Jigsaw Puzzle

A party was soon arranged in the common room, with Fred and George mysteriously supplying food and butterbeer, as usual. It was a little awkward for Ron and Hermione, because a number of people kept asking them to kiss again.

"Come on, pucker up! We know you want to!" urged Fred and George in turn.

"Once more for the camera!"

"Colin!" said Ron and Hermione together. They had awkwardly begun to hold hands in a prominent position in view of all of their well-wishers, but they weren't quite ready for another kiss. The disappointed crowd finally began to break up around noon to head to the Great Hall for lunch.

"You coming?" Harry asked Ron, grinning. Ron looked at Hermione, then back at Harry. "Give us a few minutes, okay?"

"No problem," said Harry, leaving the common room.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

"Fred and George aren't so bad, huh?" said Hermione with a small smile.

"No, I guess not," said Ron. "You know...I had been planning on...on telling you, when I went down to talk to you. I'm not sure I could have done it, though. Fred and George...They gave me a push." He laughed, and Hermione did too.

"We're very different, Hermione, but we sort of, I dunno...fit together, like-" Ron began.

"Like a jigsaw puzzle," said Hermione.

"A what?"

"A jigsaw puzzle. It's a picture that's cut into little pieces that all fit together. It's a sort of game that Muggles have."

"Okay," said Ron. "Like a jigsee puzzle."

"Jigsaw puzzle," Hermione corrected Ron.

"Whatever. The point is...I like, no...I, er...I love you, Hermione," Ron said.

"And I love you too, Ron."

A few years later, on Ron and Hermione's wedding day, Ron gave Hermione a gift. Hermione shook it playfully and heard many pieces inside. "I didn't break it, did I?" she asked, looking startled.

"No, no. Open it," said Ron.

Hermione tore the paper off the box and opened it.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle," said Ron, grinning. "Who wants to help put it together?"

Harry and Ginny immediately volunteered, along with Fred and George and the rest of the Weasley family.

"There's no picture on the box! How are we supposed to know what it looks like?" said Hermione. She looked a little confused about her strange wedding present.

"You'll see," said Ron, still grinning.

The picture slowly came together. It was Ron and Hermione, outside Hogwarts on a snowy day...

"Our first kiss!" said Hermione in a hushed voice. "Where did you get this?"

Ron grinned down at the picture, which had begun to move once it had been assembled. "If you think hard about that moment, there was a flash of light. That was Colin taking a picture. He generously let me have it when I asked him."

"But why a jigsaw puzzle?" Hermione asked, still looking confused.

"Remember what we said that day?" said Ron. "About how we fit together?"

"Like a jigsaw puzzle," said Hermione with a look of sudden comprehension. She smiled, looking down at the picture of her and Ron, together.

The End