Hermione sighed as she waited for her mother to arrive. Hermione impatiently tapped her foot as an hour soon ticked by, and her mother showed no signs of showing up.
"She probably forgot she was supposed to pick me up..." Hermione muttered as she sat on one of the benches in the station, "This is just great..."
Hermione didn't know why she felt somewhat surprised, her mother was quite the forgetful type. Anything that wasn't important to her mother was quickly filed away for things that seemed more important, like her job as a dentist. Her mother's job came first, and Hermione came second.
"This is why I didn't want to come home..."
"Hello!"
Hermione was startled as someone suddenly called out to her. She saw that Ginny was standing in front of her with a cheery smile on her face. Ginny sat next to Hermione and started a one-sided conversation.
"So..." Ginny said, "How are you doing?"
"...I'm fine." Hermione said.
"You don't look like you're fine," Ginny said, "You're sitting here alone and being all gloomy."
"..."
"C'mon cheer up, Christmas isn't that far away!" Ginny said, "Where's your holiday spirit?"
"I'm not in the mood," Hermione said, "I've never really liked Christmas that much anyway."
"What?!"
"Keep your voice down!" Hermione shouted, as Ginny shriek had caused the people at the station to give the girls odd looks.
"But I can't believe you don't like Christmas, it's like the best holiday ever!" Ginny said, "Back in preschool you used to go on and on about how much you loved it!"
"Well that was then, and this is now," Hermione said, "I've grown up, Christmas doesn't mean that much to me anymore."
Ginny pursed her lips, as though she had eaten something sour. "Bleh, you've gotten really boring Hermione." she said, "What happened to the fun girl I knew back then?"
"I grew up Ginny," Hermione said, "And... what's with that look?"
For some reason Ginny looked a bit disappointed.
"Hey, you don't have to call me by my new name," Ginny said after a few minutes of silence, "We've known each other for a long time, why don't you call me Neptune?"
"I-" Hermione paused
"Well..." Ginny trailed off, "You don't have to call me Neptune if you don't want to."
"Well Ginny, I thought you were staying at the castle?" Hermione asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh I'm just getting away for a bit, I'll head straight back later," Ginny said.
Ginny looked up and held her hand out. "Oh look it's snowing!"
Hermione looked up to see that large snowflakes were falling from the sky, they landed on the platform and stuck to the ground. The people in the station either pulled out their umbrellas for protection from the snow, or they pulled the hoods of their coats over their heads. Some of the children stuck their tongues out to catch the falling snowflakes, ignoring their parents who told them to stop. Hermione smiled a little bit, as she was reminded of the things she used to do when she was younger.
"Hermione?"
Hermione blinked to see that her mother was walking towards her, holding an umbrella in her hand.
"What are you doing sitting here alone?" Her mother said. "I've been looking for you everywhere."
"What? But I'm not sitting here...alone?" Ginny had apparently decided to leave her alone, and Hermione was a bit confused.
Hermione's mother sighed, "Alright Hermione let's get going, I wouldn't want you to catch a cold."
Hermione's mother turned around and began to walk out of the station.
Hermione stood up and was ready to follow her when she felt something in her pocket. She reached her hand in her pocket and pulled out a black mobile phone with an antenna. She had heard some of her classmates talking about this kind of phone before she went to Hogwarts, apparently it was some kind of 'flip-phone' being developed by a company called Motorola. Everyone had been excited about it, not that Hermione really cared about that kind of thing, she didn't really have anyone to call anyway. Attached to the back of the phone was a sheet of paper that had writing on it.
'I got this really early for you, consider it an early Christmas present! P.S, I put my number down so you can call me whenever you like!'- N
"Hermione, hurry up!"
Hermione shoved the phone back into her pocket and followed after her mother...
...Wait how would Ginny even get her phone to work at the castle? And where did she even get the money to buy one?
…
"Hey Ginny, where have you been?" Ron asked as Ginny walked into the common room.
"Oh, I've been out," Ginny said.
"...Doing what?"
"Nothing you need to know about," Ginny said, "I was just catching up with a friend."
"Well that's nice..." Ron blinked as Ginny handed him a few knotts, "What's this for?"
"I'm just paying for that loan I took from your allowance."
"Well thank yo-" Ron blinked, "Wait, Ginny how much money did you take?"
"Not that much, just most of everything you've saved since your seventh birthday."
"What?!"
"Aw, Ron but it was a gift for Hermione!" Ginny shouted, "Where's your Christmas spirit?"
"Why you little... get back here Ginny!" Ron shouted as he chased after his sister. Harry looked up from the book he was reading and sighed.
