A Christmas Tale

It was Christmas time at Hogwarts, the evening of the 25^th of December. 7^th year Harry Potter was in the Gryffindor Common Room sitting on a sofa starring at the flames in the fireplace. This was the last Christmas he would spend at Hogwarts and he couldn´t help but feel a little melancholy at the thought. Furthermore, the dreaded Dark Wizard Voldemort was still at large and the pressure had been applied to the Boy Who Lived. Somehow, he knew that this would be it: the next time he and Voldemort faced off, it would be for the last time and only one of them would return alive. The thought that this could very well be the last Christmas of his life was enough to make anyone depressed.

"Happy Christmas, Harry," said a familiar voice from behind him. Harry looked up onto the cheerful face of his best friend Hermione Granger. The smile on Hermione´s face instantly disappeared however when she noticed Harry´s depressed mood. "What´s wrong?" she asked, sitting down right next to him.

"Just thinking," said Harry. "That this could very well be the last Christmas I ever spend." He sighed sadly.

"Harry," said Hermione. She held his hands in her own and looked Harry straight into the eye. "You´re not going to die Harry. Soon you´ll be facing You-Know...Voldemort for the last time and you´re going to return triumphant. You´re life isn´t going to end there, it´s going to begin when Voldemort becomes nothing more than a memory."

Harry looked away from Hermione´s intense gaze. "I sure wish I have enough confidence in myself the way you seem to have confidence in me."

Hermione took a hold of Harry´s face and made him look into her eyes once again. "I don´t just have confidence in you," she said. "I have faith in you. I have hopes for you. I truly believe that you will live because that´s what I´m placing my faith in."

Harry sighed sadly. "If only having faith were easy..."

"`Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.´"[1]

"What?"

"You know the true story about Christmas right?" asked Hermione.

"Well, of course. But why?"

"Isn´t today what it´s all about?" said Hermione. "Christmas, the time when utmost faith and hope was presented into a world consumed with evil and despair, a ray of light in the darkness, the greatest gift of love to the world. That´s what Christmas is all about : hope in hopelessness."

Harry said nothing but the spark in his green eyes told Hermione that she had caught his attention.

"If there is something you can draw faith from Harry, draw your faith from what this holiday means. Evil isn´t the only force at work in this world, Harry. Good is always striving to undo whatever evil does, and it is from that hope Harry, that I can have complete faith in you. I just hope that you can draw your faith from it as well."

For a minute, there was complete silence in the room as Harry and Hermione simply starred at each other, green eyes into brown eyes. The silence was soon broken by the sounds of singing coming from the Great Hall:

O come, o come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee o Israel

Finally, Harry smiled and cupped Hermione´s cheek with his hand. "I do have faith Hermione. I have complete faith in you."

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell thy people save
And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee o Israel.

Hermione blushed a little and smiled at Harry. Gently, she laid her head on Harry´s shoulder as Harry wrapped one of his arms around her. For quite some time, they simply sat there, glancing at the fire and the lights on the Christmas Tree.

O come,
O Day-spring come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
And drive away the shades of night
And pierce the clouds and bring us light.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee o Israel.[2]

After some time, a small cough came from behind the two. Harry and Hermione merely glanced back a little and catch a glance of Ron Weasley clearly returning from a snowball fight outdoors. "Hey, Ron," said Harry.

"Hi," said Ron as Harry and Hermione went back to snuggling up against each other. Ron glanced up at the ceiling and said, "You two have any idea what you´re both sitting under?"

"Sitting under?" asked Hermione. She looked up at the ceiling and realized that she and Harry were snuggled underneath Mistletoe. "Oh!"

"Oh!" Harry also exclaimed. Ron was now smirking at them.

"Well, you´re not going to break with tradition are you?" he said.

Harry gulped and Hermione blushed as bright as a tomato. Harry glanced at Hermione and said, "Well, we can´t..."

"...back out on tradition," finished Hermione. Harry gulped and nodded. By this time, both of them were blushing furiously though they couldn´t keep their gazes off of each other.

Slowly, Harry and Hermione leaned forward until their lips brushed. The electric spark between them caused them to jump back a little, both pairs of eyes wide with shock and excitement. Tentatively, Harry and Hermione leaned forward once again until their lips finally met in a sweet blissful kiss. This kiss was everything one could possibly hope for and dream about when thinking about your soul mate and it was also so much more. The gentle feeling of trust, hope, and love that passed between the two was overwhelming, but that only caused Harry to deepen the kiss and Hermione certainly wasn´t about to complain. Finally, they pulled away, both quite breathless.

For a moment the two didn´t say anything as green and brown eyes studied each other. Finally, Harry opened his mouth and said, "That was..."

"...amazing," finished Hermione. By now, they were both smiling.

"Well it´s about time you two realized what´s been going on," said Ron with a roll of his eyes. He went up the stairs to his dormitory obviously intending to change out of his wet clothes.

Harry and Hermione snuggled up in front of the fire once again when a different song drifted up from the Great Hall:

Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing
Ring ting tingle-ing too
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling "You Hoo"
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

Hermione grinned and pulled Harry to his feet. "Come on, lets dance," she said.

"Wha..." before Harry could protest Hermione was starting to swing him around the common room. Before he had even realized it, he was swinging her around as well, clearly having fun.

Giddy-yap giddy-yap giddy-yap let's go
Let's look at the snow
We're riding in a wonderland of snow
Giddy-yap giddy-yap giddy-yap it's grand
Just holding your hand
We're gliding along with the song
Of a wintry fairy land

Our cheeks are nice and rosy
And comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together like two
Birds of a feather would be

Let's take the road before us
And sing a Chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

"Maybe we really should go out for a sleigh ride after this," said Hermione while she and Harry still danced around the room. "What do you think Harry?"

"I´m in, if it´s just the two of us," said Harry. Hermione giggled.

There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray
It'll be the perfect ending of a perfect day
We'll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop
At the fireplace while we watch the chestnuts pop
Pop! Pop! Pop!

There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie
It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things
We remember all through our lives

Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing
Ring ting tingle-ing too
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you[3]

Finally, as the song came to an end, Harry pulled Hermione into another breathtaking kiss, leaving Hermione dazed. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered into her ear, "Thank you for having faith in me Hermione. I love you."

"I love you too," Hermione whispered back. "Happy Christmas, Harry."

The End