grabbing for her hand. They walked back up the steps and called for Harry, who appeared a moment later.
"What's the matter?"
"Ginny told Neville about everything that happened with the Chamber of Secrets, and he believes we know way more than we've originally told Ginny. I have no idea what to tell them."
"If Ginny told Neville, that means that it is still bothering her, and she is hoping that he will help her through it," Hermione said, turning to Harry. "I think she deserves to know."
"Do you really think it's a good idea to tell them?"
"Hermione's right," Harry said, lifting his head back up. "Ginny deserves to know the whole story."
"It won't help her get through it."
"But she'll understand how and why it happened. I owe her that much. She was targeted because of me. We're telling her."
He moved past Ron and Hermione and started back down to the kitchen. He pulled out a chair and sat opposite of Neville and Ginny.
"Ginny, there is more to the story than you know."
"What do you mean?"
"We have kept this hidden because we had to, and we expect the two of you to keep this quiet as well. Ron, Hermione and I were missing for nine months because we were hunting for Voldemort's Horcruxes."
"What are those?"
"A Horcrux is made when some kills another and puts a piece of their soul into an object. While a Horcrux is out in the world, that person is immortal. We discovered that Voldemort made seven," Hermione said slowly.
"Seven? That's what you were doing?"
"One of them was Riddle's diary. It's what alerted us to the Horcruxes."
"What are you saying?" she asked, furrowing her brow.
"Riddle used you. When I was down in the chamber, he told me everything. He told me how you poured your soul to him, and he started to take over yours. He took over you and ordered you to open the Chamber of Secrets and do everything that you had done. He possessed you, and used his Horcrux to do it."
"That's how all of this happened?" she asked, pressing her hands against her head. He nodded.
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," she said, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have wrote in the diary."
"He tricked me, too," Harry said, and Hermione reached over and clutched his hand. "He was a master of that, Ginny. Don't ever blame yourself for what happened. You didn't do anything."
"We thought that maybe, knowing the truth, it might help you forever get past what happened in the chamber," Ron said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She nodded. "When Neville started to talk about the chamber, it brought everything back and I freaked out a little."
"You went through a lot."
"So did all of you, and I don't see you freaking out."
"Trust us, we all have in some way, shape or form," Hermione said, and Ron and Harry nodded in agreement.
"The good news is that it's all over. We never have to worry about Voldemort or his Horcruxes again."
"What were the rest of them?" Neville asked, and the trio proceeded to tell them about everything that occurred during their mission.
"Hi, Luna," Ron said, walking up to her. She turned around and smiled at him.
"Oh, hi, Ron. What brings you to the Quidditich Pitch?"
"I came here to see if you needed some help."
"There's plenty to do," she replied, looking around at the destruction "You can help me with this part of the destruction."
He nodded, and they started to rebuild one of the seating areas to the pitch. They remained silent for a few moments before he turned back to her, unable to form any words in his mouth.
"Is everything ok?"
"Yeah. I was wondering, er, how your dad's doing."
"Oh, he's doing much better. I haven't spoken to him much lately, but he's gotten back into his writing."
"That's good," he replied, rubbing the back of his head.
"You have something on your mind. The nargles are all over the place."
He stared at her, unsure of how to respond. "Don't we all?"
"I suppose," she replied, putting one of the banners back into place. "You just act like you have a lot on your mind."
He shook his head, still unsure of why he had come to talk to Luna in the first place. "Just all this mess we have to clean up."
Off in the distance, Ginny, Neville, Harry and Hermione were repairing a different part of the pitch when Ginny suddenly stopped and turned to look at them.
"I swear, I am going to use a love potion on him."
"No, you're not," Harry said. "I'm not going through that again."
"It's clear that he likes her. Why doesn't he just ask her out?"
"Because my brother is too daft for that," Ginny remarked, turning to Hermione. It was then that she noticed the ring that was glistening off of her finger. "What is this?"
"Harry gave it to me the other night," she replied with a smile. "It's a combination of an engagement ring and a promise ring."
"It's beautiful," Ginny said, studying it. "So, are we expecting to hear wedding bells in the near future?"