What if...

Christmas

Ever since Ron had bragged in their History of Magic lesson about knowing all about the Sorcerer's Stone and its abilities, Harry immediately realised that the stone must have been in the small package that he saw Hagrid remove from Vault 713 that day at Gringotts.

Hermione had added that the trapdoor the Cerberus (Harry named him Seb) was guarding must contain the Stone. Harry and Neville both agreed.

Seb had taken quite a liking to Harry, as he was never really scared of him. Instead, Harry would bring giant red rubber balls for Seb to play with, and all three heads roared in pleasure as they struggled to share the ball between each other.

Christmas was drawing near, and Harry was stumped on a present for Hermione. He had tried everything! He had even persuaded Professor McGonagall to give him a day out on his own in Diagon Alley, but nothing he saw seemed to come close to what she was worth, and Harry wanted to get her something breathtaking- something she wouldn't forget easily.

Defeated, Harry dejectedly shoved his hands inside his pockets... only to strike his middle finger on something hard. He pulled out the box and looked at it curiously. Then, he remembered that it was the box that his mother's necklace is in.

Wait, his mother's necklace.

The one that Mrs Figg had told him to give to someone special.

Someone who would never let him down.

Someone who he cared for deeply.

Then, the knut dropped.

He would give the necklace to Hermione!

Granted, he had already decided this beforehand, but he didn't realise that he was going to be giving it to her so soon!

She was certainly special to Harry, and she, without a doubt, wouldn't let him down- Harry trusted her with his life! And Harry most definitely cared deeply for Hermione- in fact, Hermione was probably his most favourite person in the world, followed closely by Hagrid and Neville.

That settled it- Harry was giving Hermione his mother's necklace for Christmas. He just got Neville some Toad Tonic for Trevor, as well as a few chocolate frogs, just for a laugh. He definitely made sure to get Fred and George both the same prank book. "So you can both work on the same page. ;)" Harry had written this on both cards, clearly pleased with himself.

When he showed Hermione, she had laughed so hard that Harry had to put a cushioning charm- a recently learnt charm- on his shoulder to make sure that she didn't break her nose while she was smashing her head into it, almost falling off the couch in laughter.

"Oh, pretty funny." Neville had said, before turning back to his annoying transfiguration homework. Wow, tough crowd.

Harry waited until he was alone, then pulled out the necklace and carved a few choice words into the sapphire heart emblem at the bottom of the necklace. He then magically wrapped it and placed it neatly into a square black box.

Christmas was in two days, and Harry was very excited. Not for the presents, he wasn't going to receive any. But he was excited for Hermione's reaction when she sees his present. She'll probably try and give it back, Harry wasn't going to let her.

It was now two days until Christmas, and Harry had shown Neville his present for Hermione. He goggled at it for about half a minute until Harry snapped the case closed and stared at him, expecting his reaction.

"B-brilliant, Harry! Hermione'll love it!" Neville said in awe. Harry sighed in relief.

"I'm going to love what?"