Hey guys! I am truly sorry I haven't posted in so long, school started and I haven't had the time to write. I really hope this can make up for the long wait. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ;).
Fact 7: On the engagement ring Ron gave Hermione was an inscription which said 'Swish & Flick'.
"Ron, are you ready?!" Hermione asked from the living room, where she had been feeding Crookshanks.
"Yeah, just one more second!" Ron answered. He was currently in their bedroom, looking desperately for a small velvet box containing the most important ring he had ever bought in his life. An engagement ring.
I can't have lost it! He though, starting to panic. He had already looked in the closet, his night table, sock drawer, medicine cabinet, under the bed, and in the pockets of his jacket. Deciding that losing control wasn't going to solve anything, he sat on the edge of the bed and covered his face with his hands, closing his eyes and trying to remember the last time he had seen it. That was when he felt something hard on the back pocket of his jeans. 'Oh thank Merlin. How could I've been so stupid?' He wondered. He took out the small velvet box and looked at it before opening it. Yes, the ring was still there, safe and sound. Putting the box in his jacket pocket, he started walking towards the living room. From there, he and Hermione flooed to the Hogwarts's Headmistress office.
Ron had been planning on proposing to Hermione for a three months now. It had taken four weeks for him to find the perfect ring, and he was still working on how to pop the question. For security though, the small velvet box was always with him, everywhere he went, and a little talk with the 7th year students at Hogwarts about Defence Against the Dark Arts was no exeption.
When they arrived at McGonagall's office, Ron noticed some changes in it from the last time he had seen it. The main difference was that nothing was destroyed or damaged, but neat and well-organized. There were two new portraits on the wall. In the first one stood Professor Dumbledore, smiling at them with that annoying twinkle in his eyes he always seemed to have. Not to Ron's surprise, the other portrait was occupied by Severus Snape. He was sitting on a black leather armchair, and instead of the smug look Ron expected him to have, he was smiling, and not one of those superior smiles he always had, no, he was really smiling. Still in a state of shock, he adverted his eyes from the image he always thought would be the start of an apocalypse to the big desk in front of him. On it stood a bottle of ink and a quill, some parchment and some weird looking objects. There was also a little glass bowl containing what Ron guessed were lemon sweets, which he though was weird because he vividly remembered McGonagall turning those down every time Professor Dumbledore offered her one. Well, he wouldn't be the one to turn them down this time if he was offered one. Moving his head a little bit further up the desk, he spotted the actual headmistress, looking at them with a little smile in her face. 'What is it with smiles today?!'
"Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger. A little bit late aren't we?" She said, a twinkle similar to Dumbledore's in her eyes. 'And the twinkle! Why does every head at Hogwarts have that? Is it like a tradition or someting…?!' Ron wondered, not noticing the insinuation between his former teacher's words.
"Oh, sorry professor" Hermione answered, a slight blush creeping over her cheeks. "But Ron" She gave him a brief glare and turned back to face the headmistress "couldn't find something and refused to leave without it"
"Don't worry about it Miss. Granger, a few minutes won't harm, although I couldn't expect less from Mr. Weasley. And please, call me Minerva, you are no longer my students and from what you did two years ago, you deserve it."
"Thank you…Minerva, but only if you call me Hermione, I have never been really comfortable with Miss. Granger"
"Of course. Now take a seat please. Would you like some sherbet lemons?"
'Okay, the world has definitely gone mad' Ron thought as they sat down, Hermione in the left chair and Ron next to her, in the middle. The offer though, was never answered as when he was about to do so, green flames came from the chimney and Harry stepped out, his hair messier that usual and his glasses hanging from his left ear. He coughed a little bit and brushed some ash from his shoulders.
"Sorry professor, I'm still not used to floo powder" He apologised, before sitting on the last chair left, next to Ron.
"Well, now that you are all here, I would like to thank you for accepting this offer. The Defence Against the Dark Arts class starts in ten minutes. Professor Gwinn will be awaiting for you inside. I expect you remember the way there?"
"Yes" They all answered in unison.
"Well then, good luck. It was nice seeing you again" McGonagall said standing up. She offered a hand to the three of them and accompanied them to the door.
They walked through the silent corridors for a few miutes before finding the class, Ron and Harry following Hermione, as they realised they were not aware of where classes were after the reconstruction of the castle and apparently, the headmistress had only been talking with Hermione when she asked if they remembered where the classes where.
"Okay, so remember" Hermione started before they steped inside "do not say too much about how to make or deal with horcruxes. Don't say anything stupid either, especially you Ron" She added with a smirk. Before Ron could answer though, she was knocking on the door.
A short and slim man with grey hair and a yellow cloak opened it, shaking their hands."Ah, Miss. Granger, good to see you again. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, pleased to meet you. Come in." He motioned inside, and they followed.
The class was bigger than Ron remembered. The ceiling was higher, there were more tables and there was a lot more space to practice than in the class they had used for Defence Against the Dark Arts. They made their way to the front of the room and stood near Professor Gwinn's desk. Every single pair of eyes was focused on them and some mouths were slightly open. The classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. After a few seconds of silence, Profesosr Gwinn started talking.
"Class, these are as you well know, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. They are here to answer your questions concerning the war. I hope you have all brought parchment and quills because I will be including some of their most interesting answers on the writing test next week. You can also ask for tips for your practical defense test, I am sure they would be pleased to make some demonstrations on the spells we have been working on."
The mouths were now closed, and some people had started looking for their supplies, but most of the students were still focused on them. 'Come on, it's not like we are dragons, these kids look like Hermione with Lockhart' Ron though, smiling a little. He made a mental note to tell her this later and continued standing awkwardly in front of the class.
Suddenly, a girl with silky black hair and grey eyes held up her hand. She had just finished organizing her desk and was looking at them with a slight blush on her face. 'Suspicions just confirmed, this is girl acts just like Hermione'. Professor Gwinn gave her a slight nod and she started with her question.
"What were you doing while you were hiding from the death eaters?"
"Well, appart from trying not to get captured, we were looking for some objects called horrocruxes wich would help us defeat Voldemort" Hermione answered. A few gasps were heard, but the reaction to the name was a lot different from the one on the following months to the end of the war.
Another hand shot straight up at the mention of the word horcrux and after being given a nod, a boy from Ravenclaw asked what it was. This time, it was Harry who answered.
"A horcrux is an object which contains a part of someone's soul. They allowed Voldemort to live when his body was destroyed. This is why before trying to kill him we had to destroy these objects. It is also why he was able to return after the last tri-wizard tournament held here."
During an hour, they continued answering questions, most of them concering the war and spells, altough there had been some students who asked for their personal lives, receiving a glare form the professor and no answer from neither Harry, Ron nor Hermione. Ten minutes before the class ended, a Slytherin gril asked why Ron had left while they were on their search. How she knew that, Ron had no idea. Hermione saved him though, when she quickly answered he had offered to go search for a safe place to stay and had been captured by snatchers while doing so. She also said that after getting rid of the snatchers he had found a place and thanks to that they were able to escape Malfoy Manor (A name which a Gryffindor asked about after Hermione's explination and which made the colour drain from her face)
"Okay, this will be it, does anyone have another question?" Professor Gwinn said two minutes before the end of the class. The students stayed silent so the class was dismissed.
"I would like to thank you for coming, this has been very helpful. Also, sorry if some of the questions were too personal, we didn't have time to discuss the type of questions they should have asked" He said once the classroom was empty.
"It was our pleasure Professor Gwinn, and don't worry about the questions, they were just fine" Hermione answered.
After having lunch in the Great Hall, they walked outside of the castle and towards Hogsmeade, where they would be apparating home, but Harry seemed to be lot more eager to get out of the Howart's grounds than Ron and Hermione.
"Mate, why are you walking that fast? It's just Hogsmeade" Ron said
"Well, Kingsley said he wanted to meet with me at 3 and I am running a bit late" Harry answered, starting to run.
"So, guess it's just us now huh?" Ron said, looking at Hermione. "Wait, you don't have any meeting to attend to do you?" Hermione chuckled and shook her head.
"I've missed Hogwarts" She suddenly said, looking at the gigantic castle.
"Hermione, you were here less than a year ago graduating. How can you miss it already?"
"It's not just a school Ron" Hermione answered, scowling at him. "It was my home for seven years, it's where I got to learn magic and make friends. It's where I got to spend time with you and Harry, where we first kissed. It's much more than parchment and quills Ron. Excluding petrification, near death experiences, Umbridge and heartbrake" She said, putting a special emphasis on the last word and looking at Ron with a smirk "I have so many good memories of this place" She then looked at Ron and offered her hand. "Wanna take a walk by the lake?"
"Sure" He answered, acting untouched by her speech, but really, it had activated a light inside his head. As they walked in comfortable silence around the quiet grounds, he started thinking about his attempts to organise the best proposal for Hermione. He had thought of a picnic by the lake near the Burrow, transfiguring a tent to look just like the train compartment where they first met or reserving a table on the restaurant in Australia where they had had their first date. But her little speech had made him realise that he didn't need to organize a big event to propose, it was the little details which mattered the most, and as long as Hermione was the girl he was proposing to, everything would be perfect. And even if he did want to choose a special place, nowhere was as perfect as Hogwarts, his happiest memories took place here, and why not add one more to the album?
"Ron?" He heard someone ask, bringing him back from his thoughts. He looked around and found Hermione looking at him with a slight smile on her face. "Did you hear what I just said?"
"No, sorry" He answered with a small loop-sided grin.
"Well, I asked what you were thinking about"
"Oh, nothing important" He said, shrugging. Oh come on Ron! Don't chicken out now! He internaly scolded himself.
"Actually, it is kind of important" He said just as Hermione started to walk again. She stopped and looked at him straight in the eye, showing full attention.
Shit, okay, this is it. He thought as he held her hands in his. He knelt to the ground and looked up at her. Her eyes were glimmering with tears, of joy, he hoped.
"Hermione, I have been trying to plan the perfect proposal for months now. The perfect speech, venue, ring, I even though of bringing a mariachi band for Merlin's sake." She chuckled at that, bringing one hand up to cover her mouth. "Fortunately, Harry convinced me it was too much. It wasn't until now that I realised, all those thing do not matter. Your little speech made me realise that it will be perfect as long as you are the one I'm kneeling in front of. So, Hermione Jean Granger, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife and make me the happies wizard alive?" He pulled out the velvet box form his pocket and opened it.
Hermione stood frozen on the spot, silent tears falling down her face. Then out of nowhere she held his cheeks and kissed him.
"Of course I will Ron. Even if we were covered in slime and with ragged clothes my answer would be yes, always."
"Really?" He asked, unable to contain his excitment. She nodded her head and he started spinning her around in the air, both of them laughing.
Once he put her down, he got the ring and put in on ther left hand finger. It was simple, a silver band with a little diamond in the middle.
"Do you like it?" He asked. Hermione nodded, looking at it with amazement "I know it's not much, but the other ones looked too fancy or superficial."
"It's perfect Ron, you have finally bough some jewlery that I like!" Hermione said while chuckling "What does it say here?" She asked, pointing to an inscription written on the shiny silver.
"Oh" Ron said, blushing "It sais 'swish and flick'. It's the first order you gave me which I complied willingly. It is also prove that we worked together to save Harry so I though it was quite important."
Hermione stared at the ring for a moment before kissing him again. "Thank you Ron, it's perfect".
"So, when are we telling everyone?" Hermione asked, once they had resumed walking, hand in hand.
"Well, I though we could tell my family on Saturday when we meet them to have lunch. We could invite your parents as well so they can learn the news at the same time" Ron answered. He was personaly dreading his family's reaction. He was a hundred per cent sure his mother would start crying and would hug him until all his bones where broken, Ginny wouldn't stop squealing like she did when she was little and George wouldn't stop teasing him. Hopefully with Hermione's parents there, they wouldn't act as crazy.
"It's settled then" Hermione said after thinking about it.
"Yep. By the way Hermione, I just remembered something. While we were waiting for the questions to start, those kids were looking at us as if we were Merlin, guess who they rememinded me of" Ron said with a grin.
After a moment of thinking, Hermione declared she had no idea. "Well, I think it was quite obvious they were acting exactly like you did with Lockhart!" Ron said, looking down at her teasingly.
"Yeah well, at least I didn't act as a complete fool when Fleur passed by on fourth year" She replied with a smile.
"That was just because she's half-veela. Plus I don't look at her like that anymore, I've come to my senses."
"Well, I don't look at Lockhart that way anymore either"
"True story" Ron said, giving her a little peck on the lips. "It is me who you look at that way now!" He said triumphantly. Hermione just rolled her eyes and hit him lightly on his arm, which made Ron chuckle.
"That was quite a decent speech you made back there by the way" Hermione started, stopping a little bit to make him believe it was a compliment "Never thought you were capable of that" She added, looking up at him with a smirk.
"Always a tone of surprise" He answered.
I really hope you enjoyed this. If you did please follow, favourite or review. You took the time to read, why not comment on what you though about it? It really brightens my day. Also, my sister insisted that I say she contributed on some of the sentences. Thanks a lot for reading and specially to those who have supported this story, you are awesome. Happy holidays.
Au revoir ;)