Beauxbatons [Charlie Weasley]

Proposal

Elena frowns. "That's odd. I dunno where everyone's gone." She turns to Isabelle. "You look up the hill there, and I'll look around here for them."

Isabelle just nods, frowning also, and starts to head up the hill at which Elena gestured towards, lighting her wand tip as she walks up through the darkness.

"Charlie!" she exclaims, shocked, as a figure appears in front of her.

He grins at her and pulls her into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"Hey, love," he says softly into her hair. "How was Hogwarts?"

"Really nice, actually," she smiles, burying her face into the crook of his neck. "But I'm glad to be back, even if things aren't going the best here — Elena told me about the Dragon Hunters."

"Ah, yeah," Charlie says grimly, pulling away from her and sighing. He kisses her forehead, before smiling gently down at her. "We're trying everything we can, but we might have to go undercover as Dragon Hunters ourselves if we're going to have any luck in finding and capturing them."

Isabelle nods solemnly, before she lets out a sigh. "Well, I'm glad I found you," she says, turning away from him to squint into the darkness, "Elena's just down the hill, looking for everyone else. Do you know where they've all gone?" she asks, turning back around.

But then she stops, and her eyes widen.

"Charlie..."

For the red-headed man is down on one knee, holding a tiny black box in his calloused hands. He just looks up at her for a moment, and Isabelle's hand flies up to cover her mouth.

"Isabelle, you know I love you — more than anything," Charlie begins, and the French girl feels tears spring into her eyes. "You make me the happiest I've ever felt, and every time I see you I find myself in awe. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Isabelle, so—"

He pauses, opening the black box to reveal a beautiful twisted ring with a pale blue stone in the centre.

"—will you marry me?"

Isabelle lets out a crying laugh, nodding her head as she covers her mouth with both hands. "Yes," she manages to croak out, "Yes."

And Charlie, apparently trying not to cry as well, gets to his feet and pulls Isabelle back into her arms, hugging her as tightly as he possibly can. He did it. All his nerves and planning paid off and now he's going to be the husband of the most amazing girl in the world... He can't believe it.

"Here," he says, clearing his throat, "show me your hand."

Isabelle does, and Charlie slips the ring onto her finger — a perfect fit.

Isabelle feels the tears rolling down her cheeks, but she doesn't care, grabbing Charlie's face with both her hands and kissing him as hard as she can. He doesn't hesitate to reciprocate it, holding her close to him as she just cries and kisses him, unable to believe what just happened.

They finally pull away, and Isabelle lets out another disbelieving laugh, wiping her eyes.

"Where did you get the ring?" she asks, still in shock.

"At the village," he says, his voice much gruffer than usual, but Isabelle knows it's because of all his attempted suppression of emotion. "Daniel and Elena helped."

"So Elena knew this whole time?" Isabelle asks, eyes wide.

Charlie grins and nods.

"Yeah, I told her to keep you distracted for this afternoon while the rest of us set everything up."

"So then where is everyone else?"

"Waiting," Charlie says, taking her hand. "Come on."

And she lets him lead her back down the hill, still marvelling at the ring, looking up at Charlie every couple of seconds and squeezing his hand to make sure she's not dreaming. Because that's exactly what it feels like — a dream come true.

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

Isabelle starts as several voices seem to appear out of nowhere, so many people jumping out from underneath the tables under the fairy lights, whooping and cheering.

"Wait — did she say yes?" Daniel asks.

Isabelle lets out a laugh and nods, showing them all the ring on her finger.

"Thank Merlin," Daniel grins, "that woulda been awkward."

"Oh, congratulations, Isabelle!" Elena squeals, rushing up to them and flinging her arms around her best friend.

Isabelle, still with tears in her eyes, just hugs Elena tightly, and then Daniel and Florin. But then her eyes widen as she spots four familiar faces that she hasn't seen in a long time.

"Cristian!" she exclaims, running up to the Romanian man and hugging him tightly. He simply beams and wraps his arms around her, before stepping back and ruffling her hair.

"Good to see you again," he says in his heavy accent. "And congratulations." He winks.

Isabelle goes to keep talking to him, but before she can, she's been swept up into another pair of familiar arms, Ana giving her a tight squeeze.

"Oh, my dear, ve have missed you!" she exclaims, pulling away and beaming up at her. "You have grown so much — you look beautiful, my dear!"

"Thank you, Ana," Isabelle says, feeling her face start to hurt from all the smiling she can't help but do.

And then she spots Grigore and Alexandru, rushing up to the both of them and tackling them in a group hug. They simply laugh and squeeze her tightly, clearly incredibly happy to see her again.

"I expect ve vill be zee bridesmaids at zee wedding, zen?" Alexandru says with a wink, and Isabelle chuckles.

"Oh, I would love nothing more than to see you walk up the aisle in a beautiful dress."

Everyone snorts a laugh, Isabelle still grinning her face off, and she sidles back up to Charlie as all the tables magically appear to be covered in food, everyone digging in and chatting away.

While the food is delicious, and while it's so good to see all her friends again, Isabelle can't help but look at Charlie the entire night, still in disbelief that she's going to be his wife.