Chapter 44

Disclaimer: By now, you should realize I am NOT J.K. Rowling. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, folks. It was spring break, so I had only limited access to the internet, and then my family went to the beach for a weekend.

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Ron Weasley was a brave individual. After all, he was a Gryffindor. However, he had never been so scared in his life. How was one to ask the love of one's life the big question?

The bigger problem was that there was no one to ask either. Well, not really. So he went to Fred and George.

Fred laughed. "How the hell would I know? I've never gotten that far into a relationship with a woman. At least, not that Lee Jordan didn't steal away from me."

"That's not how it is, Fred," George scolded. He turned to his younger brother. "I wouldn't know either, Ron. Sorry. Just speak from your heart."

"Priceless advice from the bloke that goes running in the other direction from the girl you love."

"Love? Who ever said love?"

"The look on your face. You're being an idiot. You think you would learn from the whole Lupin/Tonks debacle."

"I'll remember that, Fred. Rich coming from the only one in this room who hasn't gotten any in the past year."

"Hey now! I was in a dungeon!"

"I'm just saying…"

"Forget it!" Ron cried. "I'm going to talk to Harry. You two calm down."

The twins ignored him, instead continuing to argue.

"If shagging is so important, why did you break up with Alicia?"

"She broke up with me!"

"But she wants to get back together!"

"But…"

Ron Disapparated, saving himself the agony of hearing the rest of Fred and George's argument. He found himself at the Apparation point inside the Ministry of Magic.

"Ron!"

Ron turned and saw Hermione—the last person he wanted to see right now. "Hermione! What are you doing here?"

"I came to see about job openings. I think I've got a good shot with Department of…"

"I bet. Too bad Hogwarts doesn't have any openings. I always saw you as a teacher. Of course, you'd give loads of homework, so the students should consider themselves lucky."

She smacked his arm playfully. "Honestly. What are you doing here, Ron?"

"I came to talk to Harry about something."

"Oh, mind if I join you? It's been a while since I've seen him. Not since the attack, right?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. However, I need to see Harry alone if you don't mind. It's about a secret."

Hermione's face lit up in understanding. "Oh, of course. It's about work, isn't it?"

She had conveniently provided him an excuse. "Yeah."

"Okay. See you later, then." She turned to go.

"Wait, Hermione. I was going to owl you anyway. Would you like to get dinner later?"

She beamed. "Of course. Six?"

"Sure. I was thinking Italian."

"Sounds delicious. Will you pick me up?"

"Of course."

"See you then."

Ron watched Hermione until she Apparated away. He had to ask her tonight.

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Fifteen minutes later, Ron sat down in Harry's office.

"So what is it that's so important that I have to reschedule my appointment with the Head of the Aurors?"

"Sorry about that Harry. It isn't a matter of life and death, but it is pretty important. Well, to me at least."

"If you made me cancel a meeting to talk about quidditch, I'll kill you," Harry said flatly.

"No, of course not. See, I want to propose to Hermione."

"Oh. Oh. Yes, I can see how that's important. So why are you here? I don't know where Hermione is."

"I don't know how to ask her."

Harry looked at his friend blankly. "And you came to ask me how to do it? How am I supposed to know?"

Ron was getting desperate. "Can't anyone help me? Just give me any advice you may have ever heard. Or tell me something logical; my mind's not working very well just thinking about it, much less when I try to do it."

"Ron, I really think I'm the wrong person to ask about this."

"Well, then who am I supposed to ask?"

"How about your dad?"

Ron hadn't even thought about his father. Of course. His father had proposed to his mother at some point. Maybe the good memory would be therapeutic as well. "I can't believe I didn't think of him."

Harry smiled. "You just don't feel comfortable talking to him about sex, that's all."

"Wait! Surely he won't bring up sex."

"I don't think so," Harry reassured.

"Thanks mate!" Ron called over his shoulder, barreling out of the room.

Harry smirked. "At least, I hope he doesn't bring up sex. I think both of you would die of embarrassment."

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Arthur Weasley was not expecting anyone at this hour. Ginny was working on a crossword while he sat and stared. And there was nothing else to do.

Then his youngest son Apparated in with a pop. "Dad! Dad, can I talk to you?"

Arthur jumped to his feet. "What is it? Is something the matter?"

"No, nothing like that. Calm down. Sit." He sat across from his father. "I need to ask your advice."

Arthur felt his chest puff out involuntarily. "Oh. Sure. What is you want advice about?"

"How do I propose?"

Arthur felt his breath catch in his throat. "What?"

"I know this might be hard on you, but I need to know. I want to ask Hermione tonight."

"Oh. I see. Wow. It's about time, Ron. Well, let me think." He thought back to the day so many years ago when he had proposed to Molly.

"It's not that easy, Ron," he finally offered. "You can plan out all these romantic things to say, but you'll forget them when you look into her eyes. Just speak from your heart. That's all I can tell you."

"Is that how it was with Mum?"

"Yeah. And when she said yes, I thought my heart would burst with joy. May you feel the same way."

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A/N: Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed it. Only one more chapter left. I'll go cry in peace.

Hey now is probably an Americanism, but I use it all the time, so deal with it. I wanted to put it in for jwoods471 and johncardy87.

Thanks to jwoods471 for being my beta. : D