Harry had been thinking about what Ginny had said to him all week. He had actually intended to propose to her, but now that she was expecting it, it wouldn't be so much of a surprise.
It was nearly a month after Neville and Hannah's wedding, and tomorrow was Luna's bachelorette party. Which meant that the next day was Luna and Dean's wedding was the day after that. Harry was toying with a piece of toast in the dining room, while Ginny remained asleep upstairs. Then, he suddenly got an idea. But, again, he had to ask Ron first. Quickly, he wolfed down his piece of toast and Summoned a quill and a piece of parchment. He left Ginny a note explaining where he had gone, and made his way out of the front door to Disapparate.
Crack. Harry had appeared in Ron's kitchen at The Burrow. He and Hermione were sitting at the table eating pancakes, still in their pajamas.
"Morning Harry!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Hi," Ron said. "Do you want some pancakes?"
"No thanks," Harry replied. "I'm fine. Listen, I need to...well, actually, I need to talk to both of you."
"What's up?" Ron asked, as Harry took a seat.
"Well," Harry started.
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione suddenly burst out. "Before you say anything, could you please pass the maple syrup." Harry sighed at this pointless interruption, but passed the small, brown bottle nonetheless.
"Thank you," Hermione said, smiling.
"Anyway," Harry went on. "I think I'm going to propose to Ginny."
"Oh my God!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's so wonderful!"
"Congratulations, mate!" Ron said, grinning. "I give you my blessing!" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"When are you going to propose to her?" she asked.
"I was thinking maybe at Luna and Dean's wedding!"
"So, you're going to propose to her at a wedding?" Hermione asked, slowly.
"Yes," Harry said, uncertainly. "I just thought it was a good idea because she already saw the ring, and she knows that I'm probably going to ask her some time soon. So it would be useless taking her out for dinner or something, because she'll know what's coming. But, at another person's wedding, she'd never suspect it!"
"Harry, that's a brilliant idea!" she said, getting up to hug him. "I'm so happy for you!"
"You already bought her a ring?" Ron asked, incredulously. "No-one tells me anything!"
"Sorry," Hermione said, sitting back down. "I forgot to tell you. Harry, could you please pass the sugar?" Harry passed the little silver bowl.
"You two can't tell Ginny," he insisted, suddenly stern.
"We won't!" Hermione said. "Actually, Harry, we have some news too." She suddenly grabbed Ron's hand.
"Me and Hermione have been looking for flats," Ron said, quickly.
"Really!? Since when?"
"Since last week!" Hermione said, excitedly. "And we already found we love! It's in Hyde Park Corner. The wizarding area."
"Wow! That's so great for you guys! OK, I have to go. I'll see you guys later."
"Bye," Ron and Hermione said together.
When Harry arrived back at Grimmauld Place, Ginny was sitting in the kitchen frying kippers.
"Morning," she said, as Harry walked in.
"Morning," Harry said, walking forwards to kiss her. "Did you get my note?"
"Yeah, I did. How are Ron and Hermione?"
"They're fine. You know, their getting a flat?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, in Hyde Park Corner. The wizarding area."
"Oh! That's really nice! So, when are they moving in?"
"I dunno. They didn't say. So, looking forward to Luna's bacholerette party?"
"Oh yeah! It should be fun! But the sad thing is that it's going to be normal because Hermione helped her plan it. Oh well, I can't wait to see her wedding!"
"Wait. Aren't you planning her wedding?"
"Oh, yeah I am. But I'm also letting Luna come up with her own outrageous ideas and run away with them! Should be fun!"
"Ah! So, is Cho still being a bridesmaid?"
Ginny scowled. "Yeah," she grunted. "I wrote to Ernie asking if he wanted to do it, but he said no!"
"No!" Harry said, sarcastically.
"I know! God! All I told him was that he had to wear a yellow dress and carry daisies and he completely flipped out! Said something about "losing his masculinity"!" Ginny scoffed, and then suddenly gave a loud gasp.
"Harry! Why don't you do it!?" Harry laughed, reaching into the fridge for a Butterbeer.
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I know it sounds ridiculous, but I really need a bridesmaid!"
"Why don't you just let Cho be a bridesmaid? It won't really affect you!"
"I know!" Ginny whined, walking towards Harry. "But it's just the fact that my boyfriend's ex is going to have such a big part in the wedding!"
"So? Dean is in the wedding!"
"But he's getting married! He's kind of taken now!"
"OK," Harry breathed, calmly. "Ginny, nothing that you can say or do can make me be Luna's bridesmaid." Ginny grabbed Harry and kissed him gently. When they finally drew breath, Harry sighed.
"Not even that," he said, finally. Ginny grunted in frustration.
"OK, fine. I'll let Cho be a bridesmaid. Unless Ernie has a change of heart."
"Ginny, I don't think that's going to happen."She started walking towards the cupboard to get the biscuit tin, and then she suddenly wheeled around.
"What about Ron?" she gasped.
"Not in a million years," Harry answered, biting into a Digestive.
The next evening, Harry and Ron were playing Chess (Wizard Version) in the living room. Dean's stag night had finished about half an hour adgo, but Ginny and Hermione still weren't back from Luna's bachelorette party.
"Why wasn't ours as long as theirs?" Ron asked, as his knight charged into Harry's rook.
"You know girls," Harry answered. "They're probably sitting around talking."
"Oh right. So, when are they going to be back?" Ron asked.
"Ginny said not till past midnight. Why?"
"Oh, because Bill said he'd drop by tonight so he could give me and Hermione some money from my vault in Gringotts for the flat."
"Oh OK. So, when are you guys moving in?"
"Next week. So, how's the proposal with Ginny going?"
"Oh, it's fine. Except I have no idea how the hell to do it!"
"Why don't you just do it the traditional way? Ask her at the wedding reception."
"But I want to do something a bit more special than that. Ooh! I could put the ring in her food!"
"Oh wow! That is really...disgusting." They spent nearly two hours talking about the best way to propose, and then Ginny and Hermione suddenly Apparated into the living room.
"Oh by the way, you can Apparate into the house now." Hermione said. "I fixed it!"
"Oh thanks." Ginny replied. "So, what were you guys talking about?"
"Oh," Harry started, hastily. "We were just talking about..."
"Cheese," Ron suggested.
"O...kay," Ginny said, slowly, giving Ron a strange look. "I'm going to go to the loo." As she exited, Hermione sat on Ron's lap and sighed as he started talking very loudly about his favourite things about mozzarella. When Hermione was certain that Ginny was out of earshot, she decided to ask the obvious question.
"So, what were you guys really talking about?"
Harry sighed. "We were trying to think of the best way for me to propose to Ginny," he whispered.
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly. "Good! Because I have the best idea!" She pulled something very small out of her handbag and handed it to Harry. It was a small, pink and white name plate.
"OK," Hermione started. "Here's my idea. We put this in Luna's bouquet tomorrow. It's blank at the moment, but when Ginny catches it, it will look look this." She pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the name plate. Then she twirled it around in the air. Seconds later, in very elaborate writing, the words "Will you marry me?" conjured themselves up in the air. Then, they started to fade away. Ron stared at her in awe.
"How do you come up with this stuff?" he asked, in amazement.
"OK," Harry said, slowly. "This is the first of my many questions. How do you know that Ginny will be the one to catch the bouquet."
"Oh, don't worry. Luna will take care of that."
"Hermione, the words "Luna will take care of that" always seem to be closely followed by the word "disaster"."
"Not true," Hermione said, stubbornly.
"OK, but how are we going to put in the bouquet. Isn't Ginny in charge of looking after the bouquet?"
"Already taken care of," Hermione said, quickly. "Luna managed to persuade her to leave me that responsibility because she's got so much to do."
"What if the name plate thing falls out?" Ron asked.
"I'll make sure it doesn't," Hermione said. "I'll use magic to make sure it doesn't come out until Ginny pulls it out."
"Where do we put the ring?" Harry asked. It seemed like this was the only question Hermione hadn't thought about.
"Good question," Hermione said, finally.
"Why don't you just give her the ring after she sees the name plate and looks surprised?" Ron suggested.
"Good idea." Hermione said.
"OK," Harry sighed, " I can't think of any more questions. It might just work, I suppose."
"Excellent!" Hermione said. "Now, all we have to worry about is make sure Ginny doesn't see the ouquet until Luna throws it."
"No problem," Ron said. "I can do that." Hermione leaned forwards toward the chess board and moved Ron's king a couple of paces.
"Checkmate," she said, smiling at Harry innocently while he groaned and Ron laughed.