Christmas of Surprises

Christmas of Surprises - chapter 1

Christmas Eve

Harry had been very apologetic. Sirius Black, his name now cleared, had sent a late invitation for Harry to spend a few days around Christmas with him in his newly-bought flat. There wouldn't be room for Ron and Hermione there, so, even though they'd only decided to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas to keep Harry company as usual, they were left at Hogwarts without him. He promised to make it up to them later -- maybe by pretending he didn't know them, and that Malfoy was his best friend. That way, the next time Voldemort tried to kill Harry, maybe it'd be Malfoy that got hurt instead of Ron and Hermione. They'd laughed, assured him they didn't mind, and that they quite understood, and wished him and Sirius a Merry Christmas.

*

'I do mind, though,' said Ron, after Harry had left. 'I could be back at the Burrow, with Mum and Dad, and Ginny and all my brothers. Even Bill and Charlie are going to be there this year, and I'm stuck here at Hogwarts.'

'I haven't seen my parents at Christmas since my first year here,' said Hermione quietly. 'I like my parents, and now I only see them in the summer holidays. I might as well have left home just before my thirteenth birthday.'

Ron nodded understandingly, and stared moodily into the fire that was burning in the Gryffindor common room. Crookshanks was lying on the carpet in front of the fire, enjoying the warmth, and feeling too tired to play with his piece of string any more.

'It's not all bad though,' she said. 'Malfoy's not staying, and some of the nicer Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are. There'll be the usual Christmas feast tomorrow, too.'

'Yeah. But Snape'll be there because he's a head of house. Besides, just look around here,' he waved his hand vaguely around, indicating the otherwise-empty common room, 'there's nobody else from Gryffindor staying, just the two of us.'

'Well, that might not be too bad,' said Hermione. 'I'm sure we'll think of something to do.' She grinned at him, and for a moment he remembered his daydream from the summer ... then immediately tried to suppress the memory, as it was impossible. She added, 'We can console each other, anyway. Imagine how bad it would be if only one of us stayed over Christmas.'

Ron nodded, and suggested a game of wizard chess. As usual, he won, though it was a closer match than most they'd played. One of the pawns fell on the floor, and Crookshanks chased it until it hid under a chair, where he couldn't reach it.

*

That evening, Ron had just changed into his pyjamas and got into bed, when he heard the dormitory door open. He pulled back the hangings to see if Harry'd come back early, and was surprised to see ...

'Hermione? What are you doing in the boys' dormitory? It can't be time to swap presents yet.'

'I want to talk, for a bit.' She walked over to Ron's bed and sat down on the side of it. She hadn't tied the dressing gown's cord, and it fell open, showing the blue pyjamas she was wearing.

'We should have talked in the common room -- you're not supposed to be in here.' Ron was trying to keep his eyes on her face, but couldn't help noticing the material of her pyjamas wasn't very thick -- it was opaque, but was thin enough to cling to her figure. He sat up in bed, his arms out behind him supporting him there. It made it easier to look only at her face.

'I won't tell if you won't,' she said, smiling. 'Do you think everyone else in here can be trusted to keep quiet about it?'

He laughed. 'They probably can. OK, what did you want to talk about?'

She hesitated. 'Various things. Life, last year's Yule Ball, beating a troll, being friends ...'

'You're kidding. Why now?'

'Were you going to do anything else?'

'Strange as it may seem, yes -- I was going to sleep!'

'To sleep, perchance to dream,' quoted Hermione.

'What?'

'It's a quote by a Muggle author called Shakespeare. Actually, it's from a speech about suicide, so it's not a good quote right now.'

'You're being a bit morbid, aren't you?' He caught his breath. 'Hermione, you're not worried about something, are you? You're not in any trouble -- I mean, that quote wasn't a hint?'

'No! I'm definitely not considering suicide -- something very different, in fact. And I'm just a little nervous, not worried.'

'Not about your O.W.Ls? You're the last person who needs to worry about them.'

'No, I'm not very worried about them at the moment. I'm just nervous about something more immediate. Can we start again? We've got a long way off what I wanted to talk about.'

'OK -- but you sounded vague to begin with.'

Hermione grinned. 'I did, didn't I? All right -- we've been friends since you saved me from that troll. I think that was part of the problem before the Yule Ball.'

'That was a year ago!'

'Am I right though?'

'Look, it was awkward. We're friends. When I was thinking about who to invite, I was thinking about inviting a girl who was a "date", not a friend. I just thought the three of us would go to the Ball with our dates, as a group.'

'OK, that's what I'd guessed. It took me a while to realise it though -- not until about a week after the Ball.'

'It just meant I didn't want to change our friendship, or mess it up. It didn't mean I forgot you were a girl, as you said; and it's really easy to remember you are at the moment, you know. Aren't you cold, just in your pyjamas, and without your dressing gown fastened?' he said, starting to turn red.

'A bit,' she said, wrapping her arms round her as though hugging herself. This made her feel slightly warmer; by helping enhance her figure, it also made Ron's cheeks feel warmer.

'So you left it untied just to remind me you're a girl?' he asked, grinning.

Hermione grinned back. 'Almost! I hope it works without unfastening more!'

'Hermione! You can't!' said Ron, making her grin at him. Then she suddenly laughed.

'What?' asked Ron.

'Just remembered something Dad said during the summer. I was reminding him he'd met you and Harry once, and he remembered and was trying to sum up your appearances, to remember who was who. When you blush, you fit his description even better.'

'So what was his description?'

'I don't want to tell you yet -- ask me later.'

'I bet it was "mad redhead wizard kid". The only time I met him was when my dad got into that fight with Malfoy's dad, wasn't it?'

'Yes, it was. But that's longer than his description.'

'Longer? Four words is longer than his description?'

'Yes. I'll tell you later.'

'What were you talking to him about? Harry in the Tournament, or that I didn't realise you were a girl?'

'Er ... the second one, really.'

'I was kidding! You didn't!'

'It was part of a long talk with my parents about boys and everything that's happened to me at Hogwarts, from the troll to Harry rescuing us when we were tied to that statue.'

'That sounds like a long conversation. Were they really worried about all those things?'

'Yes. They've got no experience of the wizarding world, except for what they read in my letters to them. It all sounds dreadful to them.'

'Why did you start talking about it then?'

Hermione swallowed nervously, and looked over at the door. Then she said quietly, 'They started talking about it when I gave them the permission slip I got at the end of last year.'

'Oh. Right.' Ron concentrated on looking at her face, now in profile. He was not going to think about his impossible daydream. Hermione was obviously just talking to him about this because they were friends. and she'd picked now because she couldn't sleep due to nerves. He stopped himself from thinking about what boy she might be nervous about, in this context.

She turned back to face him again. 'What did your parents say about the slip?'

'I couldn't bring myself to show it to my dad. Did you really talk to both your parents about yours?'

'I didn't mean to -- my dad came into the office just after I showed it to Mum.'

'Even if I had asked Dad, I think I'd have grabbed it and run if Mum came in the room.'

'Yours wasn't signed then? So you can't have the potion?'

'I thought about it, and didn't think I'd need it. I couldn't think of any girl who'd be that interested in me.'

'None at all?' asked Hermione, staring at him.

'This is not about not noticing you're a girl! We're friends, and even if we were going to go further than that, after the way I acted at the Yule Ball, you weren't going to be interested anyway.'

'Ah. Is this the not asking me, the yelling at me about Viktor, or the being rude to Padma?'

'I wasn't rude to Padma!' protested Ron. 'Although I suppose I did ignore her after inviting her.' He thought for a moment. 'OK, I was rude to her, wasn't I?'

'Yes. I just wonder if you're going to act like that with other girls too.'

Ron sighed. 'I wound up just watching you for most of the time. Don't you know why I yelled at you about Viktor?'

Hermione shook her head.

'I was jealous of him, wasn't I? He invited you. He was dancing with you. You were having fun -- and I wasn't.'

'Oh.'

'Can I ask you something about your permission slip?'

'Er ... OK.'

Ron closed his eyes, so he couldn't see her reaction. 'You got yours signed, didn't you? So you can have the potion.'

'Yes, I did. I got some of the potion a while ago -- just in case.'

'Good. There was a rumour I heard a while ago that you were pregnant ...'

'Not another one? You didn't believe it, did you?'

'... but they were saying Harry was the father, and I didn't think that could be true, even if the other part was. So I didn't mention it to either of you.'

'No. Nobody else is the father, either. Oh. You just reminded me of something else my parents said, when I told them that Harry had to rescue you from the lake. It's also a rumour I've heard here at school.'

'Something else you're going to tell me later?' said Ron, opening his eyes again and reminding himself to keep looking at her face.

'No. Look, all three of us spend a lot of time together.' She paused, trying to phrase her question better. 'I know there are rumours that I'm Harry's girlfriend -- they even got into the Daily Prophet. Some of the rumours are about you and Harry though -- saying that you're gay, and in love with each other.'

Ron flushed red. 'No chance! Anyway, you saw how I reacted to those Veela!'

'That's true. Sorry. I just wondered if that might be the real reason you didn't invite me to the Ball, not because we're friends; and why you were so sure Harry couldn't be the father.'

'No -- and that makes at least three times you've brought up the Yule Ball since you came in here!'

'You're right. I'll stop. Sorry again.'

'What I wanted to ask you about the permission slip was something else.' Ron stopped. This was the question he didn't want to ask. He didn't think he'd like the answer, but it was something he wanted to know. Probably. 'Look, I didn't get mine signed because I couldn't think of anyone who would make me need the potion. Did you get yours signed because ... well, because you had someone in mind? You don't have to answer, if I'm being too nosy; I won't mind.'

'Yes, I did,' said Hermione with a smile.

'Oh. OK.'

'Don't you want to know who?' she asked him impishly.

'Oh, God. Yes. Do I like him? I'm sure it can't be Malfoy!'

'Of course it isn't Malfoy! I do wonder sometimes if you like this boy, but mostly: yes.'

'Have I got to guess? Is he in Gryffindor?'

'Yes, he's in Gryffindor. Do you want a big hint?'

'OK.' Ron knew he was going to feel bad when he found out, so he might as well get it over with.

Hermione pounced on him, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him down on the bed. She kissed him, then pushed herself back up and, with her face just inches above his, grinned and said, 'Now guess.'

'Oh,' was all that Ron could manage to say. 'That's why you asked about my permission slip? I had no idea! Well ... I hoped, but ...'

'It doesn't matter that you didn't get any potion. I got my one.'

'Are you ... are you serious? Now? Here?'

'I said we could think of something to do if we were the only ones in Gryffindor Tower!'

Ron laughed. 'I didn't realise you meant this! But it's true -- there's nobody to disturb us.'

'So, do you want to?'

'I've never done this before.'

'Nor have I. We'll just have to experiment and see what works, won't we?'

'Dad has told me something about it though. So did Fred and George, but I don't think the treacle is really compulsory, and I'm sure they were joking about the feathers, the ropes and the diving board.'

She laughed again. 'I like your brothers. Not this much, though.' She tickled him through his pyjama jacket. 'Mum gave me a talk about what she calls the facts of life, too. Though she thinks I ought to take some Muggle pills instead of this potion.'

She kicked off her slippers, took her dressing gown off, threw it towards the end of the bed and climbed in with Ron. 'Now for experiment one,' she joked.

*

Some time later, they were snuggled up together, with their pyjamas scattered across the blankets. Ron looked at Hermione in disbelief. 'A matchstick?'

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Next chapter: Christmas presents, a snowball fight, a nice innocent chess game and a visit from a teacher -- and what about Harry?

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