A/N: Thank you, reviewers! It's time for some Orange goodness. It's not as romantic as the last one, but I can promise that it's not all about Ron's hair.
This is probably not accurate to the canon Christmas in HBP. Just thought I'd warn you, so I don't get bombarded with reviews telling me how it should have been. Thank you…
ORANGE
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
When Hermione had first left for boarding school, she had been terrified of losing her close relationship with her parents. After all, letters could not give you the same warm feeling as a hug or a hair ruffle might. However, as it turned out, there were ways of keeping feelings intact, even when miles apart.
Hermione was spending Christmas at the Burrow this year, which was what she wanted. She liked each and every person there, and the thought of spending Christmas with them was enjoyable. She loved to read Ginny's teenage witch magazines, she liked listening to the familial banter between Bill, Fleur and Molly, and she liked watching Ron beat…well, everyone, at chess.
But this Christmas morning, she came downstairs to find no one. It was quite early in the morning- clearly the Weasleys were all too mature to wake up early after falling asleep very late, like Hermione always did. She was happy to see that she wasn't too early for presents.
Now, Hermione's parents were very fond of tradition, and of keeping things simple. They didn't like the huge emphasis on Christmas that took place every year (which was probably why they weren't too fussy when Hermione wanted to spend Christmas away from the family) and chose to keep things similar to how they used to be years ago, when children didn't get huge, expensive presents. There was an emphasis on the word similar…Hermione's parents did buy her something better than sweets and fruit, but that fruit, the fruit that used to be rare and expensive in England, was resting in her stocking as usual. It gave her such a good feeling to see it there.
Every year, for Christmas, Hermione Granger is given a satsuma.
Hermione didn't know what to do with her satsuma. At home, she would eat it after breakfast, but things were different here. She wondered how the Weasleys would react to the unusual gift. She soon found out, as she heard the stairs creak as Ron wandered downstairs.
"Merry Christmas." he said, smiling. Things hadn't been the same between them since the party situation, and Lavender, but Ron was clearly in a good mood.
"Merry Christmas." she replied. "Did you get any good presents?"
"Oh, yeah…" Ron replied vaguely. "Some great, some…not so great, but it's like that every year." Hermione nodded in agreement, and her eyes moved back to her Satsuma, which was resting on the table.
"Who gave you an orange?" Ron asked, sounding baffled.
"It's not really an orange, it's actually a satsuma."
"I can't tell the difference, myself. Do you…often get fruit for Christmas?"
"I do, actually." Hermione said, coolly. Ron was quiet for a moment. Both of their eyes were fixed on the Satsuma.
"Are you going to eat it, then?" he asked.
"What, now?" Hermione looked at Ron, who shrugged in that informal way he always did. Hermione looked briefly into his eyes, then, turning her head away sharply, picked up the orange fruit and peeled its skin off carefully. Ron watched her as she took it all off in one piece, and then removed the fiddly bits of bitter white pith. Hermione slipped a piece of fruit into her mouth, and was surprised to see that Ron looked vaguely…interested.
"Does it…taste good?" he asked.
"Um…" To be honest, Hermione was so used to eating satsumas that she never really tasted them. A lot of foods are like that. "Yes."
Ron's lips moved slowly several times, but no sound came out. Suddenly he asked:
"Can I have some?"
Hermione began to split the satsuma, and handed a neat half of it to Ron, who accepted it happily.
In Spain, your other half is known as your other half of an orange.And as they both enjoyed the orange fruit, staring into each others eyes and smiling after each mouthful, Hermione felt that Ron was definitely worthy of the other half of an orange.
