Author's Note: I'm actually beginning to write this chapter in advance because I really want to try and get up the final chapters by Christmas Eve! So yeah, I haven't done the math or calculations- I'll probably be up late putting all the pieces together. So I'm going to begin this one- and I'll revise this as I go along. Thanks to all my reviewers! Oh, how brilliant the computer is.

Chapter 2: Holiday Shopping in Hogsmeade

The carriages pulled along the rocky road to Hogsmeade, and, after what had seemed like an eternity to the shy sixteen-year-olds, they finally came to a halt.

The doors swung open magically, and Ron, who had been leaning against his door for support, nearly toppled out of the carriage. Luckily, he had caught himself and managed to save himself some embarrassment by holding onto the seat behind him. Breathing heavily at his near fall, Ron regained his composure and stepped out of the carriage, his feet landing on the hard gravel.

He, again being the chivalrous gentleman he was raised to be, offered his hand to Hermione as she carefully stepped out of the carriage.

"Thanks." She smiled at him sweetly.

"Don't mention it." He smiled at her and he helped her out of the carriage until she was out of the carriage and on the ground safely.

"Glad to see chivalry isn't completely forgotten these days." Harry shouted from a few meters behind them. They both jumped, startled, and let of each others hands. Ron scowled at Harry, but Harry just laughed.

Hermione and Ron both blushed, and stepped a few feet away, and Harry walked up so that he was walking in the middle of them. He was thoroughly amused, though he knew Ron would chew his head off later for interrupting their little 'moment'.

"Let's go, shall we?" He said, placing an arm around each of his best friends and smiling hugely. Both looked rather uncomfortable, but Hermione, being one to never remain uncomfortable in any situation, regained herself, and smiled at Harry, acting as if nothing had happened, which it hadn't, but it had headed that way.

"Yes, Let's." She said, gulping and smiling. Ron, still a little crimson from before, just nodded.

The trio walked around the gray and blustery streets of Hogsmeade for a few minutes before settling into The Three Broomsticks to warm themselves.

Once they stepped into the familiar and comforting aura of the pub, Hermione sat down in a squishy booth, and Ron sat next to her. Harry sat down, but only for about a second, because he was up on his feet the next instant, and smiled at them.

"I'm going to go get the drinks." He said, and left in a hurry, his eyes focused on a certain Ginerva Weasley standing at the bar, ordering herself a butterbeer.

"Heya Gin." He said as he reached the bar, and stood next to her.

"Oh, Hi Harry!" She said enthusiastically, smiling at him.

"What're you doing here? I thought you had homework to do this weekend."

"Finished it. So now I'm getting my shopping done." She moved her foot, and indicated the several large bags she had at her feet.

"Finished that yet?" he said, pointing at the large bags, some large enough to hold an owl's cage.

Ginny laughed. "Just about."

"How many people are you shopping for?" he asked her, still gaping at the content of the bags.

She just stared at him. "Three words. Family of nine."

Harry laughed. "Forgot about that."

"Oh- Three Butterbeers." He said over his shoulder to the wizard taking his order. Then he focused back to Ginny.

"So, how goes Operation: Ron & Hermione?" She asked, shifting her eyes from his to the very uncomfortable couple left at the booth.

"Oh, them. Er- well, good?" He said uncertainly and Ginny laughed again. "I've been doing all I can. They'll realize it soon enough. Hermione is the brightest witch of our age, after all. Though she seems near to clueless when it comes to Ickle Ronnie over there." He pointed over towards their booth, and they both laughed.

"Give it time. It always takes something like Christmas to bring two people together."

"We can only hope." And he smiled at her.

"Well, it looks my butterbeer is here and yours will be here shortly, I imagine. Have a good day, Harry." She said, and took her butterbeer and attempted to leave.

"Wait- Gin!" He called out to her, and she turned around.

"Yeah?" She said, dropping the bags gingerly on the floor.

"If you're not doing too much more, do you want to join us shopping later? I still need to get all mine done and I could really use the help. Besides, it gets lonely being their only matchmaker." He said, and added a mischievous smile and a wink.

She laughed again. "Yeah, I'd love to come with you guys. Mind if I sit with you guys, too? These bags are a handful." She smiled at him, hoping her innocence would charm him. Sure enough, it did.

"Of course." And he smiled at her. He took his butterbeers off the counter and led her over to their table.

Ron and Hermione sat awkwardly next to each other, as if they were teenagers on their first date. Teenagers- yes. First date- no. But as best friends they worked through the awkwardness and were now talking like they had for years.

"The Cannons are going to win the cup this year! I can feel it!" Ron was yelling joyously, talking animatedly to her, and Hermione was laughing softly, amused at his passion for the sport.

"Honestly, Ron," she huffed, "Are you capable of talking about anything besides quidditch?"

He thought a second. "No." and he went on to tell her all the statistics of the players and how they were surely going to win this year.

"Thank god you're back, Harry. I think I've heard enough about quidditch to last me the rest of the year." She said, looking grateful that another presence was among them.

"Then I'll start more January 1st!" Ron shouted excitedly and everyone laughed.

"Oh, Ginny! I didn't see you there!" Hermione smiled at the youngest Weasley, who had just appeared from her towering stack of bags and boxes, and got up to help her with them.

"Thanks Hermione." She said, handing some of her bags to Hermione and then nodded towards her older brother, "Lo, Ron."

"Hi Gin." He said, and got up to give his little sister a hug. Ginny, taken slightly aback, hugged him back and then smiled at her brother, only to see that he'd been looking in her bags while he hugged her.

"Ronald Weasley." She glared at him and he smiled innocently.

"Anything for me in there?" he peered over her shoulder into the bags again.

"Possibly…" And he grinned. Harry passed out everyone's butterbeers and everyone sat down to drink.

"This hits the spot." Hermione said, taking a small sip of hers and feeling it warm every ounce of her from her toes to her fingertips.

"Mhm." Ron agreed, and they all sat for a few minutes just getting warmed up.

When the last drop had been drunk from each cup, everyone fastened their hats tight around their head, and got their gloves and mittens firmly on their hands.

"How about we split up? Because I need to get your guys' presents, after all and I really don't want you there when I buy them, no offense." Harry said, looking to Ron and Hermione, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I need to get yours too, Harry. And Ginny's, as well, of course. Let's all split up individually and meet at the carriages around 3 o'clock?" Ron said, looking around.

They all agreed, and everyone went their separate ways. Harry started off with Ginny, taking half the bags she was carrying and bringing them to a vacant carriage to make the load a little lighter. She smiled at him, and the two left their separate ways to finish, or start, in Harry's case, shopping.

Ron and Hermione immediately separated, and Ron headed off towards the small jewelry store, Pennyweights, at the end of the road in Hogsmeade. Once inside the small, but crowded store, he immediately pressed his face against the glass windows to view the selection.

The glass cases were filled with jewelry of all sizes and colors- 14 karat diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds; anything that you had in mind. There was gold, silver, platinum, and various other metals that gleamed bright in the sunlight. There was Alexandrite, which changed colors in natural and artificial light, and pearls, all natural from freshwater.

Ron, looking disappointedly at the price tags on the diamond necklaces, moved down the line of rows of cases, all of which had large prices.

"May I help you?" asked a younger looking witch, wearing bright yellow robes and carrying a handful of curling ribbon.

"I'm just looking." Ron said, only taking a small glance up before scanning the cases of endless beautiful jewelry.

"Girlfriend?" the witch asked him, smiling slightly.

"No, my sister. And a friend. Ah- there!" he said, pointing to a small pair of silver stud earrings that had little stones of garnet at each end.

"Ah, the Garnet studs. A fine choice. 6 galleons." She said, and took out the earrings to display on the velvet board.

"I'll take them! Oh, Ginny will love those." He said excitedly, and began digging in his pockets.

"Are these for your sister or your friend?" The sales witch asked him, taking out a small white box to put the earrings in.

"My younger sister. I just don't know what to get her. Her, being my friend, of course." He said, and continued to look through the cases again for a gift for Hermione.

"Do you know her taste?"

"No, I don't. I want to find something perfect for her, though." He said disappointedly.

"Why don't you tell me what she's like? Then maybe I could help you." The witch smiled at him.

"How to even begin describing Hermione." Ron said, quietly. "She's the sun that brightens my day. She makes me smile every time she enters a room and she's just got this passion for what she truly loves. She fights for what she believes in and can be a bit stubborn at times." He laughed quietly to himself, "but she is the light at the end of my tunnel. She's the one who makes all my days worth living. She's… perfect." He said, and ended with a dreamy gaze.

"You love her, don't you?" the witch asked him, a tearful, heartfelt smile on her face.

"Love's a strong word. What I feel for her is- indescribable." He said, and went off into another daydream about Hermione.

The witch thought it all over. "I think I may have just the thing you're looking for. Not too pricy, for a friend, but enough to show her, in a very subtle way, just how much you care about her. Just wait a minute."

She disappeared behind the counter and returned a few minutes later carrying a small, gold box. She brought it over to where Ron stood and opened it. Ron gasped slightly, his mouth hanging open a little bit, as he looked at what lay inside.

Inside the box was a small silver bracelet. It had a looped chain that gleamed in the light, and on the end of it, by the clasp, was a silver closed heart, but in the corner, it had a small little heart cutout that could allow you to see through it a tiny bit. It was shiny, and downright beautiful.

Ron swallowed, still gaping at the bracelet. "This is- this is- what I've been looking for." He said, and closed his mouth.

"I'm glad you like it. That will be 15 galleons." She said, and held it up to the light, really showing off its gleam.

"Wow. Yeah- I'll take it! Both of them." He said, and dug through his coin bag to get out 21 galleons. He dropped them on the counter and watched as she wrapped both boxes up. Ginny's was wrapped in light blue candy cane wrap, and Hermione's was wrapped in shiny silver snowflakes wrap.

Feeling a great sense of accomplishment, he left the store, his bag held tight in his right hand, and his head held high. He went into a small Quidditch store, and bought Harry a Cannons calendar.

Meanwhile, Hermione was running frantically around Hogsmeade trying to find the perfect gift for Ron. She went into the Quidditch store (this was before Ron had) and navigated her way through the store.

"Has it…has it… hates it…" she said to quietly herself as she looked row upon row of Cannons merchandise.

She gasped as her eyes rested upon something extravagant. It was a model of a quidditch pitch, with moveable players and a cheering audience. The players sped around the pitch, playing the game as if it were a video. It was the Cannons, to add, and also allowed you to create your own plays. It was something Ron would love.

"Er- Excuse me?" Hermione called the attention of an elderly wizard behind the register.

"What can I do you for, ma'am?" He said, looking down at her with wisdom in her eyes.

"I was wondering how much the quidditch pitch model was." She said, pointing to where the model stood.

"That, ma'am?" He said, pointing where hers was, and she nodded. "That's 18 galleons, miss. A fine price for such a small gift."

"I'll take it! Ron will love this!" She said, rummaging through her own change bag to receive the correct change.

"Ron? The youngest Weasley lad?" He said, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes. Why?" She asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"His brothers, Misters Fred and George, speak very highly of him. They said if a lass named Hermione walked into my midst, to question her of her intentions with their little brother." He laughed gently.

Hermione laughed out loud. "Only Fred and George…" She started, "If they ask- just tell them I picked up a gift for a friend." He chuckled.

"Good day to you." He smiled as she left.

She paid, took the bag, and left. "Thanks."

She then went into Honeydukes and picked up some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and some Chocolate Frogs for Harry, and got Ginny a new red scarf in a nearby clothing store. She checked her watch. Nearly 3 o'clock. She gathered up all her purchases and made her way towards where the carriages were, eager for the holiday season to begin, and to show Ron his gift.

Harry had spent all his shopping time thinking of Ginny, that in the last twenty minutes, he had just run into the nearest store, which happened to be a lingerie store. One minute in there, he ran out, and into the next store over, which was a much safer Variety store. He decided to get Ron and Hermione fleece blankets, Hermione got light blue and Ron got red, and then he ran into yet another store and bought Ginny a little pearl necklace. She wasn't his girlfriend, not yet anyways, but the gift was just a small something to show her how much he really cared about her. Ron will kill him when he finds out, but this isn't his place. He'll face his best friend and maybe ask his intentions before doing anything irrational.

Surprised at how much shopping he could get done in so little time, he carried his purchases out to the carriages and climbed into one which was vacant behind Ron and Hermione's again, and in front of Ginny's. He put his bags in before him, and went into the carriages, seeing Ron help Hermione into their carriage before him, and through a little mirror, he could see Ginny struggling with all her shopping.

He quickly got out of his and ran over to help her, taking some bags from her and holding them while she hoisted herself into the seat. She took her bags back from him and gave him an appreciatory smile, winking at him.

Harry smiled and ran back to his carriage just in time before they left. And the carriages rode off towards the castle, the holiday season soon approaching, and the preparations were to be done. Snow would be fast coming, and the season was only to get colder. Oh, how the cold could somehow work to their advantage…

A/N: Yay! I updated in 4 days! Go me! Haha! Anyways, I'm already planning out the next few chapters- 3 more I think- so my objective is to try and have them all done by Christmas! It wouldn't really make sense to update after Christmas, but I'll try really hard to meet my deadline, just as long as my family cooperates and allows me on the computer for extensive periods of time. Oh yeah, and Pennyweights is this cute little jewelry stoer where I live- I just went there the other day, and the jewelry store needed a name, so...yeah. Anyways, please review and let me know what you thought of it!