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“Ron, what exactly are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Ron replied with a grim expression and a sincere voice, as he kept moving around the secrecy sensor, probably to make sure to cover every section and angle of the pile standing on their kitchen table.
Hermione didn’t know if she wanted to roll her eyes at his antics or chuckle about his dorkiness. Finally deciding on the latter, she reached for his hand and gently took the sensor away. Before he could complain, she shut him up with a kiss and kept his hand in hers.
“There is nothing suspicious about it. These are from my cousin, Athena, and she’s certainly not dark.”
For a moment, Hermione’s thoughts went to all the pink and frilly dresses her cousin had made her try on just last month until she had finally decided on a bridesmaids dress for her. It wasn’t long until the wedding anymore and Hermione had seen a lot of what had been picked out for decorations and so on.
No, there was honestly no way a woman that was this bubbly and happy and loved that amount of tulle and ruffles to be hiding such a dark side to herself underneath…
Well, aside from Umbridge, that was.
Shaking her head at her own thoughts, Hermione focused back on the present and the gift on their table.
“It’s a gift for our anniversary. Athena is well-known in my family to remember every couple’s anniversary and to always gift something special. She would have done it last year - had she known about us already.”
“Okay, first, a person who remembers every couple’s anniversary is suspicious all on its own.”
Hermione laughed and shook her head.
“Can’t argue with that,” she admitted.
But Ron had already moved on.
“And second, maybe it’s nice she remembered… but by Merlin’s balls , why would she send us… this ?”
“Because it’s a Muggle tradition.”
Ron’s flabbergasted face made her giggle even harder before she finally reached for the card that went with it, her voice taking on an explanatory tone.
“For Muggles, every anniversary has a special theme that goes along with a kind of gift you can present to the couple. The longer you’re together, the more valuable it gets. So, at fifty years, you celebrate your golden anniversary or at sixty years your diamond one. This usually only goes for wedded couples, but my guess is that Athena wanted to make up for not getting us anything last year.”
“Okay, so the second anniversary is… cotton?”
“Yes. And it looks like she really put some thought into this,” Hermione added, smiling down at the gifts and the card in her hand again, where it read the following:
C - Canvas Pictures
O - One set of Towels
T - Two dollar Bill
T - T-shirts
O - One set of Sheets
N - New Socks
Clearly, Athena had even thought of reminding Hermione of her wish to one day take a road trip around the United States, or she would have found something else for the T.
As she gazed fondly at the gift, Ron picked up a pair of the new socks - clearly, one for him and one for her, if the blue-and-pink colour scheme was any indication - and held them up with a grin.
“Well, I bet Dobby would’ve loved these.”
“I think it’s a lovely idea,” Hermione replied, defending her cousin. “And I love that she put so much thought into it.”
With a sigh, Ron dropped the pair of socks back on the pile.
“I guess so. But now I’m wondering what she’ll get us when it’s our second anniversary as an actual married couple.”
Inspiration struck her, and with a sly grin, Hermione picked up the pack of sheets.
“Well… maybe we can tell her we need a new pack of these. You know, because this set here… might get destroyed somehow.”
The sudden glint in her boyfriend’s eyes told her he had cottoned on to what she was saying. With one swift move, he had picked her up and thrown her over his shoulder, leaving her squealing and laughing.
The pack of sheets dropped out of her hands somewhere on the way to their bedroom - but neither of them bothered. They would simply have to ruin them next time.