Christmas Under Mistletoe

Christmas under Mistletoe

It had been a long time since she had looked in the mirror. Sure, she'd given herself quick glances in the morning before saying a quick spell to do her hair, but today, Hermione Granger stopped to really look at herself. When she had been thirteen, a very embarrassed Ron had told her that she was beautiful--much to her surprise. Malfoy--having heard that--had laughed and announced that Hermione would be beautiful when Snape 'came out of the closet'. And ever since she'd discovered their Potion teacher's little secret, she'd rushed upstairs to her room. What a wonderful Christmas revelation!

A small smile worked on her face as she looked at the classic features and the no tamable locks of brown hair. Her skin was porcelain with a few light freckles covering her nose, but they were so faint that they were hardly noticeable--unlike Ron's--but she still found Ron's so very cute.

"'Mione?"

Turning around she smiled at Harry, who was looking somewhat uneasily at her in the doorway. If only he wouldn't be nervous around her, then things would go back to normal. But with Harry it seemed as if he was frightened to be around her. "Hello Harry." She saw him wince and close his eyes. Fingers rose to touch his scar. "Harry? What's wrong?"

Opening them once more, Harry smiled weakly. "Nothing."

That didn't fool her one moment. Going into Mother Mode, she placed her hands on her hips. "Harry. How can you say that it's 'nothing'? You know that whenever you feel your scar--."

Harry hurried to cut her off, knowing that if he allowed her, she'd recite all the trouble they'd gotten into and he wasn't in the mood for reminiscing in the past. "Don't worry 'Mione, I'm fine. I'm more worried about you. I mean, I've never seen you looking at yourself in a mirror before." There was a teasing tone to his voice as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Oh, shut up and leave me alone." With a laugh she walked towards his and reached for his hand, giving it a soft squeeze to show him that she was only playing. What? Had it been her idea or had Harry just blushed? It must have been her imagination--Harry didn't blush--at least not around her. Although she could remember a couple of times when he'd competed with a tomato while around Cho Chang. "Where's Ron?"

"Somewhere with Lavender I believe. The git seems to have forgotten that there are more things to this life than that girl." Escorting Hermione out of her room, they began walking down the halls. Harry frowned, eyes trained ahead. "I swear, she isn't even all that pretty. I tell you. He finally gets a girlfriend and he goes all googoo eyes at her. It's pathetic."

"Now Harry, I don't think that's very fair." Trying to keep her face straight, Hermione had to admit that Ron did make "googoo" eyes at Lavender. But then, Lavender returned them as well--which caused Hermione to think of it as 'cute' instead of 'pathetic'. "I'm sure Ron must have felt the same thing when you were going out with Cho."

Thinking that over, Harry nodded his agreement with some reluctance. His eyes followed the house elves, who were mischievously causing mistletoe to appear above the heads of prospective sweethearts, causing many blushes and catcalls. Tearing his eyes away from the latest victims, he changed the subject of their conversation, casting a sideways glance at Hermione. "How is Krum doing lately?"

The way he'd said 'Krum' made her sigh. For some reason Harry and Ron seemed to have switched roles. Ron was supportive of the pen pal relationship--always reminding her to send Viktor his greetings--while Harry was wary of the fact that she kept in contact with the Quidditch champion. "He's fine; wrote to me telling me about his last game. It sounded exciting. He also sent me a picture of him catching the snitch. I can watch him catching it over and over and then waving to me and blowing kisses." Hearing Harry snort in disgust, she laughed, knowing that that would have made a girl swoon. "How about Ginny?"

There was silence. "What about Ginny?"

Taken aback with that answer, Hermione frowned. "I--I thought that you were--you know--a couple."

"Na. She's with Dean. Ginny's a nice girl, but I wouldn't want risking Ron having a vendetta against me for going out with his sister." Harry smirked widely, remembering his friend's red-head temper. "Dean sure is a brave one."

"I honestly had no clue about Dean and Ginny." Looking surprised, Hermione shook her head at her lack of news. "I'm so glad that I stayed over for the Christmas holidays. Mom and dad were going to some dentist convention and I didn't want to be with my aunts. Gosh they're horrible--and they don't get it why they still aren't married." Shuddering slightly, she giggled and then smiled, smelling the wonderful scent of Christmas at Hogwarts. A sheepish little smile appeared on her face. "You know, I'm sorta glad that S.P.E.W. didn't work out. I mean, what would we do here in Hogwarts without the house elves?"

"Dobby would be proud."

Eyes on the Christmas decoration that filled the hallway, the girl giggled. "I remember making those little hats for them, thinking that they all wanted to be liberated." She placed a finger on her chin. "What did Ron call them again?"

"I can't be too sure," Harry said, thinking for a minute. "But I think he called them wooly bladders."

"I do believe he called them that." Noticing a cute Seventh Year Hufflepuff looking at her, Hermione blushed and looked down at her shoes...not noticing the fact that Harry was glaring daggers at the Hufflepuff.

Clearing his throat, Harry's grip on her hand tightened, but not painfully so. "Are you going to come watch us practice for our match with Ravenclaw?"

"You know I'll be there." Hermione smiled. "I'm your number one fan...unless you count Collin of course."

Giving her a scowl, Harry remembered how Collin would always appear out of no where, take a picture, and then disappear in seconds. It was getting beyond bearable. But then, the thought of Hermione being his biggest fan caused him to smile. "Thank you."

She gave Harry a smile that caused his heart to flip. "You're welcome."

They kept on walking in silence until Malfoy and his goons arrived and pushed Harry aside, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Wherever they were going, it was more important than staying and smirking at the fallen Boy-Who-Lived.

"Barbarians." Hermione muttered as she bent down and reached for Harry's glasses from where they'd fallen on the ground. Making sure that they weren't scratched, she was glad that they weren't. Harry was always dropping his glasses or losing them, so she was glad that at least this time they wouldn't have to fix the glasses with a spell. Passing them back to him, she smirked compassionately. "How do you feel?"

"Like the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-Tripped." Speaking sarcastically, he cleaned his lenses with his robe before putting them on and smiling up at Hermione. Then, all of a sudden, his smile disappeared.

Following his gaze, Hermione's chocolate eyes rose and widened when they saw a mischievous Dobby disappear, leaving a patch of mistletoe floating in the air above them. She didn't know what to do, and suddenly, as if they had a neon sign flashing above them, everyone in the hall was looking at them. Questions raced through her head. Should she lean away? Should she get up? Should she give him a quick peck on the check? But she couldn't continue with her questioning, because Harry leaned forwards and his lips touched hers. At first they were timid, asking...and then, when she opened her mouth to his, it became something else, it became passionate. He tasted of eggnog. His hands sneaked around her waist and tugged her closer. Into that kiss they poured all the love they'd felt for each other but had never had the nerve to tell.

When the finally surfaced for breath, Harry was blushing, but a blissful expression covered his face. Her glasses were standing crookedly on his face and his hair was ruffled--but he'd never looked handsomer to Hermione than he did now. "Merry Christmas, Hermione." His voice was soft, his eyes glowing.

"Merry Christmas, Harry Potter." Hermione whispered sweetly on his lips before throwing her arms around his neck and descending for more.