Muggle

by silver-nightstorm

It took him many years to realize it, but he did get many kisses from many people in his life. His father had given him one, right when he was born. His mother had given him countless kisses when he was young. Even Lily had given him a kiss.

Happy (very, very, very, very, very late) Birthday Into~ :D I hope you like it (cause you speak Harry Potter~)

Written for The Five Kisses Competition on HPFC. Enjoy!

Muggle

By silver-nightstorm

Summary: It took him many years to realize it, but he did get many kisses from many people in his life. His father had given him one, right when he was born. His mother had given him countless kisses when he was young. Even Lily had given him a kiss – although it was purely platonic.

XX

"Tell me something about yourself," she said, looking at him over her mug of coffee. It was a common question for a common day at a common place. It was mundane… Muggle. Like her.

He shrugged. "What's to tell?" he asked, sipping from his own steaming mug. "You know practically everything about me."

She laughed. It was a tinkling laugh, a little girl's laugh. But she wasn't a little girl. She was anything but. Her brown eyes sparkled. "I know you're a former professor, and you taught Chemistry at some mysterious school in Scotland. I don't believe you, though," she said, matter-of-factly. "You know shit about chemistry." She was half serious. "You mumble about your mysterious lost love when you think no one is listening, and you frequently grab your left forearm and flinch," he flinched, "You should get that checked out." She made a grab for his sleeve and he jumped away, barely managing to keep his coffee in his cup. "And you have some sort of phobia about me touching your sleeves because of some sort of embarrassing? I'm guessing embarrassing… tattoo you got when you were young and stupid… and you always keep your neck covered."

She jumped up in her chair suddenly, her eyes lighting up. "I think I got it!" she gasped, looking enlightened. "You're a vampire!" She managed to hold her quasi-serious expression for half a second before she burst into giggles.

The man smiled.

"See?" she said, grabbing her coffee once more. "I don't know much about you at all."

"You know more about me than anyone else does." She looked at him for a few moments, drowning in his dark eyes, before wrenching her gaze away.

"Really?" she whispered. "Don't you have any friends? Family?"

"Not anymore."

She surveyed him while his eyes were fixed on the grains in the wooden countertop that his fingers traced over. His dark hair was much shorter than it had been when she first met him, but it still hung slightly into his eyes. His skin was almost unhealthy pale, but the tiny patches of color in his cheeks indicated a bit of life. He had a marvelous collection of wrinkles – if she didn't know better, she would have thought he was in his fifties. But his eyes. His dark eyes held so much emotion at any given time it was astounding. And now, now they held deep sadness.

She put a hand on his arm. "You don't have to tell me anything," she said softly, trying to apologize for her pushiness. "I should know when to stop."

He shook his head violently, a no. "Don't stop asking questions!" he said, almost shouting, a blaze of fire in his eyes. "Don't stop car—" He seemed to choke on his words.

Don't stop caring.

"I'll ask you something silly then, hmm?" she said. He nodded slowly, his elegant fingers abandoning the deathgrip he had on his mug. "When did you… have your first kiss?"

"Two seconds old. My father."

She grinned, slapping him playfully on the arm. "Silly! I meant your first romantic kiss!" He fixed her with a look from his piercing eyes. She immediately backtracked. "Oh, sorry. Too personal? I guess then—"

"Never."

She stopped talking when he cut her off abruptly, his one-word response shocking her. "Never?" she whispered softly. "You really mean?"

He nodded, fixing his glance once more on his coffee and refusing to meet her eyes. He jumped slightly when a tiny, warm hand covered his larger one. When he turned to face her, he was utterly shocked by the soft smile on her face.

"We'll just have to remedy that, won't we?" Then she was kissing him. And he was kissing her.

XX

He wasn't much for public displays of affection. He found that after a cynical lifetime of watching couples snog in various painfully obvious places throughout Hogwarts, he wasn't about to become a hypocrite just so he could snog his woman wherever he wished. However, nothing stopped him from shooting death glares at any man within a ten foot radius of her. She was a Muggle, after all. He needed to protect her. And even though she took Tae Kwon Do, one could never be too cautious.

At least, that was what he told himself as he glared at yet another young man who might have possibly maybe been looking at her.

She laughed, suddenly. "Get that horrid glare off of your face!" she admonished. "You look like you're trying to scare everyone around you!" He gave her a pointed look. Her smile turned blinding. "Of course you are," she grinned.

To say he was relieved was the understatement of the century. He had expected her to be, after she kissed him in the pub, a woman who loved to be loved in public. But he was wrong. She was just like him (she was a professor too! in a Muggle field called… 'Genetics'), detesting public affection (PDA, she called it) and avoiding it like the plague. But in private, she loved to be loved. She was a cuddler, which was a bit difficult for him to understand. He didn't have much opportunity for cuddling in his past, not many people wanted to cuddle with him. But she did. And she was amazing.

They were walking down the crowded streets of Muggle London. She wanted to visit some friends in a pub. He was pulled along. He was too much of a pushover to say no to her. Not that anyone else would ever find out about that. Never.

They were still walking together, not holding hands or any other childish nonsense, but walking very close – shoulders brushing, hands grazing. He felt it very clearly when she suddenly stiffened.

"What is it?" he asked softly, understanding a need for subtlety.

"Him," she whispered. He zoned in on him almost instantly, a hulking monster of a man who was making his way quickly across the road to talk to her. "My ex."

"What would ever possess you to…" his scathing tone was back, but he stopped quickly before he could hurt her. She clearly regretted it. "Don't worry," he said instead. "He can't do anything to you."

She shivered, not believing him. "I… I don't know what to do…"

"PDA?"

She looked up at him, astonished that he would even suggest that. "Wha?"

"It would get the message across in very obvious manner," he whispered in her ear. She shivered again, for an entirely different reason.

Doubtfully, she replied. "Is that… appropriate?"

He rolled his eyes and pulled her close to him. "Who gives a bloody fuck?"

He was kissing her again. He was kissing her and she was kissing him and they were in the middle of a crowded street and he didn't give a damn because she was all his and she didn't care about all the much younger, much more attractive men that looked at her because she wanted him.

The dumbstruck look on her ex's face made him smirk.

XX

She laughed at him. She seemed to do that a lot, fixing him with an expression of shock and then bursting into sudden laughter. It was her defense. He couldn't blame her. He would have probably done the same thing if someone told him they could do magic.

A few minutes later, she fixed him with a probing glance. He did his very best to not look away. "You… you're a… wizard?" He simply nodded. "Right…" she said, whistling. "And I'm Helena Bonham Carter. Yup." She rolled her eyes and fixed him with a glare. "That's not funny."

It took a few hours of explanations and demonstrations to get her to believe him. She gave him that look, the one that always made him melt a little bit inside. "Why did you tell me?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" he responded. "It's an… important factor in my life."

"So… you care enough about me to… tell me this sort of thing?" Her hands trembled, and her lip quivered. She looked… she looked about ready to cry. Had he really never told her how he felt?

He took her hands in his. He made her look at him. And he kissed her. He kissed away her tears before she even cried.

XX

He was nervous. Why did he agree to do this? What had ever possessed him to do this? Potter was grinning at him. An insufferable grin that made him want to scream. Why had he ever agreed to…

He saw her. She looked beautiful. She was… almost glowing. She was so… perfect.

The words of the minister floated by him. He didn't hear what was happening, he just saw her. Her soft smile, the way one little wayward strand of hair was falling into her eye.

"… kiss the bride."

He could dimly hear cheers. But he could feel her. In his arms. With him. Perfect.

XX

It took him many years to realize it, but he did get many kisses from many people in his life. His father had given him one, right when he was born. His mother had given him countless kisses when he was young. Even Lily had given him a kiss – although it was purely platonic.

But the funny thing was, that if he was asked to make a list of the most important kisses he'd ever received, they were all from her. It was truly astonishing. But… the most important kiss in his life was the last one he ever got from her. It was a shame; Muggles never lived as long as wizards.

But he couldn't complain. She, even in her brief life, had made his life worth it. She made him glad he survived.

XX

Well, it was random, but I hope you liked it~ :D