A/N: thank you for the reviews. For toughs who asked me questions….

Quidditch7: Ron has a tendency to say things when he is mad, I think he probably would call Hermione a bitch if she really got to him. In the cannon he nearly called Ginny a slut and that's Ginny…and we know that his swearing is one of the things that really gets to Hermione so that's why he called her a bitch he had actually thought it through…Ron isn't as stupid as people like to think he is. (At least that is my argument)

Allayra: I am glad you liked Hermione's house. Everyone always imagines the Grangers house to be immaculate, but in any scene in the book where Hermione is studying J.k always says that stuff is spread out everywhere, I recon she has my quirks and my family's untidy genetics…I abused my families untidiness for inspiration

Bygalee: yeah I wondered what she did after Lavendergate as well, I thought she took it a little to well, and then after Christmas she didn't seem quite as spiteful towards Ron, something defiantly happened before he was poisoned…

Hermione woke on Christmas morning to the sound of her Mother singing along to the Radio on the landing a floor below. 'Last Christmas 'by wham murdered by her mother at (she looked at the blinking numbers on the alarm clock) five am on Christmas morning was not the way she had imagined spending this Christmas. She pulled herself in to a sitting position and squinted out on to the dark street outside, a think layer of snow lay on everything it had touched. By the time the sun rose it would be gone, nothing lasted long around hear.

She pulled on her fluffy dressing gown and slid her feet in to her black fluffy slippers.

A Christmas stocking lay at the end of the bed, red and gold, the same one she had found at the bottom of her bed since she was two. It would hold the same things that it did every year, one orange, a banana, a bar of sugar free chocolate, a new hairbrush, smelly stuff and a new Christmas bauble for the tree.

Sure enough when she tipped the stocking up, the afore mentioned objects fell on to the yellow bedspread.

A bright silver bauble with her name and the year on it glinted in the pale light from the street outside.

She hooked it up with her index finger and shuffled to the door.

The landing looked like the inside of a department store grotto; her mother had evidently been working late in to the night on making things just perfect for the day.

"Morning." her mother smiled as she sprinkled confetti snow over the book pile.

"Mum it's five am."

"I know! I let you have a lie in this year, now go wake your dad." Her mother grinned at her from under tinsel that she had used to tie back her dark brown locks. "Oh there you are Crookshanks!" Hermione watched as the ginger cat dashed out of the bathroom and down the stairs, Hermione's mother in hot pursuit.

Hermione opened the door to her parent's room and shimmied over to the bed.

Her dad was lying awake watching the snow falling gently outside.

"I do worry about your mother's sanity." he said quietly as Hermione climbed on to the bed next to him.

"Has she put that ugly Santa outside again?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Yes." her dad shook his head. "Well at least it scares away the carol singers." he laughed lightly as he hugged Hermione.

"It really is evil."

"But your mother likes it." he sighed. "You know we really should join her, the excitement of all the presents will have her almost imploding."

Hermione laughed as she imagined her mother leaving nothing but scorch marks on the living room floor.

When they joined her mother in the living room Hermione had more cause to worry about her mother's sanity, she had Crookshanks on her knee a large pink tinsel bow around his neck.

The cat had the same sort of expression that Ron wore when he was told he had to wear dress robes. Hermione smiled quietly to herself as she sat down on the old sofa pulling a blanket around her to block out the draft coming from the empty fireplace.

She passed the bauble to her father who added it to the tree, her mother smiled, it was a simple thing but the Seventeen baubles on the tree reminded her of each and every Christmas that Hermione had been in their life.

The Christmas Hermione let the hamster out of the cage and it chewed through the cable for the fairy lights, the Christmas that Hermione got stuck up the chimney. (Her uncle Alfie would tell everyone about it still to this day.). The Christmas where they had burnt the turkey, and ended up having dinner with Mrs Mcavity and her four cats and pet sausage dog Rufio.

Hermione's mother even kept the broken bauble, the one that had smashed when Hermione managed to pull the tree on top of her. The year that her father had decided, she should learn to ride a bike, in the house, at half past ten at night…

It was Seven am by the time Hermione had unwrapped all the individually wrapped books that her parents had bought her for Christmas, evidently they had been in contact with Mrs Weasley for some of the volumes, they smelt heavily of the burrow, she wondered what Harry would be making of his first proper Christmas with the Weasley's? She knew Ginny would be thoroughly enjoying the presence of Harry, Ginny may not say it, but Hermione could read her friend like a book, both of them, she had seen the way that Harry was looking at Ginny lately. She wanted to feel happy for the two of them, but the mixed up way she had left her conversation with Ron, the night of Slughorn's party would not let her.

Ron had said she looked pretty. Ron had looked like he wanted to kiss her; it was not the first time either.

He had insinuated that he wanted to kiss her.

Why the hell didn't he just kiss her and get it over with? Then whatever his mild curiosity was about her would be filled. He could go back to Lavender and let Hermione die in her own humiliation in peace.

The image of the two of them as she said goodbye to Harry floated across her mind.

"Hermione you just crushed…." her mother indicated the small silver parcel in her hand, a present from uncle Alfie, it would be chocolate of some description, full of sugar, he didn't believe in depriving children of chocolate.

Hermione placed the parcel down and excused herself, she traced upstairs, taking her change of clothes with her.

She turned on the radio, everyone else was so happy why couldn't she be?

More and more over the last month she had thought about Victor, all the time's he had asked her to reconsider her decision, after all they were still good friends.

Hermione glared at the radio, as 'all I want for Christmas is you' came on. She tuned it in again until she found a song that was a little more fitting, she sang along as she dressed.

I'll have a blue Christmas without you;
I'll be so blue thinking about you.
Decorations of red
on a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing if
you're not here with me.

I'll have a blue Christmas, that's certain;
And when that blue heartache starts hurting,
You'll be doing all right
with your Christmas of white,
But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas

"Hermione… you have gifts from the Weasley's." her mother shouted up the stairs. Hermione looked at herself in the mirror, she had been crying, she would not be able to hide it from her mother, she grabbed the Santa hat from the door and shoved it low over her face, maybe she could distract her mother long enough for the blotches to subside.

Crookshanks was eyeing Hedwig with contempt as the bird helped itself to nuts from the coffee table. Her mother looked up at Hermione as she threw herself down in the seat next to the table and looked at the small collection of coloured papers on the table.

She opened them carefully, reading the gift tags aloud.

Ginny had ironically bought her a new diary. It was pink a fluffy. Hermione knew Ginny was trying to make her laugh for on the inside she had written in her loopy scrawl 'I figured that you could vent in this pink fluffy thing about another pink fluffy thing we both know.' Hermione added it to her pile next to her.

Fred and George had sent her a selection from their new line of daydream charms and beauty products. (Don't think we think your ugly or anything we just knew you would appreciate the work we put in to them Fred. Have a good Christmas, even if you should be hear with us it's ok well jinx Ron George)Hermione had laughed at the last part.

Mrs Weasley had sent her a dark blue Weasley jumper and a large box of Bettie bots every flavour beans, but she liked Harry's present best of all, a tiny model of the solar system, no bigger than a fifty pence piece.

Hermione's mum looked at her curiously, as she showed her this.

"What?"

"Did Ron not send you anything?"

Hermione looked away.

"What happened between the two of you?" her mother asked quietly.

"We had a fight."

"That's nothing new."

"It's not just that it's…." Hermione looked down at the small spinning planets in her hand.

"What's her name?" her mother asked in a curious yet knowing voice.

"L…avender." said Hermione trying to hold back the way she wanted to spit the name out.

"I see, have you told Ron how you feel?" her mother looked at her, Hermione put her present from Harry down on the table before she crushed it like she had done her uncle Alfie's chocolate.

"What's the point? He obviously likes Lavender, you should see them their constantly all over each other, and I've tried to avoid them mum I really have, but there really is only so much time you can spend in the library, and I don't want to lose Harry as a friend, and what if Ron doesn't like me back? I mean he has hinted that he does, and I really like him mum you know I do, but every time I do something to show him he throws it back in my face…" Hermione paused for breath. Her mother nodded to indicate she could go on she was listening… "And he called me so many nasty names, I mean ok I know he was mad at me for setting a flock of Canaries at him but…."

Hermione's mum laughed so hard that Hermione stopped.

"You set a flock of canaries on him?" Hermione glared at her laughing mother before realising that if you weren't there it probably did sound stupid.

In fact she knew how stupid it sounded, she was soon laughing stupidly alongside her mother.

"Did they hurt him?"

Hermione nodded wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Well he shouldn't upset you should he princess." her mother said hugging her as the laughter subsided.

"I felt awful for doing it, Ginny said he deserved it."

Her mother looked at her.

"Do you hate him?"

Hermione thought hard, a small smile crept across her face. No, she didn't hate Ron, she might still want to cause him pain but she didn't hate him.

"From the smile I'm guessing not…" her mother got up as the doorbell rang.

Hermione watched as her mother let the room, Hedwig hooted at her Hermione watched as she stretched her large snowy wings.

If she didn't hate him, what did she feel? Was it betrayal? All she knew is that her head hurt and she felt more confused than she had been at all in the last month.