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Chapter Eleven With the sound of the bedroom door opening, Hermione sat bolt upright. At least, she sat up as fast as she could in her condition. Glancing swiftly at the window, and the sunlight pouring in from between the curtains she knew instantly that she should have been awake hours before. And that she should have been at work. "Hermione, calm down. You're not late for work." George's voice was reassuring, and just hearing it made Hermione relax considerably. "How did you know what I was thinking?" Hermione asked, eyeing the tray that George had placed on the table beside their bed. "And what's that for?" George kissed her gently. "For a start I know you very well. And secondly..." he picked up a single flower from the tray and handed it to her. "Happy Valentine's day." Hermione blushed, taking the white lily from George. "Thank you," she whispered, inhaling its scent. "It's lovely." "If you think that's good," George moved around on the bed so he could sit closer to his fiancée, "then you'll love this." Out of his pocket he removed a dark red box, tied with a thin golden ribbon. He passed it to her. "For you." Curiously, Hermione opened it. Inside were two golden bands. One was plain, and larger than the other, the second was daintier and had a sparkling diamond encrusted in it. "An engagement ring for you," George explained, taking the smaller one from the box and placing it carefully on Hermione's finger, "and an engagement ring for me." He removed the larger ring as well and placed it upon his own finger. Gazing in wonderment at the ring, Hermione said, "People'll realise we're engaged if we start wearing them." George shrugged. "So?" He kissed her cheek lightly. "I love you and I love the fact that I'm engaged to you. I want to tell everyone!" "Your mother'll be angry that we didn't tell her straight away," Hermione pointed out. "Yeah, but Dad or one of my brother's will do something and she'll forget all about it." At first Hermione thought George was being quite philosophical about the whole thing. Then she realised he was telling the truth and that one of the Weasley men usually did do something to distract Molly when another did something wrong. It was like an in-built mechanism or a protection system. "I suppose you're right," Hermione agreed, pushing a flyaway piece of hair behind her ear. She grinned. "Do you want your present now?" George nodded, a similar expression on his face to that of a young child on Christmas morning. Still smiling, Hermione climbed off the bed, the breakfast that George had bought her now forgotten, and walked over to her dressing table. Rummaging around in the drawer, she pulled out a box, fairly similar to the one George had given her except it was a midnight blue in colour and was tied with a silver string. "It's not terribly romantic," she admitted, handing it to him, and looking a bit apprehensive. Ripping the lid off, George discovered an antique gold pocket watch inside. "It was my father's," Hermione explained. "It's been in my family for quite a few years now. The watch gets handed down from generation to generation of Granger's. Now it's yours." "But Hermione," George breathed, "I can't accept this. It's a family heirloom." "Yes. And that's why I'm giving it to you. When I went to see my parents last week my dad told me to give it to you." "Are you sure?" "Yes!" Hermione smiled at him. "Of course I'm sure, George. It's yours." She took his hand in hers, and held it against her stomach. "And one day we'll give it to one of our children and they'll give it to one of theirs..." "Hermione, I'm still getting used to the idea of being a father. Being a grandfather is a long way off." Hermione nodded. "I know. I feel the same way." She kissed him, before saying, "In the mean time, we have to prepare for being parents. Today we're going to go to your mother's and you're going to tell her we're engaged." George's brow furrowed. "Why me?" he asked. "Because you're her son," was Hermione's reply. For Molly Weasley, the news that George was finally getting married (he was her only unmarried child apart from Ginny, though she was getting married in about a month's time), had made her what felt like the happiest woman on Earth. After she had stopped yelling. By them time she had let George and Hermione leave the Burrow (nearly five hours after they had arrived), Molly appeared to have already picked out Hermione's dress, the flowers and even the location. At first she had been adamant that they got married before the twins were born, but when Hermione had threatened not to call them Weasley's (and George had supported her), Molly had backed down. It seemed that that was the one thing she was most worried about. Hermione was worried that Molly was going to try and take over their wedding plans and do everything for them, but George had quietly reminded her that it was just his mother's excitement talking. In a bid to change the subject, George casually asked his mother how the preparations for Ginny and Peter's wedding were going. Molly didn't seem to realise that he had carefully steered the conversation away from himself and Hermione, but Hermione did, and she gave his hand an appreciative squeeze. "Thanks," she mouthed. "No problem," he mouthed in return, while Molly was in full flow of describing exactly what the wedding cake was going to be like. From what Hermione could tell, there was going to be enough wedding cake to feed a small army. If that really was the case, there was probably going to be enough food at the reception to feed a small European country for a week. She sincerely hoped her wedding wouldn't turn out like that. A week or so later, Molly practically ordered Hermione around to the Burrow. When the owl had arrived telling her, Hermione had sighed deeply. 'She probably wants to discuss wedding plans.' What with Ginny's upcoming wedding and now George and Hermione's engagement, conversations at the Burrow appeared to revolve around two things - weddings and babies. Hermione's name tended to get mentioned rather a lot in both subjects. Hermione arrived at ten o'clock, dressed in new green robes. She seemed to be growing out of her robes at an astonishing rate. Molly greeted her and, rather than taking her to the kitchen where they usually sat and talked, she took Hermione into the living room. Arthur was nowhere to be seen, and Hermione had the feeling that he was probably outside doing something in the garden. "So..." said Molly uneasily, as though not sure what to say to her future daughter-in-law. This was rather unusual for her, as Molly usually had something to say about everything. Hermione tried to avoid eye contact with her. It was a very uncomfortable situation. Her eyes gazed around the room. To her surprise, there was not a hint of a wedding magazine or a baby bootie anywhere. It was about then that Hermione realised Molly wasn't going to talk to her about either babies or weddings. "This has all happened rather quickly, hasn't it?" Hermione was confused. "What has?" Molly smiled slightly. "You and George. A year ago you and he was just friends. Now..." she gestured at Hermione's bump, making Hermione blush. "I suppose it has. Then again, love works in mysterious ways. All it took for us to realise it was a romantic setting and a bit too much to drink." Hermione stared at her engagement ring. "Now I can't imagine being without him." "You really do love him, don't you?" Molly sounded faintly surprised as if she had only just realised it. Hermione nodded. "More than I ever thought I could love someone," she admitted. Molly's smile broadened. "I always knew you'd make a wonderful addition to this family, Hermione. Though I have to admit I always believed you'd fall for Ron. I should have known better. You're too much like me." Hermione laughed nervously. She supposed Molly was right. For a long time it had seemed that herself and Ron would end up getting married. Then they had actually dated and realised that they just didn't 'click'. "What do you mean I'm too much like you?" she asked. The older woman grinned, and Hermione could see where George got his smile from. "I fell for my best friend's older brother too," she said, gazing fondly at a picture of herself and Arthur that was sat on the mantelpiece. Hermione was still feeling surprised by this revelation a couple of minutes later when Fred burst into the living room, his face flushed and eyes wild. Hermione stood up instantly. "George," she said in barely more than a whisper. "What's happened to him?" Fred was out of breath. "He's in St. Mungo's," he explained in a rush. "He's been in a car crash." A/N: Well, there you go. Another cliffhanger. Sorry this chapter has been taking so long. My only excuse is that RL has been getting in the way. A lack of inspiration is also to blame. Anyway, there are just a couple of chapters left now... Please review. Review, Flame, Whatever. Here's a thanks section for Chapter Ten:
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Chocolate & Pumpkin Ice Cream
By: silvernatasha
***COMPLETED*** George/Hermione romance. Now that the relationship is completely out in the open, what's going to happen?
Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Humor - George W., Hermione G. - Chapters: 13 - Words: 33,428 - Reviews: 534 - Favs: 402 - Follows: 40 - Updated: Nov 10, 2002 - Published: Mar 31, 2002 - Status: Complete - id: 693324
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Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten
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