Hermione Granger looked up from her work, rubbed her eyes gently, and let out a long sigh. It had been a long day already, and she’d only just returned to the Ministry from her lunch break. The project she was working on was proving to be more complicated than she’d anticipated. She welcomed the unexpected distraction when a tiny little owl hooted and flew straight into her office window.
“Pig.” she grinned, tossing back her bushy hair. “You’re carrying a big package there, aren’t you?”
Hermione untied the package, which wasn’t really all that big, but seemed rather large dangling from the tiny owl. Once free of the weight, Pig hooted happily and nudged her hand.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have any treats here.” Looking around the room, Hermione grabbed the only food she had nearby. “Want some of my apple?”
Pig gnawed excitedly on the fruit while Hermione opened the note attached to the package.
H-
I’ll meet you at your place at 7:00 tonight.
-R
With a wide smile, Hermione ripped the paper from the rest of her delivery knowing exactly what she would find. Somehow he knew. He always seemed to know exactly what she needed, and exactly when she needed it. This was the perfect pick me up, just what she needed to make it through the rest of the work day: A Chocolate Frog.
*****
The first time Ron Weasley had given Hermione Granger a Chocolate Frog it hadn’t meant much. After all, he’d given one to Harry Potter as well; the three best friends had munched on the treats quickly before the tasty frogs jumped away from them. But even as a twelve year old, Ron had known that Hermione was special. Along with Harry, they’d earned the right to some sweets on their train ride back to King’s Cross on the Hogwarts Express. Their first year had been a tough one.
Then second year came along, and once again, Ron found himself giving Hermione a Chocolate Frog. The bushy-haired bookworm had been petrified for over a month. For a long time, Ron and Harry didn’t know exactly what had caused it.
One night, using Harry’s invisibility cloak, Ron had sneaked up to the Hospital Wing. He had stared at his friend for so long that he’d nearly melted the Chocolate Frog in his hand. He never really knew how long he stood there, wishing his friend would somehow wake up and tell him off for being out of bed after curfew. When he did leave, Ron placed the Chocolate Frog carefully on the table beside Hermione’s bed. He had hoped she would know who it was from.
Then, the summer before third year Ron gave Hermione another Chocolate Frog. It happened just before Harry met up with them in Diagon Alley. They’d been walking about with the rest of the Weasley’s, and Mr. Weasley was asking Hermione about Muggle snacks. After patiently explaining to his father that the chocolate her friends usually ate didn’t jump out of its own packaging, Hermione had rewarded Ron with a wide smile after he handed her the chocolate that did give one good leap.
The next Chocolate Frog came a couple months into their third year at Hogwarts. Hermione had yelled at Ron for something he was still sure wasn’t his fault. Ron had yelled back, because that’s usually what Ron did. When Hermione ran to the library with tears in her eyes, Ron knew he had to do something to show her he was sorry. The next morning, Ron had mumbled something that Hermione had accepted as an apology. At the same time he’d stuffed the candy into her hand before running up the staircase to grab his books for Potions class.
By the time Hermione and Harry joined the Weasleys’ at the Quidditch World Cup, Ron had lost count of how many Chocolate Frogs he’d given her. He’d passed one to her as he handed her some extra blankets for her to share with Ginny. Ron had not waited for Hermione to notice that along with the blankets there was something else for her. Trying to be discreet, Ron had turned to the twins to continue his argument about the Cannons’ chance for winning the next tournament. He had hoped Hermione wouldn’t notice the red Weasley flush he felt spreading across his face.
The giving of Chocolate Frogs hadn’t stopped there. Ron had given several to Hermione during their time at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Of course, he always shared his sweets with her during their trips on the Hogwarts Express and during their free time spent in the Griffyndor Common Room. Ron quickly learned that a Chocolate Frog was just the thing for Hermione. They always seem to help whether she was angry with him, sad about something, or just having a bad day.
During every trip into Hogsmeade they’d made a necessary stop at Honeydukes. Ron would stock up, mostly because he needed to keep his personal chocolate stash filled, but also partly because he’d learned over the years that he really liked watching Hermione nibble at the chocolate. He had started to imagine what it would be like to lick the melted leftovers from the corner of her mouth. Ron had vowed to always have a Chocolate Frog on hand to give to his best friend.
Even after Hermione became more than just his best friend, Ron still kept a stash of Chocolate Frogs handy. He considered it an insurance plan of sorts. He was prepared for the times that Hermione would be hacked off at him, always for something he swore wasn’t his fault. Plus, they also came in handy for the nights they didn’t have any date plans. He could show up at her flat unannounced, hand her a Chocolate Frog, and later he could slowly lick the melted leftovers from the corner of her mouth, just like he had dreamed years before.
******
Just as she expected, a Chocolate Frog took a good leap out from the package Ron had sent. Hermione caught it just in time, and took a bite out of it savoring the taste that always reminded her of Ron. She picked up a quill, scratched a quick note on a small piece of parchment, and tied it to Pig’s leg. “Take this back to Ron, all right? You don’t have to hurry, just make sure he gets this before I’m off work.”
Pig hooted and flew a few laps around Hermione’s office before flying energetically out the window.
The rest of Hermione’s day dragged on. She had a date to look forward to, and that somehow made her work seem tedious. By the time her charmed watch read, “Done Work for the Day,” she was more than happy to head home.
Hermione Apparated directly into her kitchen, setting her work sack unceremoniously into its usual spot near the pantry. She pointed her wand to open the cupboard and summoned a drinking glass. When the glass knocked a small package from the cupboard, Hermione moved over to investigate.
“Ron!” She exclaimed when she saw what had fallen.
A Chocolate Frog.
“Oh, Ron, what have you been up to?” Smiling to herself, Hermione set the Chocolate Frog on the table, and moved to pour herself a cold drink of water.
In the fridge, next to the water jug, sat another Chocolate Frog. “What on earth has he done?” She wondered out loud. With a smile, she downed the water, and headed down the hall toward the bathroom.
As she did every afternoon upon returning home, Hermione moved to pick up a framed photo of her parents. The non-magical photo showed the two Muggle dentists smiling. The young witch picked up the frame and kissed it twice. She’d done this every day since Death Eaters had stormed her childhood home and murdered her parents. They had tortured her parents trying to get information from them about the whereabouts of their daughter and her friends during the height of the war.
Hermione could now smile at the photo, three years after the War was over, but there was still a trace of sadness in her. She missed her parents terribly. As Hermione put the frame back, she noticed something tucked behind it. Without seeing what it was, she knew right away what it was: Another Chocolate Frog.
“You’ve been busy, Mr. Weasley,” she murmured, shaking her head good-humouredly. Hermione picked up the candy and kissed the packaging, closing her eyes she thought of her adorable boyfriend.
She and Ron had found each other as more than friends during the war. The intense feelings they held for each other were amplified by the desperation of the Wizarding World’s precarious position. Preparing with Harry to face Voldemort had been so frightening, and they’d turned to each other for comfort. Without time to even contemplate what was happening, they’d found themselves hopelessly, snitch over broomstick in love.
Sighing, Hermione pulled out her wand and levitated the Chocolate Frog carefully to sit on the kitchen table with the others she’d gathered. She smiled and made her way to her bedroom. She was only vaguely surprised to see another Chocolate Frog sitting on her pillow. Turning around to take in the rest of the room, Hermione wondered how many other hopping chocolate surprises she would find tonight.
There was another sitting on her nightstand between her magical alarm clock and her diary. Another one tucked beside a small stack of books on her dresser. Yet another one was teetering from the doorknob on her closet. There were others, placed all around the bedroom: on her bookshelf, on the window ledge, on her dresser, and on the chair that usually just held folded laundry.
Hermione collected the reminders Ron had lovingly tempted her with, and set them on the bed to join the other Chocolate Frog on her pillow. She glanced at the clock as she picked up the candy that had been hidden on her nightstand.
“If I’m to be ready by seven you’d better stop enticing me with chocolate, Ron.”
Hermione stripped her work clothes quickly, tossed them into the hamper, and grabbed her dressing gown. She was not at all surprised when she found another Chocolate Frog under her favorite blue gown. She chuckled, wrapped herself in the gown, and padded to the bathroom.
There usually wasn’t much to look at in Hermione’s bathroom. A small tub with a shower, then a white toilet, flanked to one side a rubbish bin, and to the other side a small magazine rack which was near bursting with a handful of magazines, newspapers, and three thick books. The towel rack held out two fluffy white towels; one for Hermione to wrap around her bushy hair, and the other to dry herself off. And lastly there was the simple white sink set into a conservative vanity counter which was neatly filled with the items every modest witch needs on a daily basis. But today there was also something different.
There was a small invasion of Chocolate Frogs.
One sat on the closed seat of the toilet, two more above the tanks. Another was perched on the magazine rack. There was a confection waiting in the sink: one tucked into the toothbrush holder, one lying upside down beside the lotion pump that had obviously fallen from the pump earlier, and one waiting on top of the towel rack.
Giggling, Hermione gathered them all up, stacked them beside the sink, and pulled back the green and pink floral shower curtain. Her giggle became a loud laugh when she saw what her boyfriend had done to her bathtub. There was a Chocolate Frog sitting on each of her shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles. There was another Chocolate Frog innocently resting on her sponge, and at least a dozen more sitting on the floor of her tub.
“It’s a good thing I just cleaned the bathroom, right Ron?” Hermione laughed, and gathered together the near lifetime supply of chocolate. Once all the Chocolate Frogs she found in the bathroom had been piled on the counter, she removed her gown and hopped into the shower.
A good scrubbing later, Hermione was quite ready to be dressed and meet Ron. She was quite desperate to find out what he had planned with all the Chocolate Frogs. Well, she had a few ideas of what he might have planned, but when Ron Weasley was your boyfriend one never knew exactly what his intentions were when it came to chocolate.
When Hermione opened the white painted wooden doors to her small closet, she was too busy trying to decide what to wear to notice more Chocolate Frogs. One was tucked into each of her shoes which were meticulously lined up along the floor. But after shimmying into some attractive red dress robes, she looked down to choose the perfect shoes and saw the candies that were so typical of Ron.
“Oh Ron!” Hermione laughed. “There must be at least three dozen more here…. what on earth are you trying to do to me?” She shook her head, pulling the all the Chocolate Frogs that were hidden in a pair of pointy toed silver pumps. She slid the shoes onto her modestly pedicured feet, grabbed a matching silver handbag, and wandered back into the bathroom carefully packing her purse for a night of unknown plans.
Hermione smiled wistfully at the large stack on Chocolate Frogs. She tucked one into her handbag at the last moment, then grabbed her wand and used it to Levitate the rest of the chocolates into her bedroom. She added them to the pile on her bed, then summoned the Chocolate Frogs from her closet and landed them on the bed as well. Another flick of her wand and all the Chocolate Frogs went zooming into her room from the kitchen and hallway right onto the bed.
“Well, my Chocolate Frogs are all together now, I guess I’m pretty much ready.” Hermione was highly amused by the rather large pile of chocolate sitting on her bed. “Now, I just have to wait for Ron.”
Hermione made her way back to the kitchen and glanced at the enchanted grandfather clock on the far side of the room. It read, “You’re a bit early.”
Hermione sighed and decided to make a pot of tea while she waited for Ron. She didn’t really need tea just then, but the act seemed right. She started the kettle with a flick of her wand, and picked up the tea pot to dump out the leftover tea and bags from breakfast. But instead of cool amber liquid and two brown soggy lumps splashing into the sink she found another Chocolate Frog.
“Honestly, Ron!” Hermione was laughing again. “The teapot?”
The kettle began to whistle softly, so Hermione quickly summoned two fresh tea bags into the now chocolate-free teapot and poured the boiling water over them. Still laughing, she levitated two tea cups from the cupboard. She then added some milk to each of the cups, and three spoonfuls of sugar to one cup and just one spoonful to the other cup. While Hermione liked her tea only a bit sweet, after seven years of friendship and another three of dating, she knew Ron’s sweet tooth well. She grinned as she thought about what her dentist parents would’ve said about all that sugar.
Just as Hermione was ready to pour the perfectly steeped tea, she heard a crack behind her and whirled around. Right before her stood her boyfriend; he was facing away from her, toward the table.
“You’re wearing the red robes, right?” Ron guessed before turning around. Without waiting for an answer, her spun toward Hermione. “I was right!”
Ron’s correct wardrobe prediction earned him a bright smile and a big kiss from Hermione.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” The kiss left Ron beaming. “How was your day?”
“Well, it was interesting.” Hermione began, pulling away from Ron and pouring the tea. “I was constantly held up by chocolate. Can you imagine?”
“You don’t say!”
“I do say.” Hermione gestured to Ron to sit at the table and she brought the teacups over, handing Ron the significantly sweeter cup. “Do you know anything about that?”
“Well, I might.” Ron made a great effort to look deep in thought while he sipped his tea. “Exactly what kind of chocolate was this?”
“Well, the really yummy, really jumpy, really Ron-like kind.” Hermione bit her lip as she pondered what to say next. “The really tempting kind,” she finished with a wink.
Ron’s freckles faded slightly as a slow blush crossed his face. He looked down at his teacup as his cheeks heated. “Tempting?” he croaked.
Hermione smiled demurely. “Yes, tempting.” She held her head high, despite the flobberworms she could feel turning in her tummy. “Tempting Chocolate Frogs, what exactly do you know about them?”
Ron set his teacup down, looking nervous. He fiddled with the collar on his deep blue dress robes. He’d had his mother help him charm away the wrinkles on his robes. There were a set which he hadn’t worn since his brother Charlie’s wedding nearly a year ago. Ron hadn’t been comfortable in them then, he didn’t know why he thought he’d be comfortable tonight of all nights. And why did special events require that his air supply be diminished, anyway?
“Ron?” Hermione interrupted his thoughts. “Is everything okay?”
“Er, yeah.” Ron looked back up at her. “Just, er, need more sugar for my tea.” He got up and moved to the counter.
“More sugar? I added three big scoops already. Honestly Ron, what’s going on?”
Hermione stared across the kitchen at Ron, who was using his wand to shakily add more sweetness to his cup. Instead of fading slowly, Ron’s blush was only getting deeper now. She couldn’t understand what had gotten into him. Did he have some big elaborate date planned? Hermione dismissed the idea almost immediately.
Ron wasn’t the planner, she was. When they’d first crossed the line of friendship, Hermione had been the one to come up with their date ideas. She’d taken Ron to a few of her favorite book stores and teashops in the Muggle World where she’d spent her first years in, but they’d usually been such disastrous outings that she’d stuck with magical places for the past two and a half years. It was just easier that way. Ron was sweet, loyal… and predictable.
Except today, she was quite surprised with all the Chocolate Frogs Ron had place for her to collect all day.
“Ron?”
He sighed and set his cup down. He knew that by know he’d added far too much sugar, and wasn’t going to be able to drink it anymore. But at least the act of getting up and moving around doing something had distracted him for a while. He’d wanted to take Hermione for dinner, maybe take a walk first, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to compose himself. Maybe it was just better to get it over with quickly.
Taking a deep breath, Ron moved back over to Hermione at the table. She stood up as he got near her, but he put his strong hands on her shoulders and softly pushed her back down.
“No, sit for this okay?”
Hermione nodded silently.
“Hermione, did you count the Chocolate Frogs I left you today?”
She smiled. “I think I lost count when I tried to take a shower.”
“Yes, well, eventually you’ll find eighty-two.”
Hermione’s eyes were wide. “Eighty-two?”
“Yup.” Another burst of red blush spread across Ron’s face as he picked up Hermione’s hands. “In fourth year, I stole one of your Arithmancy texts. Of course, I wasn’t really reading it. I was just using it as a cover while I stared at you across the table. You didn’t notice because you were deep into an Ancient Runes essay. I know you don’t think I ever paid attention to your essays, but I did. And not just the ones for classes I was in, either. I was always interested-”
“Ron, why did you really take that textbook?”
“It really was so that I could stare. Here you were, ready to go to the Ball with Vicky. My best friend had turned into this beautiful woman, and I hadn’t even noticed. I already loved you, you know, the same way I loved Harry, but now there was something else there. I kept staring at you and staring at the book, and suddenly, all the numbers just sort of floated together on the page to form eighty-three.”
“Eighty-three…. what… but you just said there were eighty-two.”
“Shh, let me finished, okay? I know I’m babbling as usual, but I really need to get this out, all right?”
Hermione nodded.
Ron dropped to his knees in front of Hermione, and gathered her hands in one of his. “After I managed to focus again, the numbers all went swimming back out along the page. I started to read the text, to find out what the puzzle was. It was a love puzzle, and the book said there was no right answer; everyone would get a different answer. I got eighty-three. According to the book, that meant eighty-three is my lucky love number.”
Ron glance nervously at Hermione, making sure she was following him and then continued. “Once I realized that I’d just found my lucky love number in your textbook, while staring at you, well… let’s just say I was all confused, flustered. I knew I fancied you then, but love, I wasn’t sure. Time passed and I had forgotten about such lucky love number. After a few horrible months in sixth year, when I once again came across one of your Arithmancy books, I remembered that number. My number…our number: Eighty-three. It was when I knew that I loved you.”
Ron took a deep breath, and pulled another Chocolate Frog box from the pocket of his robes. “This one is probably a bit melty, I’m really nervous right now Hermione.”
“Don’t be Ron, it’s just me.” Hermione gave him a soft kiss to reassure him. She still didn’t know what he was getting at, but he looked so cute and anxious that she didn’t want to stop his rambling to figure it out just yet. “Just me,” she repeated kindly.
“Just you? Hermione, you’re not just you, you’re everything… everything to me. I know the chocolate part might be a little silly, but I’ve always given you Chocolate Frogs all along the ten years I’ve known you, so it seemed fitting now. There are eighty-three Chocolate Frogs including this one, since I really need luck on my side today.”
Ron took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. “Hermione, we were friends for over six years before we finally admitted there was more to us that just that. We fought a war that killed too many good people, and yet somehow we found ourselves stronger at the end, having defeated evil with good. We helped kill hate with love.”
He took another deep breath, and cleared his throat. “I love you Hermione. Let’s show the world one more time how much stronger love really is. Marry me?”
The blush had now completely covered Ron’s face, nearly hiding his many freckles. His eyes were expressing love and hope. He looked deeply at Hermione, waiting… praying he’d get the answer he wanted.
Hermione jumped out of her chair, threw her arms at Ron’s neck and pulled him close almost knocking him on the ground. She kissed him ferociously, laughing and crying at the same time.
“Of course we’re stronger than hate Ron! I love you.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, rubbing onto Ron’s heated face.
“Is that a yes?” Ron mumbled into her hair.
“Of course, it’s a yes! Now either start kissing me back, or hand me that last Chocolate Frog.”