Written for the House Cup Competition using all of the prompts. All twelve. I'm super proud of myself about this, can you tell?
A bit of fluff here, a bit of fluff there, fluff, fluff everywhere! :D
Words: 1595
Enjoy!
.,.,.,.,.,.
The air was still, interrupted only by the minute scratching of quills against parchment and occasional creaks of adjusting chairs and wobbling tables. Books with beefy spines and enough dust littered across their faces to put an attic to shame floated soundlessly through the air. A soft sound occurred as they slid into their appropriate places on the shelves that towered above the ground.
Outside the paned windows that filled each gap between the shelves, a storm brewed in the midnight-black sky. Small drops of rain fell against the window with dull tip-taps like a mouse running across a floor.
The young Weasley was seated at one of the few vacant tables in the entire library. Hidden behind her curtain of velvety, shocking blue hair, she worked away at a roll of parchment that fell to the floor. Several lamps hung along the shelves and sat along the edges light up the area and gave everything a pale yellow glow. The light seemed to feign that of a pleasant day in the advent of spring. The quill trembled as it flew across the rough parchment, creating words of loops and soft sweeps with dots above the i's and sharp lines through the t's, flowing through paragraphs with ease.
Dominique gave a small jump at the low rumble of thunder that sounded in the distance. Shivers instantly shot down the length of her spine and brought goosebumps to her skin. After a breathy mutter about decency and nerve, she faithfully returned to the book laid open across the table.
Nearly a quarter of an hour later, Dominique sighed and kicked off her shoes to reveal scarlet red socks. Promptly swinging her legs back and forth under the table so that her toes brushed the stiff carpet, she examined the breadth of her work.
"Only two essays, three worksheets, and a speech left. Oh Merlin help me," she groaned.
Out of the very blue a voice commented, "You might want to keep your voice down. You're in a library, you know."
Dominique almost fell off her chair. "Teddy? Gah, what, how— what're you doing here?" she exclaimed, and fixated her disbelieving gaze on him.
Teddy glanced around quickly, leaning to look down each of the aisles before he waved his wand over the entryway to the nook in which they stood. With a nod, he turned back around to meet his kaleidoscope eyes with her own turbid blue ones. They held a certain spark that she knew all too well; like he had just gotten back from a close run with Mathiga, the batty old caretaker with a grudge against delinquents. He looked too excited for being in a library.
"Silencing Charm. Should keep Pince from getting suspicious," he explained swiftly. Catching sight of the table laden with a plethora of dusty books, ancient tomes, unfurled scrolls, scattered quills, and scarce ink pots, he gestured to it all. "Still studying for those tests, I see," he observed brightly.
Even though he sounded as if graduation had come early, Dominique detected a slight hint of disapproval in his tone.
Dominique ground her teeth together. "Those tests will decide whether I'll be elligble to continue my path to become an Auror or not. Besides, what are you doing in the library? Shouldn't you be head of some prank or other?"
A slight frown graced his features. "Ah, unfortunately no. Can't risk another mark on my record, or they'll start keeping me during lunch on weekdays."
"They can do that?" she asked in a dubious tone.
Teddy nodded grimly. "You would be surprised what they can do."
Dominique wracked her mind for things students other than James had done that might have stood out. One came to mind. "Wasn't there one kid they expelled for repeated offences of illegal curses or something of the sort?"
"Mmm, Wayne Goyle," he murmured, nodding carefully. "Now enough about that, what are you doing?"
Dominique lips tugged down into a frown. "Studying, like we just talked about."
Teddy looked skyward before mimicking her frown. "Obviously. But your socks are in plain view, you're disheveled as a broom in a tornado, and you've got drool on your cheek."
Her eyes widened at that. She hastily rubbed at her cheek with her shirt sleeve. A harsh scarlet spread across her face as rushing blood shot upwards. With an almost shameful look, she crossed her ankles and stowed both crimson-clad feet under the chair.
He took a few steps toward her and turned his sympathetic gaze to hers. "You're so obviously exhausted. Why don't you take a break? We could head to the kitchens and grab some—"
He stopped mid-sentence as a booming crash rolled across the sky, followed by a mighty crack. Dominique yelped and jumped so violently her knees smacked against the underside of the table. She tumbled to the floor and whimpered pathetically.
Teddy placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as if she were a delicate piece of china. When her gaze snapped to him, eyes widened in undiluted terror, she saw a confused glint in his now tawny orbs.
The words Dominique wished never to fall from his lips tumbled out like she did from her chair, "Are you... are you still afraid of thunderstorms?"
She felt the depth of his words hit her like a troll. Against her better judgement she thought of the times that she would crawl into the warmth his arms provided. With each strike of thunder he would hold her tighter as she knotted his shirt around in her fingers. When the storm's tantrum subsided, no words would pass between them, but they would both hear the unsaid question hang in the air: can I stay?
The redness of her cheeks could have beeen seen from Australia, she was sure. "No, of course not," she dismissed with a shake of her head.
A flash of light spilled in from the windows and illuminated the entire library. The lightning was immediately followed by a harsh crash and crack, as if the very sky were being split open. Dominique screamed and practically jumped into Teddy's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck with the force of a boa constrictor tightening around its prey.
Teddy looked down at her with a questioning gaze.
"Okay," she answered in a trembling whisper. "I am. But you can't tell anyone. They'll think I'm being ridiculous."
Dominique released her hold on his neck and crawled back to her spot on the floor. The wood of the shelf met her back while her toes brushed the surface of the other shelf. While diverting her gaze from Teddy, she fixated her eyes on a ink pot sitting sadly against a leg of the table.
"Oh. You mean you wouldn't want me to inform the entire library of your little secret, then?" Teddy asked softly.
A sudden fear unlike the one elicited by the thunder was evoked by his words. "Don't you dare!" she commanded and held onto his wrist with an ironlike grip.
Teddy stared at Dominique like she had just screamed at him. "I was kidding," he said slowly.
The anger pulsing through her veins ebbed. After a moment she was able to regain
"Merlin, you're horrible," she breathed. "Do you know how much I would have had to kill you if you had actually of done that?"
Teddy grinned stupidly, as if the thought brought him immense amusement. "I know," he confirmed. "But it was worth it."
"If I didn't like you so much, I'd slap you."
Teddy paused to ponder this for a moment. With a gentle touch, he held her hand in his. While his thumb kneaded circles into her palm, she gazed mindlessly at his hair— which would have nearly mirrored hers, had it not looked as natural as any other hair color.
"Right on the cheek?"
"Right on the cheek," she repeated. A smirk slid onto her lips in spite of herself.
A pout like that of a puppy's crept onto his. "Not on the wrist?"
She shook her head. "Nope."
If he had been standing, Dominique was sure Teddy would have stomped his foot. His eyebrows knitted together and she had faith that his pout would remain there until she did something about it. The tips of his fingers delved into the carpet and hekd fast to the fabric.
The sigh Teddy gave was almost inaudible. "What could I do to make it up to you then?" he offered cordially.
Without hesitation, without a mere blink, the words tumbled past her lips, "Shut up and kiss me."
Before Teddy scarcely had time to say a word, Dominique had already captured his lips for her own. With a thrill, she realized they tasted of mint and blueberry muffins. Without missing a beat, Teddy laced their hands together and used the other to run through her hair and affectionately cradle her cheek.
Dominique hardly noticed when Madam Pince started screeching at them about Silencing Charms not being permitted and that use of the library for any other purposes than research would result in their immediate vacation of the premises if they didn't stop "right this very instant, now please."
The thrill of having Teddy Lupin caressing her cheek and kissing the living daylights out of her was too hard to pass up, even for a detention. Dominique was living a moment of her wildest fantasies, and no one was about to take that from her.
When the thunder crashed once again, she hardly moved a centimeter.