Just a quick piece of Hogwarts Christmas fluff, because why not?
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Gryffindor House,
no creature was stirring, not even Crookshanks...
~ Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 24th December, 23:30 ~
Hermione Granger flopped down on her bed with a sigh. She'd known when she accepted the role of Head Girl upon her return to Hogwarts to finally take her seventh year that it meant a lot of responsibility. She had welcomed the opportunity – partly because it was something she had always worked towards and it was nice for all that to have paid off despite the slight disruption of the return of Voldemort and subsequent war. But it was also a chance to help, to improve things for the next generations at Hogwarts. That it gave her a private room that had sprung into being in the Gryffindor tower was an additional perk.
But she hadn't expected to be required all the way up to Christmas morning. She'd been looking forwards to a winter holiday at the Burrow, with Ron and Harry, Ginny and the other Weasleys, and a visit to her family in Australia in the New Year. Instead, she had stayed at school to look after younger students, working to make sure those who couldn't go home for any reason had an enjoyable lead up to Christmas.
Well, at least McGonagall is going to send me to the Burrow via Floo tomorrow morning. I'll still get Christmas day with my friends. In some ways, that was the real kicker – she didn't mind being at Hogwarts in the winter break, but it felt strange to be there without Ron and Harry as well. Ginny had offered to stay in solidarity, but Hermione had point-blank refused to hear of it. The Weasleys were going to have a tough enough holiday season as it was, and it wasn't as though Ginny had been free to go to Hogsmede whenever she liked to see Harry – one of the perks of being a returning eighth year student.
Shaking herself out of her brown study, Hermione grabbed her book and curled up to read for an hour or so before sleeping. She'd be headed for the Burrow the next day. There was absolutely no point dwelling on the fun she was probably missing, or on past Christmases at Hogwarts.
~ 25th December, 6:30 ~
Hermione jerked awake at a sound in the Gryffindor Common Room. Reaching for her wand, she threw off the duvet and struggled to her feet, cursing internally when the book she'd dozed off over fell to the floor with a clunk! Straining her ears for any sound from the common room, she crept over to the door.
It was almost certainly just one of the other Gryffindors at Hogwarts over the holiday messing around – too excited to sleep, trying to sneak out, any number of perfectly innocent things. But it was only months since the castle had been her battleground, and Hermione wasn't about to be caught napping.
Easing the door open silently, she peered around. The only light in the common room came from a bright, crackling fire. Sidling into the room, scanning for any movement, Hermione didn't relax until she noticed the pile of neatly wrapped presents sitting under the tree to one side of the fireplace. She lowered her wand with a sigh of relief. It had just been the house elves delivering gifts for the students. Feeling wide awake, and realising after a glance at the clock that it was only a few hours until she was due in McGonagall's office to Floo to the Burrow, she padded over to the tree.
She hadn't been up this early on Christmas day for years, not since she was a little kid running downstairs to see what Santa had brought (not to mention whether he'd left footprints in the flour she'd carefully sprinkled by the doorways).
Kneeling carefully by the tree, laying her wand on the ground in easy reach, she poked through the presents. There were a few with her name on – more than she'd expected, as most people had sent her gifts to the Burrow. She laid them carefully aside, one by one, until she came across three squashy packages wrapped in the same paper.
Hermione knelt with the three parcels in front of her, frowning. Why on earth would Molly Weasley have sent these to Hogwarts? Picking up her wand again, she muttered a quick revelio! Nothing happened. She tried another charm searching for traps or enchantments, and got nothing. So far as she could tell with any magic, the three gifts were just regular presents – but it made simply no sense for Mrs Weasley to send Harry, Ron and Hermione's gifts all the way to Hogwarts.
A muffled sound behind her made her turn on the spot, an instinctive non-verbal body-bind aimed in the direction of the noise.
~ December 25th, 6:47 ~
"Ron? Harry?" Hermione stared at her two friends, tangled what she realised after a confused moment was Harry's invisibility cloak. It was a muffled laugh that had caught her attention. "What are you doing here?" After a moment of silence, she remembered the body-bind and muttered the counter charm. Harry rubbed the back of his head ruefully as he sat up.
"Blimey 'Mione. That'll teach us to try and surprise you!"
Ron stood, almost tripping on the cloak, also rubbing his head where it had collided with the sofa but nevertheless looking very pleased with himself.
"Merry Christmas!" He sat next to her and slung an arm around her shoulders, planting a kiss on one cheek. "We figured we'd come and make it a proper Hogwarts Christmas morning for you."
"It's not Christmas until everyone knows what colour jumper they got this year. So we convinced Mrs Weasley to let us bring them along with us. You'll have to wait for the rest of your presents, though." Harry shuffled over to join them, reaching for his present. "We didn't plan to wake you up quite this early. We were going to sneak upstairs and come down with the rest and really surprise you. Guess you heard me walk into that?" He jerked his head at an end table that hadn't been there during their own years at Hogwarts, looking sheepish.
Hermione beamed back at them, adrenaline fading to be replaced by affection. She should have known they'd guess how lonely a Christmas morning at Hogwarts without them would be. She looped one arm around Ron and the other around Harry, hugging them tightly before pushing them away and grabbing her present.
"Merry Christmas...bet you Ron's got maroon again!"