A/N:I’m still having that review issue, but I’d like to thank all of you for your brilliant reviews. They have positively made my day! Thank you!
Harry was grateful when the rest of March passed without any more bad dreams, his sleep hadn’t settled down any, but at least there were no disturbing visions contending with his studies for his attention. When they steamed their way into April the workload piled upon the seventh years doubled. Lavender Brown was taken down to the hospital wing convinced that she was having a nervous breakdown. Fifth years and seventh years could be found sitting in the common room until all hours of the day and night with their noses stuck in books and quills scratching parchment feverishly.
At the end of the first week those who were returning to their families, which accounted for a large portion of the student body, packed up some of their things and lined up for the Thestral drawn carriages that would take them down to the station. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Neville and Susan didn’t join them; they would be taking a different method of transportation. At eleven o’clock in the morning, after all the other students had departed, they made their way down to Hagrid’s hut with their trunks shrunk down to fit in their pockets.
“Hullo,” the half giant greeted them warmly. “I ‘aven’t seen yeh down here in a while,” he mentioned with a sly look at them.
“Sorry, Hagrid, things have been kind of hectic,” Harry explained.
“So I ‘eard, yer cer’ainly ‘ave a way o’ findin’ trouble, ‘Arry,” Hagrid smiled.
“I do not, the trouble follows me, not the other way around!” he protested.
“I know tha’. How’re the res’ o’ yeh doin’?” he beamed at the other five.
“Good, yeah,” Ron nodded.
“I was glad ter ‘ear tha’ the two o’ yeh made up,” Hagrid winked at Ron and Hermione. “And yer lookin’ migh’y fine there, Neville,” he nodded at the young Longbottom.
“It’s going great thanks, Professor Hagrid,” Neville grinned.
“Are yeh feelin’ better these days, Ginny?”
“Much. thanks for the cakes you sent up, they were delicious!” she lied effortlessly. Hagrid had baked her some of his infamous rock cakes, they were infamous because you could crack all your teeth on them. Madam Pomfrey had confiscated the large tin of cakes because she considered them to be ‘dangerous to a person’s health.’
“They were jus’ a little somethin’ to tide yeh over,” he winked at her; the hospital wing’s food was notoriously bad because of the matron’s insistence that it be healthy. “Well, we’re jus’ waitin’ for Liza and you lot can be off.” Hagrid began pouring them some tea. They settled in around the enormous table and sipped their tea gently; they only had to wait ten minutes or so for Ellie to appear.
“Hiya, Hagrid, you doing all right?” She greeted her dear old friend with a kiss on the cheek.
“I’m fine, Liza, ‘ow abou’ yeh?”
“I’m getting there,” she said with a smile. “Is everyone ready?” she asked the group. They all nodded and rose from the table. “Is it all right if I borrow this,” she asked Hagrid, she was holding up an oversized bucket.
“ ‘Course yeh can,” he boomed in a tone that wondered why she’d bothered asking, he wouldn’t have denied her anything.
“Thank you, Portus!” The bucket glowed blue for a moment. “Everybody get a finger on,” she instructed.
“Make sure yeh’s don’t leave it too long to come an’ see me when yeh’s get back.” Was the last thing that Hagrid said to them. When everyone was touching the bucket there was a sudden jerk and everyone was spinning their way to Potter Hall.
When they landed in the family kitchen everyone was looking at Ellie, she was considerably greener around the gills than she had been when they had departed from Hagrid’s cabin. “Are you okay, Ellie?” Ginny asked tentatively.
“I’m going to be sick!” She gasped before clamping her hand over her mouth and rushing in the direction of the bathroom.
“Perhaps you should go and check on her, Charlie,” Molly suggested, she was just laying out a nice spread of sandwiches on the table. It was unnecessary advice though because Charlie was already in hot pursuit of his wife. “Come here, Ginny,” she suddenly instructed sternly. Ginny just rolled her eyes and went to stand beside her mother. Molly started looking over her only daughter scrupulously, she ran her fingers through Ginny;s now shoulder length hair and over her slightly paler than usual complexion. In the blink of any eye, Molly had thrown her arms around her daughter and was sobbing into her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Mum,” Ginny promised.
“All alone for two weeks!” Molly howled.
“Mum, I’m fine and you’ll be glad to know that Harry isn’t going to let me out of his sight, are you, Harry?” Ginny’s voice sounded oddly pitched because of the grip her mother had on her.
“That’s right,” Harry confirmed as he joined Arthur in the attempt to pull Molly off their daughter. Like a shot she let go of Ginny and clamped herself around Harry instead.
“You’re such a good boy you know,” she wailed in his ear.
“Thank you, Mum,” he said as he kindly eased a hand along her back. She seemed to find this soothing because after a second or two she let go of him and spotted that Ron had Hermione were holding hands once again.
“Have you two made up?” she asked, her lips were pursed to hold back the cry of relief she was desperate to release.
“Yeah, finally came to our senses,” Ron said with his ears burning red, he hated having scenes like this in front of everyone. There was no time at all until Molly had flung herself on them as well. With everybody fawned over sufficiently to allow Molly to rest easy, she returned her attention to the table. “Everybody sit down, Dobby and Winky have made us a few sandwiches,” she smiled at the newcomers. The only thing was when she said ‘a few sandwiches’ she actually meant enough to feed Hogwarts’ entire student number. After the light lunch Neville and Susan got given the guided tour of the house, they ended up taking rooms in H Wing with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.
“And I thought that your other house was impressive!” Neville exclaimed.
“It’s the Weasley’s now,” Harry informed him.
“You gave them a house?” he asked in disbelief.
“Erm…yeah,” Harry blushed.
“That’s very generous of you, Harry,” Susan complimented him.
“That’s my Harry for you, generous to the core,” Ginny gushed sickly as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and gave him an amorous smile.
“What do you want?” he asked suspiciously. Ginny wasn’t in the habit of making such mawkish remarks in front of others unless she wanted something.
“I was thinking you and me in the wine cellar in ten minutes,” she whispered conspiratorially in his ear before flashing him a smile that paraded all her sparkling white teeth.
“I’ll be there,” he whispered back.
A couple of days into the holiday Harry was dawdling around his room having a tidy up when there was a quiet knock at the door. “Come on in,” he called. His visitor turned out to be Ron. “All right, mate?” he asked jovially.
“Um…yeah, I wondered if I could have a word?” Ron was standing very awkwardly.
“You could have several if you wanted,” Harry joked but Ron just smiled strangely and nodded.
“I wanted to ask you something…” he began.
“Ask away,” Harry did his best to encourage his friend who was starting to look rather ill.
“How do you know when it’s true love?” Ron asked suddenly.
“What?” Harry yelled, unfortunately he had just taken a mouthful of pumpkin juice and his sudden speech had sprayed this all over Ron’s face.
“How refreshing,” Ron said dryly, as he drew Harry a filthy look. “I’ve been thinking a lot in the last few weeks and I think…no, I know that…” he paused and took a deep breath. “….that I want to ask Hermione to marry me,” he said finally.
“Sorry, Ron, look can you give me a minute to go and get Ginny, I have a feeling we might need her help?”
“I suppose, if you think she’ll be useful?”
“I do,” Harry blurted and ran from the room. He dashed all the way down the stairs in to the library where he knew Ginny was studying with Hermione. “Hermione, I don’t suppose I can borrow Ginny for a second, can I?”
“Of course you can,” Hermione gave him a knowing smile she suspected that they were off to find a nice quiet corner to kiss in.
“Thanks,” he said to her. He then began franticly beckoning Ginny towards him.
“What’s the matter, Harry?” she asked him as he practically manhandled her up the stairs.
“We have a Ron emergency,” he said urgently. She just looked at him peculiarly. “Okay, we’re back,” he announced as he re-entered the room. Ron was now perched on the side of the bed. “You can ask your question again.” Ron gave Ginny a highly dubious look but tried again all the same.
“How do you know when it’s true love?” he asked again patiently. Ginny made a little noise and clutched her hand to her chest.
“The second you start wondering if its true love, oh, Ron,” she cried and seized her brother around the neck.
“What do you reckon, Harry?” Ron inquired as though Ginny’s assertion wasn’t proof enough.
“I’d say that you know it’s true love when… you can’t think of anybody else but her… when you want to spend every possible moment next to her… and when you can’t possibly imagine being with anybody else,” Harry said after a long moment of consideration. Ron looked slightly more appeased by this answer.
“My next question is, how do you tell her?” This question was most definitely directed at Harry, he suddenly felt very beleaguered because Ginny was gazing at him intently as well.
“I’d go for the direct approach, look her in the eye and tell her that you love her,” he smiled at Ginny, who grinned right back.
“Is it really that simple?” Ron asked Ginny this one.
“As long as you look her in the eye and mean it then, yes, it is.” She patted her brother’s shoulder lightly; he was so adorable when he was vulnerable.
“Last question, what’s the best way to propose to Hermione?” Ron asked the fireplace. He couldn’t look at their faces, he was too afraid of what he might see there.
“Get her somewhere that she loves and tell her how you feel…” Ginny advised.
“Use details, tell her everything about it,” Harry added.
“Then just look her right in the eye and say…”
“Ginny, I love you, will you marry me?” Harry said. Ron suddenly looked at Harry wide-eyed.
“Yes,” Ginny replied. She was gazing at Harry with tear filled eyes. She couldn’t believe that he’d actually just said that.
“Hermione! I meant you say Hermione, I love you, will you marry me?” Harry covered for himself quickly. His brain hadn’t quite registered her answer. “Yes?” he gulped.
“Yes,” she said more firmly.
“Do you mean it? Do you really want to marry me?” He was astounded, surely she couldn’t really be saying yes. He thought about the moment a couple of weeks ago when he had been ready to ask her that very question and had got interrupted. Everything had been so planned then, he had worked out every single word that was going to leave his mouth. Now he had asked by accident, he had meant to say Hermione but he’d been looking at Ginny at the time and poof! out it came.
“Of course I do! Oh, Harry,” she cried and threw herself on her boyfriends chest; she was sobbing tears of joy.
“Wow, I can’t believe we’re getting married,” Harry gasped in to her hair.
“First of all, you were supposed to be helping me with my proposal, not making one to my kid sister,” said Ron’s angry voice. Harry looked up from Ginny’s flaming locks to see that although Ron’s voice was irate he was grinning widely at the pair. “Secondly, you’re not getting married, unless I’m much mistaken, you haven’t asked for permission yet!” he gave Harry a stern finger shake but accompanied it with a jovial wink.
“Dad practically gave him permission at Christmas!” Ginny reminded him.
“Practically giving and actually giving are two different things; you’ll need to ask him before you do anything else,” Ron said, he watched with pleasure as Harry’s smile faltered for a second. Asking Mr. Weasley to marry Ginny would mean that the whole family would find out and that meant that all those Weasley brothers would know. What would they do to him?
“Okay, you make a fair point about the permission thing but I think you’ll find that we just gave you plenty of help with how to propose to Hermione,” Harry smiled at his friend.
“I suppose,” Ron grumbled; he didn’t like being outsmarted.
“When are you going to do it?” Ginny asked.
“I really don’t know,” he said with a suddenly nervous voice. Now that he had discussed this with them he couldn’t back out of it. “When’s the best time to ask a girl to marry you?” he asked Harry with a grin.
“When she’s least expecting it,” Harry answered and kissed Ginny’s forehead.
“Promise you’ll let us know when you decide?” Ginny smiled, he nodded as she gave him a final pat on the back. “Is that all you needed me for?” she asked Harry with a pout.
“For now,” he smiled.
“Well, you know where I’ll be when you’ve finally bucked up the courage to speak to my dad.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran the whole way back to the library. “Hermione, you’ll never guess what just happened!” she squealed.
A/N2: There we are, I finally did it, you can all jump for joy now. Just don’t jump too high. The next chapter is…N.E.W.T