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Frank's leg bounced rapidly, his heel keeping tempo with a staccato, unhinged rhythm.
This was all wrong. They should have been able to wait for a few years, to allow time for their parents to sit and bicker about where the wedding would be held, which personal caterer to call, and whose wedding gown Alice would wear. Time was stolen from them all, and they were only trying to make due, now.
Leaning over so his elbows dug into the tops of his knees, trying to stop the bouncebouncebounce, Frank stared at the ring between his hands. It looked so delicate and small, pinched between his fingers. He knew Alice would know the significance of this particular ring, but he still didn't think it was enough. Pureblood traditions called for more pomp and circumstance before proposing. He didn't mind the lack of a marriage contract; such things were antiquated now, even if other traditions remained. Watching others in their year go through the process of those agreements was horrifying, even though many of them were in Slytherin and he didn't ever have the misfortune of overhearing the grittiest details.
The clock in the Order house chimed the half hour, still another fifteen minutes or so before the Portkeys were activated and other members arrived by Apparition or Floo. For the last few months, a home on a Longbottom property was used to house these secret meetings, given to Dumbledore by Frank's mother to use for now. Frank watched the arms of the clock he remembered from his childhood moved much too quickly for his liking.
Frank nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a loud clang coming from the kitchen a few yards away. In his anxious state, he'd forgotten Lily had arrived early to help Molly in the kitchen. He almost dropped the ring, his breathing growing rapid from the near miss, and he groaned at how much of a mess he was.
"You alright, Frank?" Lily asked, leaning around the narrow doorframe to check on him. One of the Weasley boys held on tightly to her apron, his wee glasses sliding down his nose before he primly pushed them back up his nose again. "Go on and help your mum, Percy."
As the toddler nodded solemnly and moved out of his view, Frank watched Lily walk over and sit down next to him on the stairs.
"Budge up, Frank. Is that a ring for Alice?"
Frank tried to reply, but the words stuck in his throat and he just nodded. Some brave Auror he was, scared shitless at the idea of asking the love of his life to marry him.
Lily grabbed one of his hands, the one not pinching the ring tightly between two fingers, and squeezed. "She'll love that. Was it your mum's?"
"Nah," Frank finally managed to say. The story rolled off his tongue naturally, easing his nerves. "It's my grandmother's. My mother got a ring from another vault to wear, because she said silver isn't her color. I guess I should have known she'd approve of this ages ago by the way she complimented all of Alice's silver necklaces she wore to dinner or in photos. We had to dig for this, mum said it was lost sometime around 1968, and kind of hinted that I'd hidden it with the direct purpose of 'saving it for a special someone'."
Frank grew quieter the longer he spoke, but his voice grew steadier and calmer at the same time. Releasing the hand she'd captured, Lily stood and faced Frank, glancing once into the kitchen to make sure Molly was still alright by herself for a few more moments. Cocking her head to the side, she regarded Frank quietly, how the set of his mouth had softened in the few minutes she'd spoken to him.
"I can do this, right, Lils?" Frank asked, still staring at the pretty little ring.
"That had better be a rhetorical question, Frank Longbottom," she teased.
Without another word, she wiped the extra flour from her palms onto the apron, and fixed Frank's hair. Running his hands through it several times gave it an almost James Potter-like quality, and truly only James Potter could pull that look off.
Frank took a deep breath and smiled at Lily in thanks, standing to follow her into the kitchen to keep his mind off of what he planned to do directly after the Order meeting.