A/N: I love you all – thank you for reviewing so faithfully—but please don't question my methods. Maybe shorter chapters are my style, and an important tactic in building tension in the story…eh? Also, I want you all, right now, to take note to the fact that I said this fic is NOT PREDICTABLE. You guys maybe think you know what's gonna happen by the end…and I just want you to understand that you have been forewarned…it may not be exactly what you expect. Alright. On to the story…

"Hermione!" a gruff voice said. "What're yeh doin' out here Christmas day…An' without a cloak on?"

She looked up and Hagrid was a few stairs below her, a concerned look on his face. As soon as he saw her face, his furrowed brow broke. "Come inside. Yeh can tell me what's wrong."

He helped her up and she walked with Hagrid down to his hut and went inside, the fire blazing within warming her numb fingers and feet. She sat down at his table, and he put a kettle on, and then sat opposite her, his great face cloudy with concern.

"What's happened?" He asked her frankly.

Hermione looked at him. How could she tell Hagrid? He hated Draco as much as Ron or Harry…She sighed heavily.

"It's…Ron." She finally said.

Hagrid seemed to have a look of understanding flit across his gaze, but his silence prompted her to continue.

"Well…I…I kissed…someone." She said slowly. "And…And they were just my friend. It was a mistake. I mean…I didn't plan for it to happen, but there was mistletoe and…I felt so strange…It just…it just happened." She felt tears again in her eyes, and she blinked them back. Still Hagrid said nothing, and so she went on.

"Ron…He saw…It never should have happened…None of it…He was furious. And he said…He said things. And now I don't know what's going on. I don't know anything anymore...Hagrid…He was so angry…But more than angry…He was hurt. Why was he so hurt?" A tear trickled down her cheek and she brushed it away distractedly, shaking her head and staring fixedly at a burn on the top of Hagrid's scrubbed tabletop.

"Hermione, can't yeh see?" Hagrid said softly, his voice low. "Ron's…always…Well I mean ter say…Ever since…As long as I've known yeh…" He trailed off, having trouble articulating what he was thinking. "I dunno if it's my place to tell yeh this… But…Hermione, Ron's always loved yeh. An' not just as a friend….Hermione…He's been in love with yeh."

Hermione looked up slowly, Hagrid's meaningful gaze blurring from the tears in her eyes.

"In…In love with me?" Hermione croaked, tears overflowing onto her face.

"Hermione…Yeh had to know…Deep down…The way he looks at yeh sometimes…The way that the two of yeh always pick at each other…When you were attacked in yer second year…I've never seen 'im more broken up…I mean…Harry too…But...for Ron it's always more. Don't yeh remember how he acted 'bout Krum?"

Hermione wiped her eyes. "How did you know about—"

Hagrid held up his hand "Harry told me 'bout the trouble between you two after the Yule Ball an' all. I put two an' two together."

Hermione pressed her palms into her eyes, sniffing her nose heavily. "Why didn't he tell me?" She said fretfully.

"I reckon if you hadn' figured it out soon he woulda." Hagrid replied.

Hermione recalled the way he'd been acting over the last weeks…

As though he was trying to summon up the courage to say something… What if it had been confessing his love?

And then today…He'd wanted to give her gift to her in private…What if it had been today…What if it had been then, as he'd walked up the stairs, he was planning on telling her?

Hermione's heart broke just thinking of it.

"I've got to talk to him." Hermione decided, rubbing her eyes furiously and standing up.

"Whoa, there!" Hagrid said, standing with her. "I dunno if thas' a good idea."

"Why?" Hermione asked. "I've got to. I have to explain what happened."

"Look…Ron's really hurtin' right now. If yeh talk about what's happened with 'im…It'd just be rubbin' salt in a fresh wound…Do yeh get my meanin'?" Hagrid said.

Hermione nodded slowly.

"You'd on'y be makin' things worse by tryin' to explain yerself…Righ' now what Ron needs is ta stew. Let 'im calm down, heal. Then yeh can try explainin' yerself, and he won't be so hot an' bothered when yeh do." Hagrid advised.

"I think I understand what you're saying." Hermione replied, taking a few deep breaths. "Thank you, Hagrid." Hermione tried to smile. He hugged her warmly and she swallowed a sob that wanted to come up.

She left his hut, trudging back into the snow and cold. It was mid-afternoon by then, and she slowly walked up the main staircase. When she got to the stairs leading to her dormitory she had to steady herself. She took some more deep breaths and then headed up. A few steps from the top she stopped dead in her tracks.

The little box that Ron had thrown down when he'd seen her and Draco. She'd forgotten all about it, and now it sat on the edge of the stair, slightly dented and on its side. She picked it up gingerly, and carried it up the remaining few stairs to the dormitory. She whispered the password and then entered quietly. Draco was nowhere to be found, and she sank into a chair slowly, still holding Ron's gift in her hands.

Learning he was in love with her had hit her like a bombshell, especially after looking back on their confrontation. He would have been angry to begin with, but now she could understand the jealous fury that burned in his eyes as he'd roared at her. She felt more tears that wanted to come out, but she blinked them back. How could this have happened? How could she have done this to Ron?

To Draco…?

She remembered his stunned face as she had looked from Ron to him and back. Why had he kissed her? The mistletoe…It was just a pretense…She had ducked away from accidental meetings under mistletoe before, as it was often hung around the castle during Christmas holiday, so it wasn't like being caught beneath it automatically required a kiss. Seeing that mistletoe somehow had been the culmination of six years of tension between them…And all the anger, and fear, and hidden tenderness had been released in that foolish moment…And look what she had paid for it. A friendship…

A love…

Hermione realized that the package was still sitting in her lap, unopened. Slowly, she tore the paper off and crumpling it in her fist, tossed it into the fire. Inside was a small black box. She slipped the lid open slowly and it felt like all the air in her lungs disappeared. Within was a beautiful silver locket in the shape of a heart, on a fine chain. There were faded initials engraved in it, and though it appeared to have been recently polished, it seemed very old. She lifted it from the box and it glinted in the firelight. She felt tears in her eyes again.

She wasn't meant to open it like this. Ron should have been there with her. And now he probably hated her…And he'd probably told Harry.

How could she face any of them?

She carefully put the locket on, and slipped it under her shirt. Her stomach growled hungrily, but what could she do? Go down and act like nothing had happened? She ate a sherbet ball to tide her over, and lay back on her bed.

Some Christmas, she thought, and as she did, the dormitory door creaked open and Draco appeared.

Readers: Ron…Hermione…Draco…Triangula—AHA!! I GET IT!!

Me: mutters took ya long enough…