Underneath the Mistletoe

ChapterTwentyOne

Harry's POV
ThirdYear-DayFour

Nothing very interesting had occurred since the start of the Winter Holidays. That was if you didn't count the massive blizzard that now had all the teachers and students, who were staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, pent up inside the castle. Hermione didn't seem to mind all that much, it gave her a great excuse to finish all her homework and try to force Harry and Ron to get their's done as well. Harry wasn't too crazy about this plan, however, he wasn't going stir crazy like his best mate. Ron was practically bouncing off the walls from 'cabin fever'. The other boy was always tapping a foot or shifting about in his seat. He point blank refused to work and had instead resorted to trying to get a reaction out of Hermione. This of course served as Harry's entertainment.

"I just want the snow to melt enough for us to go outside!" Ron whined for about the hundredth time.

"Well that's not happening anytime soon so maybe you should do something productive?" Hermione suggested giving him a pointed look. Harry sat across from her and observed as her hand continued to write cramped notes while she kept her eyes fixated on her textbook.

Ron moped a bit and hit his head, although not too hard, on a big book. When no one coddled him he huffed and looked around the big dusty library.

"You know, " Ron completely ignored Hermione's advice about being productive. "I almost wish Black would make an appearance so we'd at least have something to talk about."

"Ron, how can you say that?!" Hermione's eyes were wide and full of astonishment.

Harry watched Ron's eyes light up. He could almost hear his friends thoughts.

Ron: 1 Hermione:0

"Harry knows I'm only joking," Ron lazily flipped a book open, pretending not to see Hermione's expression of deep disapproval, skimmed the page and promptly slammed it shut. With a look of mild revulsion he slid it away. "Don't you Harry?"

Harry looked from Ron, who had the same look as Fred and George before they performed a good prank, to Hermione who was looking thoroughly ticked off.
He didn't want to get into an argument with either of them and clearly they were both in the mood to fight.
"Pardon?" Harry said weakly. "I was, er- I was just reading this article-" He scrambled to put together an excuse about why he wasn't listening and was instead reading a simply fascinating book on the growth of mandrakes. This satisfied both his friends. Hermione was glad that Harry was doing something productive with his time and Ron was giving him a look of amusement. Though Harry wasn't sure just what he found so entertaining. Apparently mocking and teasing Hermione had become a favourite activity of his.

"Okay, so I think we should work on the chapter 12 summary Flitwick wants us to write-" Hermione began to try and persuade them. She was looking at Harry so she didn't see the faces Ron was making at her. Unfortunately she must have seen the laughter in Harry's eyes because with dwindling patience she turned on Ron.

"What is it that you want?!" She demanded. His best mate schooled his features into a look of mild entertainment. "I'm afraid I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about." Ron hid his smirk well but mirth danced across his features.

"I don't know why I even bother!" Hermione cried, clearly fed up with Ron's attitude. She bit the inside of her cheek and Harry knew she was trying to regain her calm. "If this is about Scabbers, I understand if you're upset about in his old age-"

"Well since you brought it up..." Ron promptly interrupted "It's not old age! It's that dumb cat of yours!"

"Oh for goodness sake!" Hermione sprung from her chair and leaned forward, her eyes glinting with anger and maybe even a bit of hurt. "Are we really going over this again?!"