It is true that Ron isn't my favorite character, but I wouldn't kill him off. I find that threatening people makes them review. Cliffhangers do too, but they're not as much fun. Please don't hate me, I wouldn't dream of killing characters, I'm not as mean as J.K. Rowling, and that reminds me, all characters, logos etc are property of J.K. Rowling…blah, blah, blah. I hate these stupid things, everyone should know that I'm not Rowling, or I wouldn't be writing Fanfics, I'd be writing books, and Hermione wouldn't have ever liked Ron.

Broom Rides

Ron had left for the Burrow the day before the Hogsmeade trip. Harry and Hermione had seen him to the front gates of the castle, and were now walking back to the warmth of the Great Hall.

"I'm glad Ron gets to see his brothers," Hermione said as she and Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table. "He seems really exited."

"I've never seen him exited about seeing his family before," Harry said truthfully. "Whenever Fred and George are in the room, he's usually angry." Hermione laughed and helped herself to some eggs.

"So what's the plan for today?" She asked looking around the Great Hall. "There's not a lot of people left, we've almost got the school to ourselves."

"What did you have in mind?" Harry asked as he grabbed some Pumpkin Juice.

Hermione was silent for a moment, and then got very exited. "I've got to show you something!" she said pulling him off of his seat.

She half-dragged Harry up to the Gryffindor common room and made him wait for about 5 minutes while she ran into her dormitory to grab something. She came back down carrying a long and narrow box.

"I thought you might find this interesting," she said sitting down in the chair beside him. She opened the box to reveal a Nimbus Two Thousand. "Mum and dad got it for me, because I was top in most of my classes," Hermione squealed.

"Most?"

"OK, all of them, but that's not important! I got a broomstick! I didn't think I'd like it, but…"

"You haven't ridden it have you?" Harry asked as Hermione's voice trailed away. She shook her head.

"I was afraid I would crash, and I didn't have an opportunity to anyway. I've been busy with schoolwork, and I don't think that the Muggles where I live are used to seeing people ridding broomsticks."

Harry ran upstairs, grabbed his Firebolt and raced downstairs.

"Come on," he said to Hermione, and together they walked down to the Quidditch field where Harry gave Hermione a flying lesson.

"You should try out for the team!" Harry yelled sarcastically as Hermione flew wobbly around the field.

"This isn't as easy as it looks!" Hermione hollered back. She instantly felt stupid, realizing that Harry was the youngest Quidditch player in a century, and that this was easy for him, Harry just laughed.

"I give up!" Hermione said as she narrowly missed hitting one of the goal posts. "Teach me how to land this thing!"

"Of course you highness, I'll get right on that," Harry said as he bowed to her.

"Very funny! Get me down from here before I crash!" Harry explained how to land, but after 6 failed attempts, he mounted and showed her how.

Together they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione complaining about how she looked like an idiot, and Harry agreeing with her.

"I wouldn't have looked like such a fool if it wasn't for the fact that my best friend is the best Quidditch player ever," Hermione said after Harry had made a rude remark about her landing skills.

Harry blushed, "Your really sweet you know that? I insult you the entire way up here, and yet you still tell me that I'm your best friend, and that I'm the best."

"I said that you were the best Quidditch player, that doesn't mean that you're the best."

"Sure it does," Harry said, earning himself a whack from Hermione's broom. The entered the common room, that was empty.

"I don't know why everyone was so eager to get home this Christmas," Hermione said sitting down in the best chair in the room. "In our second year it made sense, but there's not attacks anymore. You made sure of that."

"I don't know," Harry said sleepily. "I always loved Christmas at Hogwarts. It was better then any time I ever had with the Dursleys."

"I like it when it's only us here," Hermione said before she could stop herself. She received a strange look from Harry, and quickly explained. "It's not as crowded, and when Ron's here he's in a fight with someone. It's nice just to be here with someone I get along with really well."

"I know what you mean," Harry said. The two of them sat in an awkward silence for a while, but it was interrupted when Hermione finally fell asleep.

Harry didn't know what to do, he wasn't allowed in the girl's dorm, and he couldn't just leave Hermione there. The idea came to him in no time; he walked up to the girl's side of the Tower, and peeked into Hermione's room. As he had hoped, it was empty.

He walked back downstairs, picked up his best friend, and carried her up to her room. That's when he realized the flaw in his brilliant plan, he didn't know what bed was hers.

He looked at each of the beds, and decided that the girl in his arms occupied the one with the Arithmancy book on the pillow. He carefully slipped her into the bed, pulled the covers over her, and left the room.

Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast the next morning. He had had difficulty sleeping that night. He was to exited about everything, the broom ride, the Hogsmeade trip, and seeing Hermione the next morning. He had decided that he would let her sleep in, after her embarrassment on the Quidditch field he felt that she deserved a day to recover.

It didn't take long for her to come to the Great Hall however. She came in, humming a small tune.

"You're in a good mood," Harry commented as she took a seat next to him.

"The Hogsmeade trip is today," she said defensively as she grabbed a piece of toast and began to apply jam to it. Harry was about to say something, but was cut off by the arrival of the mail. There wasn't even half as much mail as there normally was, but it was still enough to cause a disturbance.

A large barn owl arrived for Hermione, a copy of The Daily Prophet clutched in it's beak. Hermione scanned the first page and rolled her eyes. It was another article on 'The Boy Who Lived.' It made Hermione sick to her stomach, but because she didn't want Harry to know that he was once again the center of attention for the Wizarding Community, so she hid her disgust and folded the paper neatly.

"So where do you want to go first when we get to Hogsmeade," Hermione asked Harry. He however never got the chance to answer, because yet another disturbance made its presence known.

"Hi Harry," came the voice of a demon.

"Oh, hi Cho," Harry said turning around. Hermione quickly became annoyed, but said nothing.

"Some friends and I were going to Hogsmeade, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us," Cho said ignoring Hermione.

Harry however didn't share Cho's hate for his friend, so he turned to her. "You wouldn't mind, would you Hermione? We were going to go together."

"It's fine Harry really," Hermione said smiling at Cho. "I wouldn't want you to miss out on hanging out with Cho and all of her friends. By the way," she added as Harry stood up to leave. "You made front page of the Daily Prophet again." She was now angry to a point where she didn't care if he knew he was in the limelight again.

She watched them leave the Great Hall and get in line to leave. "I would have gone with you whether or not you did," she added in a whisper.