Chapter 3

Hermione woke up at six the next morning. Stepping out of her room and walking down the hall, she saw the bathroom door was wide open and decided to go ahead and take her shower. Heading back to her room to gather her clothes for today, she stopped for a second when she came to the junction of her room and Harry's room. His door was slightly cracked open, rather than being completely open or shut. She was tempted for a second to go in and check on him, to make sure he was sleeping peacefully. Her logical mind quickly shut that idea down, however, as she could just end up disturbing him. She just went back to her task, picked out her clothes, and went to the bathroom and shut the door.

As she went through her shower routine, her mind focused completely on her last interaction with Harry the previous night. Granted, it's not like it was the first time she'd given him a cheek kiss. That honor went to the end of fourth year. And once she'd awakened in the last week to how deep her feelings for Harry were, and started scrutinizing her memories for all prior interactions with Harry, she realized that the fourth-year kiss had been her way of trying to get him to notice her. But after everything that happened in fifth year, and Harry then still didn't give any indication about feeling more for her at the start of sixth year, she'd finally started going after Ron in the hopes that he was at least a sure choice.

The only reason Hermione could think of for her wretched treatment of Harry that year was that she was subconsciously trying to get over the deeper feelings, even if she hadn't yet realized how much she felt for Harry, but overcompensated and thus was almost trying to push him away. Of course, she would never try to use it as an excuse, since there was no reason great enough to excuse her actions that year.

Hermione sighed and shook her head as she turned off the shower and got out to dry off. She really needed to sit down with Harry and apologize for how badly she acted toward him that year. She'd brought it up during the train ride, but that wasn't a complete apology, and he deserved a full one.

For now, though, she focused back on comparing her cheek kisses. The one from last night was nothing like that from after fourth year. That early one had been much more innocent, more of a quick peck. This one, however, could almost be considered sensual, especially with how she lingered on his cheek for a couple of seconds.

His reactions were even markedly different. In fourth year, his eyes had widened a little bit, but it was a mixture of surprise and confusion. Last night, his eyes went huge and were filled with only amazement. And the way he'd gingerly touched his hand to the spot where she kissed him… she'd definitely made the right choice in not staying in his room any longer. Even now, just reminiscing on the memory, her heart was singing temptations to her mind.

As she finished patting her head with her towel to dry it as much as she could, she shook her head again to knock those thoughts out of it before beginning to get dressed. Her focus needed to be on making sure he had a peaceful break. Revealing her feelings too early could ruin things by just confusing him, especially if he didn't have any remote deeper feelings for her.

Once Hermione was dressed in her green long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans, and then finished brushing her teeth, she looked in the mirror one last time. She froze and realized that the shirt she'd grabbed from her closet was the exact same color of green as Harry's emerald eyes.

She wistfully sighed. She really did have it bad for that boy.

When Hermione exited the bathroom, she quietly walked back toward Harry's room, just for one final check. His door was still cracked open the same amount, so either he'd gotten up long before or he was still asleep. She hoped that it was the latter, as she made her way downstairs. She saw her parents' bedroom door wide open, so she at least knew that they were awake.

There was no one in the kitchen, so she made her way to the living room and found her parents watching the television while sitting next to each other on the far end of the sofa. Her mum was snuggled as close as she could be into her dad's left side, though she sat up a little straighter when the two of them noticed Hermione walk in.

"Morning, Little Worm," Jack said.

"Good morning, Mum and Dad," Hermione replied, taking her customary seat on the middle cushion of the sofa, since there was still a bit of empty space between her and her mum. Glancing up at the clock, it read six forty-five, consistent with how long her shower routine typically was.

Then, her dad asked, "Was Harry still asleep?"

"As far as I know," she replied. "His door was cracked open the same amount when I finished my shower routine as it had been before I went to the bathroom."

The next sentence she heard, from her mum, immediately baffled her to no end. "While we have a bit of time then, I have to ask. Have you finally figured it out?"

Turning her head to her parents, she asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Miranda quietly replied, "How you truly feel about Harry."

Hermione's eyes went wide with shock, but she gave a resigned sigh, knowing she couldn't escape this. "How long have you suspected?"

"Hermione," Jack said, "we've known at least since you found us in Australia. When you were willing to not only give up your own family to fight in a war with him, but also spend hours telling us about some of his circumstances and successfully convince us not to think badly of him when we found you crying after he left, it leaves very few options as to why you would do that. And frankly, us realizing that you felt deeply for the boy made a lot of your actions in earlier years make sense, like when you refused to go on the ski trip three years ago in order to go see him."

Hermione felt her mouth drop in astonishment. "I didn't even figure it out until this last week, after you sent me your response about Christmas, which finally caused me to reflect on things and remove all doubt as to what I felt. And you're saying that you've known basically all year?!"

The parents both nodded and then spoke at the same time. "Yep."

Miranda added, "You always did try to think more with your head over your heart, Hermione, for good or ill. Probably a byproduct of your great intelligence. In any case, it's not surprising that it took you longer. Of course, if you hadn't realized before the end of this holiday break, I would have tied you to a chair and interrogated you until you finally had that epiphany."

Hermione pouted a little, first at her mother's statement and then at her father's responding chuckle to her expression. "Gee, thanks Mum," she said as sarcastically as possible.

The teasing response she received was, "Of course, anytime."

Hermione couldn't help the snort that left her in amusement at her mother's cheekiness.

The three of them went silent after that. Hermione picked up one of her old books that was sitting on the coffee table, the subject being about prehistoric times, and began reading while her parents continued to watch television. Her guess was that they were waiting for both her and Harry before beginning breakfast, since no preparations had been made yet in the kitchen.

At seven thirty, Harry finally made his way into the living room, in jeans and a red shirt. The corner of her mouth lifted a bit at how she and he had managed to be festive without even planning it. When he noticed her and her parents on the sofa, he immediately started becoming timid. "Good morning," he shyly said, while sitting down in the armchair.

"Good morning," the three of them replied at once.

Hermione closed her book and set it on the table. Seeing that he would quickly shrink in on himself if left alone, she decided to try and turn his focus to her. She knew her parents would probably tease her in private, given the previous conversation, but if she could help put him at ease, then it was worth it.

She asked Harry, "Did you sleep well? Was the bed in the guest room alright?"

Her plan seemed to work, as when his eyes locked onto hers, a bit of his nervousness did fade. He responded, "Yeah, I slept alright. And the bed was just fine, Hermione. Didn't have any issues."

While his tone was neutral enough that people who didn't know him well enough wouldn't be able to tell, Hermione heard the slight astonishment in his voice when he said that he slept alright. That, combined with the memory of him being surprised when she woke him up on the train and told him he slept peacefully for most of the ride, gave her enough suspicion to believe that he was hiding something. Maybe his nightmares were more frequent than the one or two times per week she originally believed, at least going by the number of times he would be up very early in the common room. Of course, this would be a subject she would only bring up the next time they were alone.

Hearing the sounds of movement on her right, Hermione looked over to see her parents standing up. Then, Jack said, "Glad to hear that. And now that everybody's up, Miranda and I will go get breakfast ready. How does bacon, eggs, and toast sound, Harry? The three of us usually have a piece of fruit as well, since we tend to eat smaller portions of the other foods in order to keep things somewhat healthier. You don't have to follow our lead, that's just another option for you if you so choose."

Harry stood from the chair. "That all sounds good, Mr. Granger. Is there anything I can do to help? I've done a lot of cooking since childhood."

Miranda walked up to Harry, patted his shoulder, and said, "If that's the case, then you can relax and enjoy others cooking for you, though we do appreciate the offer. You're the guest, Harry. Don't feel like you need to justify the fact that you're staying here."

Harry slowly sat back down in the chair and replied, "Um, alright then, Mrs. Granger. Then, if you can just give me the same thing that the three of you eat, that would be fine. And thank you both."

"Still so polite. We'll break you out of that shell yet."

"Alright now, Miranda," Jack interceded. "Let's leave the young ones be." Then, looking from Harry to Hermione, he added, "We'll call you both when everything's ready. Probably give it about twenty minutes or so."

Hermione said, "That sounds good, Dad. Thank you." With that, her parents walked out of the living room and left her and Harry alone.

He sat in the chair somewhat awkwardly, as though he felt he should be up and doing something else. Thinking now was as good a time as any to see if he would open up further to her, she took a risk and patted the empty space next to her on the sofa. The confusion was palpable in his expression, but he didn't say anything. And after a couple of seconds, he stood from the armchair and sat next to her on her left side, just like the previous night.

"Harry," she whispered, not wanting her parents to hear any part of this. "Can I ask you something? And if you don't want to answer me, I won't mind."

Realizing this must have been serious, he replied just as quietly, "Sure, Hermione. Anything."

She took a deep breath before asking, "How often do you have nightmares?"

His eyes widened a bit, and he rapidly blinked for a couple of seconds, obviously not expecting that question. His hesitant answer was, "Why do you ask?"

"Harry, I could hear the faint disbelief in your tone when you said that you slept alright. And on the train ride, you were really surprised when I woke you up and told you how you slept for most of the ride after Crookshanks crawled into our laps. Those things make me worry that your nightmares are more frequent than you've let on, and I want to help if I can. But like I said, you don't have to answer me, I won't force you to. Just know that, if you want to talk, or if there's anything I can do for you, I'm here."

Sadness overtook his features, as he looked away from her down to the floor. Remembering how he seemed to respond better with her touch, she took his right hand and gently held it. This caused him to look at their joined hands. After a few more seconds, he took a deep breath and then locked his eyes with hers again. Then, he finally spoke.

"Every night, Hermione. Every night since I left Australia."

She couldn't stop the gasp that left her. "You have nightmares every night? Does anyone else know?" His only response was to shake his head. "But how have you kept everyone in your dorm from finding out?"

"With a very liberal usage of silencing protections around my bed. If I do disturb someone when I get out of bed, they don't ask questions because I've been waking up earlier all year anyway. And in case you ask, the times that you've woken up to find me already in the common room are generally the worst nights, where I just can't get back to sleep."

She could feel tears starting to gather in her eyes, but she took a couple of deep breaths to hold them back, trying to be strong for him. Then, she said with a slight quiver, "May I ask what they're about?"

His expression became pained, though she wasn't completely sure whether it was because of him having to relive the memories, or if he was reacting to her own pain that she was trying to hide upon learning this information. "Well, like I told you two nights ago, many of them are about having lost my purpose, where people that died tell me that there's nothing left for me. But those aren't the only ones. I have a lot of pure war flashbacks, and they always feel so real that it's like the war never actually ended. Then, there are the dreams where it flashes back to one of our dangerous adventures while at Hogwarts, only they always end with people dying and me being unable to save them. The…"

He trailed off and looked away again, closing his eyes. She squeezed his hand, hoping to be comforting, and that seemed to give him the strength to look at her again.

He choked out, "The Department of Mysteries, with you being hit by the curse, is a pretty frequent one."

She instinctually pulled him closer to her and wrapped him in a fierce hug, his arms going just as tightly around her a second later.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she whispered. "I'm sorry for making you relive terrible memories. And I'm sorry that I haven't helped you more."

He replied as firmly as he could through the lump that she could tell was in his throat, "Don't say that, Hermione. I'm the one that brushed you off whenever you were concerned. You've always been there for me. I was just too stupid and stubborn to let you in. And… I'm kind of glad that you know me so well that you could tell something was off, and that you were willing to say something."

She didn't know what to say, so she just squeezed him a little bit harder in response. He must have realized what she was trying to convey, because he did the same right afterward.

After a few more minutes, they finally pulled away from each other. Though sadness still lingered in his eyes, he gave her a small smile of gratitude, one which she couldn't help returning. She was glad that he accepted her meddling, for lack of a better term, and she hoped that maybe this could begin a healing process where his nightmares would start to go away.

That caused her to remember what started this whole conversation in the first place, and she said, "So, did you not have any nightmares yesterday? Is that why you seemed so surprised to have slept well on the train and last night?"

He nodded. "Yeah, got it in one. Normally, even if it's something short and I'm able to go back to sleep in a few minutes, I've always had at least one nightmare. Yesterday was the first time, and second as well if we count the train and the guest room as separate occasions, that I actually had none at all."

He looked down to the floor again, but this time with a half-smile. "I guess it had something to do with you. I don't know if it was because I finally opened up to you about my issues, or if maybe it was just because I knew you were near if I needed you, but I do know that the only variable that's changed in the equation has been you." He then looked back at her, with a full smile.

Though she wasn't sure she deserved as much credit as he was bestowing upon her, she did return his smile and reply, "Whatever the case is, I'm just glad that you are getting a bit of peace. You deserve it for everything you've done."

He instantly said, with his expression becoming tender, "Couldn't have done any of it without you."

With the way he was gazing at her, her heart was crying out to give him a full kiss. Even with the danger of being caught by her parents, she was very quickly losing her willpower to resist. Luckily, the sound of footsteps in the hall broke through her mind. As she leaned a bit to look past Harry, her mum appeared in the living room doorway.

"Breakfast is ready, you two," she told them.

Hermione replied, "OK, thank you Mum."

Harry said at the same time, "Thank you, Mrs. Granger."

Miranda nodded and walked off. Hermione and Harry looked at each other one more time, before then standing up at the same time and walking to the kitchen.

While Harry still remained fairly quiet as they ate breakfast, Hermione could tell in his body language that he wasn't feeling as shy at the moment. Maybe her little icebreaker when he first appeared, or the talk they had when they were alone, helped out more than she thought. In the meantime, she was the one that filled the silence by talking more about the upcoming N.E.W.T. exams she and Harry would have to take. Warmth filled her when, after her parents joked at one point about her having turned Harry into a second version of herself, he actually smirked and said that there were plenty of worse people to emulate. Her parents chuckled and replied that they couldn't disagree.

Once they all had finished eating, Harry once again immediately offered his help for anything he could do. Jack waved him off and said for him and Hermione to go have fun for a while. The two of them just walked back to the living room and sat down in their previous position on the sofa.

Hermione, starting to grow a little worried at how little she really did at home in her spare time, timidly spoke to Harry. "Um, so… I'm sure this won't be very shocking, but I spend a lot of my free time here just reading. If, if you would rather do something else, you could flip through the TV channels to find something you may like. Or I could maybe dig out some of our old board games, if you want something interactive. Or even go out for a walk, since the sun is shining outside – "

"Hermione," he interceded, causing her to immediately shut up. He then looked over at the thick book she'd been reading that morning and asked, "What was that book you had earlier?"

Though a bit surprised, she picked the book up and held it in her lap. "Oh, this is one of my childhood books. It's been so long since I remember last reading it, it may as well be a new book. It's a history book going through the Mesozoic Era chronologically. That's when dinosaurs dominated the planet. Not completely sure why this one was sitting here on its own, but I know I've got others on the Paleozoic Era, Cenozoic Era, and pre-Paleozoic times."

His eyebrows were raised as he replied, "That's pretty big for a childhood book. Almost seems more like an encyclopedia for research."

She smiled at him. "Well yes, it basically is. But I was seven years old when I received this and its companions, so it's not all that far-fetched. I loved to read, what can I say. And though I've read and own plenty of regular novels, nonfiction was always my main focus, wanting to learn every fact I possibly could. Of course, given how eager I was for learning in general after I was able to read, Mum and Dad didn't skimp out on math and science books, as well. Basically, I had books that relate to every subject you could take in school."

He returned the smile but then, after a couple of seconds, grew pensive and stared at the book. She couldn't resist asking, "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing that can be fixed. I was just… wishing right now that I could have gotten the same opportunities for learning as your parents gave you."

She set the book down to her right on the sofa before linking her left hand with his right. He glanced at their hands for a second before gazing at her again.

"I don't think I ever told you this," he began whispering, "but after I learned from Hagrid that I was a wizard, and got my books in Diagon Alley, I spent nearly every waking moment reading them. I would even stay up later at night and use a flashlight to read, hiding under my covers while doing so to try and dim the light in case my relatives would wake up for any reason. In fact, that's how I found the name Hedwig, by reading our History of Magic book." His eyes grew a bit pained at recalling his lost companion, but his voice managed to remain steady as he continued. "I read every day for the rest of that summer, and was excited to be going to a new place where I could possibly do well for myself."

He shifted his gaze back to the floor. While she was afraid that she might be prying too deeply, she had to ask the question. "So, may I ask what happened? Whenever I pushed you and Ron to study, you would blow it off more often than not. Although, I guess I was pretty bad with nagging, and maybe still am, hoping that others would have the same eagerness to learn as I did."

He lifted his head and said, "No, Hermione, don't blame yourself for that. You're right, I did skive off a lot when it came to studying. Even in situations where I shouldn't have, like the Triwizard Tournament after the first task. And… I guess it was because Ron was always against studying when it wasn't strictly for homework and tests. He was the first friend my age that I ever had, and third friend overall after Hagrid and Hedwig. I was afraid of pushing him away, although look how that turned out with where we are now. And it still doesn't excuse my actions at all, since I always had the choice to study, and I chose not to."

She squeezed his hand and replied, "Well, you're certainly putting in time this year."

"Maybe, but it'd be empty as hell if you hadn't been stubborn enough to stick with me this whole time."

His nod to the feelings of loss that he admitted experiencing made Hermione realize that she kept them on heavy subjects for the entire morning thus far. Her guilt must have shown through in her expression, because Harry became concerned and asked, "What is it? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's not you, Harry. It just hit me that I was worried about finding something enjoyable for you, yet here I am keeping us talking about depressing subjects. I'm sorry, you don't have to sit here with me any longer if you would rather find something else to do." She then let go of his hand after her final statement, as a means to try and tell him with her actions that it was OK if he left.

Harry just stared at her with a pondering expression. But then, with his eyes flicking over to the book beside her, he said, "Well, here's an idea. I know that this will probably seem a bit silly, but…"

At his pause, she responded, "What is it? You can tell me anything."

A blush rose on his face as he hesitantly continued, "How would you feel about… sharing the book and reading it together?"

Hermione could hardly believe what she was hearing. She asked in astonishment, "Would you really want to do that?"

He nodded. "It's something you enjoy, and… I don't want you to feel like you have to completely change yourself just because I'm here."

The statement melted her heart. She had been afraid that she wouldn't have enough things they could do to keep him from growing bored, yet here he was, offering to sit and read simply because she liked it. She also giggled in her mind at the irony that, after her mother's teasing about spending time together outside of books led to the realization about her feelings for Harry, books might actually help to bring them closer together.

Smiling at him as she picked up the book and scooted closer to him, she placed it on her left leg and opened the cover. He took hold of the corner of the book's left side to steady it, while she did the same with the right one. Then, she softly asked, "Do you want to start from the beginning?"

"You can make that decision, Hermione. And don't worry about trying to go slower for me, since I'm sure you'll easily outpace me in reading. I'll tell you if I want to stay on a page longer. Is that alright?"

She nodded and turned to the first page. After that, the only sound made was the flipping of pages as they sat there and read, neither one of them bothering to keep track of time. Harry would sometimes hold up a finger while shaking his head as a signal to not turn the page if he was interested in something. He tended to do so on the pages specifically about the dinosaurs and other creatures of the time period, his eyes barely widening and his expression growing a bit more focused while reading.

Hermione was vaguely aware of the occasional footstep in the hall but gave it no heed since no one ever entered the living room. Even if she had, she was enjoying this quiet time with Harry too much to think about anything else. In fact, at one point, she couldn't resist joining her left hand with his right hand again, also intertwining their fingers this time. When they looked to one another after she did so, while she couldn't keep from blushing, she gave him a timid smile. Her heart fluttered when he flashed her a small smile and gave her hand a squeeze. They turned back to the book and continued their reading, this time with those little smiles perpetually stuck on their faces.

Eventually, their reading was disturbed when they heard the sounds of heavier footsteps and objects clinking together. When they looked to the living room entrance, Hermione's parents walked in one after another, each carrying a see-through bin with Christmas decorations. Harry quickly unlinked his hand from Hermione's, with her knowing he wouldn't want to face questions about it. There was no hiding their sitting right next to each other, however, when her parents set the bins down near the tree and then turned to them.

Miranda spoke, "I have to say, I'm surprised you two sat there all morning, when I passed through the hall and noticed you in here not long after breakfast. It's already eleven o'clock."

Harry was actually the one to respond, sheepishly smiling as he said, "Sorry, Mrs. Granger. I guess we lost track of time."

"Oh, no need for apologies," she replied. "If you two were enjoying your reading, that's all that matters. But now, we talked last night about decorating the tree. What do you say we get to work on that?"

Hermione nodded and closed the book. Placing it on the coffee table, she stood up and began walking to the tree, Harry following a step behind her. After Jack moved the tree just a bit more out of the corner so that there was more room to walk behind it, it was decided that Harry and Hermione would take the half of the tree that faced the rest of the living room, while Jack and Miranda would do the half nearest the room corner, and each pair would take one bin.

As they were all looking through their bins, Hermione picked up a long strand of silver tinsel, while Harry picked up a similar gold strand. He dropped his hands as he looked at the tree, appearing as though he was pondering where it should go or even if he should place it on the tree at all, when she got a silly idea that she couldn't resist.

She stepped up closer to him, causing him to drop his tinsel back in the bin and look at her in confusion. Trying to appear as serious as possible, she threw the silver tinsel over his head and around his neck. With his eyes looking downward, she began circling her right hand around him until that side of the tinsel was wrapped up almost fully around his neck. Then, she moved her left hand around his head twice and left the rest of that part free, hanging down to about the middle of his chest. He appeared as though he was wearing a shiny, silver scarf.

After he gave himself a once-over and looked back to her, she couldn't keep from smirking as she said, "There, now you have a festive scarf for the holidays."

The grin alighting his face at her statement was that of someone who was trying very hard to contain their laughter. Unbeknownst to the two of them, her parents stepped back and smiled perceptively at one another, with Jack giving Miranda a nod.

Then, Harry's grin became what Hermione could only call more devilish. Picking up the gold tinsel, he positioned it almost where the top of her head met her forehead. Pulling it down against her head, he brought the ends underneath her hair before crossing them and tightening the tinsel. When his arms circled back to where they began, she could feel him begin to tie the ends like one would a shoelace. And after about a minute, she could tell he had reached the finish since he was pulling on the ends like one would when doing the bow.

Schooling his expression into a more serious one, though his mouth was still twitching from the laughter he was holding in, he replied, "And a festive bow headband for you."

They both grinned at each other and lasted only a few seconds before bursting out with possibly the largest belly-laughs they'd ever given. Hermione leaned into Harry's side and put her right arm around his waist to remain standing, while she felt Harry do the same with his left. They remained that way for a couple of minutes, and Hermione felt that her gut might actually burst from how hard she was laughing.

When they finally regained control of themselves and separated slightly, she looked up to Harry with a huge smile and found him beaming at her with the biggest smile she'd seen on his face in probably years. Remembering that her parents were still in the room, she turned to find them smiling happily at the scene, their expressions showing that they were glad for her and Harry having fun in any way they could.

Miranda then stepped up to them and placed a hand on their shoulders. "Well, now that you two are all decorated for Christmas, how about we get the tree just as ready?" Hermione and Harry both gave a sheepish grin and nod, remembering the task at hand.

For the next few hours, the tree decoration was a tranquil, happy affair. The four started by hanging up all the strings of Christmas lights around the tree. Then, they broke into their respective pairs and began putting up the ball ornaments. Hermione noticed that Harry was being fairly methodical, so she told him not to overthink it so much and that, as long as there weren't any glaringly empty places on the tree, he should just place ornaments wherever it felt right. He gave her a slightly embarrassed smile and nod, and his pace started to increase after that. And when the body of the tree was filled with lights and ornaments, since the tree was seven feet tall, her father picked her up so that she could place the golden star on top, as was tradition when she was younger.

Finally, at three in the afternoon, the tree decorations were complete. After Jack hit the switch for the tree lights, the four stepped back to admire their work, watching the lights slowly flicker between their different colors amidst a rainbow of hanging ornaments.

When Hermione glanced at Harry to her right, the left corner of his mouth was curved just slightly in a half-smile, and his eyes had a gleam of joy as he stared at the tree. He appeared more content than she'd ever seen.

After another second, he turned his head to the left, as though he could sense her watching him. She was happy to see his smile grow a bit when their eyes locked.

She asked, "So, how was your first time decorating a tree?"

"It was good," he answered. "Fun and relaxing. Well, mostly relaxing but with an instance of huge laughter. Can't say I was expecting to become part of the decorations myself," gesturing to the silver tinsel that was still wrapped around his neck.

Patting the gold tinsel on her own head, she replied, "Look at it this way. You gave as good as you got with that." He gave her a full-on grin at that.

Then, Miranda said, "Oh, please don't take those off yet. I brought my camera to originally get a photo of the tree when completed," picking up a disposable camera that was laying on a bookcase shelf. "Could I get a picture of you two standing next to the tree? Harry, don't feel obligated if you wouldn't be comfortable with it, you can refuse if you want."

Harry looked over to Hermione, who just shrugged her shoulders. While he'd been gradually losing some of his nervousness about being at her house, she still didn't want to push him too quickly to do something where he wouldn't be comfortable. It was enough that he'd taken her impulsive idea with the tinsel in stride, rather than becoming embarrassed at getting extra attention.

His answer, however, showed that maybe his timidity was disappearing more quickly than she originally thought. "I'll do it if you will." His eyes betrayed no fear, showing only a full trust in her.

Hermione looked to her mum and gave a half-smile. "Looks like you get your picture, Mum."

"Oh, wonderful! Alright, I'll stand here beside the coffee table, and you two go stand near the tree. I'll direct you if your position doesn't seem right."

Doing as Miranda directed, Hermione ended up standing on Harry's right side, and he was a few inches away from the tree, at a right diagonal in front of it. When Miranda said that their position was good, Hermione couldn't help leaning into Harry's side and putting her left arm around his waist. They glanced at one another and smiled before he then held her with his right arm. When they heard the click of the camera, they both blinked in confusion and turned, seeing Miranda wearing an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry," she told them, "that was too good of a shot to pass up. Is one more alright, since you weren't expecting that one?"

Harry looked to Hermione again, who simply gave him a nod. Then, he said, "Sure, Mrs. Granger. That sounds just fine."

"Great! Alright then, face the camera this time."

As her mum wound the camera up, Hermione squeezed her arm just a bit tighter around Harry. She felt him do the same with his right arm an instant later, though they both kept their heads facing toward the front this time.

Miranda then said, "Alright, are you ready?" When they nodded, she continued, "OK, say cheese!"

"Cheese!" They exclaimed the word at the same time, giving the biggest smiles they could, and then let their arms fall a couple of seconds after they heard the successful click of the camera.

"Thank you both," Miranda said. "I'll make sure to get these developed before you two go back to school. It's always good to have a reminder of a happy memory, isn't it?"

Jack, who had been sitting on the sofa watching events unfold, heartily agreed. "Yep, won't hear any argument from me."

Harry then surprised all of them when he quietly said, "Um, speaking of happy memories, could you maybe show me how your camera works, Mrs. Granger? Since I'm here, I could get a picture of the three of you at the tree, if you wouldn't mind. That way, you have something recent where all of you are together."

Hermione couldn't believe that he was continuing to find ways to deepen her feelings for him, even if it was unknowingly so on his part. It was getting so much harder to stamp down the songs of temptation from her heart.

Looking to her parents, she saw them wearing the same wide-eyed expressions. Then, her dad rose from his seat and spoke. "We wouldn't mind that at all, Harry. That sounds wonderful."

As he moved to stand with Hermione at the tree, her mum beckoned Harry over and showed him the camera. "Now, here's a little gear part, for lack of a better term, that you wind up by pushing it to the right with your thumb. When it won't go any farther, you're ready to take a picture, which you do by pushing in this button on the top-right side of the camera with your index finger. If you hear it click, then you got your picture. These little disposable cameras are simple. I always keep one in my purse since you never know when you'll need one, or just want one for a special memory."

Harry nodded and took the camera, winding it up as Miranda joined the other two at the tree. Hermione ended up being positioned in the middle, with Jack to her left and Miranda to her right. They all wrapped an arm around one another and waited for the signal from Harry.

He took a few seconds until he seemed to be satisfied with the camera's position. He said, "Um, so… are you all ready?" When they silently nodded, he awkwardly continued. "OK then. So… say, cheese!"

The three of them gave huge smiles as they followed the order, and the click of a successful picture sounded a second later. When Harry lowered the camera, Hermione looked from her father to her mother. She felt such a surge of joy at the moment that she couldn't resist turning herself around and wrapping them up in a full hug, feeling them wrap both of their arms around her as well. The family simply stood there, basking in happiness at the fact that they could have this moment after years of trouble and uncertainty.

After a few seconds, they heard another click. Looking over to Harry, he was holding the camera up and wearing a smirk on his face. As he dropped his arms, he then said, "I see what you mean about shots being too good to pass up."

Hermione and her parents all laughed at having been caught unawares by him, and Harry joined in the laughter a second later. Yes, this would definitely be a day to always remember.

-O-

The rest of the day passed relatively calmly. Hermione and her parents spent some time talking about past Christmases, while Harry sat in the armchair and remained quiet, seemingly content just to listen. At one point, after Crookshanks walked into the living room and greeted everyone with a nuzzle, he jumped up into Harry's lap and made himself comfortable for a nap. Hermione teased Harry about having taken control of her cat, to which he gave a sheepish grin and just shrugged.

Eventually, the time reached nine o'clock in the evening. Before her parents left for their room, they actually hit her with something unexpected.

"Hermione," Jack said, "my side of the family was getting together at my parents' house for all of this week, starting today. Since there's talk on the weather about some snow arriving in the next few days, your mum and I figured we could just go there tomorrow afternoon and visit for a few hours before coming back home, since it takes about two hours to drive there. Would you want to tag along, or would you rather stay home with Harry? Assuming you wouldn't wish to go if the three of us did, Harry."

Harry timidly responded, "Would it really be alright if I stayed here, Mr. and Mrs. Granger? I would rather not have to deal with a bunch of strangers that might ask questions that I don't want to answer."

Jack replied, "Of course, Harry, that's perfectly fine. So, Hermione, the question flips back to you."

Hermione was quite conflicted. On one hand, it would be nice to go since she never saw her grandparents very often, especially so after starting at Hogwarts. On the other… she didn't want Harry to be alone.

When she looked over to him, his expression turned completely serious at the question that was probably obvious in her eyes. He gently picked up Crookshanks and set him back down in the armchair before walking over and sitting next to her on the sofa. After a few seconds, Harry quietly spoke to her.

"You should go see them, Hermione, especially if it's been a long while since the last time you may have. I'll be fine, it's OK."

She knew he was right, but his words reminded her so much of those from when he left Australia that she couldn't hide the pain in her eyes. She knew he had seen it since his brow furrowed in concern an instant later, even if he didn't know exactly what she was thinking. Before he could say anything more, however, she blurted out the question on her mind, not giving a damn that her parents were right behind her and witnessing the entire scene.

"Promise me that you'll still be here when we get back? That you won't leave?"

Harry's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open a slight amount, in recognition of what was driving her pain. Unbeknownst to her, her parents looked at one another with sadness at how that night had affected Hermione deeply enough that she felt it necessary to ask such a thing.

But then, Harry's expression became determined. Taking both of her hands in his, he gave a vow. "I promise, on everything that our friendship is, that I won't leave the house and will be here when you return. And I'm so sorry that my actions on that night still hurt you to this day."

Giving his hands a squeeze, she apologetically replied, "No, it's OK. I understood why you left, even if it hurt at the time. And I'm sorry if my flashback to that time is making you think that I have no faith in you. I do trust you, Harry. I just… I guess I just needed to hear the words."

"I can understand that," he said. Then, his eyes glanced at their hands for a second before he quietly continued. "I'll go with you, if you want me to."

Hermione shook her head. "No, go ahead and stay here. You're right that you would most likely get lots of questions, and the whole point of this break is to let you have some peace and quiet. I'll be alright going with Mum and Dad." She gave him a small smile, trying to tell him that everything really was OK between them. He seemed to get it, as he gave a half-smile and nodded before letting go of her hands.

At that point, Miranda walked over and put a hand on their shoulders. She softly asked, "Well, what do you say we all head upstairs and get some rest for the night?"

Hermione replied, "Yeah, alright Mum."

Harry didn't say anything, but simply followed her lead as she stood from the sofa. They all walked upstairs one by one. Hermione and Harry said good night to her parents at the door of the master bedroom, and the two of them went into the bathroom to brush their teeth. And a few minutes later, they were standing at the junction of their rooms, staring at one another.

Not wanting to end the night on a terrible note, she said, "I hope what just happened in the living room didn't ruin the day for you."

"No, not at all," he instantly replied. "It was great getting to actually decorate a tree myself, and I know I'll never forget our silliness with the tinsel." He grinned at that, and it was infectious enough that she followed suit. But then, his expression turned serious again, and he said, "And…"

He paused, and his nervousness was evident as he ran a hand through his messy black hair. After a few seconds, she said, "It's OK, you can tell me."

He nodded before timidly whispering, "I had a good time… sitting on the sofa with you and reading that book together."

If he kept this up, the temptations from her heart were very quickly going to become a constant, no matter how hard she resisted. While she tried to push down their allure, she couldn't stop a beaming smile from reaching her face as she said, "Well, I'm glad. Maybe… we can do that again, or something else that you might enjoy. As long as we're having fun together, I won't care what we do."

He smiled and sheepishly responded, "Yeah, that… I'd like that."

She nodded, and they both just let the silence hold for a few seconds as they gazed at one another. It was broken when they heard a pitter-patter of feet, and they looked away to see Crookshanks trotting down the hall. When he reached them, he gave a nuzzle to Hermione first and Harry second before then darting into Hermione's room.

Hermione, looking back to Harry, then said with a bit of sadness, "I guess we should head to bed, then, if that was any indication."

Harry reluctantly nodded and said, "Yeah, guess so. Well… good night, Hermione."

As he started to turn to his room, she gave into one of her temptations and blurted, "Wait."

He turned back around with a look of concern, but she continued before he could say a word. "Since you didn't have any nightmares last night, well… maybe this will help again." She then leaned in and gave him the same kiss to his cheek as she'd done the previous night.

Pulling away and seeing his eyes just as wide as then, her last words to him were, "Sleep well, Harry." Then, she stepped backwards into her room and closed the door, leaving just enough of a crack open that Crookshanks could slip out if he wanted to leave.

After Hermione changed into her pajamas, turned off her room light, and crawled beneath the bed covers, she let out a deep sigh. And she thought there was even a possibility of going close to two weeks without confessing her feelings to Harry. At the rate that he was completely melting her heart, and the fact that the hours in which they sat and read together were basically a date, she would be lucky to last even a few more days.

But… she trusted Harry. She had to keep her faith in him, above all else. As long as she did that, hopefully things would turn out such that she would at least keep his close friendship. And if she was lucky, if his reaction regarding the time spent together that day might be any indication, maybe they could have something more.


A/N: So yeah, this story definitely won't be finished before Christmas itself. I still have three days of work this week before my Christmas vacation starts, but hopefully I can get a lot more writing done then since I took the entire next week off as vacation time.

I hope the bit of Christmas silliness in this chapter was enjoyable. That was probably my favorite bit here, since it put a smile on my face even while I was writing it.

To everyone that has made it this far, thank you for reading! And if I can't get any more chapters posted this week, I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!