When Molly carefully descended the stairs of the girls' dormitory, she could barely make out the tall figure of Arthur next to the portrait hole. The fire had burned down, and the sky outside was a deep midnight blue.
"Now, what are you up to?", she whispered when she reached him, adding before he could answer: "It won't change my mind, you know." They had been going out for a while now, but she made it clear that she wanted to be "just friends". At least until she knew what she really wanted. Oh well, she'd admit any day he was cute…
"Come on", he answered quietly, taking her hand and helping her through the portrait hole. Like a pair of criminals they slipped through the sleeping castle. Once they thought they could hear Peeves laughing somewhere nearby, and they stopped breathlessly and listened as the sound died away. Then they were out on the grounds.
The night was beautiful. The moon was shining bright enough to add a touch of silver to the scenery but not too bright to drown the stars. A light wind was whispering in the trees of the Forbidden Forest, but everything else was quiet. No lights could be seen in the castle.
Arthur led Molly down to the lake. They strolled along the waterside; he hadn't let go of her hand and she pretended she hadn't noticed when really she felt his touch like tender fire. Finally, they reached a place where some bushes hit the water's edge: Arthur stopped there and triumphantly pulled a boat out from between the bushes. It appeared to be one of the boats that usually brought the first-years to the castle. Molly's eyes widened. "How did you get to that?" "Ascend your chariot, Milady", Arthur said, smiling and avoiding the question, while he pushed the boat into the water.
Molly carefully took her seat and Arthur stepped into the boat after her. Sitting down, he grabbed the oars and started rowing them out onto the lake. "Couldn't you just make it move by magic?", she asked provokingly. "Would you prefer that?", he asked quickly, and she shook her head when she saw the honest worry on his face.
The lake was very still – the wind had calmed down as they walked – and reflected the stars and the moon almost perfectly. Only sometimes, when a fish (or the giant squid, maybe) touched the surface, it was briefly troubled. "So", she said after a while of silence only broken by the splashing of the oars, trying and failing to pretend that she was by no means impressed. "What did you bring me here for?"
Arthur laid the oars into the boat and got up, which caused the tiny vessel to rock considerably. Molly caught hold of the sides of the boat until it calmed down again. "Dear Molly", Arthur said. "I need to tell you that I l-" But with the huge gesture that was to illustrate the word "love" he completely brought the boat out of balance. It toppled over, and squealing (in Molly's case) and cursing (Arthur) they fell into the deep ice-cold lake.
Since Arthur was not exactly trained in rowing, they luckily weren't far from the bank and quickly made it back on dry land, shivering with cold. Their abandoned "ship" was floating upside-down further out onto the lake. None of them felt the desire to go after it, no matter how much trouble that would cause.
Arthur, while wringing a waterfall from his cloak, also poured out a waterfall of excuses. "I'm so sorry, I never should have brought you here, why didn't I try this before, I'm such an idiot, so sorry, I understand you'll never want to have to do with me again but-" Suddenly he noticed Molly wasn't only shivering with cold. She was shivering with laughter.
"Yes, you silly", she chuckled, put her arms around his neck, pulled him close and kissed him.