A/N: Wow, you guys! Thanks to everyone who is enjoying the story and leaving such wonderful feedback! You guys are what keeps me motivated!

Disclaimer: None of them are mine yet...

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"I'm really worried." Hermione's statement as she walked down the main street of Hogsmeade drew Ron's attention away from a window display of Chudley Cannons memorabilia.

"Worried about what? Harry?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid he's going to go back to blaming himself for everything."

"Go back?" Ron raised the other brow. "He's never stopped, Hermione."

Hermione pinched her lips in worry. "What do you mean? He doesn't talk about Cedric or anything having to do with that night anymore. I thought he was over it."

"Just because he doesn't come right out and talk about it doesn't mean he's over it," Ron said seriously. "He says enough while he's sleeping to prove that he's far from over it."

Hermione looked away, now thoroughly worried. "He talks in his sleep?"

"He has nightmares." Ron glanced down at the ground as though he wasn't sure that he should be divulging this information. "But he never talks about them. I don't think he knows that the rest of us know, but it's kind of hard not to when he's yelling out and flopping around on his bed."

Hermione bit down hard on her lower lip; she was trying not to get too worrisome. "Are you sure that it's nightmares?"

Ron nodded as they walked into the Three Broomsticks for a drink. They ordered two butterbeers and took them to an empty table at the edge of the restaurant. "He's been having them all summer."

"Why won't he talk about them?" Hermione blew a bit on the steaming butterbeer and looked up curiously.

Ron shrugged. "I reckon he's embarrassed. Or maybe he just doesn't want anyone else to worry about him- God knows he has enough as it is."

"But people have a reason to worry! He's been through so much, and he needs to talk about it and get it out in the open. Talking about it is the only way he's going to get better."

Ron rolled his eyes slightly. "Hermione, it's not that easy."

"Of course it is!" she spoke up heatedly. "He needs to stop playing the hero and let someone else shoulder some of the burden for once."

"He can't really help playing the hero, can he? He's never had any other option."

"Well, he has options now," Hermione said briskly. "He just needs to take them."

"Trust me," Ron said matter-of-factly. "Harry is not going to allow anyone to do that. It would make him feel too guilty, and he's got enough guilt on him as it is."

Hermione looked down at the table, pondering Ron's statement. Quietly, she looked up and asked him another question. "What does he say in his sleep?"

Ron went extremely quiet and took a long drink of his butterbeer. He set the mug down and ran a nervous hand through his hair, shrugging slightly as he did so. "Mostly he talks about his mum and his dad and Cedric. But sometimes he talks about other people."

"Who?"

Ron looked at her and hesitated for a moment. Finally, he answered her in a soft tone. "You... me... Sirius..."

Hermione felt a sudden amount of dread. She swallowed and said, "What does he say?"

Ron was looking extremely uncomfortable, and Hermione was sure this was because he was feeling that he was somehow betraying Harry's confidence by telling her this. But she was his best friend, too, and it wasn't as if he'd been sworn to secrecy- Harry didn't even know that he knew. One thing was for certain, though; he was definitely not going to tell Hermione that two nights ago Harry had talked about her death being his fault.

This was due mostly to the fact that Ron refused to believe that he had heard correctly.

Taking another sip of his drink, he answered her. "He just talks about putting us in danger and stuff like that." It was a vague answer and not exactly a lie, so he didn't feel too bad.

Hermione nodded a little. "You can tell he hasn't been sleeping properly; he's got horrible bags under his eyes, and he's getting terribly thin."

Ron found some humor in this and snorted into his mug. "You sound like my mum."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, it's the truth. He looks awful."

"I'm sure he'd be flattered to hear you say that, Hermione," Ron said sardonically.

Hermione went a little red. "I'm not trying to be mean," she clarified quickly. "I'm just worried for him, that's all."

"Let's leave the worrying to Dumbledore and Sirius and Professor Lupin and McGonagall and my parents and all those people, okay? All we need to do is act as normal as possible."

For someone who never managed to get his homework done on time, Ron certainly knew the correct answers to some things. Hermione hated admitting that he was right, but she had no choice.

With a delayed sigh, she nodded and said, "I guess that's the best thing."

After they finished their butterbeers, Hermione told Ron that she wanted to visit the Muggle telephone booth across the road and phone her parents. It was something that she never passed up an opportunity to do, as she rarely got to converse with them any other way except for letters. Ron nodded and waited as she deposited her money and dialed the number.

After three rings, a click sounded and a voice drifted into Hermione's ear. "Hello?"

"Mum!" she said excitedly.

"Hi, Sweetheart! How are you?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"Wonderful."

"And Daddy?" Ron snickered as she said this; he'd always found it quite hilarious that she still referred to her father as Daddy. Hermione sent an annoyed glare in his direction.

"He's doing well. He's at the office at the moment- emergency root canal. Are you in Hogsmeade?"

"Yes. This is our last trip before Christmas holiday."

"Have you done your Christmas shopping?"

"Some of it. Have you?"

Her mother chuckled. "Yes, I've finished with your presents," she said, answering the hidden question.

Hermione smiled. "What do you want me to do over the break?"

"Well, what do you want to do, Dear?"

"I don't know. I don't really want to stay at school."

"Then come home. You father and I would love that!"

Hermione glanced sideways at Ron. "Well..."

Her mother laughed again. "You don't want to leave your friends?"

"Not really."

There was a brief moment of silence as her mother apparently thought something over. "Well, then bring them with you. They've never been here, and Ron's mother is pregnant, isn't she?"

Hermione smiled into the phone. "Yes."

"Well, she certainly doesn't need three extra bodies around the house! You'll all come here for holiday. How does that sound?"

Hermione couldn't help but feel extremely excited at the idea. However, she was aware of the fact that she'd have to get Ron and Harry's opinions on the idea before anything definite was set. "I'll ask them," she said finally.

"I won't take no for an answer."

"Okay, Mum," Hermione said briskly. "I'll ask them."

"Good."

"But I have to go now because someone else needs to use the telephone." She looked at the Fourth Year Hufflepuff waiting patiently behind Ron. "I'll owl you, though, okay?"

"Alright, Sweetheart. I love you."

"Love you, too. Bye!"

"Bye."

Hermione hung up the phone and stepped away from the booth. Ron was currently studying a severed finger on display in a junk shop. He looked thoroughly disgusted.

"You want to go to Honeyduke's?" she asked, drawing his attention away from the window.

Ron looked at her as if she'd just asked him if birds had wings. "Of course."

They started making their way down the street, and Ron said, "So, how're you parents?"

"They're good. My father was at the office, though, so I didn't get to talk to him."

Ron laughed. "Is Daddy too busy pulling teeth to talk to his ickle baby girl?"

Hermione punched him in the arm. "Shut up." And then she haughtily finished with, "He's doing an emergency root canal for you information."

Ron snickered again as he gingerly rubbed the spot that she had just hit. "You're going to break my arm one of these days."

"Well, I'm sure you'll deserve it when I do," she said matter-of-factly.

"You sure hit hard for someone so small."

Hermione smirked triumphantly. "Yes. And don't you ever forget that. Then your mummy would have to come and take care of you."

"Nah, I expect she's rather busy," he answered good-naturedly.

"Speaking of," Hermione said, thankful for a way to ease into the suggestion. "I asked my mum about holiday, and she said she didn't want us bothering your mum while she's pregnant. So, she wants you and Harry to come to my house for the break." She said this very quickly and then finished with, "If you want to, you know."

Ron was grinning in a way that made Hermione very apprehensive. "Your mother wants all of us at her house for three whole weeks?"

Hermione nodded, fighting the inexplicable blush. "Well, yeah. I mean, we have plenty of room, so it's not like it would be a big deal."

Ron was still smiling in that curious way. "Of course we want to come! We've never been to your house before..."

"Why are you looking like that?" she questioned suspiciously.

Ron obviously tried to look innocent. "Well, we've never seen where you grew up. It will be an interesting learning experience."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, not really trusting him at all. "I'm sure it looks the same as Harry's house. You know, minus the aunt, uncle, and cousin."

Ron shook his head. "Nah, they've got the cleanest house I've ever seen. Your mum is probably way too busy to worry with things like that. It's crazy clean in there."

"We have a housekeeper."

Ron's eyes widened slightly. "You have a maid?!"

"Well, she only comes once a week. My parents just think it's easier to pay someone to do the cleaning than to do it themselves."

"Wow," Ron said wistfully. "Wish we had a maid. That'd be almost as good as having a house-elf!"

Hermione stopped dead in her step and glared at him. Ron looked at her and laughed loudly. "Oh, come on, Hermione. You have a maid- what's the difference?"

"The difference," Hermione said haughtily as she started walking again, "is that we pay our housekeeper very well. House-elves are simply makeshift slaves."

They continued to bicker about the status of House-elves and housekeepers, but neither of them missed the familiar feeling of comfortableness that settled over them as they did.

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"Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, and a box of sugar quills." Ron dropped the bag onto the table where Harry sat doing his Transfiguration homework. "You can thank me later."

Harry looked to be in a much better mood than the one they'd left him in, and he grinned as he glanced up at Ron. "Thanks!" He reached into the bag and pulled out a Chocolate Frog. After unwrapping it, he found that the card was Marciny, a witch he'd collected three of already. He set the card aside and bit the head off of the frog; his mouth was full of chocolate as he said, "So, how was Hogsmeade?"

Ron reached into his own bag of candy and pulled out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He looked into the bag and withdrew a safe looking red bean. Popping it into his mouth, he chewed it for a moment before smiling. "Strawberry," he supplied before answering the question. "It was good. Zonko's was having a sell on Filibuster Fireworks, but they were all cleaned out by the time I dragged Hermione out of the bookstore. Fred and George probably bought them all anyway." He shook his head. "And Honeyduke's was giving out samples of this new taffy, but it was sort of gross. Oh! And guess what else."

Harry was quite sure that he could guess for hours and not get the right answer, so he simply raised his eyebrows in curiosity and said, "What?"

Ron smiled wickedly. "Hermione called her mum, and Mrs. Granger said she wants you and me to go to her house for Christmas holiday."

Harry was quite surprised, and it was with widened eyes, that he said, "Are you for real?"

Ron nodded. "Yep! Mental, isn't she?"

Harry laughed. "Slightly."

"This is going to be great! We'll be able to get all sorts of useful information on Hermione that she would never willingly tell us!"

Harry snickered. "That's a great reason to visit with your friend's family over the holidays..."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up. You know you want to get blackmail material on her just as badly as I do. Just think of all the homework we could make her do if we get something really good! We'd never have to worry about our grades again!"

Harry laughed. "What made her ask us anyway?"

Ron shrugged. "I dunno. I think Hermione said she didn't want to stay at school or something, and her mother said that we don't need to be bothering my mum with three extra people while she's pregnant. So, I guess she just decided we should go there instead."

"Well, I'm up for it, and obviously you are, too. But is your mum gonna care?"

Ron shrugged again. "I don't think so. She'll probably be thankful- well, you know, except for the fact that you won't be there for her to fuss over." Harry rolled his eyes, and Ron smiled. "But it's not like she's used to seeing us at Christmas anyway."

Harry nodded. This was true; they'd not gone to the Burrow for Christmas in all four years that they'd been in school. "Then it looks like we're going to the Grangers for Christmas, huh?"

Ron nodded, too. "Yep."

At that moment, the portrait hole swung open, and Hermione came in with an armload of books that she had insisted on stopping by the library and getting before she returned to the Common Room. She hauled them over to the table where the boys were sitting and let them fall with a great sigh.

Harry eyed the tall stack of textbooks and couldn't help but feel exasperated at Hermione. The titles ranged from "Possible Exam Questions for the Ordinary Wizarding Levels" to "Complex Charms Likely to Be Used in an Exam" to "Bewitching Your Exam Papers With Anti-Cheating Spells."

"Hermione," he said cautiously, "do you think you've got enough books?"

She sighed and looked rather sharply at Ron while answering Harry's question. "No, not really. I could have had a lot more, but someone insisted on running straight up here instead of helping me. And this is all that I could carry."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, now there's a shock. This stack of books probably weighs more than you do."

"Then allow me to thank you for offering to help," she said sarcastically.

Ron shrugged carelessly. "No problem."

Hermione narrowed her eyes and muttered something with the word "insufferable" in it while slumping into the chair beside Ron. She looked up at the boys with their mouth so full of candy that they could barely speak properly and shook her head disapprovingly. "You two are going to rot your teeth out," she said matter-of-factly.

Harry started to retort with something, but Ron beat him to it. Barely glancing over at her, Ron pulled a Pumpkin Pasty out of his bag and promptly shoved it into Hermione's open mouth. "Eat that and shut up."

Harry didn't know whether to find more humor in Ron's nonchalant manner of in the look on Hermione's face as she sat with a Pumpkin Pasty hanging out of her mouth. He burst into laughter at about the same time that Hermione reached up and removed the sweet.

"Fine!" she said exasperatedly. "You two eat your candy and rot your teeth and your brains. See if I care if you'd rather be doing that instead of doing something useful like studying for the O.W.L.s. You're going to be in rotten places when you don't know anything that you're supposed to!"

This caused Ron to laugh loudly as he filled Harry in on Hermione thinking that Puddlemere played in the 1942 League Cup. The boys found even more humor when Harry suddenly remembered something he'd never told Ron.

"Last year she was so angry at all those girls who kept stalking Krum," at this point, Ron scowled slightly, but Harry went on, "that she said they only liked him because he could do a..." he snickered under his breath, "a Wonky Faint!"

Ron's mouth fell open as he stared disbelievingly at the girl on his left. "... A Wonky Faint?!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her left shoulder. "Well, excuse me for having more important things to study than Quidditch terms and stats." She bitterly raised the Pumpkin Pasty to her mouth again and took a bite out of it.

Harry and Ron both laughed even harder at this. Ron grinned cheekily at Hermione. "I was just telling Harry about your mother's lovely invitation."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "Consider it revoked."

"Aw, come on, 'Mione," Ron said teasingly; this earned a rather nasty glare from the addressed girl. "We're just teasing."

"If you two make fun of me this much to my face, I hate to see what you're like behind my back."

Harry smirked. "We don't make fun of you behind your back- all the fun's in seeing your reaction."

"Yes, you're just so damn easy to provoke," Ron added with a grin.

Hermione "hmphed" at them and continued to eat the candy as she reached for one of the books and opened it. "Are you guys really coming?" she asked as she scanned the Table of Contents.

"Of course we're coming!" Ron exclaimed. He shared a private smirk with Harry, who snickered under his breath at Ron's motives.

Hermione looked up. "So, I should tell my mum yes?"

Harry nodded. "Tell her we'll see her at King's Cross on December 15th."

Hermione smiled to herself and went back to studying. Ron and Harry smiled at each other and dug back into the candy.

Christmas at the Grangers was going to be an event to remember.

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Up next... The trio arrives at Hermione's house, and the real fun begins!

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