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It had been a truly magical day. A magical week, really.
She knew that even thinking that was cheesy beyond belief. But, it was true. Hermione was giddy and had been since the start of their trip.
The idea had come up while cleaning out her childhood home with Fred. She had been putting off the task for over five years, but it had been time. Her parents wouldn’t be coming back to live in this house. They were still in Australia with no memory of having a daughter - the memory charm that she had performed was unable to be reversed. She wasn’t using the house, and Fred had asked her to move into his flat, which she had happily agreed to. Her life was moving forward, and selling the house had been long overdue.
While going through what had been her mother’s office, Fred had come across several photo albums. And while he had thoroughly enjoyed poking fun at her for her hair that had been larger than she was as a toddler, it had been a photo album from the summer before she started Hogwarts that had caught his attention.
A family photo in front of a castle. A photo of Hermione and her father in a large teacup. Another with her mother and what seemed to be a large mouse, taller than Hermione, wearing a red polka dot dress and a giant red hair bow on its head. On and on the photos went, filling up the album with memories from her favorite trip growing up. Disney World had truly felt like the most magical place on Earth.
Fred had been intrigued and immediately started making plans for them to go on holiday together. Hermione’s one stipulation was that he agree to watch a few of her favorite Disney films before their trip. He had taken to the challenge admirably, and they had managed to make their way through all of the VHS tapes that her parents held on to over the years. His favorite had been Alice in Wonderland, and he had started brainstorming products based on the movie for the shop as soon as the movie ended.
Now, they stood in the middle of Main Street USA, looking down the street toward Cinderella’s Castle, his arms wrapped around her waist from behind, waiting for the nightly fireworks to begin. It was hard to believe that it was already the last night of their trip and that they would be traveling back to London in the morning.
The week had been everything she could have hoped for and more. She had loved visiting Disney World with her parents, but visiting with Fred had been something else entirely. Watching him marvel at the shows and listening to his excited shouts on the rides had been more enjoyable to her than the actual shows and rides themselves.
They had shared churros and a pineapple Dole Whip. She had laughed more than she ever had as he spun their pink teacup as fast as he could before they were both nearly being sick afterward from the dizziness.
She had been just as excited as he was the day they visited Animal Kingdom, which had not existed when she had come with her parents, and they had both screamed in fright during the ride with dinosaurs. They had both agreed afterward that Charlie would have enjoyed that ride immensely.
They had both ended up a bit tipsy after enjoying more drinks around the World Showcase at Epcot than they should have and had taken the next day off from the parks. They chose to spend that day at the pool before lounging on a hammock on the beach of their resort, watching the electric water pageant.
He had been one of the audience volunteers in the Indiana Jones stunt show, and she had enjoyed watching him be silly while getting into character. Considering how much she hated flying and worried about falling, the irony was not lost on her that her favorite ride of the trip had been the Tower of Terror. He had given her quite a hard time about that as they sat together holding hands while waiting for Fantasmic to begin that night.
He had known magic his whole life, but Disney magic was something very different, and seeing him embrace it so thoroughly had filled her heart with joy.
As the voice of Jiminy Cricket came over the loudspeakers to announce the start of the fireworks show, she leaned back further into Fred’s chest and sighed happily. This trip had been everything that she could have hoped for and more, and she was a bit sad that it was coming to an end.
They had watched the fireworks earlier in the week, but it just felt right to close out their trip by watching them again. And if he had noticed her crying during the show, he hadn’t mentioned it, though she had felt his arms tighten around her.
As the show ended and the crowd started to head toward the exit, he grabbed her hand and led her toward the right side of the castle into a rose garden. They had made the mistake of following the crowd out immediately after the fireworks ended the first night, and had waited over an hour to catch the monorail back to their resort. He had made the case that it made sense to wait for the crowd to lighten up a bit, and she hadn’t needed much persuading.
They sat on a bench and people watched as the crowds began to slowly clear out, just enjoying each other's company.
“I have to admit, I don’t want to go home tomorrow,” Hermione said with a sigh as she leaned her head against Fred’s shoulder.
He wrapped an arm around her and hummed lightly in response. “Honestly, I don’t either. I’m already trying to think up an excuse for us to come back.”
She chuckled. “As far as I’m concerned, we don’t need an excuse.”
“Ah, but it’s far more fun to come up with excuses. Helpful, too. I can’t tell you the number of times Georgie and I got out of a bind at Hogwarts because we came up with a believable excuse for being where we were.”
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to look at him expectantly. “Alright then, what’s a good reason for us to come back?”
He was quiet for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. She nudged him gently with her shoulder and he grinned. “I’ve got the perfect reason for us to come back.”
“And that would be…?”
“Our honeymoon, of course.”
She raised an eyebrow at him incredulously. “Is that so? I hadn’t realized we were getting married.”
“Well, that’s because I haven’t officially asked you yet, you silly witch,” he replied with a shrug as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He then got up from the bench and Hermione gaped at him when he dropped down to one knee in front of her and took one of her hands in both of his.
“Hermione Granger, I’ve loved you for years and you make me happier than I ever imagined I could be. If you’ll let me, I’ll do my best to make sure that we get our happily ever after together. Will you marry me?”
She nodded as tears streamed down her face. “Yes! Of course!” She launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.
It was a moment before she pulled away and registered the fact that people were cheering and a few were approaching them. She gasped in surprise when George helped Fred up and hugged him while Angelina stood nearby, grinning at her. She was even more surprised when Harry and Theo came over and pulled her to her feet and hugged her between them. “What are you doing here?”
“Fred told us his plan and asked us to come,” Harry replied, letting her go and wrapping an arm around Theo. “We couldn’t miss you getting engaged.”
“Now, show us the ring, Granger!” Theo prodded, grabbing her left hand. He rolled his eyes when he noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring. “Weasley, I think you forgot something.”
“Bugger. I knew I was forgetting something. Georgie?”
George handed over a small box to Fred, who opened it and carefully removed the simple and classic princess cut diamond ring. “May I?”
She nodded, held out her left hand, and watched him slide it onto her finger with a proud smirk on his face before kissing her soundly, ignoring the retching sounds the boys made. Angelina helpfully smacked each of them on the back of the head and got them all quickly under control.
“We’re getting married,” Hermione whispered when they broke apart a short moment later.
Fred nodded. “We are.”
“Our friends are here.”
“They are,” Fred agreed, glancing over at them before turning his attention back to her. “And they’re involved in one last surprise. We’re leaving here tomorrow, but we’re not going home quite yet. We’re taking a portkey to a beach house for a couple of days before we head back to London.”
Hermione grinned, overwhelmed with happiness. She couldn’t help but think that Disney World really was the most magical place on Earth. Well, maybe the second most magical...just behind wherever she happened to be with Fred.
And perhaps she could talk him into a Disney destination wedding…