Erica woke up early in the morning she jumped out of bed, for it was Christmas Day. She was thrilled. She got dressed in a pair of black slacks and a green and red stripped sweater. She put on socks that had little bells on them and then ran downstairs. She saw her boyfriend, Harry, sitting down there with his two friends Ron and Hermione, who were dating as well.
The room was beautiful. The tree was decorated with red and gold for Gryffindor pride. The floors were covered in carpet only for a short time; the carpet was a wicked shade of scarlet. The walls had gold and scarlet garland hanging all over. The couches, which were at first black, were now gold and scarlet. The presents under the tree looked so unreal, they had been beautifully wrapped, even though most of them were from family and friends, it still was a sight to see. Harry saw her and called out "Erica come on down we were waiting for you."
She smiled and ran downstairs and hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. Surprisingly enough you couldn't tell that his face had gone red from getting kissed in front of his friends. He pulled her to the couch, which he had been sitting on, and then sat down beside her.
She looked between Ron and Hermione, who weren't sitting next to each other and she asked "Are you two mad at each other? I mean you aren't sitting next to each other and it is very rare to see you two separated."
Hermione looked up at her and said "No, we aren't mad, we are just taking a break from being so close and besides we have company coming to see all of us, and they don't know about Ron and I yet. We plan on telling them today."
Erica looked up "Oh, who's coming?" she asked as she moved Harry's arm so it was draped over her shoulders.
Ron spoke this time "My parents and brothers that is why we aren't opening presents until they get here, although you can open yours if you want to."
She thought about this for a moment and then said "Ok, I will" she laughed slightly at Ron's face; it looked as if he was just slapped "I am only kidding, I can wait for your family to get here, I don't mind. I want to meet them too."
Ron's face went into a relaxed look and said "For a minute there I thought you were actually going to do it."
Harry laughed "Now, Ron honestly do you think Erica here has the heart to do something like that. I mean open all of her presents in front of us, flaunting the fact that she gets to open them."
"Well…" Ron started
But Erica interrupted by throwing a pillow at him.
Hermione laughed and then Ron threw it at her. So it ended up all four had pillows in their hands and had started a pillow fight. They kept this up until they couldn't go anymore. Ron looked at the time "Oh, they will be here in a hour."
"Ok, so what should we do until then?" Erica asked hoping it would have something to do with hot chocolate and peppermint sticks.
Harry knew what she was thinking and said "Why don't we go down to the Great Hall and get some hot chocolate and peppermint sticks."
Erica smiled a big smile "I like that idea" she said happily.
Ron and Hermione laughed "Alright lets go!"
They all wandered on downstairs to the Great Hall to get their drinks and peppermint sticks and then went back up to the common room. To drink and have some fun talking or even playing a game. Erica sat next to Harry and Hermione next to her and then came Ron. The fire was wonderful, the flames seemed almost mesmerizing. The reds, oranges, and yellows made the sight extremely beautiful. Harry put his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder.
The hour had passed almost as quickly as it began. Erica had fallen asleep on Harry's shoulder, when he nudged her slightly and said "It's time to wake up." She didn't move, she thought if I don't move maybe he will just let me sleep here. He did it again and still she didn't move. Ron moved over and decided to push her off the couch. "1, 2…3…PUSH!" he said as he put his hands on her back to push her forward.
Erica jumped up and punched him hard in the arm "Don't ever try something like that again. And you" pointing to Harry "you were going to let him do it."
Harry put on an innocent face "No, I wasn't." he grabbed her hand and pulled her on to his lap "I would never do such a thing" he said as he kissed her on the cheek.
Just then Ron's family arrived. Erica moved off of Harry before they were seen and she moved towards the empty chair, so it wouldn't be so hard not to sit so close to each other, but Harry just followed her over to the chair. "Moving so we could be closer?" he smiled.
"Well, I was trying to give them more room." She said quickly as she nudged him.
They all came in and sat down around the fire and started talking, like most families do. Erica stayed quiet not really knowing this family, she thought best if she stayed quiet and let them have fun. Not realizing Ron had gotten up and grabbed Erica the first present "Erica, here since you waited for all of us, I think you should open the first present."
"Thanks, Ron." She said taking the present, it was from him. Slowly she unwrapped it, for she remembered her birthday present from him, he had gone down to his brother's shop and bought something that exploding once opened. She finally got the paper off and began opening the box, she closed her eyes as she took the lid off and nothing happened. She opened her eyes and inside the box were a couple of chocolate frogs and some Bertie Bott's every flavor beans.
"Thank you, Ron" she said pleasantly.
"Now you pick a gift for someone to open" Harry said
"ok, ummm…" she said as she began looking through all the presents, she found one that looked good and it was for Hermione. "This one is for you Hermione."