PLEASE GO BACK AND READ PREVIOUS CHAPTER I REPLACED THE AUTHOR'S NOTE WITH AN ACTUAL CHAPTER!

Kylie

One and Only

Chapter Forty-one

Two weeks later the four of them were sitting in the Great Hall easting breakfast when an owl came and dropped 4 letters down in front of them. On the front in neatly written gold cursive were their names.

"What is this?" Ron asked, picking up his.

"I think they're invites for the weddings." Hermione said as she tore hers open. Two cards fell out and they discovered that Hermione was right, they were invitations to Fred and George's weddings.

"Why are they in the same envelope?" Harry asked. "I thought the weddings were on separate days."

"They are." Ginny answered "But they didn't want to waste more envelopes on us."

"Oh." Harry answered, checking out the invitations.

"I can't wait!" Hermione exclaimed. "I love weddings!" Ron smiled at her. He was staring at her, knowing that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Of course he had always known but this is when he realized that he wanted to make it official. He was going to propose to Hermione. He took a deep breath when he thought this but he knew that he was going to do it. He had no idea when or how but he knew it's what he wanted. Hermione looked over at him.

"What?" Hermione asked. "Do I have something on my face?" Ron forgot he was staring.

"No, no." Ron said quickly. "You look beautiful." Hermione smiled and Ron saw a pink tint in her cheeks. He wanted to kiss her then but they were in the middle of the Great Hall and they had to get to classes after. He decided to wait until after classes and such to do this.

Later on after classes, then homework, dinner, and studying Ron and Hermione came back to the Head Common Room, tired but Ron still remembered that look on her face that made him want her. He took her by her hand and spun her around enveloping her in a hug and kissing her square on the mouth. When they pulled away Hermione smiled at him.

"I want to show you something." Hermione said. Ron released her and followed her to the desk, where she had been headed before. A large stack of papers sat atop the desk. A House Elf's Rights was the title of the book. It looked even longer than Hogwarts A History.

"You finished?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded as Ron put his arm around her and started opening the book.

"I just finished it last night but I hadn't had the chance to tell you this morning." Hermione said. Ron kissed the top of her head.

"I want to read it but it might take me a couple of weeks- actually a month or two." He decided, looking at the number of pages. Hermione chuckled drowsily.

"Well you can read it later on but for now I summed it up for you on a piece of paper." She yawned and handed him one sheet of paper with three words on it, FREE HOUSE ELVES! Ron chuckled but then noticed Hermione was nodding off on his shoulder. He gently lifted her and put her into bed, lying down next to her. He knew he was going to propose and he loved her. As he was falling into sleep he imagined how it would go and he decided that graduation was the perfect time for it, when they would be embarking on their journey in life together.

Ron wanted to tell Ginny and Harry about his plan because he would need both of their help to get Hermione the ring. (Ginny to help pick it out, and Harry to keep her distracted.) But he wanted to tell them both together but he could never find the opportunity to get the two by themselves, not that he was trying too hard because he knew how they would react.

The morning of the last Hogsmede trip Ron and Hermione went through their normal morning routine of waking, kissing then dressing. Hermione wore a pair of jean capris and a short sleeve light pink t-shirt, layered over a darker pink one. She slipped her feet into matching flip-flops and tried to fix her hair. Ron wore a pair of khaki shorts and a brown t-shirt he ran his hand through his hair.

"When I wrote my mum to tell her about the flat she said that if we leave her a key she'll stock the place up on food for us and she said the same with Harry and Ginny's place." Hermione said. "I wrote her a list of your favorite foods." Ron smiled but something occurred to him.

"Your mum knows we're sharing the flat?" Ron asked.

"Yeah." Hermione said. "I didn't tell her I just wrote about the two flats across from each other, hoping that she'll think Ginny and I are sharing and you and Harry but she figured us out. She's ok with it."

"Good." Ron said with a smile toward Hermione. Ron sat at the desk while Hermione finished getting ready. He did some calculations on a piece of paper and discovered that after buying this ring they were basically wiped out in their bank account (now that it was one together since they share ownership of the bookshop and the gazette their money was together now too.) Of course they still had a pretty decent amount left that was in another savings account for their future, like buying a house and having kids and such but that was for saving purposes only, not to be spent carelessly. They would have to go easy with buying things until the Gazette and R and H Books went underway and they still had to hope that the businesses would be successful. Hermione walked over to him.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Ron slid the paper underneath another one.

"Just trying to find out how much money we have left in our bank account." Ron answered, truthfully. "We're going to have to be careful now until the businesses start up. Buying the flat and the furniture for the flat really took a lot out of us." Hermione smiled.

"We'll be fine. The businesses are starting soon and my mum is getting our food. It's all going to be fine. We're going to be fine." Hermione said. Ron smiled at her assurance.

"I love you." He said, standing up and kissing her.

"Love you too." Hermione said. They went down to breakfast and met Harry and Ginny. They were all about to sit down and eat when Hermione spotted McGonagall and dashed off to see if she got a response back from the publishing company that she sent the book to. Ron, Harry, and Ginny sat down and started to eat. When Ron looked and made sure Hermione was engrossed in conversation with McGonagall he turned to Harry and Ginny.

"I'm going to propose to Hermione." He said. Harry and Ginny stopped in mid-bite to look at him. Then it dawned on them, they put their forks down and smiled.

"Since when?"

"How?"

"When?"

"Where?"

"Are you serious?"

"This is so great!" Ron was surprised with all of the questions but answered them the best he could.

"Since we got Fred and George's wedding invitations. Not sure. Graduation. Don't know. Yes I am very serious and yes it is very great." Ron said. Harry and Ginny were still smiling.

"Oh and I'll help you pick out the ring today!" Ginny exclaimed.

"And I'll distract her." Harry said. "This is so big. Are you going to get the ring before or after we go see the flats?"

"Before." He answered.

"Oh you know what you should do!" Ginny said. "You should propose on the Quidditch pitch, but fill the entire thing with lillies like a field of flowers and propose to her in the middle." Ginny said, thinking about it in a dreamy manner. Ron thought about it for a minute.

"That sounds great but I wouldn't be able to afford that many flowers. We're kind of on a tight budget after I buy this ring." Ron said.

"You don't have to." Ginny said. "It's a simple spell that you could use. I'll teach it to you. I actually read it out of that book that Vanessa uses for her column."

"Really?" Ron asked. "I would have used that on Valentine's Day if I knew."

"Well they disappear in around an hour but they would make it romantic." Ginny said.

"Alright then." Ron said, after thinking about it. It did sound romantic. Hermione came back just then.

"Alright then what?" Hermione asked.

"Oh we're supposed to meet Smith at the Gazette office. We won't take long its just some paper business. I was just telling Ron." Ginny said. Ron smiled at her, grateful that she came up with a believable lie.

"Ok. Well I just wanted to make sure that the bookshop is in good shape before the Ministry visit on the 23rd." Hermione said.

"So what did McGonagall say?" Ron asked. Hermione had completely forgotten about that but she turned to Ron with a huge smile.

"They're going to publish it!" She exclaimed. "Apparently someone at the publishing company feels that house elves should be free as well but they're going to publish my book and it'll be the first book on House Elf rights!" Ron wrapped her in a congratulatory hug and kissed her. Harry and Ginny spread their congratulations too. Hermione was ecstatic. Things were going good.

In Hogsmede Ginny and Ron rushed off to the jewelers. The sales witch who sold. Harry and Hermione Ginny's promise ring was at the counter.

"Can I help you?" She asked cheerfully.

"We're looking for an engagement ring! My brother's going to propose to his girlfriend!" Ginny said excitedly, wanting to actually tell Hermione the news but since she couldn't the sales witch was the next best thing. She was happy for them and that meant that Hermione would be her sister-in-law.

"Well then let me show you what we've got." The sales witch said. They searched through at least a dozen rings before Ron found one that he and Ginny both liked. It was white gold band with a half carat each diamonds on the side of the stone in the middle. It was pretty and sophisticated, perfectly Hermione. He held the ring in his hands and felt happy thinking about the proposal. Ginny smiled seeing how happy it made him.

Ron decided on purchasing the ring after looking through some more. It was the only ring that he felt was right for Hermione. He and Ginny walked out of the store happily. Ron slipped the ring box in his pocket, happier than ever.

"You know, Ron, I proud of you. You've grown up." Ginny said. "I think Fred and George were onto something when they said we had to grow up too."

"Yeah I guess they really have changed and now we are too." Ron said.

"It's kind of weird." Ginny said.

"Yeah." Ron agreed. "We'll have to settle down soon after we've been married and have kids." Ron turned to Ginny with a horror stricken look on his face. "Gin, I'm not ready to have kids. I can just barely take care of myself with Hermione's help and I have an office to run. What am I going to do? I love her but we aren't ready to be married." Ron turned around to go back to the jewelry store. Ginny grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

"Ron." She said but he was muttering incoherently about not being ready so she slapped him in the face. "Ron!" She said again. Ron turned to her with one hand on his cheek. "Listen Ron, you and Hermione love each other and it's really great that you want to spend the rest of your lives together. You can still propose to her at graduation and you can still want to marry her. It won't change anything. You can be engaged for as long as you want before you actually marry her and when that time comes and when the time comes for you to have kids you'll be ready. Look at Lupin and Tonks, they weren't expecting to be parents but they are going to be and now they're ready for it. They've had nine whole months, now pull yourself together because we're going to go see Hermione and Harry. You can do this; I know you can because you're my brother and a pretty decent one at that. You also managed to create a newspaper that not only Hogwarts students read. Now do you still want to return the ring?" Ron shook his head, shocked at how Ginny put it all in perspective for him.

"No. I still love her and want to propose." He said.

"Good." Ginny said, "Now let's get going." Ron was surprised that a girl who gave amazing advice could not want her own advice column in a paper but he could understand that she wanted to do her own thing. And she was still going to write advice for the Gazette to help him out.

Ron and Ginny started for the bookshop, Ron feeling more sure of himself. They were passing the bookshop when they ran into Fred and George.

"How's it going?" Fred asked.

"Anything new?" George asked.

"Well we were just discussing about what you meant when you said you had to grow up when you get married and stuff." Ginny said.

"Why are you getting married?" Fred asked.

"Not today but I do have a future fiancée." Ginny said, holing up her hand and showing them the promise ring.

"Then you?" George asked Ron. Ron took the ring out of his pocket and showed them. They gasped and looked at Ron, awestruck.

"No way!

"When?"

"How?"

"Are you serious?" Ron was overwhelmed with all of the questions again but he tried to answer them the best he could.

"Graduation. I'm going to take her to the Quidditch Pitch and propose in the center of a whole bunch of flowers. And yes I'm very serious." He answered. Fred and George looked amazed.

"Wow!" They said together, astonished.

"I know it's big but I'm going to do it." Ron said. They were stopped from saying anything else when Harry and Hermione approached them. Ron shoved the ring back in his pocket.

"What took so long?" Hermione asked.

"Ron had a minor meltdown but he's alright now." Ginny said with a chuckle. Hermione looked at them weird but Harry changed the topic.

"So should we get going?" He asked.

"Where are you going?" Fred asked.

"To see the flats with the furniture." Ginny answered.

"We're gunna come too then." George said. They went inside of the joke shop and to the back room and Apparated to the apartments.

Oooo tomorrow we get to see the flats and the furniture! And a proposal? Are you excited too? I know what's going to happen and I am! Lol! Please review!

Kylie