Thank you so much to Squibbert, for beta work! Squibbert helped with a lot of the action near the dialogue, so credit to Squibbert for that.
Ron Weasley scurried throughout the ballroom making sure everything was set up and perfect. Everything had to be perfect for his girlfriend, Lavender Brown.
"Are all the tables ready?" Ron asked his little sister.
"Yes, Ron," Ginny Weasley replied.
Ron hurried to his best friend "Did you get all the streamers and put them up?"
"Yes, Ron," Harry Potter reassured.
"Are the balloons—"
"Put up?" Hermione Granger answered. "Yes. Stop worrying, everything's going to go perfectly."
Ron sighed. He knew his friends were helping him, but he was still so worried. Lavender was the most important person in his life (his mother pretended to be offended whenever he mentioned it) and everything needed to be perfect for her 20th birthday.
"Everything's ready," Ginny announced. Ron looked around the room at the pink and purple streamers hanging over the chandelier, the walls, and the ceiling. The tables with the blue and pink checkered table cloth were perfectly spaced out. The middle one where Lavender, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry would be sitting was perfectly in the middle. The purple, pink and blue balloons tied to each chair at each table. Everything was ready, and everything was perfect. Or so he thought.
"Seamus!" Ron heard a voice yell. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just going to make it change colors. Don't worry," the voice that must have been Seamus Finnigan, answered.
"You'll just end up making it blow up! Like you do with everything." Ron now recognized the voice as Dean Thomas. The two of them had been his dorm mates (along with Harry and Neville Longbottom) in Hogwarts and Ron had asked them to help set things up. He should have realized that Seamus always managed to blow something up, no matter what. Ron started to run to the room outside the ballroom, but it was too late. There was a loud bang! and he heard the sound of lots of things falling and breaking.
"Seamus!" multiple voices shouted at once.
"Oops," Seamus answered feebly, biting his lip.
"WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO?!" Ron exploded when he reached the boy.
"I was just going to make the tinsel change color depending on the mood of whoever walks in the door."
There used to be tinsel hanging over the doorway, in the colors of pink, purple and blue. Yet, Seamus had wanted to make it change color, and now… there was no tinsel!
"SEAMUS!" Ron bellowed. Seamus backed away a little, eyes darting around the room, as if looking for a way to escape. "EVERYTHING WAS READY! NOW I HAVE TO GO GET MORE TINSEL!" Ron quickly checked his watch. "THERE'S ONLY 10 MINUTES!"
"Ron, I'll go get the tinsel and quickly hang it up as you welcome the guests, okay?" Hermione suggested. Ron nodded and Hermione apparated away.
"Seamus, go inside, and don't TOUCH ANYTHING!" Ron pleaded. Seamus nodded quickly and ran back inside, Dean following him a few moments later.
"Harry, Ginny, please help me welcome guests."
"Of course." Harry and Ginny walked outside, waiting for the first of the guests to arrive. Lavender didn't know they were planning anything, Ron had just told her to meet him in the ballroom of her house at 5:00. Fifteen minutes later than everyone else.
"This has to go perfectly," Ron explained to his friends twenty minutes later. All the guests had arrived, and Lavender would be arriving about five minutes later.
Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother. "We know, Ron, you've been telling us for the last two hours!"
"Yeah, mate," Harry agreed, patting Ron reassuringly on the shoulder. "I don't think the necessity of perfection escaped anyone today."
"I know, I know, but it has to." Ron let out a small sigh. "But Seamus already ruined the tinsel. And a bunch of decorations at the entrance."
"Yeah, but Hermione's hung up the tinsel" — Ginny cut him off — "and put everything back up. Don't worry," she reassured as Hermione walked in the ballroom.
"Is everything good?" Ron asked Hermione before she even reached the group.
Hermione gave Ron a soft smile. "Yes, Ron."
Then there was ding! sound.
"What was that?" Ginny asked, looking around the room to locate the source of the sound.
Harry's eyes knitted in confusion. "It sounded like… a phone?"
"You're right," Hermione agreed, also looking around the room.
"That's mine," Ron said, grinning sheepishly. The other three looked at him incredulously. "What? I've been learning a lot about muggle technology and stuff." Ron took out his phone and checked his message. "Oh no."
"What is it?" the others asked in unison.
Ron looked up at them. "Lavender says she's running late, and she'll be here only at 5:30!"
"That's not so bad," Harry assured, trying to put a positive spin on this unexpected event before Ron had a chance to point out that this wasn't a part of his perfect plan. "That means we have more time…"
"I guess… but everything's already ready, it pretty much just gives time for something else to go wrong!" Ron stressed.
"Everything will go fine," Ginny said, ushing her brother into the other room.
A few minutes later, they heard the sickening sound of glass breaking. The four of them rushed into the ballroom, only to see the many snow globes Ron had ordered, shattered on the ground. Ron practically screamed. "Who did this?!" He demanded. No one moved.
"Ginny, get Ron out of the ballroom, I'll find out who did it. I reckon they're all scared of him right now," Hermione whispered to Ginny.
"Got it," Ginny replied. She walked over to her brother. "Ron, why don't you come out with me and wait for Lavender? Hermione and Harry will sort this out." Ron nodded and followed Ginny out of the ballroom.
Hermione turned to the guests. "Now, who did this?" She asked kindly.
Colin Creevey stepped forward. "I did," he said, clearly ashamed of himself. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!"
"It's okay, I'll tell Ron that it was just… the wind or something. For now, I want you to fix them, okay?" Hermione assured.
Colin looked very relieved, and nodded, starting to pull out his wand.
"Everything's going to go fine," Harry whispered, more to himself than anyone else. "Because otherwise, Ron is going to have a fit."
"Yeah…" Hermione agreed.
When Lavender walked into the ballroom some time later, Ron was nowhere to be found, as Harry had taken him to the bathroom to get ready.
"Hello, Lavender! Happy birthday!" Ginny greeted, bringing her into the room, followed by Hermione.
"Thank you!" Lavender replied.
And that's when Ron entered the room. He had his hands behind his back, slowly walking towards Lavender. Ginny and Hermione backed away from Lavender quickly, joining Harry at the entrance. "Lavender," Ron said as he reached her.
"Hello, Ron." Lavender's face lit up.
"Happy birthday."
"Thank you."
"What is happening?" Ginny whispered to Harry.
"Uh… I think he's nervous," Harry answered, unsure.
"Do we have to do something? This is getting hard to watch," Hermione replied.
Harry and Ginny nodded in agreement.
But at that moment, Ron knelt down on one knee.
"Oh, he's got it," Ginny said.
Lavender gasped. She could not believe what was happening. No way! She thought excitedly.
"Lavender Brown," Ron started. He had been practicing this speech for so long, it had to go right. All the guests turned to face the couple. "You are the best person in the world, and I am so lucky to have you in my life. I love you more than I can say, so…" Ron moved his hands out from behind his back to reveal a black jewelry case. He cracked it open and they saw a bright diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"
The whole room was silent. Lavender was frozen, she could not believe it at all.
"Lavender?" Ron asked, getting worried that she would say no.
"Yes!" Lavender suddenly exclaimed. Ron jumped up in joy and slid the ring onto her finger. The whole ballroom broke out into applause.
"Awww," Hermione and Ginny said. They walked up to the happy couple with Harry.
"Congrats, guys," Harry told them, patting Ron on the back.
Hermione and Ginny both hugged Lavender. "Congratulations!"
It all went fine, even with a couple of misfits.
Lavender turned to the others. "This is the best birthday ever."
A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it.
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