Chapter Ten
He led them away to what he clearly thought was a marvellously fancy location. Instead, it was the Leaky Cauldron. For the life of her, she could not work out why the local pub was necessary of dressing up; or worth him almost breaking down about it. She tried to keep the mix of confusion and disappointment from her face, but was apparently unsuccessful.
"What now? Not good enough for the great Hermione Granger? Bet he never took you here did he? Only the best for that twat. Come on then, in we go." He reached around her and grabbed her arm, almost pulling her into the pub behind him.
They walked past the crowded tables into the smaller room out the back. This room was empty, with a single table within. Not how it normally was, so he'd clearly booked something in advance for dinner. Still not enough to justify his behaviour, but he looked as if her was making an effort with the gesture, and she didn't want to be the one to ruin it.
"This is nice Ron, I didn't know they booked it out like this."
"They don't; but once I mentioned it was for you, they couldn't have been more helpful." His voice grew spiteful as he finished, as if was mocking her for his use of her name. This was getting ridiculous now, and to think she'd even been excited for their evening. But he'd come home and done nothing but ruin it for her. It was unacceptable.
"How dare you. Who do you think you are speaking to Ronald Weasley? I have –"
"Oh, so now it's Ronald Weasley. You're so big headed you don't even see it. How dare I even speak to you? That's what you are saying now."
"Of course not, that is not what I said. You're not treating this properly Ron. What has gotten into you?"
"What has gotten into me? Nothing. Nothing is ever about me, or hadn't you realised that yet Hermione? This is the first time in my life I have had something that was just mine and you're still not doing it right. How many tries will it take for you to get it right?"
"What on earth are you talking about Ron?"
He seemed to finally look at her when she asked that, as if he realised what he was saying.
"It's nothing, Mione. I've just had a really shit week at work, but I shouldn't take it out on you. Will you please let me make it up to you?"
"You can try. I understand you may be struggling with something, but that is absolutely no excuse to treat me the way you have treated me tonight. I won't put up with any longer, you understand?"
"I'll be on my best behaviour, I swear. I just wanted a nice night together and I've ruined it."
She sighed, "not yet you haven't. But I won't hesitate to hex you if you even think of grabbing me again. So, onto dinner then?"
She shook herself off, and tried to save what was left of her night. Whilst she didn't quite buy his reasoning; it wasn't the first time he had said something weird like this, and she would get to the bottom of it eventually. Just not tonight, because they really did need a nice night together.
They went in and sat at their singular table in the private room. The place looked different; there had been some extra touches made to brighten up the usually cramped room for their visit. It was clear, upon closer inspection, that someone had put a lot of time and effort into fixing the place up, so it wasn't clear why he'd then spent the evening fighting her.
"So, how was work this morning?" His tone was light; he was clearly determined to put this right.
"Good. Busy, but good. It sort of passed in a blur, I was so nervous about getting ready for tonight. I didn't know what to expect."
"And then I went and ruined it. I Was wrong, you know? You look amazing and I was an idiot for saying anything to the contrary."
"Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can help?"
"It's not something we can fix. There is a young woman who has gone missing, and her husband and friends won't give us enough space to find her. It doesn't help that it was probably one of them that has done something, it is just making it a rather stressful environment at the moment. But it isn't anything I should let interfere with our night, I had, have, such wonderful plans for tonight. Starting with dinner."
As he said that, Hannah came out of the back room with two plates of food in her hands, as if the moment had been rehearsed. On the plates were their starters – a small selection of seafood, with prawns, calamari and even an oyster each.
"That looks lovely Hannah, thank you." Hermione really, really, loved seafood. She began to eat as soon as the plate was in front of her. Ron watched with an amused – though slightly irritated looking – smile on his face.
"This tastes as good as it looks, this is amazing Ron." She looked up as she spoke. "Why aren't you eating?"
"Just watching you, I know how much you love fish."
"You're right; and it feels like forever since I've eaten it. Now dig in, I feel self-conscious eating alone." And with that, they were both silent until their plates were clear. As soon as they were, Hannah was back out collecting them, almost as if she was watching them.
"Good?"
"Perfect, thank you. I don't know that I need anything else."
"Trust me, when you see it you will want it."
A few short moments after clearing the first course, Hannah was back with two plates containing the most succulent looking roast lamb that Hermione could ever recall seeing.
"I am certainly being spoilt tonight Ron, this is lovely. I can't wait to see what it for dessert. Definitely making it up to me." She said this with a wink, but it seemed to ignite just a small spark of anger in his eyes, which was quickly extinguished by a bright smile.
"I am very glad you are enjoying it; I should know you well enough by now to know your favourite foods. I'd be pretty rubbish if I didn't."
Again, she couldn't resist tucking in as soon as the plate was down, but this time Ron joined her. Even he couldn't resist the temptation of the perfectly pink lamb in front of them. The only sound in their small room was the scraping of their cutlery on the china and the tinkling of their glasses as they drank. There was a slightly longer delay this time, as Hannah once again came to clear the table.
"I'll give you a few moments before dessert, shall I?"
"That sounds perf-"
"No!" Ron shouted over Hermione's reply. " I mean, I really want to see your face when you see it, even if we don't eat it yet."
Confused, but seeing no reason to argue, Hermione just nodded. Hannah disappeared back through the door only to reappear almost instantly with their final dish. From the short distance, Hermione couldn't see what had Ron so worked up, it looked like a slice of chocolate cheesecake. A nice slice, but nothing particularly extravagant. Once it was placed in front of her however, she saw it.
The ring.
The ring in her cheesecake.
She almost didn't want to, but she glanced over at Ron, to see him kneeling next to the table in front of her.
"I know, after tonight, this probably seems like a massive surprise, but that was kind of the point. I thought you had figured it out and I wanted to through you off. You are the smartest person I have ever met Hermione, and for some reason that wonderful brain of yours has deemed me worthy of your time. And I will spend every day of our lives trying to prove you right, if you'll have me? Hermione, will you do me the greatest honour of becoming my wife?"
She was frozen to the spot. Like earlier, a memory or a dream came rushing to the front of her mind.
The man in her arms was quite possibly the antithesis of everything she believed in before, but somehow he was so perfect for her. She pulled away slightly, to look at his chiselled face and into his stormy grey eyes a started to speak.
"Marry me."
She spluttered, and looked beyond confused.
"Say what?"
"You heard me. Marry me."
"You're proposing? We are lying naked in bed after doing things an unmarried couple shouldn't be doing, and you're proposing. How do I know this isn't post-coital wishful thinking?"
"There is a ring in my bedside drawer; it's been there for more than a month waiting for me to find the perfect time. And I have realised, any time is the perfect time, but our lives together are perfect. And I want to go on perfectly loving you for the rest of my days. Now seemed as good a time as any to start that."
By the time he'd finished speaking she was in tears, as the truth of what was happening overcame her. He really was proposing, and he really, really, meant it.
"Yes."
AN - here it is, chapter ten. It should all start to make more sense over the next few chapters, I hope.
However, my final year exams are over the next month or so, so updates may become few and far between, but I promise I will not give up on this story, for anyone that is interested enough to read it.
I hope you like this one :)