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Everything had to be perfect, she was determined to make sure that her meticulously laid plans came together in the way that she wanted, Hannah and Adrian deserved nothing but the best and she would be damned if she was going to give them anything less. It was a fairly simple plan, but elegant at the same time.
while she was certain that they would love what she had come up with, there was still a part of her that was terrified that they wouldn’t say yes leaving her alone once again. Shaking off such melancholic thoughts, Millie opened the box that contained three beautiful, handcrafted rings that she had spent months painstakingly transfiguring from the raw materials when she had been unable to find anything that fit the vision she had for them. The bright silver of the rings was inlaid by a series of criss-crossed burnished gold vines and two of the rings were topped by a stone that was the perfect mix of a rich emerald green and deep vibrant yellow, the colors changing depending on how the light caught the stones. The third one was different only in that the band was wider and the stone was inset so it was completely flush with the contrasting metals of the band. Millie took a deep breath,shut the lid and placed the box into the pocket of her robe and left for Hogwarts where her plan would hopefully unfold perfectly.
Millie arrived at the entrance to Hogwarts with a crack from her apparition and touched her wand to the imposing metal gate as she had been instructed to by the Headmistress upon her arrival and then stood back to wait to be admitted. Just a few minutes later, the Headmistress herself apparated to just beyond the gates and walked up to them with a warm smile on her face.
“It is a pleasure to see you Miss Bulstrode, I trust that you have everything ready on your end?”
Millie broke into her own smile and nodded at her old Transfiguration professor.
“I do indeed Headmistress, I made the finishing touches on the rings just this morning and I have the rest of what I need shrunk down in my bag.”
Minerva smiled and stood aside, gesturing with her hand for Millie to walk through,
“Well I wish you luck today and I trust that you’ll send me an owl after all is said and done?”
Millie nodded,
“Of course I will Headmistress, how could I not after your kindness and generosity in allowing me to do this on Hogwarts grounds. You will also be the first with an invitation when the time comes, I’ll make sure that we hand deliver it to you.”
“Very well, I shan’t keep you any longer but feel free to call on my elf Finney should you require anything further.”
“Thank you Headmistress, I will keep that in mind.”
At this Millie strode off towards a particular spot on the Hogwarts grounds with a small smile on her face. Minerva watched her go with a warm smile on her face. She sincerely hoped that everything went well for the girl. She couldn’t think of anyone else that deserved such happiness.
Millie arrived at the spot that she had chosen and smiled up at the large oak tree that stretched high above her, the leaves seeming impossibly green and vibrant. The tree was the same today as it had been all those years ago and she stood lost in the memory of that day.
“Massive Millie , massive Millie, massive Millie!” The small group of children dressed in red trimmed robes surrounded a rather pudgy little girl dressed in a robe trimmed in green as she cowered on the ground near a large oak tree with tears streaming down her face. The contents of her school bag were scattered around her, quills, rolls of parchment and books having been strewn about by the same children that were relentlessly mocking her and destroying her things. One of the children was about to snap the rest of her quills when a small but fierce voice broke through the jeering shouts.
“Get away from her! Stop it!”
A tiny blonde girl in yellow trimmed robes pushed her way past the group of other children and stood defiantly in front of the crying girl on the ground.
“You’re all being a bunch of meanie poo heads! You stop right now!”
The ringleader of the bullies sneered at her and pushed her back, making her stumble and land on the girl behind her. The boy that had pushed her kicked some mud in her direction making it splatter over her face and was about to step on her robes to grind more mud into them when another voice rang out above them all.
“Oi! What in the bloody hell do you all think you’re all doing!”
The ringleader spun around, startled by the shout and scowled to see an older boy with robes trimmed in green staring at them with his wand in his hand and an angry light in his eyes.
“What do you want you slimy sna-.”
Before the stocky little boy could finish his sentence, the older boy raised his wand and uttered a seemingly harmless spell.
“Wingardium Leviosa!”
The bully flew up into the air, held by his ankle and his robes fell to flutter around his quickly reddening face.
“I’ll thank you to keep your mouth shut you little toad. Now, I’m going to let you down and I suggest that you and your idiot friends run back to your house before I get Snape out here. I promise he won’t be as nice about this as I am being.”
With that the boy dropped the bully on the ground and he scrambled to his feet and ran off with his friends hot on his heels. Once the older boy was satisfied that the other boys were gone, he turned back to the two girls still sitting on the ground and covered in mud. He knelt and smiled warmly at them. He spoke to the little blonde girl first, knowing that the other little girl would likely take longer to console.
“My name is Adrian, what’s yours?”
The little blonde girl raised her chin at the older boy, determined not to let him be mean to the girl that she still sat in front of.
“I’m Hannah Abbot and I’m not going to let you call her names so if you’re going to be a poo head like the others you can just leave!”
Adrian chuckled,
“She and I are both in Slytherin, I promise I would never do something like that. But even if we were not, I do not stand for bullying or abuse of anyone. It seems that you think the same way though, if you were brave enough to step in front of those stupid boys for a girl you don’t know.”
Hannah sniffed,
“I don’t know her but I just felt like I needed to help her. That’s all.”
A small sob came from behind Hannah before Adrian could speak again and they both turned to see that the little girl had sat up and was trying to brush some of the mud off of her robes. Adrian waved his wand and whispered a spell and most of the mud disappeared from her robes leaving her to stare in awe at Adrian. She spoke in a small voice barely above a whisper,
“Why are you both being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.”
Hannah spun around and pulled the other girl into a fierce embrace, shocking the girl into silence.
“Because I just did and because no one deserves to be treated like that, no matter who you are. I can’t speak for your housemate but I couldn’t stand seeing them do that to you.”
Adrian nodded,
“I agree with my new friend, we both only wanted to save you from those horrid little prats and I can safely say that we are both extremely glad that we were able to do so.”
The dark haired girl wiped the remaining tears from her face and stood with the help of her two new friends.
“My name is Millicent, Millicent Eileen Bulstrode.”
Millie smiled as she came out of the memory, who knew that something so beautiful would come from getting pushed in the mud by a bunch of bullies. With the smile still on her face, she began to remove things from her bag and put them in place with her wand. Nearly an hour later, she stood back and took in the sight of the result of her hard work and breathed a sigh of relief, it all looked perfect. The sparkling lights lay just so in the branches, softly illuminating the ground beneath it which was covered by a soft green blanket shot through with golden thread and large matching pillows. The last thing she needed was a bottle of their favorite wine. She summoned the house elf that the Headmistress had allowed her use of and had him bring the bottle of chilled wine and three glasses. She conjured a low table and set the things down and then sent her patronus to the Headmistress.
“I have everything ready, you can activate the portkey now.”
Scant seconds later a translucent blue tabby cat bounded up to where Millie was waiting and nodded with what she swore was a smile before disappearing into thin air.
Millie turned and waited, knowing that the loves of her life would be appearing in spot in front of her any second now. They appeared, stumbling slightly at the way the portkey deposited them on the grass. Hands clasped, Hannah and Adrian stared in wonder at the woman they loved and the sight of the decorated tree and ground behind her. Hannah spoke first, pulling Adrian behind her as she went to embrace their girlfriend.
“Millie, love, what is all this? And why are we at Hogwarts of all places? Is everything ok? Are you?”
Adrian chuckled as he pulled to the side and slid an arm around Millie’s waist and pressed a kiss to the top of her head,
“Hannah darling, Millie won’t be able to answer you unless you take a breath and give her a chance to speak. That being said, I do admit that I am equally as curious as our insatiably inquisitive Puff my love, why have you brought us here and what is all of this?”
Millie simply smiled and took them both by the hand and led them to the cushions that lay just behind them. Once they were all settled with glasses of chilled wine, Millie spoke for the first time since their arrival.
“I know this is a bit strange but this was the first place we met, the first place that you both saw me for who I was and not just a fat little child that no one had any use for beyond making fun of. You both saw me in a way that no one else did when no one else would have bothered or cared. As the years passed, we all grew closer, the best of friends against all odds and expectations and then when you graduated Adrian, you took a part of my heart with you that I hadn’t even known was yours. I didn’t have anyone left but Hannah after that so I clung to her and I developed such feelings for her that I didn’t know how to handle them. Then in seventh year, just when I thought I would be able to tell her how I felt, you wrote to her and asked her to be your girlfriend and my hopes were dashed so I stood aside like a good friend and let the two of you be together. A couple of years later after putting myself through hell by remaining near to you both, I couldn’t take it any longer so I left the country, thinking that there was nothing left for me in England.”
“I ignored all attempts at contact, returned all owl messages unopened and did my best to stay away from most magical areas so I couldn’t be contacted by other means. But in spite of all of that, in spite of all of my efforts, you both found me and told me just how incredibly blind I had been throughout everything. You found me and showed me just how much you both loved me and from that day forward, I have been yours, wholly and completely.”
Millie pulled out the small ornate box from behind her cushion and placed it in her lap.
“Hannah, Adrian, I refuse to imagine a life without either of you in it ever again so that being said, will you both do me the biggest honor of my life and marry me?”
Millie opened the box towards her loves and tears ran down her face as an enthusiastic yes came from both of them. She slipped the rings on their fingers and watched in awe as they did the same for her. Overwhelmed with happiness she held them by the hands and turned to apparate away forgetting the things that they were leaving behind in their haste.
A while later, Minerva strolled out to the lawn to see how things had went for the girl she considered one of her favorite students and was surprised to see that the area that had been so carefully arranged for the proposal was empty, the only real indication that nothing untoward had happened was the empty ring box laying on its side on one of the cushions. Minerva shook her head and smiled and waved her wand in a complicated pattern over the things that Millie had left behind. They all flew into the air and shrunk, fitting neatly into the bag that Millie had left sitting on the far side of the tree. Minerva placed the bag over her shoulder and walked back to her office, knowing that they would be back sooner rather than later to give her the good news.