Good Night
By ShellCottage
Ok, so this is it. I asked her to the Yule Ball. Why the hell did I ask her to the Yule Ball? I mean, I don't like her or anything, we've been friends since first year, when we paired up in Potions and Snape gave her a bad mark of which I laughed my arse off. And then we were in the Quidditch team together, we laughed, we joked, we talked, but George was there as well, and she paid us both the same attention. Why the hell did I ask her, then?
But the damage is done now, and I'm wearing my dressing robes, so I might as well enjoy the night, right? George is waiting for me at the door of our dormitory, he's in a bad mood because Alicia Spinnet was already going with somebody else and he had to settle with Katie Bell. He looks almost as the reflection on my mirror, but his bow is blue, and mine is green.
"Ready, mate?" he croaks out before getting out the door. I cannot suppress the evil grin in my face. Is a rarely occasion when George doesn't get the girl and I do. But what am I thinking? Angelina is not my girl, I have not gotten anything, I don't like her. She's my mate, and I only asked her because I had no other girl to go with.
We walk down the spiral staircase. There are Katie and Alicia, they're both chatting happily, waiting for their dates. George goes a little pink in the ears, and my grin becomes wider.
"Oi, George, I bet no one will notice that blush." I say behind him, almost whispering in his ear.
"Shut the hell up, I was not blushing, you prat" he hisses.
We meet Alicia and Katie. Katie seems happy, and grabs George's arm, she straightens his bow. I swear George's blush is getting redder as Katie fumbles with his bow. Alicia is right there and she keeps giggling because of George's askew bow. I feel my own ears heating up. Am I nervous? What the bloody hell? Why?
Harry, Ron, and the rest of the fourth years come down the spiral staircase. They meet their dates. And I really want to say something to Ron: his robes are the most frightful thing I have ever seen, including the ghoul in the attic. But my brain is becoming more and more useless as I wait there for Angelina, so I have no funny remarks when Ron passes by with Harry. George is still embarrassed by Katie's antics, so he misses Ron too.
"Let's go down, the Ball is about to start" says Alicia.
"What about your date?" asks George sulking a little bit.
"He's waiting for me down stairs, he's in Ravenclaw"
"But Angelina hasn't come down yet" Katie throws in, grabbing George's arm nonetheless.
"I'll wait for her. We'll catch up with you, guys, at the Entrance Hall" I hear myself offering. What the hell?
And the minutes tick by and Angelina hasn't come down yet. What is that woman doing? I sit down on one of the arm chairs and my gaze fixed entirely on the spiral staircase directing to the girl's dormitories. The common room is getting emptier by the second, and I start to feel anxious.
At long last, when the last couple go out through the portrait I hear mumbling in the staircase. It's Angelina, repeating the same phrase over and over again: Merlin, I'm really fucking late. I laugh as I watch her come down. She's gorgeous in that red, tight dress, but I keep laughing because I find it extremely charming that she uses the fuck word with such an ease.
"What are you laughing about, you git?" she says, walking hurriedly towards me. I gulp down my last laughs and stand up straightening my dressing robes.
"Well, I shall say you look stunning, my dear girl." I find myself saying in a mockery tone. I can't help it: my stomach is twirling as I offer my hand to her.
She takes it, while mumbling something like idiot under her breath. I look at her, her hair resting carelessly in an elegant bun, her neck elongated and her breasts perfectly contained in that fitting dress. Why am I thinking about her breasts? She's my mate. That's all.
"It's really late, isn't it? I'm sorry for making you wait" she says, interlacing her fingers in mine.
"It's fine, Angelina, let's just get going, all right?" we walk hand in hand towards the Entrance Hall, my face suddenly feeling a lot warmer than before, and my insides a lot more upside down that earlier. Angelina seems as calm as ever, her walk is elegant and sassy at the same time, her smile completely normal. Why am I the only one blushing?
When we arrive at the Entrance Hall, people are already getting inside the Great Hall. It's amazingly decorated with icicles and white lights. Everything is bright and pretty. People are sitting down on round tables all over the place, white lining and silver cutlery shine above all and I hear Angelina give a slight gasp in admiration. She tightens her grip on my hand, I blush even more.
"Oi, mate. Over here." I hear George's voice in the other end of the room. He's waving for us already sitting down at one of the tables. Alicia is nowhere near. Angelina and I sit down at their table. The four champions and their dates are already sitting down at the judges table. I see Percy sitting down beside Dombledore, and I elbow George on the ribs to make him look.
"Looks like Wetherby got a promotion." He says. We both laugh.
"Is that Hermione?" George asks suddenly.
"Yes, it is. She looks gorgeous." Says Katie.
I don't see Hermione, not at first glance anyway, until I notice the pretty girl sitting beside Viktor Krum. She does look gorgeous, not at all like herself, but in a pleasant way. Not because she managed to control that bushy hair of hers, but because she's flashing a rather seductive smile at Krum. I look for Ron in the crowd, but I'm not able to spot him.
"I wonder what Ron might do." I say aloud.
"Why? You think he will make a scene?" George asks after ordering the pork chops to his plate.
"Pork chops," I recite too. "Yeah, he might. I mean, Hermione with Krum? That ought to cause a reaction in him, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, I bet he'll do a fool of himself."
"I wish he does something embarrassing. Something we can tell his kids, you know."
"Don't worry, Fred, if it's not tonight, he'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to do it."
We dine. Angelina eats really slowly and elegant. She doesn't talk with her mouth full, and between every bite she smiles at me. I hadn't notice this things before. I was definitely not paying attention, but why the hell am I paying attention now? I was happy in my oblivion. The bliss of being ignorant of those little charming features of Angelina that keep making me blush.
Dinner is at last over. Dombledore makes us all stand up and the tables fly to the back of the room. The Weird Sisters step into the platform containing the band's instruments, and after one round of heavy applause, the four champions strode into the dance floor with their dates. Harry seems totally out of his element. That Parvati girl seems to be steering. I grin. He looks so awkward that he makes me want to laugh out loud, but I contain myself. Other couples have started to fill the dance floor too. Dombledore waltzes around with Madame Maxime, his head just beneath her bosom.
The song ends and something more beat up starts to play. I want to dance, I like dancing. But I'm afraid Angelina wouldn't want to. Does she like dancing? I don't have a bloody clue as to what she likes. Maybe I should have paid more attention to her while she talked, but that question has never occurred to me before. I draw a blank as to what to do. And then she tugs my sleeve.
"Let's dance." She says, smiling that bright smile of hers.
"Really?" I ask, feeling a little dumb for worrying about this.
"Yeah. Or are you not good at it?" she says, an evil grin spreading through her face.
"What? Me? C'mon, Angelina, I'm the best damn dancer around here."
"Ha ha. I don't think so, baby, I'm the best dancer."
"Yeah, right, and my name is Percy, right?"
"Wanna see? I bet I can dance better than you"
"It's on, honey." I say as I grab her hand and steer her into the clustered dance floor.
We start dancing to the upbeat song. First our hands and feet, and later our whole bodies rock with the music. She starts closing her eyes, feeling the music and moving even more wildly. She does have pretty good moves, and I move as wild as she is just to not lose the bet. We sway, people shifting their positions because they fear getting hit by our salvage movements. And then I grab Angelina's waist and I draw her closer to me. Her persona emanating heat and sexiness. Why, oh, why did I move her closer? Now I'm breathing her scent and it's driving me insane. She wraps her arms around my neck, we are still moving pretty furiously and I feel her body brushing mine as we dance. My mouth gets in level with her and suddenly I think about kissing her. What? Kissing Angelina Johnson? Am I stoned or something? Am I losing my fucking mind? But her lips are oh so plump, and their slightly open, tempting me seductively to lick them. Whoa, what am I saying? This is Angelina, chaser in the Quidditch team, one of my best mates. But no, Angelina is no mate of mine, she's my friend, my girl friend. A girl, a woman. Yes, Angelina is a woman, and a well developed one, for Merlin's sake. And there is a twitch in my trousers, and I can almost savor her lips against mine. So I dive.
Angelina's lips are round and soft and very tasteful. I can hear a small moan escape her lips while we kiss, my hands caressing her lower back, her grip tightening on my neck. I dart my tongue out, exploring her mouth. My insides are churning and my hands are sweating, but I care not. I'm kissing Angelina Johnson, and she's kissing me back. We separate, looking at each other. She is blushing furiously, her mouth slightly parted and her eyes flashing a flame that was not there before.
"Let's get out of here." She whispers and grabs my hand to lead me out. We walk hurriedly out of the Great Hall, up the marble staircase and into a deserted classroom. My heart is beating hard against my chest, and my mind is rushing all over the place. I mean, what does this mean? Is she trying to tell me she wants to shag me? Is she that easily convinced? Is she bluffing and just wants to keep snogging out of the teacher's eyes? I have no fucking clue as to what is going on, but still I grab her shoulders and push her to the wall of the classroom. She wraps her arms to my waist, and instead of going for my mouth, she goes for my neck. She kisses, and sucks, and drives me to the edge. I moan. She kisses my ear, and then she nibbles at it.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" she asks.
"What?" I say through close eye leads due to the pleasure.
"That you fancied me. We could have done this a long time ago."
"What?" I ask again, darting my eyes open and looking at her in an incredulous way.
"Well, I have liked you for like two years now."
"Are you bloody serious? Why?" It's not the thing I want to ask, but it slips my mouth. I mean, what does it mean?
"I don't know, because you're funny, and loyal, and you are a great flyer, and you make me feel like a giggling girl. Not many have that ability."
"You like me? Just me?" I say, my right hand caressing her cheek.
"Yeah, who else?" she says, her hand traveling up to mine and gripping it lightly.
"George."
"No, I certainly don't like him. He's way too rude." She says earnestly.
I laugh at the foolishness of that accusation. How can he be rudder that I am if we are exactly the same?
"But we are the same." I say.
"No, you're not. I see the difference."
Right then I couldn't control myself, I just had to kiss her again. I kissed her passionately, pushing her against the wall, touching her in all the places she let me. And then I say "I like you, too, Angelina, like you have no fucking idea."
She laughs, hugging me by the waist again, brushing her face to my neck. It's the first time I feel so certain about something. I notice now that there has always been something between us. The way I felt whenever Angelina was present, always making me laugh, always finding a way to make me feel better. I had not realized it until that moment in which my lips sunk into her. It was all right there, my blushes, my nervousness, all exceedingly obvious as to what my feeling were shouting to my oblivious brain.
I kiss her again, and she kisses me back. It feels so right and so good that time just flies, and suddenly the clock strikes midnight and it's time to go back. We get out of the classroom, I make sure to grab her hand and interlace my fingers with her. She smiles at me. We walk in silence for a while, until we get near the Fat Lady painting. More Gryffindors are there. She stops and drags me to an empty hallway away from sight.
"Fred, I need to ask you something." She says.
"What is it?"
She blushes furiously, her mouth struggling to spit the words out. She seems trouble by what she is about to ask.
"Are—are we…" She looks at me, her eyes hopeful.
"Yes." I say. "If you would like, of course."
I blush too. She grins. "Yes, I would like very much to be your girlfriend."
She takes my hand again, leading me to the Fat Lady.
"Fairy lights." I say to the hanged over Fat Lady and her friend Violet and she swings open. Ron and Hermione are there, shouting at the top of their lungs. Harry is watching from a safe distance.
"NEXT TIME THERE'S A BALL, ASK ME BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES, AND NOT AS A LAST RESORT!" Hermione yells, and then she climbs up the girl's staircase.
"Well, well—that just proves—completely missed the point—" Ron sputters, thunderstruck and then climbs the staircase to the boys dormitories, Harry right behind him.
Angelina laughs.
"He's completely oblivious, right?"she asks.
"Yeah, I reckon he'll find out he has feelings for her in a million years."
"Well, I'm glad that didn't happen to you." She says, standing right in front of me.
"Good night, Angie."I say, grinning like a mad man.
"Good night, Fred." She says, kissing me lightly on the lips and the heading up the staircase.
My girlfriend, I think while climbing my own staircase, ready to dream with those kisses that would be only mine from now on.
