Disclaimer: I proudly claim Grace as my own, the rest belong to JKR.

Chapter 19: First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage…

Last time: "Well, are you in love?" Ron asked. Hermione's chin dropped and George's face flared up in the Weasley blush. Neither really knew what to say.

How dare he ask such a thing, Hermione thought furiously to herself. She and George had not even discussed this themselves, and here Ron was, demanding an answer to whether or not they were in love. And, it seemed everyone else was waiting for her answer too, as every pair of eyes in the entire room was staring expectantly at her. She tried to say something, but she wasn't sure what, so her mouth just opened and closed a little. Luckily, George saved her. He had a lovely way of doing that, really. He leaned over close and Hermione wondered what exactly he was doing.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear, breath tickling her neck. Out loud, for the rest of the family to hear he said, "I thought maybe she should know before the rest of you lot find out, but yes, I do love her."

Hermione was melting. She was absolutely melting. Everyone was looking at her now, smiles plastered on their faces, expecting her to say or do something. She looked at George but she knew from the look on his face what he was thinking, what he was communicating to her through his eyes. There was no rush, she didn't have to say it if she didn't want to. But she did want to, but not to them. She turned in her chair so she was completely facing George and slipping her hands into his, she said "I love you too George." And then they kissed, the sweetest, most loving kiss you could ever imagine.

A collective "aw" went round the table, except for one who said "ugh, not at the dinner table!" Hermione broke her contact with George to look at Ron, who, of course, had been the announcer of "ugh, not at the dinner table!" Despite his statement of disgust, there were the beginnings of a smile on his face and a hint of acceptance in his eyes.

"Oh Ron," Hermione said, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. She jumped up from her chair and hurried around the rather long table to the side where Ron was sitting.

"You're going to hug me again aren't you?" He asked rather exasperatedly, but with the smile rapidly growing.

"Yes, now stand up." He stood and she launched herself into his arms, leaving wet tear marks down the front of his shirt. He sighed.

"Look 'Mione," Ron said, pulling her away and looking her in the eye, "I love you and I've missed you so much these last six years. If this is what you want, if this is what makes you truly happy, then I'm glad for you. Just please don't go missing again." Hermione nodded her head in promise, but was hugging him again, holding on for dear life. "Oy George, you think you can do something about this?" Ron asked his older brother, wishing to be relieved of the sobbing woman clinging to his front. George came around the table and touched Hermione gently on the back. That was all it took for her to come into his arms and she cried into the nice green shirt she had picked out for him.

"Hermione, love? What's wrong?" He asked her, stroking her curly hair. She pulled back and her bottom lip quivered as she tried to form the words.

"I just-I just- love you all so much!" She finally burst out with a fresh wave of tears, looking around the room. George chuckled along with the rest of his family as he wiped her wet cheeks dry.

"We love you too Hermione," Ginny piped up with a smile. Hermione, now almost cried-out, nestled into George's chest.

"Are you ready to go now?" He whispered to her. He didn't mean to rush her, but the train was leaving in 15 minutes. She nodded her consent and, after another round of hugs, left the Burrow hand-in-hand with George.

xxx

"He said he LOVES you!" Grace squealed the next morning after Hermione was finished retelling the weekend in extremely minute detail.

"Yes, he loves me. HE loves ME. Oh my gosh, Grace, we're in love," Hermione exclaimed. When Hermione came in to work that morning Grace knew the weekend had gone well. She absolutely floated into work carrying a coffee and humming and she was positively glowing AND there was a hint of pink sweater peaking out of the neck of her robes. If Grace knew one thing absolutely positively it was this: Girls in L-O-V-E wear pink sweaters. Still, the story was too splendid to believe and Grace forced Hermione to repeat it seven more times throughout the day. Hermione was all too happy to tell it, again and again.

xxx

The next couple months went by like a dream. Being in love was a splendid thing, it really was. It was all pink and flowers and champagne and chocolates and nights spent playing Muggle games like Scrabble and Monopoly and afternoons (after Hermione's articles were done, of course) spent in the labs at WWW trying wacky new inventions and Saturdays at the Burrow. That was probably Hermione's favorite part, being part of a family again. As expected, Harry had proposed to Ginny after her completion of Healer training and the Burrow was abuzz with wedding plans. They didn't want to wait long to get married so they were planning a February wedding, which was right around the corner. Ginny had immediately asked Hermione to be her Maid of Honor so Hermione was swamped with decisions about flowers and colors and cake and whether her hair ought to be up or down or curled or braided or… sigh, Hermione really needed Grace for these sort of things.

The real problem that was beginning to arise was that Hermione was becoming more and more attached to the idea that she, one day, would probably be planning her own wedding. Several years ago, after several of Grace's failed match-making attempts, Hermione had reconciled to herself that she may never get married. She would just live in her tidy little flat and play Auntie to Grace and Max's kids. However, now that George had swept her off her feet, she'd fallen in love with the idea of her own wedding. She slowed down when she walked by jewelry stores with engagement rings sparkling in the windows. She went starry-eyed every time she saw Ginny trying on her wedding dress and she positively swooned when she saw the boys trying on tuxedo robes at Madam Malkin's. She was not the type of girl to drop silly, unsubtle hints but she had indeed stooped to that level. And every time she did so, George would feign ignorance while he was beaming on the inside. Little did she know that he had plans…big plans.

A/N: Well, here's another chapter for you all. Sorry it's taken so long…again. Well I'm nearly finished with this term and I've only got to take finals and then I'm home again in the good old Lone Star State. I have a week of break before I start classes again, so I hope to update again before too long. This story is really drawing to a close. The next chapter will probably be quite short, and then you'll get the ending, which will be spectacularly long and complicated and exciting like you won't believe (at least in my opinion, hehe). Thank you all for reading and sticking with me. As always, please review, I really appreciate it!