After dinner we all went into the living room to listen to more Christmas carols, and to play games. It was getting late, and I was beginning to wonder when George actually intended on meeting with me. I was sitting in the corner of the room by the fire reading the book Harry had gotten me.
"Hey, Love." Someone said, drawing me out of my book. I lifted my eyes from the page and met George's bright blue eyes looking down at me. A smile instantly lifted my lips and I laid my book aside. He was standing in front of me with his hand outstretched , I took his proffered hand and he pulled me up in one easy motion. I hadn't quite been ready for the extra momentum I had, and I ended up smacking into George's chest.
"Woah," he said, steadying me.
"Guess you don't know your own strength." I said, smiling coyly. I ran my hand up his chest palm down, admiring his strong build. "You wrote something about Mistletoe earlier?" I said, removing my eyes from his chest, but keeping my hands on it. "How about we find some?" I finished, glancing at all the other people in the room. None had noticed us, but I wanted to get away because I wanted to give him his present too. After all, today was our one year anniversary of dating. It seemed like it had been a lot longer than that, but shorter too.
George grabbed the hand I had resting on his chest and held it in his hand. "Kitchen?" he asked quietly. I nodded my head, smiling excitedly. He turned around, still holding my hand, and pulled me after him towards the kitchen. He walked up to the table before turning towards me.
"Hold on just a second, I left your present upstairs in Fred's and my room."
"That's funny, I left your present in my room." I replied, smiling.
"Hey guys!" A voice exclaimed behind us. I turned around to see Harry and Ron coming into the kitchen. They had the chess board in their hands as well as two empty glasses. "We're about to play some chest, wanna join us?" Ron asked, a big grin on his face. I resisted the urge to glare at them as I clutched George's hand.
"Actually, we were just headed upstairs, George promised to help me on my charm paper."
"You mean you two are going upstairs all alone and un-chaperoned?" Ron asked, grinning wickedly.
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" I asked, not giving George a chance to respond. I had dropped his hand and stepped forward, putting my hands on my hips and narrowing my eyes. Ron paled at the sight of my mad self and took a small step back.
"No, no problem." He said, raising his hands defensively.
"Good." I replied, backing up and grabbing George's hand. I turned around and ran up the stairs, pulling him up behind me. I didn't stop until I reached his room.
"Okay, you go grab your present, and meet me in Ginny's room." He nodded his head and ducked into his room. I turned around and went to Ginny rooms, sitting down on my cot and grabbing his present off my pillow. I sat on the edge of the cot, swinging my legs as I waited for George. He didn't keep me waiting for long. He ran into the room, a huge smile on his face. He sat down next to me on the cot, placing the present in my hands. I handed him my present and we sat there facing each other, both wearing equally large grins.
"Open yours first." George said after a moment. I nodded my head and lowered my eyes, examining the brightly rainbow colored paper excitedly. It wasn't very large, no more than five inches across and only two inches deep. I peeled the paper off carefully, being careful not to rip the paper. It was a box inside, perfectly white and shiny. I lifted its lid slowly, feeling excited and happy.
Inside, on top of a black silk cushion, were two bracelets. One was a gold band, extremely thin and delicate looking, and the other was a much chunkier hemp bracelet.
"It's beautiful," I breathed, looking up at George. He smiled even wider, looking elated. He reached into the box and grabbed the gold bracelet out of the box and gently clasped it around my wrist. He then put the hemp one on his own wrist.
"I charmed these to do two things. One, if your ever in trouble, rotate it twice counter clockwise and it'll open up a apparition link to me, so all you'll have to do is disapparate and you'll reappear wherever I am. Two, if you ever need me, you can rotate it twice clockwise and it'll make my band grow warm, then I can just apparate to you. It's also got the strongest shield charm Fred and I can make on it. Mine
does the same as yours." He finished. Tears filled my eyes and I couldn't speak past the lump that had just formed in my throat.
George looked at me nervously, his smile faltering as he tried to gage my reaction. "If you don't want to wear it that's fine with me, I won't be offended." Finding myself still unable to speak, I did the only thing I could, I grabbed him in a tight hug and pressed a firm kiss to his lips, letting that speak for me.
I pulled back a minute later, smiling happily as I examined my new bracelet. I looked back up to see George grinning a large, toothy, goofy, grin that made my heart flutter.
"Open yours up now." I blurted out, eager to see if he liked his gift. It had taken me forever to pick it out. He obligingly picked up the package, looking as excited as a two year old. He had the paper off in two seconds, before grabbing the first object out of the box.
"A 1001 Practical Jokes for Every Occasion." He read aloud, a grin forming on his lips. He reached for the next object and his grin grew even wider. He pulled out a ticket and read it aloud. "This is good for one home cooked dinner from Hermione, whenever you want it. (So long as it's not the night before an exam.)" He laughed at the last line before pulling out the last object. It was a black pen with a bold red tip.
"What's this for?" he asked, both excited and curious. I grinned even wider and scooted closer to him grabbing the pen from his hand.
"This is my own invention. It's able to write a message on the wall in Hogwarts above your swamp, from anywhere." His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He gaped at me for a moment before pulling me into a hug.
"That is so cool!" He exclaimed, squeezing me tight.
Turns out we didn't need the Mistletoe after all.
I had to leave the Burrow early the next day and return to my parent's house. I spent the remainder of the holiday with them, and before I knew it, it was new years eve. It was 11:50 pm, and I was leaving my room to go way wait for midnight outside. I walked out onto our deck and sat down on the porch swing, wrapped securely in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate. Ever since I was eight years old I'd greeted the new years this way, outside, under the stars alone.
This had always been the most magical spot for me, outside at night. When I was younger, the vastness of the night sky would scare me, but now, I found it oddly comforting. Tonight though, I wanted to be alone because I was sad. I missed George. This was our second new years as a couple, and I hadn't got to see him for either one. It's probably just a silly muggle tradition, kissing your love at the stroke of midnight, but I would have loved to have George around to kiss, to hug, to just talk to.
I settled in on the bench, wrapping the blanket around my shoulders more tightly as I looked for my favorite constellations. I found Ursa Major first, and was just looking for Ursa Minor when something cold, hard, and wet hit me in the stomach. I hadn't been prepared for the attacking snowball, and I dropped my mug at it's impact.
A loud, joyful laugh filled the air, and the familiarity of it caused me to jump off the porch swing and squeal in delight.
"George?" I called, being carefully to whisper as I shot a silencing charm at the house. I ran into the yard, my eyes searching the trees furiously for any sign of red hair.
WHAM
Another snowball hit me right in the back. I fell forward, landing in the snow. Fine, if he wanted a snow ball fight, he'd get one. I rolled to the left, ducking behind a bush and pulled my wand out. An evil grim lifted my lips as I sent a locating charm out into the yard while I started making a pile of snow balls.
My charm flashed over by the base of a tree in the corner of the yard and I shot my first snowball at it. I heard a yelp, and then a laugh. I grabbed another snowball and threw it, laughing with George.
"Woo!" He yelled, leaping from behind his tree to the right of it, snowballs firing at me. "It's war now!" I laughed excitedly and summoned more snowballs, throwing them at him as fast as I could make them. He kept up a steady stream of snowballs to, and pretty soon, I lost sight of him through the constant stream of snowballs.
I bent down to grab more snow, feeling elated and excited, when I was pulled up by strong, warm arms. George pinned my arms to my side before spinning me around and grinning down at me. His shaggy ginger locks were splayed to his forehead and covered with spatters of snow. His cheeks were pink from the cold, and his clothes were also covered with snow. But his eyes were bright and sparkled in the moonlight.
"Happy new year, Love." He whispered before swooping down and claiming my lips in a searing kiss. I leaned up into him, deepening the kiss eagerly as he released his hold on my arms. He brought one hand up to my hair and buried it in my curls, pulling my face closer to his while his other hand found its way around my waist and tugged it closer to him too. I moved my arms up to his neck, locking them there as I dragged my fingers through his flaming hair.
Curse the fact that I have to breathe, I never would have broken that wonderful kiss otherwise. George looked like he felt the same as we broke apart, gasping for air but still holding onto each other tightly.
"How did you get here?" I finally asked, once I was able to breath normally again.
"Our bracelets, remember?" He said, grinning at me. I blushed, feeling embarrassed.
"Oh, that's right…"
"HERMIONE!" Dad's voice called from inside. He'd want me to come in now, he never let me stay out long after midnight, darn it.
"Coming Dad!" I called back, still holding onto George. I turned my head back, looking up at him and once again tried to memorize his features. It would be another week before I saw him at Platform 9 ¾ and then, who knew how long it would be till I saw him again.
"I'll see you soon , Love." He whispered, stroking my cheek softly before he let go of me and stepped back. He smiled his biggest grin before disappearing.
"Dream of me tonight!" and then he was gone with a crack.
I made it up to my room after having wished both my parents a happy new year. I closed the door behind me and marked another day off on my calendar before I changed into my night gown. I braided my hair and washed my face and then folded back the covers on my bed. I laid my wand on my bed stand and lowered myself onto my bed.
BANG
The moment I touched the mattress an explosion went off from underneath my bed. Fireworks flew out from under it, and started flitting about the room, filling it with flames of bright colors.
'Happy New Year' spelled out over my bed in a vibrant orange, and a laugh escaped my lips.
Looks like I wouldn't have any trouble dreaming of my George tonight.