They sat on the sofa, wine glasses (or mug in Ginny's case) in hand, when little Lilly ran in. Hermione stretched out her arms to her.
"Lilly!" she cried, as he raced to sit on her lap, "How's my favourite god-daughter?"
"Fantastic!" he squealed.
"Lilly, remember what Mummy said?" Ginny asked quietly.
"Oh yes! Thank you very very very very much, Uncle Ron and godma Mya for my first ever owl. You know, he's brown and brown is my favourite colour because that's the colour of my wand and chocolate."
"I'm just glad you liked it. Now you can write to me," said 'godma Mya'
Ron edged slightly closer to Hermione, put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek, out of gratitude.
Lilly observed this, looking slightly puzzled.
"That's what Daddy and Mummy do. They put their arms behind each other when the sit down and kiss all the time."
Ron and Hermione blushed.
Lilly, stood up on Hermione's lap and bent towards her ear.
"Is Uncle Ron your boyfriend?"
Hermione whispered into Lily's ear, "Do you promise not to tell anyone?"
Lilly nodded vigorously.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Do you love him?"
"Yes."
"Do you kiss him?"
"Yes."
"Ewww!" she shrieked.
They all giggled, having heard the whole conversation thanks to Lilly's not-so-subtle-whispering.
Lilly hopped down from Hermione's lap and bid everyone a quick goodnight.
"So you guys have kissed, huh? Big news!" Harry said, when Lilly had left.
"You know, I have been waiting for you guys to get together for so long," Ginny said, "You don't know how annoying it was seeing you two being so perfect for each other, but still fighting all the time. I remember that time when we all went out together with Katie and Neville, when you guys were going out. That whole meal was so…odd. Not awkward, just strange. It just felt so…unnatural. It just didn't work. It was always better when it was just the four of us. Oh my god! You know what this means?"
"That you'll stop going on at me to find a 'real' girlfriend?" Ron suggested.
Ignoring him, Ginny continued, "Now we and double date. I mean properly. Not just like us and then you two going out. But you know, like real couples, who talk about 'couple' things."
"Since when have you wanted to talk about 'couple' things?" Harry looked at her, utterly surprised.
"You know when we had dinner with Laura and Robbie?"
"Yeah," Harry stretched out the word, "who we both hated…"
"Well, she kept going on about how perfect her life was, and how perfect it was to talk about her perfect life with other perfect couples and it just all sounded so…"
"Perfect?"
As Harry and Ginny engaged in a ridiculous conversation about a couple they both hated, yet wanted to be like, Ron and Hermione just sat there, holding each other tightly, feeling entirely content, and desperately hoping they wouldn't have to let go.