Chapter One � Christmas Day

Hermione opened her eyes, coming out of her peaceful sleep and re-entering reality. There was something about today� Something. What was it? She sat up in her bed, not minding the coldness that came from leaving the warmth of the blanket. Beyond the thick scarlet sheets, beyond the rich mahogany of the bed frame, her eyes rested on brightly colored boxes. But wait! They weren�t only boxes� they were presents! Today was Christmas! She rushed to the gifts, picking up the first one from the small pile. It was heavy and rectangular� probably another book. That�s what people usually considered giving me, she sighed. Hermione picked up the card, her eyes moving quickly from left to right.

�Merry Christmas� �blah blah blah�
�Much Love,
Harry�

Putting the greeting aside, she tore through the wrapping. Sure enough, inside was a book. It was rather large, beautifully presented in a gold and scarlet cover. Gryffindor colors, she smiled to herself. Hermione opened the front cover to discover a blank page. She flipped through the rest of the pages. Blank. �Is this written in invisible ink or something?� she wondered out loud. She flipped through the pages again, as if this would make the writing appear. A small slip of parchment fell out from within the sheets. She recognized Harry�s crooked scrawl right away.

�Thought you may have gotten tired of always reading and I thought that you might enjoy being the one writing. You can use this as a journal, or make a book if you�d like. It�s really your choice! Enjoy!�

Tucking the note into the front of the book and setting it aside, she went for the rest of the presents.

She found various books from Parvati, Lavender, Neville, Seamus, Dean� Hell, practically everyone in Gryffindor!

Hermione received some delicious-looking Belgian chocolates from Ron and Ginny. She sighed. This would be one of the few times since she had started at Hogwarts that she wouldn�t be spending Christmas with Ron. The Weasleys had won the Daily Prophet�s Spend Christmas In Belgium Contest and were gone.

Her head was filled with sadness. �Why do I miss him so? Do I � Surely not again!� the voices in her head echoed on. �No,� she told herself firmly. �You just miss him because he�s your friend and he�s off to tour Belgium. You do not like him� that way. I thought we had been through this already!� Hermione pushed thoughts of Ron away.

She made her way to the last present. It was from her mum and dad. The wrapped object was slim and rectangular. Her hopes soared. Could Father Christmas have granted her wish? With mentally crossed fingers, she lifted the tape that held the green paper together. As if taking away the outer sheets too quickly would turn the gift into anything but what she wanted, she removed it cautiously. Ever so slowly, she moved the material back. The gift had a hard, black, plastic-like surface. Hermione let out a squeal of delight and hurriedly tore off the rest of the wrapping, now sure that she had what she wanted.

Her fingers danced on the cool plastic with ecstasy. She had her very own laptop! Hermione moved to open it when she remembered; there was too much magical interference in Hogwarts for muggle electronics to work properly! Hermione pouted but she was not going to be denied her gadget without a fight! She knew a small spell that should create a small bubble around the laptop, keeping magic away from it.

�Bubious Magikus� she tapped the laptop with her wand.

A small bubble appeared around it, shimmering and reflecting all hues of pink, blue and gold. Then, the bubble faded and vanished. Hermione smiled, satisfied that her spell had worked.

She opened it, pleased to see the screen flash to life as she pressed the �on� button. �Aha!� she exclaimed. She had access to the web! This might prove to be very helpful with some of her assignments. Hermione wasted no time in exploring the many functions of her new toy.

Hours had passed. Hermione kept pecking away at the keyboard well into the afternoon. Pleased that she had learned �HTML� so quickly, she had started to create a website of her very own, pausing every now and then to choose a song from her growing list of downloads.

Parvati and Lavender entered the room in a loud fit of giggles. They stopped, stunned, once they heard music emanating from somewhere in the room.

�Hermione! Where�s that music coming from?� questioned Lavender, her blond head bobbing without her noticing.

Hermione jerked her head around, her thick hair whipping behind her. Once she realized who had spoken, she relaxed and beckoned them closer. The girls crowded around the comparatively small screen.

Respective �Ooh�s� and �Ahh�s� followed Hermione�s description of the computer.

�How did you get it to work though?� inquired Parvati, remembering of all the magical interference.

Hermione�s eyes smiled as she informed them of the charm she had learned a while ago.

The fair-haired girl brightened. �Say, Hermione,� Lavender began. Hermione looked up. �Would you mind putting that charm on my MP3 player? I got it a while back, and Parvati and I have tried to use it, but it never works! Maybe if you could just��

Hermione sighed and agreed. Lavender bounced over her bed, obviously looking for something underneath the mattress. When her bright head came bobbing back up, her hand held a small muggle gadget. Hermione mumbled the charm so that the other two wouldn�t be able to make out her incantation. The bubble grew around the music player, shimmering and reflecting the colors of the different magiks in the atmosphere, or so Hermione thought. Once it had popped, Hermione informed them that they were �Good to go.�

When they were almost out of the room, heads close together so that they both had an earpiece, Parvati straightened. �Oh yeah!� Hermione turned. �Harry asked us to tell you to find him when you�re done.�

Hermione nodded and turned back to the screen. However, instead of pecking away at the keys, as she had been doing for hours already, Hermione was staring blankly into space.

She didn�t really want to find Harry right now. She would much rather be alone. She wasn�t really thinking of anything in particular so her body suddenly became aware of the hunger she was in. It roared inside her. Turning her head to the pile of presents, she saw Ron�s chocolates sitting on top of the books. Her mouth started watering and she could almost taste the dark bittersweet taste of the candy filling her mouth, oozing with a buttery velvet cream.

She made her way to the royal purple box and stared at the picture of the types of chocolates you may find within. She was craving chocolate like mad. Hell, she would take any source of food right now. She slid her slender fingers around the sides of the box, about to lift it. She hesitated. Her stomach was doing flips. Why? This was just chocolate! It�s not as if anyone would have poisoned it! Ron would never send me poisoned chocolate!

Ron� It wasn�t as if she still liked him. I had, she would admit, but not anymore! It was just as if speaking of him, thinking of him, would make people think she liked him again. Which she did not. She was completely over him. Just because she did not like anyone else, didn�t mean she still had a flame for the flame himself. And after the beginning of this year, and the humiliation that came with it, she found that all the feelings she had for him were gone. It was far too embarrassing to think about. She decided that she would write it out in the book Harry had given her. Later.

Instead, Hermione slipped her precious laptop into her desk drawer, one that was concealed from the rest of the world, and made her way to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was a cozy sight. There was snow falling from the enchanted ceiling, disappearing into nothingness after a few feet�s fall. There were many trees, topped with almost-real snow, decorated with colorful Christmas balls and crystal ornaments. The small candles that were charmed to float amongst the trees gave the entire Hall a calm, golden ambiance. The four house tables were still laden with a variety of delicacies for students to munch on between meals. A few students were still milling about at the tables, talking and eating lazily. Hermione stood on tiptoe to see past a group of rather tall Ravenclaw boys. Sure enough, sitting at the Gryffindor table between Seamus and Dean was Harry Potter, the boy who defeated Voldemort.

Of course, by the age of seventeen, Harry was hardly a boy. Hermione always thought of him as a mature for his age, especially in his fifth year, when Harry had had the weary, tired look of someone who had grown up too fast and seen too much. Harry still had that look, but his green eyes were twinkling with laughter instead of the hollow look he had had not very long ago. In fact, Hermione thought, this year, he had been the most at ease he had ever been since he acquired knowledge of Voldemort�s existence six years ago.

Hermione caught his eye and started to move towards the boys.

�Merry Christmas all!� She greeted.

�Merry Christmas, Hermione,� Dean spoke.

�Thanks so much for the new book in the �Betrayed� series! I�ve been after that book forever!�

�Well ever since I saw you with a different book in that series every day, I decided to help you along with your collection.�

By now, Seamus and Harry were immersed in a conversation of their own, leaving Hermione and Dean to talk about their muggle book.

�Have you gotten to the part where Kevin meets his father?�

�His father?� Hermione was shocked. �I thought his father was dead!�

�Oops! I suppose I�ve just ruined that for you haven�t I?�

�Oh nonsense Dean!� Hermione reassured him, placing her hand lightly on his arm, smiling sweetly. She knew she was flirting. But she had not flirted in so long, she needed to. She withdrew her hand and continued. �It only makes me want to read it even more. I would have started reading it, but I was so interested in my new computer!�

�You got a new computer too? Wicked! But how on Earth did you get it to work here?�

Hermione�s eyes twinkled with pride once more. �C�mon! I�ll show you the charm I used!�

As Dean and Hermione left for the common room, she gave her thanks to Harry and Seamus for their presents as well. She was almost certain that she heard Seamus say something like �Off to snog, eh?� under his breath, after which both boys were laughing heartily.

Hermione ignored it and left with Dean, throwing Seamus a mischievous and defiant look as she linked her arm with his.

It must have been an odd sight to passers by as the two walked up towards Gryffindor Tower. Dean was a head and a half taller than Hermione. She was well aware that she was short. This was made apparent to her last year when even Harry seemed to have grown taller than her. She complained about her shortness continually, but honestly didn�t mind. As they chatted, Hermione observed his face. It was as dark as chocolate, probably as velvety soft and as smooth as chocolate as well. His hazel eyes held laughter in them. He had a large flat nose, but it suited him quite well. His smile was wide and infectious. He had a rather boyish look to him. His dark, curly hair was in dread locks this year, swept with highlights the same color as brown sugar, and fell down to his ears. The hair below his ears was shaved off. Overall, his young face gave off a sweet, child-like innocence. It suited him.

He was, indeed, child-like. He was always play-fighting with his friends and getting into trouble for minor things like running in the halls. He didn�t get the best grades possible, but he passed� most subjects� Hermione smiled, thinking of how different they were, yet how easy it was to hang around with him.

Once, when she and Ginny were in an immature phase, they were �fighting� over boys that people would think them least likely to end up with. Dean had been one of these boys, and it was fun fighting over him. Partly because he wouldn�t really protest, but partly because wouldn�t give in either. Eventually, Ginny did ask him out, after her break up with Michael. Dean had said yes, but didn�t realize Ginny was only joking and saying that to tick off Ron.

Hermione had pitied him. At one point, she had even fancied him. But she supposed that was only because she had been getting closer to him as a friend. As she didn�t really have many guy friends, other than Harry and Ron of course, the thought of becoming closer with someone new made her think she fancied him.

Hermione�s cheeks burned and she realized she had been staring. She immediately turned her gaze downwards. She decided to look, instead, at their arms, which were currently intertwined casually. Her freckled, slightly tanned arm looked so pale compared to the dark brown of his. But she found the distinction refreshing � different, maybe even sensual. After all, sight was a sense. And the boldness of the two colors contrasting against each other was, when you looked at it, truly beautiful.

When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione awoke from her thoughtful daze. Even though she had managed a conversation throughout their walk to the picture, she had felt only half there. The rest of Hermione came flooding back to her as she became more aware, more awake. Dean mumbled the password and freed his arm to hold the portrait away from the hole as Hermione crawled through. What a gentleman, she thought.

The two made their way to the Boy�s Dormitories and entered the 7^th Years� room. Hermione could tell by the disarray that the house elves had not cleaned their rooms yet. Wrapping and tissue paper was scattered around the room in crumpled balls. Ribbons and cards were haphazardly laid over unkept beds. It looked as if someone had tried to cast a levitation spell that had gone horribly wrong and resulted in the sudden crashing of a whole bunch of objects.

Hermione tried to ignore the pair of dirty knickerbockers strewn on the floor as she sat beside Dean on the floor next to his bed. He brought out the humongous box that contained the computer. They managed to set up the computer in a matter of minutes and Hermione cast her incantation for the third time that day. Once the bubble had dissolved, Dean pushed a few buttons and within a matter of minutes, the computer was running application after application.

Dean opened the Internet Explorer and immediately went to Hotmail.

�So, what�s your email addy?� He asked as he navigated the site to his contacts list. Hermione typed her email address into the appropriate box and submitted it.

�Add me to your MSN list okay?� Dean asked. Hermione nodded in reply.

Her stomach groaned. Oh no! she thought, I still haven�t had anything to eat! �I�m gonna go back to the Great Hall, Dean. I didn�t get any food and I�m starved!� Dean nodded to show that he understood, but did not tear his face away from the multiple conversations already popping up.

Making her way down to the Great Hall again, Hermione passed Draco Malfoy. He was staring at her again, but not with the loathing that he had had in their earlier years. Ever since sixth year, she noticed that Draco�s glance had been one of � affection.  Hermione tried to make eye contact with him a few times after that, to make sure she had not been mistaken. Unfortunately, the look in his eyes was clearly one of complete fondness. It took a lot of effort not to gag. Ever since that day, Hermione steered clear of Draco, not even wanting to squabble with him for who knew what kind of twisted pleasure he got from that.

She quickened her pace and was at the Great Hall in a matter of seconds. Harry and Seamus were still there, apparently talking about Quidditch judging by their wild hand gestures. She sat next to Harry again and picked up the nearest treat, a Chocolate Frog. 

�Back so quickly? I thought Dean woulda been able to put up for at least another �our!� Seamus laughed. Harry grinned at the comment.

�Oh just sod off you two! We weren�t doing anything!� Hermione explained.

After a sarcastic �sure,� the conversation moved back to Quidditch. Harry was protesting Seamus� views that the Wronsky Feint was too predictable nowadays. Meanwhile, Hermione munched on little pieces of fruit, trying to ignore the fact that Malfoy had just entered the Great Hall and was sitting at the Slytherin table so that he had a clear view of Hermione. She grimaced, took a handful of cookies and made her way to the library. Harry followed her.

�So where have you been all morning?� he inquired.

�I�ve been making a web page and surfing the web and downloading music!� Hermione�s voice rang with excitement.

Had Harry not grown up in the muggle world, he would have questioned what half of the things Hermione had mentioned were. Instead, he posed another question, one that Hermione had heard so many times today already. �How did you get it to work with all the magical interference at Hogwarts?�

Hermione sighed and explained her bubble charm once more. Harry nodded in understanding.

�Do you suppose I might be able to use it sometime?� Harry asked.

�Why don�t you ask to borrow Dean�s PC? After all, it�s in your dorm.�

�Oh, yes. I suppose that would be easier.�

The rest of the trip was in a comfortable silence, the kind that only friends could share. Hermione chewed away at the remaining few cookies, offering some to Harry who politely refused.

When they reached the library, they found Neville sitting at a table covered in old, heavy-looking textbooks. He did not look up to greet them so they went over to greet him.

�Hiya Neville,� started Harry.

Neville sat up straight and looked surprised to see them.

�Oh, hi guys.�

�What are you doing with all these books, Neville?� Hermione questioned.

�Oh, I�m just studying -- �

�Studying already? But the exams aren�t until June! Even I haven�t gone into all out study mode yet!� Hermione exclaimed.

Harry looked shocked. �You haven�t studied for the exams yet?� He said in disbelief. �Don�t you usually start studying in the summer?�

�Of course I do! I said I haven�t gone into all out mode � yet,� Hermione explained.

�Oh, I�m not studying for the end of the year exams!� Neville clarified. �Well, not really. I�ve been brushing up on my Herbology.  I want to get top marks in that on my NEWTs.�

�But Neville,� Harry began, �you�re almost as smart as Hermione in Herbology! Why do you need to study?�

The boy shrugged and returned to his reading. Harry and Hermione had no intention to carry on their conversation with Neville so they moved on.

�So why are we here, Hermione?�

�Oh, I really don�t know. I just want to do some quiet reading I guess.�