Arlene POV
I woke up with a gasp.
Even though it had been a month and a half since my 'car accident', I still had nightmares. And these weren't normal nightmares. They were ridiculously real, to a point where I had woken up crying. When I had been staying with Harry, he usually woke me up when it was getting bad. I had nobody but Samuel at my house. He had been sticking closer to me ever since Malfoy locked him in a closet (thank Merlin he didn't kill him), but he couldn't wake me up when I was dreaming. I sat up in bed, holding the blankets close. I was forced to redo my whole bedroom from damages, and because of the memories. The room didn't look at all the same as it had, but it still made me anxious.
With a sigh and a curse, (damn toerag) I got up. As soon as my feet hit the floor, Samuel came out from underneath my bed with a snort. "I'm going out again. All day." I told him, and he snorted with more attitude, following me into the bathroom. That was true. Harry had invited me back to Hogwarts to fly, and I had obviously accepted, and I planned on taking Tanzania (my Firebolt that had cost a fortune) with me. As I stepped towards the shower, Samuel butted the back of my legs, then looked up at me imploringly. It wasn't often that I let him shower with me, but he had been lonely lately, and he was also kind of smelly. So we showered together, him snorting happily, giving a little SQUEE when I scrubbed him down. When I got out, I couldn't help but frown when I saw myself in the mirror. I still had scars from Draco's bites. My shoulder and ankle had since healed, my black eye gone- but the bites would always remain.
With a sigh, I got dressed, ate breakfast, then Flooed to Harry's house, ruffling James' hair on the way passed him on the couch. "Hey, James," I greeted him. He grunted some sort of response and kept reading a Quidditch book. It was the only kind of book he'd be caught dead with, where as Albus would read everything he could get his hands on. "Hey, Arlene, I'll be down in a minute!" Harry yelled from upstairs.
"Ok!" I yelled back, going into the kitchen and sitting on a barstool next to Ron's mother. Mr. Weasley was sitting next to Lily, helping her, of course, finger paint. "Hi," I greeted them, leaning against the kitchen island, my broom at my side.
"How are you, Arlene?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking up and frowning. "You still look a bit peaky." She insisted, her normal greeting to everyone.
"I'm fine," I assured her, but she still looked at me with an almost worried expression. To save me from another question, Harry dashed downstairs in a whirlwind, putting an arm around my shoulders and kissing my head while I kissed his cheek. "You finally grace us with your presence," I joked, and he lightly smacked my arm.
"Ready? The sooner we get there the sooner we can fly." He said, and I grinned.
"Let's go! It's nice to see you again," I told the Weasley's, and then I was laughing as he pulled me out by the arm and to the Floo. We came out in Neville Longbottom's office, one of Harry's friends. We exchanged hasty greetings: He was absorbed in a plant and Harry was obviously in a hurry, pulling me out of the room. We flat out sprinted for the Quidditch pitch, and I jumped out of the stands and onto my broom, cheating. Harry and I raced aggressively, then sat in midair side by side, holding hands. We didn't talk much about Malfoy anymore, only because whenever we did I would have even more horrid nightmares that night. The scary dreams themselves made Harry extremely angry and worried, so I usually didn't tell him when I had a dream unless he really asked. It wasn't worth his time to get angry when he couldn't do anything about it anyway. Malfoy was already out of jail and pretending like nothing ever happened.
"Hey," Harry said, breaking me out of my thoughts. He was smiling, his face alight with happiness. "Let's go to center field." We gently touched down, and I immediately sprawled out into the soft turf, wondering how it was so soft to the touch, but when you where crashing into it the consistency turned to that of granite. I closed my eyes, letting the sun heat up my eyelids. "Arlene," Harry started, and I cracked an eye open. He was sitting on his heels, watching me with total love written across his face. I sat up. "How's your foot?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes. He had done this more than once, even though it had been a month since it had caused me any pain whatsoever.
"Look, its fine," I assured him, standing up and jumping on it. "Stop worrying, silly," I lightly rebuked him, kissing the top of his head.
"Arlene?" Harry asked again, fishing in his coat pocket. "I love you," he said seriously, pulling a box out of his pocket, making me freeze in shock. He shifted so that he was on one knee. "you pulled me out of depression and helped me move on. You are great with my kids and they love you too. Not to mention that you are a great shag," he added, making me laugh shakily, furiously wiping at tears that were already forming. Holy crap, holy crap, holy SHIT. Harry Potter, the hot man that I love is proposing, holy Merlin! Yes! Yes! Wizard-God yessss! "So, I was hoping…will you marry me, Arlene?" He asked, popping open the box, making me gasp. The ring was GORGEOUS. It was a plain white-gold band with one large hexagon shaped diamond set in silver. (Picture on Profile!)
"Holy shit," I breathed, letting Harry take my left hand and slipping the ring on. "Absolutely, yes!" Harry stood up fast and took my face in my hands, kissing me. Overwhelmed with love, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him back, feeling the ring with my other hand behind his neck. We broke apart and I looked down at the ring with large eyes. "Harry, this is beautiful," I said softly, examining (admiring) it from every angle on my hand. It made it feel heavy, but I wanted to run around London shoving it under people's noses and screaming, "I'm marrying a man I love very much who is hot and caring and rich and famous and he's my best friend!" I gave him a quick kiss, looked at the ring again, squeaked and hugged him hard.
"I love you, Arlene." Harry reminded me seriously, and I kissed him again as we pulled apart.
"I love you more," I insisted, taking his hand and pulling him down to the turf. We kissed feverishly, Harry's hands lightly stroking my sides.
"How does it feel to be engaged, Mrs. Potter?" Harry breathed in my ear, then going down to kiss my shoulder. My mind went blank for a moment. I was now a step-mother of three yet sometimes four, and I was marrying Harry Potter, who was a lot more than everyone would ever know.
"It's the best feeling in the world besides your shag," I whispered in his ear, purposely letting my teeth knick his earlobe. His ears were one of Harry's weaknesses. Sure enough, Harry couldn't help but moan, his grip tightening. For revenge, Harry slid his hands up my shirt and under my bra. The touch of his cold skin on my chest made my back arch into him, which he loved, supporting my lower back with his knee. "Oh," I said abruptly, realizing something very important.
"What?" Harry asked, moving his knee when I stood up straight.
"My brother," I said, frowning. "If all of our friends are witches and wizards, how will he and his girlfriend come?" Harry looked at me a moment, his grin fading. "Shit," I groaned, hugging him. For awhile, we stayed like that until Harry broke away, his face lighting up with new excitement.
"We'll get married here, on the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch. We are rich and famous now, I'll buy out Hogwarts, get some of the charms removed, and we'll bewitch the pitch to make it look like a soccer field to them." Harry said quickly, and when his words sunk in, I felt myself grin to match him.
"Really? We could do that?" I asked, and he laughed, the sound so enchanting, I memorized it. He was just so…perfect for me.
"We can do whatever the hell we want now. We're engaged, Mrs. Potter." He said, and I kissed him. It wasn't rough, like our usual kisses, but slow, sweet, and full of the love I couldn't express.
"Thank you," I whispered in his ear after we were done kissing again. Our feverish kisses had taken us back down to the turf, and I was sprawled out across him, listening to the beating of his heart.
"What for?" Harry mumbled almost sleepily, draping an arm over my back and kissing my neck.
"For everything. For everything you've done for me." I elaborated, and I felt him smile against my neck.
"You've done great things for me too, Arlene. I need you just as much as you need me, maybe even more so." Harry said lowly, and I sat up next to him, and he sat up next to me.
"Ok, who do we break the news to first? And do we want to keep this as private as possible or no?" I asked, and Harry chuckled.
"You're already learning to think like someone famous. That's good. It'll be hard in the beginning, they go after everything you do. But I'd like to keep this a secret for as long as possible."
"How are we going to tell your kids? And the Weasley's?" I asked quietly as we started to walk back, and Harry's face fell for a second.
"My kids won't mind, but I don't know how I can tell the Weasley's without feeling guilty." Harry mumbled, and I kissed the side of his head reassuringly.
"Who do we want to tell first?" I asked, holding out my left hand in front of us, and he smiled at the sight of the sparkling ring on my finger.
"Mrs. Weasley. She's watching the kids today, and she deserves to know." Harry said, and after sharing a smile, we Apparated back to his house.