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Hermione woke up being shaken by someone. With one swift movement her wand was in her hand, threateningly pointed at her attacker.
"Hey! Chillex! It's only me", Ginny said half laughing, half frightened. "Remember, it's Christmas Day and now look at you: Still asleep and threatening the first one who dares to wake you up."
"Sorry", Hermione mumbled, putting her wand aside.
"Anyway, everyone's already up. I would have never guessed that I'd live the day that Hermione Granger is the last one to get up." Ginny laughed, while Hermione just looked taken aback. Great! Christmas Day! Not exactly a day she had been looking forward to.
"I'll go downstairs now, but make sure to hurry up", Ginny said, leaving the room to an uncomfortable Hermione. She didn't even know why she wasn't particularly looking forward to this day. As she got out of bed, she imagined what it would have been like if her parents could have been there. She missed them. She remembered all the Christmases she had spent at home with them, as much as she had missed her friends during the holidays in general, Christmas had always been her time to spend with her family and there wouldn't have been any place on earth that she'd prefer to be on that particular day.
"Stop it", she chided herself. "No use to cry over spilled milk." She hadn't felt as sad in quite a while, but being Hermione, she didn't let herself linger on her thoughts for too long. She just didn't have the time to mourn her parents, she said to herself, and anyway, what use would it be. And she was strong, she was Hermione for god's sake, one of the Golden Trio, she was not one to be deeply affected by this kind of things. Sure, it might be ok to mourn a little, but now was certainly neither the time nor the place for it.
She forcefully pulled her thoughts together, once again suppressing the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. No, she was stronger than this. She would not let herself succumb to them.
She changed into a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a large, comfy jumper. By the time she walked down the stairs she had all but forgotten about the thoughts she had just had.
"Morning, 'Mione", she was greeted by three sets of cheerful eyes. Ginny just nodded at her, and Ron could not be bothered to wish her a good morning. "About time. We've been waiting for you for ages." Everyone laughed at Ron's obvious impatience.
"It's good you're down" Harry said jokingly. "I don't think we could have kept Ron from opening his presents for much longer."
Ron tried to hit Harry with his foot, but miserably failed and hit a nearby standing chair instead. "Ouch", he squeezed, holding on tightly to his leg. This caused Harry to laugh even harder, whilst Ginny was rolling her eyes but couldn't help but smile at the same time.
"Alright then, let's get started" Molly said, sounding nearly excited as her son. She was happy that her son's two best friends spent Christmas at her house, it would have been awfully quiet without them. She had been used to Christmas Days with loads of people. However, this year Bill had decided to spend Christmas alone with Fleur, who was about five months pregnant, and Charlie had to stay in Romania for another few days. Percy was a lot closer to his family than he had been in previous years, yet he prefered to spend his Christmas Day with his new girlfriend, Claudia. As to George, Molly had tried everything in her might to convince him to come, but he had insisted that he wanted to spend Christmas on his own. Christmas without Fred just wasn't the same, he reckoned, and therefore he had decided to rather open his shop that day, expecting to make a good profit since it would be the only shop opened that day.
So it was really only Molly, Arthur, Ginny, Ron, Harry and Hermione there. However, Molly had decided that she was going to enjoy this day as much as ever, Christmas had always been her favourite time of the year.
Hermione blinked when she noticed a small package being thrown at her from the corner of her eye, just in time to catch it. "Thanks", she said to Ron, when she realized that it been him throwing the present.
Everyone started exchanging presents now, and after having given a present to Harry first, she opened the one from Ron. It was a huge book, titled "House Elves – where they first came from and how their role within society changed throughout the years", by Gina Waterfoot, whom she recognized as one of the most committed fighters for rights for suppressed species. "Thanks", she told Ron, smiling brightly at him. It was the kind of present she had expected and the kind of present she was sure to like.
After opening the presents from the others, she found that all of them except Molly (who had given her one of the typical Weasley jumpers) had gotten her books. She felt a wee bit disappointed, not that she didn't appreciate the presents, or didn't like them, they were all books that she would have bought for herself eventually anyway, it was just that they hadn't really given her any extraordinary presents.
It were casual presents, unless they would have gotten her a book about divination they could have hardly gotten her any that she wouldn't have liked and appreciated. Still she was a little disappointed that none of them had gotten her anything more personal, even though that would have meant risking that she wouldn't like it. But she would have preferred an utterly useless gift to these play-it-safe presents. However, she quickly suppressed the disappointment she was feeling, she knew they had meant well, and put on a fake cheerful smile instead.
Everyone was finished unpacking, when Harry revealed another small box from behind his back and gave it to Ginny. Since no one had any presents left to open, they all watched curiously while Ginny was unpacking the present.
In it was a jewel case and therin – Hermione gasped along with Molly and Ginny – a beautiful silver ring with a huge diamond. Ginny stared at the ring, disbelievingly, when Harry knelt in front of her.
"Will you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, do me the honour of becoming my wife?" he asked her. Ginny just looked at him, still lost for words. "Yes, yes!" she finally cried out in joy. It was not like the proposal was totally unexpected, they had been going out for more than two years now and they had all known that they would eventually marry, it was just that it came at a totally unexpected time. She smiled brightly at her boyfriend, no, fiancé, and quickly leaned over to him for a kiss, not caring that her parents and her brother were in the room.
Molly was close to tears, indeed, she started to cry that very moment. Her only daughter was soon to be married, she couldn't have gotten a nicer present.
Ron cleared his throat loudly, uncomfortable at seeing his little sister and his best friend snogging in front of him. To his great relief, the two broke up (rather reluctantly) and Ron went over to hug his best friend, soon to be brother-in-law.
"I'm so happy for the two of you", he said, hugging his sister as well.
Arthur also smiled at them brightly, he couldn't have wished for a better son-in-law. Everyone was happy, and Harry turned to look at Hermione who was the only one who had not congratulated them yet.
Hermione was suddenly aware of the fact that she had just watched the scene in front of her, rather as a spectator than an actual participant. When she felt Harry stare at her, she quickly went over to him.
"Congratulations from me as well", she said, hugging him tightly. "You really managed to surprise us all with your choice of time!" Harry smiled at her warmly, he really needed the approval of his best friend, and he was happy that she was happy for him.
However, while Hermione hugged him, she couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy. Wait, jealousy?! What was she being jealous of?
After she had hugged Ginny, congratulating her as well, she seated herself on the floor and was once again lost in her own thoughts. No one noticed her being so absent-minded, since they were animatedly chatting about the wedding that now had to be planned.
Harry had quickly decided that Ron would have to be his Best Man, to which the latter immediately agreed, and Ginny wanted Hermione to be her Maid of Honour. "Hey Hermione", she called out. "Would you like to be my Maid of Honour?" she asked her.
"Sure", Hermione answered, once again taken aback from her own thoughts. "I'd love to", she added, trying to sound more enthusiastically.
Ginny seemed content and went back to chatting with Molly about her wedding, about the flowers, the dresses, the date, there was so much that yet had to be arranged.
Hermione on the opposite was in a confused state of mind. Why had she felt jealous? She did not fancy Harry, he had always been her best friend, nothing more. What was wrong with her then? She didn't know, and did not want to think about it for much longer, so she just shook her head resolutely (which gained her a confused look from Ron) before she joined Ginny's and Molly's conversation.