Sinners and Saints

Part 19

Hermione's p.o.v. 

Christmas lunch was delicious as expected.

Hermione was stuffed to the point that she thought she was going to explode. She slumped back in her chair around the Weasley dining table and observed everyone else. Fleur, Angelina and Audrey were all in similar food comas to Hermione and had all stopped eating. She noticed, however, all the Weasleys and Harry were still putting away food, like their lives depended on it.

Hermione chuckled slightly, remembering all the times that she scolded Ron for his poor table manners, they just didn't seem so bad anymore. Her small chuckle drew attention to herself, with a few heads turning, she shook her head, to say 'nothing, don't worry', and they carried on eating.

Eventually knives and forks were scraping against empty plates and drinks were being finished and post dinner conversations began to strike up. Whilst the cleaning was going on Fred pulled her away.

"Fred! Where are we going?" Hermione asked as she was dragged from the kitchen.

Fred didn't respond, he just gave her a cheeky grin and kept hold of her wrist.

They were now in the garden and Hermione began to shiver, she was only wearing a loose cardigan and it was about one degree outside.

"Fred, what are we doing? I'm getting cold." Hermione asked again, she got no response.

They were headed towards the shed, she had no idea why, but it was some sort of barrier between her and the cold wind so she was all for it.

"Fredrick Weasley, answer me now, what are we doing?" Hermione was starting to get frustrated.

"Calm down, it's a surprise." He finally answered.

Once they reached the shed, Fred seemed to be happy that they had gone far enough from the house for some sort of privacy.

"Okay are you going to tell me why you dragged me outside without a coat or are we just going to stand here?" Hermione questioned.

Fred gave a chuckle, "Sorry Mia, I should have grabbed your coat, here."

He unzipped his coat and wrapped it around her, without taking it off. They were now standing less than ten centimetres apart.

"I wanted to give you your Christmas present. Without everyone else sticking their noses in our business, just this once." He smiled down at her.

Hermione looked confused.

"Freddie, you already got me the newest edition of Hogwarts: A History and all of those chocolate frogs, which I fully intend to share with you, no objections. I don't need anything else."

"But I want to give you this, it's sort of for me as well." Fred said as he produced a box.

Hermione looked at what he had in his hands and gasped.

"Fred are you out of your mind I-"

"Mia, it's not what you think, I'm not proposing, we are way too young, it's just a promise ring. A pre-proposal ring, because don't get me wrong, one day I fully intend on making you Mrs Hermione Granger Weasley, but not just yet." He finished with a goofy grin.

"Hermione, I love you so much and with everything we've gone through I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So will you accept this ring as a promise that you will do the same until we decide to upgrade it?"

"Of course I will Freddie, I love you too." Hermione smiled and wiped away the tear that was threatening to spill out of her left eye.

She took the ring and put it on her fourth finger on her right hand.