Hermione Granger didn't think she'd ever work up the nerve to do this.

She'd been going back and forth on this for days--for weeks, really, ever since the last Hogsmeade trip a few weeks ago, when she first found herself in front of the window of the Dress Like A Muggle Costume Shop, while waiting for the boys to come out of Zonko's. Ginny had been with her at the time, or she would have gone in the store right then and there and spent the money she'd been carefully saving to buy 101 Ways to Negotiate With Goblins.

She would need that money instead, to buy Ron's birthday gift.

There were a million and one reasons why she started having second thoughts about buying that blue turtleneck in the window. She thought she had successfully addressed them all in her head, until the nagging doubts all came rushing back to her again once Hedwig delivered the "special package" she'd ordered two weeks ago ("Fine, be that way--don't tell me what it is!" Ron had complained rather soundly).

For one thing, Ron hated expensive gifts. Hated them. Harry practically had to take an oath of blood not to give Ron any Christmas presents for ten whole years before he would let Harry buy him a pair of omnioculars at the Quidditch World Cup. And when he did take them, Hermione could have sworn his face stayed red for nearly half an hour.

And then, of course, there was... that thing. That thing that loomed over them like an ever-present phantom, stalking them at every turn. That thing that they had both agreed, just hours after their now infamous row in the common room, never to speak of again.

That thing that she tried not to think about every single second of every single day since...

Oh, this was ridiculous. She was being ridiculous! This was a perfectly normal thing for a girl to do, wasn't it? Give her best friend a nice, thoughtful birthday gift that yes, happened to be a trifle more expensive than her usual birthday gifts. All right, a whole lot more expensive. So expensive that she'd probably have to wait until her own birthday to get the book she'd had her eye on for almost six months now. But there was nothing out of the ordinary about that. Nothing whatsoever.

Right?

Her eyes wandered over to the book on her bed, Heroes of Quidditch, the "backup present" she had bought just in case she couldn't go through with this after all and give him the turtleneck. She was this close to summoning it to her, when an insistent knock startled her out of her reverie.

"Hermione?"

Harry.

"Hermione, you still in there?"

"Shh!" she said. "You'll wake the others!!"

"C'mon, he's waiting downstairs... Fred, George, and Ginny are keeping him occupied, but he's asking where you are..."

That made Hermione blush for some unknown reason. She actually caught a smile forming on her face before she realized what was happening and stopped it. Of course, that made her cheeks grow that much hotter.

"Hermione... if you take any longer, who knows if he'll be in the hospital wing already! Fred and George swear they've put some type of explosive in his gift-"

"All right, all right!" she said, swinging the door open. "Really, Harry, you could do with being more patient, you know."

Harry merely rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, okay," he muttered. Then he stopped. And the smile transfigured into a grin. A very familiar grin. The kind of grin she was seeing more and more on his face these days, most notably during the weeks leading up to the Yule Ball, whenever Ron would try to startle her into divulging any information on her secret date.

"What?"

There was no way he could miss that tone of annoyance in her voice.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

She arched an eyebrow.

"Just that... I thought you said using that Sleekeazy's Hair Potion was too much trouble for every day?"

Hermione resisted the urge to let her jaw fall open. Just what was Harry trying to imply with that remark??

She brought a hand up to her hair, self-consciously smoothing it. "I... I... still had a little bit left in the bottle," she stammered. God, that sounded defensive. "I thought I should use it all up before I threw the bottle away..."

Harry just stood there, still grinning that grin.

"Oh."

Lamely, she felt the need to add on even more, though she knew she would only sink further into her quicksand.

"You know... I mean, I did spend thirteen Sickles on it... The least I could do is-"

There was a thunderous boom that came from downstairs, followed by a loud scream, then familiar cackling. Hermione's eyes flew to Harry's, and they both ran down the staircase without another word.

"What the hell did you two think you were doing???" Ron was bellowing.

He was covered in soot and ash, and patting his arm, as if to put out a small flame. Hermione almost sprinted over to him to offer her help, but it seemed he had everything under control now. And besides, he didn't seem to be in the best of moods at the moment.

Both twins, however, were. They were bent over with laughter--George clutching his stomach, gasping for air, and Fred still holding what looked to be the culprit: a strip of cloth from which smoke was still rising. And poor Ginny, she looked downright torn between sympathy and conspiracy.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Ronniekins," Fred teased. "I mean, it was only a Snap Crackle Pop Tie, after all... You're acting like we unleashed a bloody Norwegian Ridgeback on you!"

George managed to swallow his laughter long enough to join in too. "Yeah, and even if we had, Harry would have known what to do, wouldn't you, Harry?"

"That's not funny," Ron said. Hermione had never quite seen his jaw set that way before.

"When did you lose your sense of humor, little brother?" George said. He placed one hand over his heart, and the other over his forehead, and let out a dramatic sigh. "Where did we go wrong, Fred?"

Fred took his brother's cue and pretended to sniff back the tears. "I think... our presence here is unwanted... What do you think, brother dear?"

"I think you're right..." George turned to Ron, who by now looked as if he were torn between punching his brothers or laughing hysterically at them. "Well... we shall retire to the Great Hall then... since we've obviously done much to offend you..."

And with that, Fred and George were on their way, their laughter carrying all the way down the hall long after they'd left.

"Barking," Ron muttered. Then he turned to Harry and Ginny, both of whom Hermione had only now noticed seemed to be heading upstairs to the respective dormitories. "Hey, where are you two going?"

"Upstairs," they both said simultaneously, apparently, neither expecting the other to do so.

Hmm. Hermione smelled a rat.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well I can see that, can't I?"

"Then why did you ask-"

"I meant," he said, giving Ginny a look of reproach, "weren't you going to stay for a while and have some cake?"

Harry laughed. "First of all, it's far too early for cake-" (Ron shuddered in horror at the comment) "-and second of all, I, erm... wanted to write Snuffles a letter..."

Ron's eyes widened, and he nodded wordlessly, as if to give his consent. Hermione, however, wasn't buying it for a single second. And her suspicions were confirmed, when she noticed that Harry was conveniently avoiding her eyes at all costs at that moment.

"Okay then," Harry said, "see you later... I'll come down in a while to go to breakfast with you both."

"Yeah, all right, then," Ron said brightly. Then he focused his attention on Ginny. "And what about you? You don't have your first lesson for a whole 'nother hour. Can't stay to celebrate your big brother's one and only birthday?"

Ginny groaned. "Very subtle, Ron," she said. "But I'm afraid Professor Snape's going to have to tear me away from you at this moment."

"What??"

"Double Potions," she sighed. "I've got an essay due in an hour that I haven't finished yet."

Ha!! A bold-faced lie if Hermione ever heard one. Ginny always did things on time. Hermione would have bet a sum on it.

But Ron seemed to accept her answer--even if he didn't look as if he believed her any more than Hermione did. "Well," he said, "all right..."

He turned around sooner than Hermione had expected, before she had a chance to flick her eyes away from him, and for a split-second, their eyes locked.

And for that split-second, Hermione forgot to breathe.

"What's that?" he said.

"Hmm?"

Ron shot her a bewildered look, then smiled. "That," he said, pointing at the package she was still carrying.

"Oh..."

Could she possibly be a bigger fool at that moment??

"Oh, this..." She laughed, cringing inwardly at how shaky and nervous she sounded. "It's your birthday present, silly..."

She offered it to him, waiting for him to take it. Ron looked at it for a moment, then at her, then the ever-familiar lopsided grin emerged and he took it from her.

"I hope you like it," she babbled on. She watched as he tore open the package, biting her lip, hoping and praying this would all unfold as smoothly and embarrassment-free as possible.

His eyes widened when he saw the contents of the package. He held it up gingerly, as if scared that it would vanish from sight any second now.

"Hermione," he said. "You didn't... I mean, it wasn't... you didn't have to..." Redness traveled from the tips of his ears down to his face. He seemed to have genuine trouble talking.

"I saw it and thought it would be perfect on you," she said.

Oh God, what must that have sounded like!! Quickly, she tried to cover her tracks.

"You know, it's nice to have Muggle clothes... in case you need them..."

This was not coming out right at all. Not at all.

"It's so... Hermione, this must have..."

"You deserve it," she said, stopping him from saying what she knew he was trying to tell her.

He looked down on the turtleneck again, and shook his head. For a while, all he did was shake his head, as if he couldn't believe someone could ever give him such a gift.

"I thought it would bring out your eyes."

"What?" he said.

"The color," she said. "The blue brings out your eyes."

He smiled back at her, and Hermione knew nothing more needed to be said.