When Ron invited Hermione for a walk the day before graduation, she quickly picked up that something was going on. His whole demeanour reeked of nervousness, and she suspected he was about to propose. Hermione wasn't sure she wanted Ron to propose or not. Things would be coming to a head tomorrow and their fake relationship would be over. And even without a proposal from Ron, she was fairly confident she would come out of the whole thing looking like the injured party.
Hermione figured things would go one of two ways the following afternoon. Either she would end things, claiming she couldn't be involved with someone whose family had conspired to kill her family and hide her true identity from her, or more likely Ron would be so disgusted with the truth that he would end it. Personally Hermione was hoping for the latter to happen, as she would gain even more sympathy if he was the one who ended things with her.
Tearing her mind back to the present, Hermione turned her attention to Ron. Since they'd arrived outside, he'd been abnormally quiet and all they'd done was walk around the Black Lake. They were now over the far side of the lake, and Ron had yet to do anything that would indicate why he'd invited her for a walk.
"So," Hermione began when Ron came to an abrupt halt. "Is there a reason you've invited me for a walk?"
"Actually, there is," Ron replied with a solemn nod.
Hermione waited for Ron to continue, but for several minute he just stood looking at her. Just as she was beginning to worry in case he was suspicious of who she truly was, he reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small box. Dropping to one knee, he opened the box and looked up at Hermione with a hopeful smile. Hermione looked into the box and found a silver ring with a small diamond. The ring clearly wasn't expensive, but it was surprisingly tasteful and in other circumstances, Hermione would have really liked it.
"I know it's not much, but it's all I can afford," he muttered, before clearing his throat and taking a deep breath. "Hermione, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
"Of course I will," Hermione replied, playing the part of a loving girlfriend to perfection. Even though the proposal wasn't necessary to their plan now, she could still see the added benefits that would come with being engaged to Ron before the truth came out.
Ron grinned happily, and pulling the ring out of the box he slipped it onto Hermione's finger. Getting to his feet, he pulled Hermione into his arms and pressed his lips against hers. As usual Hermione's body and mind fought the fact she was kissing someone other than Draco, but she managed to continue with the kiss for long enough not to arouse Ron's suspicions. After a few minutes, she managed to end the kiss, but Ron continued to hold her in his arms.
"I can't believe you said yes," he declared in an excited voice.
"Why wouldn't I say yes?" Hermione asked with a smile.
"I don't know," Ron shrugged. "I guess I still can't believe I've got you."
"Well, you have," Hermione replied, feeling an unusual pang of guilt.
With all Harry and Ron's animosity towards Athena, she sometimes forgot they hadn't actually done anything to her. They'd been caught up in her plans for vengeance, and they would end up hurt when they discovered the truth. Maybe she should have found another way to get her revenge, a way that didn't involve Harry and Ron getting involved. Then again the pair had proved numerous times that if they had known the truth about her then they would have tried to eliminate her.
"Should we go and tell people?" Ron questioned eagerly.
Sure," Hermione replied with a smile, brushing off her feelings of guilt.
Taking hold of her hand, Ron quickly led the way round the lake and back towards the school. Within half an hour they were back at Hogwarts and Ron was rushing them up to Gryffindor Tower. Spitting out the password, Ron barrelled into the common room dragging Hermione along behind him.
"What's going on?" Harry asked his best friends from where he was playing cards with Dean, Seamus and Neville.
"Hermione just agreed to marry me," Ron announced loudly.
Ron's announcement was met with shouts of glee, and before Hermione knew it she was being whisked up in numerous celebratory hugs. Almost all of Gryffindor offered their congratulations, and all the girls wanted to see Hermione's ring. Of course Lavender Brown had to make a snarky remark about the size of the ring, but everyone else was happy for the couple.
The celebrations continued all afternoon, and by the time they headed down to dinner, Hermione knew the news would be all around the school by now. Over the course of the afternoon, several students had come and gone from Gryffindor Tower and Hermione knew the gossip would spread like wildfire.
Sure enough when Hermione entered the Great Hall, plenty of people not from Gryffindor offered their congratulations. Ron basked in the glory of the attention, but Hermione was extremely self-conscious about being the centre of attention. She was even more uncomfortable with the attention when Draco and his friends entered the Great Hall. The Slytherins clearly didn't know what was going on, but they were soon caught up on the news and Hermione knew the instant Draco heard the news. His face briefly distorted into a mask of pain, before he controlled himself and settled a nasty sneer on his face.
"Hey Granger, I didn't realise you were so hard up," Draco called from his seat at the nearby Slytherin table.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron questioned with narrowed eyes.
"I'm just saying, she has to be hard up to agree to marry you," Draco replied with a smirk. "Even a mudblood like her, can do better than you."
"Watch your tongue, Malfoy," Ron hissed, jumping to his feet.
"What are you going to do about it?" Draco asked tauntingly.
"Ron, don't," Hermione said, grasping hold of Ron's wrist as he moved to head towards the blond Slytherin.
"Hermione's right," Harry said in agreement. "He's not worth the hassle. He's just jealous because he's all alone."
"That's what you think, Potter," Draco sneered.
"Please, we all know you're single," Ron laughed. "Even Parkinson won't touch you."
"Maybe I should try your sister," Draco shot back with a wicked smirk. "She'll spread her legs for anyone, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to have a bit of fun."
"Bastard," Ron roared, pulling free of Hermione's grip and launching himself at the Slytherin.
Before anyone could react the two boys were brawling on the floor, with punches and insults being exchanged. Hermione watched with wide eyes, totally unsure what to do. She suspected part of Draco's taunting had been because he wasn't happy with her charade of being with Ron, and after a whole year of witnessing it she couldn't really blame him for losing it. However, she didn't want him to get into too much trouble before graduation tomorrow.
Luckily the fight had only been going on for a few minutes when the staff descended on the brawling boys. While Dumbledore shouted at the two boys, Snape and Lupin stepped in to separate them. Lupin grabbed hold of Ron while Snape kept control of Draco. Both boys were bleeding from the lips, and no doubt they would both have bruises on their faces.
"This is ridiculous," Dumbledore bellowed. "You have just over a week before you leave school and you're rolling around on the floor like children. Both of you get back to your common rooms immediately. You can have dinner there, and neither of you are to leave the common room again tonight. Professor Snape, Professor Lupin, will you ensure both boys make it back to their dorms?"
"Of course," Lupin replied. "Come on Ron, let's go and get you cleaned up."
While Ron headed off with Lupin, Snape marched Draco from the Great Hall. Harry briefly debated going after Ron, but Dumbledore ordered everyone to sit down and finish their dinner. Reluctantly everyone returned to their seats, but the main topic of conversation was now the fight between Ron and Draco.
"Bloody Malfoy," Harry muttered, stabbing at the food on his plate. "I'll be pleased when we leave school and we never have to see him again."
Hermione muttered something that could be construed as agreement, while she mentally wondered if Snape could get Draco out of the Slytherins dorms for a few hours. Part of her wanted to check her boyfriend was okay, while another part of her was massively turned on by his actions. She knew his entire display had been borne from jealousy, and she knew that if given half the chance he would do far worse than just throw a few punches Ron's way.
After dinner, Hermione accompanied Harry back to Gryffindor Tower. Ron was moping beside the fire, and barely grunted when they sat down beside him. His lip was swollen and his left eye was already showing signs of bruising, but apart from that he seemed fine. Hermione stayed for nearly fifteen minutes before excusing herself, claiming she had head duties to perform.
"I'll see you when I got back," Hermione said to Ron, brushing her lips over his cheek. "Try and stay out of trouble while I'm away."
"It's okay, there's no bloody Slytherins up here," Ron muttered.
Leaving Harry and Ron to moan about Slytherins, Draco in particular, Hermione left Gryffindor Tower and made her way down to the dungeons. Even though as Head Girl she had every right to be wherever she wanted to go in the castle, she still kept to the shadows as she traversed the dungeon corridors. Arriving at Snape's office, she knocked on the door and was quickly ushered into the Potions Professor's office.
"I need you to get Draco out of the dungeons," Hermione said to Snape when he asked what she wanted. "I need to see him."
"You'll be together tomorrow evening, can't your romantic dramas wait one day?" Snape asked with a sigh.
"We need to discuss a few things before tomorrow," Hermione replied, telling a partial truth. They did need to have one final talk before the following day's events, but mainly she just wanted to see her boyfriend. "Everything needs to be in place. We need to be sure what we're doing."
"I'm sure I can find an excuse to get him out of the common room for a few hours," Snape conceded. "But you've only got a few hours. I don't want Dumbledore coming and checking up on him and finding he's not here. I'm sure you don't want that either, not when you're so close to getting what you want."
"I won't get what I want until Dumbledore is dead," Hermione replied icily. "But tomorrow, will be a big step towards achieving that goal."
"I'll go and get Draco," Snape said. "Just remember what I said, don't be more than a couple of hours."
Agreeing not to spend too long together, Hermione headed off to their private room while Snape went to get Draco. Arriving in the room, Hermione kicked off her shoes and settled herself on the large bed. Less than five minutes later, Draco slipped into the room and greeted her with a wide smile. Hermione couldn't help but notice that Draco showed no ill effects from the fight he'd had with Ron, meaning he'd either patched himself up better than the redhead, or Ron hadn't done as much damage as it had initially appeared.
"Where's your bruises?" Hermione asked.
"You want me to have bruises?" Draco questioned in amusement as he kicked off his shoes and pounced on the bed next to Hermione. "Why would you want to sully my good looks?"
"I'm pleased you don't have bruises," Hermione replied. "But it would have been slightly hot knowing you were marked because you were fighting over me."
"I do have a bruise on my cheek, but I've hidden it with magic," Draco explained. "I'm not going to let anyone see that Weasley has marked me."
"Not even me?" Hermione asked.
"Not even you."
"Shame," Hermione pouted. "I could have kissed it better."
"You can still kiss it better, it's my left cheek." Draco pointed to his left cheek and turned his head so Hermione could gently kiss him.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Hermione questioned innocently.
Draco smirked at Hermione, and she knew he would suddenly have a lot of injuries that needed kissing better. Sure enough, he found several places that Ron had apparently struck. Hermione obediently kissed everywhere Draco pointed out, even though a few places involved the removing of clothes.
"I have to admit, it was pretty hot watching you fighting over me," Hermione said, running her fingers down Draco's spine.
"I've been wanting to smash Weasley's face in all year," Draco admitted as he popped open the buttons on Hermione's shirt. "You have no idea how hard I've found it, watching him slobbering all over you."
"It's hardly been a barrel of laughs for me either," Hermione pointed out.
"It's only for a few more hours," Draco remarked. "Then we're out of here, and the whole world can know you're mine."
"I'm yours?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "That's awfully possessive."
"I'm a very possessive person," Draco replied in all seriousness. "Should I show you how possessive I can be?"
"Yes please," Hermione grinned.
Draco grinned back at Hermione, before he crashed his lips against hers and proceeded to thoroughly show her just how possessive he could be.
