A/N: Connie: Sorry, no kissing for you yet :). You'll have to wait... many chapters for that. At least I hope I can stop myself from writing a kissing scene the first time a get the occasion :).

Worldsapart: Hermione's job issue will be explained as well. Nothing happens without a reason.

You'll have to wait patiently for the next chapter. I'll probably submit it on Monday or Tuesday.

Chapter V

Hermione opened her eyes and stretched. She stood up from the bed lazily and picked up her hairbrush from the floor. She started mindlessly brushing her hair while looking out of the window. After few minutes she yawned and stretched again. She scratched her back and started collecting clothes for the day from her wardrobe. Panties. Check. Sock. Check. Other sock. Check. Pants. Check. Shirt. Check. George's Christmas Present. Check. Sweater. Check. Sho... George's present?... CHRISTMAS! Merlin's Pants it's today! How could I forget?! She quickly grabbed the present and run to the living-room. She sighed with relief when she realised that George was still asleep. She walked over to the fir and placed his present on the floor underneath. That's when she noticed a medium-sized magenta package lying there as well. She opened the little card attached to it and smiled at the messy scrawl.

Hermione,

May it bring smile to your face.

Merry Christmas,

George

She tugged at the yellow ribbon and the package dispelled itself into golden dust. She opened her mouth in silent shock at what she saw inside. Suddenly tears began welling up in her eyes and she choked a sob. She threw herself at the present and hugged it close to her chest. Tears were falling freely from her eyes by now.

"Oh dear, it was supposed to make you smile not cry!" She spun around and looked at George who was looking quite sheepish and uncertain. "Look, if you don't want..." He was brutally interrupted by her flinging herself in his arms. "...What?"

"Thank you... Thank you so much." She said in a quiet voice and hugged him even harder. "Fireball"

"Fireball?"

"Fireball is her name"

Meow.

"I think she likes it." The fiery cat stood up and stretched. She walked over to where Hermione and George were standing and started brushing herself against their legs. That's when Hermione noticed she was still hugging George. She quickly disentangled herself from him and started playing with Fireball to hide her embarrassment. George didn't seem to notice. His gaze was fixed on the package under the tree.

"May I open mine?"

"If you want to... But it's nowhere near as thoughtful as yours..." She was fingering her blouse nervously again. George noticed she did that an awful lot. He walked over to the tree and unwrapped the present. He stood still for a moment. Hermione waited patiently for his reaction.

"Nowhere near as thoughtful? What planet do you come from? This is the best present I have ever gotten. I don't even know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I'm just glad you like it."

"Like it? I love it!" He was grinning widely at her by now, his eyes twinkling in the dim light. He put the present carefully on the couch and walked over to her. He took her hands in his and squeezed them lightly. "I love it. Nothing's going to beat it. Ever." She smiled at him and squeezed his hands back.

"Nothing's going to beat Fireball either."

"Good." He looked her in the eyes and then took a step back. "We'd better prepare ourselves for the day. We're leaving for the Burrow in an hour to help mother with preparations." Hermione nodded and went to the bathroom while George sat on the couch and admired the wooden box. The golden words inscribed on the lid glowed slightly in the semi-darkness.

Seasonings, Spices and Herbs.

Make your kitchen experience unforgettable.

Self-refilling set for advanced cooks.

He opened the box and was greeted with thousands of little compartments, all filled with different substances. Some were in little paper packets, some in tiny glass bottles in all shapes and others in small jars and pots. He took one jar in his hands and read the inscription 'cinnamon' . He poured some on his hand and sniffed. He smiled at the sweet smell that tingled his nostrils. He looked back at the jar and saw that it already refilled itself. Genius... He didn't even go out yet but he wanted to come back already to try cooking something with his new set. He heard Hermione walking out of the bathroom. Hermione... Who would've thought that she was going to become one of my closest friends in a month. If someone told me that I'm going to live with Miss Perfect while we were still at Hogwarts I would've surely treated them with a dungbomb or two! And look at where we are now, happily exchanging gifts with each other and smiling at each other and hugging each other and... This is going nowhere. Get a grip George. He stood up and went to the bathroom hoping that a shower would help him clear his head. It did nothing of the sort. He started thinking about Hermione even more. How she liked his cooking. How she smiled at him when they were talking. How she shared all of her thoughts with him. How her eyes twinkled when she was talking about cats or books or her adventures with Harry and Ron. How they suddenly saddened when she thought about Ron. How she subconsciously placed her head on his shoulder when they were talking late and slowly drifted off to sleep to miraculously wake up in her room next morning. He always carried her to her bed after she had fallen asleep. Stop these thoughts George. She doesn't like you like that. What happened to the whole 'seeing her as another sister' thing? But he couldn't deny the fact that he really started to like her in a more than sisterly way. He walked out of the shower and stood in front of the mirror. Maybe it's just an illusion. You didn't have a woman for a long time now, George. Find yourself a nice witch and all will be back to normal in no time. Hermione would never look at you like that. You too Ron-like for her... Stupid Ron... Stupid freckles! STUPID. RED. HAIR! He slammed his hand into the sink and stood like that for a couple of minutes. Head bent down, his long, red hair hanging loosely around it, water dripping down his back onto the floor. Suddenly he looked up and his startling blue eyes gazed back at him. A plan was formulating in his mind...

"How are you Hermione? Long time no see. Did Ron tell you why he had to work on the Christmas Eve?" Asked Molly while brushing off the invisible dust from Hermione's coat.

"Um... No? Why would he?" Hermione asked tentatively. Don't they know?

"Why, you're his wife, aren't you?" Molly looked at her surprised.

"Well technically yes, but... didn't Ginny tell you?" Hermione started trembling slightly. Did this mean that it was her who had to inform the entire Weasley clan of Ron's adultery? And on Christmas Eve no less? Thank you so. Damn. Much. Ginny.

"Tell me what precisely?" Molly's voice was getting dangerously low.

George flooed into the Burrow to find his family in the living-room, interrogating Hermione. She apparated few minutes before him. They decided that they would come separately not to arise any suspicion. His arrival was unnoticed because the family's attention was solely on Hermione who was fidgeting in the middle of the room. She said something very quietly.

"Sorry, honey, I didn't quite catch that."

"Mrs. Weasley..."

"Molly. How many times did I tell you to call me that."

"Molly. I'm not with your son anymore. We're still married. But we're not together anymore." Hermione was looking everywhere but at Ron's mother.

"How did it happen?" Molly was carefully picking her words. It was obvious that she was trying to contain her anger and listen to the possible reasoning. Hermione couldn't have been more grateful for that.

"About a month ago I caught him and his ex-girlfriend in our bed. Naked. I left straight away. Last time I saw him was when I tried to make him sign our divorce papers about a week ago. He refused again." She was fingering her blouse again. She had no idea what to expect. She felt as if she destroyed Christmas. Suddenly she felt herself being enveloped in a warm embrace.

"No son of mine, listen closely. No. Son. Of. Mine can call himself that, after he cheats on his wife. That's not what I teach my children." Hermione looked up to the warm motherly face. Tears welled up in her eyes and she hugged Molly back with all the power she could muster.Oh, what did I do to be rewarded with such a great, loving family? I don't feel like I deserve it. She felt a pair of arms hugging her from the back, and one from the side and three more. Then she felt a loud hoot and a "Group hug!" from the corner of the room, thumping of feet and a swish. Suddenly a force shook the whole pyramid of people and she knew that George must have pounced on somebody's back. Always the immature kid. She smiled at the thought. "Ugh... George that's enough... Gerroff me!" Ah, poor Charlie. George is twice his size! She shifted her weight and people started stepping back.

She turned around just to see green flames bursting from the fireplace and Fred with Angie appearing. She quickly looked at George. He was standing in the back. His face unreadable. Fred and Angie greeted everybody. Angie nodded at George and excused herself to go to the bathroom. Fred walked over to him. He stared him right in the eyes.

"George."

"Fred." Hermione have never seen them so serious. It was almost unnatural.

"Look, I..."

"Don't. Come over for dinner tomorrow, will you? We haven't had a brotherly talk for a long time now, bro." George tried to smile at Fred but he threw himself at him and hugged him with all his might.

"Oh George! I'm so sorry! I'll never keep anything from you again! Ever!" George patted him on the back and looked at Hermione. He mouthed something that looked like "Help me! I'm suffocating!" to her but before she could take any action Molly's yell could be heard from the kitchen.

"Could you please end your hugfest and help in the kitchen boys!" Fred disentangled himself from George and they went to the kitchen arm in arm. Hermione smiled. Things were getting back to normal. Although she knew that George isn't over yet and that he's planning something special for Fred. She recognized the mysterious twinkle in his eyes.

Hours passed and everyone was happily chatting, taking turns in the kitchen and generally having a great time. Hermione spent most of that time talking to Ginny and Angelina about the upcoming wedding. Angelina wanted them to be her bridesmaids along with Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet who was her Maid of Honour.

"George will be Fred's Best Man if he agrees. But I doubt he won't. Fred told me that they talked about it when they were young. Agreed that they'll do this for each other. So even with recent events I pretty sure he'll agree. Lee Jordan already agreed to be one of the groomsmen. He's Katie's husband, you know? I never suspected that they would hook up." Hermione and Ginny only nodded. They didn't really know Lee, Katie or Alicia. They weren't spending much time together when they were at school. "Now that Fred's getting married, George is the last Weasley to pop the question. Although Fred says we won't see that coming for a while. He says George has never had a serious girlfriend in his life. His longest relationship lasted two days." Now Hermione was getting interested. Ginny laughed.

"Sorry Angie but I will have to disagree with you on that."

"Oh?"

"There was that Sara girl. Their first date was on Friday and he broke it off first thing on Monday. That makes it three days."

"Ah. I apologise for my tremendous mistake! How could I miss one day!" She faked remorse and they burst out laughing.

"What are you ladies talking about?" Oh great, George.

"Your sex life." Was Ginny's short and blunt reply.

"Oh? And what pray tell, dear sister of mine, did you come up with to make you laugh so hard?"

"Ah, you see, Hermione here was just telling us how little your equi..."

"Angie!!" Hermione blushed furiously and looked at George shaking her head violently. "George I said nothing of that sort! I swear!" George was laughing openly by know and Angie tried to calm Hermione down.

"Hermione! Relax! I was just joking! Look at him. He knows that." Hermione forced herself to calm down and blushed even more at her stupid behaviour. George looked at her with mirth in his eyes, shook his head slightly and walked over to where his brothers were having a heated discussion about Quidditch.

Hermione sat on the couch and hid her head in her hands trying to hide her blush. Why did I have to make such a fool of myself? He knew I would never say something like that. I should've played along. Stupid me.

"Do you want to tell me something Hermione?" She looked up at Ginny to find her looking at her questioningly.

"Tell you something? What do you mean?"

"You reacted as if you actually had the opportunity to see... I won't end that sentence. It's my brother we're talking about. Thinking about it makes me wanna puke." She laughed. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Well, I..."

"You don't know?!"

"Angie, no, don't..."

"They've been living together for the last month!"

End of Chapter V