Chapter 27 – Dreams

In the following weeks Hermione continued working at St. Mungo's and also successfully passed two intermediate exams. Ron had quit his job as an Auror at the end of October and had joined his brother George's business. Since Ron was pretty good with numbers and planning, he agreed with George that he wanted to take care of the finances in the future. George would continue to be the creative mind that developed new products, and Ron wanted to help him make his ideas as profitable as possible.

Of course, Ron also wanted to help in the store, because only sitting at his desk and dealing with numbers wasn't something he wanted to do his whole life. So it happened to be that he started at George's store on November 1st. After a brief introduction by George and his girlfriend Angelina, who also worked in the store, Ron felt as if he hadn't done anything else his whole life. It gave him pleasure to enable customers to test the products and see their smiling or astonished faces. He knew every product inside and out and found the right thing for every customer.

The fact that he, a part of the famous golden duo, now worked in the shop, was of course beneficial to sales. Some people came to see him and get an autograph. Ron still found this very strange, because he did not saw himself as a hero.

But he was also satisfied with himself, because he mostly managed to sell something from the product range of "Weasleys Wizard Wheezes" to these "Fans". But above all these things he was happy for George. After Fred's death he had to fight so hard to keep up their business. For a while it was not sure if George wanted to continue it at all, because he had fallen into a deep, black hole at first. He drank far too much and barricaded himself in his apartment above the shop. But after a few months he luckily got his act together, thanks to his family and Angelina. During this time she always stood by his side and after a few months they finally became a couple. From that moment on things started to improve again and the business boomed more than ever. George and Angelina put all their energy and time into the shop, so that they had hardly had any time for themselves for months.

Ron knew this and was infinitely happy that he could now support his brother and give him some more free time in the future.

But first they had to get over with the holiday season. The Christmas business was in full swing so that Ron, George and Angelina had a lot to do every day. They could barely keep up with refilling all the shelves and having products re-produced. That's why Harry, Ginny, Luna and Hermione also helped out in the shop from time to time.

George, who was usually joking a lot, was incredibly grateful for so much support and even Hermione, who was in the middle of her studies, helped him on a few days. George gave her great credit for that. More than once he told Ron with a wink that he should keep this witch and marry her right away. Ron could only grin and thought to himself: "If he only knew..."

The holiday season passed by in a flash and so the whole Weasley family, as well as Harry, Hermione and her parents, arrived at the Burrow on the evening December 24th.

Molly and Arthur had invited the Grangers, as they had gotten along so unexpectedly well last time, and to Hermione's surprise, they had happily accepted the invitation. And so it happened that they all sat at a huge table in the beautifully decorated dining room of the Weasleys and had a lively conversation. Meanwhile, Molly magically set the table and, when everything was ready, sat down to join in.

Suddenly you could hear someone hitting a glass with a knife and a few seconds later all eyes were on Harry. He could hardly suppress a grin. Ron watched his sister, who also grinned like mad and he suddenly knew what was to follow. He grinned knowingly into himself and listened to Harry's words.

"I just need to have your attention for a moment. Ginny and I have an announcement to make!" he spoke.

The eyes of everyone widened at his words. Harry let his wand slip briefly over Ginny's hand and an engagement ring in the shape of a snitch appeared.

" Ginny and I are getting married!", Harry announced proudly. Ginny raised her hand with a grin and proudly showed everyone her ring. It wasn't long before they found themselves in a tight embrace with Molly. She shed several tears of joy. "Oh, Ginny, my little girl! I'm so happy for you! And Harry, dear, you've always been like a son to me and I'm so happy you're going to be our son-in-law soon!"

Arthur also hugged and congratulated them. "Thank you, Arthur, for letting me ask for your daughter's hand. I couldn't be happier.", Harry thanked his soon to be father-in-law. Arthur was just about to answer when Molly interrupted him.

"ARTHUR! Did you know about this?", she asked indignantly.

Now Ron turned to his best friend and his sister, hugged and congratulated them and then addressed to his mother: "Even I knew, Mum! Harry is a gentleman and he asked for our permission first."

"I can't believe you guys would keep something like this from me. But alright! Let's celebrate the whole thing properly.", Molly said, shaking her head.

While the rest of the family congratulated Harry and Ginny, the plates were filled and together they enjoyed a festive meal. Everyone wanted to know more about the proposal and Ginny proudly told everyone.

Harry had taken advantage of their shared passion for Quidditch and skillfully arranged the proposal. Ginny was a professional player for the Holyhead Harpies and training together for her upcoming game was part of his plan. Since Ginny wanted to become the seeker of her team, he had promised to lend her his snitch. So he had hidden the engagement ring in and let it rise into the sky shortly afterwards. Ginny was highly concentrated and focused on the small, winged golden ball. So it didn't take long and she had caught the snitch. Beaming with joy, she landed back on the ground and stretched the snitch out to Harry. He took it in his hand, kissed it briefly and then he had already gone down on his knees before her. She had put her hands in front of her mouth when she saw the golden ball open and a beautiful ring which was designed as a snitch appeared. Harry could hardly finish his question when Ginny had already fallen around his neck and said yes.

Everyone was either moved to tears or stunned after Ginny's story.

"Man Harry, you have outdone yourself with this! Pretty clever to combine it with my sister's greatest hobby! You old romantic." George said and gave Harry a slap on the shoulder.

"Oh, yes, he did! I couldn't have asked for a better proposal, and that ring! I mean, guys! It's a snitch!?" Ginny squealed with pleasure and bent over to kiss Harry, for which they got a few whistles from George, Bill and Charlie. All the others could do was grin and be happy for the two of them.

" Harry, what does the snitch on her ring stand for?", Hermione asked curiously.

"Oh, on the one hand, he represents our shared passion for Quidditch. On the other, Ginny is my personal snitch, who I have 'caught' and who is worth so much more than any points. I thought it would symbolize our love quite well." He had hardly finished his speech when Ginny fell around his neck and kissed him again.

"You guys, get a room!" George said, rolling his eyes.

All broke out into roaring laughter and finally turned back to eating and talking. Late in the evening they all went home, but wanted to meet again at the Burrow on Christmas morning.

Hermione had been quite quiet for the rest of the evening, which of course did not go unnoticed by Ron. When they returned home, they had just got ready for bed and snuggled up in their bed together. When Hermione didn't say much there either, Ron got nervous.

"Mione, are you okay? You've been really quiet today?"

"Hmm? Oh... I... Eh... I didn't want to ruin Harry and Ginny's moment. I'm so happy for them. They make such a nice couple."

"Oh, yeah, and I'm glad to know my sister is in good hands. Any other guy would have had a pretty hard time getting an OK from me.", Ron grinned.

Hermione smiled faintly and stroked Ron's belly, lost in thought.

"What's the matter? Something's bothering you. Please tell me.", Ron begged.

"It's nothing... I'm really happy for them!" she sighed.

"But?"

"Iwantthattoo…", Hermione mumbled so quietly, that Ron had problems to hear her.

"Mione, can you say that again without babbling into your non-existent beard?", Ron laughed.

"Oh it's so silly and stupid... I mean, we've only been together a little more than half a year! But I... I was just jealous of them today…but I want to be your fiancée too", Hermione sighed.

She took her pillow and put it on her face to hide the blush that was rising up her cheeks.

Ron grinned and was now sure that his plan would never fail. She wanted to marry him and his heart started jumping up and down wildly in his chest.

Carefully he took the pillow from her face, kissed her gently on the mouth and stroked her cheek.

"Oh Mione, don't be embarrassed! You don't know how happy you make me that you of all people want to marry me! The jealous idiot. And you can be sure that I want that too! But we should really take some more time, and when the time is right, I'm going to top Harry with his proposal, okay?"

"You're right, I'm just so damn much in love with you that I'd like to do everything right now! I guess I'm a little impatient."

"I love you, Hermione Granger! And I can think of one thing we could do right here and right now!" Ron said, wiggling his eyebrows.

He started kissing her passionately and so they spent the rest of the evening showing their love in a different way.

The next morning at the Burrow

In the morning of December 25th. everybody had gathered again at the Weasleys and together they enjoyed the delicious breakfast of Molly. Afterwards everybody went to the living room, where a huge Christmas tree was standing, which was magnificently decorated. Ron was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch and Hermione had sat down in front of him and snuggled up against him.

Smiling, they watched Teddy and Victoire as they joyfully unpacked their presents and immediately tested every toy. The adults also gave each other little attentions and soon the room was filled with happy faces and beaming eyes. Ron and Hermione had waited with their presents for each other until everyone was a little distracted because they didn't want to be the focus of attention as a new couple.

Hermione gave Ron an envelope and looked at him unsettled.

"Oh, God! I hope you like it, I... So... After this incredibly beautiful birthday you've given me, any gift seems so ridiculous!" Hermione babbled a little insecure.

Ron took the envelope, kissed her on the forehead and grinned. "You are my greatest gift, Mione! And since there are certainly no socks in this envelope, it can only be good."

He opened it and his eyes got big. He looked at Hermione in astonishment.

"Tickets for a game of Chudley Canons including Meet & Greet? Are you kidding? Mione... I mean. How did you get it? I, um... WOW!" Ron stammered away and couldn't quite figure out why he deserved this amazing gift. Hermione's insecurity gave way to a big grin.

"So you like it?"

"Do I like it? Mione, are you mental?! It's perfect! I love you so much!" He pulled her towards him and gave her a passionate kiss. For a moment they forgot where they were and were abruptly torn from Cloud 9 by George.

"My goodness, two more who desperately need a room! That's disgusting.", he said with a wink.

Hermione smiled embarrassed.

"Oh, shut up, George! You're just jealous!" Ron grinned.

Now all eyes were more or less on the two of them and Ron thought about giving Hermione his present at home. But he dismissed the idea and gave Hermione an envelope.

She opened it and took out two plane tickets. Hermione frowned and looked at the tickets. Her eyes grew larger and larger, as did the question marks above her head.

"Honey, what... Why are you... These are plane tickets to Paris?! For New Year's Eve?! I…" She couldn't get a clear sentence out and urgently needed to put her thoughts in order.

"I want to spend our first New Year's Eve in Paris with you! You threw all your France plans overboard for me and even risked a fight with your family, so I thought that at least this way you could get some French air again."

He glanced briefly at Hermione's father, who smiled knowingly. A few weeks earlier Ron had sent him an owl and asked for permission to marry his daughter. After Ron had explained to him long and hard that he was financially more than secure and that he loved Hermione more than anything in the world, her father had given his consent, even if he thought they were getting on a bit fast. Ron was torn from his thoughts when Hermione asked him another question.

"Oh, Ron, this is... I don't even know what to say! You keep outdoing yourself! But why are we taking the plane? You once told me you didn't trust those things." Hermione asked with happy tears in her eyes.

Ron put her hands in his and smiled. "You trusted me on the flight in the Ford Anglia! And I know that you also trust these monster machines, which is why I'll just jump over my shadow and climb into one of those things with you! But I can't promise I won't have a panic attack."

Hermione laughed at that and gave him a loving kiss.

"Kids, that sounds so exciting! ...and you're going to tell me all about those Muggle machines. It's a mystery to me how they keep themselves in the air." Arthur said overly excited.

They all burst out laughing and Ron just thought to himself that when they returned they had much more to tell than just the function of airplanes.