When the Weasley children had been younger the activity on Christmas morning always started before the sun had finished rising and presents would often be torn open well before breakfast time. However, as Molly and Arthur's brood had grown older, things had changed in the Weasley house. Now presents very rarely got opened on a morning as there often wasn't time for everyone to open their presents before Molly had to tend to the Christmas lunch in the kitchen. Instead, Christmas mornings were pretty low key and all the action centred on Molly whipping up the perfect Christmas lunch.
So while Ron and Harry had a nice, long lie-in, Ginny was still up relatively early, helping Molly in the kitchen. The two witches worked in perfect harmony together, and by the time the first of their guests arrived, lunch was well in hand and Harry and Ron had risen from their beds.
Family wise, the only Weasleys coming for dinner who didn't still live at home were the twins, Fred and George. Bill and Charlie both worked abroad, and although they'd sent cards and presents to the family, it had been several years since the eldest two Weasley children had celebrated Christmas at home with their family. Percy was also missing this year as he'd chosen to spend the holidays with his new girlfriend, but like his older brothers he'd sent cards and presents for the rest of the family.
The Weasleys other guests included Ron's girlfriend, Luna, and her father, Xeno. Even though the Lovegoods actually lived quite close to the Weasleys, it would be their first time celebrating the holidays together. Their other guests were Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, and Sirius's best friend and former Defence Professor, Remus Lupin. Harry had actually lived with Sirius since he'd managed to clear his name in third year when he'd escaped from Azkaban, but wanting to make up for the time he'd spent in prison for a crime he hadn't committed, Sirius liked to travel, so when Harry was at Hogwarts, he was often travelling the world with Remus by his side. In fact he was supposed to be travelling over Christmas, which was why Harry was spending the entire holidays with the Weasleys, but he and Remus had come back early as he hadn't wanted to be parted from Harry over Christmas.
Once everyone had arrived, and more presents had been piled under the tree, Arthur handed out the drinks as everyone settled around the large kitchen table for a magnificent feast. As always lunch was spectacular, and by the time the remains of the Christmas pudding was removed from the table, everyone had eaten far too much.
"I could sleep for a week now," Sirius muttered as everyone made their way into the front room.
"Turkey does tend to do that," Remus agreed with a nod.
"Forget sleeping, we've got presents to open," Ron said as the younger witches and wizards settled down on the floor, leaving the actual sofa and chairs for the adults.
"You lot dive under the tree and dish them out," Arthur said as he settled down in his usual armchair.
As the older witches and wizards settled down for the afternoon, the youngsters began plucking presents from under the tree and sharing them out. Soon colourful wrapping paper was flying around the room as people began to tear into their presents, sharing gleeful cries at what they found and thinking the people who had bought the gifts from them.
"Ooh, muggle slippers," Arthur cried, catching Ginny's attention.
Turning her head, Ginny watched her father slip the cosy looking slippers onto his feet. "Who got you slippers?" she asked.
"Hermione," Arthur replied with a smile. "You know she always gets me something from the muggle world."
Ginny nodded her head slightly, remembering too late that her father was right. Well aware of Arthur's love of muggles, Hermione always made sure her gifts for him came from the muggle world. Even something basic like slippers, which could be bought in the wizarding world, still came from the muggle world as it meant so much to Arthur to have something muggle to call his own. Ginny was just kicking herself for not remembering that sooner, as if she had, she wouldn't have considered the bottle of fire-whisky would have been for Arthur. Although who is was for was still a mystery, as were the whereabouts of the slippers she had bought for Arthur as they hadn't been among the presents Ginny had spied before Christmas.
After Arthur had opened his present from Hermione, Ginny was on high alert for someone else opening a gift from their friend who was still at Hogwarts. The twins were the next to open their gifts from Hermione, and rather than two large boxes of Honeydukes chocolates, they each opened a bottle of aftershave. Then came Luna, and rather than a mood changing unicorn necklace, she received a book about the magical properties of crystals and other stones, along with a pouch containing three stones mentioned in the book.
Ginny's thoughts about where these presents were when she'd been in Hermione's room were interrupted by her parents opening the presents she had gotten for them. In the end, Ginny had gone for a set of colourful socks for Arthur and a pair of red gloves for Molly, and even though both her parents seemed happy enough with their gifts and thanked her warmly, she couldn't help but feel a bit bad that she'd spent so much money on Hermione that other people were lacking.
Moments later she felt even worse when Molly opened her present from Hermione, and found a pair of magical slippers, exactly like the ones Ginny herself had been planning to buy her mother before the last minute change of plans. The slippers adjusted on the wearers feet to suit the temperature, so in summer they were mule type slippers but in the winter them expanded to magically wrap themselves around the foot of the person wearing them, creating cosy boot like slippers. Molly was clearly thrilled with the present as she slipped them on straight away and squealed happily as the purple fur of the slippers encompassed her feet, keeping them warm from the chilly December air.
Ginny's bad feeling only continued to grow as people opened the other presents she had bought. The other gifts from her included novelty ties for the twins, a cheap box of chocolates for Ron, a woollen scarf for Luna and a small quidditch book for Harry. They weren't the presents she had hoped to get, and even though everyone thanked her for them, she worried that some people were less than impressed with her offering.
Feeling totally deflated she watched as Harry opened Hermione's gift, which was a book on the history of the quidditch world cup and a new pair of seekers gloves. Moments later Ron opened his present from Hermione, and he found a Chudley Cannons scarf and a box stuffed with muggle chocolates.
"Curly Wurly," Ron chuckled, picking up one of the chocolate bars. "What a strange name."
"Yeah, but they're lush," Harry said, peering into the box to see what else Ron had. "Oh, Maltesers, they're my favourite."
"This is so cool," Ron grinned. "I can't wait to try all this new chocolate."
"Just don't eat it all at once," Molly cautioned.
"I don't know how you can eat anything after that lunch, I'm still stuffed," Fred said.
"Me too," George agreed. "I don't even think I can be bothered with our annual Christmas quidditch match."
"You'll be fine," Ron said to his brothers as he picked a Milky Way, one of the smaller bars of chocolate, from his box.
As Ron tried his new chocolate, announcing it was so fluffy it was like eating clouds, Ginny turned her attention back to the final present under the tree. The only gift not opened was her present from Hermione, and she picked up the small box, Ginny didn't know what to expect. Even though it had been obvious when she unpacked the bags a few days ago, it was now crystal clear that the presents from Hermione were not the same ones she had found in her room before Christmas. So where had Hermione been hiding these presents, and what had she done with the other presents Ginny had found?
"Aren't you going to open that?" Harry asked quietly, nudging his girlfriend.
Nodding her head, Ginny tore into the paper and discovered a small jewellery style box. Flipping open the lid she found a delicate silver necklace nestled on black velvet. Her name was spelt out in curving writing, and above the I was a small but beautiful peridot, her birthstone. In other circumstances, Ginny would have loved the necklace, and indeed she thought it was gorgeous, but she couldn't stop thinking about the presents she had found in Hermione's room. What had happened to the jumper she thought had belonged to her?
She also couldn't stop thinking about the money she'd spent on Hermione, and how it had affected the presents she had bought for everyone else. As always, Hermione's presents had been heartfelt and clearly picked with thought, but they weren't ridiculously expensive as Ginny had thought they would be. Which meant she had spent a small fortune on Hermione when she really didn't have to.
"Oh, Ginny, that is lovely," Molly cooed, peering over her daughter's shoulder to see what she had received from Hermione.
"It is," Ginny whispered softly.
"Then why don't you look happier?" Arthur asked, noticing how quiet his only daughter had gone.
"Because it wasn't what she was expecting," Ron blurted without thinking.
"What do you mean, it wasn't what she was expecting?" Molly questioned with a frown.
"Ron, shut up," Ginny hissed, shooting her brother a warning glare.
"Why? Ashamed are you?" Ron taunted.
"Ashamed of what?" Arthur demanded. "What is going on?"
"Nothing," Ginny answered quickly.
"Ronald," Molly hissed, turning to her youngest son.
"Before the holidays, Ginny found presents in Hermione's room, which she thought were for us," Ron explained as his sister glared hatefully at him. "They were all really expensive, so she went out and spent most of her money on a present for Hermione."
"Ah, that explains the ties," Fred remarked.
"It was all I could afford," Ginny muttered, turning red at the attention that was coming her way.
"I still don't understand," Molly muttered. "So what if Hermione had bought expensive presents? You don't give presents to receive ones of equal value in return, Ginny. You give a present because you care, not because you want something in return. Gift giving is not a competition."
"That's what we told her," Ron said, sounding slightly smug as he smirked at his sister. "But no, she couldn't be outdone, so she went and spent a fortune on Hermione, and in the end those expensive presents she found weren't even for us."
"But who were they for?" Ginny yelled. "Doesn't anybody care? I found two bags of expensive presents in Hermione's room, yet none of them are here? Who else is she buying presents for?"
"Her parents," George suggested.
"Her other friends," Fred added. "Other family members we don't know. I'm sure we're not the only people in her life, Ginny."
"If she does have other friends, she thinks more of them than she does us," Ginny snapped. "As nice as our presents are, they aren't half as expensive as the ones I found."
"Who cares about expense?" Ron snorted as he patted the box of sweets by his side. "I love my box of muggle sweets, which Hermione would have known. I can see the thought she's put into my present."
"You can see the thought she's put into everyone," Luna said quietly, thinking of the crystal book she had received from Hermione. The topic of the book was something she was definitely interested in, but she knew it would hold little interest to Hermione, but still she'd bought it knowing it was perfect for the person she was giving it to.
"You just need to stop being such an ungrateful cow," Ron said as he got to his feet. "Now who wants to play quidditch? I need some air."
"I'm not in the mood," Ginny said sulkily as everyone but her parents and Xeno agreed to play quidditch, even Sirius, Remus and Luna agreed to play.
With Xeno offering to be referee, everyone trooped outside, leaving Ginny alone with her parents. Even without saying anything, she could feel their disappointment in her. She knew it wasn't because of the lacklustre presents she had bought for people, but rather the way they had come about.
"How did you even find these presents of Hermione's?" Molly asked.
"She had to go out, so I went snooping," Ginny admitted with a sigh. "I wasn't looking for presents, I just wanted to get a better look at the head dorms."
"I think there's a lesson here for you, Ginny," Arthur said as he rose to his feet so he could join the others in the garden. "Don't go poking your nose in where it doesn't belong."
"And don't feel as if you need to compete with other people when it comes to buying presents," Molly added as she got up to follow her husband. "A gift means much more if it comes from the heart. The most expensive present in the world means nothing if it was simply bought to impress, yet something cheap can be priceless if it was chosen for the right reason."
Feeling completely foolish, Ginny remained sitting beside the tree as her mother followed everyone else out into the garden. Moments later she felt even more foolish when a note from Hermione arrived, thanking everyone for their lovely gifts. As she read Hermione's thanks and Christmas wishes, she still couldn't get those bags of presents out of her mind. She could admit she'd made a mistake, and acted foolishly, but she couldn't let the matter go until she'd discovered what had happened to the presents she had found. She needed to know who Hermione had given those expensive gifts to, and why they had received them instead of the friends who had been there for her since she'd entered the wizarding world.
