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The Lesson

By Alison

D/C: I don't own anything mentioned in this story but the plot. JK Rowling, Scholastic, and people who are luckier than me own them.

~*~*~

It was a typical evening at Hogwarts. Classes had ended for the day and all the Gryffindors were in the common room. Some, like Hermione, were scrambling to get their work done. Some, like Fred and George Weasley, were plotting new tricks and pranks to pull on people, preferably the Slytherins. And some, like Ron and Harry, were stuck in between what they should do: work on their Potions essay or check up on the latest Weasley Wizard Wheeze.

Speaking of which…

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Hmm?" he asked, coming out of his internal debate. "Ron? I don't know where he went. After dinner, he just said he had stuff to do and left."

Hermione sighed. When will he ever learn? she wondered.

Taking a break, she put down her quill and rolled her wrist, trying to relieve some of her writers cramp. She glanced out the window at the snow falling and smiled. She always like the holidays and everything that went along with it: hot cocoa, a turkey for Christmas dinner, mistletoe (although she didn't like the whole story behind it), now, sledding, ice skating, watching Ron ice skate on the big lake in front of Hogwarts…

"What the…" she muttered under her breath, taking a closer look at the slightly foolish person who was ice skating.

There was no mistaking that red hair. It was Ron Weasley.

Grabbing her wand and saying a quick goodbye to a now confused Harry, Hermione rushed down to the lake.

"Ron!" she called out once she was in earshot.

He almost toppled over. "Hermione!" he said, regaining his composure, although his ears were turning red and Hermione knew it wasn't because of the cold. "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, shivering a little. "What are you trying to do, break your neck out here?"

Ron skated over by Hermione. "No, my neck is still fully intact, thank you very much, although I might break it if too many other people sneak up on me."

"Sorry," Hermione apologized. "Now, come on, get back inside. You must be freezing."

Ron grinned at her. "Do you know how to ice skate, Hermione?" he asked.

"No, and I don't plan to, either."

"Oh, come on! It's fun!"

"I will not. I've still got a Potions essay and so do you."

"Five minutes," said Ron. "That's all I ask."

Hermione sighed. "Fine. But you should know, I don't have any skates."

"No problem," said Ron. "Step out on the ice."

Hermione walked to him carefully, trying not to slip. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm giving you some skates," Ron explained. "You'd better hold on to me."

Hermione put her hands on his shoulders and immediately felt an electrical impulse shoot through her. Steady, she told herself. It's just Ron, who happens to look really cute with snow in his hair…No, he doesn't! What am I thinking?

Hermione shook her head as if to shake all the ideas out. Ron looked at her. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," she said. "Let's just get this over with."

"OK, hold on," said Ron. He muttered a spell under his breath and aimed it at her shoes.

They suddenly turned into skates! Hermione slipped on the ice and almost fell before Ron caught her.

"Easy there," he said. "Don't go breaking your neck on me." He smiled as Hermione worked to get herself upright.

"OK," she said. "How do you do this…skating thing?"

"You don't 'do' it, you practice at it," Ron explained. "OK, let's start with some gliding motions, like this…"

They stayed out there for a lot longer than five minutes, all the while being watched by Harry from the common room, who was hatching a plan. He told Ginny, and they ran upstairs to get the secret ingredient. They taped it right above the portrait hole so Ron and Hermione would walk under it when they came in.

Finally, an out-of-breath Ron suggested that they turn in because, after all, it was pretty hard to skate in the dark.

"Maybe for beginners," Hermione teased, but allowed Ron to change her back to her shoes, while she was sitting down this time.

They walked back up to the common room, faces flushed. As soon as they walked in, they heard one of the Weasley twins make a catcall. Hermione and Ron stopped.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Look above you, Ronniekins," said the other twin, whom Hermione could never tell apart.

Almost as one motion, both Ron and Hermione looked up and saw Harry's and Ginny's little "secret ingredient": a mistletoe.

Hermione turned bright red and looked at Ron, whose face was redder than his hair. He looked at her.

He quickly leaned over and gave her a full-on kiss. Hermione sank into it instantly, and if her mind hadn't been off in dreamland, she might have heard all the whoops and hollers in the background, mainly from Fred and George.

Ron pulled away and had a dazed look on his face. "Wow," was all he could say.

"Wow indeed," Hermione said.

"Hermione," said Ron, shuffling his feet nervously, "would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Hermione smiled. "I thought you'd never ask," she replied, kissing him again.

I guess ice skating isn't so bad after all, she thought.

Then again, neither is mistletoe.

FIN

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