Dessert and Its Special Meaning

Harry Potter was nervous.

And to the casual observer, you wouldn't notice it. But if you did notice, you wouldn't know why.

You see, Harry was out with his friends, Ron and Hermione (who were currently dating), and Neville and Luna (who were also dating). Oh, and Harry's girlfriend Ginny was there too.

So, why was Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, the Savior of the Wizarding World, The Most Golden of The Golden Trio, nervous?

Well, we'll get to that later… during dessert.

Luna was eating a salad and explaining her recent trip out to find Nargles with Neville.

Hermione was restraining herself from rolling her eyes with great difficulty.

Luna concluded by saying, "So, were sad not to find any Nargles, but I suppose there's always next year. Maybe we'll try in The States."

Hermione snorted, but managed to turn it into a cough. Grinning, Ron patted her on the back and told Luna, "Sounds like fun."

"Would you like to come?" Luna asked Ron, smiling and blinking slowly at him.

Ron shrugged, his ears turning a light pink. "Oh, I dunno…"

Harry didn't even bother hiding his smile as he said, "Why not Ron? You did say it sounded like fun."

"Well, I just, don't think, maybe-" Ron stuttered his way into silence, and looked around at his grinning friends. Ron sighed, then mumbled, "I'd rather not."

Smiling lightly, Luna replied, "That's quite alright."

"So," Ginny said, turning to Neville, "You got the job, right? Professor of Herbology?

"Yeah!" Neville exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. "I was so happy when I found out! It's great."

"I'm really happy for you, Neville. Harry here had to go be the hero and starts Auror training soon." Ginny looked up at Harry and smiled at him.

Ron butted in here to say, "And what about me? I'm going to Auror training with Harry too, you know."

"Yes, it's quite admirable." Hermione agreed, grinning from ear to ear.

Luna asked Hermione, "But what about you? Where are you headed?"

"Oh, I don't know." Hermione said, sighing heavily. "Department of Mysteries?"

"No way." Harry said immediately, glaring at Hermione.

Hermione did roll her eyes this time, and she said, "Oh, relax Harry. I was kidding."

Harry was still glaring, so Ginny said, "Well, we could ask the same of you Luna. What do you want to do?"

Luna thought for a moment, her eyes unfocused, before she said, "I'm not sure either."

Hermione chuckled and said, "All the girls can go job hunting together!"

Everyone laughed, and the waiter brought in the main dish.

Even though his favorite food lay before him, Harry suddenly turned pale as he realized that dessert was drawing closer.

"Harry? Are you okay?" Ginny asked when she caught sight of her boyfriend's pale face.

Harry smiled weakly at the red head and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine."

The friends all dug in; although Ginny continued to shoot Harry suspicious glances.

There was more aimless chatter amongst them. They discussed the fact that Kingsley had given in and agreed to stay Minister of Magic. And Professor McGonagall was Head Mistress of Hogwarts. Neville told the group she was looking for a Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, and Hermione sat up straighter in her chair. "Is she now?"

"Yeah." Neville confirmed, nodding. "What, you want to teach?"

"Why not?" Hermione said excitedly.

Harry shrugged. "You'd be a great Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Hermione."

Ron, Luna, Neville, and Ginny all agreed unanimously.

"Great! I'll talk to Professor McGonagall tomorrow!"

Ginny explained that she was considering trying out for the Holy Head Harpies.

Everyone exclaimed in happiness again, and Harry was smiling so much he couldn't even speak.

And then… the treacle tart appeared.

And Harry's face turned pale again.

Ginny looked over at Harry again, and when she noticed his distress, she asked again, "Harry, is something wrong?" Her eyes widened as Harry got up from his chair to kneel in beside his girlfriend.

"Ginny." Harry stopped here to take a deep breath, and he pulled out a small black box, and opened it to reveal a delicate gold ring with a tiny ruby set in the top.

Harry looked up at Ginny, and began again, "Ginny, I've known you for a long time. I can't believe for so much of that time I was too stupid to see how amazing and wonderful you are. I'm really glad I didn't see it too late though." Harry smiled at Ginny, who was grinning away at him. "So, I was wondering if you'd like to spend the rest of your life, with me. Ginny Weasley, will you marry me?"

For a moment, Ginny was too happy to think, let alone speak. Finally she managed to say, "Of course, you prat," and fling her arms around her now fiancée.

Everyone was beaming, and congratulating Harry and Ginny.

Hermione however, had to mention, "Harry, you seem to enjoy surprising Ginny during dessert. Remember dessert during Slughorn's party 6th year?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, smiling mischievously.

Harry shrugged, "Who cares? She said yes!"

And then, laughing with his friends, Harry realized the wonderful truth: All would be well.

Fin.

(A/N: Whoa. My first Harry Potter fanfic! YEAH! Rights go to J.K Rowling, for all her ideas. The only original thing is the plot.

This is all thanks to my awesome new writer friend Nana Hassan. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for forcing me to write this, and I really hope it lived up to your expectations. I dedicate this one shot to you, my friend!

I'd like to thank my brother/co-writer for reading my work and agreeing that it was funny. See, I'm not crazy! I can write some good stuff!

Anyway, if you spot any errors; say I spelled someone's name wrong or something horrible like that, please point it out. I really appreciate that, because frankly, my eyes alone are not good enough for that job, and my brother isn't so great in the spelling department. No offense bro, you know I love you.

Anyway, sorry for the rant! Thanks for reading! Please review!

~ Rosefeather