Chapter Eleven

A/N: I would like to give honorable mention to a few folks: Kudos to Hplova4eva, snappish79, and crazygonutz; who never fail to review my chapters! And also to the review whom I got an e-mail from. I would have mentioned your name, only, I don't know it. To Ashley, sorry for the story being so confusing, I swear everything will be resolved in the end. Mel, Ron and Hermione's relationship will be moving along. Slow and steady wins the race, right? On with the story!

Disclaimer: I am extraordinarily broke, so really it would be fruitless to sue me.

            Harry awoke the next morning to the sounds of paper being torn to shreds, and Ron groaning about the color maroon.

            "Happy Christmas, Harry!" Ron chirped when he saw movement from Harry's bed.

            "Happy Christmas." Harry mumbled, fumbling to try and find his glasses. As soon as the room slid into focus, Harry saw a vast pile of presents sitting on the foot of his bed. Even after five and a half years away from the Drusley's, getting presents still surprised Harry.

            Ron appeared to already be halfway through his pile. "Go on, Harry, open them!"

            Harry was about to do just that when a thought struck him. "What about Hermione?"

            "What about her?"

            "She's got no one to open presents with."

            Ron thought on this for a moment. "Well we can't very well go get her, you know that."

            "Yeah, but we can wait for her in the common room."

            "Fine." Ron scooped up all of the mass of paper, packages, and opened gifts into his arms and carried them downstairs, Harry following close behind.

            As it turned out, they didn't have to wait at all. Hermione had been the one doing the waiting.

            "Happy Christmas!" Hermione smiled at them both as they sat down on the couch next to her armchair.

            "Happy Christmas." Harry and Ron said together.

            "Can I open the rest of my gifts now?" Ron asked Harry rather impatiently.

            "All right."

            The three of them sat for half and hour, tearing the wrapping off all of the packages. In the end, each of them came out with a Weasley jumper, homemade fudge, sweets, and a book.

            "I recon this'll be the only book I read this year, Hermione." Ron smiled as he looked at the cover of the latest book on his favorite Quidditch team: the Chudley Cannons.

            "Yeah, Hermione. Your book choice is impeccable." Harry agreed, skimming through his book of famous Quidditch plays. "This will come in really useful if Angelina ever lets me do my job as captain." He laughed.

            "Thanks you for the quill Harry, its lovely." Hermione fawned over her very antique looking quill. It was a deep shade of red and had a golden tip.

            "Yeah, good choice, mate." Ron examined the gift Harry had given him. It was a miniature Quidditch pitch. The tiny bludgers flew around, attempting to knock into one another, while a tiny tint of gold zoomed around the field. It would have been the perfect size for his Krum model. . . had he not been dismantled two years pervious. . .

            "And Ron. . . thanks." Hermione held up a Skiving Snack box.

            Ron attempted to hide his smile. "Fred and George are really brilliant, you know. They come up with all of that stuff. If you knew how much effort it took to make those things, you'd be impressed."

            "This, er, uh, book is lovely too Ron, thanks." Harry managed, not exactly sure why his best friend had just given him a journal.

            "No problem." Ron's smile widened.

            "Ron, do you remember that day in Honeydukes? When you said you knew us so-very-well?" Hermione questioned.

            "Why of course I do."

            "You said we'd have to wait until Christmas."

            "Yes, yes I did."

            "Well, it's Christmas, and I really don't see what makes you think you know us so well."

            "If you two looked at your presents a bit closer, I think you'd figure something out."

            Harry raised an eyebrow, but inspected his journal none the less. He flipped it open, and suddenly a card fell out. It read:

Tired of your confidants squealing spilling the beans?

Your friends worried when you confide in them?

Have nobody else to talk to?

Well, here's the thing for you!

This journal will keep your secrets secret.

Who needs to divulge information to the world, when you can keep it to yourself?

            Harry looked over at Ron, who smiled at him. Harry's initial thought was to yell at his best friend. To tell Ron that he wasn't hiding anything, and that he shares everything with he and Hermione. . . But after thinking for a moment, he realized that this was the best Christmas present anyone could have ever given him. It was even better than his dad's invisibility cloak and Harry's broomstick combined. Ron had given him privacy.

            "Thanks, mate." Harry clapped Ron on the back, "This is the best present that anyone could have given me. I guess you do know us well!"

            "It's like I said, I know you better than you know yourself."

            Harry picked up his things and went to place them in his trunk. Ron looked over at Hermione who was turning the Skiving Snack box over and over, attempting to find some sort of secret message that would explain to her why Ron said he knew her so well.

            "Hey, Hermione, do you think I could have one of the Puking Pills? I gave my last one to Seamus two weeks ago."

            "Sure." Hermione mumbled, still looking over every inch of the box. She opened up the box and was about to grab a Puking Pill for Ron, when she saw something silver and glittering out of the corner of her eye.

            There, sitting amongst Fred and George's creations, sat a silver chain. Hermione picked it up. There was a pendent of some sort dangling from it. She looked closer and saw that it was in the shape of a tiny book, with Hogwarts, A History etched into the cover.

            "Oh Ron, it's beautiful!" she whispered.

            "Open it." Ron instructed with a wide smile on his face.

            "Open it?"

            "Yeah, open it."

            Hermione saw tiny hinges on the binding of the book. Using her thumbs, she opened the miniature volume.

            It was filled of tiny pages, all with teeny writing on them. Hermione scrunched up her eyes and could just discern a title page.

            "Now you'll always have a copy with you." Ron beamed at the bemused expression on her face. "Do you like it?"           

            "Oh I love it!" Hermione quickly latched the chain around her neck.

            "I'm glad you like it."

            Hermione walked over to Ron and kissed him lightly on his cheek. "You really do know me better than I know myself."

A/N: Huh? Huh? Was that any good? Relationship improving nicely for you folks? I hope so. Please review and tell me if this was all right.