The Gryffindor common room was always bustling with people during the time just before Christmas.
Ron was coming from one end, after just having gotten back from Quidditch practice.
Hermione, of course, had returned from the library, her arms full of what she called "light reading".
They stopped just in front of each other.
"I didn't know Quidditch practice ended this early. Is everything all right?" Hermione asked.
Ron nodded. "Yeah. Everything's just fine. Harry let us go early, since it is right before the holidays."
Several people were now watching them, giggling, snickering, and whispering to each other.
"What's up with you lot?" Ron asked incredulously. "Can't two people have a conversation?"
"Less talking and more snogging!" Someone shouted.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked again.
Seamus pointed towards the ceiling, grinning.
They both looked up to find a cluster of mistletoe hanging from a red ribbon.
"What's a plant got to do with anything?" Ron asked.
"It's a Muggle tradition," Hermione explained. "Every year around the holidays, Muggles pin up a strand of mistletoe. When two people meet under it, they're supposed to kiss each other, or else it brings bad luck."
Ron went pink. "Oh. So...I get to kiss you, then?"
"Er-Well, if you don't want to, um, I can just-"
"No," he said, surprising her. "No. I-I'll do it."
Hermione, flushing, tucked a strand of curly hair behind her ear. "Um...okay, then. Er..."
"Right, then."
They stared at each other for one long, awkward moment.
Ron, his fingers trembling, pulled Hermione closer to him, and she leaned her forehead against his. He cupped her face in his hands and then closed the gap between their mouths. Their lips fit perfectly against each others'.
For one small moment, it seemed as though everyone in the Gryffindor common room had vanished and that only Ron and Hermione remained.
And then, they both pulled away with reluctance.
They stared at each other for another awkward moment before Hermione said, "Er-I guess we can go now."
"Right," Ron agreed, and they stepped out from under the mistletoe.
Hermione couldn't help but smile, and neither could Ron.
Sure, neither of them had wanted it that way, but they'd always secretly dreamed of kissing each other.
From then on, Ron tried to think of ways he could meet Hermione under the mistletoe again, as did Hermione to Ron, so much so that their peers began to know them as 'The Mistletoe Couple'.
Conveniently, Harry was never around to watch them, so he had no idea who 'The Mistletoe Couple' really was.
"Have you heard all this stuff about some 'Mistletoe Couple'?" He asked them one day. "It's all insane, the entire idea of it. I mean, these people are cowards, if you ask me. They should just gather up the courage and become official already. It's obvious they're in love with each other."
Ron and Hermione instantly turned away and became pre-occupied in their food.
"What?" Harry asked. "Was it something I said?"
