#themione

She rose and pulled on her housecoat to trudge out to the kitchen.  There was a cup of tea with a spoon charmed to keep stirring it on the counter.  She knew it was for her, Theo never made tea without also making some for her.

She took it and removed the spoon, muttering a quick cleaning charm and frowning at the streaks that it left on the surface. She still hadn’t really mastered these spells yet, but it didn’t matter really, she guessed, muttering the charm again and leaving the spoon mirror-clean and she sent it to the drawer.

Hermione didn’t see Theo anywhere, but she did note that his boots weren’t at the door. Sighing heavily, she took a long hot sip of her tea and returned to the bedroom to dress. She chose a lumpy sweater and a pair of thermal leggings before pulling on a pair of insulated trousers and her coat. She didn’t bother with her hair, because it kept her warmer when it was allowed to go out on its own.

She slipped on her own boots and went outside, feet crunching in the snow as she made her way down to the lake. She knew that was where Theo was because of the footprints he’d left in the snow behind him.

She found him puffing on a cigarette and watching the smoke curl into the sky.  She nearly gasped at the lake. Normally a lovely place to swim and boat in the summer months, now it was frozen solid and smooth as a mirror on top.  It was gorgeous and she whispered it softly.

Theo turned to face her, smiling as he held out his arm. He took out his ciggie and held it out as far away from her as he could. They likely looked rather comical sitting there, with one arm around her and the other holding his cigarette as far out as he could so she wouldn’t have to smell it.

She still did a bit, but she didn’t really care.

“Good morning,” she whispered.

“Morning to you,” he replied, taking a deep breath and dropping the cigarette on the ground at their feet. “Say, Granger... can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said, smirking a little. She liked it when he called her Granger. He usually saved ‘Hermione’ for more intimate moments, so both names held a special place.

“How attached are you to that name?” he asked.

“What?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean when you get married. Are you going to take your partner’s name or hyphenate or what?”

“I mean, I’ll likely hyphenate if my partner wants to as well. Otherwise, I’d keep my name and they’d keep theirs.”

“Good to know,” he said, slipping his arm from around her shoulders and into his pocket.

“Why do you ask?”

He simply shook his head and took a step forward, bending down to fix something on his boot and Hermione went back to gazing out over the lake.

Theo cleared his throat and she looked at him, frowning as she spied him on the ground. What was he still doing there?

“Theo---“

He pulled something out of his pocket, a small velvet box. Inside, a ring with the biggest and most colourful stone she’d ever seen before in her life. She gasped slightly and he smiled.

“Granger, I’ll hyphenate my name if you hyphenate yours.”

Her stomach swirled excitedly and she felt herself bounce a bit on her toes before she nodded and took the ring from him. “Yes, yes, I think I will.”

He chuckled and stood up, slipping an arm around her and pulling her close for a kiss. “Surprised?”

“Yes and no,” she replied. “And that’s how I always imagined it would be.”