Sigh... meeting deadlines is nice.

It was Christmas and the Trio sat comfortably in the Common Room, surrounded by a pile of presents. Most other Gryffindors had gone home, leaving the House quiet in a comfortable way.

"You go first," Harry urged to Ron, gesturing to the teetering pile of presents. The first package was quite lumpy and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess... a Weasley sweater?" He opened the card, which read:

"Dear Ronnie - We will miss you and dear Ginny while we are in Romania this Christmas. Please take care of your sister and be sure that she is remembering to eat and put on warm socks and never go outside with wet hair. Also remind her not to die. I hope you enjoy this gift, and that you will not be too awfully disappointed, as I have run out of maroon yarn and didn't have time to pop over to Diagon Alley. You know how hectic things are lately since the infestation by Frosty the Snowman in Ottery St. Catchpole. Your father is out at all hours, running through the lanes with a giant net. The neighbors have called the Muggle authorities on him no less than 14 times. Thus one of the reasons we must go to Romania. Anyway, have a lovely holiday. Do NOT die, or I shall be very angry.

-Mum"

Ron's face lit up, which made him look much like a fireplace, what with the red hair and lit up face. He was not actually ON fire, in case you were wondering. "No maroon!" he yelled, and tore into the package.

He shrieked and a mauve sweater fell to the floor. "Who does she think she's fooling!" Ron grumbled, kicking the sweater under the couch. "That's just girly maroon."

"Alright," Harry said, making a valiant and almost successful effort to ignore Ron and his sweater-induced temper tantrum. "My turn." He grabbed a present off the pile and began to unwrap it. "By the way, where is Ginny?"

Ron reached over and grabbed the present from Harry's hands. "Where is Ginny?" he repeated. "Where is... isn't Ginny here?"

Harry shook his head and tried to pull the present back, causing the two boys to scuffle over the present. Hermione dumped a pitcher of pumpkin juice over their heads.

"Stop that!" she said calmly and sat back down on the nearest plushy couch.

"Di-did you just dump pumpkin juice on us?" Ron stuttered, his red hair plastered to his slightly orange tinted face, creating quite an unpleasant effect.

"Yes, and you may want to bathe. Soon. Pumpkin juice stains."

"Why?" Harry asked, trying to clean off his glasses with juice-drenched clothing.

"You were bothering me."

"Don't you think that's slightly evil?"

"Sometimes, you HAVE to be evil. I've been taking lessons from Zymurgy and Lotus." The author poked her. "And Cassirin," she sighed, "especially Cassirin."

Ron shook his head and decided it was in his best interest to ignore Evil!Hermione. "But what about my sister? We need to find her and make sure that she is remembering to eat and put on warm socks and never go outside with wet hair!"

"And not dying. Don't forget that you need to be sure she isn't dying," Harry added helpfully.

"Yeah!" And Ron somehow managed to drag Harry, who was looking mournfully at his presents, and Hermione, who was somehow carrying a very full pitcher of pumpkin juice, out into the castle to search for Ginny. I'm sure we are all very concerned that Ginny is somewhere, quite hungry, cold, wet, and possibly dead.

They were quite surprised to see Ginny sitting right outside the portrait hole, her head in her hands. Next to her sat Cho Chang (who the author still doesn't like), sobbing and chattering a mile a minute. On closer inspection, we find that Ginny is actually asleep, and doing quite a nice job of pulling it off.

"And then *snifflesnortsob* we went out the front door and turned right and walked about 10 paces to sit under an oak tree. I'm sure it was oak *snifflesob* because Cedric said something quite romantic about my wand being made of oak *snort*. He always said things like that. So we sat under this tree *snifflesnifflesnifflesniffle* and..."

"Ginny!" Ron yelled, waking his sister and startling Cho right out of her story. The author promptly sent Pig hurtling at Ron's head bearing a lovely gold medal and a stack of chocolate frogs, because she was annoyed with Cho and was extremely glad Ron made her stop talking. Of course, Pig is much too small for a medal and stack of frogs, and made some poor landing decisions, ending up tangled in Hermione's hair. But Ron got the message.

"Ginny! I've come to make sure you are remembering to eat and put on warm socks and never go outside with wet hair," he gasped, clutching his prizes to him.

"And not die!" Harry added helpfully.

"I just stopped here because poor Cho was crying, and then she wouldn't stop telling me the longest story of my life, and I... fell asleep. And are you aware that your head is sticky and orange?" Ginny blinked sleepily at the two boys who were still quite sticky and orange, and at Hermione who held a still-full pitcher of juice. She edged away from Hermione.

"STICKY AND ORANGE!" Cho shrieked. "That reminds me of Cedric's fondness for orange-flavored Tootsie Pops *sobsob*. I.... *GLUG*"

Hermione poured out the pitcher of pumpkin juice on Cho's head. "Mmm... I enjoy being evil. And now you can enjoy being sticky and orange."


born2mugglz's dare:
*Frosty the Snowman must make an appearance
*Ron must finally get a different colored Weasley sweater cuz Mrs.Weasley ran out of maroon colored yarn.
*Cho Chang should be....tearful...hehe... and annoying...VERY annoying.
*Pig must do something...(I don't know what, but I love that little puffball of a bird!!! )
*And someone must be evil...Muahahaha!!!!
*Due on the 25 of December By Golly! Christmas Day!!!

This dare was sticky and orange!