Always

I woke up to jumping on the bed. Opening my eyes, I found the twins and Charlie jumping on Ron and I. Ron was trying to cover his head back up with the covers while I was trying to shove Charlie off of me, with no luck.

“Wake up sis, it’s Christmas!!!”, Charlie shouted at me. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me, I pushed him away.

“Gah, Charlie! Get off!”, I yelled at him, finally shoving him off of me. “Ron, protect your girlfriend”, I whined.

“Protect you? It’s two against one over here!”, he shouted back. The three brothers finally got off of our bed and headed towards the door.

“You’ve got two minutes to get downstairs before we come back up and drag you down by your feet”, Fred said, looking over his shoulder. I lifted my hand and pointed a finger at all of them.

“Ouch!”, George said as the three of them rubbed themselves where I sent a zapping spell at their behinds. I flopped back down on the bed and groaned. Ron rolled over and kissed me softly.

“Merry Christmas beautiful”, he said to me, kissing me again.

“Merry Christmas handsome”, I replied. We slowly rolled off the bed and got dressed. Ron grabbed my hand and pulled me back, motioning for me to sit on the bed. He pulled my hands into his lap and cleared his throat. “Ron? What’s wrong?”, I asked, concerned.

“I... I couldn’t get you much this year…” He spoke. I started to interrupt but he stopped me. “But I wanted to do something special for you. To show you how much you mean to me”, he paused, reaching over to the drawer of the bedside table. He pulled out a small box. I let out a gasp. “It’s not much… just until we’re ready… ready for more…”, he trailed off. I could see tears starting to fill his eyes, though none slipped over. He handed me the small box and I opened it slowly. Inside was a small ring. The band was gold and decorated with leaves. In the middle, was a round stone, it was aquamarine like his birthstone. I let the tears slip down my face.

“Ron, I…”, I trailed off, my hand coming up to my mouth. The ring was beautiful. “Will you… will you put it on me please?”, I asked, my hands shaking. He took the box from my hands and slowly placed the ring on my finger.

“I… I know you don’t like diamonds, so I opted for my birthstone instead. Do you… do you like it?”, he asked. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him close, nodding my head.

“I love you so much”, I said quietly into his neck. I heard the door open as Fred began to ask us what we were doing, but Ron shooed him away.

“I love you too Kat”, he said. I pulled back and wiped at my face. “We better get down there before they send Ginny up here”, I joked heading towards the door.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to be on the end of one of her hexes”, he laughed. We headed downstairs, hand in hand. We were met by cheers.

“About time, you love birds got down here”, Charlie said, moving over on the floor to allow for Ron and me to sit down.

“Excuse me for wanting a moment alone with my girl before you lot got to her”, Ron said, shoving Charlie’s shoulder with his own.

Opening gifts was a flurry of paper and boxes everywhere. The house was full. Mum invited Harry, Hermione and Blaise as well, as they had nowhere else to go. I received the usual. Blouses, books, perfumes, and lotions. Mum made me my annual sweater. This year’s colors were black with a teal letter K on the front. Dad got me a pretty notebook. He said it was to bring to work so I could take notes about the potions I was brewing. Ron opened my gifts to him and tackled me so I hard I landed on Charlie.

“Kat! Season tickets!!! How?... I can’t believe it… best girlfriend ever!”, he shouted at me. I laughed as Charlie pushed him away from me so I could sit back up. I stood up and brushed my pants off. I looked down at Ron and he nodded at me. He knew what I was about to ask of my friends. Or at least part of it.

“Um… Bill, Harry… Can I talk to you guys for a moment… err alone?”, I asked. They both looked confused but nodded. I headed upstairs and we went into mine and Ron’s room, just so we could have some privacy. I waved my hand to conjure up some chairs for us to sit down. I rubbed my hands together nervously. “I am sure you are wondering why I asked you guys to come up here”, I said.

“Katie, I don’t know what is going on, but you can tell us anything”, Harry said.

“The thing is, well… you both know that my parents have decided… well they don’t want me”, I said, they both frowned but nodded. “As such, I don’t want their name anymore. I don’t… I don’t want to be a Greene anymore. Now, as much as I would love to be a Weasley, I would prefer to be married as one”, I said with a slight laugh. Bill laughed and nodded in agreement. “Harry… I… Would you… would you magically adopt me?” I asked, tentatively. Harry just stared at me for a moment before he stood up and pulled me to him in a tight hug.

“Katie, of course I would! I am so flattered” he said, pulling away to look at me. “Why me?”, he asked, sitting back down.

“I’ve always felt like you were my brother. From the moment I met you, I’ve felt a connection to you. And Bill, don’t get me wrong, all of you have always been my siblings, but I’ve always imagined that if my last name were to be Weasley…”, I said.

“Then you would be married to Ron. I think we can all agree on that Katie. But what do you need from me?”, Bill asked.

“Well, I was hoping you would do the ceremony. Ron will be my witness, Harry, you would need one of your own. I would like to keep this small. Just the five of us”, I said.

“I would be honored to sis”, Bill said.

“I need help with one more thing”, I said before everyone stood up. “I need to settle my banking”. My last act as a Greene would be a final screw you to my parents.

“Bill, I would like to move the money in my family's vault. Half, I would like to add to Harrys’ vault for myself. Harry, if you want, I can keep a book of my half that I will be adding and my expenses from the vault”, I said. Harry just shook his head as if to say don’t worry about it. “The other half… I want to add it to Mum and Dad’s vault. My real parents deserve it for taking care of me all of my life. Right before the ceremony, I would like to move the funds, and have the Greene vault closed permanently. Please?”, I asked, I held my breath for his answer.

“Of course, Katie. I will get everything together when I return to work and let you know when we can expect to have everything completed”, Bill said. I stood up and hugged him tightly.

“I love you, big brother”, I said to Bill.

“I love you too, little sis” he replied. I turned to hug Harry.

“I love you too, new brother”, I said to Harry.

“I love you, new sister”, he replied, hugging me. We rejoined our family downstairs. Everyone gave us questioning glances. I let Harry know he could let Ginny know about the ceremony, but not about the vault money. Harry said Ginny would be his witness. I leaned into Ron’s side. I nodded my head at him. I had told Ron everything a few weeks ago. Ron was willing to support me in everything. We planned to tell Mum and Dad about the money after the fact or they would try to give it back. We sat around the tree, drinking tea and coffee while Mum made breakfast and chatted happily.