Hermione was dragged into the common room and practically thrown onto one of the couches. She sat up and leaned her forearms on her knees, rubbing her eyes with her hands to try to avoid the tears that were forming from rolling down her cheeks. Ron knelt down in front of her and wrapped his hands around her wrists. Gently but firmly, he pulled her hands away from her face. She looked up at him with red eyes and sniffed. He grinned at her and let go of her wrist just long enough to grab a handkerchief out of his pocket.
"You know, you're cute when you're angry." He whispered, dabbing the tears from her eyes with the corner of the hankie. He offered it to her, and she took it, laughing through her tears.
"I don't know why I'm crying. It's not like it's—It's not like I really care about Harry anymore—it's just when she said that about you and—" She stammered, wiping her face and blowing her nose.
"It's okay, I know what you meant." After a few minutes of silence, he rocked back onto his feet and lifted himself off the floor. Hermione scooted over and he sat on her left on the couch. "I talked to Harry this morning."
"Oh, about Amy?" Hermione couldn't help but spit out Amy's name like it was a horrible taste in her mouth.
"Yeah, about Amy." He mocked, smiling again. "Harry told me about what happened, and we sort of came to a truce. And we made a bargain…" He shrugged and scooted closer to Hermione. She looked up at him quizzically.
"What kind of bargain?" She asked, tucking the hankie into her jeans pocket.
"Harry's really seems to like Amy, and I'm guessing she likes him—if she doesn't, well, that's not my problem. Well Harry felt bad, because he thought that I would be heartbroken over Amy, but I wasn't. He was kind of surprised when I told him that I was about to break up with her. He was even more surprised when he found out why I was going to. We decided that we'd try as hard as we could to get what we wanted and not stand in each others way." Ron snuck a glance at Hermione out of the corner of his eye. She was staring at him with her mouth open. Before speaking, she shifted around on the couch so that she was facing Ron with one foot tucked up under her and the other dangling off the edge of the seat. He hesitated, then decided against speaking and snapped his attention towards the fireplace again.
"Why did you want to break up with her Ron?" She asked. When he didn't respond, she automatically reached her left hand across to his face and turned it towards her. "Why Ron?" She asked again, but softer this time. Hermione looked into his eyes and knew what he meant. He smiled meekly at her and turned bright red, but when she leaned in for a kiss he didn't turn away; in fact, he pulled her closer. As they pulled apart she giggled and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him close and burying her face in his neck.
"What is it?" He asked, flustered and an even brighter shade of red. "What did I do?" Hermione just giggled again. Ron started to laugh, and when she wouldn't respond, he put his hands down to her waist and squeezed—she was unbelievably ticklish, just a touch would send her into a fit of the giggles. "What is it?" He yelled over her loud squeals and laughs and pleading for him to 'Stop Ron! Please!'
"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you!" She squealed at last and he let her up. "I was laughing because you looked so unsure of yourself right before we—uh—kissed and I thought it was funny…plus I was kind of excited because—well, we kissed and I knew you meant it…" She was cut off as he kissed her again.
About and hour later, Ron sat in the corner of the couch with his arms wrapped around Hermione, who was leaning back onto him with her head on his chest. Her small hands were intertwined in his and as she lay there, her eyes drooping lazily, she remembered.
"Oh Ron!" She said, sitting up and turning towards him. "It's Christmas; I'd completely forgotten!" She got off the couch and ran upstairs. Ron smiled, and for the second time in the past two days, he missed the way her body felt against his—he missed her warmth. He plucked his wand out of his pocket and flicked it.
"Accio gift," he muttered and then put away his wand. He reached his hand out just in time to catch a small parcel flying towards him. Hermione ran down from her dormitory immediately after. Ron looked up and saw what she was holding; his breath caught in his throat. A small brown owl looked out at him from the cage; its bright eyes shining and its beak clicking away.
"It was in the Animal Shop in Hogsmeade, but it was injured. I've been taking care of him, nursing him back to health. But I don't really want an owl— I have Crookshanks. And I thought since Ginny's pretty much taken Pig, you might want an owl of your own." Ron got up off the couch and walked over to wear Hermione stood at the base of the stairs. He took the cage from her, gently, and looked at the bird inside. He set the cage down on the floor and looked at Hermione. He took her face in his hands and kissed her, loudly, soundly, and deeply. She laughed and looked up at him, catching his hands in hers.
"It's just a bird Ron." She laughed looking up into his deep green eyes.
"It's more than a bird Hermione—It's MY bird. It's a bird from you to me. That makes it the most wonderful bird in the world. Thank you. I love him…I love you." He kissed her again before wrapping one arm around her waist, sweeping up the bird's cage in his other hand, and walking over to the couch with them both. Setting the cage by the couch, he reached over and grabbed his gift to her. She pulled off the wrappings and gasped when she saw what it was.
"Oh Ron, it's beautiful." She sighed. A stone, emerald green in color, hung on a simple silver chain to form the most beautiful necklace Hermione had ever laid eyes on. Ron held his hand out to her, took the necklace and slipped around behind her to fasten the clasp around her neck.
"It's special. The emerald gives strength to the wearer: the power of friendship. If you ever need me, for anything, no matter how small, I'll know as long as you are wearing that necklace. And I'll come as soon as possible. This way you'll know that you're never alone and there's always someone there for you." Hermione smiled up at Ron and threw her arms around his neck.
"Thank you Ron. This has been the best Christmas ever, all thanks to you." He smiled down at her as she gushed and smiled and hugged him. After a few minutes of her admiring the stone, he reached over and grabbed the cage holding the bird.
"What should we name him?" He asked. Hermione shrugged. They thought for a moment.
"Eros?" She mentioned, but Ron wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
"Philander?" Ron shook his head again.
"Mike?" Ron laughed loudly and shook his head harder. Hermione mentioned about 10 more names before she came upon one he liked.
"Caradoc?" Ron thought for a minute and they settled on Caradoc, which meant 'Beloved' in Welsh. After Caradoc had been named and Hermione's emerald admired and loved, Hermione and Ron settled back onto their couch; Hermione tucked into Ron's arms once again, and both of them very happy with the biggest Christmas present each of them had gotten that year—each other.