Disclaimer: Alas, I still do not own anything having to do with Harry Potter.And I forgot to put this last time, but I do not own the title of my story or any of the chapter titles either, they are from that story that I believe is called "The Night Before Christmas". However, there are some characters and places...er, place, mentioned in this chapter that I did in fact create:)
Snug in Their Beds
Hermione
Hermione had always loved Christmas. Ever since she could remember, it had brought happiness, joy, laughter, comfort, and pretty much every other good emotion she could think of. So as she lay awake in her room, at 4:00 am on Christmas morning, she couldn't wait for the time her alarm clock would go off.
She had barely slept that night. She almost never slept on Christmas morning. The anticipation for her favourite holiday made it very difficult for her to concentrate on sleep. Even now, as a teenager, she still couldn't wait for 7:00 when she'd run downstairs and find the presents underneath the tree. 'Pfft, way to sound greedy Granger' she thought to herself. 'Well I can't help it!' she argued with herself, 'Besides, it's not like I expect huge million pound gifts, just the gifts I usually get.'
Her mother and father usually bought her about four presents. When she was younger, it had been a couple of toys, and a couple of books. Now that she was older, it was usually a couple of books as usual, a piece of clothing, and a movie or C.D. that she was only able to enjoy at home, in the muggle world. She greatly missed technology sometimes while at Hogwarts. Harry did as well, but not as much as she did. She supposed it was because he hadn't been able to enjoy it as much as she had during childhood. She felt horribly for him, having to spend 11 years with the Dursleys. But at least now he was at the Burrow, enjoying Christmas with the Weasleys. As much as Hermione loved that family, and spending time with them, she was happy to be back in her home, in her bed.
She started to look around her room. The first thing that caught her eye was her Prefect Badge, shining brightly in the reflection of the full moon, laying on her desk. She smiled to herself. Ever since she had been a little girl, she had wanted to be a Prefect. She wondered if any one else had had that ambition.
"Hmph, Malfoy probably did," she spoke out loud and rolled her eyes.
Ron most likely had too, what with Percy and Bill being Prefects. Zacharias definitely did. She didn't really know the guy well, but his attitude was very similar to Draco's. She quickly ceased this train of thought, it was depressing her to think about people she had no particular liking for…well not Ron, she liked Ron. 'Noooo Hermione, bad turn of thought, derail the train! Derail the train!' she laughed to herself at this little joke. Her laughter soon becoming louder, so that she had to stifle it in her pillow. 'Wow, I must be tired to laugh at something that stupid,' she though.
When her laughter died down, she looked down at her pillow. It was soft and white with unicorns and rainbows on it. She had had it since she was a little girl. Ironically, when she had first slept on that pillow case, she had thought unicorns existed. Then later on, up until the age of 11, she had thought herself stupid for thinking something so ridiculous. But now, as she looked at the ancient linen, she realized that her 5 year old self had been right after all.
As interesting as her old sheets were, she greatly preferred her normal ones, that were currently in the wash. They were tie-dyed and much more fitting to her age. Her friends had always teased her when they came over on laundry day, and her bed was made with rainbow and unicorn sheets. Not cruel teasing, like she'd expect from Malfoy, but friendly teasing like Harry would give. She wasn't quite sure what Ron would say…
All of this made her think of her old elementary school friends. She didn't have many of them, she had never been very popular with her fellow students. Which was something that had followed her to Hogwarts. But at least at Hogwarts, she was far less hated. If nothing else, this was a comfort.
Mary and Sammy and been her best friends at the muggle school she had attended, St. Archibald Academy. This had left her with the unfortunate nickname "Hermy", to match her friends. Thank goodness Harry and Ron had never called her that. Not only for embarrassment's sake, but for the sake of sharing something with Mary and Sammy that she didn't share with her two wizard companions. It had come as a great shock when Grawp had called her Hermy though. She wondered briefly if the giant practiced Occlumency, but laughed this thought away quickly.
She had missed her two old friends greatly when she had first started at Hogwarts. But as time went on, she had thought about them less and less, and had settled into her new life as a witch with Ron and Harry. Her four friends were actually very different from each other. Mary and Sammy were almost exactly like Hermione, and she was sure that if either of them had gotten the Hogwarts letter and been sent there instead of her, Harry and Ron would have befriended them in her absence.
She was glad of course that she was the witch among her two old friends, and would never dream of changing that. But she still often greatly missed the muggle world, and her girlfriends. Harry and Ron were great and all, but they were boys. Boys can never truly understand everything a girl thinks and feels. Ginny and her had become closer over the years, and Hermione was very grateful for that. Even Lavender and Parvarti surprisingly offered some "girl talk" time whenever needed, but it still wasn't entirely the same as having friends she can tell absolutely everything to.
She sometimes, only sometimes, only once a month or so, wished that she had not accepted the offer to study magic, and stayed in London. What with all the dangerous adventured that took place at Hogwarts, it was a wonder she was still alive. 'But there's no way I'm quitting school', she thought. Because she had to admit, Hogwarts was more of a home than a school, something St. Archibald's had never been.
Her thoughts lasted not much longer than this, until she finally drifted off to a sleep filled with wonderful dreams about Christmas, Hogwarts, the Academy, and visions of sugarplums. She was perturbed the next morning as her clock radio woke her up to a song by some American rapper she didn't particularly like. She quickly changed the station and gave a big yawn.
Hermione quickly forgot about her tiredness though as she realized it was Christmas morning! She quickly got out of bed, and almost fell to the floor because her sheets had tangled in her feet. She giggled as she steadied herself using her bed for support, and quickly made her bed. She then skipped to the bathroom that separated her room andthe guest room, to get ready.
"This is gonna be a great day!" she practically sang.
A/N: I still love reviews:P
