Once Hermione processed that it was Draco next to her, she put up her wand, but she was one of the few. A glance at the High Table showed that Severus, Albus, and Minerva were all keeping a close eye on the proceedings.
"Miss Granger, I would like to speak with you, if I may," Draco addressed her formally and carefully politely.
She nodded, and a murmur of protest went up.
"Harry, perhaps you'd better come with me," she said, smiling indiscriminately around at the clustered people. "Everyone else, I'll be there to see you off tomorrow morning."
She started for the door, and Harry and Draco trailed after her. She found the first unoccupied classroom on that level, ushered them in, locked the door, and cast strong privacy charms, as it was likely that half of Gryffindor House—or at least most of the seventh-years—had trailed them and would be trying to listen in on this conversation.
Harry was standing next to her and Draco, gaze belligerent. His wand was clenched in his fist, not quite pointed at Draco but definitely held in a non-friendly manner.
"This is a discussion I need to have with Granger," Draco said stiffly, gazing at Harry with stormy grey eyes.
Harry didn't move.
"Harry," she protested gently.
His stance didn't soften.
"Malfoy," she said, "I think Harry's going to have to hold your wand."
They both looked startled at this prospect, and wariness washed over Draco's features. He now looked as though he was itching to reach for the wand in question—and not to hand it over—as though he'd only just noticed that he was locked in a classroom with two Gryffindors.
"Malfoy," she said quietly, "do you not think that if I were out to get you, you would already know it?"
This seemed to get through to him, and since it was clear that Harry wasn't budging otherwise, Draco reluctantly handed over his wand. Holding the two wands, Harry consented to stand on the other side of the room, although he continued to watch them like a hawk.
She cast a Silencing Charm so that Harry wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying, and she and Draco faced off from one another. Since he no longer had a wand, he had his arms crossed in a defensive posture. Her own wand remained in its sheath, and she kept her arms at her sides in an effort to appear approachable.
Draco's tone was halfway between sneering and what she thought was almost wistful—although perhaps that was wishful thinking on her part. "He's absurdly protective."
"Can you blame him?" she asked pointedly.
He shifted, eyes not meeting hers. She saw his throat work as he swallowed.
"I have never been under the impression that you are hard of hearing."
Her lips twitched at this particular method of asking the question.
"I'm not," she answered, shrugging slightly. "But I think I know what you did and why you did it, and I've chosen not to condemn you to a life in Azkaban for it."
"Why?" he demanded, clearly uncomprehending. "Anybody else would have done."
"Then you'll have to be grateful that I'm not anybody else." Another reason why he might have cast the Cruciatus occurred to her suddenly. "Unless you wanted to land yourself in prison?"
He scoffed. "Of course I didn't, Granger."
She wasn't one hundred percent certain that he was being truthful, but she supposed that he could still manage to get locked up without her if that was his wish.
"We make choices all the time, Draco," she said, using his name very deliberately, as it caused his eyes to snap to hers. "I made mine this afternoon because I believe that you still have an important one to make."
He shook his head impatiently. "My decision was made a long time ago, Granger."
"Would you not have guessed the same about me and predicted a different outcome to the events of this afternoon?" They both knew that he had. She tried to push her point home: "We always have options."
He frowned at her, eyes dark, but he met her gaze directly. "It's not as easy as that, not for me."
"I didn't say it was easy," she corrected, "just that it was possible."
He continued to look troubled for a moment, but then the expression smoothed away as he became the consummate Malfoy once more, revealing no emotions to her critical eye.
"I've been instructed to apologize."
She smiled faintly. "I can imagine. We'll take it as read, shall we?"
He gave an aristocratic inclination of his head, and the conversation was suddenly over. She disabled her charms, Harry returned Draco's wand without looking at him, and then Draco was gone.
"Was that good or bad?" Harry asked, sounding thoroughly confused.
She hummed a noncommittal noise. "That was uncertain, but it could have been worse. He was ordered to apologize."
"And it took him that long?" Harry asked sceptically.
She decided that explaining the truth might not amuse Harry as much as it amused her.
"It took him a while to work up to it, yes. Shall we venture out into the hall and reassure all the Gryffindors who will happen to be there that we're still alive and well?"
He smirked, sufficiently diverted. "Let's."
Out they went, and the dozen or so housemates casually milling about looked relieved indeed by their reappearance. Hermione was glad that they didn't appear to have engaged in a pitched duel with Draco.
Hermione smiled at them broadly. "It's so sweet you all stayed to wish me a happy Christmas."
Harry strangled a laugh.
"Did you need to see me all the way down to our quarters to say goodbye properly?"
They did, apparently, so she and Harry were escorted to safety and bid farewell at their door. Ginny was the only Weasley representative, which saddened Hermione, but she couldn't make Ron be a sensible human being.
They invited the youngest Weasley in for tea, but she said she needed to ensure that the younger Gryffs were all ready to go, this Prefect duty having fallen to her this year—and given their House, they all knew that some of them wouldn't even have thought about packing yet. She gave them both big hugs, told Hermione she was glad that she was safe and healthy, and left the dungeons with the rest of the Gryffindors.
Hermione frowned at the state of the couch, and Harry obediently bundled all his school supplies away and back into his own room, allowing them to stretch out properly on the cushioned surface.
"I think we really deserve a break," she declared.
Harry nodded. "The less we see of the rest of the school and the people in it, the better."
On Saturday, they discovered that they were, in fact, the only seventh-years staying for the holiday. There were less than a dozen students staying in total, and Minerva had assured Hermione and Harry that it was not their responsibility to look after the others. Harry had looked truly alarmed, as it had evidently not previously occurred to him that the two of them might be drafted as babysitters.
Since the rules over the holidays were laxer than during the school year, the two of them didn't feel at all guilty about burying themselves in their quarters for the first several days in order to complete massive amounts of school work. Harry was amazed by how much he accomplished when he actually worked solidly like that.
They took breaks, of course, but homework was really the only topic on the agenda; they weren't even being interrupted by Severus or Tonks with more training sessions, as there seemed to be an unspoken consensus that Friday's events warranted a hiatus.
On Sunday, they had received the letter from Molly that made it clear that Ron had been less than forthcoming about the current situation. The Weasley matriarch had assumed that Ron had issued the invitation for them to stay and that Harry and Hermione were spending the holiday at the Burrow. She was not pleased about the subterfuge her youngest son had employed to skirt the issue throughout the month of December.
When Ginny had informed her mother of the reason for the less-than-cordial feelings between the three of them, Molly had apparently given Ron an hour-long lecture that, she sincerely hoped, would pound some sense into his thick skull. She very sincerely wished that they would join the household now, though the invitation was late.
Hermione and Harry had talked it over and sent their regrets. No matter what Molly had yelled at her son, Ron changed his idiotic beliefs in his own sweet time, and Hermione and Harry didn't relish being in the middle of untold awkwardness within that warm but fierce family. They had reassured Molly that they were happy at Hogwarts and that they were looking forward to spending the holiday together. They had both winced a little at the impression this left, but there was nothing for it; it was likely the only reason that would get them out of the invitation—barring arguments about safety and Voldemort, and she and Harry hadn't wanted to play that card.
Hermione also didn't want to leave her herd. Sneaking out to see them Friday night had finally restored her equilibrium, and she was looking forward to seeing them more frequently now that there were fewer calls upon her time and fewer people to placate about her absence.
She and Harry made themselves visible on Christmas Eve day so that everyone knew they hadn't expired in the dungeon when no one was looking. She quickly reassured everyone as to her full health, and somehow, she and Harry found that they'd agreed to train with Severus and Tonks in the evening.
They were set to meet at half nine, and it was about a quarter past the hour when they left their common room, since Hermione was compulsively on time whenever possible.
"It's a new Christmas tradition," Harry said facetiously. "The Christmas Eve fight. Just what we need to make our Christmas complete."
Hermione grinned. "At least it's not a real fight."
"Point. But can we do our very best to kick their butts for suggesting it?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Of course," she agreed as they made their way down the hall. "We wouldn't want to disappoint them this close to the holiday."
But it turned out that Hermione had been entirely correct in her supposition that Tonks was worried about how the Gryffindor reacted in an unanticipated fight; Hermione found herself rolling out of the way of a spell and shooting off a wandless response before she even made it all the way into Room One. She regained her balance in a crouched position, firing off spells in the directions she'd glimpsed people before slamming up a shield so that she could take stock of the situation.
Harry was still standing at the door looking completely stunned. He had his wand in his hand, but he'd made no move to use it. From the changing expressions on his face, he was working himself up into a full-fledged rage.
Severus had easily parried the Impediment Jinx she'd sent at him, as she'd not been certain whether or not he was attacking her. Tonks was the one who was facing her in clear attack posture; she'd fired off a Blasting Hex, avoided Hermione's Disarming Charm, and now sent off another Fire Spell.
The hero of the wizarding world exploded, the force of his anger knocking both Severus and Tonks into the wall, their wands clattering to the floor and Tonks's hair turning black. Hermione was uncertain if Harry was exerting some control over it or if Tonks had lost her concentration such that she went back to her natural colour.
Harry stepped all the way into the room and slammed up locking charms behind himself. He was holding his wand in his clenched fist, but Hermione didn't think he was actually casting with it. What he was doing right now, from the look of it, was without thought and without conscious control.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Harry yelled.
His hair was being stirred by a wind that shouldn't have been there. It was beginning to rustle Tonks's and Severus's clothing as well, but Hermione was completely untouched on her side of the room.
"'Mione has had bloody well enough of being attacked in doorways! We agreed to come to this training session, not to be attacked as we were entering. If all you're going to do is abuse us, we're going to turn right the hell around and go back to our rooms!"
Tonks and Severus, from the look of them, were pinned in place; neither had moved or reached for their wands.
"Do you like to feel helpless?" Harry asked, stepping nearer to them. "Do you like to be attacked at random?"
Hermione rose from her crouched position, released her shield, and made her way over to Harry. The closer she got, the more she could feel the hum of magical energy around him. His output was absolutely furious, and she was sure that Fawkes and probably even the unicorns were fully aware of what he was feeling right now.
This fact was confirmed by the phoenix's sudden query: Do you require assistance?
No, thank you. She laid a hand on Harry's arm and felt the jolt of magic travel up from her fingers at the connection. We've got everything under control.
Sort of.
"Harry," she said quietly. "I'm all right. Let them go, please."
If you're sure. The phoenix sounded somewhat doubtful.
Harry was breathing hard and fast. "They had no right to attack you like that."
Quite sure, she said firmly.
"I'm sure Tonks will explain once you put her down," Hermione pointed out reasonably, but Harry didn't seem to be wavering. "You don't want to make me fight you for them, do you?"
He finally looked at her, his expression easing as he let out a sigh. "That would be a little ridiculous."
The wind died, and Tonks and Severus were able to move and retrieve their wands.
Close your eyes, she told Harry.
He looked at her like she was crazy, but she only stared at him pointedly until he obeyed.
Find your core and look at all the magic you're leaking.
He did so, and she could feel his surprise as he realized what he'd been doing.
Um … oops? he said sheepishly.
That's all right. It happens to the best of us. Just concentrate on pulling your magic back to your core, and we'll work on your overall control later, okay?
He'd had plenty of practice working with his core, so it wasn't too difficult for him to get himself back under control so that he was once again partially Masking—as much as people normally did unconsciously, instinctively protecting their cores and preventing anyone from being able to assess their magical strength on sight.
The magical outpouring tapered off completely, and Harry opened his eyes again. She'd never closed hers and had kept her wand in hand in case the other two people in the room had decided that they were unwilling to wait for an explanation. Fortunately, they had decided to be patient.
"Let's sit," Hermione proposed, conjuring chairs for everyone. "We appear to have some issues that we need to work out before we decide if this training session can continue or not."
Reluctantly, everyone obeyed. Hermione asked Kreacher for tea since she thought it would be safer if they all had something to do with their hands other than contemplate their wands.
Moments later, they were all sipping the hot beverage and seemed to be alternating between glaring and not meeting one another's eyes. Harry and Tonks were slouched in their chairs in remarkably similar postures, while Hermione had curled up comfortably with her legs tucked beneath her, and Severus was seated straight and upright as though he were in one of the uncomfortable chairs from his office rather than a cushy armchair. She'd even made the chairs dark blue so as not to offend anyone's sensibilities.
Hermione continued her role as mediator. "Professor Snape, I'm sure Harry is very sorry for involving you in that little display of power earlier. He didn't realize that you weren't attacking me and only wanted to make sure that I was safe."
Or so she was saying, anyway, and Harry had better keep his mouth shut if he knew what was good for him.
"Tonks, if you'd advised us earlier even that this evening's session was going to be unusual, I think we could have avoided this whole misunderstanding with Harry. As I hope you've gathered, I am perfectly able to take a surprise attack under most circumstances. The events of Friday were unusual, and you're just going to have to take my word for it. Although we do espouse Professor Moody's tenet of constant vigilance, we have a certain expectation of safety." Sometimes, anyway.
"But what did happen on Friday?" Tonks pursued, meeting Hermione's gaze directly. "You'd just beat Malfoy in a duel in front of the entire class. Surely you were aware he would be displeased."
Hermione chose her words carefully. "He seemed to take it well, actually. He was second with fifteen people below him, and it could just as easily have been him at the very top rather than me, a fact of which I thought him aware. I guess his upbringing made it more of a problem than I'd hoped. When he got into the corridor, he was suddenly faced with all his Slytherin peers, and it seems like the situation spiralled out of control very quickly." She shrugged. "He's a boy. He needed to save face, and he went about it in a stupid manner. There's nothing unusual about that."
Annoyingly true from her experience, much of the time, but she apologized mentally for the huge generalization.
"But you didn't even retaliate."
"It wouldn't have assisted the situation. Besides," she noted as she grinned cajolingly, "I'm good at not getting into detention. I'm the Head Girl, you know; it would be unbecoming."
As one, they all looked at Harry, who rolled his eyes. "I'm Head Boy. That makes me the head of the stupid sex, apparently, so you shouldn't be surprised that I got detention."
She and Tonks laughed, and Severus looked slightly less grim. Harry addressed the Head of Slytherin.
"I am sorry for incapacitating you when it was unwarranted, sir." Hermione thought this rather magnanimous given the situation and whom he was talking to. "I only saw that Hermione was being attacked as she arrived, and I tried to subdue everyone."
"You were effective, if rather … uncontrolled," Severus observed dryly. "Is that habitual?"
Harry grimaced. "It's not happened in a long time. I blew up my aunt once."
There was a brief digression as he explained this, and Severus and Tonks snorted over Fudge's behaviour.
"I react strongly to strong emotions," Harry confessed. It was completely true, but more than she had expected him to admit in present company. "Like I said, I thought it was a thing of the past, but Friday still has me on edge, I guess, and I'm overcompensating because I couldn't protect Hermione then."
He was still upset about Draco and the Unforgivable.
"You two still make the best of teams," Tonks agreed. "I guess I was surprised that you beat everyone in class, Hermione, and then it all devolved so quickly in the corridor."
Hermione offered another shrug. "Harry and I spar against one another all the time. We both share the wins, and it's often a case of someone getting off a lucky shot, as we're pretty evenly matched. Draco's highly skilled as well and, like I said, the victory could just as easily have gone to him." And then he would probably have picked a fight with Harry in the corridor. "Nobody wins all the time; you should know that."
Tonks nodded, her hair suddenly returning to its bright pink color. "True. I only wanted to make sure we weren't training you up with skills that weren't useful in real life."
"I've faced enough danger to know that I can manage," Hermione negated, "but I can still be injured."
"Looking to shield and then assess in unknown situations is a wise decision, Miss Granger," Severus said, surprising her with his approbation. Then he added, "You will just have to ensure that you know the strength of the shield you are casting before you use it as your defence."
She wondered if anyone had ever been able to cast a shield that could keep the Cruciatus or the Killing Curse out. When Harry had been learning Occlumency, she had seen his memory of the first battle that Albus had engaged in against Voldemort in the Ministry Atrium. The headmaster had been able to stop the Killing Curse with solid objects like the pieces of the Ministry fountain, so that meant the spell could be physically blocked.
Conjuring or transfiguring stone took time, however, and the stone that Albus had worked with had been destroyed by the impact of the Killing Curse; it would hardly be prudent to surround oneself with a shield that was going to explode in jagged pieces; it might be an ironic way to die under the circumstances but would not prove very helpful ultimately.
With all the work she and Harry had done modifying shields for their own purposes, she wondered if they could keep working until they found one with the necessary strength to resist the Unforgivables. She'd have to explore at some point when she wasn't in a room with the Head of Slytherin, an Auror, and her nosy best friend.
"Did we want to give a regular training session a go, then?" Hermione asked. Now that they were all in a better mood, they could prevent the night from being a complete waste.
Everyone agreed. First they split with Harry and Hermione against Severus and Tonks. She and Harry made good use of their sympathetic shield, and it was hard for Severus and Tonks to get much of an advantage, although Hermione couldn't maintain the shield indefinitely, especially with the strength of the spells that Severus was hurling at it. Severus finally called a halt and for round two, paired himself with her, and Tonks with Harry.
Hermione didn't often get to partner Severus, and she wasn't as used to working with him as she was to working with Harry. She was, however, at least as solicitous of his safety as she was of her fellow Gryffindor's, and she took care that he was protected at all times, which he didn't seem to be used to; Death Eaters didn't take care of their own, apparently.
It was Harry who ended up calling an end to the evening, stopping his own partner's spell when Tonks threw a Burning Curse at Severus that Hermione went to block.
"I'm not going through that again," he said shortly. "No more fire at Hermione, okay?"
Tonks looked as though she wished to question him but had the good sense to forbear.
"Am I going to have to name you my own personal hero?" Hermione teased. "My knight in shining armour?"
He made a face. "You're going to have to shut up."
She smiled. They'd had a bit of a weird evening, but at least it had given her some time with Severus right around Christmas. Seeing if she could push her luck, she invited them all back to tea in her and Harry's quarters.
To her surprise and pleasure, Severus accepted just before Tonks said she had to be off because she was visiting her mother and father before she had to return to duty here on the twenty-sixth. Now faced with the prospect of just an evening with his two Gryffindor students, Severus looked a little sour, but he apparently wasn't feeling so rude as to renege on the invitation he had just accepted, which made for a nice change from most of his behaviour this term.
They wished Tonks a happy Christmas and headed back to their common room, where she and Harry sat on the couch and Severus in one of the armchairs as they had their tea.
Since Kreacher had served them earlier in Room One, he was well aware that they had been training, so tea was substantial, including mounds of little sandwiches, scones, biscuits, and fruit. Harry set about to wolf down some of pretty much everything immediately, whereas Severus put a couple sandwiches and a scone on his plate and began to eat them much more circumspectly. Hermione helped herself to the fruit, reminded once again of how grateful she was that the house-elves understood the diet of a Pure Adult who spent a fair bit of time as a unicorn even without having it spelled out for them.
"I do hope you're going to eat more than that."
Severus was eyeing her plate of fruit with a great deal of suspicion.
She smiled. "They have plenty of vitamins and natural sugar, and they're good for me. I don't think it's me you're supposed to be haranguing."
Severus made a face as Harry consumed another scone covered with cream and jam as they watched.
"You could at least have a sandwich."
"But I don't wish to eat a sandwich," she said sweetly, rather amused. "I'm perfectly healthy, I assure you. There's only one food that could tempt me, and fortunately, it isn't—"
There was a tell-tale "pop" and several glasses of mousse arrived. Severus's lips quirked up in amusement.
"I will most certainly feel better if you consume some chocolate," he said drolly. "It will put us on equal footing as far as obscene calories go."
Cursing Harry's house-elves anew, she grabbed up the mousse.
"If I find out they've put some sort of Compulsion on this stuff, I'll be having stern words with them, Harry."
Harry only smiled. "I find it very endearing that there's a food you can't resist. You don't seem to eat enough to keep a cat from starving, otherwise."
Severus was looking at her sharply again.
"I'm fine!" she exclaimed, annoyed at their concerning themselves with what wasn't any of their business. Besides which, it was bizarre to see the two of them united like this.
"Here," she added with exasperation and cast a general health charm that displayed quite clearly that she was, indeed, in excellent health. "Satisfied?"
Wisely, they didn't argue the spell and let her enjoy her fruit and mousse in peace.
Severus took his leave just as the clock chimed the midnight hour. Albus had charmed it for the holidays so that they would all know when Christmas and New Years began. Apparently, he thought these were important to get precisely right.
"Happy Christmas," she said, desperately wanting to call him Severus but settling for leaving off the "sir".
"Happy Christmas, Hermione."
She tried to keep the goofy grin off of her face, but it insisted on appearing, and she hoped he didn't think that she was a complete nutter. Oh, hell, she didn't care if he thought she'd gone round the twist, she was too pleased to control her smile. Even if she couldn't take the risk of calling him Severus again, he'd called her by her given name, in the presence of Harry, no less, and that made her ridiculously happy.
Of course, unless she wanted to explain something to Harry that she didn't quite feel up to sharing, she couldn't keep acting like a complete loon. Or she'd at least have to share the joy. So she turned to Harry, that dopey grin still plastered on her face, and pulled him into a hug.
"Happy Christmas, Harry," she said, feeling in that moment that it really was.
They'd made it to Christmas with no more utterly outrageous actions on Voldemort's part. Severus was safe and sound. Harry was safe and sound. And they were both in the room, almost getting along.
"Happy Christmas, Hermione," he murmured back, adding over her shoulder, "Happy Christmas, sir."
"I will leave you to it," Severus said stiffly.
She released Harry and turned back to him. "Have a pleasant night, sir. Will we be seeing you at breakfast tomorrow?"
Severus frowned. "Fortunately, Albus only compels us to come to Christmas dinner. I will be avoiding students in general and the holiday in particular until I am forced to do otherwise."
She decided to take it as a positive sign that, given his feelings about Christmas, his first act had been to actively wish her well of it. Even if she'd said it first, he could have said, "Bah, humbug," in response.
"Well, I'll wish you a good morning, then," she said as cheerfully as she could given his evident displeasure, "and we'll see if we can't sabotage the decorations before you arrive for dinner."
His lips quirked up ever so slightly. "That would be a gift indeed, but I doubt the headmaster would allow anyone to interfere with his," he sneered the words, "Christmas cheer. Goodnight."
He stalked out, and she and Harry were left alone. They each took their Veritaserum capsule.
"Time for bed!" Harry announced in a very chipper tone.
She regarded him with amusement.
"We've got to get to bed so that we can get up in the morning."
She loved the example of a moment where he allowed himself childish glee, so she didn't object to the daft assertion.
"Goodnight, Harry."
He grinned at her, and they went their separate ways. Hermione puttered around in her lab for an hour, brewing up another cough remedy. Once she was certain that Harry was asleep, she sneaked out for a celebratory evening with her herd.
They didn't celebrate Christmas, but they were very happy to see her, and if she was feeling happy because of some arbitrary human holiday, then they were pleased that she was coming out to seen them in a joyous mood rather than a spitting mad one. She played with Isaura, conversed with Castina and Ashwin, and had the chance to catch up a little more with the lives of her herd-mates.
It was somewhere in the vicinity of half four when she sneaked back into the castle. Rather than going straight to bed, she made a stop in the Great Hall. It took her almost an hour to work her magic, but she was quite pleased with the results when she was done.
You'll help me out with this one, won't you? she asked.
Fawkes was deeply amused. I thought you liked the holiday, Girlicorne.
She laughed. It's a gift.
He sent a brilliant bird-smile her way. I will do what I can to assist.
This task accomplished, she headed to her bed for a few short hours. She was up and chipper at half seven thanks to how much time she had spent with the herd, and she'd showered by the time Harry woke at eight.
She'd put her pyjamas back on in his honour, as this was one of the few traditions that he had managed to acquire about the holidays; that first real Christmas he had spent with Ron had been pyjama-clad, so he liked to do the same every year.
They each had a pile of gifts that had appeared under the tree in their common room. There were their gifts from one another, the ubiquitous Weasley jumpers and food from Molly and Arthur, the treats they couldn't eat from Hagrid, their gifts from the rest of the Weasley clan, something from Remus, and a few odds and ends; there was one in the pile for Hermione from Viktor, and before fifth year, she had always had a present from her parents.
Despite the fact that the holidays were an occasion where she most missed her parents, it was difficult to remain morose when she was faced with Harry's delight when he saw that little pile of gifts with his name on them.
For a moment, she was saddened that Ron wasn't there with them to make the proper trio like last year, but she reminded herself that it had been his decision to leave and not even inform them of the fact, and it wasn't as though the holiday would have been a pleasant one if he was tossing accusations about. She and Harry were better off on their own this morning.
Harry had given her a new wand sheath to replace the one that had taken quite a beating in the relatively short time that she had had it. The new one was of dragon skin and imbued, he told her, with plenty of protections against fire and everything, so it would be sure to last her longer than the previous one. She immediately slipped the length of holly into the sheath.
Over Christmas in sixth year, she had retired her dragon heartstring and vine wood wand for the adult one of holly and unicorn tail hair—and she hadn't even had to ask Castina whose hair was at its core. She had been worried at the time that the new wand would not fit the old sheath, for it was several inches longer than the vine wood. Magic, of course, had taken care of that problem, and the sheath had worked perfectly.
Harry was one of the only people she knew who had not needed a new wand when he turned seventeen. Holly and phoenix feather continued to suit him, and she wondered if there was any special meaning in the fact that they both now had wands which symbolized purity. But there were wizards who weren't Pure who used holly wands, so it didn't appear to be a fact that was completely out of the common way.
The new sheath fit this wand perfectly, as well, and she was sure that she would soon become used to the slight differences in how it felt to her old one. With the sheath came a book on rune warding, and she thanked Harry for choosing a gift that was so well-suited to her but of little interest to him.
From Ginny, she received a long denim skirt and several bath products. Viktor had sent her a bottle of plum rakia and several sachets of medicinal herbs which he thought she might like to experiment with in potions. This amused her, as she had sent him containers of Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea and a book on the United Kingdom Quidditch teams.
There was an unlabelled gift at the bottom of her pile, and she wondered if it was from Ron. Opening it, she found a small blue book bag. The material was soft under her fingertips, and she could almost feel the hum of spells which told her that this was no ordinary book bag. Opening it, she found that she couldn't see the bottom of the bag; it appeared to be a great deal larger on the inside than on the outside, and she imagined that it had been spelled not to betray its weight, either.
She was now sure it hadn't come from Ron. She suspected it had been hand-spelled by the person who had given it to her, and she had some suspicion about who that was. The idea that he really had sent it to her made her inordinately happy, not least of all because it made her feel less self-conscious about the anonymous gift that she had ensured would get to him today.
Harry seemed to be just as pleased with his gifts as she was with hers. She'd given him one of the best books on Animagi along with her general notes from the previous year, as well as a vial of Eyesight-Correcting Potion. The potion had been a pain in the arse to brew and was full of expensive ingredients, but Harry was at the top of her list of people deserving of such effort.
She'd tried to improve in the last couple of years in giving people gifts that she knew they'd like, not just that she thought they needed. She still believed the homework planners could have been extremely useful tools for the boys, but she was fully aware that they'd hated them.
Ginny had sent him a nice pair of jeans; she had evidently decided that the two of them needed help dressing themselves. The twins had given their usual giant box of WWW products. Hermione figured she likely didn't want to know what most of them could do. She still couldn't quite fathom how two boys so obviously clever when it came to Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration, at the very least, could have done so poorly on their O.W.L.s and not even tried for their N.E.W.T.s; the die-hard swot inside her couldn't help cringing every time she thought about it.
Tonks had given them a book entitled Light Spells to Battle Dark Intent; a note on the flyleaf indicated that she thought they'd appreciate the idea behind it even if it wasn't the only manner in which they were forced to fight. Remus had sent them both a book on sympathetic magic, as well as a big box of chocolate, which amused them to no end; Harry had asked the older man once if he was under contract to Honeydukes. He had chuckled for days over the notion.
Hermione wondered if Tonks and Remus had considered that although they had carefully each sent separate gifts, they'd used the same wrapping paper. At least Hermione was now pretty certain that both of them would be having an enjoyable holiday.
She and Harry appreciated, of course, that their fellow Order members were showing their support for their supposed relationship, but they were slightly embarrassed by the gifts that had been given to them jointly rather than one book each. Harry handed both books over to her.
"I know you'll read them twenty times faster than I would, and I'm sure you'll find them more useful." He grinned at her. "You can tell me the highlights and then we'll tell Remus and Tonks we read them together in front of the fire."
She snorted with laughter and finished the thought: "With me curled up beside you and you stroking my hair."
His smiled deepened. "Just like that. Aren't you glad we're only pretending to date?"
She nodded. She wasn't uninterested in such intimacy, Harry just wasn't the man in that mental picture.
She still felt bad about the fact that Remus had sent her a gift when she hadn't returned in kind, but he had told her in all seriousness that if she sent him anything, he was sending it straight back; as far as he was concerned, her attempt to cure him was her quota of gifts until the day he died.
Dobby had given Harry a pair of very garish socks in shockingly mismatched colours of lime green and a bright salmon pink. The Gryffindor winced when he opened the box, but he gamely put them on. So long as the house-elf saw Harry wearing them at least once, he was thrilled to tears, and Harry reasoned that Christmas Day was the wisest time to manage this.
Kreacher and Winky had gifted Harry and Hermione with new winter cloaks. Hermione appreciated the effort they had made to assimilate her ideas even if they could never see eye-to-eye about her desire to set them all free with the option to work for a wage.
The giving of clothing indicated a sense of humour that neither had displayed to Harry and Hermione before, and Hermione thought it was brilliant. Hers was dark blue and his dark green. They were plain, which they both preferred, but made of a fine, heavy wool. They looked cozy and highly serviceable.
She and Harry had gotten together to give Dobby an extra holiday and to give new uniforms to Kreacher and Winky, as the latter two had already refused anything that smacked of payment or time off; they kept insisting that they had no more wants as far as objects or lifestyle.
The house-elves had also banded together to serve Harry and Hermione a positively lavish breakfast in their rooms. It looked as though there was every possible breakfast food with every possible condiment and enough for them to go back for fourths if that was their desire. Even Hermione managed seconds, and she was relieved to see that they'd not tried to serve her mousse for breakfast. There were really only so many days in a row that it was healthy for her to face that temptation.
She and Harry spent the rest of the morning in leisurely pursuit, reading the books that they had received for amusement's sake only, as per Harry's rule. She was pleased enough to comply, as it was nice to see Harry this carefree. He deserved a break from all the death and destruction.
Harry finally worked his way to the book on Animagi. He'd set it aside pretty quickly when he first opened it and gushed profusely over the potion. The look on his face now was painful; he'd lost the battle with trying not to let his emotions show.
"You don't really think one book is going to be able to help me, do you?"
He'd tried to sound doubtful, but that edge of desperate desire had crept in.
"I think," she said gently, "that last year was not the right time for you to attempt your transformation. There is no doubt in my mind that you're capable of it now."
He looked up at her with wonder in his eyes.
"But I was rubbish at it last year."
She shook her head. "You were blocked last year. We all know you're powerful enough, and you understood the principles and everything you needed to learn to make it work."
"And it didn't," he said, aggrieved.
"It didn't then," she corrected mildly. "It will now."
"How can you be so certain?" he asked suspiciously.
"Because I ran the Arithmancy equations?" she tried.
He snorted. "That can't be your answer to everything. You sound…." He tilted his head as he tried to work it out. "You sound like you know."
"I have a very strong suspicion," she said circumspectly.
"But what's different between this year and last year?"
"I think you should be able to work that out on your own," she said with some amusement.
There was silence for several moments as he made the attempt.
She offered another prompt: "Something big in your life that's changed between last year and this year."
Finally, his face lit up, but it was followed almost immediately by a frown. "But … why would that matter?"
"You'll just have to wait and see," she said with only a moderate amount of glee. "We're not attempting this until you've redone all the training from last year."
"But I did it once already!" he protested.
"And you remember it precisely?" she asked pointedly. "You didn't try to banish it right out of your mind because you were so upset that you weren't able to do it?"
His eyes skittered away for a moment before he met her gaze sheepishly. "That might sort of resemble what happened."
She smiled fondly at him. "We're doing this safely, and that means you go through the training."
He nodded resolutely, determination in every line of his face as he delved into his book.
At three, it was time for Christmas dinner. She had Harry had dressed properly by then, with Harry's nearly glow-in-the-dark socks thankfully hidden by his new trousers. Since they were on holiday, they weren't wearing their robes. She was wearing her new denim skirt and her new Weasley jumper—which was in a becoming shade of blue with green accents.
Harry's jumper, they'd been amused to note, had blue accents and was a green that matched his eyes. Apparently, Mrs Weasley was reinforcing how accepting she was of their relationship, even if her youngest son had declared that he would never ever accept it; his mother had scolded him, and Ginny had relayed the resultant declaration to Hermione and Harry.
They headed up to the Great Hall, hearing raised voices as they mounted the staircase, and Hermione did her best to keep a completely straight face and not give away the game before it had even begun.
They entered the room. Harry positively gaped. There was a fraction of the normal amount of Christmas decorations. The regular profusion of ribbons and crepe had been removed from the walls and ceilings, replaced with garlands of cedar twined with mistletoe, holly, and the occasional ribbon. The twelve trees remained, but they didn't look as though every ornament in creation had flown to stick to them. They were tastefully decorated with baubles, lights, and garland.
Each and every decoration—from the garland on the tree to the Christmas crackers at each place setting—was completely black. Hermione took hold of Harry's arm and got them through the doorway. He still looked as though he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
Albus, she was pleased to see, was still in high twinkle.
How long did he try to change the decorations? she asked.
Nearly ten minutes, Fawkes answered, and she could hear the amusement in his voice. He gave it up when the black banner on the wall attacked the new table decoration that he'd made. Have I mentioned recently how talented you are with defensive magic?
She smirked. I'm not sure that most people would consider attacking material as the most brilliant exhibition of that, but thank you.
The remaining children were chattering amongst themselves, trying to figure out just what was going on. Taking down much of the decorations had prevented the room from appearing too funereal; when she had first simply changed the colour scheme from Christmas-y to black, it had been positively gloomy. Paring down and focussing on the large and beautiful trees had instead made it look as though a slightly unusual theme had been chosen. It was now very elegant and a far cry from the normal almost-painful explosion of colour and decorations.
As far as Hermione could make out, Severus was the only person who hadn't yet arrived. Minerva was managing with a pretty straight face to compliment Albus on this year's decoration decisions, evidently fully aware that this couldn't possibly have been his idea. Filius was examining the decorations on the trees, and he looked to be particularly intrigued with her lights. Filch and Mrs Norris were prowling the perimeter of the room, but Hermione thought even they looked slightly more cheerful than usual.
That accounted for all the professors barring Trelawney, who Hermione sincerely hoped would not appear. Hagrid was visiting Madam Maxime in France this Christmas, and all the other professors had taken leave for the holidays.
Albus bade everyone sit down, and there was a general shuffling as seats were found. They had only just managed it, with an empty spot left next to Minerva for Severus, when the Potions master crossed the threshold and entered the Great Hall. He checked as he viewed the interior, an arrested expression upon his face. The younger students were watching with trepidation when Severus did an astonishing thing. His lips twitched first, then he threw back his head and burst into laughter.