The Party Crasher

The Festival

Jordan and Rhys were at it again. This time, though, it was way worse. Seriously. They'd lost their minds. I barely lasted an hour at their Harry Potter party four years ago, and they still thought it a good idea to bring me to a Harry Potter festival type thing.

Anyway, if I had thought our party was full of Harrys, Rons, and Hermiones then this event was on steroids. Because these people had some serious skills and looked like the characters in the movies. I was actually wearing the same costume I did all those years ago. It was pretty cheap plain looking. But I wore that outfit on purpose. You see, I was waiting for my Ginny. You have to know that would be the only reason one would find me in the middle of an HP convention.

During the four years of university, Florence and I saw each other a few times during the school year, but the summers were ours. I'd visit her in Connecticut to meet and spend time with her parents, and she'd come to Orange County to spend time with all of us.

Making a relationship work, while spending most of our time apart, was quite difficult. She was worth all the pain and suffering, missing each other, unnecessary jealousy, and weeks on end without talking at all because of our crazy class schedules. No matter the work and the rough patches, this day, right here in this convention center, would make it all worth it.

"Do you see her?" Jordan asked.

My eyes never stopped scanning the crowd, looking at each face one-by-one. I shook my head. "No, but she'll be here. She promised," I said with conviction.

"Harry?" The sweetest voice came from behind me, and I turned around so fast, I almost knocked her over. I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her to me.

"Ginny," I said with a laugh. Then whispered in her ear. "Oh, God how I've missed you. I'm so glad to see you and hold you."

She covered my lips with hers and said, "I've missed you too. So much."

"I'm so glad, baby. Now we'll never have to separate again." We decided after a ton of research and compromise to live in Orange County. Florence really liked the weather and loved the idea of being so close to her family. Her parents could visit often and we both landed excellent jobs. Our hard work and dedication in school really paid off.

I pulled back from Flo, but grabbed her left hand, as I went down on one knee. I dug the black box out of my robe pocket and said the most important words of my life, "Florence, I have loved you since the moment you came crashing into my life. We are soul mates as Harry Potter characters and are soul mates in real life. And now that we're free from things that keep us away from each other, I want to make sure we spend every moment of every day together. Will you marry me? Be my wife?"

I watched her face change from shock to happiness to complete and utter love. She bent down and kissed me on the lips and said, "YES!! Of course I'll be your wife." Then she pointed to the box in my hand. "Do you want to open that and place it on my finger?"

Laughter rang out around us, and once I looked around, I noticed a crowd had gathered to watch our show.

After I placed the ring on her finger, our friends hugged us tightly and the surrounding HP fans congratulated us.

Love comes when you completely unexpected it, and mine crashed right into me.

Oh, how I love my little party crasher.