Author's note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 1 of this story. Your kind words mean a lot. I hope to have Chapter 3 ready to update within a few days.
Disclaimer: I wish I could say these characters belong to me, but alas, I cannot. They are from the vivid imagination of Ms. J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 2
Roses are Red
With Harry's plans to propose to my human set in motion, I should have been able to relax and enjoy life. However, I was unable to do so. Knowing Harry and Ron as well as I do, I kept an eye on them, waiting for them to make some sort of mess of things. I was not to be disappointed.
The two boys returned from Hogsmeade several hours later with a small velvet box and two dozen red rosebuds. They quickly dashed upstairs to their dormitory room, and I promptly followed. If they noticed me following them around, it did not seem to bother them. After all, I had become a permanent part of Gryffindor Tower four years ago when my human rescued me from that horrible shop in Diagon Alley.
Ron locked the door while Harry retrieved the bridal magazine from underneath his bed. They sat down on Harry's bed, and I took up a position behind and between them. Harry flipped through the magazine until he came upon the page he sought.
"Here it is," he said. "It's called the Flower Vocalization spell."
"What does it do?" Ron asked.
"You cast it over a bunch of flowers that will blossom, such as rosebuds. You need one flower for each syllable. After saying the incantation, you start with one and go clockwise, saying what you want to say. When the activation spell is cast, the flowers open up and say what it is you spoke. The trick is it has to be done in order. Another thing, it says here it can only be done once, as the flowers will not close again."
"Sounds bloody romantic!"
"I surely hope so." There was a tremble in Harry's voice, and I could tell that he really wanted this to work perfectly. "Let's give it a practice run."
"So that's why you bought two dozen of these things!" Ron exclaimed. "I thought you were going to try and have a whole conversation with her just using flowers."
Harry gave Ron a withered look, and I just rolled my eyes. Sometimes I really wondered if there was a brain beneath all that red hair.
While Ron held onto the roses, Harry pulled out his wand, tapped the flower closest to him and waved it clockwise over the flowers while saying the incantation, "Syllaburus Vocalis". Red sparks settled on the flowers awaiting his next words. In a clear voice, he said, "I love you, Hermione. Will you marry me?" As each syllable was spoken, the sparks sank into the rosebuds, imbuing them with the power of the spell.
"Now to see if it works," Harry said. He tapped his wand on the flower closest to him again, waved his wand clockwise over the flowers, and said, "Syllaburus Audius".
One by one, in rapid succession, the rosebuds blossomed. As each did so, a syllable was uttered. "I-love-you-Her-mi-o-ne-will-you-mar-ry-me?"
"Brilliant!" Ron said, and for once he and I were in agreement. My human would be very impressed.
"Now for the real thing," Harry said. He handed Ron the second dozen rosebuds and repeated the process. The red sparks flew and settled in as soon as he spoke. He then went over to his bag and pulled out some parchment.
"What are you doing, mate?" Ron asked.
"I'm writing down the instructions on how to activate the spell." He finished and folded the parchment handing it to Ron. "I'm going to go get cleaned up. I want to look nice for Hermione tonight. Do me a favor and see if you can find a vase to put these in."
"I'm on it," Ron said as the two of them headed downstairs. I immediately followed. As well as the spell had been performed upstairs, I still had this nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong.
As Harry headed for the showers, he called over his shoulder to Ron. "Be sure and put the instructions where she can find them. And make certain the flowers stay in that same order!"
Ron shot him a dark look. "I'm not stupid, you know."
Harry simply nodded and turned back to the door. I wisely kept my mouth shut.
"Oy, Harry."
"Yeah?"
"What are you going to do with those extra flowers?"
"I dunno, Ron," Harry smirked. "Do you want them?"
"Well, I . . . uh . . . that is I could . . . ," Ron stammered.
Oh, brother!
"Give them to Luna, Ron." Harry winked at his best friend. "She doesn't have to know you didn't buy them."
"Thanks, Harry!"
Once that little exchange was over and Harry left headed toward the showers (why humans want to have water poured over their heads when licking oneself is a perfectly fine way to get clean, I'll never know), I settled down for a nap. Ron, on the other hand, was frantic. If you've never seen a Weasley on a mission, let me tell you that it is quite a sight to see! It took him several minutes and several trips out into the hallway, but Ron was eventually able to find a vase and fill it with water. I guess with all his running around, what happened next was inevitable.
Let me point out that it is not my fault I screeched and scared Ron into dropping the flowers. I am a cat, and as such have a tail. Since you do not have a tail (at least I presume you do not, but if you do, then you'll know what I'm talking about!) let me tell you that it is a very sensitive part of my anatomy. Particularly when it is stepped on by a foot the size of a small rowing scull. Needless to say, my caterwaul (no pun intended!) startled the poor boy enough that he jumped and scattered the flowers all over the floor.
"Oh, bloody hell," Ron said, mirroring my sentiments exactly. "Harry's going to kill me!"
He picked the flowers off the floor and began arranging them in the vase as best he could, all the while glowering at me from the corner of his eye.
"It's all your fault, you know," he growled at me. "If you had been able to keep that big, bushy tail of yours out of the way, I wouldn't have stepped on it. Stupid cat!"
I started to make some witty remark about the enormous size of his feet when I realized he wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying. So I did what any normal, rational being would do in my position . . . I licked my tail and ignored him.
Ron spent the next few minutes arranging and rearranging the flowers. I groaned inwardly. Did he not pay any attention when Harry read about the spell? The flowers have to be in a specific order. I tried to get his attention to let him know this, but he kept brushing me aside.
I thought about knocking the vase over, but just as soon as this thought formed, the portrait hole opened and the rest of the Gryffindors entered the common room. Ron dashed upstairs and I went in search of my human. I soon saw her bushy brown hair as she stepped through the portrait hole. I strolled over to her and let her know I was in the room by rubbing up against her legs.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione cried and picked me up. "Did you miss me today?" she asked as she scratched my ears. I purred in contentment, not because I enjoyed it, but because it made her happy to scratch my ears.
"Hermione!"
My human walked across the common room floor toward the one who was calling her. Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger and infinitely smarter sister, was standing beside the table where the flowers were.
"It looks like you've got some flowers here," Ginny said.
"I'll bet they're from Harry," my human said with a smile.
She set me down on the floor and began reading the note Harry had written.
"Start with the flower in front of you and wave your wand once around the flowers clockwise while saying Syllaburus Audius," my human said aloud. "Not a very romantic note."
I noticed Harry and Ron had come down the stairs and were anxiously watching as my human raised her wand and did as instructed.
I would like to say that the spell went off exactly as it had earlier in the boys' dormitory. I would like to say that, but I cannot. Instead, what was heard throughout the common room was, "Me-oh-my-you-love-mar-ry-will-you-knee-her-eye."
To say that my human was perplexed would have been an understatement. A puzzled look crossed her face as she looked from the flowers to Ginny and back. Most everyone in the common room burst into laughter.
"What?" she asked. "Is this a prototype of one of Fred and George's jokes?"
"Don't ask me," Ginny said. "I've never seen it before."
I turned to look at Harry and Ron. Harry had taken a few steps toward my human with the velvet box before him, ready to present the ring. He stood staring at the flowers, his face becoming redder as the moments passed. Ron, on the other hand, looked ghostly pale as if his face had been drained of all its blood.
Harry turned slowly toward Ron who had already turned toward the staircase and was casually making his way back to the dorm. Harry then sped after Ron who bolted up the stairs two at a time. I sprinted after them. As quick as Ron was, Harry was faster and the two reached the door to their room at the same time. I was barely able to slip inside before they slammed the door shut.
"What happened, Ron?" Harry's voice was full of confusion. "The spell went perfectly up here." He ran a hand through his unruly black hair. "Did you get the flowers mixed up?"
Ron shifted nervously under Harry's gaze. Go on, tell him, I urged, only to them it sounded like "meow". Ron turned his eyes toward me.
"It was Crookshanks' fault," he said pointing his finger at me.
My fault?
"His fault?" Harry said incredulously. "How is it his fault?"
"If he hadn't screeched, it wouldn't have scared me, and I wouldn't have dropped the flowers!"
My fault indeed, Mr. I-have-skis-for-shoes! I gave him my most indignant stare, which between you and me can be pretty powerful.
"And just why did Crookshanks 'screech', Ron?"
Yes, Bigfoot! Tell him why!
"Er . . . I kind of stepped on his tail," Ron blushed.
"Well, that's just great." Harry was exasperated and threw his hands in the air. "Now I've got to come up with another plan."
"Couldn't we just go get another batch of rosebuds? I'll pay for them?"
"No," Harry said. "The surprise is gone. Besides, Hermione would probably think they're from Fred and George again."
"Oh." Ron's face fell as he sat down on his bed. "I'm really sorry, Harry."
"I know you are. You didn't mean to ruin it." Harry sat down beside him and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder.
Yell at him some more! Don't let him off that easily! I was really disappointed in Harry. I expected the Boy-Who-Lived to be a little tougher.
"Hand me that magazine, Ron," Harry said. "Let's see what other ideas they've got."
I sighed and made myself comfortable on Harry's bed. This could take a while.