Moments

33. Hannah's Moment

(980 words)

Hannah had some very exciting news as she burst through the Floo into the sitting room at Grimmauld Place.

'I'VE GOT IT! I'VE GOT IT!' she waved a piece of paper about before realising, with some disappointment, that the room was empty. 'WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL?' she shouted.

There was a thumping of footsteps on stairs and Nev appeared, slightly red-raced and out of breath, 'sorry, love. We're all in the kitchen. Mione's called a house meeting.'

'Perfect! Come on, so I can tell everyone the good news...'

Nev looked at her sharply. 'Really?'

'Yep!'

He picked her up and swung her around, which is really quite scary for a barely five foot someone when your boyfriend is over six foot and has developed muscles you didn't know existed.

Sometimes she didn't understand how she'd caught Nev's eye; she'd witnessed the moment he'd stood up to Voldemort and then sliced off Nagini's head clear from her body. Nev was definitely a hero in her eyes, but she knew he was also a gentle giant who'd much preferred to spend his spare time in Harry's garden than running around doing the press releases that the Ministry expected of him. And she knew lots of people considered him a bit of a dork but she also knew there were a lot of young women and men out there who thought he was a bit of a catch. Maybe it was the boy-next-door thing, but she found he was a bit more approachable than Harry-the-Saviour-Potter, for, in truth, she found Harry a bit intimidating even though he'd welcomed her into his house and was so nice and brotherly it was unbelievable. But, Nev was her man and she was so incredibly in love with him that sometimes her breath caught in her throat when she just thought about him, though sometimes she thought it was unreal and she couldn't believe how lucky she was.

Nev carried her into the kitchen bridle-style and she knew he was excited as she was.

There was a chorus of 'hi, Hannah' and Harry offered her a cup of tea from the large steaming pot on the table.

'We need something stronger, to celebrate,' said Nev.

She saw them all leap straight to the wrong conclusion as they glanced at her right hand and the way Nev carried her. 'Nearly as exciting as that,' she said. Then she blushed profusely for she absolutely hadn't meant to admit it out loud that she would really, really, love to marry Nev one day in the future. She waved her piece of paper to distract everyone and struggled out of Nev's hold.

'I'm going to be the next Landlady at The Leaky Cauldron!'

There was a series of gasps and 'really' and 'why didn't you tell us?' and 'oh, we definitely need to celebrate!'

The cork from a bottle of champagne that, quite handily was already in the fridge, gave a loud POP! And everyone was laughing and talking excitedly.

But Hannah didn't fail to notice that Nev was staring at her with a funny look on his face.

'When do you take over?' asked Hermione.

'I didn't know Old Tom was retiring,' said Ron.

'What are your plans?' asked Blaise.

Hannah saw Nev take two flutes of champagne from Harry and noticed his hands were shaking slightly and he looked a bit flushed but he was watching Hannah intently as he marched across the kitchen towards her. But he didn't hand one of the glasses to her. Instead, he put them both on the table and took the piece of paper out of her hand and put it next to the glasses.

He caught hold of her hands, pulling them towards him and looking at them fixedly.

The volume in the kitchen fell as everyone watched.

Nev's face was very serious. Too serious. And slightly pale. And he took a deep shaky breath.

Then he dropped to one knee in front of her.

In front of everyone.

And the breath caught in her chest and her eyes widened and she couldn't stop looking at him, even though it was all slightly embarrassing.

And the room went hideously silent.

And he said, in a very quiet and serious Nev-sort-of-voice, 'Hannah Meryl Abbott? L-love? Would you do me the tremendous honour of becoming my wife?'

'Yes,' she whispered.

'I-I don't have a ring,' he stammered.

'I don't care!' she said.

'And I-I'd better ask your father for his permission...'

'He'll say yes.'

'This wasn't how I planned it.'

'You planned it?' she said softly.

'Ages ago. I love you.'

'Oh god,' she said. And dropped to her knees too because she couldn't bare looking down at this wonderful, handsome, gentle man who looked so vulnerable kneeling before her. 'I love you too.' She could feel his hands shaking, so she shuffled forward and let go of his hands so she could cup his face. And she kissed him and it felt more intimate and special than any of the kisses they'd ever had in the past even though it was just a kiss on the lips.

'More champagne!' cried Draco.

She'd forgotten they had an audience.

She'd forgotten she was kneeling on the floor of the kitchen in Grimmauld Place.

She looked up into a sea of faces. She was entirely sure that Ron was crying. Everyone looked very proud and there were a lot of very happy faces.

She smiled too, the grin creeping across her face slowly until it felt like she was being wrapped in its joy. It made her feel rather warm.

'You're all invited to the wedding, of course. Now, get up, Nev, and where's my glass? I'm getting married and I'm going to be the new Landlady at The Leaky Cauldron. Top that, you fucking miserable lot!' she laughed with tears in her eyes.

*****