A/N: Thanks, thanks, thanks a million times!

Disclaimer: If they were mine, I would be rich. I am not.

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"It is freezing out here!" Hermione jumped at the shock of the cold air the second she stepped outside. She'd been lured out of the warm house by Ron, Harry, and Gia, who had convinced her that a snowball fight was the perfect way to celebrate the last day of the year.

"Gee, Hermione," Harry said sarcastically as the four of them walked around her house to the backyard. "There's a shocker. It's not like it's been snowing for three days straight or anything..."

Ron and Gia snickered, and Hermione sent Harry a look she usually reserved for times when Ron was being exceptionally annoying. It was the, 'Oh, that's so funny, I forgot to laugh,' look. "Shut up," she said haughtily, shoving him forcefully and causing him to lose his balance and tumble to the ground.

Once again, Ron and Gia erupted with laughter, and Hermione looked down at Harry ruefully when he gave a rather shocked sound of protest. "Serves you right."

Harry looked at her for only a moment before grabbing her around the knees and yanking her to the ground beside him.

"Cold now?" he asked briskly as he stood up and watched her roll from her face onto her back in the deep snow.

The other two members of the group were still laughing as they watched Hermione sit up and brush some snow out of her hair. She glared at Harry. "I'll get you back," she warned dangerously. "When you least expect it. At school." She looked very pointedly at him. "Don't underestimate my abilities."

There was no need for further explanation. She didn't come right out and say it, of course, because Gia was right there, but a threatened hexing from Hermione Granger- spoken or not- was enough to make anyone worry.

"Let me help you up," he said with a sudden sweetness. He held his out with a friendly smile.

Hermione, looking quite satisfied that her threat had properly scared her friend, took it, only to be met by one of Ron's offered hands as well. She took it, too, and just barely caught the sneaky grin passed between the boys before they started pulling her to her feet.

Just as she was almost in a standing position, though, both of her 'helping hands' were yanked from her grasp with such a force that she tumbled back to the ground, landing with a thud on her butt. She didn't even have time to register her shock before she found herself being pelted with snowballs.

Hermione shrieked and immediately leapt to her feet, running away as fast as she could in search of some sort of shelter. However, both of the boys happened to be extremely fast runners despite the thick snow, and they raced after her, catching her in no time at all. They knocked into her, and she almost fell to the ground again. But Ron caught her and pinned her arms behind her back, holding her tightly so that no matter how much she struggled, she was hopelessly stuck.

"Let me go!" she hollered desperately.

She actually didn't even get the entire plea out because Harry bent down to scoop up a handful of snow, which he proceeded to smash into her face.

Hermione, still pulling against the hold that Ron had on her, tried to duck as another fistful of snow was shoved into her face. However, this, too, proved useless, as Harry grabbed her shoulders with his free hand and landed his aim perfectly.

Hermione tried to look threatening as she pulled herself to her full height and glared. However, this was a feeble attempt even against Harry and quite pitiful compared to Ron.

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Harry taunted. "Surely the smartest girl in the year can figure out how to get out of this." He now had both of her shoulders and Ron still had her arms pinned.

Her only hope was...

"I'll kick," she threatened seriously, bending her leg to prove that her knee could definitely hurt the boy in front of her while her foot could do serious damage to the one behind her. "I'll kick both of you."

There was a brief silence as the two boys obviously tried to decide if she was being serious. When it was clear that she was, Harry snickered slightly and leaned closer to speak more quietly.

"Try it and I'll leg-locker you." He grinned over her head at Ron. "Don't forget that wandless magic spell Sirius sent."

Ron laughed, and Hermione glared defiantly. "You haven't learned that yet."

But Harry just raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure about that?"

Hermione was just about to stubbornly insist that he prove it, but she didn't get the chance because a snowball suddenly came whizzing through the air and smacked right into the back of Harry's head. He whipped around at the same time another snowball went soaring and landed right in the middle of Ron's face. Both boys let go of her in shock as the thrower of the snowballs came racing across the yard.

Hermione shrieked with laughter just as Gia grabbed her hand and started tugging her along. The girls ran together as far away from the boys as possible. They were both laughing when they finally ducked behind a large oak tree.

"Do you see how they gang up on me?!" Hermione asked as she stuck her head around the large trunk and looked for any sign of the boys, both of which seemed to have disappeared.

Gia laughed. "Are they always like that?"

Hermione groaned, still keeping her eyes peeled. "Always. It's awful." She searched the yard with her eyes. "And now they're gone."

Gia peeked out, too. "Where did they go?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know. But it's not a good thing," she said, frowning. "When those two disappear... Just trust me, okay? It's not good."

The blonde giggled. "Know from experience, do you?"

Thinking of the thousands of pranks that had been played on her through the years, she nodded ruefully. "Troublemakers, the both of them," she added.

Gia laughed again. "Well, they can't hide themselves too well," she pointed out. "It's pretty much an open yard, and it's not like they can make themselves invisible."

Hermione's brown head jerked in the other girl's direction at the suggestion. She searched her mind for the last time they'd used the Invisibility Cloak and whether she'd seen it at her house at all. Surely, surely they weren't that stupid...

But when she thought about who she was talking about... There was no telling.

Growing quite anxious with no sign at all of her best friends, Hermione turned to Gia and spoke in a whisper. "Just look out," she warned. "They could be anywhere."

Gia looked at her strangely, but Hermione held a finger to her lips and quietly crept out from around the tree.

"Where are you?" she demanded sternly into the open air. "This isn't funny."

There was no sound except for the soft crunching of snow as Gia tiptoed out to meet her. "Where are they?" she whispered.

Hermione ignored the question and spoke once again to the boys, wherever they were hidden. "Come out now," she commanded in her best professor voice.

Surprisingly enough, it worked.

Ron and Harry stepped out from behind a tree a few yard from where the girls stood. They were wearing identical smirks, and Hermione instantly regarded them with the utmost suspicion.

"Funny," she said dryly. "Hilarious."

The boys just continued to smile innocently at her, though, before Harry turned his head in the direction of the other girl and spoke.

"Gia, which side do you really want to be on?"

Hermione immediately turned her head in the same direction and looked frantically at the blonde. Gia looked quite confused.

Ron spoke next, drawing both girls attention to him. "Yeah, Gia. Choose wisely."

"This could get pretty ugly," Harry said seriously. "Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into."

Hermione glared sharply at her 'best friends,' and then glanced at Gia, who was now regarding the boys with raised eyebrows of her own.

"Because maybe you don't know this," Ron added nonchalantly, "but Hermione really sucks at stuff like this. Are you sure you want to be on her side?"

Before anyone could even speak another word, Hermione huffed and reached down to grab a handful of snow, which she packed into a perfect snowball and landed it directly in the center of Ron's face.

Gia let out a shocked laugh, and Harry looked on with slightly widened eyes. Ron, quite surprised himself, reached up to brush the snow away before turning narrowed eyes on the thrower.

Hermione, however, just pursed her lips triumphantly and said, "You have no clue, Weasley."

This remark started an immediate firing of snowballs from each side. The competition remained boys against girls, Ron and Harry having come nowhere close to convincing Gia to join their side. Shrieks and laughter abounded as all four teenagers raced around, ducking and throwing their fair share of snow at the others. They played outside as if they were small children, simply enjoying each other's company and the happy and carefree feelings of unabridged fun.

It wasn't until much later when all four of them somehow managed to run into each other in a full run, causing all of them to topple to the ground in a fit of laughter, that they gave up and decided that the cold was finally getting to them and that warm showers and hot chocolate would be the perfect afternoon treat.

Gia stood up and announced that she was going to run home and get dry and would return later, but Hermione shook her head and sent another smirky little look at the boys. "No, you can shower here," she said briskly as she stood up and shook some of the snow from her clothes. "You can use the upstairs shower and I'll use the downstairs. And they," she flung her head in the direction of Ron and Harry, both of whom were still sitting in the snow, "can wait."

Gia laughed and sent a somewhat sympathetic look at the boys but allowed herself to be dragged toward the house nonetheless.

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

Thirty minutes later, both girls were in Hermione's room, bundled in thick bathrobes with their hair in towels. They'd taken as long as possible in the shower, both staying in until the water started to go cool. Then they'd let the boys have their turns, finding the fact that there was no hot water left quite amusing.

"My clothes are soaked," Gia remarked as she laid the wet clothing out onto the floor.

Hermione crossed the room to her dresser and pulled out two pairs of jeans, tossing one of them to Gia and the other onto her bed. Then she opened her closet and said, "Which shirt do you want?"

Gia came around and peered in at the neatly hung clothes. Deciding on a fluffy gray jumper with a high neck, she pulled it out and said, "Do you care?"

It was one of the shirts she'd gotten for Christmas, still new with tags and everything. But she didn't care. "Nope," she said cheerfully as she reached in and pulled out a light blue sweater for herself; it was the latest of the several jumpers Mrs. Weasley had knitted for her.

Hermione didn't care about loaning her stuff to Gia. She knew that half of the things she'd gotten for Christmas would disappear as soon as she returned to school anyway. It seemed that this year especially, the Fifth Year Girls' dormitory only had one closet. She swapped clothing with Lavender and Parvati on a regular basis- well, shirts at least. Bottoms were a bit more difficult to swap, as Lavender was taller than the other two but just as thin. Parvati was closer to Hermione's height, holding only about an inch or two over her, but, while she was by no means fat, she did have more curves. And the clothes-switching didn't end with her roommates, either. Hermione had caught more than one piece of her clothing drifting around the Fourth Year dormitory girls after she'd loaned a few things to Ginny. She'd even seen Ramona Hillington, a Fifth Year Ravenclaw, wearing one of her shirts. After asking around, she found out that Parvati had loaned it to Padma who had, in turn, loaned it to one of her roommates. In some ways, it was rather amusing how quickly clothes seemed to disappear around that place.

As they changed into dry clothes, the girls chatted about everything and anything. Hermione was reluctant to admit that she enjoyed it, but she did. Besides Ginny, she never really had any good girl-talk. There was a bit here and there with her roommates, but Lavender and Parvati both knew her as the serious one, and if she'd suddenly started giggling and gossiping, it would just have seemed too strange. But it was nice, nonetheless, to have someone who cared about something besides Quidditch to talk to.

After they were dressed, they both pulled the towels from their heads. Hermione looked in the mirror and frowned. "I'm thinking about cutting some fringe," she said as she tried to imagine herself.

Gia wrinkled up her nose and shook her head. "No, don't do that."

Hermione turned back around to face the other girl. "Well, what should I do? I hate my hair!"

"I think your hair is gorgeous," Gia said honestly. "I can't believe you can pull off the straight look so well. Most people with natural curls can't do the straight thing. My hair looks horrid when I straighten it," she said, running her fingers through her own set of wet curls. "But your hair is really thick, and mine's not. When I straighten it, it looks weird and just sort of hangs there."

Hermione frowned. "Well, at least yours doesn't look bad when you wear it naturally. Mine is a mess if I don't straighten it."

While both girls had naturally curly hair, their curls were quite different. Gia's were tight and springy, while Hermione's were looser and more frizzy. It really wasn't fair.

Gia laughed. "Are you kidding? My hair would be a complete disaster if I just let it go." Hermione looked at her curiously, so Gia demonstrated by opening her purse and pulling out a jar of some sort of clear gel. "I have to use this every time I dry my hair," she explained, twisting the lid off and getting some of the gel onto her fingers. She ran it through her hair and then used her fingers to scrunch the curls up. "If I don't do this, it's a mess." When she was finished, she shook her head slightly and picked up the hair dryer on Hermione's vanity. "Then you just dry it on low heat," she explained.

Hermione watched as Gia's hair dried and the same beautiful curls she always wore started to take shape. Hermione had never minded her curls, it had always been all the added tangles and frizz that had gotten on her nerves so badly. But when her hair had been curled nicely for the Halloween Ball, she'd thought it was pretty; maybe she could use this stuff and get her hair to tame itself. She raised the jar to her nose and smelled it.

Gia finished and stood up, taking the jar from Hermione and pointing to the chair. "Sit," she said simply, and Hermione did as she was told. Taking some of the gel, Gia applied it to Hermione's hair and started the scrunching. "It's really easy once you know how to handle them," she said smiling at the other girl in the mirror. Hermione returned the smile and waited patiently as Gia dried her hair. It took awhile since her hair was so thick, but the result was stunning.

Other than the Halloween Ball, Hermione had never once seen her hair curly in a way that she liked. Even at the ball, her hair had been in ringlets and didn't look natural. However, when she looked in the mirror after Gia set the dryer back down, she couldn't help but grin. Her hair still wasn't tight and springy like Gia's because their hair textures weren't the same, but it was really nice in its own way, spilling over her shoulders in long, smooth, loose curls.

"Thanks," she said with a smile as she stood up and turned around to try and see the back.

Gia laughed. "Here, you can have this," she said, setting the jar on the table. "I've got more at home."

Hermione smiled again. "Thank you."

Gia grinned and admired the other girl for a moment. "That jumper is really nice," she said, reaching out to touch the pale blue material of the sweater. "Where did you get it?"

Hermione glanced down. "Oh! Ron's mum made it for me."

"Really?" Gia looked impressed.

"Yeah, she always knits us jumpers. Every Christmas."

Gia smiled wistfully. "You are so lucky."

Because she had a blue jumper? Hermione raised an eyebrow in question.

Gia just gave a long sigh. "You're lucky to have such close friends. I was watching the three of you today, and it's just obvious how close you all are. Even if they do torture you," she added grinning, "you can tell it's in a very loving way."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the last part. But Gia was right; she was lucky to have friends like that, and she knew it. Seeing the strange look on Gia's face, though, she said, "Well, everyone has friends."

"Yeah," Gia agreed. "But not like that. Or at least I don't."

"Gia, I know you have tons of friends," Hermione said, thinking back to primary school when Gia had always been the first picked anytime they were told to partner up. There had never been a day when Gia had been the one left over in gym class after the teams were already equal. Hermione had, however, been that one many times. In fact, it seemed the only time Hermione was ever chosen before last was when a grade was resting on group work; then everyone had raced to be her partner.

Gia shrugged. "Yeah. But none of us are close like you guys are. Celeste is probably the best friend I've got, and sometimes I think we're only friends because everyone expects us to be."

Hermione thought about her friendship with Harry and Ron. No one had expected her to be their friend; she certainly hadn't expected to be friends with the duo of prats who teased her and always had a snide comment for her in their first months of school. But fate has a funny way of working, and they did end up as friends.

Best friends.

"We just compliment each other," she said with a shrug. "And besides," she added with a grin, "there's no telling what trouble they'd get into if I wasn't around to keep them in line."

Gia laughed. "Well, can you believe this?" She motioned between them. "I mean, did you know it was me that put that bug in your juice when we were six?"

Hermione's face flattened. "It was milk," she corrected briskly. "And, yes, I did know it was you."

Gia was obviously trying very hard not to giggle, but it was to no avail. And pretty soon, both girls were laughing together at the memory. "I'm sorry," Gia apologized though broken giggles.

Hermione rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Trust me, I've come into contact with far worse things than beetles being snuck into my food." She flopped down onto her bed. "You've never met Ron's brothers."

"He's got brothers?"

Hermione laughed. "Yeah. There's seven kids in his family."

"Seven?!" Gia's eyes widened at the thought of such a large family. "How old are they?"

Hermione thought for a second to get all of the ages right. "He's got one brother that's twenty-six and then one that's twenty-four. Then another brother that's twenty. And then there's his twin brothers who are seventeen- those are the ones you have to watch your food around. Then Ron and then his sister, Ginny. She'll be fifteen in February."

Gia processed all of that and shook her head in disbelief. "So, six boys and just one girl?" Hermione nodded. "And Ron's the youngest of the boys?"

Hermione nodded again. "Yes. And his mum is pregnant again. That baby is due at the beginning of April."

"She's pregnant again?!" Gia couldn't even imagine it. "So, eight children... Is she mad?"

Hermione giggled. "You would think so. Especially if you knew all his siblings... Why she'd want more is beyond me."

Gia laughed and brushed some of her hair out of the way. "Does she know what she's having yet?"

"No, she doesn't want to find out," Hermione lied, leaving out the fact that no one in the wizarding world ever found out the sex of their baby before it was born. "Ron and the twins- they're his only brothers left at school- say it's going to be a boy. But Ginny says it will be a girl, and I hope it is."

"Well, his mum must be Wonder-Woman if she can knit you a jumper with all those other children." Gia grinned and sat down opposite of Hermione.

"And Harry," Hermione added with raised eyebrows. "Of course, that's a given because Mrs. Weasley simply adores all things Harry Potter." She shook her head slightly. "She's been trying to adopt him for five years now."

Gia giggled. "Well, who wouldn't want to adopt him? He is awfully cute."

Hermione just raised her eyebrows again. "If you say so," she teased with a hidden grin.

"Hey!" Gia protested through another fit of giggles. "He is."

Hermione smiled. "You must really like him, huh?"

Gia blushed just a bit and stopped giggling. Softly, she said, "Yeah. A lot." She looked up, her green eyes glittering in the light of the bright room. "Maybe a bit too much."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing, the blonde shrugged slightly. "Well, you guys are going back to school in six days, and I can't stand the thought of it. I know it's only been a few weeks, but I've grown quite attached..." She bit down on her lower lip and chewed it thoughtfully. "And I've never felt this way before. Ever."

Okay, so maybe Hermione had been wrong in her assumption that Harry and Gia had never had a real conversation. It suddenly appeared to be something much deeper than that.

Gia went on, her eyes suddenly looking distant. "He's the only person I've ever met that just completely gets it. He understands- he understands what it's like..."

Hermione considered this statement. Harry was an orphan; by all accounts that mattered, Gia might as well have been considered one. They had that in common, yes, but what else? She couldn't see it, but perhaps it was there. But while Harry might have understood what it was like to be Gia, no one would ever understand what it was like to be Harry Potter. Hermione suddenly wondered how Harry was handling not being able to tell Gia about the biggest part of his life; if they were really as close as it seemed, then it must have been horrible. Hermione couldn't imagine.

"Maybe I shouldn't have gotten this involved," she said wistfully. "Because I don't know what I'm going to do when he goes back to school."

Hermione thought about this, too. Harry was going to have a world of trouble handling it, too, but for far more reasons other than leaving behind his girlfriend (if that's what they were- no one had informed her, so she just assumed). Going back to school would mean going back to the real world. Hermione almost laughed at this thought; the "real" world, as she'd just referred to it, was magical and completely unimaginable to most people. But to them, it was reality- a sometimes cruel and harsh reality.

Hermione loved the wizarding world, and she couldn't imagine what her life would be like if she'd never been introduced to it. But while it may have been her true home, it wasn't the dream it had seemed at first. There was a war going on there, whether it was acknowledged as such or not was indifferent. There was a war.

And Harry Potter was at the center of it.

The "real world" held a life of pain for Famous Harry Potter. The "real world" had the orphaned youth shoved into a fame that he did not want. The "real world" had a crazed wizard with evil, dark powers who wanted nothing more than to murder the fifteen year old.

And the "real world" held a prophecy that could possibly mean the end for the Boy Who Lived.

Or for either of his best friends.

Yes, in six days, they would go back to Hogwarts. They would go back to school and back to class, and Hermione would badger the boys about studying for the O.W.L.s. The boys would attend Quidditch practice, and Hermione would sit in the stands, grinning as she watched them. They would all visit the House-Elves- Hermione to speak with them as equals and Ron and Harry to nick food they couldn't get at regular meals. They would exchange daily insults with Malfoy, and they would spend a good deal of time avoiding the other Slytherins. Professor McGonagall would lecture them, Professor Flitwick would praise them, Professor Lupin would joke with them, and Professor Snape would sneer at them.

And things would be "normal."

As normal as they could get for three fifteen year olds who were facing what could possibly be something far worse than the O.W.L.s.

But it was their destiny.

A knock on the bedroom door drew both girls' attention, and Hermione, knowing fully well who was on the other side, said, "Who is it?"

"Peter Pan," came Harry's dry answer.

Hermione rolled her eyes, momentarily forgetting about her previously melancholy thoughts. "Sorry," she called back sarcastically. "Wendy isn't here."

"Who the hell is Wendy?"

Hermione hid her smile as Ron's confused question, obviously posed at Harry, floated through the door. Apparently, 'Peter Pan' was one story the Weasley children had never been exposed to. Gia looked befuddled, too, as to why Ron had no idea who Wendy was.

Harry obviously ignored Ron's question and spoke back through the door. "Is Gia in there?"

"Yeah," Gia called back, getting up to open the door. She turned back to Hermione momentarily and grinned. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Hermione nodded and watched as the other girl opened the door and disappeared with her best friend. A second later, Ron took her place in the room and stepped in, shutting the door behind him.

He stopped when he saw her, and a look of pleased wonderment covered his pale features. "Your hair is curly."

Hermione, who had already forgotten her new/old hairstyle, raised a hand to her hair and absently twirled one of the curls between her fingers. "Do you like it?" she asked nervously; his opinion meant more to her now than it ever had. This fact gave her a giddy sort of start.

Ron was silent as he crossed the room to have a better look. She was still seated on the bed and watched him through thick lashes as he raised a hand and twirled a curl that sat rather close to the one she was fingering. After a minute, he released the curl and moved his hand just slightly to pull her own fingers away from her hair. When she dropped the lock, he caught her hand in his own and brought it between them.

With a little lopsided grin that Hermione simply melted for, he said, "It's perfect."

Knowing that she would never again go through the trouble of straightening her hair, Hermione smiled shyly back at him.

If she'd been outside in the snow at that moment, she still would have been completely warm.

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Ack! That chapter took awhile to get out. Sorry!!! There's still a few more chapters left for the holiday and then back to Hogwarts!

Next up, New Years!

I'll love you forever if you leave me a line!!!