"But Jesus was not really born in December," Castiel insisted, "We should celebrate it on the appropriate day."
"Alright, Angel Boy, think of it this way," Hermione said, her eyes trained on the rather large tree she was placing, "This is celebrating Jesus on a day that isn't his birthday, and we give gifts to those who we love and care about. Plus there's snow and trees and other shiny things. It's about family and friends and being with them, and letting everyone know that we love them."
Castiel stared at the back of her head, "Do you love the Winchesters?"
"Of course – they took care of me, just like you did, and they worry about me, just like you do," Hermione smiled back, "If it was reversed, I'd do the exact same thing."
"Do you still love the Weasleys?"
"Yes, they're like family, but with that family I feel like a grandmother or a jaded aunt," she sighed, scooting a box of ornaments closer to her, "I'm always meant to fix things, I'm always meant to be this version of myself that we'd created. With the Winchesters, I can just…be myself. I don't have to pretend or act a certain way with them." Hermione blinked when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, holding up a finger to Castiel as she fished it out. "Hullo?"
"Hey, Sweetheart, you miss me yet?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed as Castiel gave a small smile and sat on the edge of the couch, knowing that this was Dean and knowing that it would take numerous amounts of teasing and light bickering until the reason he called would come to light.
"My heart is aching without you, now what do you want?"
"Wow, you sound eager to know that we're coming home soon," he teased.
"How soon?" she asked slowly, eyeing the naked Christmas tree. She'd planned to have Castiel help her with decorating it so that it would be ready by the time the boys came home.
"Well, that's for us to know and for you to find out," he sounded smug.
"You're a prat."
"Stop calling me British names – we both know it doesn't sting as much if I can't understand half of them," he pointed out, but something else had captured her attention.
"Was that a car door?" she asked.
"Relax, we're getting in the car," he said before pausing, continuing slowly, "Why are you so worried about us being home?"
"Err – no reason," she grimaced at the Christmas tree, biting one of her nails and fidgeting, "How far away are you again?"
"Ehh, who knows?" If he'd been there, she would've smacked him. "Hey, I'll call you back, Sammy needs a navigator."
"Alright, see you," she said before wincing to the angel, "They're coming home soon."
"I assumed so," he said as he stood, "Why don't you use your magic?"
"Because I want you to decorate it too but I also want it to be decorated before the boys get here," she huffed before sighing, stooping to grab a red, plastic ornament, "I miss the glass ones. They're always so much prettier."
"Yeah, and a pain in the neck to clean up if they get dropped."
Hermione whirled around before frowning and chunking the plastic ball at Dean's head, "You prat, you lied to me!"
"Yeah, I did," he grinned back as Sam set his stuff on the dining table and moved into the living room to blink at the tree.
"Hermione, you got a tree?"
"Well," she bit her lower lip, "I wanted Castiel to decorate one and I wanted a real proper Christmas tree for once in my entire life and then I wanted to surprise you two for when you came home and I've only got one out of three so far."
"Well, we are surprised," Sam smiled as Dean grabbed the ornament from off the floor.
"I still wish to decorate it, Hermione," Castiel insisted.
"Three out of three, here's your prize," Dean grinned, holding something over her head and stooping down to peck her cheek. She blushed and swatted him away, snorting up at the little plant he held.
"That's holly, not mistletoe," she pointed out.
"Whatever," he shrugged, tossing the plant onto the coffee table, placing the small red ornament on a branch and tilting his head at it, "That seems good. I'm done." He catapulted himself onto the couch as Hermione rolled her eyes and began to place a few ornaments on the tree, Castiel and eventually Sam joining in. They put ornaments of all different shapes and sizes and colors onto the branches, Hermione grabbing some tinsel and sprinkling it here and there before offering it to Castiel, who stared at it until Sam took some and sprinkled it in her hair.
"Dean, you want to put the star on top?" Sam asked, turning to his brother, who had been watching quietly.
"Sam, in case you haven't noticed, you're a lot taller than me," he pointed out.
"True, but you only put one thing on the tree," he stated.
"I'll go take it off of the tree if you keep bugging me about it."
"Come on, Dean," Hermione frowned as Sam rolled his eyes and went to take his stuff off of the dining table and put it back up in his room. She sat on the arm of the couch and pouted down at him as he looked back up at her, "Please?"
"You've got magic, you can put it up there yourself," he frowned.
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, pulling away and giving a small smirk as he blinked back at her.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Because you're being a Grinch," the smirk got wider. "I thought maybe your heart would grow a little." She gave a very dramatic sigh and stood, "I guess not." She gave a small scream when Dean hooked a finger through a belt loop on her jeans and gave a sharp tug, sending her straight into his lap.
"Why is me putting something on the tree so important to you two?" he frowned.
"We all put something on the tree, you need to too," she continued before he could open his mouth, "And not just one ornament either. This is our first Christmas all together – contribute."
Dean gave a sigh and set her down on the cushion next to his before standing, taking the star and putting it on the top of the tree, coming back to his seat and pulling her back into his lap as she grinned. "Happy?"
She pecked his cheek again, hugging him around his neck, "Yes."
"Can we put lights on the tree?" the angel asked, peering into a box with very wide eyes, the idea of a multitude of colorful lights flashing on the tree sounding extremely wonderful to him.
"Can I use magic on that one?" Hermione asked, leaning into Dean's chest, smiling when she saw the angel's eager nod. She waved her wand and the tree lit up with color, floating orbs of light moving slightly around, casting different colors against the ornaments. Castiel blinked before reaching out a hand to touch one of the lights, furrowing his eyebrows when the light nuzzled up closer to him.
"Whoa," Sam blinked when he came down the stairs, "That's pretty cool."
Hermione bit her lip, wondering if maybe she should've used the ones in the box, before Dean pecked the side of her head, looking at the tree and smiling a little.
btw they're not dating yet just saying chill I will tell you when they do