And Then There Was Three

"Marry me, Ron," Hermione said exasperated. It sounded more like a plea than a question.

A lopsided grin spread on his face.

"Only if you'll marry me."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Before Ron could get out his answer, Hermione had immediately said 'yes'. Her voice did sound rather exasperated when she said this, as if she had been expecting these words for a long time. It was true.

Ron laughed at the way she said this, but then quickly ran to the coffee table.

"Hermione, I'd love to marry you as well, but to make it official..."

He knelt down on one knee and opened the brown velvet box.

"I know," he started, "that this isn't the exact way you would propose to someone, and even though you've already said yes, it'd just be nice to see how lovely this ring looks on your finger."

Ron then slipped the ring on Hermione's finger and stood up.

"I know it's not the most elegant, but..."

"I love it!" Hermione exclaimed. She showed her appreciation by jumping up and wrapping her legs around Ron's waist. She planted short, but sweet kisses all over his face and he nearly tripped on his way to their bedroom.

~o~

"That was the best 'thank you' I've ever received," Ron said to a drooping Hermione.

It was nearly four o'clock and it wasn't as if these two didn't have jobs. Besides, Hermione was too tired to talk, she was content with just lying in Ron's arms.

"I don't know how you manage to stay so exhilarated after every little adventure we have. Ron, I'm dead tired and I have to go to work before you..." Hermione nestled her bushy head in Ron's strong chest.

"I stay so excited because I love you so much."

Hermione looked up at him and he gave her a knowing look.

"Well," Hermione said with a yawn, "we'll just announce the engagement to all the Weasleys in the morning. Until then, can I please get some sleep? And I love you, too."

Ron kissed her on the forehead.

"I'll see you in the morning love," was the last thing that came from his lips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This morning was like every usual morning. Only this time, Hermione made Ron awake with her.

As she said the night before, it would be time to announce their engagement to the Weasleys.

After Ron finished lagging about, they were finally ready to go.

"Took you long enough," Hermione grumbled to her fiance.

Ron ignored her comment and Apparated to the Burrow before her.

By the time Hermione had followed suit, she had Apparated into what seemed a family meeting. All the Weasleys stood there, except Charlie looking at her expecting something tremendous.

Hermione stared back blankly at them.

"Congratulations!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, giving Hermione a bit of a fright.

She wasn't exactly sure how everyone knew about the engagement, but she was sure Ginny and Harry had something to do with it.

After all the hugs and kisses, Hermione declared that she had to go to work if they were to have a successful wedding and Apparated.

Ron stayed behind, quite happy with the pats on the back and ruffles of his hair.

Mrs. Weasley nudged Mr. Weasley on and on until he finally had no choice but to give on.

"All right Molly, all right. I'll talk to the boy now."

Mr. Weasley reluctantly walked over to Ron and pulled him to the side.

"Shall we go upstairs for a bit of man-to-man?"

Ron looked at him, sort of afraid to head upstairs, but he agreed to it anyway.

The great thing about the Burrow was that it was always home, no matter who came to visit. It was quite awkward when everyone had moved out except Ron and Ginny in the summer before Ron's sixth year. But the great thing about that was that there were no boys to share clothes with, Mr. Weasley had been promoted, and the Burrow had been completely re-furnished.

Where the three-story clutter of a house once stood was now a tall illuminating mansion. But thanks to Molly's old-fashioned heart, it looked exactly the same on the inside.

(Now that I'm done with that...)

"Right," Mr. Weasley said as he opened the door to Ron's old bedroom.

Ron sat down on a frilly pink bed beside Mr. Weasley. (His room had been changed to Charlie's little girl Paris' room whenever she came for the summers.)

"Ron, I know we've had this talk before," Mr. Weasley began to pace.

"About girls? Dad, I've already proposed."

"Not that talk. The other talk."

Thanking the gods personally, Ron was glad that the mention of sex didn't make him blush anymore.

"Dad, what about it? I know which plug goes where. I know to be gentle. I know..."

"Stop!" Mr. Weasley held up both his hands in defense.

"Well, what is it?" Ron asked getting annoyed.

Mr. Weasley sat back down by Ron.

"Are you and Hermione having... having..." He faded off and took and extremely loud gulp.

"Sex?" Ron asked, causing Mr. Weasley to blush. Ron should cut him slack, it wasn't normal to talk to your son about his sex life.

"Well yes. Quite honestly, we've been intimate with each other since..."

"Stop!" Mr. Weasley said again.

"Ron," he continued, "I just want to make sure that you're putting on a raincoat, wearing your sunscreen, putting on your shades, blocking out the rain, capping your..."

"Using protection?" Ron asked, almost on the verge of laughing.

"Yes," Mr. Weasley said, almost melting into the earth.

"Of course, we always do."

Then Ron suddenly thought about last night. They hadn't used anything last night...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hermione walked by a smirking Draco and held up a finger to show off her new ring.

His smirked turned to a scowl and he began to follow her down to her workstation.

"Since when has this happened?" Draco asked scathingly.

Hermione turned and this time, she was the one smirking. "Are we jealous?" She asked in a condescending tone.

"Who'd want to marry you?" Draco snapped at her.

"Obviously someone," Hermione said as she gathered all her work objects and headed back to the main desk.

Draco continued with his rude comments, but Hermione did what she did best. She ignored him and went about her usual day schedule. Thank the gods today she didn't have to work with him.

There wasn't much going on. Just the usual; couples who had rammed things up each other's noses in arguments, siblings who had managed to transfigure each other into strange animals, and the co-workers from the Ministry that fell into some trap that a mischievous witch or wizard had set.

The day was going by so quickly it was already lunchtime.

Hermione put her tools down and headed back to the main lobby.

When she arrived, she stopped in her tracks and saw employees from the Ministry, including Ron standing around waiting for someone.

Ron looked at Hermione with a somber smile on his face.

Hermione felt her knees go weak. Had something happened to Ginny and Harry? Ron wasn't about to tell her some bad news, was he? Maybe he wasn't even here to talk to her.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked instantly.

"Did you know you had a distant cousin that lived in America?"

Hermione nodded her head.

"Well, the Ministry won't tell me why we were brought here to, but I think we're to protect you and Percy. You know how it is. Anyway, Percy wants to meet with you himself."

Hermione and Ron both exchanged dark looks. The only time Percy personally talked with anyone, the matter hit close to home. And Hermione didn't even know these relatives that had passed away.

"Well, where is Percy?" Hermione asked, dreading the meeting between them.

"Right here," A voice from nowhere said.

Hermione turned around and smiled uncomfortably at Percy.

Percy held out his hand and Hermione shook it awkwardly.

"Miss Granger, I'd like to speak to you alone." Percy gave Ron a knowing glance, making Ron scowl under his breath.

Hermione followed him and Percy turned to say rather professionally, "Congratulations on your engagement to my brother. It's nice that he's got some good influence in his life."

Hermione smirked behind his back. Sometimes, she was the bad influence on Ron.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I know you're wondering why I'd like to have a private meeting with you, but we have a situation." It's not like Percy wasn't exactly talking loud in the first place, but he began to lower his voice more.

It was so low in fact, that Hermione leaned in to get a better listen.

"It seems that your cousin was Muggle and had no idea of their little boy's magical ability. They were murdered, so far we haven't found out but the American Magical Ministry think they had a run in with dark wizards. In any case, they left a surprising inheritance to you."

Hermione's eyes lit up. Inheritance! Now she and Ron could move out of that small flat and into a maybe bigger one.

"Don't get so excited, Hermione." Percy had killed Hermione's happiness quite sharply.

Hermione straightened up.

Percy continued, "Instead of leaving money, since your cousins were nowhere near wealthy. They left you this," Percy pulled out a picture and gave it to Hermione.

She covered her mouth to stifle her scream of shock.