The Wish List

Part One

   1st December

   The Christmas tree in the Great Hall looked as extravagant as ever. Trimmed with traditionalcandles and sparkling baubles that were enchanted to turn about for the admirer to look at in awe,it almost reached the enchanted ceiling, making it look grand as it dominated the room with itsfestive presence. 

   The food always seemed a little more well made around that time of year, too. It was almost as ifthe Elves seemed to take more care when it came to making it...like they were in a better mooddue to the count down to the big day. 

   Hermione loved Christmas. She had always loved the run up and the way that people alwaysseemed a lot kinder around this time of year. Peace and goodwill to all men, and all that. HogwartsCastle felt particularly warmer at around this time of year too, with its roaring log fires burningcontinuously, keeping out the chill of the snow that fell thickly all around the Castle. 

   "Did you give in your Secret Santa present to Luna?" Harry asked her as he sat reading thenewspaper, hand in hand with Ginny. They were barely two people these days, and Hermione oftenwondered if they would be permanently attached for the rest of their lives. Not that she minded it...it looked very romantic. At least one of her friends was happy. 

   Ron Weasley was also happy, but not with Hermione. Their travelling adventures with Harry hadbrought them together, but the reality of home and their real lives had brought them apart again. Itwas amicable in the end, and they did still hold a great deal of love and respect for each other... butnot in the romantic sense. It had taken Hermione a great deal of time to come to terms with the factthat Ron was not actually the one, but the more time was passing, the easier it was becoming. 

   When they returned to Hogwarts for their 8th year to finish off their NEWT's, she found herselfbeing thrown back into her studies and taking every lesson she could to make up for lost time. Sheneeded the distraction. She needed the time to herself to heal from everything that had happenedwithin the last twelve months... she needed to be her own person and grow from her experienceswithout them casting a shadow over her for the rest of her life. 

   Coming out of her thoughts, Hermione looked up at her bespectacled friend. She had indeed givenher Secret Santa present to Luna that morning. They were all anonymous and could be given toanyone who had chosen to participate; all houses were welcome. It was a tradition that had beenorganised for as long as Hermione could remember, but this year was the first year that she hadnoticed a few Slytherins approaching Luna in order to join in on the tradition too. 

   A lot of them were sorry. A lot of them were atoning for things that they had felt that they haddone wrong during the war. Hermione had noticed Blaise Zibini, Theodore Nott and PansyParkinson being a lot more sociable lately. They made the effort to sit and eat with other studentsfrom different houses and even sat with different people during lessons. Hermione found them allto be quite quirky, with Theodore Nott grabbing her attention mostly with his little anecdotes andhis dry humour. 

   There was only Draco Malfoy who still remained like an enigma to her and most of the otherstudents. 

   He kept himself to himself and rarely looked up to make eye contact or speak to anyone. Fromwhat Hermione could tell, he still spoke to his Slytherin friends, but he seemed to remain like partof the background, almost like he did not want to be seen. It felt eerily like he was almost a shadowof his former self. 

   There were only a few occasions since herself and Harry had spoken up for him at his Ministry trialthat he had even glanced at her. It was never malicious and almost always accidental that they evenseemed to catch each other's eye, but it was always fleeting and made her feel like she was notsupposed to catch him doing it. Hermione was still not quite sure whether or not he felt anyremorse at all for the things that had happened, but she knew that on the day of his trial, Hermionehad never seen him so scared.