**Christmas Morning**

It was the last day of the term, and the Gryffindor common room was alive with
students hustling and bustling about, preparing their things to leave Hogwarts for
Christmas break. Hermione and Ron were just about the only two that planned on
staying, Hermione claimed that she wouldn't be able to stand a week without the library,
and Ron because he couldn't stand a week with his mother. Fred and George had been
receiving Howlers from her consecutively every Monday on the acquisition of land for
their joke shop. They, too, had decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas break, waiting
for their mother to settle down before returning home.

Hermione had spent the last few weeks urging Harry daily to tell Ron. She, for
some reason, thought that there was no way it could turn out badly, and was very
optimistic about the whole thing.

"Harry, if you can go out finding trouble with You-Know-Who and come out of it
with no fatal injuries, I am inclined to believe that you'd survive whatever horrible
outcome you might be dreaming up." She persisted.

Harry was starting to believe his optimistic friend, and on Christmas day, he
awoke with a single goal in his mind.

The dormitory was eerily empty, and he noticed instantly Ron was sitting at his
feet. The boy had moved all of his gifts over to Harry's bed and was waiting for him to
awaken so they could open their gifts together, as they did every year.

A few minutes later they were up to their noses in wrapping paper, broad grins on
both of their faces as cries of "Excellent!" and "Cool! Thanks!" rang through the air.
Harry pulled a green knitted sweater out of a box. This year, it had a big heart
embroidered into the center of it. Harry gave Ron a funny look.

"Is your mum feeling all right?"

"I dunno.." He held up his sweater for Harry's inspection. It was red and had a big
green heart in the center of it. Ron shrugged, and pulled it on, messing up his hair in the
process. Harry followed suit.

They continued unwrapping gifts, and soon Harry was sitting next to a pair of
socks that resembled dragons (from Dobby, of course), a plate of rock-hard cookies from
Hagrid, and other items from other people. He was not exactly sure why, but Sirius Black
had sent him a chew toy that talked. Ron had gotten something similar from the escaped
prisoner. They shrugged in unison and continued unwrapping.

"Excellent!" Ron cried out, opening Harry's gift. It was a Quiddich ball, the
Quaffle to be exact, painted with the Chudly Cannon's colors and autographed by each of
the team members. Harry moved forward, grinning as his friend examined every inch of
the ball, delight on his face.

"Thanks, Harry!" He exclaimed, lurching forward and closer to his friend. Their
eyes locked for a moment, and Harry instantly forgot about everything happening that
morning and became very focused on his friend's eyes and the pink tint creeping towards
his cheeks.

'Now!' His internal voice coached.

Harry slipped his arm around Ron's waist and pulled him close, pressing his lips
against the boy's.

Harry was the first to pull away from the brief exchange, cheeks flaming and eyes
averted. He muttered a quick apology under his breath and attempted to look very
interested in a piece of tape, from one of his gifts, that was stuck to his finger.
Ron moved forward, cupping his hands around Harry's face and pulling it up to
the level of his own. His thumb traced the outline of quivering lips, drawing the attention
of wide-open green eyes.

"Don't be.." The red headed boy murmured, moving forward and locking his lips
over Harry's. Wrapping his arms around the boy, he noticed Harry tense up for a
moment, then relax completely and respond to Ron's inquisitive tongue and velvet-soft
lips. Harry was very confused, this was exactly what he had wanted.. but not what he had
been in the least bit expecting. Shrugging it off, he decided to kiss first, ask questions
later.

As if on cue, Hermione burst into the room.

"Hey Harry, thanks for the.. oh.. wait a second.." She blushed madly. Neither Ron
nor Harry had immediately noticed her presence, though upon realization that she stood
sputtering at the door, they reluctantly withdrew from the kiss. Harry bit his lip in
embarrassment as Ron nervously tried to fix his hair, which Harry had disturbed by
running his hands through it as they kissed. They were both slightly red in the face,
Hermione had the faint notion that it wasn't just from embarrassment.

They stared at each other for a while. Ron and Harry stared at Hermione, and
Hermione stared at them. She suddenly burst into a brilliant smile. "See! I kept on telling
you both it would work out! And did either one of you believe me?"

She left the room, silently cheering to herself. The pieces of the puzzle were
slowly falling together for Harry.

"Wait.. I was talking with Hermione about.. well.. you.. But what did she mean by
both?"

Ron was just as confused.

"I was, too." Harry blinked at this sudden revelation.

"So.. I.. We.. um.." Harry stammered.

Ron grinned. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Just shut up and kiss me."

'gladly' Harry thought as they resumed their previous activities with a new vigor.

~Fin~
(unless I am motivated to continue this)