Hermione woke up early Christmas Morning, to the feeling of a new weight on her feet. She groped for her wand, only to abruptly realize she wasn't allowed to cast even a simple Lumos to illuminate her room. As she groped for her lamp in the dark, she remembered that she'd had her mother register the house as a magical household, and she could do as she damn well pleased.

"Lumos."

The room softly illuminated, Hermione peered over her feet. There was a pile of packages – one that hadn't been there the night before. Hermione stared at it, wondering. There was no way owls had gotten into her room to drop them at her feet. So… what had?

Maybe there was a Magical Christmas Gift Delivery Spell that Hermione has missed somewhere. Oh well. She'd sent all her gifts by owl, but she'd try to learn for next year.

Hermione moved them all to her desk and promptly returned to sleep.

When Hermione reawoke, it was to the sound of her father bellowing in the kitchen at the much more reasonable hour of nine. Hermione couldn't help the smile spreading onto her face at her father yelling at the frying pan as she dressed, and it was with a happy fondness for her parents and a certain excitement for Christmas that she descended the stairs, mysterious gifts clutched in her arms.

"Happy Christmas, dear!"

Hermione barely had time to drop her gifts onto the couch before she was swept up in a hug.

"Happy Christmas, Mum."

"Happy Christmas, Hermione!" her father called from the kitchen, where he was attempting to make a traditional Christmas breakfast. Hermione laughed.

"Happy Christmas, Dad."

Hermione put her gifts under the tree and circled it, paying attention to the sizes and shapes of the boxes. She'd gotten more than she'd expected. Then again, she'd sent more than she probably needed to, not wanting to offend anyone. It made sense if the others did so too.

After a Christmas breakfast of French toast (eventually) and Monkey Bread, the Granger family settled happily around the Christmas tree with mugs of hot chocolate and began opening gifts.

Her parents had been wonderful. Hermione had received several books, as well as a book token to get five more that she wanted. They'd also gotten her some new clothes, as well as robes – nice, casual robes that she could wear on the weekends or after classes, instead of wearing her uniform all the time. She especially liked the fitted, emerald green ones they'd gotten her – there were hidden pockets sewn into it all over the place, and they had a bit of a dramatic flow when she walked. She felt like a medieval princess wearing them, and she was excited to be able to put bluebell flames in all those pockets to keep her warm.

Hermione had received a box of sugar quills from Harry, which amused her – she'd sent him chocolate frogs herself. From Neville, she'd received a set of real raven quills, which were considerably nicer than the ones she usually wrote with. It was just borderline of a bit much for a gift for a friend, but it was incredibly thoughtful. Hermione was glad she'd put thought into Neville's gift – she'd sent him a small Muggle planter of plants he could grow in his dorm room.

Ron hadn't sent her anything. Hermione smirked to herself and wondered if he'd feel ashamed of that fact after opening her gift. She'd sent him a classic Chudley Cannons photobook from the 70s that she'd found in a second-hand bookstore. She knew he wouldn't be able to resist it, and the fact it was so thoughtful would shame him all the more.

Hermione had sent all her dormmates Muggle makeup. She'd send Tracy and Millie actual nice palettes of eyeshadows that had run her 20 pounds each. Daphne had gotten a smaller palette, and Pansy got an extra stick of mascara. That'd been all Hermione was willing to do for Pansy; despite the truce over the Foe declaration, Pansy was still a snob.

Tracey and Millie seemed to have discussed what to get her – Millie sent her a new homework planner for the new year, and Tracey sent her a set of beautiful colored inks. Hermione loved the gift; she could color-code now to her heart's content. Daphne sent her an empty diary, which was nice, and Pansy sent her a set of gobstones, which had Hermione's eyes narrowing. Gobstones were found in every wizarding household, and to send a set as a gift was to imply that the receiver clearly didn't have one already, as they didn't belong to a true wizarding household.

Regardless of the fact that Hermione didn't own a set of gobstones, she knew that she'd been slighted.

The gifts from the guys of her dorm were the most unexpected. Hermione had sent Crabbe and Goyle cauldron cakes – impersonal, but still enjoyable. Crabbe and Goyle had each sent her a box of chocolates, but from the look of it, they were from some fancy chocolatier Hermione had never heard of. They were preassembled selections, but Hermione was sure her family would enjoy them over Christmas. She hadn't expected a gift from either of them, but she supposed that quietly tutoring them during Charms had given them a feeling of obligation.

She laughed when she got to Theo's present – The Art of Potions. It was the exact same book she'd sent to him as a gift after it had piqued her interest in Flourish and Blotts. She wondered if Theo was looking at his own gift from her at this exact moment with wry amusement, or if the coincidence had actually provoked a laugh from her austere classmate.

Blaise had sent her a chess set. It was a very nice chess set, and it seemed to be able to shrink and grow, but Hermione wasn't sure why he'd sent one to her. They'd taken up flirting over checkers in the evenings instead – they'd both agreed she was hopeless at chess. A chess set seemed almost like an insult, only it was nice. Resolving that there was some ulterior meaning behind the gift she had yet to discover, she set the matter aside.

Hermione had sent Blaise a Go set as a gift – it was a very strategic game that took years to master, and she thought it'd be fun for them to learn together. She felt a mild satisfaction that they'd both sent each other games – she's at least gotten that gift-giving level right.

She left the gift from Draco as the last from the Slytherins.

Truthfully, Hermione hadn't known what to get Draco for Christmas. They weren't friends, and they barely spoke, but Draco was the undeniable Prince of Slytherin, and she felt duty-bound to give him a gift, almost as if she owed him fealty. None of the suggestions in her book had helped – what do you get a person who can buy anything they want? – so she had set out to give him something he didn't have yet, regardless of any weird implications.

She'd sent him beautiful glass dragon she'd gotten from a Muggle collectibles store. It had been pricey, but it was worth it – the dragon was a subtle blue color, and looked as if it were frozen in time, about to blow fire at anyone who approached it. She'd enchanted it to sparkle in the light more than glass usually did. She'd wanted to enchant it to blow bluebell flames, but she'd found the magic beyond her. Layering spells like that was advanced.

She hadn't expected a gift from Draco. Draco Malfoy was too high up to just dole out gifts; the Malfoys probably received loads of gifts from people hoping to curry favor with them, and probably only sent a scarce few out to their most loyal allies. The fact that Draco had sent her a gift… Hermione didn't really know what to think about it. Was it because she was the best in their class, and he didn't want her as a foe?

"Hermione?" her mother said gently. "Aren't you going to open it?"

Carefully, Hermione undid the wrapping, setting the gorgeous bow aside for later reuse. She was left with a large velvet-covered box in her hands. Her heart thudding oddly hard in her chest, she opened it.

A strange sight greeted her. The box was clearly a jewelry box – there was a place for a necklace, as well as what Hermione presumed would be a matching set of earrings. However, there wasn't jewelry in the box. Instead, there was a cashmere scarf in Slytherin colors that came out of the box like a magician's scarves coming from his sleeve, and a finely-wrought pin of the Slytherin crest.

"Hermione?" her dad prodded. "Who is that from?"

Hermione answered him absently, staring at the box. There was a clear meaning here, if only she could grasp it. To send such things in an empty jewelry box… was this a subtle slight? Implying she'd never be good enough to receive jewelry from a guy? Or did this hold some other meaning? Giving someone clothes was almost a pre-courting gift, she'd gathered, though giving gifts that had to do with school pride was mostly a generic present and an okay area. Draco had given her a scarf that clearly hadn't come from the uniform store, and the pin… she'd never seen pins like this before. Where had it come from?

Her mother had pins like this, that she pinned to her collar sometimes when she dressed up. She kept them in her jewelry box.

So… he'd given her clothing and jewelry, really, only he hadn't, not in a way that mattered. What did that mean?

Her head starting to hurt, Hermione set the box aside to ponder more later.

There were only a few left. Ernie had sent her a book on modeling and posing, which made Hermione laugh. She'd sent him a book on Muggle photography techniques herself as a playful taunt. She hadn't expected a gift at all, let alone one like this. Ernie had probably opened her gift up early and sent back a retort.

The next was a larger box from Anthony Goldstein. Hermione shook it lightly, hearing no noise, and opened it.

Inside was a thick woolen cape, dyed a beautiful deep blue. It was folded elegantly, resting on teal and silver tissue paper, and the tag proclaimed it was from Twilfitt and Tattings. On top of it was a decorated invitation to his family's annual Christmas party, to be held in two days' time.

"Oooh," her mother said appreciatively. "That's stunning. Who sent you that?"

"A boy at school," Hermione admitted. "I think he likes me."

Her dad laughed. "Hermione, he definitely fancies you. A boy doesn't send a girl something like that for Christmas if they're just friends."

Hermione took out the cape and tried it on, swirling around. It was warm, and the fabric felt soft, especially for a wool. It was very, very nice.

"It looks great," her mother said decisively. "You must be sure to tell him thank you."

"I will," Hermione said automatically. She paused. "He invited me to his family's holiday party as well."

Her parents exchanged a look, putting on carefully-neutral expressions.

"And what do you think of that, Hermione?" her father asked.

"I think it's a bit much," Hermione admitted. "Him sending me a gift like this is already a pretty dramatic statement in the wizarding world. Going to meet his family would be a lot."

Her mother nodded approvingly.

"It's good that we're having our own private family party that night then, isn't it?" she said, her eyes sparkling. "It gives you the perfect excuse to decline his kind invitation."

"We are?" her dad asked. Her mother shot her father a look and kicked him lightly. Hermione giggled. "Right! Right." Her father cleared his throat. "Yes. Of course. Of course we are."

Hermione giggled as her mother began trying to tickle her father. Turning back to the tree, Hermione ripped open the last present. It turned out to be an envelope, which she ripped open as well. A coin fell from the envelope, and Hermione rapidly scanned the letter.

Miss Granger,

This coin is a Portkey. If you are holding onto it at 11pm the night of December 31st, it will bring you to an outside location where I will be standing. Should you arrive at such place, you might learn something you have been wanting to.

You may assure your parents (if you tell them) that you will be returned by 2am.

Yours,

Professor Snape

Hermione clutched the letter to her chest and pocketed the coin, her smile threatening to break her face.