Hermione sat in the girl's dormitory thinking over what gift to get for her Secret Santa.
She looked down at her parchment. In loopy, big round letters it said LUNA LOVEGOOD. Hermione had no idea what to get the odd girl, but whatever it was she had to make sure it matched Luna's personality.
It was well known that Luna was obsessed with Crumple Horned Snorkacks. Hermione pondered whether to get her something relating to this mysterious beast, but she had no idea what a Snorkack was. She doubted Luna herself had any idea what it was either.
She decided to go talk to Luna and find out what she could about the crazy girl.
After a reasonable amount of searching the corridors and classrooms, she found Luna crouching behind Hagrid's hut, muttering to herself. Hermione decided to approach her.
"Hi Luna! What are you doing?"
Luna eyed her suspiciously. "Are you a Fubbla Fijooble?" she asked.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "No, I am not a...Fubbla Fijooble...I'm Hermione! Can I talk to you for a minute, Luna?"
"Sure. I was just waiting for my liquid duck to return from it's walk. You don't think it could've been eaten by a Dorkink Snakkink Snoodle, do you?"
Hermione chose to ignore this rather odd question. "Could you tell me about yourself? I was thinking that we should get to know each other better."
Luna stood up. "My name is Luna Lovegood. I go to Hogwarts, and my favorite color is tickle-me-vomit. I have 29 pets, and my father is the editor of 'The Quibbler.' My mother died when I was nine, and I want to become a naturalist. I wish I was born in New Zealand, and people fascinate me. I enjoy thinking as well as watching people go about their daily lives."
"You stalk people???" exclaimed Hermione. Luna cocked her head and then nodded.
"It's not stalking though, it's just observing and following!"
"That's called stalking..."
Luna smiled brightly. "Alright." Deciding that this interview was not going anywhere, Hermione politely excused herself, and started walking around Hogwarts, pondering her gift dilemma.
She now knew that Luna loved pets and people. She began thinking of different gift possibilities. A motion detector? No, she certainly did not want to encourage her idea of 'observing people'. A pet? Luna probably had them all, and you can't have any rare pets in Hogwarts. After a few minutes, Hermione began to be very frustrated. She kicked a rock which flew into the air and struck Terry Boot on the head. For the second time that day, Terry glared at Hermione menacingly.
Struck with an ingenious idea, Hermione ran to where she had kicked the rock. Under the impression that Hermione was running to apologize, Terry put on a very hurt face. Hermione ran past him. "Hey!" he shouted. Poor Terry.
Reaching the rock, Hermione exclaimed "Yes!" She pumped her fist into the air. "This is the perfect gift! Luna will be sure to love it!!"
Ginny
Ginny stood in Hogsmeade, looking down the row of shops before her. She looked down at the paper in her glove. Written in slanted, sharp handwriting was DRACO MALFOY (IS DA BOMB). Ginny couldn't believe that she had gotten Malfoy. People expected here to be disgusted, but in truth she was quite pleased.
This was finally an innocent chance for her to do something nice for Malfoy without anyone questioning her motives. The last time she had tried to be nice to Malfoy, Ron had rushed her off to the Hospital Wing. She had not risked that again. Now however, she had a perfectly good reason to be nice to him.
She had to get him a gift that he would love. But she had to do it in a very subtle manner. Not knowing Malfoy very well, she only had a slight idea on what he would like, but it would have to do.
She crumpled the paper back into her pocket and started to walk down the road. The first shop she entered was called FAKE CHEESE FOR THE ELDERLY. She probably shouldn't have gone in because it smelled like a mixture of old cheese and old people. She quickly left the store because she was not sure why she had come in in the first place. She decided to try HONEYDUKES figuring that everybody loves sweets. After browsing the shelves for quite some time, Ginny decided on a heart shaped chocolate lollipop that said MERRY CHRISTMAS in strawberry frosting. She decided is was a safe way to go to communicate to her crush.
As she stepped to the counter, Ginny turned around and looked across the street.
And there she saw it.
The perfect gift. She quickly abandoned the lollipop and rushed over to see how much it cost. It was brown Italian leather with a beautifully embroidered strap on the side. She entered the store, and when she saw the price she practically fainted. If she bought it, she wouldn't have enough money to buy 'You Know Who's Beautifying Kit.' From Wizardmart. Still, she would never find a better gift for Malfoy.
Taking a deep breath, she fished out her wallet and counted out the money. She had just enough. She took down the item, and walked over to the counter, admiring how Italian it felt in her hands. She hoped desperately that Draco would like it. Or else she was screwed.