TDoC

The day passed uneventfully, probably because they didn't have Potions. They ate dinner with the rest of the DA, which was now a school sanctioned defense club, and practiced dueling afterwards.

By the time she made it up to her dormitory, the owl she had sent that morning was waiting for her. She gave it one of the owl treats they kept in stock and took the note.

The necklace looked beautiful on you; as I knew it would. You'll have to wait a bit tomorrow for your gift, alright? Don't get disappointed if it isn't at breakfast.

Love, your favorite boy.

Hermione folded the letter and put it into her trunk. Climbing into bed, she thought about what Ron had said. There couldn't possibly be live fowl running around Hogwarts; how was he going to pull off three French hens?

TDoC

She walked down to breakfast with Ginny the next morning. It being Saturday, the boys were sleeping in. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and Ginny wasted no time telling Hermione all about Harry and Ron's nefarious plans to find out who her "secret admirer" was.

"It doesn't matter, Ginny," Hermione laughed, "We leave our names off of the notes."

"You're not even going to tell me?" Ginny pouted.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

She laughed when Ginny pouted some more.

"I'm not Tonks, that won't work…"

"Come on Hermione!"

Just then, Harry and Ron ran up to the table.

"Did we miss the mail?" Ron asked.

"Are you expecting something?" Ginny asked.

"Hermione is," Ron told his sister, "Three French hens, according to the song."

Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother and looked at Hermione, who was currently playing with her wand. Ginny felt a slight breeze under the table, looked down slightly, and smiled. There, spelled out in gold, airy letters was the name of Hermione's secret Santa…

TDoC

Harry and Ron were on pins and needles all day. Hermione had to use every ounce of self control she had to not be in continual hysterics at the boys. They jumped every time someone called to her; they looked around in their seats to see if anyone was staring at her. Repeatedly; in every class.

By dinner, they were both nervous wrecks and Hermione was loosing her cool. She had a huge grin plastered to her face which, according to Ginny, made her look a bit deranged.

They entered the Great Hall and the first thing Hermione noticed was that there were a couple of house elves next to the Gryffindor table. As they made their way over, the elves started walking toward them.

"Excuse us sirs and miss," one of them said, "But we has a special meal prepared for you."

The house elves led them over to three places on the Gryffindor table. Ron let out a triumphant "Ha!" as the elves showed them their dinner.

"Three French hens, sirs and miss," the other elf said, "Ordered by a special friend who wishes us to not name him. We hopes you will enjoy them."

The elves went away beaming at the trio's profuse exclamations of gratitude and assurance that they would, in fact, enjoy their dinners immensely. Harry and Ron ate like they had never seen food before, but Hermione took her time and enjoyed the meal.

"You mystery bloke's alright," Ron said through a large piece of potato, "He has my complete approval."

"I'm glad," Hermione chuckled.

"We knew he'd come through," Harry grinned, "Just not quite this well."

The boys waited patiently until Hermione was done with her meal. They exited the Great Hall together and Ron turned to look at Hermione.

"Do you need to go to the library?" he asked.

"No," she answered, "Do you?"

"No," he said, throwing a glance at Harry, "It's just…you've gone every night this week. We though maybe we could come study with you if you were going."

"Oh, well," Hermione smiled, "that's really nice of you! But I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight."

They made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Ron both took seats by the common room fire, but Hermione kept walking toward the girls' dormitory.

"Don't you want a game of Snap, Hermione?" Ron asked

"No thanks, I'm going to call it a night."

She went into her dormitory and closed the door. Just as she had planned, Ginny was waiting for her.

"Are they staying down there to follow you if you leave?" Ginny grinned.

"Yeah," Hermione laughed, "I love them both, but they've been pathetic all day. Hold on for a second, I just need to write the note."

They had agreed earlier that day that since Ginny knew who it was anyway, she could take the notes to the owlery for Hermione. Hermione had a feeling her two best friends would be tailing her everywhere to see if she met up with…him. So she figured it would be better to not go up there herself, just in case. She sat down on her bed and wrote:

Dinner was delicious! Thank you so much! I was wondering how you were going to pull off the "three French hens" part of the song. Did you get the candy I sent you?

Love, your favorite prefect.

"There," Hermione said, folding the letter and handing it to Ginny.

"I'll guard it with my life," Ginny said in mock seriousness.

The youngest Weasley stuffed the letter into the cover of her Ancient Runes book and headed down the stairs with a wave to Hermione.

Hermione smiled and made a mental note to get Ginny something really good for Christmas. She took another look at her "pear tree" and sat down on her bed to get Snape's homework done.

TDoC

Ginny was about to exit the common room when she heard,

"Oi! Where are you going?"

"I'm meeting Luna in the library," she told Ron, who was watching one of his knights being dragged off the board by Harry's bishop.

It wasn't a lie. She really had been planning on studying with the Ravenclaw; she was just making a quick stop first.

"Oh," Ron said, "Well, see you then."

"See you!" Ginny said brightly.

She waited until the common room portrait hole closed before heading off in a run toward the owlery…