Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or related indicia. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

Enjoy!

Chapter 14: A Wake Up Call

I padded softly along the cold stone floor to Hermione's room and pushed the door open quietly and walked to over to her bed. Like me, she was the only one left in her dorm. I reached down and shook her shoulder slightly. She mumbled something incoherent, something containing the word "Ron." I grinned and spoke to her.

"'Mione. Wake up, it's Christmas!" I said and she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes and blinked up at me.

"Ginny! Happy Christmas!" she said as she sat up in bed and hugged me. I returned the gesture.

"I've got the best idea, come with me." I said to her she grabbed her dressing gown off the hook by the door.

We walked down the stairs of our dormitories and up the stairs of the boys' and located the Seventh Year dorms with Hermione's help. She'd been in here before.

"Ok, ready?" I said after I had pushed open the door and we were standing in the middle of the room, looking at Ron and Harry's beds.

"Something tells me they aren't going to like this." Hermione said, wringing her hands. I snorted.

"Are you kidding me? I can't see any possible reaction that Ron could have that wouldn't be pure joy from waking up to see you." I said rolling my eyes. Hermione blushed then smiled.

"All right. Let's do it."

We walked forward to the two beds that held the two sleeping boys. We pulled back their hangings, looked at each other again, grinned and yelled.

"Happy Christmas!"

I jumped onto Harry's bed and started bouncing on it.

"Ahh what the? G-Ginny?" Harry said, grabbing his glasses off his side cabinet and sliding them onto his face to look at me.

"Yep. The one and only." I said grinning at him.

"You won't be the one and only when I've finished with you." He said, a manic glint in his eye. I squealed and jumped up and ran around the dormitory and slipped into Seamus' empty bed and pulled the covers over my head.

"You honestly think that sheets will save you?" came an amused voice from outside the hangings. I poked my head out over the sheets and saw Harry pull the hangings back and grin at me.

"You never know." I said grinning back at him. "Happy Christmas." I said, climbing out of bed again and hugging him around the middle. He laughed against my hair and hugged me back.

"Happy Christmas Gin." He said and released me and looked down at me, smiling. I grinned at him and led him over to Ron's bed where Hermione was frowning.

"What's the matter?" I asked, referring to the look on her face.

"He won't wake up." She said, crossing her arms.

"Oh that's easy. Just do this." Harry and I said at the same time, each grabbing a pillow and lifting it. We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"You've discovered the secret to waken Ron then?" I asked him and he laughed, running a hand through his mussed hair.

"Yeah. Took us till fifth year though." He said frowning. I laughed and handed the pillow to Hermione and Harry and I walked towards the door.

"We'll be in the common room 'Mione." Harry called out over his shoulder.

"Ok, but I really don't want to hit him over the head." She said looking at us desperately.

"Oh he won't mind. It's you isn't it?" I said, leaving the room.

Harry and I were almost on the bottom step and we heard Ron.

"Bloody hell! Uh…Hermione?"

"Well. I think she woke him up." Harry said laughing.

"What makes you think that?" I said smiling.

"Oh you know, gut instinct." He said waving his hand around dismissively.

"Right." I said sitting down on the sofa nearest the pile of presents that sat on the floor, under a recently erected Purple Christmas Tree. 

"Different." Harry said, nodding towards the tree.

"Yeah. Ours at The Burrow is yellow." I said looking closer at it and seeing that it was twinkling slightly.

"Do you want to go for a walk? Those two could be a while." He said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder vaguely.

"Yeah sure. I should get dressed first though. Meet you back here in ten?" I said to him and he nodded.

I ran back up to my dorm and pawed through my trunk looking for a pair of jeans. There was no way that I was going to wear a skirt in this weather. I found a pair of worn blue jeans and pulled them on and grabbed my green sweater from the end of my bed and pulled that over my head.

I searched for my brush too and found it in the bathroom cabinet again with a note attached.

Well done Ginny, you're learning.

It said and I smiled, looking at the signature.

~Maria.

I pulled it through my hair hurriedly and thought briefly of when I had last been getting ready to go somewhere with Harry and the girls in my dorm had insisted that I take some time with what I was wearing. I stopped to look at myself.

"Well what can I do?" I said to myself and a voice answered.

"Do something with that dreadful hair of yours!" it said shrilly.

"My hair is not dreadful!" I said, annoyed.

"'Tis at the moment." The voice said to me.

"Fine," I said pulling my hair back and plaiting it. "Better?" I asked the voice.

"Much." It said as I nodded and hurried out of the bathroom.

"Bloody mirrors." I muttered as I headed back downstairs.

***

I entered the room to find Harry staring at the Christmas tree with a frown on his face.

"All right Harry?" I said to him. He jumped slightly and stood up.

"Yeah fine. You look nice." He said looking my outfit up and down. I blushed slightly and bowed my head.

"Thanks." I said.

He smiled and we headed out the Portrait Hole and walked along the deserted corridors of the Castle. It was strange to see it so quiet and to think that in a week these corridors would be full of noise, it bouncing of the walls.

 We pushed open the doors together and were met by a rush of cold air.

"It's snowing!" I said gleefully and ran down into it and was slightly surprised when I sank about a foot down. Laughing, I made my way through the snow.

"Hey Harry—" I said before I was cut off by a mass hitting me in the shoulder. I turned around to see Harry sanding on the bottom steps, hands in pockets, grinning.

"Yes Gin?"

"Don't you 'Yes Gin' me!" I said, bending down and scooping up a handful of snow and making a ball of it and launching it in his direction. Unfortunately he ducked and it hit the wall of the Castle behind him.

"You've got to be quicker than that Ginny!" Harry called out to me. I frowned and poked my tongue out at him. He smiled and made his way over to me.

He stood in front of me and poked his tongue out at me. I took a step closer to him and repeated the gesture. He mimicked me, getting closer still and doing it again. I laughed slightly and stepped closer still. Harry had a look of concentration on his face and suddenly I got an idea. He stepped closer again, not poking his tongue out this time. I stepped closer to him one last time and looked him right in the face. Just as he took his step closer I pushed him and he lost his balance, falling backwards into the snow.

"Ha! You've gotta be quicker than that Harry." I said in a singsong voice. He scowled then grinned.

"Help me up?" he said, cocking his head to the side in the cutest way. Of course it would have been cute if anyone had done it, even Ron…ok no not Ron. That was just wrong.

I held my hand out to him and looked away for a second then found myself in the snow next to Harry.

"I can't believe I actually fell for that." I said shaking my head and realising that I was soaking wet.

"Me either." Harry said laughing.

"Yeauch." I said as I pulled my wet plait away from my face and wrung it out from water. I sighed and took it out of its plait and let it fall around my shoulders.

"You know," Harry said after a while. "I've always liked your hair down and around your shoulders." He said, picking up a few strands of it and rubbing it between his fingers.

"Oh really?" I managed to choke out.

"Really." He said nodding. I took a chance and looked over at him to see that he wasn't even looking at my hair that was in his hand. He was looking right at me. I coloured and looked away.

What was wrong with me? I wasn't supposed to get nervous around Harry anymore. It just wasn't the done thing.

"Ginny…" he said quietly and I looked back at him slowly.

"Yes…" I breathed.

"We should…" here he sighed. "We should get back inside…" he said, sounding like he didn't want to take his own advice.

"Yeah…Ron and Hermione will worry." I said, preparing to stand up but Harry beat me to it and extended his hand. I took his hand hesitantly and he pulled me up, letting go when I was safely standing. I half wished that he hadn't let go…

***

Harry's P.O.V.

Idiot.

***

A/N: Another chapter for everyone to pick apart. You're lucky. I wasn't in the mood to update but I read an interview with the 'Potter Kids' and I'm all happy again.

Nesserz.

(Yes, I've stopped commenting on people's reviews. I'm bad I know…)