Day Nine - Christmas Tree
Hermione is suspicious of Fred and George asking her and her friends to help pick out a Christmas tree.
Hermione was wondering how she got dragged into going to pick out a Christmas tree with Fred and George. They had managed to drag Ron, Harry and Ginny into it too, and Hermione was sure they were up to something. You don't need six
people to pick out a Christmas tree.
As they walked around the tree lot, she kept an eye on the twins, who didn't seem to be up to anything, at least not that she could tell so far. Half an hour later, the twins had finally decided on one of the larger trees, and asked Hermione to help them out with the payment. It was a muggle tree lot and they weren't too familiar with muggle money yet.
'Is this the reason you asked me to come along?' She asked suspiciously. 'To handle the money? That's it?'
Fred and George exchanged a confused look.
'Well, it's not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons,' Fred told her.
'We just thought it'd be fun to have you guys come along and help us decorate it when we got it back to the flat,' George told her.
'Really?' Hermione asked.
'Yeah, why? What did you think?' Fred asked her amusedly.
Hermione sighed.
'I honestly thought you were both up to something. Some prank or something,' she confessed. 'It just seemed suspicious that you invited us all to help pick out a tree. I mean, who needs six people to pick out a Christmas tree?' She defended her suspicions.
'A fair point,' George shrugged.
'But as it's Christmas,' Fred continued, 'we've decided to take a break from pranking too much. We really did just think it would be fun to have you all round to decorate the tree after helping us pick one out.'
'Well, that's nice of you both,' she grinned widely. 'Though I suppose the two of you getting us to help decorate your tree because you're too lazy to do it all yourselves is kind of making me feel like I was right to be suspicious,' she teased.
George gasped in mock offense.
'Why Hermione, how dare you?' He joked.
'Okay, come on, let's get this tree bought so we can get it back to your flat. The others look freezing and like they're ready to murder you both for dragging them along.'
The twins followed Hermione's line of sight and smirked. She was right. Harry, Ron and Ginny were all stood shivering and glaring at them.
'Yeah you're right, best get a move on,' George agreed.
They paid for the tree and Fred and George worked together to carry it off the lot and to a secluded spot nearby. They shrunk it down so George could slip it into his pocket and they all apparated back to the twins flat in Diagon Alley.
Once back in the flat, George took the tree back out of his flat and enlarged it again to its proper size.
'So, where shall we put this bad boy?' Fred asked the others as he handed out mugs of hot chocolate.
'How about the corner near the window?' Ginny suggested. The others agreed, so the twins moved the tree over, leaving enough space that everyone could get all the way around it.
'Okay, time for you guys to help us decorate it,' George told them all.
Harry and Ron simply groaned while Ginny squealed in delight. She loved decorating for Christmas. She ran to help Fred get out the decorations while Harry and Ron grumbled and sat themselves on the sofa out the way, hoping they wouldn't have to do much.
'We know Ginny loves decorating for Christmas,' George told Hermione quietly from next to the tree. 'That's why we asked you all over to help. We knew she'd love it and thought it would be more fun for her to have her boyfriend and best friend here too. And with you and Harry here we couldn't not invite Ron. We know those two won't really help.'
'Aw George, that's so sweet of you!' Hermione gushed.
'Well, what can I say,' George said modestly. 'I guess I'm just a sweet guy.'
The rest of the day passed with Hermione and Ginny decorating the tree, with a little help from Fred and George, while Harry and Ron sat watching from the sofa drinking hot chocolate and butter beer. All in all, it was a successful day.