Lyra stared at the ring, then at the man down on one knee before her looking at her with oh so much love in his eye. A tear or two escaped as she held out her trembling left hand and whispered,
"Yes"
And as the ring was placed upon her finger the man she loved stood up, and kissed her hand, placing his lips delicately over the goblin crafted ring.
As the light faded, the newly engaged couple made their way down the mountain again to the settlement, and Charlie flew down one handed as he couldn't bear to take his other arm away from Lyra's back.
It wasn't until later that night that Charlie told Lyra about her ring's history. How her mother had worn it, her grandmother, her great grandmother. She had stared at the ring then, with new respect and love in her eyes, and stroked it with her finger as if the caress brought her closer to her family. She had laughed as he recounted the tale of how he, Sirius and Remus had gained permission to remove it from her vaults, how they had won over the goblin by exploiting his romantic side. Lyra suggested then, that once they had returned - and their families knew that they were engaged, they would go to the bank and show Tarnuk that he had made the right decision and that the ring had ended up with her, as it should.
"But Sirius knew? And Remus?" Lyra was shocked, though, that her family had known that Charlie was going to propose, and had hidden it so successfully.
"Yes",Charlie said, "I asked Sirius' permission. He, Remus, Tonks, Bill and Fleur all knew"
"Fleur knew?" Asked Lyra incredulously, "I've spent days with her when Ron and Hermione have been busy and she knew?" Charlie laughed,
"You've also spent days with Sirius and Remus, who both knew, and Tonks, and they've not been entirely subtle about the way they've been behaving." Smirking, he added, "Mad-Eye would be ashamed of you!" He kissed her rosy cheeks when she blushed.
They spent four days at the reserve, four, blissful days, where they strolled about the lake, admired the dragons and watched some eggs hatch. The other dragon keepers made fun of Charlie, while Lyra's new friends within the group of women were as thrilled as she was, admiring her ring and congratulating both her and her fiancé exuberantly.
It was a perfect holiday, and Lyra was very disappointed when it ended. But she was returning to London with an engagement ring on her finger and a fiancé by her side, returning from the perfect holiday. It was peaceful, she pondered, and wondered if this was what being a normal person felt like. She'd lived almost a year without the weight of kill or be killed, without being hunted by a group of bitter adults whose sole aim in life was to bring her before Voldemort and watch her being tortured and killed. But acting as a young woman should was still a novelty.
She was sad to leave her new friends, but oh so excited to be reunited with Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Teddy. Lyra was also really looking forward to seeing Ron and Hermione again and telling them her news, and she was also aware that the Weasleys didn't know either.
So Lyra was looking forward to telling everyone that mattered that she was now engaged to be married to Charlie Weasley.
A/N next chapter will be them telling everyone and I'll start from the minute they arrive back in Grimmauld Place. This seemed like a good place to stop this chapter.