Disclaimer: Why I always forget to add these I don't know… but everything you're reading, characters, places; they belong to the woman responsible for finishing the next book- JK Rowling.

Author's Notes: Thanks all so much for reviewing! I was so happy to open my e-mail and see that I had reviews! So thanks again! Now, I realize that I'm starting this chapter at 8pm on Wednesday night… but I recently came down with a cold, so I've been busy trying to get myself better for the holidays. But I will definitely try and finish this fic before Christmas. I start winter break tomorrow- will be home nice'n'early and shopping with my mom! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 3: Snowball Fights and Ice Skating

The weeks passed by quickly, so that before they all knew it, Christmas Eve was upon them. The weeks always pass by during Christmastime, and there was so much to get done. From shopping to the excess work, it was what the holiday season was all about, they imagined. The former they had gotten done weeks ago, the latter, well, they were getting by.

When the last of their classes were let out for the holidays, it seemed as if a huge weight had been lifted, and the students liked nothing better than to sit back and relax.

It had snowed before, but the sun had melted it within hours, and now, today, it looked as if a white Christmas was destined in the future. The sky was aloft with countless grey, snow clouds, and the temperature had dropped considerably in the days leading up to it. The snow was now starting to fall, creating a magical aura to the school, and romancing its students.

It seemed that everyone wanted to be outside. First years and Seventh years, and everyone in between, were all crowded outside, bundled up tight and warm. The Golden Trio was outside as soon as the first flake had fallen, and they weren't set to return to the warmth of the castle anytime soon.

The lake outside the castle was frozen over, and many had taken advantage and were now ice skating merrily.

Hermione was skating around the new rink, and was helping a rather put-out Ron try and stand on his own two skates. She grabbed hold of one of his hands, and guided him with her, moving their feet along the ice together. He seemed to pick up on the concept rather quickly. He smiled the entire time, as did she, and the two of them skated for what seemed like an eternity.

Harry watched from what would normally be the shore, and laughed to himself at them. They were so naïve, so clueless, that it was laughable.

"Mione! I think I've got it!" Ron shouted, stumbling slightly, but nonetheless keeping his feet under him.

She smiled mischievously, "Then I guess you'll be alright if I do this." And she grabbed both his hands and began swinging both of them in little circles. He shrieked, which made Hermione laugh so hard she couldn't stand, and the two of them wound up falling. Hermione went down first, and Ron landed right on top of her.

They were laughing hysterically now, and looked over to Harry, who couldn't seem to catch his breath. He was wiping imaginary tears from his eyes and applauding them.

"Sorry Hermione." Ron mumbled from on top of her, his warm breath batting her face and she giggled.

"That's quite alright, Ron." And she tried to move out from underneath him. But what she found was that she didn't want to. She could feel his warm body pressed against his, and she was looking into his eyes, and trailing a line of sight from his eyes to his freckles, down to his lips.

They laughed at themselves, and their heads bumped together. Ron rolled off Hermione, to both their disappointment, and held his head, which lay right next to hers on the ice. They were both still laughing about what had just happened, and they just lay there, catching their breath.

Hermione got up so that she was sitting, and smiled down at him.

"Ronald…" She sighed, still smiling at him.

"Hermione…" He sighed, repeating her.

"I think we should head back to the shore. It's starting to snow again." And she looked up at the sky, allowing a few small flakes to grace her face. It had stopped snowing an hour and a half ago, after the huge snowstorm they'd had overnight, and now it had started up again.

"I guess we should." He said, also getting up from the ice. He slipped again, unable to stand his balance, and fell right back down, wincing in pain. Hermione, unable to hold back laughter, extended her hand to him and helped him up.

"Ron, you're such a klutz." She smiled at him.

"So I've heard." He gave her a lop-sided grin and took her hand as she helped him to stand. He got up and at the touch of her hand, even through the thick material of the gloves, sent a spark through his spine, and he felt any pain he had before escape him instantly.

She pulled him up, and held him still so he could stand. And with one hand, she skated forward and pulled him the hundred or so feet it was to shore. Harry applauded them as they reached him, and Hermione shot him a glare.

"Did you plan that or something, mate?" Harry whispered to Ron when Hermione was out of earshot, changing her wet gloves.

"What? My natural bad skating talents? No, I didn't plan it, though it came in quite handy for the first time ever. It's eating me alive, Harry, what do I do?" He looked down at the snow-covered ground, and sighed disappointedly, confused.

"What is?" Harry asked, lowering his voice.

When Ron spoke, his voice was barely audible, "My feelings for Hermione."

"Tell her." Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Are you off your rocker?" Ron spoke in a hushed whisper, stunned.

"No, but you will be if you don't tell her soon." Harry smiled.

"It's too soon."

"You've only felt this way about her for- what- oh, I don't know, three, four years?"

"What's your point?" He looked down at the ground again.

"Are you really going to let those feelings go unnoticed?"

He had a point, and Ron had to admit it. "I don't want to. But I also don't want to harm our friendship. If I tell her, and she doesn't feel the same way back, it'll kill me inside, and nothing will ever be the same again."

"And if she does?" He winked at him.

"What are you getting at?" Ron was more confused now than ever.

"When you tell her- yes, Ron, you're going to tell her," Harry said as Ron gave him a pleading look, "nothing will be the same. Things will be different. If she feels the same way, things will be different and you two will probably end up together. But to get big rewards, you have to take big risks. You don't know until you try." Harry smiled at him.

"That was…" Ron was searching for the right words, "moving?" He laughed, and Harry clapped him on the back.

"You're in Gryffindor. Be courageous. It's there. Use it." Harry got up from the snow and stretched out. Hermione, this whole time, was making a snow angel, intrigued at her childish antics.

"Harry," Ron started, a smile forming his face, "thanks."

"No problem, Mate. Go get her." He added a wink for effect.

"I'm not ready, yet." Ron said to himself as Harry walked away, towards his baby sister who was engaged in a snowball fight a few feet away.

Ron looked down at Hermione, who had her eyes closed against the snow, still forming her angel.

"Mione," he said, laughing slightly, "what the bloody hell are you doing?" he said teasingly.

She didn't open her eyes. "Making a snow angel." She replied dreamily.

"Why?" he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"It reminds me of childhood, of the simpler years, though I wouldn't trade these years for anything." She opened one eye and winked it at him.

"I hear ya." He said, and fell backward in the snow to join her. He flailed his arms and legs to the side of him, and made his snow angel. He kicked some snow at her in the process, by accident of course, and she shrieked mock-angrily as snow hit her in the face. She turned her head to the side to glare at him, and he smiled at her innocently.

He got up carefully, and then helped her up as the two smiled down at their formations in the snow. Then, Ron knelt in front of his, and with his finger, traced his name below his, and Hermione followed, writing her name below her angel.

"Best friends." Ron breathed, and smiled at her.

"Best friends." She repeated, and smiled at him.

Then a call was heard from somewhat far away, and Ron looked around to see where the voice had come from. He didn't have to look far, because he turned his head an inch to the left and his eyes caught sight of Harry.

"I need some help over here!" Harry called to them, waving his arms around in the air with a snowball clutched tight in one hand. In that instant, however, a particularly big snowball hit him square in the side of his jaw, and Ginny was laughing mock-manically. Harry glared at her teasingly, then ran over to her and picked her up in his arms.

"You'll pay for that." He said, narrowing his eyes.

"Will I?" she teased him, and shrieked when he pretended to drop her. "Harry James Potter!" she yelled, catching her breath.

"Yes?" he asked her innocently.

"Please put me down." She said sweetly.

"As you wish." And he dropped her in the snow, another loud shriek filling the air. She swiped at his ankles and pulled him down with her, as a huge 'thump' was heard and he collided with a snow pile.

"Call it even?" he said, looking at her hopefully.

"Okay." She said simply, and they both got up, brushing snow off themselves.

Ron and Hermione walked over to where Harry and Ginny were engaged in the snowball fight, as well as Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Parvati, Luna, and Neville. The others were still throwing chunks of snow at each other, and every so often a squeal would be heard from Lavender as a snowball hit her.

Upon entrance, Ron was hit in the back of his head with a snowball, and he stopped dead in his tracks and rounded on whoever was behind him.

His younger sister was smiling at him innocently, and whistling. He knew better. So he picked up a huge handful of snow and threw it at her, hitting her in the nape of her neck.

She shrieked, and sent more snow hurtling towards him, sending some down his shirt, as well. He shivered, threw another snowball at her, and then ducked behind a nearby fort for protection.

"Gin, take it easy on him!" Hermione said, laughing at the brother-sister madness, and then felt her sleeve being tugged on as Ron pulled her down to behind the fort with him.

His face had an expression of seriousness on his face that only made Hermione laugh more. "You must not converse with the enemy." He said, being one hundred percent serious.

She laughed again. "Conversing? Ron, I told her to go easy on you."

His expression didn't change. "You must not tell her anything. You are hereby appointed to the Team of Ron. What is said behind Fort Ron is to stay behind Fort Ron, okay?"

Hermione couldn't contain herself and only laughed harder, but seeing the serious look on his face, she decided it best to calm down. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.

"Okay." She said simply, and Ron smiled.

"Team Ron!" he shouted, and hurled a snowball over the top of the fort, which hit Harry in the leg. "Damn," he said quietly, "I need better aim."

Hermione, forming a snowball, peered over the top of the fort at her victim, and her eyes landed on Dean Thomas. Winding her arm back behind her head, she tossed the snowball in the air, and hit Dean in the eye. She then giggled despite her best efforts not to, and punched the air in triumph.

"I learn something new about you everyday, don't I?" Ron said, looking at her, thoroughly amazed.

"Guess so. What'd you learn today?" she said, looking back at him.

"That you've got quite the arm there." He said, pointing at her right arm, and she laughed.

"Okay, Ron." She said, still laughing.

"I'm being serious. I now promote you from Cadet to Captain." He said, and extended his hand out for her to shake it. He laughed at his own seriousness, and she shook his hand, and the two of them laughed together.

"And I learn something new about you everyday." She said, taking his words and making them her own.

"And what's that?" he asked.

"That you take snowball fights very, very seriously." She smiled at him, and he laughed.

"It comes with the territory of battling against Fred and George all those years." He said, and reminisced about the many snowball fights he had had with his older twin brothers growing up.

"Yeah, I imagine they'd teach you a thing or two." She said, and made another few snowballs to throw over the wall. However, the second she stood up to stretch her legs and throw one, Seamus sent a huge snowball her way, and it landed right on her neck, and sent a bunch of snow sliding beneath her coat. She shrieked shrilly, and shivered, then sent two snowballs at his head.

Seamus, alarmed, didn't have enough time to react or protect himself, and was soon eating the snow that landed in his mouth. (A/N: not literally of course, but when snow lands in your mouth, one might eat it.)

Ron, now outraged, threw his own snowballs and hit Seamus, as well as the nearby Luna and Neville, who were making snowballs rather slowly, more interested in each other than the battle around them. They returned back to reality once they were hit, and hurled whatever they were making at Ron, who ducked just in time.

"That was close." He breathed, facing Hermione, who had returned back to the protection of their fort minutes ago.

"Too close." She said, and she shivered again.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit cold is all." She said, her teeth chattering slightly and her body beginning to shiver uncontrollably now.

"Come with me." He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.

"Ron, where are we going?" she said as he walked them in front of their fort.

"Attention!" Ron called aloud, "Team Ron hereby surrenders as their Captain has the chills. Good War, everybody." And he bowed his head, making everyone laugh.

"Feel better, Hermione!" They called as Ron walked them both back up to the castle.

"Ron Weasley surrendered the snowball fight. I'm shocked." She said, smiling at him.

He smiled at her, "Can't have our star fighter catching a cold, now can we?" and he winked at her.

"Thanks." And they entered the warmth of the castle, a Christmas Eve night ahead of them, as well as a Christmas day. The next twenty-four hours would house magic only Christmastime could bring, and no one could tell what was going to happen. For mistletoe alone held its own magic, but could mistletoe be trusted?

A/N: And that's the chapter! I've got the next two all planned out, and I'm going to try and speed through them to get them written and posted by Christmas day. So please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter! I love you guys and thanks to everyone who reviewed!