Chapter 2: A Proposition.

Ron was now flustered as George pulled them into the thick of the party. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Stupid George. He looked down at Hermione, who was looking amusedly up at him.

"What?" He asked, semi-offended.

She giggled and shook her head, making him huff and look away. Before Hermione could get into a laughing fit, however, Harry and Ginny came up, diverting their attention.

"Hi! How're you guys doing?" Harry asked, grinning while holding onto Ginny's wait.

Stupid Harry. So smug about getting married to HIS SISTER! Well...maybe it was okay...at least he was better than Michael bloody Corner or Dean. Dean was nice and everything, scratch that, he was a great bloke! But if he EVER touched his sister again...there would be h*ll to pay.

Ron rolled his eyes and said, "You KNOW how we're doing, Harry! You see us every bloody day!"

Hermione gave him a look, and he held up his hands as if in surrender...which it was.

"Don't curse, Ronald." she said, huffing. He HATED it when she huffed; it meant no snogging.

"Yes, Hermione." he said, in a monotone that he knew only too well.

Harry, Ginny, and George were now hysterical, and Ron was dumbfounded.

"What? Why is everyone laughing at me? Do you have to laugh at EVERYTHING I do? Why me?" Ron asked, and started to bang his head against a nearby shelf.

Oh joy, everyone thought he was a joke. Wait...then would Hermione think that his proposal was a joke? Oh Merlin, she probably would. It was, after all, April Fools day. Ron suddenly blanched and felt the need to sit down. This was going to be harder than he expected.

"Uncle Ron, Uncle Ron!" cried a high-pitched voice, running into his legs and holding on for dear life. Ron looked down to see Victorie, his young neice.

"Hello, Victorie! What's wrong?" Ron asked, looking a bit stunned.

Victorie, who looked very indignant Ron noticed, pointed at Teddy, who had just barreled around the corner, and was now trying to look as innocent as possible.

"What'd you do THIS time, Ted?" Ron asked, giving Teddy a slightly disparaging look.

"Erm...I just...well...you see, I just wanted to...it goes like this..." Teddy said, trying to tell Ron in the least offensive way possible. However, Victorie wasn't having any of it, and shouted,

"Teddy took my wand that Uncle George gave me! I was going to use it, too!"

Ron laughed as Victorie pouted and Teddy looked anxiously for somewhere to hide.

"You do know that those don't REALLY work, don't you?" Ron asked, finally recovered from his laughing fit.

"Ohhh..." Victorie said, making Ron (and Teddy, as he had recovered from his fear) laugh.

Ron set Victorie down, and she immediately went off to play with Teddy again. He sighed, and turned to see Hermione watching him intently. He wondered if he had something on his face.

"What?" Ron asked (for the umpteenth time that day), and Hermione smiled slightly.

"You're just so good with kids." she said, taking his arm. Ron blushed (stupid Weasley genes) and shuffled his feet a bit.

Ron opened his mouth to ask something (you know what), and suddenly, Harry and Ginny came up once again and started talking about quidditch. Stupid Ginny making head seaker for the Harpies. Well, it WAS kind of cool to have a sister (two if you counted Angelina) playing proffesional quidditch. When Ron finally managed to extract himself and Hermione from the conversation, it was almost thrity minutes later, and the party was in full swing. He ignored Hermione's questions, and cornered her behind some shelves.

"Hermione, I just wanted to ask y-" Ron started, but was interrupted by a large, flying canary that landed right in front of them.

"BLOODY HE*LL!" Ron screamed, jumping back from the random bird.

The canary suddenly changed back into a grinning George, and Ron glared at him menacingly.

"Sorry, you lot! Just trying out the longer-lasting canary creams. I got up to a minute on that one!" George said, jovially taking them both by the arm and telling them all about the shop and his new creations.

During the course of the evening, Ron was interrupted in the process of proposing to Hermione a total of seven times. All were similarly odd, completely unexpected, and bizzare. So, naturally, by the eighth time, he was fed up with everyone. He had just pulled Hermione (who was intensely amused by all this) to the side, and he opened his mouth to propose, when (who would have guessed it?) Bill came up and asked him how work was going.

"THAT'S IT! THAT IS IT! WOULD EVERYONE STOP INTERRUPTING MY FOR ONCE! GEEZ, WHAT DOES A MAN HAVE TO DO TO PROPOSE THESE DAYS?" Ron yelled, shaking his head, until he froze. Bill fell over laughing (literaly) while everyone else looked at him quizzically.

"Nice, Ron, real smooth." George said, cackling all the way.

Ron hung his head and started to walk back to upstairs to floo back to his flat, when Hermione said something.

"What?" Ron asked, completely suprised.

"Yes." Hermione said simply. Ron heaved out a big sigh and swept her into a kiss (A.K.A. snog).

"April Fools!" Chorused more than half of the crowd. Ron drew back from Hermione scowling at them.

"Can't you just leave me alone for once? PLEASE?" Ron asked, and Hermione (once again) laughed at him along with everyone else.

"So," Hermione said, once they were alone (he was dropping her off at her house) "do I get a ring?"

Ron did the whole palm-forehead thing and brought it out from his pocket.

"Okay, I didn't get to do this right before, but, Hermione, will you marry me?" Ron asked, falling to his knees and looking up at the love of his life.

"I already said yes, you idiot." she said, and he grinned while putting the ring he had so painstakingly chosen for her.

"Now, I think that the next thing you do is kiss me, if you want to do this right." Hermione said, and Ron joyfully obliged her.

Meanwhile, Harry was laughing evilly in the corner, his plans complete.