The opportunity to talk to Ron came much sooner than Harry anticipated. The very next day, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny had some free time before lunch, so they spent it in the common room starting a rather long essay given to them by McGonagall. The room was silent save for the scratching of quills when Ron's head popped up.

"Oh yeah, Harry I forgot to ask you if you wanted to spend winter holiday with us."

Hermione gave him a puzzled look, "What exactly made you think of that?"

"I'm going through our books to help me write my essay and one of them mentioned a wizard who accidentally transfigured himself into an icicle. Icicle made me think of winter, which lead me to winter holiday." Ginny covered her mouth to hide a grin.

"So," Ron turned to Harry, "do you want to come stay with us?"

"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks."

"Ron," Ginny began, "Since Harry's going to be staying with us for Christmas, there's something we need to tell you." Ginny made a face at Harry, asking if he was alright with her telling Ron. He gave a small nod and came to stand next to her.

"Ron, Harry and I are together." Ginny waited for the rush of blood to surge into Ron's face, which signaled his temper was rising.

Ron simply looked at the two of them, his eyes moving from one face to the other. After several seconds, Ron nodded, "I was wondering when you two were going to get around to dating."

Hermione's eyes widened, not at the fact that Ron was taking the news so well, but that he had known that Ginny and Harry had liked each other and never said anything. Ginny and Harry were somewhat confused about his response, "You knew?" Harry asked.

"I didn't know that you had started dating, but I did know that you guys fancied each other."

"How did you know? For how long?" Ginny was having a little trouble believing that her not-so-observant brother had known she liked Harry.

"I've known since Summer. And you'd have to be blind not to see that you liked Harry and he liked you. You both stared at each other when the other wasn't looking. Besides, I've never seen someone as upset as I saw Harry when you fell off your broom." Ron leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Are you okay with it?" Harry knew he wasn't going to stop being with Ginny no matter what, but he'd rather not have his best friend angry with him.

Ron stood up, "I wasn't too crazy about the idea at first, but I know Harry and I know you, so I know you'll both be in good hands. Just don't snog when I'm in the vicinity."

"Thanks, mate." Harry gave him a grateful smile.

Ginny gave Ron a hug and ran back to give Harry a quick peck on the cheek. Hermione jumped out of her seat and wrapped Ron in a large hug. He became very red, but she didn't notice as she pulled away and gave a triumphant smile to Ginny. "I told you he'd be okay with it! Ron, that was so mature!"

Ron blushed, shrugging off Hermione's praise, "Yeah, well...How about we go to lunch?" He started forward, shaking off his previously serious demeanor. Hermione shook her head, but followed him, looping her arm through his, and Harry could tell that she was still telling Ron how proud she was of him by the way Ron straightened up a little and looked at her as she talked.

"Come on, Harry, I'm starving after all of that," Ginny moved past him and headed to the portrait hole.

"Wait," Harry reached forward and grabbed Ginny's hand, holding it securely within his own. "Now I'm ready." Ginny gave him a beautiful smile, making his heart pound, and she pulled him along, following behind Hermione and Ron.

"I wasn't expecting that reaction from him," Ginny whispered.

"I know, but I'm glad it's over with. Besides, now I get to spend Christmas with you and your family." Harry was still holding Ginny's hand when they walked into the Great Hall for lunch, causing every head that saw them to turn away and whisper to the person next to them. Harry smiled to himself when he saw the envious looks on the faces of the boys who used to watch Ginny. It felt good to know that she was his and he didn't have to hide his anger if another boy looked at her.

They followed Ron and Hermione down the hall until they found some empty seats. Harry and Ginny sat across from Seamus, who saw their joined hands, "Oi, you two together now?"

"Yeah," Harry grinned.

Seamus nodded and stood up from the table. He climbed up onto the bench where he'd been sitting, drawing attention from the surrounding students. "Just to let you all know, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley are finally together!" Seamus sat down again amidst the laughter and whoops coming from the Great Hall. Seeing Harry and Ginny's extremely red faces he smiled at them, "Oh, don't be so embarrassed. I just saved you from an entire day of people asking you whether or not you're dating." Hermione was laughing so hard that she had tears in her eyes and Ron was holding onto his sides. Harry and Ginny shared a look and burst into laughter as well.

The talk turned to their winter holiday, which was coming up very soon, "Are you and Hermione spending Christmas with the Weasley's, Harry?" Seamus asked around a bite of chicken.

"Harry is, but I'll be going home," Hermione answered.

Ron looked a little surprised and disappointed, "You aren't going to come to the Burrow?"

"You never asked me to."

"Yes I did, I asked you when I asked Harry earlier."

"No, you only asked Harry."

"I must have been distracted by the news," Ron nodded in Harry and Ginny's direction. "Do you want to come home with us for Christmas?"

"Yes, I'd love to!" Hermione jumped up from the table and started to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ginny called.

"I've got to write my mom and dad to ask permission. Holiday starts at the end of the week!"

Ron watched her go and Seamus raised his eyebrows at Harry and Ginny, "I think I'll be making another public announcement rather soon.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After Hermione had left lunch, she'd gone straight to her dormitory and written a letter to her parents, asking permission to stay with her friends' for Christmas. She used one of the school owls to send the letter and hoped her parents would respond quickly. It was three days later and the Hogwarts students were scheduled to leave on holiday the next day. She couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas than a whole month with some of her most favorite people in the world. Hermione wouldn't tell Ron, but she'd been upset when he'd invited only Harry to the Burrow and not her.

Hermione looked up from the book in her lap when someone started talking to her, "Have you heard from your parents, Hermione?"

Ginny was sitting on the couch next to Harry in the common room doing homework. They were rarely apart now and Hermione couldn't be happier for them...She just hoped someone would look at her one day the way Harry looked at Ginny. "Not yet, which is odd. They always respond to my letters rather quickly."

"The weather's been rather snowy, maybe the owl had to stop on its way back," Ginny gave her an encouraging smile.

"I hadn't thought of that. I suppose I shouldn't worry, it's early and I have the rest of the day to hear back." Hermione looked around the room for a moment as she realized something was missing, "Where did Ron go?" Ron had been playing a game of exploding snap with Dean and Seamus a few minutes ago, but now he was nowhere to be found.

"I saw him go upstairs a second ago," Harry offered. "Might've gone to get more cards." Hermione shrugged and returned to her book, hoping that the owl she'd sent would come back by the end of the day.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Where'd you disappear to?" Ginny questioned as Ron took a seat next to Hermione at lunch.

"I, uh, was trying to find more cards for my game with Seamus and Dean," Ron quickly flicked his gaze to Hermione and back to his plate. He hoped he sounded convincing, because he didn't want to say why he'd actually left. After finishing their third game of exploding snap, Dean had asked what they'd be doing their last night at Hogwarts before going home for the holidays. Ron and Dean didn't have plans, but Seamus had let slip something that made Ron need to leave the room rather quickly before he lost his temper.

"I don't have plans either. Although, I am hoping to see Hermione one more time before she leaves," Seamus didn't notice the effect this had on Ron, who had gotten up and gone upstairs, claiming he was going to find another deck of cards.

Once he'd reached his dormitory, Ron had begun pacing back and forth. Why does Seamus want to see Hermione before he leaves? Why would Hermione meet with Seamus? Ron walked from one side of the room to the other, occasionally throwing himself onto his bed and then getting back up when he couldn't sit still any longer. He'd gone through all the reasons why Seamus would need to see Hermione, each one making him angrier than the last, until he settled on the option that didn't make him want to throw a punch at Seamus. He must need some help with a homework assignment. Hermione's been helping me, so it makes sense she'd help other people. This thought had made Ron calm down enough to go back to the common room, but seeing it empty he realized lunch had started and he was late.

Ron pulled himself from his thoughts when he realized he'd been quiet for too long. Looking up, Ron saw the thoughtful expression on Ginny's face, but it vanished as soon as he saw it. Screeching and the flapping of wings came from above their heads, alerting them to the incoming delivery of mail. Ron saw Hermione searching through the hundreds of owls circling above them, "There! I think that's the owl I sent to my parents." She pointed at a large spotted barn owl that flew around the room before landing gracefully in front of Hermione. It held out its leg and Hermione untied the letter attached to it, "Oh, I hope they said yes."

Hermione rapidly scanned the letter from her parents, her face breaking into a happy smile, "They said yes, I can come!"

"That's great, now we'll get to be together for Christmas!" Ginny smiled and gave Harry's hand a squeeze.

Hermione turned her delighted smile on Ron, who felt himself melting under it, "And now I can give all of you your gifts in person."

"I might be most excited to see the twins' reaction to our gift to them," Ginny said, "But, then again, I haven't finished shopping for any of you."

Ron smacked his hand against his forehead, "I haven't done any shopping at all! You think mum and dad will let us go to Hogsmeade once more before Christmas?"

"Probably. I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Hermione shrugged and returned to her lunch, but Ron had suddenly lost his appetite. All the talk about presents had reminded him about how little money he had to spend. He'd been saving up ever since last year, but he knew that it wouldn't compare to what Hermione or Harry had. He wasn't upset with them about what they had, he just felt a little embarrassed knowing that whatever he gave them wouldn't be nearly as nice as what they gave him. He stole a look at Ginny, who was chatting away with Harry. He wished he could be a little bit more like her, she never seemed to be bothered by their lack of money. He sighed to himself, knowing that dwelling on it wouldn't make a roll of money suddenly appear under his pillow.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Something was wrong with Ron, that much Hermione knew. What she didn't know was what was actually bothering him. He'd been fine the day before, but ever since they'd started talking about Christmas he'd seemed upset. He tried to hide it, but Hermione knew him too well to not see past it.

"I just wonder what it is," Hermione wondered aloud as she put more of her things into her trunk.

"Wonder what what is?" Hermione whirled around to see Ginny standing in the doorway of her room.

"I was trying to figure out what's been bothering your brother."

Ginny plopped down on the bed, "I thought you might have noticed that. Harry saw it, too, but he didn't want to force anything out of him."

"Do you know what it is?" Hermione gave her a hopeful look.

"No, but it definitely started after lunch yesterday."

Hermione gave voice to the thought that had been nagging at her, "You don't think it's because I'm coming to the Burrow, do you?"

"Of course not! How could you even think that?"

"I don't know, I just thought it might be because of that. I mean, he did start acting odd after I found out I could come."

"And here I thought you were the smart one. Ron would have a sleepover with Malfoy before he said no to you coming to stay with us."

Hermione snorted, "Ron would rather shave his own head than spend time with Malfoy, so that's not saying too much."

Ginny laughed, "Alright, well we have the whole train ride home to get him to tell us. Are you done packing, the boys are waiting for us." Hermione grabbed hold of her trunk and heaved it along behind her, Ginny didn't seem to be having a problem with her trunk.

"It's about time you two came down, what took so long?" Ron stood up and grabbed his luggage from its spot near his feet. Ginny ignored him and went to Harry, but Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to make sure I have everything I need. You know a gentleman would offer to help me carry this," Hermione blew a curl out of her face as Ron bent down to grab hold of the handle, his hand covering hers.

"Blimey, what do you have in here!"

"It's just some of my books."

"Let me guess, a bit of light reading?"

"I happen to like reading, you should try it."

Ron scrunched up his face, "I have, but it's Christmas, Hermione! We should be spending our time having snowball fights, drinking hot chocolate, and eating cookies."

Hermione chuckled, "Do you ever stop thinking about food?"

Ron thought about it, "Sometimes."

"Alright," Hermione and Ron started, they hadn't even realized they'd walked all the way to the Great Entrance. "Everyone who is going home for the holidays please line up and take a carriage when they pull around." Professor McGonagall was weaving between the students, making sure they had their things.

The four of them waited for a carriage, not noticing the thin blonde boy standing in front of them with two much larger boys until he turned around, "I can't believe it's actually true, Potter and the redhead are together?" Harry held on tighter to Ginny's hand and Hermione saw Ron's knuckles turn white around the handle of her trunk.

"Oh, and I see Granger is staying with you, as well. Don't be surprised if that shoebox you call a house finally collapses, what with all the people you keep in there. Don't worry, though, we've got a lovely shed that you can live in. It's a bit nicer than what you're used to, but you'll adjust." Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle got into a carriage, laughing nastily. The group stood in angry silence until it was broken by laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Ron looked at Ginny like she was crazy.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Come on, that's not the worst thing Malfoy's ever said to us and it's certainly not going to be his last insult. Besides, I like our house, if it was bigger it'd be less fun."

"What do you mean?" Hermione was happy to see that the anger had left Ron as he listened to Ginny.

"The reason Malfoy's house is probably so big is so that his family doesn't have to spend all day together. Can you imagine living in a house so big that you couldn't smell mum's cooking or hear the explosions coming from the twins' room?"

Ron shook his head, "No, but it still bothers me when he says stuff like that."

Although Hermione could see that Ron was still bothered by something, his mood lightened considerably as they climbed into a carriage and eventually found a compartment on the train. The engine started, making the four of them smile as the train lurched forward, bringing them back to the Burrow.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had arrived at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters in the late afternoon where they were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley had begun crying at the sight of Harry and Ginny holding hands and crushed them into a large hug when they confirmed that they were together. Hermione and Ron had stood back with amused expressions as they watched the display and Mr. Weasley had given them his full blessing. The ride to the Burrow had gone by quickly and they were very excited to see the twins, who had arrived while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gone to the train station. Mrs. Weasley had gone straight to the kitchen to begin making dinner when clouds of light green, odorless smoke started to stream through the walls.

"Fred, George, what is the green smoke coming through the walls!"

"How do you know we did it?" Fred asked casually.

"Yeah, why do you think it's us?" George widened his eyes.

"What is the smoke?" Mrs. Weasley crossed her arms, not believing either one of them.

"Well, you see," the twins shuffled their feet as they talked. "We figured, since we're here for the holidays, that we could continue with our projects for the store."

"I don't want any more smoke coming through the walls and there are to be no fires, is that clear?"

"Yes, mum," the twins chorused. Raising their heads, they caught sight of Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Harry still standing in the doorway with their luggage.

"Welcome home!" Fred ran forward to wrap his arms around Ron and Hermione, while George did the same with Harry and Ginny, pulling back when he saw their joined hands.

"Why Fred, I do believe we have to have a talk with Harry here," George nodded towards them.

"Well, when did this happen?" Fred crossed his arms.

"It happened a few days ago and you won't be "talking" to Harry...Or do I need to alert a certain someone?" Some message passed from Ginny to the twins, causing them to change topics, much to Harry's relief.

"Right, well let's get you all settled," Fred and George grabbed some of the group's luggage and carried it up the stairs, neatly avoiding any further lecturing from Mrs. Weasley. Hermione helped carry her trunk to Ginny's room and Harry and Ron unloaded theirs in Ron's room. After getting settled, the twins beckoned them all into their room.

They cautiously filed into the room and took seats on the two beds. There was a thin layer of green smoke still hanging in the air. George waved his wand, making two large armchairs appear and Fred brought out a small table with parchment and quills. They sat down and looked imperiously at the four teenagers in front of them.

"Now that you're here, we have some business to discuss," Fred spoke in a commanding tone.

Ginny scoffed at them, "Come off it, you two, what do you want from us?" Harry smiled at her, he was always highly amused when Ginny told off her brothers.

"Fine, we want to know how our speed dating creation went," George got straight to the point.

"Oh, yeah," Ron said. "I forgot you never owled to see how that went."

"We find that letters don't give us enough detail as talking to someone does," Fred explained.

"Too bad we couldn't use one of those felly-tone things like muggles have," Ron said thoughtfully.

Hermione giggled, "It's called a telephone, Ron."

"Oh, well, whatever it is, we could've used one."

"Anyway," Ginny said. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything," Fred said.

"How you set it up," George threw in.

"How many people were there?"

"Who joined in."

"Stuff like that."

"Okay, well, Ginny and I asked the Gryffindors if they wanted to sign up. I think seeing Ginny's name on the list made them feel better." Hermione smirked at Harry as she said the last part, making him remember how jealous he'd been.

"We planned it for that Saturday evening and we set up some tables with the candies you sent us in a bowl on each table," Ginny continued.

"We put Harry and Ron in charge of monitoring everything and Ron was also the announcer."

The twins looked up with raised brows, "You got Ron to be the announcer?"

"Yes," Hermione said proudly, "And he did brilliantly!" Fred and George exchanged a knowing look as Ron blushed crimson.

"Anyway," Ginny changed the topic, earning an appreciative look from Ron. "We explained the rules to the people that signed up and we did ten-minute dates."

"Just out of curiosity, how many people did you get to sign up?" Fred paused, his quill hovering over the parchment in front of him.

"Six boys and six girls. There was Dean, Seamus, Carl Hopkins, Oliver James, Jack Sloper, and Michael Stewart," Hermione rattled off.

The twins frantically scribbled things down as she spoke, and Ginny finished listing the rest of the names. "Fay Dunbar, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Hannah Abbott, myself obviously, and Katie Bell." Harry noticed that Ginny was paying extra attention to the twins as she said Katie's name. He saw Fred's hand still, drops of ink falling from his quill onto his parchment. He was shaken from his thoughts when George, who was still rapidly scribbling down notes, jostled him with his elbow. Ginny gave a satisfied smile and made eye contact with Hermione, which only made Harry even more confused.

"I must say," Fred began, "you lot did a splendid job of setting this all up!" They all shared smiles and were about to leave when Ginny asked the question that had been rolling around in her mind.

"What exactly was in the candies that we took for the speed dating thing?"

"Well, I suppose we can tell you since you helped us and all. Just don't go 'round telling people, wouldn't want our secrets getting out," George explained.

"You see, what with our vast experience with girls," Fred ignored the snort that came from Ginny, "We've noticed that people who are on first dates tend to ruin them."

"They're nervous, awkward, scared…"

"We created the candies to help out the people who's dates aren't going well."

"The different types of candies do separate things. For example, one type will make you blurt out a random piece of information about yourself to your date. Let's them get to know each other."

"Or," Fred went on, "The type that makes you take notice of things you were too dense to see before."

"What things?" Ron asked.

"Say you and Hermione were on a date," Hermione's eyes widened and Ron turned as red as his hair. "If Ron took this particular candy, he'd start noticing how deep a brown Hermione's eyes are, how beautiful her smile is, or how infectious her laugh is."

"Hermione, you might see different shades of red in Ron's hair that you like, take note of how blue his eyes are, or how he scrunches up his nose when he's thinking."

"That's bloody brilliant!" Ginny exclaimed.

"She's right, it's a great idea," Harry added.

"Thank you," The twins chorused. "Now, I believe I'm smelling dinner," And with that, the twins left the room, but not before Ginny quietly said, "Nice work." Fred and George smirked, Harry and Ginny following them out of the room.

"You're going to need to explain a few things to me," Harry raised an eyebrow at Ginny as he grabbed her hand, Ginny laughing while Harry pulled her towards the room he shared with Ron.