You Looked Like Christmas Morning

Leonhart17

Rating: G
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 08/12/2005
Last Updated: 08/12/2005
Status: completed

Harry and Hermione are together on Christmas eve and Harry tells Hermione what he thought when he first saw her.

Chapters

1. You Looked Like Christmas Morning

1. You Looked Like Christmas Morning

You Looked Like Christmas Morning

Hermione Granger moved a little in her sleep as the fire crackled loudly, causing her boyfriend, Harry Potter to look down from his thoughts to her. She stretched a little and he put a hand down on her shoulder to keep her from sliding off the couch. At his touch, her eyes cracked open and she smiled as she looked up at him from her head’s resting place in his lap.

“What were you thinking about?” she asked, pulling one hand out from under her blanket to reach up and touch his face. He smiled down at her, turning his face to kiss the inside of her hand.

His reply was breathed softly into her palm, his breath sending shivers through her.

“You.”

She snuggled her face closer to his body, pressing a kiss to his shirt. “Me? What about me?” she asked with a smile.

His green eyes were staring straight into her, the dancing firelight reflected in them, giving him a look of utmost sincerity and love. “What I thought the first time I saw you,” he answered, a hand reaching down to brush a thumb against her lips. She leaned her head up, kissing his finger gently.

“And what was that?” she asked with an encouraging smile, dropping her head back gently into his lap.

“That you looked like Christmas morning,” he said quietly, his hand sliding across her cheek to cup her face. “The kind of Christmas morning a kid is supposed to have,” he amended. “Not the kind I used to get with the Dursleys. The normal kind; full of magic, and love, and sharing, and warmth. That’s what I saw when I looked at you,” he said quietly into the silence, the crackling flames the only sound.

Hermione sighed shakily, tears welling up in her eyes. “Harry,” she breathed. His finger on her lips stopped her from continuing.

“Let me finish Hermione,” he asked softly. She nodded and his lips curved into a tiny smile. “That first time I saw you on the train…you were so confident, smart, everything I expected a magical person to be. You were everything I wasn’t.” Hermione opened her mouth to protest at this and he shushed her again. “You were everything I was looking forward to about the magical world. Christmas morning is the only way I can think of saying it that does it justice. You, with your unruly hair, your bossy attitude, and your accepting kindness, you were everything that a scared orphan could want and more than he could ever expect. That first time I saw you on the Express, you became the one perfect thing in my life,” his voice trailed off and his fingers wiped away tears that had run down her cheeks. “And you never let me down. No matter what I did to drive you away or what stupid danger I put you in, you never left me and you never let me fail. You’ve only ever done anything because it was good for me. I see you and it’s like there’s this great present that belongs to me and there’s no one that can take it from me or break it and it’s only for me. It’s something I’ve never had before in my life, that I can remember, and the fact that I get this great gift everyday just blows my mind and I can’t help but wonder what I might have possibly done to deserve it and I know that I don’t but it stays anyway and I just wonder at my good fortune to have kept it for this long and I’m scared to lose you,” his voice faded away, replaced by the crackling of the flames and the steady sound of their breathing.

“Oh Harry,” Hermione said softly, sitting up and putting her arms around his neck. “I love you so much,” she breathed into the side of his neck. “I’ll never leave you and nothing can take me away,” she was anxious to reassure him. “I love you.”

Harry held her close to his chest, taking comfort in her arms. “I love you too Hermione.” He took a deep breath, holding it for a second as he worked up his nerve. Pulling back slightly to look into her face, he reached slowly into his pocket and pulled out a small box. Hermione’s eyes filled up with tears and she shakily covered her mouth with her hands. Thumbing the box open, Harry reached up and took her left hand off of her mouth. “I need this one for a few minutes,” he said with a smile, trying valiantly not to appear nervous. His thumbs rubbed across the back of her hand as he gathered himself to speak. His green eyes were staring into her brown eyes, full of love and not a little bit of nervousness. “Hermione, you’ve always been my best friend and loved me and taken care of me, ever since we were eleven years old. Over the eight years that I’ve known you, I’ve gradually fallen in love with you. It took me a long time to realize it consciously but I think I’ve always known it in my heart. And now I want to ask you if you would do me the great honor of marrying me and becoming my wife?”

Hermione’s eyes were filled with tears and the hand that was covering her mouth was shaking as she watched him. Harry let out a breath and squeezed her hand that was held in his. His free hand wiped tears from her cheeks as he waited anxiously for her to say something. Her hand moved off of her mouth and took his that was touching her cheek. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to speak. “Harry, I’ve loved you from the first time I saw you and it’s only grown since then. Of course I’ll marry you.” At this point words left her and she hiccupped back tears as Harry gently slid the ring onto her finger. She leaned up and kissed him as he pulled her closer to him. When the kiss broke, neither pulled back, leaning their foreheads against each other. As the clock began to chime, Harry realized what time it was and leaned back to look Hermione in the face.

“Merry Christmas Hermione. I love you.”

AN: I know its not that long but I feel good about where it ended so...Merry Christmas - oh yeah, the quote that inspired the fic is from 'Mr and Mrs Smith' sooo...I don't own that...