A Love for All Seasons

Chapter 5- A Christmas to Remember

“I wanna see christmas through your eyes
I want everything to be the way it used to be
Back to being a child again thinking the world was mine
I wanna see christmas, christmas through your eyes”

Hermione opened her eyes. It took her a few moments to register why she was feeling so happy and giddy. But of course, Christmas Eve is finally here! Tonight, she will finally see Harry, her boyfriend for over six months. With a rather dazed look in her eyes and a stupid grin hanging upon her lips, she pictured Harry in her mind. Harry, her boyfriend for over six month now. She couldn’t believe it! Harry loved her.

In the first few weeks of their newfound relationship, Hermione had found herself in constant fear and doubt. What if Harry found that she’s not at all like he’d imagine her to be as a girlfriend? What did Harry imagine when he thought of her as a girlfriend. However, the nagging worries slowly ceased as Harry again and again proved himself to be a both devoted and lovable boyfriend, not to mention adorable.

Hermione sighed as she saw Harry in her minds eye, wondering what he was doing at this very moment. Going through Auror training was tough and Hermione hasn’t seen Harry in person in months. There was a brief meeting during Halloween and then he was off to the training headquarters again. For the first time in Hermione’s life, she wishes that she wasn’t still at school. Not that she didn’t love Hogwarts and all, but with the combination of her school schedule with Harry’s unrelenting training dates, they have had few opportunities to actually spend time together. Only six more months! Hermione thought grimly as she climbed out of bed and winced at the immediate coldness that pranced on her once she had left the warmth of her bed. Christmas day was the only day that Harry had off and finally, tonight, they would spend some time together… along with the rest of the Weasleys family.

Yeah, but you have the chance to be all alone with him once everyone’s gone to bed. Hermione blushed at this thought and then banished it from her mind. No, she wasn’t ready for THAT! She wanted to savor every stage of her relationship with Harry. Besides, she would be far to self-conscience to actually make the first move and Harry, being the ever-perfect gentleman would never-.

Then why are you still mulling over it? The little monster in Hermione’s head asked with an evil smirk.

I’m ignoring you! Hermione thought determinately, humming a Christmas tune softly and made her bed.

And besides, she thought, unable to stop herself, she doesn’t have anything to wear for the occasion anyway.

H/Hr/H/Hr/H/Hr/H/Hr

“Ron! What on earth did you do with the lights?” Harry roared, glaring at the offense that was the Grimmauld Place Christmas tree.

Ron walked in the room lazily, chomping on a sugar cookie. “What-chomp-are you-chomp-talking about?” he asked between bites.

“There are no lights on the tree!” Harry gestured at the naked tree behind him. “One thing! I asked you to do one thing last night! And that was to decorate the tree, and what did you do? You forget the lights!”

“ What are you on about?” Ron asked, chewing the last of the sugar cookie. He tilted his head and looked critically at the tree, “I mean, it’s not a Hogwarts tree, but give me a break, I’ve never decorated a tree before! It’s always been Mum or house elves at Hogwarts, you are lucky that I even figured out where to put each ornament. Cute aren’t they?” Ron asked, brushing his fingers lightly against a stuffed animal ornament of a half dragon, half reindeer.

Harry sighed in frustration. “Mione will be here any moment, and I wanted everything to be ready before she arrived! Go get some Christmas lights!”

Ron shrugged. He had no idea what got into his best friend, but he didn’t want to argue. The way that Harry had spent half of last night decorating and cooking unnerved him, like a man possessed. He’d say that it was kind of sweet but then again, Harry’s determination to make everything perfect was beginning to scare him. What was the big deal? Hermione is still Hermione, she’s not going to care that there’s no bloody lights on the tree!

Oblivious to Harry’s struggle with the tangled Christmas lights in the background, Ron tried to make sense of what his best friend was doing. Why on earth was it so important that everything is perfect before Hermione arrived? Unless- No! They’ve only been dating for six month; it would be rash, even for Harry. Besides, the two had barely explored their roles as a couple. Willing himself to think back, Ron went over the things that Harry had done the previous night. But the thought was preposterous. How would Harry have had the time to go out and buy a ring? If he were proposing tonight, he would have said something to his best mate. Shaking his head of the notion, Ron finally returned to reality as Harry cursed, still entangled with Christmas light. His struggles had only made thing worse, now the lights were wrapped all the way around the length of his body.

Unable to help himself, Ron burst out laughing. “Forget the Christmas tree! I think Hermione would appreciate a “Harry” tree.”

Harry growled impatiently at Ron. “ Be quiet and help me!”

Ron grinned at his best friend’s tone. He intentionally took painstakingly slow steps towards Harry before pulling at the garlands. “It won’t budge!” he grunted as he pulled relatively harder, taking each failed attempt as a personal insult.

“Ow! Not if you pull it like that!” Harry complained as the string of lights dug deeper into his skin.

“Stop moving! You are making it worse!” Ron pulled harder.

“What are you two doing?” A new voice sounded in the doorway.

Both boys fell over at their last attempt to untangle Harry and looked at the door at the source of the voice.

Hermione Granger stared down at the mess in front of her, her eyes dancing with amusement. There were snowflakes in her hair and her cheeks were rosy red from the cold wind outside, but to Harry, she never looked better. “Boys?” she asked questioningly.

“Decorating a Christmas tree?” Ron answered hopefully.

Hermione laughed. Waving her wand in a complicated gesture, the string of lights untangled around Harry and as Hermione pointed her wand towards the Christmas tree, the lights flew obediently onto the tree behind Harry and Ron. Glancing down to catch the two boys’ awed expression she answered the unasked question. “I helped decorate the Hogwarts’ tree this year because Professor McGonagall needed an extra helping pair of hands now that the whole new teachers thing still hasn’t been properly sorted out. The whole thing was a long and complicated process, in which I had to perform the same spell countless of times. Suppose it proved itself useful, didn’t it?” Extending one hand to Ron and the other to Harry, intending to help the two up.

“Hey Hermione, it’s good to see you again,” Ron smiled before grabbing her hand and enveloping her into a hug.

“Ron,” Hermione nodded and then turned her attention onto Harry.

“Hi,” Harry looked up at her shyly, feeling rather stupid still sitting on the ground.

“Hi,” Hermione smiled back, feeling rather shy herself. She extended both of her hands to Harry this time and Harry conscious of every little detail of their surrounding, grasped both of them and stood up.

“Should I leave while you two snog a bit?” Ron asked teasingly when the two just stood there staring at one another.

This at least brought Hermione back to her sense. She broke her eye contact with Harry and thumped Ron playfully on the head for good measure.

“Ow!” Ron complained, rubbing the top of his head. “It was only a friendly suggestion!”

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her attention back onto Harry, who had somehow moved closer. With a swift movement, he wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, determinately kissing her lightly on the mouth, “Hi”.

Blushing but feeling extremely content to stay in Harry’s arm. Hermione replied, “Hi.”

“I think we’ve already established that,” Ron broke in.

Both realizing that someone was in the room along with them, they broke apart quickly.

“So, cookie Hermione?” Ron asked grinning.

When everyone had arrived, the tension in the air lessened as Grimmauld place was filled with chattering and the laughter of Ted Lupin. Deciding that she would sort out the awkwardness between her and Harry later, Hermione threw herself into the mingling of the Weasleys and various friends. The most surprising guest so far had been Professor McGonagall; she still looked stern but was loosing it’s affect by sporting a Santa’s hat, which wiped away any attempt to be taken seriously. But nevertheless, Hermione had grown close to the older woman and was happy to see her here.

“Hermione! How are you?” Neville pushed through Bill and Charlie and smiled at her in greeting.

“Neville!” Hermione exclaimed, ecstatic to have seen a familiar face. “Oh! I haven’t seen you in such a long time! How are you? What have you been up to?”

Neville shrugged good-naturedly. The war, Hermione realized, had changed him. Although horrible as it was, the war had brought out the confident, brave part of Neville that he had never revealed. In taking leadership for Dumbledore’s Army during his last year at Hogwarts, Neville had grown more comfortable with himself, and with that comfort came confidence within himself.

“Just been studying plants,” Neville answered. “I took a grand tour that Gran was always talking about when I was younger, you wouldn’t believe the variations of Abyssinian Shrivelfig I found on the shores of the Mediterranean. I brought some samples home so I can study them more closely.”

Hermione smiled. “So you are deciding to go into Herbology ?” she asked curiously.

Neville stopped his ranting. “ Well I know that I’d like to,” he confided. “I just don’t know if-. See, while I was traveling, I realized how much I missed Hogwarts. Hermione, I’d love to teach Herbology at Hogwarts someday. I just don’t know if I can.”

“Of course you can, Neville,” Hermione smiled kindly. “I think that’s a great idea! When will you apply?”

Neville shook his head quickly. “Oh no, not immediately Hermione. I’m far too young, I shall never be able to wield the authority needed to be a professor when I’m only a year older than my students. No, I plan to wait for a couple of years before anything happens.”

“Neville! If you think for a moment that you can’t teach just because of your age, then you are greatly mistaken. You killed Voldemort’s snake for Merlin’s sake. A horcrux too. You did just as much in the war as Harry and if he can’t wield authority, then no one can. You should go talk to Professor McGonagall!”

“Well I-” Neville stalled, not knowing what to say.

“Go on, Professor,” Hermione encouraged with a smile and pushed Neville in the direction of McGonagall.

“Uh, thanks?” Neville said uncertainly, allowing himself to be pushed forward.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d be jealous,” a soft voice spoke behind Hermione.

Hermione turned around and tried to smother the butterflies that leaped in her stomach. Gazing lovingly into Harry’s eyes, she found herself at a loss of words, “Hi.”

Harry grinned. “ Oh come on, Mione, you can do better than that! How about Hello?”

Hermione smiled in spite of herself. “Hello.”

“Wanna come out onto the porch with me for a minute?” Harry asked shyly.

“Of course,” Hermione nodded, her heart hammering inside her.

Harry took her hands reassuringly and led her through the throng of crowd, managing to sneak away without anyone’s notice.

It was rather cool outside and instinctively; Hermione huddled closer to Harry for warmth. Holding her close, Harry led them to one of the benches that he had placed only a week ago.

“So, how are you Hermione?” he asked gently, still holding her close.

“I’m fine,” Hermione replied, horrified as she heard her voice shaking slightly. What was wrong with her! This is Harry for Merlin’s sake!

“Not too stressed out by your studies? Not driving the house elves off the walls by trying to trick them into freedom?” Harry asked teasingly.

Hermione managed a small grin. “I’ll have you know that I haven’t tricked a single house elf into freedom since I returned! I have been trying to teach them to be more open about asking for working privileges, but no tricks! I haven’t done anything like that since 5th year when those knitted hats were disappearing like mad!” Hermione could feel herself relaxing as she settled comfortably into Harry’s arm. She was glad that her voice didn’t crack this time and if was rather nice, being this close to Harry.

Harry seemed to be relaxing too because his hesitant smile had progressed into a full smirk. “Can you really call them hats? If I remember correctly, they were more like woolen balls of tangled yarn to me.”

“Oh very funny Harry! Llike you can do any better!” Hermione bit back, laughing along at the memory.

Feeling brave, Harry took both of Hermione’s hands into his. They fit perfectly, hers only slightly smaller than his. “I missed you.”

Hermione felt ready to melt at this new revelation. He was so honest, so sweet. “I missed you too,” she whispered back, resting her head on his chest. It was at that moment that she realized that she really didn’t have anything to fret about. This was Harry after all. She’s known him for her entire life and the fact that they are now in a romantic relationship only deepens their connections to one another. Yet this wouldn’t change a thing. Hadn’t she loved him for longer than she had known? And if that is so, then the connection between them had been there all along and she had never been this nervous before. “I’ve been so silly” she murmured to herself quietly.

“What?” Harry asked curiously.

“Nothing,” Hermione smiled before boldly leaning closer and kissing Harry fully on the lips. “I love you.”

Harry looked strangely down at Hermione, not sure what had just occurred internally for Hermione. “I love you too,” he replied, deciding to let it go.

“And to think, just six more months I’ll finally graduate from Hogwarts. Can you believe it? I can’t imagine life without Hogwarts.”

“It’s hard, but you’ll manage,” Harry comforted. “What will you do?”

“I don’t know,” Hermione confided. “I don’t see myself becoming an Auror. After the war, it just feels like as if I’ve fought enough for a lifetime. I really want to branch into SPEW, you know promoting elf rights more publicly and on a greater scale, but then again, I just don’t know. If it didn’t even work at Hogwarts, how will it work in the rest of the Wizarding World?” Hermione stopped pondering in her thoughts. She glanced up at Harry and smirked at little, “But then again, maybe I should become an Auror so that I can keep an eye on you and stop you from doing anything recklessly stupid.”

“I don’t know,” Harry tried to hide his own smile and pretended to consider the notion seriously. “It usually works out okay when I do something recklessly stupid. Don’t decide upon your future because of me, Mione.”

Hermione laughed. It felt good. This was how it was before between them. Perhaps their connection had always been more than just friends. Harry was back for good this time, and this time he was entirely hers.

“Oi! Lovebirds! Come back inside, everyone’s wondering where you are!” Ron’s voice called out from the doorway.

“Leave us along Ron! We’ll come back inside later!” Harry shouted back, pulling Hermione even closer.

“Have it your way then! You two just work on conversing with more than one syllable. Oh and I’d come back in about half an hour or otherwise there won’t be any cookies left at all” Ron shouted back before closing the door behind him.

“He’s such a Ron!” Hermione shook her head.

“I’d like to think so,” Harry grinned. Getting more serious, he continued, “So, where does this leave us?”

“I’m not sure,” Hermione answered. We’ll just need to wait and see, don’t we?”

“I suppose,” Harry replied, yet he is sure of what he will say. “But wherever time take us, we’ll make it though, won’t we? Things can only get better from here.”

“Only better,” Hermione answered back in reassurance. “Only better.”

A/N Well, that’s it for tonight. Just fluff in this chapter, but oh well, I hope you’ve enjoyed it anyway. I have to admit. This was the hardest chapter I’ve ever written since starting this fic. Maybe it’s because of the period of time since the last time I’ve updated or perhaps it’s just because I don’t connect to Christmas enough to be writing a chapter about it. Nevertheless, think of it as a precursor for the next chapter, which will fall on New Year’s Eve. It’s already almost been a year since I began this story. Wow, the last year had passed by so fast. I’m not sure how I feel about that but enough of my babbling. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Declaimer: Harry Potter is currently and probably always will be in the possession of J., even with it being on the top of my wish list to Santa. The song in quotes at the beginning is “Christmas Through Your Eyes: by Gloria Estefan.

Lastly, I wish you all as always to keep in faith, keep in hope and keep in harmony!