I stared aghast at the ring in the box that Garrett extended towards me. This was the last thing I expected. I quickly took a deep breath and tried to sift through my thoughts.

Garrett was a nice guy. I liked him, and I liked spending time with him. He was kind, and somewhat intelligent, and I knew that he would take care of me. He had all the qualifications for being a good husband.

There was really only one problem with Garrett. I didn't love him.

For a moment my thoughts drifted to Tom, the only person I ever had really passionate feelings for in my life. I knew deep in my soul that it was not in my destiny to be with Tom, nor would it be a good thing for me if I was. However, knowing that didn't really make it any easier to bear. I just knew I would never have such strong feelings of passion again.

Nevertheless, the idea of marriage appealed to me. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life alone. I'd always just assumed that I would get married one day. And why not get married to Garrett?

One other thing played around in my thoughts. I could never really get rid of the feeling I had when Tom had used me and abused my feelings so thoroughly. It had felt as if he took a little piece of my heart with him, and it was so incredibly painful. If I married Garrett, I could be happy and content. I would never have to feel that way again.

"Sure, Garrett," I whispered. "I'll marry you."

His eyes lit up as he stood, put the ring on my finger, and enveloped me in a huge hug. "Oh, Phoebe!" he cried. "This is the best day of my life."

I smiled at him, because I did genuinely feel some happiness. Not for myself, necessarily, but because I did care about Garrett and it made me happy to see him so happy. It wasn't such a bad thing.

"When do you want to get married?" he asked me, grinning.

"Gosh, Garrett, I don't know!" I said, shoving him playfully. "You have to let me get used to the idea first. And I'll need lots of time to organize all the details. We don't want anything going wrong."

"Good point," he agreed. "Okay, I'll leave you in charge. Whatever you say goes."

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I was a bit nervous about telling Catherine of my engagement. She was my best friend in the whole world, and knew me better than anyone else. She was well aware that I did not love Garrett, and I was afraid that she wouldn't approve of my decision.

I was right. "Phoebe, why?" she asked me. "I mean, I know he's a nice boy and you guys are friends and everything, but you don't need to do this. I'm sure there's some guy out there somewhere for you, and you can be happy and spend the rest of your life with him."

"I'll be happy enough with Garrett," I replied. "Besides, I don't think there's anyone else in the world that I could fall in love with. I just know it."

"You're being your usual self," Catherine told me outright. "You always philosophize and analyze yourself into unhappiness. It doesn't have to be this way."

I shook my head. Maybe I did think too much, but it was all the truth.

We had been sitting together in the apartment that the two of us were sharing, now that we had left Hogwarts and had to make our own ways. Garrett and I had agreed it would be better not to live with each other until we were married, so until then I was rooming with Catherine.

Just at that moment Garrett himself came knocking at the door. "Come in," I called to him.

He came into the room and said, "Hey, what are you guys up to?"

"We were just talking about the wedding," said Catherine.

I nodded, and added quickly, "we're planning some things. You can help us if you like."

"Sure, I don't mind," he said, and settled himself down on the bed next to me.

We discussed many things, and finally decided on pale pink parchment for the invitations. Catherine had seen a special kind of ink that was bewitched to sparkle and twinkle, so we decided to get some of that in light blue. The guest list was drawn up pretty quickly. All of my family members and all of Garrett's were invited, plus all of our friends at Hogwarts. Tom was not mentioned at all, and I, for one, was not going to bring him up.

Next we moved on to the attire. I would be dressed in the traditional white and Garrett in the traditional black, but we had to decide on colors for the bridesmaids. Catherine was to be my maid of honor, and she was partial to the color pink, which she kept hinting at. I liked the idea of keeping the blue and pink theme, so we decided on pink robes with a blue sash for Catherine, and blue robes with a pink sash for the other bridesmaids.

"We can go and look at some wedding robes this weekend, if you want," suggested Garrett.

"Sure, that's fine," I told him.

"Do you have any special jewelry you want to wear?" Catherine inquired.

I thought about it for a second. "I'm really not sure," I told her. "I don't have anything too special."

"I'll buy you something," Garrett said immediately.

"Oh, no, you've done so much for me already," I stammered.

"Are you sure you don't have anything already? Or your mum or a family member has anything you'd borrow?" asked Catherine.

"Maybe some sort of family heirloom jewelry?" said Garrett.

I sighed. "I did have the most gorgeous necklace once. My family is distantly related to Rowena Ravenclaw, and supposedly this necklace had once belonged to her. I rather doubt it's authenticity, but it was still beautiful."

Garrett turned and looked at me. "What happened to it?"

My voice caught in my throat, but I ultimately decided it would be best just to go ahead and tell him the truth. "It was stolen, I believe."

Garrett looked upset. "Stolen? By who?"

"Tom Riddle," I mumbled.

"Who? Speak up," he demanded.

"Tom Riddle," I said a bit more clearly.

"That bastard!" exclaimed Garrett, growing red in the face. "How on earth could he do that to you? It's terrible!"

"I know," I muttered. "I was upset about it for awhile, but it's okay now."

"No, it's not," he insisted. "It should be kept in your family. It rightfully belongs to you." He paused. "I'll get it back for you."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be silly. First of all, we have no idea where Tom is now or what he's up to. Secondly, he probably sold it years ago."

"Then I'll find him and make him track it down. I won't let him take advantage of you!"

"Garrett, it was almost three years ago!" I cried. "I'm okay, really."

But Garrett would not listen to anything I had to say. He was determined to do something for me. I didn't really want to talk about it anymore. I figured that he would try and find Tom and have absolutely no luck, and give up eventually.

It wasn't that big deal of a deal- or so I thought.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I think it was one of my longer ones so far.

Please review!