Christmas of Friendship, Loyalty, and Love by Nicole Title: Christmas of Friendship, Loyalty, and Love Author: Nicole/hpnic06 Summary: Harry has trouble getting Hermione's gift due to all of the Christmas preparations. Luckily for him, a forgotten decoration gives him the perfect opening to finally achieve his goal. Rating: PG Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended Notes: The present which Harry gives to Hermione can be found here. Also, please excuse any and all mistakes...I'm without steady internet during these holidays this year and thus had to beta my own fic. Happy Holidays!!
Silver bells, silver bells, It's Christmas time in the city. Ring-a-ling, hear them ring, soon it will be Christmas day.
In retrospect, Harry Potter had no idea how the best Christmas he had ever experienced had turned into complete and utter madness. Perhaps it was Hermione's perfectionist nature that led her to want everything to be "just-so" for their first Christmas together, or the constant presence of her mother—who, though Harry knew she meant well—was slightly smothering. Of course, he had to admit that she wasn't near as smothering as Molly Weasley tended to be on her best day.
Harry had gotten out of part of the Christmas shopping due to having been called into work, but that was only after they had already been shopping for three straight hours. It wouldn't have been so bad, but every gift had to be just perfect for the person they were buying it for...and she hadn't yet given him an opportunity to just go out by himself to find a present for her. It wasn't like he had no clue what to buy her—he knew exactly what he wanted to get her, after all—rather that he simply hadn't been able to escape all of the decorating and preparations long enough to go buy it. Harry was determined to get it done, but if he didn't get it done soon, he wouldn't have any more time to do it before Christmas.
After breakfast, he got ready to go out. As he was making his way to the door, Hermione called to him from the living room.
"Harry, come in here for a sec, would you?"
He easily stifled the groan that had threatened to escape. Just when he thought he had found the moment he was finally going to get to her gift, she had something else she needed. He stepped into the living room, where she was making sure the tree met all of her shaping specifications. Whatever irritation he had felt at her catching him before he could get out the door left him as he watched her. It's worth it to see her so happy and cheerful, he thought.
"The tree looks great, love," he commented with a smile.
"You really think so?" she asked, stepping back to stand beside him and critique her work. "It seems like it's missing something."
"Well, we haven't decorated it yet, Hermione...of course it's missing something. But we've got all of the decorations for it...the topper, ornaments, lights, garland, a tree skirt..." But the gasp that cut him off at his mention of tree skirt told him that something was wrong.
"Oh, no...I forgot to get the tree skirt! I ordered it from Gambol and Japes through their Christmas decorations catalog, but it wasn't in when I picked up the rest of our decorations. Oh, what are we going to do?" In her despair over her mistake, Hermione failed to notice the smile that had spread over Harry's lips. Gambol and Japes was only right next door to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shoppe in Hogsmeade, which had also started dealing in fine jewelry—and which was the very place he had been heading when she had called him into the living room.
"Hermione, love, I can go pick the tree skirt up from Gambol and Japes. I was just on my way to Hogsmeade to run a few errands of my own, it would be no trouble for me to pick it up." He put his arm around her shoulder as he said this, causing her to look up at him, smiling once again.
"Oh, Harry, would you? You've been so good about putting up with all of my Christmas preparations and shopping already, are you sure?" There she went, biting her lip again as she did when she was nervous about something.
"Of course I don't mind. It's obviously important to you, and since I was already going to be near there anyway, it would be nothing." Inside he was doing a little dance of joy. Finally he was going to be able to achieve the task which he had been having so much trouble doing.
Hermione hugged him tightly and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "What would I do without you, Harry? I swear, you keep me more sane than anyone else could."
And with those words, she practically pushed him out of their flat to go about his plans—now with one addition.
When he returned, tree skirt in tow and Hermione's present secure in his pocket, he put the tree skirt on the sofa in the living room, noting that the tree was much less bare than it had been when he had left. However, there was no sign of Hermione in the living room. Something smelled good, though, and when he entered their kitchen, he was surprised to see Hermione standing in front of the stove, cooking.
It wasn't that she was bad at it, or didn't know how to cook...Hermione simply didn't often have the time to do it—though, lately she had been cooking more on the weekends. He took a deep breath before speaking.
"I'm back, love. Tree skirt's in the living room on the sofa." He walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and peering over her shoulder to see what she was cooking.
"Thanks so much, Harry. That was such a weight off of my mind for you to do that for me." When he started looking over her shoulder, she decided just to tell him what it was. "Chicken curry—Padma Patil has been giving me tips."
"Smells good. D'you want me to set the table?"
"Oh, yes, please. Grab the red plates, would you?" And so he did. Supper that night was a delicious fare, and Padma had certainly taught Hermione well. At the end of the meal, though, all Harry could think about was waiting on Christmas to come so he could give Hermione her gift. He was sincerely hoping she would like it.
After that night, the rest of the pre-Christmas days went by fairly quickly. The week before Christmas was a surreal blur of parties given by their friends and family—including the one in which he got to meet more of Hermione's family at her parent's house, and the very interesting one given by George and Ron at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It had been interesting because the resulting engagement of Ron to Luna Lovegood had been instigated by Luna rather than Ron. It seemed that the both of them had each planned to ask the other to marry them, just that Luna had beaten Ron to it. Ron confided in Harry and Hermione later that he was still planning to ask Luna at midnight on Christmas Eve. Though he wasn't proposing to Hermione, this gave Harry an idea regarding his gift to her.
Christmas Eve was typically busy for Harry and Hermione. This year they were hosting a small party at their flat. All of their friends were there—right down to Viktor Krum, who was on holiday from the Quidditch season. After the party had ended, Harry and Hermione made quick work of the cleanup, and now found themselves relaxing in the living room.
"Hermione, can we exchange one gift apiece tonight?" His quiet voice cut over the soft music that they hadn't yet bothered to turn off.
"Well, I guess so," she replied. "Pick which one you want me to open, and I'll find one for you."
Naturally, as he really wanted her to open her gift tonight, he wasted no time in grabbing the small parcel from under the tree. It took her a few seconds longer to find one she felt was suitable for him.
When they had returned to their seats, now facing each other instead of cuddling up together, he spoke.
"You can go first with the giving, love."
Though she hesitated, his expression and tone told her to take his suggestion in stride, so she handed him the present she had selected.
He opened it quickly, and chuckled when he saw what she had picked for him to unwrap.
"Thanks, Hermione. You know how much I've been dying to read the complete history of Gryffindor Quidditch..."
"Anytime, Harry." He then became a bit more serious as he handed her the small, elegantly wrapped present that he had worried so much over buying. She took her time in opening it, careful to not tear the paper too much. By the time she had finished unwrapping it, and started to open the box—which was obviously some sort of jewelry—Harry had started to fidget slightly out of nerves.
When she saw what was in the box, she couldn't help her reaction.
"Oh, Harry, you shouldn't have." She threw her arms around him, kissing him quickly before lifting the pendant out of the box. "You know how much I love claddaghs."
Without saying anything in reply, he reached his hand out for the necklace. Understanding what he wanted, she let him take it and turned around so that he could fasten it around her neck. He did so, and was unable to resist planting a kiss on her neck where the clasp was. She shivered slightly, and turned back around.
"Well, how does it look?"
Kissing her once, he replied.
"Perfect. But, of course, I've always had a spot for friendship, loyalty, and love."