"I really love the idea of proposing at the gala, but don't you think that's a little too public for Ginny?"
Blaise paced back and forth in front of Hermione's desk as she watched him amusedly, leaning against the desk with her arms crossed.
"Honestly, I think she won't mind in the moment," Hermione said with a shrug. "I think she'll be too busy being overjoyed that you proposed."
He tilted his head back and forth as he rubbed his chin worriedly. "Maybe...I just want to do everything right."
Hermione smiled at this but shook her head. "I know, but this is the sort of thing where overthinking it can actually backfire."
"I wouldn't know, I've never proposed before," Blaise laughed nervously.
"You know..." She pushed herself off the desk and looked at him. "You don't need to do it in the middle of the gala. I'm sure the Malfoys have an outdoor terrace or maybe you can even take her to the gardens. That way you'd still propose at the gala but it won't be too public."
Blaise paused at this and blinked. "I didn't think about that. That's a really good idea!"
She smiled and laughed slightly. "Happy to help!"
"I just wish I knew which situation she would prefer..." He sighed unhappily and looked up at the ceiling with a small groan. "Maybe I should wait."
"Why don't I talk to her and try to get some more information out of her?" Hermione offered.
"That can work," Blaise said before frowning. "Wouldn't that be a little obvious though?"
She shrugged. "Not really. We talk about things like that a lot."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Actually yeah," She laughed. "When we go to my cabin and drink, we talk about a lot of different things."
Blaise hummed slightly while resuming his pacing, putting his hands in his pockets. "It's just nerve-wracking, you know? Finally proposing and then getting married to the love of my life. There was a time where I never thought this would happen, and now it is."
Hermione smiled widely. "It's exciting to think about though, isn't it?"
"Of course!" He smiled as well. "Ginny's the only woman I've ever thought about settling down with. I just want to make sure that everything is perfect because she deserves that."
"That's so sweet," Hermione squealed slightly. "Well, let me talk to Ginny and then I can report back to you with more information so that you can plan accordingly. We've still got over a month to plan this out so we'll be able to make this the perfect proposal."
Blaise stopped and turned to face her, smiling happily. "You really are a wonderful friend, Hermione. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."
"Think nothing of it," Hermione said with a wave of her hand as she returned his smile. "You two absolutely deserve each other and I'm so happy to be able to help with this."
His smile widened. "Now I need to find a way to return the favor."
She laughed loudly and waved her hand. "No, you don't need to do anything! Just don't give me any reason to hex you and we'll be good!"
"Well at least be expecting a nice bottle of wine to be delivered within the next week," He said as he grabbed his coat from the back of the chair. "It's the least I can do for you helping me."
"You know I won't turn that down," She said. "But you really don't need to get me anything else in return; like I said, I'm happy to help with this. You both are my friends and I want to see you two happy."
"We're both very lucky to have you as a dear friend," Blaise said happily before waving. "Thanks again for the help and for calming me down."
"Of course!" She waved in return as he turned away and she returned to her work, smiling to herself.
"I thought you needed my help with shopping for Hermione?" Ginny said in confusion as she looked up at the building in front of them. "Why are we outside of Gringotts?"
"Because I want to get her something special, and the Malfoys have quite a bit of jewelry in their vaults," Draco said as he led her inside.
Ginny's eyes lit up with excitement and she bounced up and down. "Jewelry?! Are you going to propose finally??"
"What? No!" He shushed her as they walked inside and tried to avoid the stares they received as they made their way to the desk.
"Why not?" Ginny asked in a quiet but demanding voice. "You two are perfect for each other."
"We can discuss this when we get to the vault," Draco said quietly as they stopped in front of the desk. "I would like to visit the Malfoy Vaults, please."
"Yes sir," The goblin nodded before waving to someone off to the side. "Scrump, please show Mister Malfoy and his guest to the Malfoy Vaults."
A scrawny but well-dressed goblin gestured for the two of them to follow as he led them away. Minutes later they were standing in front of a set of three vaults, and Ginny gave Draco a confused look.
"Just how many vaults belong to your family?" She asked quietly.
"Three," Draco said as he nodded towards the doors in front of them. "One for family heirlooms, one for items that we'd rather hide away, and one for jewelry."
"Which one would you like to open, sir?" Scrump asked in a scraggly voice.
"I believe it's this one," Draco said as he gestured towards the vault on the left. "It's honestly been a while since I've visited these."
The goblin didn't say anything in response as he went to the vault and ran a finger along the door silently. Moments later a handle materialized and Scrump turned it, pulling the door open and gesturing inside.
"Is this the correct vault, sir?" He asked as he looked up at Draco.
Draco glanced inside and smiled. "Yes; thank you very much, Scrump."
Scrump nodded in response and asked, "Do you need me to stay or will you be a while?"
As he watched Ginny race inside and stare in wonder, Draco sighed and said, "We may be a while. Could you maybe check in on us in about forty-five minutes?"
"Of course, sir."
Scrump turned away and Draco entered the vault to see Ginny already going through a jewelry box filled with rings.
"Draco, these are all from your family?" She asked in amazement, not even looking up at him.
"Remember, my family is very old," He laughed.
"I can see why you asked for my help now," Ginny said, looking up at the seemingly never-ending shelves above them. "There are so many choices here."
"Well really it's because I have no idea what Hermione's jewelry style is," Draco admitted as he slowly walked along the edge of the bottom shelf. "I've never really seen her wear jewelry."
"She doesn't necessarily like a lot of it," Ginny said. "She's definitely drawn towards more simple designs that won't bring a lot of attention."
"That might be difficult to find in here," He said with a grimace. "Malfoys are known to be the opposite of simple."
Ginny laughed loudly as she moved to the next case of items. "Oh you do not need to tell me this!"
He grinned and shook his head, turning his attention back to the many options in front of him. Walking slowly along the shelf, nothing seemed quite right for Hermione. Ginny, of course, was having the time of her life trying on nearly every ring, necklace, and bracelet that she could find.
"Merlin, Draco, is your family secretly royal?" She asked, holding up one of the larger rings to see it in the light.
"They definitely tried to court royals," He said, shaking his head. "I don't believe any of them were successful though."
"So they just looted the royal jewelry when they were turned down?" Ginny asked, grinning as she held up an extravagant necklace against her neck. "This thing weighs a ton!"
Draco laughed hard as she set the necklace back down and then looked up at the shelves above them. "How do you get to the ones on the higher shelves? There's no ladder in here."
Instead of answering, Draco simply snapped his fingers and the three shelves that were reachable all disappeared into the wall, replaced by the three just above them as the shelves rotated down the wall.
Ginny stared open-mouthed as everything settled before walking up to take a look at the new offerings. "This is absolutely amazing; I can't believe that your family has so many different pieces of jewelry!"
"Really? You can't believe it?" He asked in an amused tone as he went towards a jewelry case on the left side of the lower shelf.
"I guess I can," Ginny said, rolling her eyes before gently picking up a bracelet. "Ooh, this is beautiful! I'm surprised that it's rubies though."
"What were you expecting?" He asked with a laugh.
"Well your family is known for liking green."
He chuckled and looked up to see that Ginny was walking towards him with the bracelet, holding it out to him. It was definitely a more simple ruby bracelet, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
"I think she'll like this," Ginny said with a smile. "It's not over the top but still very pretty!"
Draco took it to give it a closer look before frowning. "Do you think it's too much for every day though? I'd like to get her something that she can wear every day."
Ginny hummed slightly. "True. She might not want a bracelet then; she's only ever worn a watch around her wrist."
Taking the bracelet back, she returned to the bracelet's holder and continued looking. "Maybe something more like earrings or a necklace?"
"Maybe," Draco muttered, staring at something that caught his eye.
It was completely different than what he intended to visit the vault for, but he was definitely drawn to this piece.
"What about this?" Ginny asked, holding up a pair of pink morganite earrings. "I really like this color and I think it would go well with her style."
She looked over at him and noticed that he was staring at something else, and she raised an eyebrow. "Draco?"
"Hm?" He looked up finally and blinked. "Sorry, got distracted. What about those?"
"I think these would go with her style," Ginny repeated slowly before grinning. "What were you looking at?"
"Nothing," He answered quickly, standing up and reaching for the earrings. "You really think so with these? I thought she wasn't a huge fan of pink."
"Well these have a slight tint of orange so I think it'll be fine." Ginny looked around him though as she said this to try and get a better idea of what he was looking at. "Really though, what got your attention? Clearly you were considering it."
Draco's mouth formed a thin line as he quickly thought about what to do. Should he tell her what he was looking at? Then again, Blaise went to Hermione for advice on Ginny's ring so maybe he could do the same thing.
"Alright, but you cannot say a word," He said sternly.
Ginny grinned and nodded excitedly. "Show me!"
He quietly handed the earrings back to her and went back to the lower shelf, reaching in to grab a small black box. Ginny was waiting and practically vibrating with excitement as he handed her the small box, but when she looked at the piece inside her jaw dropped.
"Draco...this is absolutely stunning!" She exclaimed, looking up at him. "She'd love this!"
"I know," He said, smiling slightly and rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just...it's too soon."
"Well maybe too soon Christmas but there's always New Years, or Valentine's Day."
He sighed and took the box back, looking down at the ring. "I still think that's too soon. We aren't even living together yet."
"True but I hear that might change soon," Ginny grinned slyly.
"Of course you hear that," He laughed, shaking his head and closing the box. "We've discussed it but we're both concerned about it being too soon."
"Are you only thinking it's too soon because society says it's too soon?" Ginny asked then, leaning against an open spot in the wall.
"Well..." He faltered, closing his mouth as he thought it over. In truth, he could certainly see himself and Hermione living together; they practically swapped houses nearly every night already. "I'm not sure."
"Who cares what society thinks?" Ginny waved her hand before crossing her arms. "The news will come out, and then a day or two after they'll move on to the next big thing. Don't let what other people think decide what you want to do."
Draco nodded, looking back down at the box for a moment. "Either way, Christmas is definitely too soon."
"That's fine," Ginny said before grinning. "You have time. So is that going to be the ring?"
He opened the box with his thumb to look at it again. "Yeah...yeah, I think so."
Ginny's grin widened as she pushed off the wall. "Well that's one thing down! I suppose now we should actually find what we came here for!"
Draco grinned as well as he shoved the box into his pocket, smiling to himself as he went back to the shelves.
A/N: Thank you all for your patience with this chapter! This one was fun to write, I've been sitting on the idea of the Malfoy Vaults for a while and I'm super excited to integrate them into a story finally! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I love you all! <3