Time had past and now Christmas was drawing near, the Castle was in a bustle. The teachers were rushing to decorate the castle, but only is "Ministry Approved" decorations of course. Ron and Harry were either getting yelled at Umbridge, talking about Umbridge, or talking to Hagrid; none of these activities were really to Hermione's interests though, as she was frustrated that Hagrid wasn't treating his wounds carefully, and she wanted to avoid the Toad as much as possible. Fred and George would usually be spending this time harassing first years with snowballs and such but the Quidditch team had informed them that they had been replaced. And now they were in a slump, most of the time they sat around the common room making bits of paper fly around, until finally, Hermione decided that she was done with watching them like this.

"Oi! You two!" Hermione stood up from the couch by the fire and looked directly at the Twins.

Fred and George jerked up. "What? Us!" George looked at her, surprised at how she was acting.

She sighed, "You two are in a slump just because Umbridge banned you from Quidditch, right?" Hermione walked up to them, put one hand on her hip and looked at them. "It's not the end of the world though!" Hermione threw her arms up in exasperation, "Look, it's almost Christmas and you two are acting as if someone died, you didn't even congratulate Ginny when she got a place on the team! Get off your arses and do something! Two of my best mates, one of them being my boyfriend, are acting like children and I can't bare to watch it anymore!" Hermione grabbed her books and in a huff, she ran up to the girl's dormitory.

"She's your girlfriend" George looked at Fred smugly. Fred rolled his eyes and ran after her, forgetting that the dormitory immediately turned into a slide if a boy tried to get in.

Fred fell down the slide and grimaced as his skin was scrapped off from the friction. Hermione heard him gasp in pain and turned around then slide down, rolling her eyes when she got to him.

"Fred, I just hate seeing you like this." Her voice softened.

"I know, Hermione, just everything's been awful ever since the Toad got here."

"Yes, Fred, I know that, and she's done a lot more awful things to other people then what she has done to you two. And I don't want you guys getting all depressed just because some bat took away your brooms. Plus, she's only got a year anyways. You know Defense teachers never last any longer."

Hearing that, Fred's head shot up and his eyes started to gleam with mischief, "You're right Granger, she's only here for a year, George and I are only here for a year."

Hermione cocked her eyebrow and looked at Fred suspiciously, "You're not going to do anything stupid are you?"

"Of course not, Granger. Who are George and I to do anything stupid?" Fred grinned and ran off to retrieve his twin and go to the boy's dormitory.

The last meeting of D.A. was almost at an end, Fred and George had spent most of the class keeping to themselves, so Hermione ending up having to practise with Ginny instead of Fred. Harry circled around watching the class practice basic defense spells he taught them over the last few weeks. Finally he walked to the front of the classroom.

"Okay, everyone that's enough!" Harry called out, silence fell and everyone lowered their wands. "So this is the last meeting before Christmas break. And I just wanted to tell you all to have a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year at that. We'll start on the Patronus charm when we get back. Have a good day everyone." Harry beamed at all the DA members as they shuffled out.

Fred was interrupted from his dream because a panicked Ginny was shaking him awake.

"Fred! Dad's been attacked!" Ginny cried out. Fred bolted up and stared at his sister in shock. He jumped out of bed, grabbed his Housecoat and ran down the Dormitory stairs with Ginny in behind.

"Fred, you're awake!" Ron jumped up from one of the Common Room seats.

"Ron, what's this about dad being attacked?" Fred asked worried. As a terrified George ran down to join them.

"Well, I don't know exactly, McGonagall just told us to come to the office, and what you know." The Twins turned their head to see a rather ruffled Head of House standing the corner waiting for them.

"Well, let's go then." Ginny spoke up. McGonagall pushed the portrait open and they followed her out of the Common Room and through the halls until they reached the Headmaster's office.

Once they got in the office they all ran over Harry and started to fire questions at him in a panic. Harry explained that he had a dream that their father had been attacked by a snake and he woke up and ran to Dumbledore's office. They had checked, using the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, and it turned out Arthur was doing Order duty that night. The rest of the Order had gone to check and they found him in a bloody mess on the floor, he was now in St. Mungos.

Their Mother then showed up quite distressed, and talked to Harry, which only sent her into a fit of emotions. Later, after they all calmed down, Professor Dumbledore arranged a portkey for them to be sent to Grimmauld Place.

They all crowded around the Magical Item and grabbed onto it as it spun them around furiously and they got plonked down on the street in front of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. They waited for it to appear and ran into the house, some went straight to bed, but Mrs. Weasley stayed in the Living Room, tears dripping down her face. Fred was going to go bed along with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and George, but he instead walked over to his mother and gave her a big hug, and stayed by her side to comfort her.

Hermione POV

My parents got me up early to make it up the Mountain, to go Skiiing, which in my opinion, was a horrid sport. I had been bundled up in a Winter Coat and Ski Pants, with a pair of blue Skis strapped to my feet, and we were going up a ski lift, the first run of the day.

We sat in silence for a few moments, just as the lift was taking off, but as we reached mid point, I looked down, and I freaked out. I started to hyperventilate, once I noticed how high we were. My heart was beating like crazy and I felt as if I was going to throw up. I was never good with heights, which is why I avoided things like Quidditch and riding Hippogriffs. My parents grabbed my and held on tight. They had to stop the lift once we reached the top. My parents helped me take off my skiis and then walked me off to the lift, as I was still having a panic attack.

"Maybe skiing isn't for you, Hermione." My mother said calmly, with a hand on my shoulder.

"Maybe you're right." I sighed.

"We'll have the services take you down the mountain and we'll get you on a train to London. You can spend the holiday with your friends, would you like that?" My dad offered.

When I thought about spending time with Fred, Harry, Ron, and Ginny, my heart leaped. Of course I wanted to spend time with my parents, but the possibility of spending time with a group of people who I held near and dear to my heart over panicking in a chair lift, seemed a great improvement. I threw my arms around my dad's shoulder, "That'd be wonderful!"

He chuckled, "Alright, alright, we'll arrange it as soon as possible."

Normal POV

Fred was restless, he couldn't sit still for long. His father was in the hospital, Hermione was away at a ski trip, and he couldn't play Quidditch anymore. On top of all that, the Toad was at Hogwarts, and Voldemort was back. If was if things couldn't get any worse. He yearned for a pick me up, a bright side to all of this horror. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. He picked up his wand and flicked the door open.

"Fred Weasley, you'd think you could at least get up to answer the door, I mean especially when it's your girlfriend." He heard a voice calling from the hallway.

"Granger!" He exclaimed, as he bolted to the door. He picked up the Brunette and pulled her into a warm embrace. "What are you doing here? I thought you were skiing?"

"Skiing isn't exactly a sport I fancy, so my parents thought I should come down to London and spend the Holidays with my friends." Hermione told him, beaming.

"And right they are." Fred leaned down, took her face in his hands, and kissed her lovingly.

"Ahem- would you like to tell me what's going on between you two?" Mrs. Weasley's voice boomed from behind them.