Emerald Green Stars

Chapter Two: And Our Lips Met

Lorelai woke up the next morning with that same smile still on her face and beautiful, golden sun rays piercing through the bedside window. Lorelai sat up right as a familiar voice bid her good morning.

"Did you sleep alright, Lorelai?" Hermione was putting the blankets on her bed back into place.

"I slept wonderfully, thanks! Any idea what classes do we have today, Hermione?" she had only met Hermione a day ago, but Lorelai already felt a great connection with her. It seemed as if the two had formed a decade-long friendship overnight; in fact, it felt that way with Ron and Harry, as well.

"Sadly, we only have three classes today. I guess Professor Dumbledore doesn't want to load too much on us the first day back," Hermione took a quick look at her schedule and ran her finger down the very short list. "Let's see…first is Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, then History of Magic with the Ravenclaws, and last," she let out a sigh of disappointment, "is Potions with Slytherin." After being informed of today's classes, Lorelai and Hermione went through their usual morning routines and ventured downstairs into the common room to find Seamus, Ron, and Harry setting up a game of wizard chess.

"Well hello there," Lorelai skipped the last couple steps of the staircase and walked over to the boys.

"Mornin', Lore, Hermione," Seamus got up and hugged Lorelai good morning.

"Hey guys," Harry glanced at the two girls and grinned.

"Hey, Lorelai, care for a game of Wizard Chess?" Ron inquired.

A small chuckle escaped Lorelai's mouth, "Good morning to you, too, Ron. And yes, I would love to play a game!" Harry stood up from his seat across Ron, and Lorelai sat down in his seat. Ron and Lorelai played a very heated, competitive game of chess. The lively chess pieces amazed the magically ignorant Lorelai. She watched her Bishop brutally smash Ron's King with a gleam of victory shining in her eyes. With a broad and innocent smile, Lorelai looked up a Ron, who looked like his face might explode.

"Um, why don't we go to breakfast now?" Seamus quickly suggested.

"But…you…beat me," Ron was dumbfounded and in disbelief.

"Sorry, Ron…you're not too mad, are you?" Lorelai was really concerned that she had angered her new friend. As an apology, Lorelai hesitantly gave Ron a hug, not wanting to create too much of an awkward situation.

"No, it's okay. I'm starving, though, let's go eat," Ron relaxed and grinned a bit. He led Harry, Hermione, Seamus, and Lorelai out of the common room and to breakfast. The day went by incredibly fast. After breakfast, Lorelai, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Seamus went to all their classes. Lorelai took a great liking to Herbology; the plants in there were fascinating, and she even caught a particular Hufflepuff's gaze. He had beautiful brown hair and piercing brown eyes, he smiled and Lorelai returned it. Someone in the room witnessed this and was most definitely not smiling…unfortunately, Lorelai was unable to talk to the brunette boy after class as she hurried to History of Magic. To Lorelai's great relief, this very dull class was over and it was time for Potions. Although Lorelai found Professor Snape absolutely horrid, as was common amongst all but Slytherin house, she enjoyed the actual subject of Potions. If it had not been for the nightmare of a professor, Potions would be her favorite class. Before Lorelai knew it, she had eaten dinner and was in the common room, listening to the clock chime as eight o'clock approached. She, Seamus, and Hermione had taken up three of the chairs while Ron and Harry stole the nearest couch.

"So, Lorelai, what do you think of Hogwarts?" Harry inquired.

"It is absolutely amazing! I'm quite speechless…" her smile was as wide as could be. A very long conversation between the five of them bounced from topic to topic. The five friends had all made plans to spend the next trip to Hogsmeade together. The clock struck midnight sooner than seemed possible, as the time had gotten away from all of them. Ron, Harry, and Hermione went upstairs to bed while Lorelai and Seamus stayed behind. The old friends moved to the couch Ron and Harry had sat on and talked late into the night as was typical during the summer.

"I absolutely love it here…Hogwarts is far more exciting than school in the…um…Muggle world, I guess," Lorelai said after a period of silence.

"Yeah, it's awesome having you at Hogwarts. I'm so glad that you're in Gryffindor with me. Even though, I half-wish it was still summer…" Seamus sounded a tad disappointed.

"Why do you say that?" Lorelai said, giving him a puzzled look.

"Well, it was nice having you around the house. Y'know, someone to spend time with and talk to. We have less time to do it at school with classes and homework and all."

"Yeah…it was nice talking and stuff," a strange feeling appeared in Lorelai's stomach…she hadn't a clue as to where it had come from. Seamus had a strange look on his face all of a sudden. "You okay, Seamus?"

"Yeah, I just…have this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach," he replied.

"I know what you mean, I have it to," Lorelai froze. Her look rose to the fire, and then it turned towards Seamus. He did the same. Suddenly a feeling of awkwardness flooded Lorelai's body, and Seamus looked as if the same happened to him. She'd been alone with him tons of times, but Lorelai never felt awkward around him.

"Well…um…I think I-I'll go to, um, b-bed now…" Seamus hurriedly said.

"Yeah, uh, me, too," she and Seamus stood up and walked over to the bottom of two staircases- one leading to the girls' dormitory, and one leading to the boys'.

"Well, goodnight," Seamus said and gave his best friend a hug as best friends usually do. This time, however, the hug was longer. Both of them had held. Slowly, they pulled out of the hug as space came between them. Although they had pulled out of the hug, Seamus' hands were still around Lorelai's torso and her hands around his shoulders. When both gazes met each others' eyes, Seamus and Lorelai just stood there, stagnant. Their eyes were locked, and suddenly Lorelai realized that her face was only an inch from Seamus'. Slowly, their lips met. Seamus and Lorelai both hurriedly pulled away, stared at each other in shock.

"G'night," Seamus stuttered.

"'Night," Lorelai replied as she and Seamus both rushed up the stairs, taking two at a time. Lorelai pulled the door to the dormitory open, walked in, and shut it behind her. Her back was against the door, hands gripping the ends of the door as if Lorelai was trying to keep someone from getting in. Her emerald green hues stared at the floor.

"What…happened? Seamus and I…kissed," Lorelai muttered under her breath in disbelief. She shook her head, trying to convince herself that she was just imagining things. 'But he's just a friend…why did I do that? I don't even like him in that way. What in the world just happened? Why did I do that when I don't even have feelings for him? I love him to death, but we're friends…not a couple. Oh no…what if he likes me and things that kiss meant I felt the same? I don't want trick him…I better be thankful it was him over any other guy, though, he's the only one I can talk to about this. Well tomorrow I'll talk to him and hope it meant nothing for the both of us…' thoughts raced through Lorelai's head, but she finally arrived at a calming one, got all her thoughts together and was able to get in bed and go to sleep.

Note from the Author: Well, I hope that the ending was a bit unexpected from you all. I'm trying to uphold my guarantee that things will pick up and become more exciting in my story. Again, comments, questions, suggestions, criticism, praise, etc. are appreciated!