Here we go again, chapters just keep popping up, don't they?
Oh and please ignore any inconsistence in the terms for the holiday; since I'm Swedish, I don't use the same words for Christmas and Christmas Eve and all that, so I had a little trouble writing this chapter. Hopefully, the mistakes won't be too obvious.
******'
They woke up early the next morning, and Hermione and Bill spent the ride to Diagon Alley asleep on each others shoulders. They woke up again to Claire's muffled laughter, muffled because she was hanging onto Charlie's arm and had her head buried in his shirt. Hermione untangled herself from Bill and glared at them.
"What's so funny?" She demanded, yawning.
"You! That was so cute!" Claire exclaimed.
"Shut up, Claire, please?" Hermione begged, as they got out of the car Mr Weasley had borrowed from the Ministry.
They spread out through Diagon Alley, Fred and George dropping by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Percy disappearing into Flourish and Blotts, Ginny, Harry and Ron to Quality Quidditch supplies, Claire and Charlie to some shop that sold magical creatures, and Hermione and Bill were left standing there, not really knowing where to go.
"Well," Bill said uncertainly, "I need to go and buy some presents. It wouldn't be a good idea if you came, I don't want you to know what I got you:"
She hugged him and placed a kiss on his lips.
"That's alright; I need to buy you something too."
"As long as you promise not to get it from Gred and Forge." Bill warned, using a longstanding nickname of his twin brothers.
"I promise."
With another kiss, she headed down the street, looking for something to get him. It wasn't the easiest task, considering that he had almost everything he wanted already. And then it hit her; she knew the perfect present for him. All she needed now was to get to Muggle London. She set off towards the Leaky Cauldron.
*******'
Bill made sure Hermione wasn't anywhere in sight, before he walked into the small jewellery shop next to Eeyelops Owl Emporium. If he was going to propose to Hermione, he wanted to do it properly, and that meant he had to find a ring. He could worry about details like how he was going to ask her later.
It was a very cramped shop, with only one display cabinet. The clerk behind it looked thoroughly bored, and was reading the latest edition of Witch's Weekly. He stepped up to the counter and cleared his throat. The clerk looked up, but didn't put down her magazine.
"What?" She asked in a bored tone.
"I'm here to buy an engagement ring. I would appreciate some help." He said, a little annoyed by the clerk's indifference.
"What did you have in mind?"
"I already told you; an engagement ring. Anything with a connection to Phoenixes would be fine." Bill said, nearly loosing his patience.
"Sure." The clerk sighed, and went into the back room, which he assumed was the storage room.
After a minute or so, she returned with a small box in her hand. She handed it to him, and he opened it, revealing a thin silver ring, with a small silver phoenix, set with two rubies in place of eyes. It was perfect. He couldn't have wished for anything that was better than that; all he hoped now was that he had enough money to purchase it.
He pulled out his wallet and counted his money carefully. The ring was apparently rather cheap, since he had enough money to buy it. He stepped out of the store, and headed down the street to Flourish and Blotts, to buy Hermione some real presents; the ring wasn't really a present, since he didn't know if he'd be proposing on Christmas Eve.
******'
Hermione shrunk the already wrapped presents, put them in her bag, and headed back to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, where they had decided to meet back after the shopping was done.
She'd gotten presents for all Weasley siblings, Claire and even one for Mr and Mrs Weasley. She ordered chocolate and hazelnut ice-cream and sat down to wait for the others. She'd only been sitting there for a few minutes when Charlie and Claire turned up, carrying on a very lively discussion.
She sat back and watched as they talked about several case points in dragon- handling, and how one easiest subdued a nesting mother. She rolled her eyes as Claire gestured wildly, Charlie watching her every move.
"Hermione?"
She turned her head and came face to face with Cho Chang, who was standing behind her.
"Cho?" She asked.
"What're you doing here?"
"Shopping Christmas presents." Hermione said shortly; she'd never gotten along with Cho, because of what had happened when Harry dated her.
"Oh." Cho shrugged, and walked off.
"Well, that was completely random." Hermione mumbled as she turned back to her ice-cream.
She knew it was probably considered insane to eat ice-cream in the middle of winter, but she liked being a bit different. She was completely engrossed in eating her ice-cream, but nevertheless managed to recognize the sound of Bill's footsteps, and turned to face him when he came.
"Hello, love." He said, sitting down next to her and giving her a kiss.
"Hello." She said, leaning against his shoulder.
"Did you get your shopping done?" He asked, glancing across the table at Charlie and Claire, who had yet to notice them.
"Mhm. Did you?" She replied, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Mhm. Do you think they know we're here?" He indicated his brother and his newfound soul-mate.
"I doubt it; they've been talking dragons since they came."
"Oh, Charlie; will he ever learn to talk to a girl?" Bill asked no one in particular.
"What?" Charlie looked up, confused. "What did I do?"
"Nothing, and that's exactly the problem, dear brother." Bill grinned.
Charlie growled something and went back to talking to Claire. Bill and Hermione watched in silence, and Bill occasionally stole a bit of Hermione's ice-cream, never once lifting his arm from her shoulders. They stayed like that for an hour, until the rest of the Weasley family and Harry came and got them.
******'
Two days later, Claire burst into Ginny's room, where Hermione was laying on the bed, reading a copy of ´Neverwhere´ by Neil Gaiman. Hermione looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at Claire's frantic look. The dark- haired girl was nearly tearing out her hair in desperation.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't get anything for Charlie! I'm doooooomed!" She wailed.
Hermione sighed, and started going through Claire's trunk, looking for something. When she found it, she sat up again and tossed it at her friend.
"Here you go." She said, and returned to her book.
Claire caught the book she'd thrown and looked at the cover. ´Dragons, Real or Just a Fantasy?´ was written across it; it was one of Claire's favourite books, which she fortunately had two copies of.
"You think he'll like it?" Claire asked anxiously.
"Claire; it's a book about dragons. What more needs to be said?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Okies!" Claire said cheerily and bounded out of the room and down the stairs.
Hermione smiled and shook her head; Claire could be such a loonie sometimes. But a nice loonie all the same. To think that after only a few short days, she was so infatuated with Charlie Weasley that she was ready to give him her favourite book, never mind the fact that she had two copies of it. She couldn't wait for Christmas.
******'
The night before Christmas. She just could not sleep, no matter how she tried. Finally, she gave up and got out of bed. She walked downstairs, avoiding the creaking floorboards, and settled down at the kitchen table.
This late at night, the Burrow was silent. No twins running around pulling pranks, no Ron blowing up and yelling at everyone. All she could hear was the wind outside, the creak of someone moving in their beds upstairs, and the distant sound of the ghoul in the attic. It was restful, in a way.
As quietly as she could, she made herself a cup of cocoa, and drank it up, flipping through one of Mrs Wealey's cookbooks. They were rather interesting, in fact. It was amazing how many charms and spells were needed to make something as simple as boiled potatoes, and it made her wonder how high Mrs Weasley's Charms grade was; probably pretty high.
She put the book back with a sigh, and climbed the stairs up to Ginny's room again. She needed to get at least two hours of sleep before tomorrow, if her previous experiences of the Weasley-Christmas were anything to judge by. She crawled under the covers again and closed her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep.
******'
Bill wasn't asleep. He was, in fact, wide awake. And it didn't look like he'd get any sleep at all tonight. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring at the ring he had bought, the same thoughts going round and round in his head.
What had possessed him to buy it? He didn't want to rush things; he had Hermione had only been together for five months, and no matter how much she said she loved him, marrying after a mere five months might scare her off. Not that it'd be after only five months; proposing does not mean instant marriage, after all.
But why bother with mere details when it came to things as important as this? The main thing was; he was going to propose to Hermione in a matter of days. And it scared him to death. It sounded clichéd, but he loved her so much it hurt. He'd walk across broken glass just to see her smile, and think it a small sacrifice.
If there was anything he wouldn't do for her, he couldn't think of what it might be. The only thing he could not do, try as he might, was live without her. He was in physical pain every time he even dared to think about it.
But what if she did not feel the same way?
She snapped the tiny box shut, and placed it on his bedside table. He stared at it for a moment before crawling under the covers; it did him no good to dwell in things like that. He'd ask her to marry him, and if she said no, he'd just have to let her off the hook; it was that easy.
But he had a feeling that he could not give up that easily; he'd keep asking her until she said yes or married someone else.
*****'
Christmas dawned, clear and cold, and Hermione was woken by an enthusiastic redhead singing Christmas carols. Hermione, not quite awake yet, jerked back the covers and growled.
"Shut up, Bill!" She yelled.
All sounds suddenly ceased. She groggily opened her eyes for the first time, and found herself looking, not at Bill, but at Ginny and Claire, who were trying very hard not to burst out giggling like idiots. Hermione blinked, waking up slowly, and sat up on the bed.
"What's so damn funny?" She demanded.
"Have you woken up to Bill's singing often, Hermione?" Ginny choked out between the giggles that threatened to escape.
Hermione couldn't help herself; she blushed. Claire saw this and pointed an accusatory finger at her friend, trying to look stern, but failing miserably.
"Hermione Granger; you specifically told me you had not shagged Bill Weasley. How could you lie to me?" She demanded, making Ginny turn slightly green.
"I didn't lie! I've never shagged Bill!" Hermione exclaimed, still blushing, "It's just that while we were in Rome, he always woke up earlier than me, and sang those annoying songs!"
"Sure, whatever you say." Claire shrugged, and then her face turned almost insanely happy. "But let's skip that; it's Christmas!" She shouted and ran out of the room, closely followed by Ginny.
Hermione grumbled to herself, but got out of the bed, and followed the two of them, albeit at a slower pace. Half-way down the stairs, she ran into the twins, who were grinning maniacally at her. She shot them a suspicious look.
"Good morning. Merry Christmas." She added, almost as an afterthought.
"Merry Christmas, Herm-own-ninny." They intoned, imitating Victor Krum's pronunciation of her name.
"We overheard the most curious thing just a moment ago.." Fred started.
"That you have failed to shag old Bill." George finished.
"We're very disappointed with you." They informed her solemnly. "We have to say you better make it up to us."
Hermione just stared at them in disbelief. She knew she was blushing painfully, but she didn't care at the moment; the twins had just short of ordered her to go and sleep with Bill. That was definitely surprising. No, scratch that; extremely shocking and embarrassing was more like it.
"Are you telling me you are going to be severely disappointed in me unless I shag Bill?" She asked carefully.
They nodded.
"Have anyone ever told you you're insane?" She asked, speaking as she would to a child.
They nodded.
"Did you believe them?"
They shook their heads.
"Then you better start now." She informed them and continued walking down the stairs.
******'
The Christmas breakfast was huge, making Hermione wonder if she would ever get out of her seat afterwards. The breakfast was followed by an all out take-no-prisoners snowball war, Weasley-style. It made for very wet participants.
When it was over, and they finally tumbled into the kitchen, wet but laughing, it was nearly dinner time; Weasley-snow fights had a habit of going on for a long time. They dusted off the snow and sat down around the table to eat dinner.
Hermione had a little trouble looking Bill in the eye, while remembering her conversation with the twins that morning. She tried not to make her embarrassment obvious, but it was hard work. She didn't join in the conversation, but instead sat and listened, and laughed in the right places.
She picked at her food, eating occasionally, between bouts of staring at her plate. She was aware of Bill looking at her, but ignored it for the time being; she'd have enough time to explain later. Right now, it was time for presents.
"To Charlie, from Claire. Well, isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Fred gushed, as he handed out the wrapped gifts.
"Shut up!" Charlie threw a pillow at him.
But he took the gift and unwrapped it, anyway. He gasped and stared at the cover of the book, practically drooling. He turned his head to Claire, who was sitting there nervously.
"I love you, will you marry me?" He asked.
"Charlie!" Mrs Weasley scolded.
"I'm just kidding Mum!" Charlie laughed, but he looked genuinely happy over the gift.
Everyone laughed with him, but Hermione noticed that Bill looked a little nervous. She shrugged it off, deciding to ask him some other time, and continued watching Fred and George making themselves funny over the gifts. Soon, it was time for her own gifts, both the ones she would receive and the ones she'd given.
"Ah, here we have ´From Hermione, to Bill.´. I wonder what it is?" George said, shaking it experimentally.
He caught Hermione's scolding look, and handed the gift to Bill, trying to look serious and adult, and failing miserably.
Bill threw Hermione a questioning look, and started tearing the wrapping paper. It fell away in shreds, to reveal a cardboard box. Raising an eyebrow at her, Bill opened the box too. When he saw the contents, he grinned widely. It was a walkman, something she'd introduced him to over the summer.
"´Mione; you shouldn't have." He started.
"´Mione´?" The twins echoed.
"I should have; you got me this, remember?" Hermione said, pulling down the neckline of her T-shirt slightly, revealing the phoenix necklace.
The rest of the Weasley family, Harry and Claire gaped at the two of them and Hermione's necklace. Bill looked a little sheepish, but nodded, and hugged her.
"Alright you two, enough sappiness, let's move on." Fred snorted, "Here's the next one, and it's ´From Bill, to Hermione´, what a surprise that is." He finished dryly.
Hermione stuck out her tongue, but took the present anyway, and tore of the paper. It was, not in the least surprising, a book. She raised an eyebrow at Bill, who looked even more sheepish than the sheep themselves, and turned it so she could read on the cover.
"´The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Was An Evil Overlord´. That's nice, I suppose, in a Slytherin kind of way, but is there a point to this gift?" She asked teasingly.
"Well, "Bill said, trying to look innocent, "I thought if you had that, you could give Malfoy some advice on his upcoming Evil Overlord-dom."
"You are impossible, you know that?" Hermione laughed, and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
"Eh, you love me anyway." Bill grinned.
"Sure I do; you're funny, you're nice, you're handsome, and you've bought me chocolate. What's not to like?" Hermione shrugged.
"Is the chocolate that important to you?" Bill asked, looking surprised.
Hermione reached over and patted him on the head, as if he was a puppy, and the remaining three females in the room looked as if they wanted to do the same.
"That, love, is something you'll never understand." Hermione said.
******'
After much excitement, and a lot of badly wrapped presents, Christmas was over. On the whole, it had been a good day; Claire and Charlie had gotten trapped under one of the twins' enchanted mistletoes, and had been forced to kiss each other. It had been rather amusing.
Now, it was nearly midnight, and everyone was asleep. Nearly everyone, at least; Hermione was still awake, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking cocoa. It seemed to have good potential to become a habit of hers. She looked out on the glittering snow through the window, thoughtfully. What if.?
She got up, and walked out the kitchen door, to stand in the backyard. She tilted her head up and looked at the stars. The air was a bit chilly, but not horribly so, and the moonlight on the snow was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. She clutched the cup of cocoa tighter in her hands, wishing for it to warm her fingers.
"Hermione?"
She turned around quickly, almost spilling the cocoa over the snow.
*****'
Bill had just been going to sleep, when he'd looked out the window and seen someone walk across the backyard and suddenly stop. He pulled on his shirt again, and put his shoes and got downstairs; he had to see who it was. From his bedroom window, it had looked like Hermione, but he couldn't be sure.
He opened the kitchen door, and walked outside in the snow. It was very cold, since he was just wearing his shirt and a threadbare pair of jeans, but he could stand it. His feet sank deep into the snow as he walked, and for a moment he was afraid it would get into his shoes, but then he shook it off and continued walking.
When he came closer to the person, he saw that it was indeed Hermione. She was standing there, looking up at the sky, and hadn't noticed him yet. His throat tightened; she was simply too beautiful for words. Almost automatically, his hand went to his pocket and clutched around the little box with the ring.
"Hermione?" He called.
She spun around, clearly surprised, but when she spotted him, she smiled broadly.
"Hello, Bill." She smiled.
He stepped up beside her and leaned down to kiss her. She kissed him back, but a little hesitantly at first. He pulled back and looked at her with a frown on his face.
"Hermione, love, are you mad at me?" He asked.
"No! What gave you such a ridiculous idea?" She said, a little angry now.
"Well, you refused to look at me during dinner, you didn't seem to want to come near me right now or any other time today, so I thought you were mad at me." He explained.
"I did? Oh, Bill, it has nothing to do with you; it was the twins. They decided to have a talk with me this morning and said a lot of ridiculous things, and I was thinking about it all day. I'm sorry you got the wrong impression." She rushed to say.
"Good; I hate it when you're mad at me, although you are rather cute when you're angry." He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. "But anyway, what're you doing out here?"
"I was watching the stars; I couldn't sleep, so I came down to the kitchen, and then just got the idea, I guess." She shrugged.
"Mhm. I love you." He said, out of the blue.
"I love you too." She whispered, but she was blushing a little.
He was silent for a moment, and just stood there with his arms around her. This was, in many ways, one of the most perfect days of his life. If he only could find the right moment to ask her the Question with a capital Q, it would be perfect. Oh, what the hell, he might as well ask now; where's the harm?
He pulled out the box from his pocket and let go of her, sinking down on one knee, ignoring that his feet were going numb from the cold, and cleared his throat. She looked at him confusedly, but realization began to dawn as he opened the box.
"Hermione, I know this might be sudden, after only five months together, but you are the only one I can imagine spending the rest of my life with, so I ask you; will you marry me?" He said, his voice slightly shaky.
He waited for a few seconds, and was starting to feel extremely stupid, when she nodded, trembling. The smile on her face was beautiful enough to take the breath out of him.
"Yes." She whispered.
*****'
Ending Notes; Gah! Due to some unfortunately overactive imagination, I've now got a shirtless Bill and a Charlie in leather pants (don't ask) stuck in my head, and they just won't go away!
Anyway, don't fear, this isn't the end; we've still got the wedding left, and some minor other things, like telling the parents, and then there will probably, but I'm not sure, be an epilogue.
Oh and please ignore any inconsistence in the terms for the holiday; since I'm Swedish, I don't use the same words for Christmas and Christmas Eve and all that, so I had a little trouble writing this chapter. Hopefully, the mistakes won't be too obvious.
******'
They woke up early the next morning, and Hermione and Bill spent the ride to Diagon Alley asleep on each others shoulders. They woke up again to Claire's muffled laughter, muffled because she was hanging onto Charlie's arm and had her head buried in his shirt. Hermione untangled herself from Bill and glared at them.
"What's so funny?" She demanded, yawning.
"You! That was so cute!" Claire exclaimed.
"Shut up, Claire, please?" Hermione begged, as they got out of the car Mr Weasley had borrowed from the Ministry.
They spread out through Diagon Alley, Fred and George dropping by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Percy disappearing into Flourish and Blotts, Ginny, Harry and Ron to Quality Quidditch supplies, Claire and Charlie to some shop that sold magical creatures, and Hermione and Bill were left standing there, not really knowing where to go.
"Well," Bill said uncertainly, "I need to go and buy some presents. It wouldn't be a good idea if you came, I don't want you to know what I got you:"
She hugged him and placed a kiss on his lips.
"That's alright; I need to buy you something too."
"As long as you promise not to get it from Gred and Forge." Bill warned, using a longstanding nickname of his twin brothers.
"I promise."
With another kiss, she headed down the street, looking for something to get him. It wasn't the easiest task, considering that he had almost everything he wanted already. And then it hit her; she knew the perfect present for him. All she needed now was to get to Muggle London. She set off towards the Leaky Cauldron.
*******'
Bill made sure Hermione wasn't anywhere in sight, before he walked into the small jewellery shop next to Eeyelops Owl Emporium. If he was going to propose to Hermione, he wanted to do it properly, and that meant he had to find a ring. He could worry about details like how he was going to ask her later.
It was a very cramped shop, with only one display cabinet. The clerk behind it looked thoroughly bored, and was reading the latest edition of Witch's Weekly. He stepped up to the counter and cleared his throat. The clerk looked up, but didn't put down her magazine.
"What?" She asked in a bored tone.
"I'm here to buy an engagement ring. I would appreciate some help." He said, a little annoyed by the clerk's indifference.
"What did you have in mind?"
"I already told you; an engagement ring. Anything with a connection to Phoenixes would be fine." Bill said, nearly loosing his patience.
"Sure." The clerk sighed, and went into the back room, which he assumed was the storage room.
After a minute or so, she returned with a small box in her hand. She handed it to him, and he opened it, revealing a thin silver ring, with a small silver phoenix, set with two rubies in place of eyes. It was perfect. He couldn't have wished for anything that was better than that; all he hoped now was that he had enough money to purchase it.
He pulled out his wallet and counted his money carefully. The ring was apparently rather cheap, since he had enough money to buy it. He stepped out of the store, and headed down the street to Flourish and Blotts, to buy Hermione some real presents; the ring wasn't really a present, since he didn't know if he'd be proposing on Christmas Eve.
******'
Hermione shrunk the already wrapped presents, put them in her bag, and headed back to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, where they had decided to meet back after the shopping was done.
She'd gotten presents for all Weasley siblings, Claire and even one for Mr and Mrs Weasley. She ordered chocolate and hazelnut ice-cream and sat down to wait for the others. She'd only been sitting there for a few minutes when Charlie and Claire turned up, carrying on a very lively discussion.
She sat back and watched as they talked about several case points in dragon- handling, and how one easiest subdued a nesting mother. She rolled her eyes as Claire gestured wildly, Charlie watching her every move.
"Hermione?"
She turned her head and came face to face with Cho Chang, who was standing behind her.
"Cho?" She asked.
"What're you doing here?"
"Shopping Christmas presents." Hermione said shortly; she'd never gotten along with Cho, because of what had happened when Harry dated her.
"Oh." Cho shrugged, and walked off.
"Well, that was completely random." Hermione mumbled as she turned back to her ice-cream.
She knew it was probably considered insane to eat ice-cream in the middle of winter, but she liked being a bit different. She was completely engrossed in eating her ice-cream, but nevertheless managed to recognize the sound of Bill's footsteps, and turned to face him when he came.
"Hello, love." He said, sitting down next to her and giving her a kiss.
"Hello." She said, leaning against his shoulder.
"Did you get your shopping done?" He asked, glancing across the table at Charlie and Claire, who had yet to notice them.
"Mhm. Did you?" She replied, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Mhm. Do you think they know we're here?" He indicated his brother and his newfound soul-mate.
"I doubt it; they've been talking dragons since they came."
"Oh, Charlie; will he ever learn to talk to a girl?" Bill asked no one in particular.
"What?" Charlie looked up, confused. "What did I do?"
"Nothing, and that's exactly the problem, dear brother." Bill grinned.
Charlie growled something and went back to talking to Claire. Bill and Hermione watched in silence, and Bill occasionally stole a bit of Hermione's ice-cream, never once lifting his arm from her shoulders. They stayed like that for an hour, until the rest of the Weasley family and Harry came and got them.
******'
Two days later, Claire burst into Ginny's room, where Hermione was laying on the bed, reading a copy of ´Neverwhere´ by Neil Gaiman. Hermione looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at Claire's frantic look. The dark- haired girl was nearly tearing out her hair in desperation.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't get anything for Charlie! I'm doooooomed!" She wailed.
Hermione sighed, and started going through Claire's trunk, looking for something. When she found it, she sat up again and tossed it at her friend.
"Here you go." She said, and returned to her book.
Claire caught the book she'd thrown and looked at the cover. ´Dragons, Real or Just a Fantasy?´ was written across it; it was one of Claire's favourite books, which she fortunately had two copies of.
"You think he'll like it?" Claire asked anxiously.
"Claire; it's a book about dragons. What more needs to be said?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Okies!" Claire said cheerily and bounded out of the room and down the stairs.
Hermione smiled and shook her head; Claire could be such a loonie sometimes. But a nice loonie all the same. To think that after only a few short days, she was so infatuated with Charlie Weasley that she was ready to give him her favourite book, never mind the fact that she had two copies of it. She couldn't wait for Christmas.
******'
The night before Christmas. She just could not sleep, no matter how she tried. Finally, she gave up and got out of bed. She walked downstairs, avoiding the creaking floorboards, and settled down at the kitchen table.
This late at night, the Burrow was silent. No twins running around pulling pranks, no Ron blowing up and yelling at everyone. All she could hear was the wind outside, the creak of someone moving in their beds upstairs, and the distant sound of the ghoul in the attic. It was restful, in a way.
As quietly as she could, she made herself a cup of cocoa, and drank it up, flipping through one of Mrs Wealey's cookbooks. They were rather interesting, in fact. It was amazing how many charms and spells were needed to make something as simple as boiled potatoes, and it made her wonder how high Mrs Weasley's Charms grade was; probably pretty high.
She put the book back with a sigh, and climbed the stairs up to Ginny's room again. She needed to get at least two hours of sleep before tomorrow, if her previous experiences of the Weasley-Christmas were anything to judge by. She crawled under the covers again and closed her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep.
******'
Bill wasn't asleep. He was, in fact, wide awake. And it didn't look like he'd get any sleep at all tonight. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring at the ring he had bought, the same thoughts going round and round in his head.
What had possessed him to buy it? He didn't want to rush things; he had Hermione had only been together for five months, and no matter how much she said she loved him, marrying after a mere five months might scare her off. Not that it'd be after only five months; proposing does not mean instant marriage, after all.
But why bother with mere details when it came to things as important as this? The main thing was; he was going to propose to Hermione in a matter of days. And it scared him to death. It sounded clichéd, but he loved her so much it hurt. He'd walk across broken glass just to see her smile, and think it a small sacrifice.
If there was anything he wouldn't do for her, he couldn't think of what it might be. The only thing he could not do, try as he might, was live without her. He was in physical pain every time he even dared to think about it.
But what if she did not feel the same way?
She snapped the tiny box shut, and placed it on his bedside table. He stared at it for a moment before crawling under the covers; it did him no good to dwell in things like that. He'd ask her to marry him, and if she said no, he'd just have to let her off the hook; it was that easy.
But he had a feeling that he could not give up that easily; he'd keep asking her until she said yes or married someone else.
*****'
Christmas dawned, clear and cold, and Hermione was woken by an enthusiastic redhead singing Christmas carols. Hermione, not quite awake yet, jerked back the covers and growled.
"Shut up, Bill!" She yelled.
All sounds suddenly ceased. She groggily opened her eyes for the first time, and found herself looking, not at Bill, but at Ginny and Claire, who were trying very hard not to burst out giggling like idiots. Hermione blinked, waking up slowly, and sat up on the bed.
"What's so damn funny?" She demanded.
"Have you woken up to Bill's singing often, Hermione?" Ginny choked out between the giggles that threatened to escape.
Hermione couldn't help herself; she blushed. Claire saw this and pointed an accusatory finger at her friend, trying to look stern, but failing miserably.
"Hermione Granger; you specifically told me you had not shagged Bill Weasley. How could you lie to me?" She demanded, making Ginny turn slightly green.
"I didn't lie! I've never shagged Bill!" Hermione exclaimed, still blushing, "It's just that while we were in Rome, he always woke up earlier than me, and sang those annoying songs!"
"Sure, whatever you say." Claire shrugged, and then her face turned almost insanely happy. "But let's skip that; it's Christmas!" She shouted and ran out of the room, closely followed by Ginny.
Hermione grumbled to herself, but got out of the bed, and followed the two of them, albeit at a slower pace. Half-way down the stairs, she ran into the twins, who were grinning maniacally at her. She shot them a suspicious look.
"Good morning. Merry Christmas." She added, almost as an afterthought.
"Merry Christmas, Herm-own-ninny." They intoned, imitating Victor Krum's pronunciation of her name.
"We overheard the most curious thing just a moment ago.." Fred started.
"That you have failed to shag old Bill." George finished.
"We're very disappointed with you." They informed her solemnly. "We have to say you better make it up to us."
Hermione just stared at them in disbelief. She knew she was blushing painfully, but she didn't care at the moment; the twins had just short of ordered her to go and sleep with Bill. That was definitely surprising. No, scratch that; extremely shocking and embarrassing was more like it.
"Are you telling me you are going to be severely disappointed in me unless I shag Bill?" She asked carefully.
They nodded.
"Have anyone ever told you you're insane?" She asked, speaking as she would to a child.
They nodded.
"Did you believe them?"
They shook their heads.
"Then you better start now." She informed them and continued walking down the stairs.
******'
The Christmas breakfast was huge, making Hermione wonder if she would ever get out of her seat afterwards. The breakfast was followed by an all out take-no-prisoners snowball war, Weasley-style. It made for very wet participants.
When it was over, and they finally tumbled into the kitchen, wet but laughing, it was nearly dinner time; Weasley-snow fights had a habit of going on for a long time. They dusted off the snow and sat down around the table to eat dinner.
Hermione had a little trouble looking Bill in the eye, while remembering her conversation with the twins that morning. She tried not to make her embarrassment obvious, but it was hard work. She didn't join in the conversation, but instead sat and listened, and laughed in the right places.
She picked at her food, eating occasionally, between bouts of staring at her plate. She was aware of Bill looking at her, but ignored it for the time being; she'd have enough time to explain later. Right now, it was time for presents.
"To Charlie, from Claire. Well, isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Fred gushed, as he handed out the wrapped gifts.
"Shut up!" Charlie threw a pillow at him.
But he took the gift and unwrapped it, anyway. He gasped and stared at the cover of the book, practically drooling. He turned his head to Claire, who was sitting there nervously.
"I love you, will you marry me?" He asked.
"Charlie!" Mrs Weasley scolded.
"I'm just kidding Mum!" Charlie laughed, but he looked genuinely happy over the gift.
Everyone laughed with him, but Hermione noticed that Bill looked a little nervous. She shrugged it off, deciding to ask him some other time, and continued watching Fred and George making themselves funny over the gifts. Soon, it was time for her own gifts, both the ones she would receive and the ones she'd given.
"Ah, here we have ´From Hermione, to Bill.´. I wonder what it is?" George said, shaking it experimentally.
He caught Hermione's scolding look, and handed the gift to Bill, trying to look serious and adult, and failing miserably.
Bill threw Hermione a questioning look, and started tearing the wrapping paper. It fell away in shreds, to reveal a cardboard box. Raising an eyebrow at her, Bill opened the box too. When he saw the contents, he grinned widely. It was a walkman, something she'd introduced him to over the summer.
"´Mione; you shouldn't have." He started.
"´Mione´?" The twins echoed.
"I should have; you got me this, remember?" Hermione said, pulling down the neckline of her T-shirt slightly, revealing the phoenix necklace.
The rest of the Weasley family, Harry and Claire gaped at the two of them and Hermione's necklace. Bill looked a little sheepish, but nodded, and hugged her.
"Alright you two, enough sappiness, let's move on." Fred snorted, "Here's the next one, and it's ´From Bill, to Hermione´, what a surprise that is." He finished dryly.
Hermione stuck out her tongue, but took the present anyway, and tore of the paper. It was, not in the least surprising, a book. She raised an eyebrow at Bill, who looked even more sheepish than the sheep themselves, and turned it so she could read on the cover.
"´The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Was An Evil Overlord´. That's nice, I suppose, in a Slytherin kind of way, but is there a point to this gift?" She asked teasingly.
"Well, "Bill said, trying to look innocent, "I thought if you had that, you could give Malfoy some advice on his upcoming Evil Overlord-dom."
"You are impossible, you know that?" Hermione laughed, and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
"Eh, you love me anyway." Bill grinned.
"Sure I do; you're funny, you're nice, you're handsome, and you've bought me chocolate. What's not to like?" Hermione shrugged.
"Is the chocolate that important to you?" Bill asked, looking surprised.
Hermione reached over and patted him on the head, as if he was a puppy, and the remaining three females in the room looked as if they wanted to do the same.
"That, love, is something you'll never understand." Hermione said.
******'
After much excitement, and a lot of badly wrapped presents, Christmas was over. On the whole, it had been a good day; Claire and Charlie had gotten trapped under one of the twins' enchanted mistletoes, and had been forced to kiss each other. It had been rather amusing.
Now, it was nearly midnight, and everyone was asleep. Nearly everyone, at least; Hermione was still awake, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking cocoa. It seemed to have good potential to become a habit of hers. She looked out on the glittering snow through the window, thoughtfully. What if.?
She got up, and walked out the kitchen door, to stand in the backyard. She tilted her head up and looked at the stars. The air was a bit chilly, but not horribly so, and the moonlight on the snow was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. She clutched the cup of cocoa tighter in her hands, wishing for it to warm her fingers.
"Hermione?"
She turned around quickly, almost spilling the cocoa over the snow.
*****'
Bill had just been going to sleep, when he'd looked out the window and seen someone walk across the backyard and suddenly stop. He pulled on his shirt again, and put his shoes and got downstairs; he had to see who it was. From his bedroom window, it had looked like Hermione, but he couldn't be sure.
He opened the kitchen door, and walked outside in the snow. It was very cold, since he was just wearing his shirt and a threadbare pair of jeans, but he could stand it. His feet sank deep into the snow as he walked, and for a moment he was afraid it would get into his shoes, but then he shook it off and continued walking.
When he came closer to the person, he saw that it was indeed Hermione. She was standing there, looking up at the sky, and hadn't noticed him yet. His throat tightened; she was simply too beautiful for words. Almost automatically, his hand went to his pocket and clutched around the little box with the ring.
"Hermione?" He called.
She spun around, clearly surprised, but when she spotted him, she smiled broadly.
"Hello, Bill." She smiled.
He stepped up beside her and leaned down to kiss her. She kissed him back, but a little hesitantly at first. He pulled back and looked at her with a frown on his face.
"Hermione, love, are you mad at me?" He asked.
"No! What gave you such a ridiculous idea?" She said, a little angry now.
"Well, you refused to look at me during dinner, you didn't seem to want to come near me right now or any other time today, so I thought you were mad at me." He explained.
"I did? Oh, Bill, it has nothing to do with you; it was the twins. They decided to have a talk with me this morning and said a lot of ridiculous things, and I was thinking about it all day. I'm sorry you got the wrong impression." She rushed to say.
"Good; I hate it when you're mad at me, although you are rather cute when you're angry." He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. "But anyway, what're you doing out here?"
"I was watching the stars; I couldn't sleep, so I came down to the kitchen, and then just got the idea, I guess." She shrugged.
"Mhm. I love you." He said, out of the blue.
"I love you too." She whispered, but she was blushing a little.
He was silent for a moment, and just stood there with his arms around her. This was, in many ways, one of the most perfect days of his life. If he only could find the right moment to ask her the Question with a capital Q, it would be perfect. Oh, what the hell, he might as well ask now; where's the harm?
He pulled out the box from his pocket and let go of her, sinking down on one knee, ignoring that his feet were going numb from the cold, and cleared his throat. She looked at him confusedly, but realization began to dawn as he opened the box.
"Hermione, I know this might be sudden, after only five months together, but you are the only one I can imagine spending the rest of my life with, so I ask you; will you marry me?" He said, his voice slightly shaky.
He waited for a few seconds, and was starting to feel extremely stupid, when she nodded, trembling. The smile on her face was beautiful enough to take the breath out of him.
"Yes." She whispered.
*****'
Ending Notes; Gah! Due to some unfortunately overactive imagination, I've now got a shirtless Bill and a Charlie in leather pants (don't ask) stuck in my head, and they just won't go away!
Anyway, don't fear, this isn't the end; we've still got the wedding left, and some minor other things, like telling the parents, and then there will probably, but I'm not sure, be an epilogue.