Hey everyone, I know I haven't written in a long time and I appologise for that. I've been having a lot of medical issues over the past year and that, in combination with school, has been keeping me pretty preoccupied. However, I have been working on this story off and on for a while and thought I'd go ahead and post it to see what you guys think.

Feel free to message me any ideas that you'd like to see in future chapters because I'm not entirely sure where I want this story to go just yet and I'd love your input.

I'd like to thank all of you for reading and thans-as always-to my sister who finaly kicked my butt into posting this. Hope this brings you into the holiday spirit a bit an you enjoy it enough to leave me a review (doesn't matter if it's short, just no flames please)

Well, here you go...

The sky above the Burrow was painted flush with the colors of early evening. The land around the magically enchanted home was lightly coated with the first snowfall of the season. All seemed calm and peaceful, as if the entire wizarding world was heaving a collective sigh of relief at the approaching Christmas holidays.

Hermione Granger was no exception. She sat comfortably beneath a warm woolen blanket on the sofa in the Weasley's den; a worn copy of Hogwarts: A History lay open on her lap. The gentle crackle of the fire below the hearth was like the sweet lament of an infant's lullaby.

This was the kind of holiday that Hermione loved. Although she did enjoy her fair share of adventure and danger; simplicity was always where she seemed to gravitate towards during times of rest.

And Christmas at the Burrow had become traditional to her in recent years. The packing and sorting of her selecting reading material put her in the holiday spirit better than mistletoe and minced pies put together. Books of both magical and muggle lineage, fiction and non-fiction, they all became customary 'Hermione Granger Christmas ornaments'. This year she had even corralled her copy of The Monster Book of Monsters in case her sense of adventure returned from holiday before the rest of her.

"Ah! It must be Christmas!" A jovial voice called out from the stairs.

Hermione turned her head and saw a tall and freckly red-head leaning against the banister, his sapphire eyes beaming over to her.

"It must be Christmas because there's a bookworm in my favorite seat."

"Happy Christmas Fred," She replied, returning his smile. "How are things at the shop?"

Fred made his way over to the sofa and swiftly lifted Hermione's legs from the cushions and sat down before letting them fall back across his lap.

"Brutal," He grunted, his head falling back in exasperation. "Bloody third years can't get enough of us, can they? Verity's been having a right time keeping the little gits from nicking dung bombs and pigmy puffs under their cloaks."

Hermione gave a small chuckle before a thought passed through her. "Wait, doesn't Verity work the register?"

Fred nodded.

"Then what's she doing running after third years?"

"It's called the 'Holiday Rush', love. This time of year, duty isn't restricted by exclusivity." Fred yawned and stretched his arms out behind his head.

Hermione couldn't help but notice just how wary the older boy looked. Behind his coy smiles and cocky demeanor, there were dark circles beneath his eyes and his ginger hair seemed even more astray than usual. He was obviously exhausted.

This was one of the only aspects of the holidays that Hermione found troubling. The twins always ran themselves ragged this time of year and she just hated seeing the pair without their normal sparkle of mischief. She often asked them why they did not simply take on more staff to help ease their burden. But they would always insist that they wanted to keep their business at a very personal level. And in truth, they'd only hired Verity out of absolute necessity and would have much preferred to hire one of their Hogwarts mates.

Hermione always admired Fred and George for that. Despite all their success they still hadn't lost sight of what they had set out to achieve when they'd begun dreaming up the joke shop years ago. They'd envisioned a semi-respectable business that could put a smile on a troll's face if they could fit one through the door.

"If only they would take on some more help." Hermione thought. Quicker than a fast feet charm an idea came to her, causing her to grin yet again.

"Hey Fred," She said casually.

"Hmm?" He answered, his eyes closed and his breathing long and deep.

"What would you say if I could find you someone to volunteer some work to help you through the season?"

His blue eyes flickered open only long enough to roll in her direction. "C'mon Mione, we've already told you we don't want a bunch of lazy sods poking their noses where they don't belong."

She returned his look with a challenging one of her own. "Oh, so now I'm a lazy sod, am I? Odd, a moment ago I could have sworn it was 'bookworm'."

Fred's eyes immediately shot open and found hers. "You don't mean…?"

"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged. "Guess I always thought you hated our pranks." Fred winked at her and flashed a little smirk. "In fact, I do believe you gave me detention on more than one occasion."

Hermione blushed slightly and looked back down to the pages of her book. "All I ever said was that they weren't appropriate for a school setting. However, I always found your magic to be quite impressive."

His smirk evolved into a wide toothy grin as he watched the blushing girl in front of him attempted to hide the color in her cheeks behind her bushy hair. He loved seeing her flustered, being the control freak that she was, instances like these were few and far between. So it always made Fred feel somewhat honored to witness such a sigh, even more so when he was the one to cause it in the first place.

"So," He said, causing her to look back up.

"The great Hermione Granger is lowering herself to the title of 'shop-keep' all for the charity of a couple of gits, eh? Think you'll survive the first rush?"

Fred couldn't help but laugh at how quickly her air of confidence returned to meet his challenge.

"Please, by the end of the holidays you'll be begging on your knees for me to stay." She said matter-of-factly.

"Ha, you're on Granger. You'll start bright and early Monday morning. Welcome to Weasly's Wizard Wheezes."

Hermione took his outstretched hand and shook to their agreement, feeling a slight twinge of anxiety befall her at the twinkle of trouble in Fred's eye.

The remainder of the evening passed by remarkably quite by Burrow standards as Ron, Harry, and Ginny had all accompanied George to Diagon Alley for the afternoon. Arthur had been delayed at the Ministry and Molly had been hard at work trying to charm off the ink that the twins had 'spilt' on the year's Christmas photo.

This left Hermione and Fred to keep each other entertained, or rather, this left Fred to attempt to entertain himself at Hermione's expense. However, this proved to be a much more difficult task for Fred than it had been in years prior.

Ever since the war had ended Fred and Hermione had struck up a rather unexpected friendship. She claimed it was based upon their advanced understandings of magical arts, while Fred said it was because she no longer had to go gallivanting across Britain and could now see the gorgeous hunk of wizard in front of her. Whatever the reason, the fact remained that the pair found themselves in each other's company on numerously more occasions than they had while at Hogwarts.

So it was with great skill and practice that Hermione was able to continue reading wile Fred absent-mindedly twirled a piece of her hair between his fingers while occasionally flicking his wand to make it change color.

"You know," Fred said lazily. Hermione barely bothered to retract her gaze from the book in her lap to look at him. "This used to be much more fun when it got you in a tiff." He finished, letting the strand of hair slip between his calloused fingers as it changed from a bright shade of teal back to its natural brown.

She laughed slightly, "Shame you're losing your touch then."

Fred opened his mouth t retort but before he could form any words there was a loud crack from the kitchen, followed by several raised voices.

"Sounds like our times up, love, Till Monday." He said with a wink before gently slipping out from underneath her legs and heading for the staircase.

As Hermione watched him go she couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. As their meetings had become more frequent, she'd found that they had become more enjoyable. Even in situations like that afternoon when very little was said and all they really did was spend time in each other's company.

Her thoughts were broken when Harry and Ron stepped through the threshold into the sitting room.

"Finished it again, have you?" Said Ron, gesturing to Hogwarts: A History laying open to the last page. "That makes what, two hundred?"

Hermione gave a playful scowl, flipping the book closed and stretching her stiff arms above her head.

"How was the Alley?' She asked, ignoring Ron's last comment.

"Same as ever," Harry chimed in, brushing snowflakes from his messy hair. "We ran into Neville and Luna in the Leaky Caldron though. She's getting to be a right sight, big enough for twins I'd wager."

Hermione smiled. Not long after the Battle of Hogwarts, Neville and Luna were married at Shell Cottage as per Fleur's request. Evidently she had taken a liking to Luna's eccentricities during her brief stay with the after being rescued from Malfoy Manor. And within a few months of the ceremony, Luna announced that she was expecting. Those present for the reveal had had a right time waking Neville from the floor.

"Oh, how wonderful," Hermione said. Her voice was a light at the prospect of new life in the wizarding world after so much death and destruction.

"Yeah," Ron piped in, "didn't know Neville had it in him."

"Oi," A voice called out from the kitchen before another ginger head popped through the threshold. "Anyone seen my less-than-better half?"

George was carrying a load of about a half dozen boxes, each one a different size and color. One of which, Hermione observed, seemed to be nervously twitching in George's arms.

"Upstairs," Hermione said, giving George a slightly reproachful look as she eyed the restless container. But he only replied with a quick wide-toothed grin—identical to that of his brother—before bounding up the stairs to his and Fred's old bedroom. Hermione looked questioningly back and Harry and Ron.

"Don't look at me," Ron said, raising his arms in defense. "Harry was supposed to be on guard duty when we passed by the magical creature shop. I had to go to Madame Malkin's with Ginny to get a Christmas gift for mum."

Harry gave a nervous shift and quickly cleared his throat. "He's not exactly easy to watch over, you know. I have an easier time keeping track of Teddy, and he's learning how to change color now, isn't he."

Ron shrugged before heading back into the kitchen for a fresh minced pie. As soon as he was out of earshot, Harry walked over to Hermione and kneeled down beside the sofa so he could speak to her without being overheard.

"I didn't want to tell Ron just yet, but I made a detour when George went into the creature shop."

From a pocket of his winter cloak, Harry retrieved a small satin box with a silver ribbon tied around it.

Hermione let out a small gasp of excitement and felt her eyes begin to tear up.

"Oh Harry," She whispered, trying to keep her volume under control so only he would be able to hear her. "Ginny will be so surprised; I can't believe you're finally going to ask her."

Harry was beaming. Hermione could see a lifetime's worth of emotions all surging through her friend's body at once. The love he had felt for Ginny for years was smiling back at her, and it did her heart good to see the pair of them both still alive to love each other after the war. If anyone deserved love and happiness after all the darkness, it was Harry.

"When are you going to do it?" Hermione continued to keep her voice down as she took occasional glances toward the kitchen.

"Christmas morning," He said, "After all the other gifts. I figure if Ron's going to murder me I might as well open my gifts first." Harry gave a little laugh that proved to be less convincing than he had hoped.

Hermione reached out a hand to touch his shoulder comfortingly. "He'll be happy too Harry, I promise. Who would be better for his little sister than his best mate?" She said, "Besides, you're going to be real brothers now."

At this Harry smiled and nodded at her in thanks before tucking the little package back under his cloak before heading up to the attic bedroom to safely store it away until Christmas the following week.

A small sigh escaped from Hermione after Harry had departed. So much had changed, and so much was still changing. Barely nine months had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts and already the wizarding world was beginning to build itself back up. Only now, it was becoming a world that was strange and unfamiliar to Hermione. Not bad, per say, but different.

Marriage and children were no longer considered with a sober tone. Now, such matter were swiftly coming back into reality and the force of it all was enough to leave Hermione breathless.

"Pst!"

The sharp sound jerked Hermione out of her thoughts so suddenly that she immediately leapt from the sofa, Hogwarts: A History tumbling to the floor beside her feet. With her wand now drawn and outstretched, she turned towards the source of the noise.

"Bloody hell Granger, you're not about to curse a bloke in his own mother's house are you?" A cheeky voice said from the stairway.

Hermione exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding before lowering her wand and glaring at the boy in front of her.

"For all I knew Mr. Weasley," She added as much sarcastic emphasis to the name as she could manage. "You could have been Fenrir Greyback, broken out of Azkaban."

"True, but I'm not, am I?" Fred said, examining himself quickly.

She smirked. "No, I suppose not. What is it that you wanted anyway?"

"Oh!" Fred called out, thumping himself on the forehead. "I almost forgot. Follow me, Georgie and I have something we want to show you."

Hermione looked at him with speculation, not entirely confident that whatever it was he wanted to show her wouldn't eat, nick, electrocute, or set her on fire. Regardless, she chose to follow the older Weasley boy up the multiple flights of stairs to the twins' old room.

Thanks for reading and I'll try to update again very soon. But please let me know ofany requests for events in future chapters, or just general input, you know I love to hear from you all. Untill next time,

Peace&Love