Disclaimer: We still don't own it. Sorry to tell that^^

Uh...okay...don't stare at us like that, we *know* that it's a bit late for a christmas chapter....*sigh* You see, both our lives have been busy like heel, and Kaeera, who wrote this chapter, started to write LotR fanfiction as well and was therefore otherwise occupied...

Latrisha:"It was your fault! Just because you had to write your LotR fic, this chapter comes so late..."
Kaeera: "I couldn't help it! Blame it on my muse! I just felt the sudden urge to torture Aragorn..."
Latrisha: *glares* "But look how long it took you! Over a month!"
Kaeera: *winces* "I know....and it's pretty lame, too....*hides in a corner*"

IMPORTANT: This chapter was not beta-read, because we didn't receive a reply from our beta when we sent the chapter. So be prepared for lots of mistakes. Sorry...always keep in mind that we are two poor German students...


Confusing Experiences and Hidden Feelings

by Kaeera & Latrisha

Chapter 13: Christmas

If there was one special time at Hogwarts, it was definitely Christmas. The whole castle shone with different lights and the Great Hall with the wonderful Christmas tree resembled more a party hall than anything one would find at a school.

Like every year, Harry stayed at Hogwarts this year, and Ron and Hermione accompanied him. There were few pupils left at the house, among them, unfortunately, Draco Malfoy who's parents were away for two months. But even that could not dampen Harry's spirit as he went to bed the day before Christmas.

Ron was even more excited, circling through the room like a tiger in the cage. He had shown his friend the present he had bought for Hermione, and Harry was quite surprised that the dork had managed to find something *that* beautiful. It was really totally unlike Ron.

He had helped him wrapping the gift into shiny, white paper and they had given it to the house elves, who would lie it on Hermione's bed the next morning.

Nonetheless Ron was feeling unsure. "Do you think that she will like it?" he asked for the twentieth time this evening.

Harry rolled his eyes and let out a desperate sigh. "Ron, I'm sure that she'll love it, so will you stop walking through the room now? There's nothing you can change now, so just settle down and sleep!"

The red-haired boy glared at his friend. Didn't Harry understand how anxious he felt? What if she found it ridiculous? What if she laughed about it?....No, he couldn't think about that! It was driving him crazy!

He fell down on his bed and groaned. Why had life to be such difficult? Why couldn't everything stay like it used to be?

And why the hell did he fall in love with Hermione???


In the girls' dorm, someone else was having similar thoughts. Hermione stared thoughtfully at her gift for Ron, turning it in her hands for the thousandth time. She felt a bit silly that she had bought this - he would certainly laugh about her when he unwrapped it - but back in the shop it had seemed to be a good idea.

It seemed so easy for the other girls. Lavender constantly giggled over her present, but Hermione didn't doubt that she would not feel embarrassed to give it to her crush. In the opposite of her. The girl sighed. That was something one couldn't learn out of books. Unfortunately.

Sighing, she placed the wrapped gift on her table. Well, she had to see what the morning would bring - worrying about it didn't help much.

Why did I have to fall in love with Ron, out of all people? Hermione was rather frustrated. And why is it so hard to act logical when ones in love? It doesn't make sense! I always despised it when the other girls acted that silly, and now I'm doping it myself! How ridiculous!


*************

HARRY'S POV

Christmas Morning

Dim sunlight pierced through the windows of our room, and I blinked, still feeling sleepy. I didn't want to get up, but then again, I never wanted that in the morning. So I turned around, hoping that I could maybe spend a few more minutes in the warmth of my bed. A little voice was screaming in my head, telling me that I had forgotten something *very* important, but I couldn't make out what it was. Did we write a test today? Did I forget an important assignment? Or would there be another Quidditch game?

"HARRY! WAKE UP!" someone shouted in my ear with the effect that I nearly jumped out of my bed. Rather disgruntled, I buried myself under the covers and murmured something which one might have interpreted as 'no'.

"No sleeping in today, my friend," the voice continued and busy hands took the warm blanket away. The sudden chill let me open my eyes and I glared at the intruder of my peaceful slumber. Ron was standing there, in his pyjama, red hair stocking into all directions with a huge grin on his face. !It's christmas!" he announced, beaming.

"Wha....oh!" It took my brain a few moments to start working, but then the magic of the word 'Christmas' raised my spirit. Christmas, that meant presents, that meant holidays and a great meal in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

I sat up abruptly and looked at the end of my bed where a small pile of presents was laying. Over the years I had gotten used to it, but it still surprised me every time that I actually received presents...never mind how strange they were. Mrs Weasley had obviously made another pullover for me (I briefly wondered if Ron's was maroon, like the last years) and sent some sweets. The other presents were wrapped in gift paper and I couldn't make out what was inside.

Glancing over at my friend, who was busily opening his own presents, I scrambled to the small pile and started unwrapping. A huge package of sweets from Hagrid (everything was better than these cookies!), a book from Hermione, about the different techniques of Quidditch and a huge poster of the National Quidditch Team from Ron. I was rather pleased with these things and couldn't stop smiling.

"Did my mom send you a pullover, too?" Ron asked and came over, looking at my presents. The pullover was black, with a green owl on it. Probably Hedwig, I wasn't quite sure,

The redhead flopped down beside me. "She always makes more effort with your pullovers than with ours," he complained, but I knew that he didn't mean it like that.

"Did you give Hermione her present yet?" I asked instead, making him blush.

"Uh...no," he stammered. I had convinced him the last evening that it was much better to give it to her personally than to let it bring with the house elves. It had taken some time, but he had finally agreed. Now I was eager to see how our friend would react, hoping for Ron that she liked it.

"Did you open her present already?" I wanted to know.

Ron shook his head. "There wasn't one," he admitted, sounding a little bit disappointed.

"Well, she probably wants to give it to you personally," was my suggestion, which seemed to make him a little bit happier. "Come on, give it to her now, you won't have the courage later!" I shoved him out of the door. "I promise that I won't disturb you!"

"Bu..." he protested weakly, but I just shook my head. "No buts. You will give it to her now, before breakfast, and then you two will come to the Great Hall where I will wait for you!" I patted him on the shoulder. "She will love it, Ron. Don't be that shy!"

This comment made him blush and he grabbed the present. "Alright," he mumbled and went off into the direction of the girl's dorm. I sighed inwardly and shook my head. I could just hope that I wouldn't be that strange when I fell in love!

HERMIONE'S POV

When I awoke this morning, I was surprised how late it already was. Normally I tend to get up early (you don't have anything of the day when you sleep long), but yesterday night it had been hard to fall asleep, and therefore I had overslept a bit.

Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and yawned. Giggling from the other side of the room told me that Lavender and the others were already up, opening their presents. I scrambled on my knees and walked over to the pile with my presents. The huge one was from my parents, no doubt, they had certainly sent me the books I had wanted. There were a few others, but I could find no one with the scrubby handwriting of Ron on it and I couldn't help but to feel disappointed. Had he forgotten me? It seemed so typical and insensible for him, like last year when he had given me Percy's old books...

I suppressed a sigh. From his point of view, this was probably perfectly right, after all, Hermione Granger didn't act like a girl, was merely just a bookworm with lots of brains and not good looking.

I got up, not really feeling in the mood of unwrapping my other gifts and quickly changed my clothes. Should I give him my present now? Wouldn't it be awkward if he hadn't given me something? And he'd probably laugh right into my face...

All my enthusiasm disappeared and I plopped down on my bed. Suddenly I didn't feel like going out and celebrating Christmas.

"Hermione!" Lavender called over.

"What?" I replied rather grumpy. I didn't feel like joining their merry little circle - I was always an outsider.

"There's someone there to see you," she said in a sweet voice and waved to me. I sighed and stood up; it was probably Harry and Ron, coming to fetch me for breakfast. I took the present for Ron - after all, I had bought it, and I wasn't a person who threw money out of the window - and walked towards the door.

Nodding a quick thanks towards my classmate, I left the dorm and stepped on the corridor, only to notice that it was Ron - without Harry.

"Uhm...Morning!" I stuttered, hiding the present behind my back. I could feel how a faint blush coloured my cheeks.

"Good Morning," he replied rather awkardly and looked on the ground. "And a Merry Christmas...uh..I...I have brought you your christmas present!" He stretched out his arms and gave me a wrapped box. Surprised, I nearly dropped my own present. He hadn't forgotten me! Feeling suddenly warm, I smiled. "That's good, because I have a present for you as well!" And I gave him my gift.

Carefully I started to unwrap the present he had given me, merely because I didn't know what to do otherwise. What I saw in the paper stole my breath. Inside I could see flowers, but not normal ones, no, they were made of crystal! Coloured in white and blue, the sparkled and glittered like the nightsky. I took a deep breath and stared at it in wonder. That was the most beautiful present I had ever received - and it came from Ron?

Unbelievingly I stared at him, my mouth hanging slightly open. He had opened my present and was positively beaming - a sign that he liked the Chudley Canons merchandise stuff I had bought him. Then he looked at me and his face fell.

"Don't you like it?" he asked somewhat fearfully, and it was then when I noticed how my shocked appearance must look for him.

"Oh no, Ron, it's not that..." I said hastily, "I love it...it's so wonderful! I was just surprised that...well...it's awesome!" I held up the flowers and stared at them. "Thank you very, very much!" I then spoke, meaning every word, and smiled at him.

Ron blushed and looked on the ground. "Well...they just seemed perfect for you," he coughed, "Thanks a lot for your present, too...I always wanted to have such a shirt, but I could never buy one!" He stood awkwardly for a moment and then turned around rather quickly. "Harry is waiting for us in the Great Hall, are you coming?" he said over his shoulder.

I once again smiled at the flowers. "Yes," I hurried after him, suddenly feeling that this Christmas might be a good one. Who had though that Ronald Weasley, the insensible klutz, could be such a charmer?


NORMAL POV

Harry sat down at a table in the Great Hall, waiting for his friends to arrive. A few of the teachers were already sitting across the hall, and he waved to Hagrid who was beaming back at him. The boy silently mused what his two best friends were doing right now; Ron hopefully wouldn't ruin this chance, too.

"Morning, Harry!" a cheery voice greeted and someone flopped down on the chair beside him. He looked up and saw the familiar red hair.

"Hello Fred," he grinned.

"I wish you a happy Easter," the twin said seriously and clapped Harry on the shoulder. "May the bunny celebrate you with many chocolate eggs!" (A/N: I have no idea if the Easter custom exists in the Wizard World, but hey, this is fanfiction^^)

"Uhm...yes?" Harry replied rather unenthusiastically. "Where did you leave your double?"

"Moooorning!" George shouted and took a chair. Fred just grinned and pointed at his brother. "There."

"Happy Not-Birthday!" George congratulated with an equal mock serious expression on his face, and this time Harry couldn't contain his laughter. "What is up with youtwo?"

"With us?" They both feigned surprise. "How can you assume that something is wrong? We were just expression our utmost well wishes for the boy-who-lives, the famous Harry Potter with The Scar, autographs here, please, no, we are sorry, no photographs, but you can buy a few postcards over there..."

"Right," Harry sighed, looking for a way to escape. There was no way of conversing normally with the twins when they were in one of their weird moods. Unfortunately, Ron and Hermion hadn't arrived yet and the only other students in the hall were Draco and his supporters.

"By the way, we bought the stuff of which you told us," George grinned and elbowed his brother. "T'was not easy to get, but we managed it. It's not as effective as magic stuff, though, but it will work!"

"So?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Care to tell me your plans for the Week of the Fuming Neptune so that I can run early enough and hide?"

"Ahh, no, that would spoil the fun, wouldn't it?" Fred plastered a wide grin on his face. "You will have to wait like the others."

"By the way, where's our dear little brother? We haven't wished him Merry Christmas yet..." his twin looked around, searching for Ron.

"I'm sure he will survive it if you don't," Harry commented dryly.

"Never misjudge the love between brothers," George raised an accusing finger. "What's he doing?"

"Giving Hermione her Christmas present."

"No way!" They both looked equally shocked. "Did he finally have the guts to realise his feelings or what?"

"They can't come together yet, then we will loose our bet," Fred frowned.

"You and your stupid bet," Harry shook his head, "I wonder who else is involved in this stupid thing."

"Oh, you would be surprise - half of the Gryffindor tower has betted quite interesting amounts of money on the point of time when the two finally admit their feelings,and even some teachers have shared this recent interest."

"Teachers?" the black-haired boy groaned. "Please don't tell me more...this resembles more a TV show than anything else..."

"Yeah, it is quite sad that our little brother is such a looser in the case of love," Fred shook his head, "We tried to be of the best example, explained how to be charming, but he doesn't seem to get the grip of it...how frustrating."

Harry just stared to them, imagining a chit-chat talk between Ron and his twin brothers about the best methods to conquer females. Well, that certainly explains a few things, he thought wryly.

However, he was rescued from further attempts of exploring by the twins as Hermione and Ron finally entered the Great Hall. Harry immediately searched their faces for any signs of troubles or anger, but couldn't find any. Instead, Hermione seemed to be glowing, occasionally casting a shy glance at Ron, who was unnaturally red in his face. Harry smiled. Seemed as if everything had went according to plan. If it continued like that, he would hang a sign on his door: Official love therapist of Hogwarts. That idea was amusing, and he snickered slightly at the thought.

"Dear brother!" Fred beside him bellowed and stood up, widening his arms as if to hug Ron. The redhead made a disgusted face and slipped past his brother.

"Have you eaten too much chocolate frogs again?" he asked somewhat annoyed and sat down on the opposite of Harry. Flashing his best friend a quick smile, he silently mouthed a 'Thank You.'

Harry just grinned and mouthed, equally silent, back: 'You're welcome'.

"I'm insulted," Fred told them as he sat down again. His grin told otherwise, though.

Hermione sat down near Ron and smiled at the twins. "Merry Christmas, you two!"

"Ah," George beamed, "She has better manners than you, Ron - she greeted us! It's Christmas, festival of the family."

"Whatever," Ron muttered, rolling his eyes, "Right now it is breakfast and I'm hungry, so let me eat!"

"How boring," his brother huffed. Ron didn't care, just filled his plate with the food which appeared suddenly on the table.

"We can just hope that the week of the Fuming Neptune will be in the holidays," Hermione said between two bites, "For then we won't miss much lessons."

Fred and George stared at her. "No! If it's in the holidays, there won't be any students (and teachers) to play pranks on!"

Harry groaned. "Can you stop talking about this at least on Christmas morning? Everybody only talks of this week, and I'm growing sick of it! As if living without magic would be such a great deal, and anyhow, we can't do anything to prevent it!" He stuffed a sausage into his mouth and frowned at the others.

"Well, okay," Fred said in a soothing voice, "We will talk about something else...let's see...hey Ron," he turned towards his brother, "Have ya kissed Hermione yet?"

Ron's eyes nearly bulged out and his face became flaming red. With his mouth full of bread, he coughed and glared at the twin. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about," he stuttered, glaring daggers. If looks could kill...well, then it wouldn't have been a nice view in the Great Hall.

Fred choked with laugher. "Only kidding, Ronnie, only kidding..."

Harry just shook his head, frustrated. Somehow he had the impression that this would never stop...would the twins every grow up? Surely they had to change one day, the latest the day when they got children...his eyes widened in horror at the idea of the Weasley twins having children on their own. Oh No. Better not...

When they had finished breakfast, they went out of the castle, realising that it had started to snow during the night. The twins immediately started a snow fight with everybody who walked through the garden, using magic so that the snow balls always hit their target. After a while, the trio eagerly joined and soon all the five of them were soaked through and through. All in all, it was a pretty normal Christmas, and while enjoying and celebrating, nobody thought of what would come...

Because the Week of the Fuming Neptune had the bad habit of starting when nobody expected it to start...and so it began.

To be continued...


kris10michelle - *lol* Your prediction seems halfway right...we planned t do it like that, but actually it's Latrisha's turn to write the next chapter, so we have to see what she will invent. It's all up to her!

Allison M Potter - The same happened to you? Funny...uhm, wel, right now we're not really getting anywhere because we both haven't the slightest clue how to continue, but well....we try!l

Caylen Ryder - Uhm..yeah...guess the reviewing losers are sad by now, cause this took so long...Your magical psychich powers failed you this time, because they encountered a phenomen called 'Karisha', also used as a synonym for incredible lazyness! Sorry for the long wait, really sorry!!

Araanaz - Well, there's Mione now, hope you're satisfied!

Katie Bell - Well, we're not sure yet if Nat will be romantically involved with Harry. Maybe she has some other purpose....*wicked grin* Thanks for pointing out the skater thing - are there ever mentioned years in the books? I can't remember. *shrugs* And well, I red the first Harry Potter in '99, a time when there were a lot of skaters....anyway, thanks for telling...Gherkin :P

Angie D - It's so sweet to read your German! Mach weiter so, freut uns sehr! Hope you liked this!