Christmas morning, Hermione awoke to excited shrieks and loud whispers from her dormmates. Giving up her attempt at sleeping in, Hermione rolled over and got up as well, noticing she had a pile of presents at the foot of her bed.
"Oh, good! Everyone's up!" Tracey said, pleased. She hurled a wrapped package across the room. "Pansy, you next!"
Pansy caught the package with surprising agility, giving Tracey a disdainful look. "Not going to let Granger at least freshen up? Or attempt to calm the rosebush growing out of her head?"
Hermione snickered. "I'm fine," she said. "Go ahead."
"Nah," Tracey said, turning a bit red. "We'll wait."
Once Hermione had gone to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and tied back her hair, she felt much better and properly awake, and the present opening resumed. Tracey had given Pansy a fake crystal ball.
"You ask it a question," Tracey said, grinning, "and it'll just spell out the answer for you."
Pansy raised an eyebrow, but obligingly turned to the crystal ball. "Am I going to have a good time at the Yule Ball tonight?"
The crystal ball glowed, before a phantom voice declared, "Probably, as long as you aren't a bitch about it."
Pansy gasped as they all shrieked and giggled, scandalized.
"Ask about Tracey!" Daphne said, delightfully horrified.
"Is Tracey going to have a good time tonight?" Pansy asked the crystal ball, a gleam to her eye.
"Ask again later. I'm busy," the crystal ball declared, and Pansy scowled, rolling her eyes. Tracey looked a little relieved.
"Presents!" Hermione said, taking out four wrapped packages and tossing one to each of her dormmates. "Catch!"
At Hermione's insistence, they all opened them simultaneously. She'd gotten everyone flannel Christmas pajamas – thoroughly muggle garments.
"At my house, we all wear our Christmas pajamas on Christmas morning to open gifts," Hermione explained. "They're much warmer than a nightgown."
"These are fun! Thanks Hermione!" Tracey said, immediately taking off her nightgown to put on her new pajamas. Hers were a bright sky blue with candy canes.
"What's wrong with these gingerbread men?" Millie asked, examining the pattern on hers curiously.
"I—err—I think they're supposed to be ninja-bread men," Hermione said apologetically. "It's a pun. Ninja, ginger – they sound similar."
"Wicked," Millie said. She paused. "What's a ninja?"
Pansy had gotten deep blue pajamas with light blue and white snowflakes all over them, and Daphne had gotten red and green plaid ones. Hermione was pleased that everyone immediately vowed to wear them to bed that night after the ball in solidarity with Hermione.
Hermione received a beautiful leather planner for 1995 from Tracey, as well as several jewel-colored inks and a new quill from Millie. Pansy gave her a large box of Sugar Quills. Daphne hesitated before giving Hermione her present.
"This isn't—it doesn't mean anything," she said, haltingly. "Like, if I were a boy, it could be construed—"
"Oh, give it here," Hermione huffed impatiently. "I know you're not courting me or whatever nonsense you've got in your head."
Daphne had gotten Hermione a beautiful deep emerald cashmere sweater, with a flattering wide neckline. Hermione stroked the sweater, marveling at its softness, and when she turned to thank Daphne, it was in earnest, and Daphne turned pink, pleased.
"It was nothing," she dismissed. "A token of thanks for your… help… before."
"Your help," Pansy sniggered. "Now you've got a 'thanks for revenge' sweater, Hermione."
Everyone laughed, including Hermione, while Daphne blushed darker. Hermione immediately mentally dubbed the gift her 'Revenge Sweater' and vowed to wear it as much as possible in the future when plotting revenge.
Harry had sent Hermione a book called Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, which looked to be a satire on traditional fairy tales. Susan sent a collapsible organizer that could go inside a multi-chamber storage trunk or inside of her bottomless bag, which Hermione thought was an incredibly practical gift. Luna gave Hermione a large rubber duck. The included note explained that whenever Hermione was stuck on a problem, she should explain her problem and her thought process so far to the duck, and in doing so, it would help solve her problem.
"Anything else?" Millie asked, looking around. She looked at Hermione. "Nothing from Krum?"
"They'll want to give those to her in person," Daphne said, as if it were obvious.
"'They'?" Hermione said, curious.
"Fleur, Krum, Blaise, Draco," Daphne said. "Anyone who fancies you and wants to see your reaction in person, really."
"Is that why Zakir didn't send you a gift?" Millie asked, smirking, and Daphne turned bright red.
"I've got one more thing for everyone," Hermione said. She gave Daphne a look. "So long as you all don't give it meaning it's not meant to have."
She tossed each girl a small package. Inside was a deep purple velvet-covered box, inside of which lay a thin ring, made of dark silver with a band of crushed purple gems around the entire thing. The inside of each was engraved with the words you never fail unless you stop trying in beautiful, flowing script.
"Those are my house words," Hermione told them all. "These rings mean you're under my protection, now. If someone messes with one of you, they're messing with me."
Tracey looked excited and flattered, eagerly thanking Hermione, to which Hermione rolled her eyes but nodded. Daphne and Pansy seemed shaken by the gift.
"This—this is a big deal, Hermione," Pansy stressed. "This means—"
"I know what it means," Hermione said.
"Do you?" Pansy said. "Because unless you're willing to protect all of us from—"
"Hermione's going to protect us all in her castle fortress," Millie declared, smirking. "Pansy, if Hermione says she'll protect you and get revenge for you, she will."
"Unless you think I just develop new unheard of Dark magic rituals for the fun of it," Hermione said dryly, and there were anxious giggles and more relaxed grins as the girls put them on. They exchanged small, secret smiles after they did, playing with their new rings, and Hermione felt a sense of pride swell in her chest. These girls hadn't started out as her friends – quite the opposite, in fact – but look at them all now; she'd bonded tighter with them all than she'd ever imagined.
Christmas breakfast had scattered attendance. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons hadn't yet come up to the school, which Tracey chalked up to sleeping in and the size of Christmas lunch. Daphne had been right about Draco and Blaise giving her gifts in person. After breakfast, when they all returned to the common room, Draco presented Hermione with her gift in the Slytherin common room. Hermione opened the package to find tall, heeled dragon-hide boots, made of Hungarian Horntail leather.
"To match your outfit," he told her, silver eyes bright. "Pansy mentioned you were borrowing your mother's."
Hermione thanked him earnestly, touched by the thoughtful and incredibly personalized gift, and Draco went a bit pink. He gave her a puzzled look when she handed him a small gift.
"You already gave me a gift," he protested. "It's in my room – the stained-glass dragon sun-catcher—"
"This is different," Hermione told him. "Open it."
Inside were small, silver-colored cufflinks. There were odd striations in the metal, and Draco looked at them curiously.
"Those are made from a meteorite," Hermione told him, pleased when his eyes widened. "Sky-iron. From past the moon."
"That's mad," Draco breathed. He looked at her. "Thank you. This is beyond special."
"Yeah, well," Hermione said, a bit flustered. "You're not the easiest person to buy for."
Draco smirked at that.
"You've been doing pretty well so far," he teased her. "Just getting me anything dragon-related."
When Blaise finally emerged from his dorm-room, he gave Hermione a wicked grin, producing a box about the size of a textbook with a flourish. There was an enormous, multi-tiered bow tied out of ribbon on it, and Hermione took the present with a laugh.
"This gift is kind of a cheat," he admitted, as Hermione pulled at the ribbon, trying to get the bow off. "It's already kind of yours."
By the time Hermione had finally got the bow off, Blaise had subtly guided her over by the window out into the lake, where there were fewer people around. She opened the box and gasped.
"Merlin, Blaise," Hermione breathed. "It's beautiful."
Blaise's eyes sparkled, pleased at her reaction.
"I got it restored," Blaise said, watching as Hermione took Ravenclaw's diadem out of the box, turning it over in her hands. "The original enchantment – whatever makes you 'wise beyond measure' – couldn't be restored. It was wiped out by the horcrux. But the metals and the sapphire – that I was able to help with."
Hermione had previously dismissed the diadem as a kind of ugly, elven-inspired circlet crown, like something out of a muggle fantasy novel. It had been heavily patinaed and discolored, and the gem on it had been grimy. Now, restored, Hermione could see the beauty of the piece; the sapphire was a beautiful, enchanting deep blue, and three different metals similar in color all twisted and braided themselves backwards from the sapphire into a smooth circlet at the back. She ran her hands over it, feeling the metals with her magic. Silver and gold (white gold?) she was able to identify, and she guessed the third must be platinum.
"This is incredible," she said honestly. "Thank you." She paused. "…is this really mine?"
"Millie's not going to wear it," Blaise said pointedly. "I already asked her. And she said since you were the one to get the horcrux out of it – however poorly thought out – that you had the most right to it."
Hermione bit her lip, smiling. "How recognizable is this piece, do you think?"
"Just enough," Blaise said, smirking. "Some of the Ravenclaws would probably wonder if it was a replica – there's a portrait of Rowena up in their common room somewhere, or a statue or something – but they'd never dare ask."
Hermione couldn't stop her grin. "Brilliant."
Lunch was a magnificent feast that included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, as well as large piles of Wizarding Christmas Crackers. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons joined everyone in the Great Hall for lunch, to Hermione's relief.
"Karkaroff arranged special breakfast," Viktor explained to her. "Traditional foods, from back home." He paused. "I wonder how he got them."
"House elf?" Dmitri guessed. "He not make himself."
Viktor had brought an extremely large gift to the table for Hermione with a crimson camellia on top, the stem secured in the gift's ribbon. Hermione, by contrast, had brought a much smaller box.
"My gift is your robes for the ball," she told him, handing the box over. "Don't open them here. But when you see them, you'll understand that it's a gift."
Viktor laughed.
"I do as you say," he said agreeably. He seemed pleased. "Now open yours."
She did so, under the curious gaze of her housemates. When she did, she found a series of metal tools, stamps, and a large disc made of black metal alongside another smaller box. When she opened the smaller box, she pulled out a large, beautifully leather-bound book – with the cover blank and unmarred; and the meaning of the little stamps immediately became clear.
"You can to design your own grimoire, to write your rituals," Viktor explained. "There is instruction book to help. You press your own designs into the cover."
"This is incredible," Hermione told him, astonished and touched. "Thank you, Viktor. Really. Thank you."
Viktor grinned, eyes sparkling. "Is my pleasure."
Hermione tucked the camellia behind her ear with a smile, before asking if Viktor was acquainted with the great English tradition of Christmas Crackers, and if so, if he wanted to pull one with her.
Fleur approached the table towards the end of lunch. Most of the Durmstrang students and all of the 4th year boys had gone outside to have a snowball fight, and Fleur stole Blaise's seat with an elegant plop.
"Do you know the impossibility of finding a gift for you?" Fleur demanded, making Hermione laugh. "I could not give you what I wanted to, for it would be gauche, in the situation we are in. I was unable to even give you the gift I had for you for your birthday, with the tournament conditions as they were—"
"Oh," Hermione said, surprised. "That's right. I forgot about that. You mentioned it in your letter—"
"It was – is – a gift appropriate for courting," Fleur told her, lowering her voice. "I could not give it to you when I am forbidden from openly courting you. But I will give it to you once I am free of Madame Maxime's cruel restrictions—"
"Fleur, it's fine," Hermione promised her. She smiled. "So what did you get me, if you couldn't give me a courting gift?"
Fleur, as it turned out, had pushed her way into the Hogwarts Kitchens, announced her intentions to the House Elves, and had baked Hermione an entire Bûche de Noël, which was an elaborately-decorated cake made to look like a yule log. There were spun sugar holly leaves and cherries on the icing of the cake, as well as tiny mushrooms made of marshmallows at the base of the log, making the entire thing practically a piece of artwork.
"We traditionally eat the Bûche de Noël cake for dessert on Christmas night," Fleur explained promptly, as Hermione took in and appreciated all the little details. "It is an excellent way to complete the holiday."
"So I'm meant to gorge myself on cake after the ball?" Hermione quipped, amused. "If I can't finish it, is it bad luck to finish the next day?"
Fleur laughed, tossing her hair.
"If you would like, Hermione," Fleur murmured, lowering her voice, "I would happily help you eat the cake after the ball. You need not enjoy it alone."
Hermione's skin tingled, part of her excited at the insinuation in Fleur's tone.
"That—that might be lovely," she managed to get out, a bit breathless. "We'll have to play it by ear after the ball, yeah?"
Fleur laughed again, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"As you say," she conceded. Her eyes danced. "Now what have you given me?"
Hermione, uncaring of courting custom restrictions, had made Fleur snowflake drop earrings from silver and sapphires. The temptation to make them of diamonds so they'd really dazzle everyone had been incredible, but even Hermione wasn't willing to trespass that far over the line of wizarding customs and end up engaged.
"These are magnificent!" Fleur said, gasping. She looked to Hermione. "You made these?"
"I did," Hermione said, smiling a bit. "I'd hoped they'd match your eyes."
Fleur looked touched, her brilliant blue eyes watery for a moment.
"I would throw myself on you and hug you," she declared, "but I very much do not want to ruin the cake."
Hermione laughed. "You'll have to hug me later, then."
