Tuesday – CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas at Hogwarts was always an extravagant affair. This year was no different. Candles flickered red-and-green flames against the walls where they were set, and garlands of bright tinsel gleamed their light back at them. The usual numerous Christmas trees were dotted around the castle, and this time some were bewitched to move around, so that you would occasionally find one blocking a crucial path, but usually it was just a pleasant surprise to see one where it had not been before. Then there were the fairy lights – real fairies, clad in tiny multicoloured robes – and, more worryingly, the sprigs of mistletoe enchanted to hover above people's heads here and there.

More than once Harry and Ron had observed a hapless male student being accosted by a group of giggling female classmates when he was unfortunate enough to hesitate beneath the mistletoe. Hermione, thankfully, seemed immune to that sort of behaviour, unlike Parvati and Lavender, who Seamus and Dean kept moaning rather unconvincingly about.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the way to dinner on Christmas Day when they passed under a small mistletoe branch. Ron looked extremely worried about this and dashed ahead of his friends. 'Don't worry, Ron,' said Hermione acidly, 'I don't think anyone's about to kiss you.'

'Well,' said Ron, feigning offence, 'I find that very hurtful, Hermione, not to mention inaccurate.'

'What?' snorted Harry. 'I don't see any girls rushing towards you at high speed-'

With a crash, Ron was knocked to the ground by somebody sprinting by. She promptly got entangled in his flailing limbs and fell over too. They both sat up and stared at each other. Ron, looking back at Harry, raised his eyebrows and grinned. 'I think you're going to have to take that last statement back.'

He got to his feet and helped the girl to hers. 'Sorry about that,' she said, red-faced, and rushed off again.

The three friends were halfway through dinner when the girl dashed into the hall. 'Does she go everywhere at high speed?' Hermione said.

All three of them, though, were watching her as she headed for a seat at the Slytherin table, almost bare as most Slytherins had little to fear from Voldemort, and so had gone home for the holidays. 'Slytherin?' said Harry, aghast. 'She didn't seem like a Slytherin.'

'How could you tell? She only said a few words.'

'But for most Slytherins, those words would be unpleasant.' Harry took in the girl's unkempt, very long dark hair. It was an unusual colour, because before he had seen that her eyes were vivid blue. It seemed that her clumsiness extended to other things, because before long she had knocked her goblet over and sent juice streaming over the table.

Hermione watched the girl suspiciously. What had she been running so fast for? Unless she'd just wanted an excuse to get Ron's attention…

Hermione shook that thought out of her head. What did it matter if the girl did like Ron? It wasn't as though… It was easy to see why she would, though… Ron wasn't heartthrob material by any means, but he had a vulnerable look about him, an awkwardness that made her just want to give him a hug… and those lovely brown eyes…

Hermione shook those thoughts out of her head too, even harder. Thoughts like these had been creeping in there far too often for her liking. What was going on? It was just Ron. Annoying, sarcastic, tactless, gangly Ron. Funny, quick, loveable Ron, with those wide, always-surprised eyes…

Aaaaarrrrgghhhh! Bloody hell! Shut up! She resolved to think of nothing but the enormous meal before her (and perhaps the essay she had to do for Arithmancy) for the rest of the evening.

Those of you who have read Fifth Year will recognise Andromeda Green! I quite liked her, so I have brought her back, changed very slightly, and her meeting with Harry is also a bit different. I have, however, kept the location of the library as the place where they get to know each other. She still doesn't have that much personality, but I like her anyway. Please tell me if you do!

I know I write too many Ron/Hermione stories. Even I'm getting bored of it now. So my next three stories, I hereby decree, will be: 1) A romance with Ron and someone other than Hermione. 2) A romance with Hermione and someone other than Ron. 3) A story with neither of them in it. These fics will not necessarily be in that order, but I WILL do them. Really!

Humorous spelling correction corner: Microsoft Word wanted me to change 'Parvati' to 'parfait'.