It was all Shay's damn fault. Seamus was the reason that Neville found himself standing in the middle of a spin-the-bottle circle waiting for the empty butterbeer bottle to decide his fate. He had given it a mighty fling so it took seemingly endless minutes to pick the lucky person, scratch that, unlucky person that Neville would be snogging in front of the whole party. He kept his eyes on the bottle while those in the choosing circle joked and screeched at the thought of kissing Longbottom.

Not that Neville was hideous or anything, it was more that no one ever thought of him as a sexual person, not a person to snog. He was the nice guy that liked plants, who bumbled around until he got himself into wonderous and terrifying adventures. But frankly, people only noticed if he wasn't around, never that he was around.

That is why people were surprised when Neville took a place in the middle of the circle of giggling players and was bold enough to spin first. What the party didn't know was that just that morning, Seamus had found out that Neville had never kissed anyone before. Teasing him something awful, Seamus had made disgusting sucking noises and pantomimed grossly until Neville fled the dorm room the two shared during the lonely seventh year at Hogwarts. Seamus had apologized at dinner, he was quiet and shy when he spoke so Neville knew it was genuine. If Seamus wasn't sorry about the teasing, he would have been loud and sarcastic. Not many people rated a sincere apology in the Irish teen's view and the rarity was not lost on Neville.

Yet the damage was done and Neville was determined to have his first kiss tonight at the party that Ginny and Seamus had scrounged together to blow off steam. After a few butterbeers and shots of fire whiskey, Neville was ready to play when word went round about the kissing game.

Then the bottle stopped.

Pointing at Seamus. Of course.

Seamus got to his feet, smiling as he came to stand in front of Neville. Seamus had experience kissing people, boys and girls, not just while playing spin-the-bottle either. He had quite a line of students to call on when ever he was in the mood for some hanky panky. People were just drawn to him.

"Come on Nev! Pucker up, the kids want a show!" Seamus spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, the crowd laughing as he hammed it up for them. The room got very loud with catcalls allowing Seamus a private word with Neville, "If you don't want to do this, I'll play it off or we can just fake it by wrapping our arms to block their view." Seamus turned around, raising his arms to get the crowd going even more.

Neville wiped his sweating hands off on his trousers, nervous because he had planned on a girl standing in the circle with him when the time came to get that first kiss. But his resolve was slipping away and he knew it was to be now or never. So when Seamus spun to face him, Neville dipped down to slam his mouth against the other boy's.

Probably the worst first kiss on record.

Neville's lips met a hard, toothy grin. To his credit, Seamus didn't dodge away from the attack, just stood there in shock as Neville sucked the spit out of his mouth through the gap between his front teeth. Realizing that Neville had no escape plan to end the kiss, Seamus sealed his lips around Neville's mouth dragging out the experience as the crowd quieted at the spectacle before them.

The boy's bodies remained far apart, their only link was at the mouth. As his brain began to clear from the shot of adrenaline the experience had caused, Neville felt the ache in his neck from holding the awkward angle. Daring to open his eyes, Neville completely freaked out to find Seamus staring right at him. The boys jumped apart at the same time, Neville knocking into people as he beelined for the stairs. Heart pounding, he ran up the treads, not stopping until the door was solidly shut behind him to drown out the sounds of the party.

Flinging down on his bed, Neville's body shut down letting sleep hit easily to protect itself from thinking about what had just happened. His brain fought to process the information but only managed a weak, 'Never play spin-the-bottle.' before blacking out.