Winter Holiday by h3art0f1nk
Chapter Notes: This is dedicated to my friend Brianna because she's the best friend I've ever had, and she's always supportive. I love you, Brianna!
It was the winter of Hermione’s sixth year at Hogwarts. She and Ron had decided to stay at Hogwarts with Harry for vacation, since nothing much was happening at their homes, and they didn’t want Harry to be left all alone. The first weekend of vacation, Hermione woke up in her bed, early Sunday morning, and yawned. She stretched and then sat up. As she rubbed her bleary eyes, she looked out her window and saw that it was snowing. She smiled dreamily to herself; she had always loved when it snowed.
She peered at her clock on her bedside table and saw that it read 7:26 A.M. She sat in her bed some more, just thinking and enjoying her time alone. I wonder if Ron’s up yet, she thought. No. Of course not. It’s practically 7:30, for goodness’ sake, and on a weekend of vacation! How on earth could I have possibly even wondered that? Hermione snorted to herself in disbelief. I suppose 7:30 is a little early for me, too, especially on the weekend… of vacation. Hermione shook her head and cleared her mind.
She got out of bed and went through her regular morning routine. After she was done and dressed, she headed downstairs to the common room. No one was there, but she saw a new message posted on the message board. She read it and saw that there was to be a Hogsmeade trip next Saturday for those above second year who wanted to go. She grinned gladly. Hogsmeade trips never failed to excite her; she loved the little village.
After that, she went down to breakfast to eat. Once again, no one was there except some of the professors. All of the house tables had been removed, due to the absence of many students; only a few had stayed at Hogwarts this year. She sat at the head table near Dumbledore. He bowed his head slightly and smiled at her. She returned his smile and started eating.
When she was done with breakfast, she headed back to the Gryffindor tower to see if the boys were awake yet. By then it was almost nine o’clock, but she really didn’t expect them to be up yet. Either way, she decided to check anyway, so she headed up to the boys’ dormitory. She opened their door just a crack and peeked through. They were both still flopped all over their beds, and Hermione could hear Ron snoring. Her eyes lingered on Ron for a moment, and then she closed the door softly.
She then left the Gryffindor tower and decided to go outside and walk around in the snow for a bit. On her way outside, she ran into Ginny.
“Oh! Ginny! I didn’t know you were up already,” said Hermione.
“I actually woke up before you. I couldn’t sleep very well last night,” replied Ginny.
“Why not?” asked a slightly confused Hermione. Since it was vacation, there was really nothing to cause a sleepless night.
“Oh, er,” Ginny’s eyes shifted away awkwardly, “nothing, really. I was just… thinking.”
“About…?” Hermione queried, getting somewhat suspicious.
Ginny paused for a moment, and then finally burst out in a rushed whisper, “Alright! I was thinking about Harry again!”
Hermione sighed and looked directly in Ginny’s eyes. “Look, I know it’s hard for you to get over him, but you must try to. It’s driving you insane! You have to accept that if he doesn’t like you, then he doesn’t like you,” she said softly. She stopped for a moment, thinking about what she had just said. I suppose that relates to me as well. If Ron doesn’t like me, then he doesn’t like me. She exhaled slowly and suggested, “Let’s go outside. Fresh air would be good for us.”
They walked outside and headed toward the lake. They silently walked around it for a bit, until Hermione finally spoke. “I know he likes you, somewhere deep in his heart. He just probably can’t recognize it quite yet. That or he’s hiding it really well. Meanwhile, you can’t drive yourself crazy over him if he doesn’t have feelings for you yet. But I know it’s there somewhere.”
“And how exactly do you know ‘it’s there’?”
“I don’t know how I know. I just… know.”
After that, they were both silent. They continued walking for a few minutes. Suddenly, they each felt something hit them from behind. They quickly swiveled around to find the source, and instead got hit again. This time Hermione got hit squarely in the face, and Ginny got hit roughly in the stomach. Wiping the snow off her face, Hermione saw that Harry and Ron had obviously woken up and decided to rouse up a snowball fight. She narrowed her eyes at them and grabbed a handful of snow. She formed it into a ball and hurled it over at Ron. It hit him in the neck, and Hermione saw snow go down his shirt. Ron yelped in surprise and because of the shockingly cold snow that was melting on his skin. His eyes grew wide as he hastily tried to get all the snow out.
This kind of play between Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione continued for a while, until the four were thoroughly exhausted. Ginny plopped down on the snow with her whole body lying down and declared, “Alright! I give up! I give up!” No one replied, since everyone was out of breath. Harry knelt down next to Ginny with a roguish look in his eyes. He gathered an armful of snow and plunked it on top of Ginny. He collected more snow in a hurry and set it on top of her. He packed it down as Ginny tried to protest and continued burying her.
Hermione, who was sitting next to Ron a few feet away from Harry and Ginny, glanced over at Ron. He was glaring at them with a suspicious and overprotective look. He was about to mutter something, but Hermione stopped him.
“Oh, save it!” she snapped at him.
He looked at her with a somewhat puzzled look. “What do you mean?”
“You know perfectly well what I mean. Why can’t you just let them have their fun?”
Once Ron understood what she was talking about, a scowl formed on his face. “Have fun?” he whispered harshly. “They’re flirting! Look at them!”
“Yes! So they are! Is it so hard for you to want other people to be happy? Your sister, perhaps? Harry? Or are you just a selfish git? You know, it’s really not that hard to have love in life. You just have to accept it,” Hermione hissed under her breath, not wanting Harry and Ginny to hear.
“Hermione, Ginny’s too young! She shouldn’t be dating yet,” he retorted back to her.
“Too young?” Hermione asked incredulously. “How dare you! She’s fifteen, Ron! Just because you’ve never dated doesn’t mean that everyone else can’t date.”
Ron glowered at her without saying anything. She stared at him angrily and then stomped off toward the castle. Harry and Ginny stopped and looked in the direction of Hermione, and then Ginny stared at Ron with a what-did-you-do-now? look from under a massive pile of snow. Ron glared back at her, piercing her with his angry blue eyes. He turned and left, also in the same direction as Hermione, though far behind her.
Harry looked at Ginny and gave a shrug. He helped her out of the snow, and they walked back to the castle together.