Chapter Twentyseven The Proposal

Note: The time is nearing! Yes, this is one of THE most important chapters, heehee! I won't waste much time except to say the usual. I don't own Harry Potter.

Enjoy!


"I don't know why everyone's pretending to be so upset," Ron said, putting his arm around Hermione. "Most people didn't like her anyway."

"Yeah, it's just the shock," Harry comforted. "They don't REALLY believe you killed her." But as he said the words, even he doubted them; if he was her best friend and had trouble being convinced by the story, what would everyone else think? He kept his thoughts to himself, not wanting to worry Hermione.

"Good try, but I know that nobody will ever want to talk to me again," Hermione said miserably. "Come on, let's leave the Hall. It seems everyone thinks I'm going to turn around and attack them or something." As they left the Hall, everyone's eyes were on Hermione, their lips moving in ceaseless gossip and discussion of her. Harry felt a twinge of guilt at doubting her, as he knew what it felt like to be thought some sort of liar or murderer.

"What are you looking at?" Ron said loudly, as a third year Hufflepuff girl pointed out Hermione to her friend, whispering darkly. At the sound of the older boy's voice, both the girls scuttled away as fast as they could. "Pathetic," he said in disgust.

"Wait, will you?" Draco came up behind them, his face almost back to normal but still showing a few faded bruises from the incident a week ago. Hermione smiled briefly to him, dropping from her friend's arms and going over to him.

"What do you want?" Harry asked brusquely. "Weren't you coming with us to start packing for tomorrow, Hermione?"

"But this is important," Draco said idly, though his gray eyes were boring into her with the neediness to speak to her. "I've organised something special. You can unpack later tonight." Hermione hesitated. "Please?" he added.

"She's not going with you, Ferret boy," Ron snapped. "Why would she want to go with you?" Hermione remembered that Ron had absolutely no idea what was going on between her and Malfoy. She made a mental note to herself to tell him later.

"Shut up Weasel," Draco sneered. "The choice isn't exactly hard for her, is it? Between you- and me? Well, I know what every sane person would choose. Run along with Potty, you're not needed."

"Look, I'll see you two tonight," Hermione said quickly to Harry and Ron, who were scowling at Malfoy. "Sorry… I promise I'll see you later though, okay?" She said her goodbyes and watched as they met up with Ginny, who was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs.

"You made the right choice, Hermione," he said softly. "You won't regret it… and I'm sure it'll take your mind off those stupid rumours," he laughed, but stopped when he saw Hermione was biting her lip. "You're not taking the gossip seriously are you? C'mon, goodie Granger would never murder anyone, everyone knows that. NO Gryffindor would. It'll die down in a couple of days."

"Don't call me goodie Granger," Hermione snapped, but didn't object when he placed his arm around her waist. "Where are we going?"

But he wouldn't tell her, and they didn't stop until they were near the lake, at the water's edge. Hermione was about to speak, when she noticed a little rowing boat tethered to a tree nearby, complete with wooden oars. "Draco, how did you get that?" she gasped.

"Stole them from the tethering house," he said mischievously, his eyes twinkling and little dimples appearing in his cheeks. "You know, what the first years go across on at the beginning of the new term. Hop in." Hermione was reluctant, but eventually slid in next to Draco, who took up one of the oars.

"What's this in aid of?" Hermione asked, taking an oar herself and following Draco's example of rowing, after he had untied the rope that kept them to the tree. The boat rocked a little unsteadily at first but soon settled into the rhythm of the oars.

"Oh, I have something to tell you…" he began, but was stopped by something landing on the boat. "What the-?" he yelled, and almost fell into the water as something flew at him. Hermione grabbed the collar of his shirt and just succeeded in stopping his second fall into the lake within a week.

It was soon clear the thing flying at Draco was an owl. It dropped a letter at Draco's feet and flew off back in the air, making sounds of annoyance. Draco shook himself with the shock and promptly ripped the envelope open.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked, but he didn't answer, only scowled and tore the letter into little pieces before throwing it into the murky depths below them.

"A letter from my father," he said abruptly. "Let's not speak about it, or I'll end up smacking something, or someone."

"Okay," Hermione said nervously, secretly wondering what would make Draco so angry. She had always thought the Malfoys were a close family- maybe Lucius had found out about him getting her pregnant? She shivered at the thought, continuing their rowing in peace, and realised she knew so very little about the man she loved. What inner thoughts did he have, what sort of relationship did he have with his family?

For the next couple of minutes all was silent as they made their way across the lake, until finally Draco laid down his oar and looked at Hermione, edging closer to her.

"I didn't bring you out here for nothing you know," he said quietly, hugging her to him and stroking her cheeks with his long fingers. "And you know that."

"Yes… but what for?" she asked, kissing him on the cheek gently with her soft lips. "What is it that you couldn't tell me on ground?"

"I thought it would be better to get away from everyone for a while, and it gives us a little peace, don't you think? It's quite enjoyable, drifting on the lake on a hot summer's day." She nodded, unsure of what was coming next. "Hermione, I've told you that I love you, and you've told me that you love me. I don't know what you're going to say or how you're going to react, but when I said it I meant it. Life's not worth living without you. And over the past few days I've really come to realise just how much I do love you. And you also said you were an 'all or nothing girl' and wanted commitment… well, this certainly shows it." He moved closer, fumbling in his pocket and taking out a small blue box. Hermione sat, numb with surprise and wonderment.

"It was my grandmother's," he said softly, opening the box to revealing a stunning gold ring encrusted with white diamonds and a glistening ruby in the middle. It was breathtaking, and Hermione guessed at it being worth absolutely thousands in Muggle money; she gasped in awe.

"Draco, I-" Hermione began, but stopped as Draco proceeded to slide the ring gently onto her finger, and stooped to kiss her soft hand with his red lips.

"Miss Hermione Granger," he said, his hand in hers "Will you marry me?"


Wow! Another cliffie, eh? I hope you enjoy the suspense, hehe! Please keep reviewing people, I can't stress it enough. I enjoy your thoughts. I love writing gushy stuff like this, it gives me a lovely warm feeling inside, so I don't mind if I get lots of flames!