Shoutout to the lovely users in the WWW discord for all of their amazing suggestions to flesh this out!

hearts don't break around here

"Come on, Hermione," Fred said, tugging at her hand. "I really want to show you something outside."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, skeptical of his intentions after so many years of evading his traps. "Why?"

"Because I want your opinion on it," Fred said without missing a beat.

"And what exactly is it?" she asked. She crossed her arms and looked down at the blue dress she had donned at his request. "And can't it wait until I've changed into something more comfortable?"

"Absolutely not!" Fred exclaimed. She shot him a puzzled look. "I don't want to keep the neighbors up. It's best to just do it now, not when they're trying to sleep."

"Do what now?" Hermione was ready to pull her hair out. Her boyfriend wasn't usually so evasive, and she couldn't help but feel like he was hiding something from her.

"The product launch," was the simple reply. At Hermione's huff, Fred elaborated, "Some new fireworks George and I developed."

"Oh." Hermione immediately regretted suspecting him of anything. Fireworks were a perfectly reasonable explanation for his behavior, except: "Why isn't George here, then? Doesn't he want to see how these new fireworks do?"

George and Angelina had left nearly half an hour ago, claiming that they wanted to turn in early.

"Well, yeah, but I thought it'd be romantic if it was just the two of us, and George said he'd check them out on his own," Fred said, shrugging.

All doubts explained away, Hermione followed the redhead out into the field behind the Burrow. Once there, however, she wondered where the fireworks were. She peered into the darkness, and was about to cast a Lumos spell when a string of fairy lights blinked on above her head. She whirled around to find her boyfriend on one knee, grinning at her. In his hand was a simple diamond ring with a shiny silver band.

"Fred," she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, "are you—you're not—"

"Are you going to let me ask?" Fred teased. "Or are you just going to stand there babbling incoherently?"

Hermione blushed. "Go on, then," she said quickly.

"Hermione," Fred said, his voice more solemn than Hermione had ever heard it, "three years now we've been together, and I reckon they've been the best three years of my life. I don't know where I'd be without you constantly pushing me to do better. I am so grateful that you were by my side after I was injured in the battle, and I am beyond ready for us to be husband and wife."

"I'm beyond ready for that too," Hermione laughed, holding out her hand so that he could slip the ring onto her finger. She admired it in the dim light, marveling at the way it sparkled.

Suddenly, several loud popping noises erupted from behind her, and she spun around again to find that the culprit was a series of fireworks. She watched them rocket towards the sky and explode in a shower of colorful sparks—red, green, blue, purple. One of them even encompassed all of the colors of the rainbow.

"Oh, good, George did manage to time the fireworks right," Fred said casually, resulting in another giggle from Hermione. "Anyway, I think I'm supposed to kiss you now."

She nodded, and as her lips met his, another round of fireworks lit up the night sky around her and her fiancé.

WC: 568