It didn't take Hunter long to find a fault in his plan. He had no idea what would be an appropriate present to give a girl, especially a girl he liked. Never before had he had to get a Christmas present for a girl, other than his own mother. This was very troubling. There was just over a week until the last Hogsmeade trip of the term. Then he would be returning home for the holiday. The present had to be perfect. If Hallie liked it, he would hopefully be one step closer to being with her. He would have to ask a girl. The thing was he did not have a lot of girl friends. There was only one solution to this problem, and he absolutely hated it.

Hunter did not know when he would have a chance to ask, and it wasn't something he was looking forward to. The opportunity arose the next Tuesday after Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Hey, Deanna, do you think I could have a private word?"

"Of course you can," she said with a sly look. They walked down the corridor together until Deanna pulled them into an empty classroom. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I needed to ask you a question. I couldn't think of anyone else I could go to. It's about Hallie. I want to get her a Christmas present, but I don't know what to get her. What would you suggest I get her?"

"Well, I guess it all depends on what she likes," she began to move closer as Hunter backed himself into a corner. "You could get her some flowers... or candy... or nice jewelry... or this..." She was kissing him for a couple seconds before Hunter realized what was going on and pushed her away.

"What do you think you're doing!" he bellowed at her, his eyes filled with rage. "You're dating my best friend." Hunter went for the door, but it was quickly blocked. "Let me out!"

"I don't know what you could possibly see in her. She can't be as great as me. And she definitely doesn't have these." At this she pointed down to her chest. "You could have them whenever you wanted if you would come over to my side."

"You know, there are more important things in the world than sex. I love Hallie because she's caring, and sweet, and smart, funny, and she makes me smile no matter what!" He just said that he loved her. Never before had he said that out loud. It was a mistake. He couldn't love her. "I mean, I like her because of that stuff."

"Yeah, but she can't give you all the pleasure I can," she said, as she started advancing on him again. Hunter was prepared this time.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Deanna went rigid and fell over onto the hard floor. Hunter stepped over her and out the door, still fuming. He ran into James in the Common Room.

"What's wrong with you?" James asked.

"Your girlfriend is mental! She just kissed me!" he shouted back.

James laughed at this. "Are you sure you weren't just day dreaming? I mean, she is way out of your league. You're just jealous that I can actually get a girlfriend and you can't. It's not my fault that the best you can do is some Muggle!" James said, as his face turned a shade of dark red.

Hunter launched himself at James, trying with all his might to inflict some sort of pain on his friend. He was fed up with his friend's attitude of late. Seeing the fight start, Gale jumped up from his seat on the couch and easily broke the two friends apart. James turned on his heel and left the Common Room.

"What's your problem?" Gale asked as calmly as possible. Hunter retold everything that happened from after class to the fight. "Don't worry about that. It's their problem. Look on the bright side. It's almost Christmas. You get to go home and see your girl."

"Yeah, well, she's not my girl," was all he could manage to reply.

"You know what I mean." A smile creeped its way onto Hunter's face. At least one good thing did come from this: he got some ideas for "his girl."

That Saturday morning, Hunter got dressed and prepared to go to Hogsmeade. This was his only chance to get his present for Hallie. The next day he would be going home for the holidays. He had not talked to or even acknowledged James since their fight. He felt that there were better things to worry about. In the Common Room waiting were Gale and Hunter's fellow sixth year, Shawn Isner.

It was a cold, windy day. The three Gryffindors decided to visit The Three Broomsticks first to warm up with some butterbeer. They discussed the Quidditch season and different strategies. Hunter was paying just enough attention to interject a comment every now and then. He just wanted to get his shopping for the day done. After an hour, or so, Hunter started getting anxious.

"Hey, let's get going. I want to get back to the castle so I can pack," he said.

"No you don't. You just want to go buy that girl's Christmas present," Gale replied in a sarcastic tone.

"And there's that," Hunter said, and the three boys laughed. They paid for the drinks and left the pub.

"Lead the way, Romeo," Gale laughed, causing Hunter to punch him. They worked their way up to Tomes and Scrolls, the local bookstore. Hallie loved books, so a book was a great gift idea. The problem was most of the books in the store were magical in some way. After quite a bit of searching Hunter happened upon one of his favorite books from his childhood, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. It may be a bunch of fairy tales, but he figured that Hallie would enjoy them.

"You're getting her that?" Gale asked.

"How am I supposed to know what would be a good gift? Do I look like a girl?... Don't answer that," Hunter replied. He purchased the book and went down to Honeyduke's and bought some chocolate. The last stop of the afternoon was the jewelry store.

"Every girl likes jewelry, right?" Hunter said as they entered the store. He definitely had no clue about jewels. With the help of Gale and Shawn; Hunter chose a pair of silver earrings with rubies. Pleased with his purchases of the day, Hunter returned to the castle to finish packing. Everything was ready for the trip home. He crawled into bed knowing that within forty-eight hours he could be seeing Hallie again. He couldn't believe it! "Don't lie to me," he told himself as he drifted off to sleep.