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“Hermione! Hermione, wake up!”
“Wha-”
“Come on, get dressed!”
Hermione shot up in a panic, and Bellatrix sat back and grinned. She knew she would probably be mad at her, but it was worth it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Ugh, Bella-”
“But you have to get up, we’re going on a hike!”
Hermione stared at her like she had lost her mind. “We- what? Bella, sweetheart, you do know what time it is, right?”
“Yes, yes, I know it’s early, but come on, just- please?”
She fidgeted uncomfortably as Hermione narrowed her eyes. “Why? It’s not like you to be up this early.”
“ Oh just come on ,” Bellatrix groaned. “If I’m up, of all people, you shouldn’t have a problem.” Of course, she wouldn’t normally be up, but this was a special occasion, after all. She’d been up for nearly an hour now, the nerves not letting her sleep, flooing with Andy and Cissy and even Parkinson and trying to get them to convince her not to do it and not getting any help at all.
She grumbled about it, but eventually, Hermione did get out of bed and got dressed, and Bellatrix all but dragged her out of the door.
“I’ll race you to the trailhead!”
She took off, leaving a groaning Hermione to trail after her. Even though she could sense her lack of enthusiasm, she started to hear the footsteps behind her speeding up. Eventually, they both reached the trailhead (Hermione only a little way behind her, despite her head start, damn it why did her legs have to be so short) that led to a trail up the mountain that presided over the little valley that they had called home for 2 years now.
“Let’s go!”
Hermione sucked in a deep breath and followed her. “Can I ask again what we’re doing?”
“Sure.”
She smirked as she waited for-
“Well, are you going to tell me?”
“Nope!”
“ Bella !”
“Oh, come on, it’s not even that big of a mountain, it won’t take long if we hurry.”
Well, she wasn’t lying. It really wasn’t a big mountain. Still, Hermione grumbled a bit.
When they finally reached their usual high point about half of the way up the mountain (both were fans of hiking, but their busy schedules didn’t leave much time for longer trails), Hermione dropped down onto a boulder.
“Nope, higher, we’re going up higher.” This hadn’t been the original plan, but this simply wasn’t high enough, and the view would be so much better from the top, and they had plenty of time.
“You’re kidding. All the way up?”
“All the way up. Let’s see if we can touch the clouds!”
Hermione’s laughter rang after her, and she could’ve sworn the whole world went quiet for a moment at the clear, brilliant sound. “You and Ginny did that last summer, remember? God, the amount of stress you two cause is unbelievable-”
“Oh, shush, it was fun! And you always say you want me to bond with your friends.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “Ginny’s your friend too, Bella, dare I say she has been since our fourth year. You just won’t admit it.”
“Pfft. Weaslette? We might be now- oh, shush now, even I have to admit it at this point- but we definitely weren’t in fourth year.”
“Bella, you really need to admit that you’ve got more friends than you say. Pansy, Daphne, Neville, Ernie-”
“MacMillan? I’m not friends with MacMillan!”
“Bella, you go out for drinks with him and Nev every Saturday night. You’re friends.”
“Oh, fine, don’t tell them I- oh, we’re here! C’mon, look, isn’t it beautiful?”
Hermione directed her gaze towards where the first light of the day was just starting to peek above the horizon, and Bellatrix could see her whole body visibly relaxing. Her skin was starting to look gold in the early light, eyes almost glowing and hair forming a sort of halo around her-
“ You’re perfect ,” Bellatrix breathed, walking up to kiss her full on the lips, shivering when it deepened.
“Mmph, Bella,” Hermione gasped, breaking free of a kiss that had just started to get heated. “We’re not having sex on a mountain.”
Well, there goes that plan.
“No, of course not. We’re here for something else. Come here, let’s sit down on that rock over there.”
She led her to an outcropping right at the edge and sat down, Hermione following soon after. She shuffled over closer to her, resting her head down on her shoulder and letting the goddess beside her pull her into an embrace, only stiffening when the arm snaking around her waist brushed against the box in her pocket.
“You know I love you, right?”
Bellatrix looked up, eyebrow raised, half in amusement and half in genuine concern. “But?”
Hermione smiled softly and leaned down to kiss her. “No but. I just love you. There’s never going to be a ‘but’ after that.”
She relaxed back into the embrace. “Good.” The sun was starting to peak up from its slumber under the horizon, and she pulled Hermione up to stand with her. “You know, I wish we could have a thousand moments like this.” She kissed her neck. “Or a million.” Her jaw. “ A trillion .” Her lips.
The kiss deepened as Hermione kissed her back, then broke it off. “Then let’s have a trillion moments like this. Always and forever.”
This is it .
“Yes. That is-” she pulled out the box and left one last, lingering kiss on Hermione’s lips- “If you’ll have me-” she got down on one knee, popping open the lid to reveal a small diamond that sparkled in the light from the sunrise- “for always and forever.”
“Oh, god, Bella….”
Hermione knelt down next to her, eyes dancing with tears and a brilliant smile on her face. “Of course. Of course, I’ll-” She trailed off, not seeming to know what else to say, and opted to kiss her instead. “Yes. A thousand times, yes.”
Bellatrix felt her face breaking out into a smile, joy bubbling up in her chest in the form of a light prick at the back of her eyes. She pushed the tears down, and brought them both up to stand, breaking out of the kiss for a brief moment to slide the ring onto her girl- her fiance’s finger.
Hermione smiled at her, a smile that she knew she could look at every day till the end of time and never grow tired of, and then they kissed, fingers entwined together, as the sun rose behind them to start a new day.