christmas day - part i
Christmas Day - Part I
Author: Faechick -
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Feedback: Um. Yes?
Note: Because I don't think guys are dumb, but I do think Ron is oblivious and Harry has the potential to be a very moody gay man. Anyway, this shows that nice guys can exist in a femslash story.
Ron smiled happily to himself as he ripped into the traditional presents he recieved from home every year: a new sweater emblazoned with the letter "R," a new year's subscription to "Quidditch Weekly," and two large boxes of "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans." After a while one might think he'd get bored with these gifts, but every year they continued to make him feel good. After all, he knew he had a family that loved him, and even if they weren't rolling in money, he knew he could always count on them to be there for him.
Pulling the new blue and yellow sweater over his head, he proceded to dig into the first box of Bertie Bott's with relish as he plopped himself down on the common room's couch next to Harry. The dark-haired boy next to him was the picture of sour, and Ron's hand froze half way to his mouth, "You all right, Harry?"
"Fine," came the terse reply. A marmalade flavored bean swished around in Ron's mouth as he contemplated how best to approach this possibly volatile situation.
"You sure?" he asked, raising one eyebrow and glancing at Harry sideways.
"Yes. Of course," again, the reply was terse. Only this time it was bitter, too.
Ron blinked. What was wrong with Harry? It was Christmas, for crying out loud. How could anyone be upset on Christmas? Unless... Ron looked over at the tree; no, that wasn't it. There were at least eight presents stacked up under Harry's name. So, what then? Frowning, Ron opened his mouth and said, "I'm going to breakfast."
And with that pronouncement, Ron grimaced around a sardine falvored bean and marched confidently out the door.
***
"Good morning, Ron!" Hermione said brightly, sliding in next to him at the Gryffindor table. "What'd you get this year?"
"Same thing I get every year," he mumbled back, his mouth full of gingerbread. "But I haven't opened your gift yet, or the one Harry got me. I wanted to be fully awake for those." Hermione laughed, her hair bouncing around her face as she helped herself to sweetened pancakes and milk. "You're really happy this morning; been studying?"
The brunette just rolled her eyes. Any time she showed any hint of jovial behavior that wasn't related to books or school, people got worried. "No, of course not. I spent last night telling Ginny all about what Christmas means to Muggles, and about all the stories we have about it. It was fun, and it put me in a Christmasy mood."
"Oh," Ron swallowed a mouthful of bread. "Since when are you and Ginny such good friends?"
"Since a while ago, moron," Ginny said sweetly as she slid into her seat across from Hermione. "You and Harry have just been so busy with Quidditch this year that you haven't noticed."
"Oh," Ron repeated as he swallowed again. "Speaking of Harry, he was in a really dismal mood this morning. You two know what's up?"
Hermione shook her head, and Ginny shrugged. Ron went back to stuffing himself and Hermione looked at Ginny. She raised her eyebrow and cocked her head towards Ron, mouthing the word, "Now?" Ginny shook her head, eyes wide, and pointed around them. Hermione rolled her own eyes, mouthing, "They'll find out sooner or later." Ginny pleaded silently with her, her neck stretched out in front of her and her brown eyes wide, eyebrows knitted together emploringly. Hermione seemed to relent, her hands palm up in front of her as she mouthed, "Okay, okay."
Ron looked back and forth between them, "What was that all about?"
Ginny blushed furiously and Hermione just smirked, "We'll tell you later, Ron."
Shaking his head and thinking "Girls.", Ron set his eyes on the newly apparated candy-cane trees that twirled tantalizingly in regular intervals down the table.
Ginny smiled in relief. "Thank you," she mouthed to Hermione, who just nodded.
***
"Feeling better, Harry?" Ron asked, throwing himself down on his bed. "You missed a great breakfast." Harry just sighed in irritation, rolling over so that his back was facing Ron as he looked out the window of their dorm room. Ron rolled his eyes, "You know, I don't think it's very fair, you making a big fuss like this on Christmas. You're ruining it for me, you know?" Harry grunted. "Well, at least Ginny and Hermione were in good moods. I guess I'll go find them; maybe they'll want me around."
Harry snorted and mumbled, "Not bloody likely." But Ron never heard him, he was halfway down the stairs.
***
Hermione and Ginny had apparently both chipped in to get him something, and Ron was ecstatic as he opened it. A brand new set of Quidditch gear. Almost top-of-the-line, too. He grabbed his sister and pulled her into a rough hug, then proceeded to do the same with Hermione. Grinning from ear to ear he pulled on the outfit to make sure it was the proper size, "Man, you guys are the greatest! Why did I ever let you go, 'Mione?"
"As I recall, we could never stop arguing," was her bemused answer. "That, and you were making eyes at Pansy Parkinson."
Ron froze momentarily, but almost immediately jutted his chin out definately, "Well, I'd have to be blind not to be making eyes at her."
"He's righ-" Ginny clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. Hermione just stared at her, and Ron tried desperately to replay what she had just almost said.
"What?" he asked, finally.
"N-nothing!" his sister squeaked.
Hermione took a quick look around the room before pointedly looking at Ginny. She then turned to Ron. Her mouth worked silently for a few minutes, as if she couldn't quite figure out what to say (Ron thought this was quite amazing, because he couldn't think of anything that could make Hermione at a loss for words). Then, she just said it: "Ron, Ginny and I are dating."
Ginny's hands moved to her lap, her eyes with them, and Hermione just sat there looking at Ron expectantly. Ron blinked and stopped fiddling with his new gear. His hands moved behind his torsoe to support his upper body while he let the news sink in. He looked first at Hermione, and then at Ginny. And then he looked up at the ceiling.
"How long?" he asked, in a very quiet voice.
"Since last night, officially. But we've been skirting around it for a few weeks now," Hermione answered, her voice also quiet. She was plainly worried about how he'd react.
He nodded. "And-" he stopped, "And how long have you been, you know..."
"Gay?" she smiled thinly. "I'm not. I'm just in love with Ginny, just like I was with you. Except, she and I don't ever really argue."
He grunted. "So, what? You're bi, or something? Isn't that what they call it?"
"I suppose so," she shrugged. "I never really thought about it. I'm not really a label person."
Nodding he looked over to Ginny, who was crying silently. His eyes widened with this discovery and he sat up, reachign for her awkwardly. "Uh, Ginny, Oh please don't cry! It's okay," he said, patting her shoulder gently. "I don't care if you're g-" he swallowed. "If you're gay."
"Yes *hiccup* you do!" Ginny sobbed loudly. "If you *hiccup* didn't you'd have *hiccup* been able to say it!"
His face was twisted in agony as he listened to her cry, and under any other circumstances Hermione might have laughed at it. But as it was she chose to crawl to her girlfriend and scoop the redhead into her arms, cradling her gently as she sobbed. Ron looked on helplessly, "But, but Gin, it's just that- Well, I mean, this is all kind of new to me!" She continued to sob and Hermione looked at him pleadingly. Putting his hands to his head Ron sighed; he felt like he was about to explode, what with Ginny crying, Hermione expecting him to make her stop, and Harry treating him like he was in Slytherin. He just couldn't take it anymore. "Bloody hell, Gin! You're my sister! I don't care if you're gay or not," and he said it the first time without flinching. "I just-" he stopped, and Ginny sniffled loudly and looked at him from over Hermione's shoulder. His voice was softer when he continued, "I just want to know one thing."
Ginny swallowed several times and breathed in deeply in an effort to quell her continuing hiccups. Finally a muffled, "What's that?" came from behind Hermione's robed shoulder.
When he asked, his voice was very, very quiet. So quiet, in fact, that had Ginny hiccuped at the wrong moment they wouldn't have been able to hear, "Was it me?"
He was looking studiously at his shoes, but the question was obviously meant for Hermione. She let out a somewhat surprised gasp and disentangled herself from Ginny before giving him a watery smile and enveloping him in a tight hug. "No, Ron, of course it wasn't you. You were wonderful," she said, and he blinked back a few tears of relief and hugged her in return. "It's just that-" and she pulled herself backwards to look him in the eye. "Ginny and I just fit. Do you understand?"
He nodded and awkwardly let her go. He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well. Good then. I'm happy for you." And suddenly there was a loud squeal from somwhere on the floor and he was shortly thereafter tangled in a long, Weasly hug. He laughed and swung Ginny around a few times before pushing her off of him. "Feel better, then?" She nodded and wiped her face on her new green and yellow sweater.
"Well," Hermione said, coming up behind her girlfriend and wrapping her arms around her. "Now all we have to do is tell everyone else."
"Tell everyone what?" came a rather sour voice from up on the balconey. All three of them turned to look at Harry, who was still in his pajamas and had his arms crossed over his chest. "I heard Ginny scream, I came to make sure there wasn't any trouble."
"Oh, uh, n-no trouble," Ginny said, trying to make herself disappear into Hermione's robes.
Hermione squeezed her gently, "Well, you see Harry the thing is tha-"
"Hermione and Ginny are dating," Ron said brightly, grinning at his sister.
Harry blinked as the three of them looked at him, "Oh." He shrugged. "I wondered when you'd get around to that." And then he headed back to his room.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other and Ginny began to giggle. Turning around, the red-headed girl wrapped her arms around Hermione and buried her face in the brunette's neck. After several moments of listening to Ginny's histerical laughter, Hermione pried her girlfriend from her arms long enough to ask, "What's so funny?"
Between gasps of air, Ginny said, "It's Harry." Ron and Hermione looked at her expectantly. "He's upset because Draco didn't get him anything for Christmas!" Ron looked confused and Hermione's eyes widened.
The brunette looked up towards the boys dorms, "Oh. So that's what's been going on."
"You didn't know?" Ginny squealed. "It's only been the talk of the school for weeks!"
"What has?" Ron asked, still clearly confused.
Hermione shook her head. "Honostly, Ron, you're impossible. They've been dating."
Ron paled, "Harry, too?" He put his hands to his head. "And with a Slytherin! Am I the only one who hasn't played for my own team?"
Hermione snorted, "It certainly looks that way." Ginny wrapped herself in Hermione's arms again and gave her a soft kiss before snuggling back into her neck. Hermione smiled and looked down at her girlfriend, "How did you know Draco didn't get him something?"
Ginny giggled again, "I came down early this morning to put his present out, because I had forgot to do that last night, and I found him sitting on the couch talking to Hedwig about it!" She calmed herself a little and looked at Ron. "Maybe you should go talk to him, now that you know what's going on. He might want to talk to someone who doesn't have wings."
Ron nodded slowly, "Just as long as I don't have to listen to anything about their snog-sessions." And this, of course, sent both Ginny and Hermione into fits of laughter.
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