Forever Yours

"What in the bloody hell is going on here?!" Hermione and George broke away from each other to find an extremely angry Ron standing in the doorway. Neither Hermione nor George could find anything to say and Ron's fists were visibly clenching at his sides as he looked from Hermione to his brother and then back to Hermione.

"Ron, it's not what it looks like," Hermione managed to say as she sat up and pushed George away from her lightly. Ron's face was now bright red and both could tell that he was not buying it.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that there's nothing going on between you two when I come walking in here and find you both like this?" he asked. George went to open his mouth to say something, but Ron cut him off. "Don't you dare even think about saying anything to me, George," he said angrily as he pointed at his brother. "You go behind my back and try to seduce my girlfriend thinking-"

"That's quite enough, Ron," Hermione said as she cut him off. "I am not your girlfriend anymore and the only one you have to blame for that is yourself. Wasn't it you that I caught in bed with Lavender the other day?" she asked him rhetorically. He didn't have to answer her question because she knows what she saw and there was absolutely nothing he could say or do to make her think otherwise.

"You see? You've totally missed the point, 'Mione," Ron said. Ron then turned back to his brother. "And you. You're supposed to be my brother. You're not supposed to try and hook up with my girlfriend or an ex-girlfriend that I have, George. How could you do this to me?" he asked.

"Ron, it wasn't like I planned on this happening and it wasn't as if I purposely made it a point for this to happen. I had just been dumped by Alicia and Hermione had just caught you cheating on her. We both went out for a drink and we bumped into each other. We were both having a bad day and we decided to wallow in our sorrows together," George explained. "And I didn't ask Hermione to live with me because I wanted to shag her or anything of the sort," George said.

Ron's eyes grew wide at George's last comment; that was all he needed to hear. With those last few words, Ron let his fist fly and it connected with George's face. George fell to the ground, but got back up. Before George could even throw a punch back, there was a flash of light and Ron was found locked in the full body bind. Hermione lowered her wand and moved closer to where Ron was. "Go home, Ron," she said to him as tears streamed down her face. "I don't want to see you anymore and you are no longer welcomed here. Forget about me and forget any future for the two of us. You screwed up and there is no fixing that now." Without another word, Hermione fled the room and disappeared behind her bedroom door.

George looked at his brother with narrowed eyes. "Why do you always have to make her cry, you prat?" he asked his brother. "Do you just like to make her feel like that? How could you ever want to cheat on her? She's never done anything but treat you like a king. And then you go and disrespect her by sleeping with Lavender Brown. What the hell is the matter with you, Ron?" he asked his brother with a disgusted voice. "You know what, just leave. Neither of us want you here and you are obviously just too pigheaded to realize that you were the one who did something wrong; not me and not Hermione." Without another word, George turned away from his brother and left the room. Before disappearing behind his won door, George flicked his wrist and released Ron from the bindings that Hermione had put on him. He then went into his room and closed his door. George could hear Hermione sobbing in her room, but he thought it would be best not to bother her now.

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It had been several days since Ron had caught George and Hermione together. George was still sporting the black eye Ron had given him and Ron was still feeling the effects of the hex Hermione had hit him with after they had started fighting.

No one in his family was speaking to Ron for what he had done to Hermione. He had tried to talk his way around what he had done, but none of them wanted to hear it. In turn, Ron was not speaking to anyone because he still believed that Hermione had been cheating on him with George this whole time.

One afternoon, Hermione was reading a book at home when she heard a soft pop. She looked up to find Ron standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here, Ron?" she asked him with a harsh tone.

"I want some answers."

"Answers to what? I don't owe you any explanations, Ronald."

"Yes you do, Hermione. How long have you been shagging George behind my back? You got all pissed at me when you were doing the same bloody thing."

She glared at him with pure hatred. "I have never cheated on you, Ronald Weasley. The only time I ever touched George was that morning and you and I were over by then."

"Then why did I find you two the way I found you? I find it a little hard to believe that two people, who have never found each other sexually attractive or have ever been in a sexual situation like that before, just jump into what I caught you doing," he told her with a matter of fact tone.

"Who ever said that I wasn't sexually attracted to Hermione before this?" They both turned around to see George standing in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest, his eyes dark with anger as he looked at his younger brother.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked his brother in a slightly agitated voice. Hermione just sat there, looking from George to Ron and back to George.

"What do you think it means, you git? It means that I've always thought Hermione was beautiful, but I just never knew that I had feelings for her beyond that of friendship." He looked at Hermione and smiled at her, his features softening as he did so. "I guess they were just masked by my feelings for Alicia." He then turned back to Ron and his features hardened immediately. "Hermione is not the one that needs to explain anything, Ron. She has done nothing wrong. You are just trying to put the blame on her so that you can feel better about what you have done to her."

"That's not true, George. I caught you two together."

"And I caught you with that trollop, Ronald Weasley. What in the bloody hell is your point?" Hermione screamed at him.

"How can you get mad at me for doing something that you were doing too?" he yelled.

"For the last time, Ron. Nothing happened between me and George until after I found you in bed with that whore," she shouted.

"She's not a whore!"

Hermione eyes widened. "How is it that she's not a whore when you were messing with her behind my back?" she said in a calm yet extremely harsh tone.

"Forget it. It doesn't matter anyway," Ron said. He knew she was right, but he was too stubborn to ever admit that; especially to her. "It's not like it's really worth all of this," he muttered. Whether he meant for George and Hermione to hear him we will never know, but they both definitely did hear him.

Hermione's eyes widened. She walked over to Ron and slapped him hard across the face. "I can't believe you just said that, Ron. How dare you say that it wasn't worth it?" With watery eyes, she fled to her bedroom.

"Nice going, Ron. You did it once again. How could you say that to her? Do you really mean that the last three years were worth nothing?" George shook his head. "Then you really don't deserve her, Ron. She deserves more than that."

"Oh, and I suppose you are the one who can give it to her, right?" Ron asked angrily.

"If it means treating her the way she should be treated and not cheating on her, then yes, I am. No one deserves to be treated the way you treated Hermione. No one."

"But she did it to me. You said it yourself that-"

"No, Ron. I said that I have always thought she was attractive. That does not mean that we have been shagging or seeing each other behind both yours and Alicia's backs. Nothing happened between us until the other day when you found us." He saw the disbelieving look in Ron's eyes. "You are such a prat, you know that? You're my brother and I love you. I would never intentionally hurt you, but you are wrong here and what has happened between Hermione and myself was not planned. It was an accident. Nothing more than an accident."

"I don't believe you, George. There is too much here to deal with," Ron told him.

"Fine, believe what you want to, but until you can think clearly and logically, you are no longer welcome here. I don't want any more problems than we already have."

"You can't be serious. You're banning me from your flat? You're my brother. All this for a girl?"

"I am very serious, Ron. I will not have you here accusing me or Hermione of something that we did not do. I'm sorry, Ron."

Ron glared daggers at his brother. "And of course you take her side because you have been shagging her all this time."

George shook his head and sighed. "No, you git. I'm taking her side because you're wrong and you know it. You know Hermione would never and has never cheated on you. Just accept the fact that you got caught and stop trying to put the blame on everyone but where it belongs."

Ron stared at his brother in disbelief. Did he really just say that to me? He averted his eyes so that he couldn't look at his brother. He knew George was right, but he would never admit it. So without another word, Ron disapparated.

George walked towards Hermione's room and found her packing her things. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing, Hermione?" he asked her. Without looking at him, she continued to gather her things. "'Mione, please. Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving. I will not have you and Ron fighting over me and I will not have us being questioned all the time." She went to move past him to get her things from the bathroom.

He grabbed her arm as she passed him and spun her around to face him. "Don't leave, 'Mione. Don't let Ron's thick headedness and stupidity drive you away from me. Please?" She wouldn't meet his gaze so he grabbed her chin and gently forced her to look at him. "Please don't leave me, 'Mione. I want you to stay. I need you to stay."

She looked deep into his green eyes and saw something that she hadn't seen in Ron's eyes in a long time: love, trust, honesty and loyalty. She masked that fact because she had loved him so much, but now she knew why she didn't see it. He wasn't loyal, he wasn't honest, he wasn't trustworthy and he obviously didn't love her.

It broke her heart to know that she could see and feel these things from George, whom she had only really gotten to know within the last couple of days, and not from Ron, whom she had been with for the last three years. She looked at him for what felt like an eternity, searching for reasons for why she should stay.

He stared into her eyes, losing himself in the sea of chocolate before him. He saw a mixture of feelings within them: betrayal and hurt, though he also saw happiness and trust. The two of them stared at each other for several minutes, neither one of them saying a word. Their mutual feelings flowed between their eyes, telling the other without words how they felt. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I love you, Hermione. I can't explain how or why, but I feel more for you than I ever did for Alicia." She stared at him with owl eyes, too nervous and scared to say anything. His face fell with her silent reaction. He had gone out on a limb to tell her how he felt, no matter how strange it might have sounded. "I'm sorry, 'Mione. I shouldn't have said that. I'll understand if you want to leave now," he said as he started to turn away from her.

"George, wait," she said as she grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. "I think I love you too. I don't know if that is exactly what it is, but I do have feelings for you and they are strong." She stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

"I want to be with you, 'Mione, and I don't care what Ron or anyone else thinks. Will you please stay?"

She smiled at him. "Of course I will stay, but can we please go slowly? I don't want to rush anything," she told him.

"We can go as slow or as fast as you want. I'm not in any rush," he told her as he pulled her closer. "Can I kiss you?" he asked her, their lips inches apart.

She closed her eyes in anticipation. "You can kiss me anytime you want to." She leaned in, closing the distance between them, and captured his lips in a sensual kiss.

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Ten months later, Hermione was cooking dinner the Muggle way, waiting for George to come home from work. She heard a faint pop from the living room and called to him. "I'm in here, George!"

"I'm not George," a rather familiar said from behind her. She spun around to find Ron standing in the doorway. "I need to talk to you," he said quickly as she went to say something. He sat down and placed his wand on the table. "Feel free to hex me at anytime." She put down the fork she had been holding and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What do you want?" she asked him as she sat down at one of the tables in the dining room. "And make it fast. George will be home any minute and I highly doubt that he will want to see you here," she warned him.

Ron's face darkened slightly at the mention of George's name, but he knew that Hermione and George were still together through his mom, sister and Harry. "I don't want any trouble with either of you, Hermione," Ron said to her as he looked down. "I've been doing some thinking over the last few months and I want to apologize for what I did to you. I have finally realized that I was the one who screwed up and that I did something that I regrettably cannot take back. I know now how you must have felt and I wish there was something that I could do to fix the damage that I have done, but I know that there is not. I know that you are happy being with George and I only wish that it was me that you were living with now." Ron had stopped talking, but had not looked up at her; he was too afraid to.

Hermione had just sat there and listened to the words that were pouring out of Ron's mouth and she was genuinely shocked that he was apologizing to her, let alone admitting that he was wrong. It was now that she wished that George was here to hear all this, but she knew he wasn't. "Well I'm glad you've finally come to your senses, Ron, but you are right about something. You can't fix what you have done. I don't even know if I can even be friends with you anymore after this. You took my trust, love and loyalty and completely betrayed it and threw it away like it meant absolutely nothing to you."

She quickly wiped away a tear before continuing. "Now I'm in a relationship where my partner actually caters to my needs and tries to put me before himself in every way he possibly can; someone who's never too tired to rub my feet when I ask or too tired to make me something to eat after I've had a really rough day at work. You've never done any of those things for me, Ron. You never had a problem when I offered to do you things, but you would never offer for me and you'd always put up a fight whenever I asked you to do something for me. I'm sorry Ron, but things will never be the way they used to be and we will never have anywhere close to what we used to have. I may never even be able to trust you again, but I might be able to start trying," she told him with a little bit of hope in her voice. "We've been through way too much to throw it all away, but nothing will be the same now and you will have to deal with that."

Ron nodded as she spoke, hearing her words and knowing that she was speaking the truth. "I understand, Hermione, and I will leave now, so that George doesn't get angry that I was here. Have a good dinner and please let my brother know that I am sorry for all of this. We're family and I don't want to lose him... or you," he said to her. She nodded, but said nothing, and he took that as his cue to leave. Without another word, Ron stood up and picked up his wand from the table. With only a nod of his head he apparated back to his own house.

Little did Hermione and/or Ron know that George had come home already and was standing in the living room listening to the conversation that Ron and Hermione were having in the kitchen. He was rather surprised to hear Ron's voice when he first came home, but he was even more surprised when he heard the apology that Ron was giving her. George's mood had definitely been lifted when Hermione started to tell Ron how much happier she was with George and it made his heart even skip a beat because he was so happy to hear her say that. He wasn't sure if he should let her know he overheard their entire conversation just yet; maybe he would talk to her about it over dinner or even after. He would wait and see what happened throughout the night.

George walked into the kitchen just as Hermione was standing up and she smiled at him. "Hey there, sexy," he said as he moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. She smiled as he leaned down to steal a kiss; something she gave to him willingly.

"Hey, George," she said merrily as she went back to checking the dinner. "Did you have a good day at work?" she asked him as she stirred the pot of sauce that was in front of her.

"My day was great," he told her with a smile. "But then again I guess it would be everyday since I play with jokes all day," he added with a grin. "And you? How was your day? Anything interesting happen today?" he asked her. He wondered if she would tell him about Ron being here and his question was the perfect way to get her to tell him.

"Work was just that... work," she told him, "and nothing really interesting happened to me while I was there," she told him. It wasn't a complete lie, since Ron coming to see her was after she had gotten out of work and was now at home. She wasn't sure why she was even lying to him about it, since it wasn't as if she had done anything with Ron to make George jealous about. "And Ron stopped by not too long ago," she added. She had decided that she didn't want to lie to him, to make him angrier of he did find out later on.

George raised his eyebrows at her when she told him that Ron had stopped by and he was curious to see what she would tell him happened. "Oh did he? What did that prat want here?" he asked her.

"That was my first thought when he got here," she admitted. "I was making dinner and he came here. I called to hi, thinking it was you, but he clarified who he was when he walked into the room. He placed his wand on the table and asked if he could talk to me. He wanted to apologize for blowing up at the two of us for what he walked in on that day. He actually sounded sincere, but there are no amount of words that Ron could say to me t make me want to be with him again," she told George. She made sure to add that last bit in because didn't want him to think that there was a possibility of her going back to Ron.

George was satisfied by the answers he heard, having already heard them when Ron was here earlier. Since she had told him the truth, there was no need to tell her that he had heard the entire conversation anyway, but chose to do so anyway. "You don't have to try and convince me, Hermione," he said to her as he walked closer to her. "I came home and heard most of what Ron had said to you as well as what you said to him. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything. I just thought that if Ron had known that I was home, he might not have been as nice as he was to you," George told her. In all honesty, George did not reveal that he was home before Ron had left because he wanted to see what kind of man was when he was with Hermione one on one. Only if Ron had tried to harm Hermione would he have shown himself sooner, but the need was not there so he didn't. She told him what he knew to be the truth and that was all that mattered to him.

Hermione's eyes grew wide when George had told her that he had overheard everything. "Then why did you bother to ask me at all, George?" she asked him as she hit him playfully and then turned back to the food on the stove.

George ran a hand through his hair after she had asked him why he asked her at all. "You'll think it's stupid," he said to her. She turned around and gave him a look as if she were to say 'I wouldn't think it was stupid' and he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't lie to me about it," he said to her. She spun around to protest but he caught her and covered her mouth with his hand. "But I know that you wouldn't lie to me, 'Mione," he said to her before removing his hand and placing a tender kiss on her lips.

"You're damn right I wouldn't, George," she said as she kissed him again. "Though I am slightly offended by the mere thought that you would second guess me like that," she said to him as she pursed her lips at him.

He smiled down at her and kissed her again. "How about we just forget this and have dinner," he said as he turned towards the food on the stove. "It smells delicious. How did I ever get so lucky to get a girl that loves to cook?" he said as she kissed her neck and then sat down at the table.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, George," she said as she shook her head at him. "I may cook occasionally, but that is because I know that you don't like to cook just as much as I don't. We both do our share of the cooking, though I prefer to do it the Muggle way, unlike you do," she added as she turned the burners off and pulled out her wand.

"I'll do that part, my dear. Why don't you go change and I'll set the table," he said as he stood up and placed his hand over her wand, pulling out his own. She nodded and left the kitchen, leaving him standing there alone. He grinned to himself and then flicked his wrist at the lights and at the cupboards. The lights dimmed slightly and two table settings flew out of the cupboard and placed themselves on the table. He then flicked his wand again and two tall candlesticks came out of the cupboard with their holders and set themselves in between the place settings. George removed a lighter from his pocket and lit the wicks of the candles. He then fished into his pocket and withdrew a tiny black box. He opened it and smiled at its contents before closing the box and putting it back into his pocket.

"What's all this, George?" Hermione asked as she re-entered the kitchen and found it the way George had made it. He smiled at her and held out his hand to her.

"Join me for dinner, Miss Granger?" he asked her in a very polite voice.

She smiled at him and took his hand. "I would be honored, Mr. Weasley," she said in the same tone he had used. The two of them did this from time to time, pretending that they were in a fancy restaurant having dinner instead of eating something they had made at home.

George pulled her seat out for her and she thanked him as she sat down. He then went around to the other side of the table and sat himself. "What will it be for dinner tonight, Miss Granger?" he asked her as he pulled out her wand. All she could do was laugh at him and he took that as his cue to bring the food. He flicked his wand at the food and it floated over to them and settled itself onto their plates. "I love the service here, sweetie, don't you?" he asked her as he summoned a bottle of wine and two glasses, both of which he poured a decent amount.

"Yes, I do agree with you, darling," she said between giggles. "I bet the Queen herself doesn't even get service like this," she added.

"You better believe that, hunny. No one else gets this kind of service... but then again, no one has someone as sexy as me or you to share it with, so what would be the point?" he asked rhetorically. She laughed at his humor and continued to eat. "Dinner is excellent," he said to her after he had finished his plate.

"Why thank you, George. I'm glad you liked it. It's a new recipe I tried, so I wasn't sure," she explained to him.

"No need for explanations. You know I eat everything you cook, unless I think it is absolutely horrible," he said to her with a wink. He felt the box in his pocket and he knew that it was time to ask her what he wanted to ask her. He cleared his throat and Hermione looked at him with curious eyes. "Hermione, there's something I want to ask you, but I will totally understand if you say no," he started. He was really nervous and he wasn't sure exactly to say what he wanted to say.

"What's the matter, George?" she asked him as she saw how nervous he was. She had absolutely no clue what he was trying to say, but he looked very flustered.

"Well... it's really hard to say this, so please bear with me," he said before taking a huge gulp of his wine. "We've been together for just under a year now and it has been the best year of my life so far," he told her. She smiled at him and it made his heart skip a beat. "I... I wanted to know... Merlin this is embarrassing. Would you ever ... I mean could you possibly... hermionewillyoumarryme?" The words all came out at once and George was sure he sounded and looked like a blundering oaf, but Hermione's silence caused him to look up at her. She sat there with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth and George's heart fell at the sight of her. "Or you can forget that I ever said this and I'll go into my room now," he said as he stood up quickly and left the room. He never noticed that the box had fallen out of his pocket and onto the floor s he left the room, leaving a totally shocked Hermione still sitting in her chair.

By the time Hermione had come back to reality, she realized that George was no longer sitting across from her and he was now locked in his bedroom. She felt like such a fool as she sat there and replayed what had happened in her mind. She was almost certain that George had asked her to marry him, but it was so hard to understand him because all the words came out at once. She then realized that she had sat there like a fool after he had asked her and he probably thought that she was telling him no without having to actually say the words. Her heart broke for him as she went to get up and go to his bedroom door, but she was sidetracked when she saw a small black box lying on the floor next to the chair that he had recently vacated. She opened it and saw a beautifully cut diamond engagement ring sitting within the velvet interior and her breath caught at the sight of it. It was the most gorgeous ring she had ever seen. She even noticed that it was not the same ring he had shown her almost a year ago that he had bought for Alicia. He must have returned that one and used what he paid for that to go towards this one, or something along those lines.

She took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger, wanting to see what it would look like on her finger. It fit her perfectly and tears came to her eyes as she thought back to the last five years of her life and how she would have expected this ring to have come from Ron and not George. That thought brought more tears to her eyes, but these were because she was glad that it was George that had bought it for her and not Ron. In all the time that she had known and then been with Ron, he never loved her like George did and she was glad for that. She was glad that she received the same amount of love from the person that she gave her love to and her and George were an almost perfect match.

She then remembered that George was probably sitting in his room feeling hurt and rejected. She knew that she would have to go talk to him, but she was not sure of what to say. She didn't want him to hurt anymore and she wanted to accept his proposal. She knocked lightly on his door and she heard him moving around. "George, can I come in?" she asked in a small voice.

George had been sitting out on his balcony, one foot hanging over the other side as he stared into the dark starry night. He still couldn't believe what had happened and he was sure that she had felt the same way about him that he did about her, but he was obviously wrong. Granted, he would have liked to have propped in a better way, but he was so nervous about actually doing it since she would have been the very first girl he had ever actually proposed to. He only wished that he had been more certain before asking her. now he knew that everything would be different and she would probably not want to be with him anymore. It was then that he heard a soft knock on his door and he knew it was Hermione. He sighed heavily as he pointed his wand at the lock on his door and unlocked it for her. as much as he didn't want to hear it, he would never turn her away; he loved her way too much to ever want to do that to her, no matter how she felt about him.

Hermione heard him muttering to himself and then she heard the lock click and she knew that he must have unlocked it for her to enter. She turned the knob and the door opened. She poked her head in and saw him sitting out on the balcony that was just off his room, facing the back of the shop. He hadn't turned to greet her like he normally would and she knew that he was upset. "George," she said as she stepped closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He wouldn't look at her, so she reached for his face and forcefully turned his head to look at her. "George, please," she said as she gazed into his sad eyes.

"Don't bother, 'Mione," he said to her with a gloomy tone. "You don't have to sugarcoat it for me. I'm not really in the mood to hear it right now," he told her as he moved his face to go back to looking at anything but her.

"George Arthur Weasley," she said with a cluck of her tongue and the forced him to face her again. He had yet to realize that she was still wearing the ring that he had bought her, but she was determined to make him see it. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you before," she began as she gently stroked his face. "I was just so surprised by your mumbled question that I forgot to respond to you. Can you forgive me?" she asked as she ran the back of her ringed hand across his cheek.

He felt the rock against his cheek and he moved her hand to look at it cleanly. He saw the ring upon her finger and he looked at her with wide eyes. "Is this your way of accepting my proposal?" he asked with an excited tone of voice.

She smiled and nodded her head. "My way of accepting to go with your way of asking," she said to him with a slight smirk. He picked her up and spun her around before setting her down and claiming her lips with his own in a very romantic and sexual kiss. "So I guess we're engaged then?" she asked him with raised eyebrows.

"You bet your wand we are," he said to her before kissing her again. "Should we tell everyone now, or wait until tomorrow?" he asked her as he made to grab a quill, some ink and some parchment.

Hermione reached out and stopped his arm from grabbing the items. "Let's wait until tomorrow. You know we won't get any kind of alone time once everyone knows. Let's enjoy this for right now before we spill the beans to everyone else," she said to him.

"As you wish, my love," he said to her before kissing her again. He then lifted her up and carried her over to the bed, throwing her playfully down on it. She laughed as he did so and the two of them spent the rest of the night laughing and being with each other, as if they had no other care in the world.

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