Chapter 5 - Misleadings
The place where Harry took me to celebrate this year together was really beautiful. It looked like one of those gardens you see in muggle movies settled in the Victorian times. He led me to the farthest part of it, and we sat on a blanket near a small pond.
Harry had really overdone himself. He had prepared sandwiches and pumpkin pie. I knew he wasn't going to forget about this day, but I hadn't expected such an elaborated plan. In that minute I felt that nothing ever could cloud our happiness together.
Our new dog was playing nearby with a squirrel.
"How are we going to name it?" Harry asked, looking fondly at him.
"I don't know... Any suggestions?"
Harry thought for a while. "Do you remember that book you gave me in our seventh year?"
"The one about Greek mythology?" I asked, puzzled. "The one you never read?"
"I did, actually, and it was a very good book," he said, with a lop-sided grin. "Don't tell Ron I said that."
I chuckled. "Well, what about that book?"
"There was a name on it I liked, the one of the greek hero..."
"Aquiles?"
"That's the one. What do you think?"
I smiled. "I like it very much," I said. I moved closer to him to give him a quick kiss, but before I could pull away, he put his hand behind my neck and the short kiss I had planned was forgotten. Something I love about Harry and this relationhip is that every time we kiss is as if it was the first time. There's always that anticipation and nervousness that a year of being together hasn't been able to take away.
"That's what I call a good snog," he said when we finally parted.
I glared at him, playfully. "You know I hate that word," I said.
Harry laughed, and leaned against a tree. I leaned next to him and put my head on his shoulder. We stayed in silence for a while, enjoying each other's company.
"Isn't it weird?" I asked, suddenly.
"Mmm what?" he asked, distracted.
"Naming a pet together... I mean, is almost as if it was our child..." 'Hey Hermione, hold on. What are you saying? Are you making suggestions here?' I thought, slightly panicked.
I felt Harry tense up a bit. I looked up at him. He looked rather nervious.
"I think we should try the Pumpkin Pie," he said, and gave me one of them.
"...OK..," I said. Was he uncomfortable for what I had said? Of course he was. Me and my stupid big mouth.
Harry shifted in his position until he was across from me. He was staring at me, expectantly. "Try it," he said. Probably, he was looking for anything that could change the subject.
I took a bite. It was really good. It wasn't a surprise, Harry is a great cook. "This is awesome, Harry. Aren't you going to eat?"
"Sure," he said, and took a bite of his own pie, his eyes still looking at me.
I took another bite. He was acting really odd. I could even see the sweatdrops on his forehead. The worst part is that I felt totally responsible for his attitude. I had entered in a dangerous area.
A third bite. Harry's eyes were fixed on me, and he wasn't really eating.
Fourth bite. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked. He shook his head and smiled weakly. Bizarre.
I took the last bite when his stare was unbearable. And then, I noticed that his face had went pale and his mouth was open, as if he had seen a ghost.
"Harry? Are you OK?" I asked, concerned.
He took a while before snapping back to reality. "Um, yeah, I'm fine," he muttered.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes..." he looked at his watch. "Hey, look at the time! It's getting late. We should probably go back," he said, standing up.
Totally puzzled, I grabbed my things and we went back to his apartment.
* * *
When we got there, he went directly to the kitchen. I followed him, getting more confused with every passing minute. He scanned the kitchen's floor with his eyes. He had forgotten about me. For a minute I thought he was checking if there wasn't any Death Eaters around.
"Is something missing?" I asked, looking around too, while Aquiles was entertained biting my shoes.
Harry jumped and turned to look at me. "No, why would something be missing? Anything's missing," he said, turning to look at me and grinning oddly.
"Well, you look as if you were looking for something," I pointed, studyng his face.
"No." He turned his back to me again.
I sighed. "Is it something that I said?" I asked, fearfully.
He frowned. "Something that you said? What do you mean?"
"I don't know. We were having a great time, and suddenly your attitude changed and now you're acting really weird..."
"Of course not. This day has been incredible." He embraced me kindly and I rested my head on his shoulder. "I thank every day for having you with me," he whispered in my ear.
I smiled and kissed him. But I was feeling strange... Why wasn't I happy? I couldn't understand what was happening to me. The day had been perfect, but something had been missing...
* * *
"What do you mean it wasn't there?"
"What do you mean what do I mean? It disappeared! Gone!" Harry yelled.
They were in Ron's living room. Ron had called Harry as soon as he had arrived to his house after his own celebration with Liz to know what had happened. But he had found a very upset Harry on his four on the kitchen's floor, looking for something rather desperately.
"I don't understand," Ron said slowly. He had been wise enough to go to the other corner of the room, far away from Harry and his outburst. "How could it disappear? Are you sure you put it inside?"
"Yes, I am sure," Harry said, annoyed.
"Are you sure you gave her the right pie?"
"I ate the other one and it wasn't there either."
"Maybe she swallowed it," Ron suggested and won a really hard glare from Harry.
"Yeah, like she could actually swallow a ring like that without noticing, Ron," he said in a tone that reminded him terribly of Hermione.
"Well, maybe the ring had magic properties... Maybe it vanished when the person isn't brave enough to pop the question right away."
Harry sighed and sat down. It was past midnight. Ron sat beside him and gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.
"Why didn't you ask her anyway?"
"Without a ring?"
"I thought the point was proposing to her, not giving her a piece of jewerly, Harry."
"Well the piece of jewerly is a fundamental thing in a marriage proposal," Harry argued. "If I popped the question without a ring, what would she have thought? That I wasn't caring enough to look for a nice engagement ring for her."
Ron frowned. He was sure Hermione wouldn't have minded. "You could've explained what happened to her..."
"Oh sure. Hermione, there was a ring in that pie you're eating, I don't know what happened to it, but hey, do you want to marry me?" Harry groaned.
Ron rolled his eyes. When had Harry turned into such a perfectionist? His attitude was really strange. "Harry, calm down, OK? Just buy another ring and propose to her."
Harry looked at him as if he was crazy. "Another ring? I can't! That was THE ring. I can't give her a second choice ring, Ron. I have to give her the perfect and only one."
"You're talking like a girl now," Ron snorted. "Who cares about a stupid ring? The important thing here is that you ask her, she answers and soon enough my soon-to-be-born baby will have a friend to play."
Harry blushed a little. "I'll keep looking for it. Thanks for hearing me out," he said, waving goodbye.
"Sure, anytime, you lunatic," Ron muttered when Harry had already gone.
* * *
Ginny didn't choose the best time to visit me that morning.
"Wow, wrong office," she said, closing the door and opening it again. I glared at her. "What the hell happened here?" she asked, looking around at my once tidy and neat office. Now, everything was scattered everywhere. "This looks like a battlefield."
"I'm cleaning," I replied. "Reorganizing, redecorating, you pick the word."
I swifted my wand, and a pile of books that was on the floor flew to one of the shelves.
"Umm, OK," Ginny said, staring at me. "So, one of two: or things in the Ministry are getting really boring, or you have something on your mind and are trying desperately to ditract yourself with other... activities." She wrinkled her nose, at the thought of cleaning as an entertaining activity.
I didn't say anything and kept picking up the books. Ginny grabbed a book that was on my desk, and flipped the pages absent-mindly.
"Let me guess..." she started, with that tone she always used when she wanted to get information from me. "I'd say that this has to do with a handsome wizard with black hair and green eyes... Mmmm, Harry, I think it's the name."
I sighed in defeat. Ginny had a sixth sense when it came to love relationships. It wasn't as sharp and accurated as Liz's, but it worked with me.
"So, what is it?" she asked, closing the book and looking at me. "Didn't you have a good time yesterday?"
"Yes, we did," I said.
"Yes, you did," Ginny repeated, and sat down on my chair, folding her hands behind her neck. "But you don't look very happy to me."
"I am happy," I said, picking up another book. "It's just that..." I trailed off.
"Come on, you can tell me. Or maybe, you want me to guess. OK, I'll give it a try. This has to do with the 'm' word?" she smirked.
"Why would it have anything to do with that?" I asked, knowing she meant 'marriage'.
"Because, that is what's been bothering you. So, I'll take it that Harry, the slowpoke, didn't propose to you yesterday."
I shook my head.
"And you were expecting him to," she added.
"OK, fine, I admit it. For a minute, the idea that he had prepared all that to propose to me crossed my mind. It would have been a perfect time... But he didn't. In fact, I think it was pretty clear that he's not thinking about a wedding now."
I explained Ginny what had happened yesterday and his strange attitude after my comment. After that, Ginny shook her head and look at me with pity.
"That's what happens when you don't listen to me, see? I told you that you had to pretend you don't want to get married, not be hinting about a proposal. Now you probably scared him."
"But why would he be scared? He's 26 years old, he's not a teenager anymore, I think he should be ready to settle down," I argued.
"The fact that you are ready doesn't mean he is. Men are jerks, they have to prepare themselves a lot to take this kind of steps. Just calm down and listen to me this time, OK? Follow my advice, you won't regret it," she said, winking.
* * *
Harry threw his quidditch robes inside his locker and shut it with a loud bang. He hadn't been able to concentrate in the training, thinking about the ring... He didn't understand what could have happened to it. It wasn't in his house, he was sure about it, he had looked everywhere for it. He was angry and frustrated. He was hoping that this would be his first day as an engaged man, but now, he was still where he had been before...
"You don't look very happy," Cho's voice said from behind, Harry turned around to look at her. "And I thought that you would be thrilled after yesterday," she added.
"Everything went wrong," Harry said, sighing. "I couldn't propose to her."
"Oh... you chickened out?"
"No, of course not. You know, the weirdest thing happened..." he told her about the ring's disappearence.
"I don't get it, how did that happen?" Cho asked, frowning.
"That's what I would want to know," Harry said.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"I'll have to buy another ring and prepare something," he said, shrugging.
Cho took a deep breath. "Maybe you should wait a little."
Harry arched one eyebrow. "What? Why?"
"Well, maybe you'll think I'm crazy, but I think this could be a sign... A ring vanishing out of nowhere is too weird to be ignored."
"A sign? Of what?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"Maybe... This is just an idea, but maybe you're not ready to do this yet."
"Of course I am ready, Cho. I've been waiting for this a really long time, I have no doubts."
"OK, perhaps you don't, but what about Hermione?"
"You think she's not ready?" Harry asked, slightly surprised.
"I don't know her that much, but she seems like the workaholic-perfectionist type to me..." Harry nodded, confirming her impression. "Well, that kind of women usually don't want to get married so young. They want their careers to bloom and then they think about minor things, like a family."
"I don't think a family is less important than her career for Hermione," Harry said. "She's not like that."
"Fine, you know her better than me. All I'm saying is that, maybe, you should find out how she feels about this before popping the question. A rejected proposal is most likely to ruin your relationship with her. It has happened to me before. If you ask her to marry you and she says no, nothing will be the same between you two, trust me."
Harry considered what Cho was saying. He had been sure that Hermione would accept right away... But what if she didn't? What if she needed more time? He wasn't sure how he would handle a rejection from her...
He had to find out what Hermione was thinking.
* * *
A/N: Harry and Hermione are really going the wrong way, aren't they?