Chapter 4: Engagement Rings and Magic

Harry and Ron walked into the jewelry store just after eight-thirty. "Sir, the store closes at nine, are you aware of that?" the salesman said, as Ron entered.

"Of course," Ron replied, "besides, we won't be here that long anyway."

"Alright," the salesman replied, "just hurry."

Harry and Ron nodded and headed off in the direction of the rings, inside a display case. They peered into it, looking at various rings; some were diamonds and others had different stones in them, like pearls. "Hey Ron, check out this one," Harry said pointing to a gold band with a single tiny diamond in the middle of it. Ron moved closer to Harry to get a better look at the ring. It looked perfect, Ron thought. Then he looked at the price; almost two-hundred dollars.

"It's cheap," Ron said.

"Well, look at it," Harry replied, indicating the tiny diamond.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I should buy it before I become attached to another ring that is more expensive," Ron replied. He called the salesman over from the door. "I would like to buy that ring please." Ron pointed to the ring inside the display case.

The salesman looked up at Ron and said, "Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes, of course," Ron replied impatiently.

"Alright, then just let me get the key to the display case," He replied and started rummaging in a messy drawer below the cash register. Finally after a minute or so he pulled out a key. "Sorry about that, it's just that not many people buy from this case, so the key isn't used that much." He opened the display case and pulled out the diamond ring. He handed it to Ron and went back over to the cash register. The salesman dropped the key in the drawer, shut it and then punched up the price of the ring. "That'll be $229.99 please." Ron opened his wallet, pulled out $230, and handed it to the salesman. "Thank you."

"Keep the penny," Ron said, taking the ring and walking out of the store with Harry close behind.

"It's dark," Harry commented, looking around the street, which was now lit up by the overhead lamps.

"Well, that's news to me," Ron joked. "Come on, Harry, the sun was setting when we left the restaurant."

"It's a beautiful night though."

"Yes, it is. You know its times like these that I wish that we had brought a house on the ocean."

"Me too, you know Ron, I believe we could've bought one on the beach."

"Maybe, but the manor was cheap enough that we could still afford to buy things that we needed, like furniture and food. Whereas if we had bought that house on the beach, we wouldn't be alive because we would've starved to death by now," Ron finished.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Harry looked down at the ground as they walked, they would be home in a few minutes. He thought about what it was going to be like being a father. After coming to the conclusion of waiting for that time to come, Harry said, "So, Ron, have you figured out how you're going to propose to Hermione?"

"Well, I was thinking that I could take her out to that restaurant by the beach, and then take her out walking on the beach. Maybe, go for a swim," Ron replied.

"You should do it during dinner," Harry suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." They turned down their street and looked toward their house. To anyone else it would've looked perfectly normal, but to Harry and Ron, they found that the attic light being on was very strange. "Um, Harry, is that light where I think it is?" Ron asked, giving Harry a confused look.

"Yes, I believe they're in the attic," he replied.

"But what are they doing up there?"

"I don't know. They must be either researching or doing magic."

"What would they need to do magic for? I thought we agreed that while Voldemort was still around that we wouldn't do anything to attract him or his death eaters to us, including magic," Ron said, worriedly. They both hoped that Hermione and Ginny weren't doing magic, but simply researching something. But, then again, what they need to research in the magical world?

"Come on, Ron, we'd better get home and see just what they're doing," Harry said, breaking into a run. Ron followed at a slightly slower pace, but kept up with his friend.