ONESHOTS | harmione

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭

Harry awoke to the smell of freshly made cinnamon pastries, an instant smile spreading to his cheeks. He raced out of bed, stumbling over his baggy pajama pants as he bolted down the stairs.

"Happy Christmas Mrs. Weasley!" He exclaimed, fumbling in his pocket for his round glasses.

"Happy Christmas, dear!" His 'mother' grinned, motioning for the plate of pastries. "Help yourself, I suppose the others will be down shortly."

Harry murmured a faint "thank you," before grabbing two of the cinnamon treats and heading into the living room. He took a seat on the aged, but homely, couch, his eyes drifting towards Mr. Weasley as he started up the fireplace.

"Good morning Harry!" Mr. Weasley warmly said, "—oh! and Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas!" Harry murmured, his voice muffled by the pastry that was stuffed inside his mouth. His face flushed a bright red.

"Bloody hell—" Ron hollered, jumping as he entered the living room, clearly not expecting company. "Harry, you're awake!"

Harry burst out into laughter, choking on the cinnamon pastry. He coughed, swallowing the treat. Ron chuckled at his friend, making the green-eyed boy blush once more.

"Oh— Shove off!" Harry rolled his eyes, tossing a pillow at Ron's shoulder as he took a seat.

They fell into a comfortable silence, finishing their breakfast, and watching as the living room soon filled up with a myriad of gingers. The whole household was excited and downstairs, beside the brunette who was anxiously pacing upstairs.

"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked, squeezing onto the armchair beside Fred, despite his protest.

"I dunno— but I'll go check on her." Harry said, arising from the couch.

"I already told you Ginerva, the armchair is too small, go take your annoying ass somewhere else!" Fred hollered, groaning as his sister roughly pushed him off the chair, taking his spot.

Harry snickered, overhearing the two siblings' banter as he climbed the stairs. Since he turned sixteen, he noticed himself having reoccurring thoughts of Hermione— in a different way than he had planned. He took a shaky breath, knocking on the door to Ginny's bedroom, where Hermione was staying for the holiday break.

"Hermione?" Harry called out, his voice no louder than a whisper.

"Come in..." He heard a delicate voice in response, smirking as he entered the room. "Happy Christmas, Mione!"

"Happy Christmas, Harry! Sorry I'm taking a while...my hair clearly doesn't want to be brushed today." She hissed, gently raking the comb through her thick curls.

"I think your hair looks perfect— even if you didn't brush it." Harry mumbled, his cheeks tinted pink. "Come on, it's Christmas! You can worry about your hair some other time."

She looked over at him for a brief second, almost debating on if he was joking or not. Harry approached her from behind, gingerly taking her bushy hair and tying it into a low ponytail.

"See, it's perfect! Now, come on so we can open presents, Hermione!" Harry beamed, giving her a feathery kiss on the check. Hermione seemed surprised by his sudden action— but he couldn't blame her, he was just as shocked.

"Why'd you do that?" She murmured, turning around to face the raven-haired boy.

"D-Do what? Tie your hair up?" Harry started, his eyes growing wide after pausing for a second. "Oh— you're talking about the kiss...right?"

Hermione nodded, giggling quietly under her breath as she watched him.

"I dunno...Should I not have—?" Harry stammered, his hands getting clammy.

"No, you definitely should have, trust me...it just caught me off guard that's all!"

He sighed in relief, a sly smile tugging at his lips. "Does that mean you liked it?"

Hermione felt her face heating up, only fueling Harry's laughter. Merlin, why was she still awkward around boys despite being seventeen?

"S-So you did like it?" Harry asked, his eyes glazed over with hopefulness.

"Uh- yeah..." The brunette whispered, her gaze falling towards her feet. "We should probably go join the others, you know?"

"Wait!" Harry choked out, his arm carefully catching hold of hers. "Before we go, can I tell you something?"

She breathed out an almost inaudible "of course," before motioning for him to continue.

"Uh- I'm not entirely sure h-how to word this, you know I'm awful at these things. Ever since the summer, my birthday to be exact— although I'm not sure w-why that mattered." Harry stopped for a second, sighing as he nervously ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"Okay, a-as I was saying before I trailed off— Actually, I'll just spare you the pain of having to hear me explain this, and just flat out tell you. I like you, Hermione. I really like you."

Hermione's jaw dropped, an unreadable expression falling onto her face. "Like in a more than friendly way?"

Harry nodded, "—I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry..." Hermione giggled, her hand trailing up to cup Harry's cheek.

Slowly, she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against his. He let out a small gasp before kissing her back, his hands coming to rest along the sides of her neck. Harry ran his thumb along her jawline, pulling her body closer to his.

"Hermione, Harry! What's taking you two so long up there?" Fred called from the stairwell, breaking both the teenagers apart.

"Why bother asking? They're clearly up to no good, Freddie." George winked, following his brother up the stairs.

"N-No, we're good!" Harry breathlessly yelled, grabbing Hermione's hand and pulling her out of the room.

"Sorry we took so long, Harry was just helping me with my hair..." The curly-headed girl lied, pulling a somewhat believable smile onto her face.

The twin's eyes fell from Harry's heaving chest to their interlaced hands and smirked.

"They're alright everyone, Harry was just helping Hermione!" George yelled as they climbed down the stairs, winking at the brunette.

"No need to worry, Harry was there to help! Happy Christmas!" Fred mirrored his twin's tone, snickering.

George quickly took a seat beside Ron, who was too busy staring at the pile of sweets that his mother was making to care. Fred, on the other hand, slumped to the floor beside the armchair Ginny was sitting in, shooting her a dirty look.

"Does this mean you like me too?" Harry asked, whispering in Hermione's ear as they look a seat beside each other.

"Yes, idiot..." She snorted, shaking her head in playful disbelief.

He grinned, his eyes fluttering to their connected hands. She was definitely the best present he could ever wish for.