December
December found Hogwarts buried under a blanket of snow. Both Ginny and Hermione were actually pleased by this turn of events, in that they could hide in sit in the Head Girl room for hours and study for end of term exams.
Ron and Harry would pop in every once in a while (usually right before a major assignment – they privately both felt it was rather unlucky for them to have best friends who were either the Head Girl or the Head Girl to be…made for fewer snowball fights, less fun, and more actual revising of essays).
Ginny was still holding onto resentment about the whole Canary-detention business, and the fact that the boys loudly denied having anything to do with Dobby or the boxes. Her grudge did not extend to not snogging her boyfriend, because, after all, he was the love of her life, and even though Harry was coming to the Burrow for Christmas, her mother wasn't so keen on them snogging all the time there. (Ron, for once, absolutely agreed with his mother.)
The final day of classes came, and Hermione and Ginny ended up in the 7th Year Gryffindor Boys dorm, trying to help Ron and Harry pack.
"Cripes, mate, how much stuff do we have to take home over the holidays?" Ron asked, ducking down so as not to get hit by his schoolbooks that were flying through the air and landing in his trunk.
"If you had packed yourself, this wouldn't be an issue," said Hermione, before Harry could answer. (Well, it would have taken a while for Harry to answer anyway, because he wasn't as much packing as he was sitting behind Ginny and nuzzling her neck while she packed his stuff for him.)
"Mione, I'm just saying, do I need my books?"
"Yes," she glared, "all of them."
"When are you getting to the Burrow?" questioned Ginny.
"Mum and Dad are picking me up from Kings Crossing, and I'll go home for three days, then your Mum said either your Dad or Bill could apparate to my home and bring me back for the rest of the holidays," answer Hermione.
"Good, that gives me three days to talk to Fred and George about this nonsense. Someone's going to tell me what's actually going on!" Ginny swatted Harry's hand from around her waist, disentangling herself so she could close his trunk.
"Gin, luv, I promise it's not me and Ron."
"Bullocks Harry! You've got Dobby as your 'Number One Fan' and you think I'm stupid enough to fall for that?"
Hermione let out a sigh, and dragging Ginny from the room (curfews and all that), she begged the three of them not to kill each other before she got to the Burrow.
The train ride was pleasant. Blaise and Hermione had actually come up with an agreeable solution where the Head Boy supervised the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Prefects and patrolled the cars for the first half of the journey, and she would supervise Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Prefects and patrol for the second half.
They all sat squished in a compartment with Luna and Neville discussing their holiday plans. Ginny was intent on going out to Diagon Alley at her first opportunity, supposedly to buy Christmas presents, but everyone was quite certain she would be laying into a couple of redheaded twins, and possibly casting a few bat-bogey hexes. Hermione was dangling her fingers through Crookshank's cage, trying to scritch his ears as they twitched near the top. Ron and Harry were busy trying to hide all the candy they had bought off the cart in their luggage, so they would have plenty of snacks when Molly denied them their sweets. (Ginny didn't need to panic, she not only knew where the stash of candy was at the Burrow, she also had 6 men wrapped around her little finger and could get more anytime she wanted – Ginny was a rather smart witch, you see.)
The disembarkation was as pleasant as goodbyes go, Molly and Arthur had cast a charm to allow Mr. and Mrs. Granger through, and Arthur was nagging them about how he could install a new felly-tone at the Burrow. Ginny thought it was a bit odd that her mother wasn't harping on him, but instead was talking in low happy tones to Mrs. Granger.
"Mum, we're ready," Ginny said, her pygmy puff's tiny cage in one hand, and grasping Harry's arm with the other.
Hermione and the parent Weasleys exchanged hugs, and she promised she'd see them in three days, before linking arms with her father and chatting away as they went home to Hermione's.
"Three bloody days."
"Gins, calm down."
"No, Harry, we've been locked here three bloody days. I need to buy presents."
"You want to hurt Fred and George."
"Yes, well, that too. They've been avoiding us since we got home."
"Their just busy at the shoppe, it's a busy time of the year. Come on, Ginny, sit down?"
Harry looked at his girlfriend with what most girls would call love. And it was, just with a healthy dose of lust thrown in for kicks.
Come on – she's a brilliant Prefect – next in line for Head Girl, an amazing Quidditch player, has long red hair that's currently tied into a high ponytail, showing off her perfectly freckled neck. She had taken to wearing really lowrise jeans and stomach baring shirts, but had thrown one of Harry's new Chudley Cannon sweatshirts on, to pacify her mother. Her little bare feet peeking out the bottom of her jeans, ten tiny painted toenails. Now, if he could just get her to stop pacing and muttering and start snogging again…
"HARRY, are you listening to a WORD I've said?"
"Yes, Ginny, of course," he sputtered.
She threw herself down next to him on the sofa with a loud "HUMPH", but before she could spit out her next sentence a loud pop was heard in the kitchen.
"Ginny? Harry? Ron?" came a familiar voice.
"Mione, we're in here," hollered Harry, as he threw his arm on the back of the sofa around Ginny, pulling her close.
"Hey guys, where's Ron?" Hermione asked, entering the living room as another pop came from the kitchen.
"He's outside, dodging an enchanted Quaffle to get Keeper practice in."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at Harry. "And why aren't the two of you out there also?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and stood up, "Come on, Hermione, lets go get you unpacked and you can help me figure out how to get Mum to let us to Diagon Alley," she called climbing the stairs to her room.
Before following, Hermione hugged her best friend and hid a smile as he whispered in her ear: "She's been like this since we got home. I'm escaping outside – your turn!"
No one knew how Hermione's powers of persuasion worked, but Ginny refused to complain since it meant not only were they going to Diagon Alley, but Molly was letting the four of them go alone.
"Harry and I are going to head out shopping, and you girls can meet us at the Leaky Cauldron around one for lunch, how's that sound, mates?" Ron asked, as he unfolded his body as the last one through the floo.
"We can meet at one at Fred and George's. I'm not leaving today until I speak to them."
"Blimey, Ginny, don't cause a scene in the middle of their store the day before Christmas!"
Ron had little time to contemplate that before the tip of Ginny's wand poked him in the nose.
"Blimey – my – arse. If they would have come home at some point I would have yelled at them there. Lucky I didn't send a howler after my detention – "
Hermione leaned over and murmured into Ginny's ear. Ron and Harry weren't sure if the way the girls eyes lit up was a good thing or not, but since the wand moved out of Ron's face, they decided to escape and question it later.
"See you at one, here at the Cauldron," Hermione called after the retreating boys.
The sign said closed for lunch, but the twins had charmed the locked door to open for any Weasley, so all Ginny had to do was twist the knob. Pulling out her wand, she led the way into the store.
"Fred, cast a silencing charm on this room."
"Um, hi Ginny. Hey Mione."
"Fred, tell your git of a twin to get his arse in here and cast a silencing charm if you don't want the entire street to hear me."
Hermione took a seat on a stool and watched as Fred stuck his head into the back room called for George, who unsuspectingly came. (George would later claim that if he had known Ginny was the one waiting for him and not Katie Bell, he would have remained hidden. Fred would point out that as a twin – you are forced to go down in flames together.)
Ginny, in an attempted show of strength, decided to cast one very quiet accio spell, and in doing so all three wands shot into her outstretched hand.
Silence.
Then "OH SHITE!"
"Ginny?" Hermione questioned, looking at her friend.
"OH BLOODY SHITE!" she yelled, staring at the twins in disbelief.
"Ginny, we know you're angry, but – "
"BLOODY BLOODY SHITE!" Dropping the twins wands on the counter, Ginny grabbed her Hermione and drug her out of the shop, screaming obscenities all the way to the Leaky Cauldron.
"What was that all about?" George questioned.
"Me thinks we may have to do some damage control when she gets back to Hogwarts." responded his equally attractive counterpart.