Curiousity Killed the Cat

Flashback: Date: Saturday, April 27th. Location: Harry and Elyse’s Flat, London. Time: 4:47pm.

“Ron,” Harry said, sighing for the millionth time tonight, “why don’t you just, you know, propose like everyone else?”

Ron scoffed. “Harry, your mind is just too simple to see the extraordinariness of this plan. Just wait and see, mate.”

I held back a smile as I tied Harry’s tie, making a mental note to tease him about not being able to do it himself. Ron was, indeed, planning on proposing tonight to Hermione. Of course, rather than doing the good old down-on-one-knee trick, he is going to do the cheesy, dear-God-let-her-not-choke, ring in the champagne glass.

“I’ll have the ambulance on stand-by,” I said in a hushed tone so Ron couldn’t hear me. “You know, just in case.”

“She’s gonna choke on it,” Harry said, rolling his eyes. I held back another smile as I straightened his tie out. If Hermione did, in fact, choke on said ring, it would be easily the greatest moment of my life. Not because she was choking but, well, so I could hold this against Ron for the rest of my natural born life.

“I’m going to pick up Hermione. We’ll meet you guys there,” Ron said, saluting us before heading out the front door. I silently cursed my forgetfulness when I realized I was not dressed yet. I hurried to the room Harry and I shared, flipping though dresses in the too big closet.

I finally decided on a rather unique dress that I almost forgot I owned. Being a gift from Harry many moons ago, it had yet to see the light of day. It was a delicate white with a sea blue flower pattern. As if the color combination was not gorgeous enough, the dress had origami-style folds of fabric, making it exotic and new. It was long enough to be modest, but the strapless top made it more…well, sexy.

I slipped on the dress, being careful with the origami folds, and pulled it up to cover my torso. I realized that it would be next to impossible for me to zip up this dress myself, so I called in Harry from the other room.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, eyeing the dress with a mischievous glint.

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t stop the smile that jumped on my face. “Just zip it up.”

“How ‘bout zip it down?” he asked innocently, earning a kick from me. “Ouch, okay. There.”

I gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you. Alright, let’s go.”

Date: Saturday, April 27th. Location: Silent Lovers Restaurant, London. Time: 5:24pm

“Excuse me for a moment,” Hermione said, pushing her chair back, grabbing her purse, and heading off in the direction of the ladies’ room. The night had been uneventful so far. Just casual dinner/friend talk. Hermione looked wonderfully elegant in a light pink gown that fell just above her knees.

“Here’s my chance, lady and gentleman!” Ron said, picking up Hermione’s half empty (I’m more of a ‘glass-half-empty’ kind of girl) glass carefully, as if she would be able to see his finger prints. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a stunning diamond ring, dropping it into the liquid with a soft plop!

“Luck, mate,” Harry said, leaning back in his chair. I felt excitement bubble inside of me, even if it was not me being proposed to, I still couldn’t help it. I wondered if Hermione would actually choke on the ring or if she’d reject him or if she’d say yes.

Hermione returned a while later, causing Ron to nearly hyperventilate on the spot. Harry and I started up a convocation, keeping a watchful eye on Hermione, as Ron just stared like a moron. Hermione picked up her glass, making all of us (mostly Ron) catch our breath.

But before she could take a sip or look into the glass, a flash of black crashed into Ron and tackled him to the ground.

“What the hell!?” Harry and I said at the same time, jumping out of our seats, just in case the table turned over during this event.

“Ron!” Hermione shrieked, setting the glass on the table rather forcefully. “Let him go!”

The man who tackled Ron looked up briefly as he forced Ron face down on the ground. “Ma’am, this man spiked your drink which would have given him the power to, God forbid, violate you.”

“Spike my drink…?” Hermione said, grabbing her glass and peering inside. She let out a soft gasp at the site of the diamond ring at the bottom.

“Uh, sir?” I spoke up as Harry tried very, very, very hard not to laugh. “I think you got the wrong idea. Our friend here was just, er, proposing to his girlfriend. There’s an engagement ring at the bottom of that drink.”

After apologizing a million times and paying for our dinner, the off-duty police officer left with his wife, who was mortified. Hermione hadn’t spoken since the event while Ron was suffering from a bruised body and a new fear of policemen.

“Well… this has been a lovely night,” I said, breaking the silence.

“So, what do you say Hermione? I have a feeling Ron’s face hurts so it might be hard to talk,” Harry said, trying to keep a straight face.

She sighed and turned to face Ron. “Why couldn’t you have just got down on one knee to propose!?”

That comment was the final straw for me and Harry as we went into full hysterics, tearing rolling down on cheeks as we held our stomach, fearing they might suddenly burst.

“I will marry you only, and only, if you promise to not surprise me by putting anything, and I mean anything, in my drink,” Hermione said, ignoring Harry and I.

Ron sighed. “Fair enough.”

The newly engaged love birds soon sent us on our way, wanting to be mushy gushy alone. We arrived back at our flat later that night, worn out from the excitement that unfolded during dinner.

“Aren’t you glad I didn’t do that when I proposed?” Harry teased as he unlocked the door, holding it open for me like the gentleman he is.

I laughed. “You have no idea. At least she said yes. I don’t think Ron could have taken heartbreak and humiliation.”

“Well,” Harry said, loosening his tie, “you know what that means?”

I kicked off my heels. “What?”

“We’ll have to go to another wedding, with lots and lots of people,” he informed me, grinning at my annoyed face.

I pondered this thought for a moment. “How mad do you think they’d be if I skipped this?”

“Very, very mad.”

“What if I--”

Harry cut me off. “We’ll discuss this later. First, I believe you might need some help getting out of that insanely gorgeous dress.”

The rest of the night was filled with bliss, fun, and the image of Ron getting tackled to the ground by the off-duty cop replaying in our minds over and over and over again.