Well, this is my first Harry potter fic, (the first of many, hopefully) so be a little easy on me, you all. Any constructive comments are greatly appreciated. Any flames will be used to keep my basement somewhere above 32 degrees. This comes from a Christmas challenge that I saw posted somewhere. In it, the following things must happen:



1. Somebody must say "Merry Christmas" in a foreign language.

2. Dobby must knit/have knitted someone socks.

3. Someone must kiss someone else for the first time under mistletoe - and we're not talking a peck on the cheek ;-)

4. Someone must bake something.

5. Someone has to give a quill as a gift.

6. There must be a snowball fight.

7. Someone must say the line "You're looking quite nice this evening. Either that, or someone spiked the egg nog."

 

Oh, just for the record, I love Seamus. There aren't enough fics with him out there.

Well, without further adieu, I bring you



Seamus Claus

It was Friday afternoon, about 4 o'clock or so. Harry had been sitting with Seamus near the fire for the last five minutes or so. Had anyone been paying them any heed or been listening, they would have noticed that the conversation was mostly one sided. Seamus was doing nearly all the talking and Harry was listening with wide eyes and a little disbelief. Ron was playing chess with Neville and beating him quite badly. Hermione was surprisingly not studying, having taken her last final earlier that day. She was instead talking with Ginny. Fred and George and a few others were hanging decorations for the Gryffindor Christmas party that was going on tonight. The rest of the common room was engaged in various activities and discussions.

"So, Harry, that's my little story," Seamus said, curling up into the chair and pulling his legs under him. "Whad'ya think?"

"I. I uhh..I don't know. I need to think."

"Okay. Think then." Seamus said. "I'm going to go take a little nap before dinner tonight." With that, Seamus got up and walked upstairs to the dormitories.

Harry sat in his chair for a minute and then shook his head, as to get rid of cobwebs. It apparently didn't work because he stood up with a really confused look on his face and threw his cloak over his shoulder and started walking towards the door.

"Hey Harry, where're you going?" Ron asked.

"I need to umm.. I'm going to take a little walk and think about a few things."

Before Ron or Neville could get a reply in, Harry was out the door.

"I wonder what that is about?" Neville asked.

"I don't have any bloody idea. Checkmate." Ron replied.

Harry walked in silence through the halls of Hogwarts. The people he passed seemed to barely notice him. He walked out the front doors and began strolling across the snow-covered grounds. Harry looked up and saw that it was snowing again. Not hard, just steady. He walked fairly near to Hagrid's house and grinned slightly as he saw Hagrid yelling at Fang and the two of them having a tug-of-war on a basket.

"Let go of it, you cur!"

"Grrrrrrr." Fang was wagging his tail fiercely. Obviously this was great fun for him.

"Let it be!" Finally, Hagrid was able to wrest the basket from Fang and started heading toward the chicken coops he kept out back.

"Now get back inna house before I make ye a rug."

Fang went back into the house, of course. Hagrid saw Harry and waved to him.

"Allo, Harry!" he called out. Harry raised his hand and waved back but didn't answer. Harry kept walking, soon putting the house between himself and Hagrid. He gathered his eggs and went back inside and started cooking.

About Two Hours Later

Hagrid looked quite silly in the apron, really. 'Kiss the Chef' it read, in black letters on red cloth. "Aaah , Blimey!!" he exclaimed as he reached into the oven with his mitt and pulled out the sheet with lumps of dough that contained what looked like chocolate. He quickly set the tray down on the counter and looked at the mitt that was on his left hand. There was a large hole in it, of course, that was why his hand was a little burned. "Fang! I'll put you out for the winter if you dun keep from eatin' everyting in sight."

Fang buried his head in his paws and gave Hagrid the normal "I didn't do anything look." Hagrid wasn't amused in the least as he threw the mitt into the corner. "it's yours now, you know, go ahead, eat the rest o' it." Hagrid swore that the dog was grinning at him.

Hagrid took the other trays out of the oven with one hand, giving a few scowls at Fang as he did so. He was busy taking the cookies off the sheets when there was a rapping on his door.

"Ay', who is 't?"

"It's Ron and Hermione," a feminine voice called from the doorway.

"Come in, then. I'm in the kitchen."

The two opened the huge door and stepped inside. They stomped their boots to get the snow off and took off their cloaks, which also had a dusting of snow. Ron's stomach growled when he got a whiff of hagrid's cooking. Hermione set her coat on a chair and picked up Ron's from the floor.

"Whatcha making, Hagrid?" Ron asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Well Ron, I'm makin' some cookies for the holidays. Gingerbread and chocolate chip, mostly."

Fang was sneakily coming near the counter as they had their little talk. His tail wagged, and he edged yet closer.

"Hagrid, they look more like pies than cookies, they're huge," Hermione exclaimed.

"Well, this is the first time I've made cookies and I wasn't sure about a few of the directions. You know, what size spoon does I use to spoon out the dough? How much is a pinch? It's all a might bit confusing."

Hermione looked at the enormous spoon laying on the counter. Or was it a soup ladle?

"Go on then, try one you two."

Ron dove in, picking up a medium sized cookie, about the size of a tea saucer and quite irregularly shaped. Within seconds, half the cookie was gone and chocolate was smeared all over Ron's face.

"I'll be! These are good," Ron somehow got out through a mouthful. Hermione chose a much smaller piece. It looked nothing like her mum's cookies, but it did actually taste okay.

"Fang!!! You mangy thing. Get down from the table. Put that down! No dessert for you tonight mister!" Fang slunk away, happily, because he got his cookie. Wagging his tail, he laid by the door and began munching away, smiling.

The two children were laughing so hard that they were crying. Hagrid was dancing around and yelling at Fang and the dog was just acting like everything was normal.

After he shook his head at the dog and got three mugs from the cupboard, Hagrid poured them all a bit of milk and then ate a cookie or two himself. "So, (chomp) wha' brings you two ou' here (chomp).?"

"Well Hagrid, we were looking for Harry. He wandered off a while ago, saying something about needing to think a few things over. We've not seen him since, what Hermione, two hours ago?"

"Yes, it was about two hours ago." Hermione finished.

"Well, I did see 'm a while ago walking by the lake when I was out getting some eggs from me chickens. I yelled 'Allo' to him, but he just barely waved and kept walking. Did something 'appen in class today? Was it that git Malfoy?"

"No, actually Malfoy wasn't bothering anyone for a change. As far as I can tell, nothing happened to Harry today," Hermione said plainly.

"What about you then, Ron?" Hagrid asked the chocolate-faced boy. "did you see anything unusual?"

After swallowing a big gulp of milk, Ron replied, "Not really. The last time I saw Harry before he left, he was talking to Seamus in the common room."

Setting her glass down a little harder than she meant to, Hermione quickly said to Ron, "Why didn't you mention that about an hour ago, before we started trudging all over the grounds looking for him. In the snow, no less."

"Well, I didn't really even think about it until just now. Maybe we should go find Seamus then?"

Hagrid was sitting there chuckling at the youth's exchange. He got up and wrapped a huge portion of the cookies he had baked in a cloth and put it on the table before the still bickering children. "Here. Take these back to the dorms with ye when you go find Seamus. I baked them for yous, but since you're here now, I won't have to bring them up later."

"Thanks!!!" Ron yelled. The two got up and put their cloaks back on and with the cookie package in Ron's grasp, headed back toward the castle.

They were about half way there when they heard a bunch of commotion coming from the Quiddich field. Ron and Hermione walked over to the field and saw a bunch of red and gold scarved students having a snowball fight. They heard the unmistakable Irish accent of Seamus from the field.

"There's Seamus there! Let's go see what went on with Harry," Hermione said, "and quick. It's getting dark and I'm getting cold."

"Right, plus we have to get back for dinner and the Gryffindor Christmas party," Ron said as the two of them descended to the field.

"Hey Seamus! Seamus Finnegan!! Come here, we need to talk to you," Hermione yelled across the battlefield, and then she began to dodge a barrage of snowballs coming towards her and Ron. Ron was hit, and apparently forgot why they had come down here as he scooped up a handful of snow and launched it into the fray. Hermione stamped her foot in irritation as the boys were engaged in all out war. Finally, after she had had enough (about two minutes later), she picked up a handful of snow and threw it at Ron. "Ron!!" she called.

Ron turned around just in time to catch the mushy ball right in the face.

"Ron, did you forget that we were here for a reason?"

"Yes, actually I did. Oh. That's right, we came to talk to Seamus," Ron said sheepishly. "Seamus, can we talk to you for a bit?

"Sure, I'm about done here anyway. I'm freezing and I've got ice in my unders. So what do you want to talk about?" Seamus asked as they were walking back toward the castle, leaving the other dozen or so boys to finish their battle.

"Well, Ron and I are hoping that maybe you know why Harry wondered off today. Ron said that he saw you two together a short bit before Harry left," Hermione inquired.

"Aye, we were having a little chat. I was relaying a bit o' information to Harry about, well, I don't really know if I should be telling you this," Seamus said, protesting a bit at the end.

"We just want to know if he's alright. What did you tell him, Seamus?" Ron frantically asked him.

"Well, let me tell you this. I had a talk with someone and found out that the someone likes Harry a lot, and I told Harry. I shan't be telling you who this person is, of course. It's private."

"It's private between you and the person, and then you told Harry about it? How private is that?" Hermione let out in shock.

"Hey, C-, I mean that person, said that it would probably be okay if I told him. Besides, how could I not? They'd make such a cute couple!"

Seamus was smiling big time at the thought of Harry and his mystery admirer together. Ron and Hermione exchanged puzzled glances and barraged Seamus with questions.

"Who is it?" "Is it Cho?" "That girl from Hufflepuff, oh, what was her name, Hermione?" "Susan?" "Come on, tell us." "You have to tell us!"

Seamus stopped on the steps of the castle and looked at the two of them and began to laugh hysterically. "Even if you were right, which you're not, I still wouldn't tell you. It has to come from either Harry or the other person." He looked from Hermione to Ron, smiling madly all the while. He put a gloved hand up to Ron's face and pinched his cheek a little. "Oh Ronnikins, you are sooo cute when you're puzzled, which by the way, is quite often. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to change now."

With that parting remark, Seamus stepped into the castle and left the puzzled duo on the steps. "Oh Ronnikins," Hermione said slightly mockingly, "you do look cute when you're puzzled."

"Aarrg! I wish he would stop that. Let's go." Ron had walked two steps when he blurted out "Who is it Hermione? We have to find out."

"I know. It is already driving me crazy and we've only known for five minutes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, this turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated, so this will have to be part one.

Who is Harry's secret crush? Does Ron really hate it when Seamus calls him 'Ronnikins?

Find out in part two (hopefully to be written by Tuesday - sooner if I decide to skip work tomorrow). Tell me what you think, pleaz???? Thankx.