InsaneJournal

Venice - for deena_s - Ron/Hermione - G
Title : Venice
For : deena_s
Pairing : Ron/Hermione
Prompt : ....bell tower
Words : 333
Rating : G


Ron trailed after Hermione through basilica after church after gallery after sepulchre.

She kept her nose stuck in her library of guidebooks and he kept his hand stuck in his pocket, fingering a small box.

He listened to her lectures on statues and medieval floor tiles; he watched glass bottles being blown; he sat on buses that turned out to be boats.

Or, possibly, boats that turned out to be buses.

She took him down tiny, twisting alleyways and over bridges.

He grabbed slices of pizza and refused to treat her to a ridiculously expensive coffee at a café in the square.

She didn't stop long enough for him to ask the question he had in mind.

Ginny had assured him the Venice was the most romantic city in the world.

Surely there would be a moment, somewhere, that he could ask her?

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy watching her be this happy; her eyes were sparkling and she was bouncing on tiptoes, hands clasped to her breast.

It's just that he wanted to be the one to make her sparkle, not some dead Italian.

He looked glumly out the window and something caught his eye.

The bell tower.

Perfect.

He could trap her at the top of the bell tower and ask her.

Brilliant.

Hermione frowned at the length of the queue, but the promised views from the top kept her tethered at the foot of the tower, while they inched forward.

Finally, they squeezed into the lift and were whisked to the top.

Ron knew better than to ask her straightaway; he stood in one corner, watching her whisk from one window to another, cheeks flushed.

When her excitement seemed to have plateaued, Ron crossed to her side.

She was looking out at the square, her face shining.

Ron took the box out of his pocket and knelt beside her.

Hermione didn't notice.

He cleared his throat.

Hermione looked round.

And down.

"Oh," she said, eyes as wide as Galleons.
****
OK, I know this is too sappy, but I got engaged at the top of the bell tower in St Mark's Square, so you will just have to live with it!