"today is the greatest day I've ever known can't live for tomorrow might not live that long." ~Smashing Pumpkins
I turned back towards her and placed my hand on her cheek, surprised at just how soft and smooth her skin was, my other hand found its way to the other cheek, and I held her face in my hands, looking deep into her surprised eyes.
"I'm going to kiss you." I warned her, and then slowly leaned towards her. Her eyes widened and then she smiled, leaning towards me as well.
I tilted my head slightly and worked my right hand into her surprisingly soft hair. I leaned towards her slowly, giving her ample time to turn away, until at last our lips finally touched.
Her lips were warm and soft and incredibly pleasant against mine, but that wasn't what made me moan, a shock went through my entire body the moment my lips touched her, heating me up and leaving me fairly light headed. I felt her legs give out beneath her as I pressed my lips against hers. I brought one hand down to her waist and held her up, pressing her soft form into me.
She tasted sweet and slightly tangy, like something citrusy, I deepened the kiss, fighting the urge to growl when she pressed herself into me. My fingers tightened around her curls possessively, and my other hand dropped to her waist, tugging her hips closer to mine. My lungs screamed for air, but I didn't want to break the kiss, it was the best I'd ever had.
It was Hermione who finally broke the kiss, pulling away from my lips and taking in a lung full of air as her hand fisted my shirt. I took in equally as deep of lungfulls, staring at her in mild shock.
I had not been expecting that at all.
Her eyes met mine after a second, and the intensity and surprise in them stole what little breath I had away. She bit her lip nervously, and I couldn't help but smile at the simple, familiar action.
"Did you feel that?" I asked, my voice husky. She nodded her head, letting out a very faint giggle.
"I thought it was just me."
"No," I said with a quiet laugh, "it wasn't." She let go of my shirt and smoothed the material out gently, her eyes locked on my chest. My hand tightened on her waist and I brought my other hand out of her hair and brushed it against her soft cheek. I brushed my thumb against her and kept my eyes on hers.
"I really don't want to leave now." I said quietly. She grinned even more and nibbled her lip.
"I don't want you to either." She whispered back.
"You're definitely coming tomorrow?" I questioned, keeping my eyes locked on her brown ones.
She nodded her head, grinning. "Yes."
"Then I have something to look forward to." I murmured, leaning towards her. Her eyes fluttered close and I couldn't hide my big grin. I pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth and straightened back up, dropping my arms from her.
"I'll see you then, love." I said, stepping back and smiling. I twisted into the air and disappeared, feeling as though I was on cloud nine.
I reappeared at our flat and let out a loud, happy laugh. I was finally home again, and I could not have been happier.
"You back?" Fred asked, stepping into the room. I looked over at him and nodded my head, grinning even more.
"Yep."
He leaned against the counter with a casual smile. "Have a good time?"
"Yep." I said again, leaning against the wall with a wink.
"Is she a good snogger?"
I laughed at that inquiry, shaking my head. "Now Freddie, you know me, I never snog and tell."
"She's good then." He said with a confident grin. I simply smirked.
"I invited her over tomorrow night." I said after a second, just remembering.
"S'okay. I expected you would, she knows we won't have any food?"
"Yeah, she's okay with that." I said, stepping across the room and heading towards my bedroom. My mind was still racing from the kiss and I didn't want to think about the terrible state our finances were in right now.
It wasn't a good topic, or a fun conversation.
-o-O-o-
"Okay, they should be here at-" Fred's statement got cut off by the whoosh of our fireplace, signaling the arrival of guest. I hopped up from the couch I had been lounging on and stepped over to Fred, ready to greet whoever had just arrived. The green fire faded away, leaving Hermione standing in the middle of the fireplace, biting her lip nervously.
"Hey, love." I said with a grin, stepping over to her and grabbing her hand loosely in my own. She smiled shyly and squeezed my hand comfortingly. I pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and led her out of the fireplace over to our couches. The fire place lit up again, and three more people stepped out. I grinned at them as Fred ushered them in.
"I'm here," Lee said in a grand voice, "the party can officially begin." Oliver Wood shook his head and gave Lee a shove which made Alicia laugh.
"Oi, don't abuse my fiancé." She warned as Lee rubbed his arm. Oliver shook his head and sat down on the cushion across from Hermione.
"Granger, nice to see you, you'll have to excuse Lee, he's not right."
"I'm perfectly aware of that." She said with a small smile, staring at Lee with a sparkle in her eye. The two of them had been spending a bit more time together since we'd discovered Hermione and I were going to marry. Obviously my fiancée had to get along with my second best mate.
"Hermione!" Lee exclaimed, his hand flying to his chest as he fell to the couch in an exaggerated display of pain. "You've wounded me beyond repair, I shall never be whole again." Alicia rolled her eyes and sat next to Hermione.
"Sorry to bring you into this craziness." She said with a small smile. "We usually have Angelina to help-she's the only one who can tame Fred. Unfortunately, she's in France, so it's just going to be the two of us against these four nutters tonight. I'm glad to bring you in though, we need another girl." She offered Hermione her hand who smiled and took it, chuckling lightly.
"What about Leanna?" I asked, looking at Oliver.
"She couldn't come, the Ministry needed her to stay late." I frowned at that. I understood all too well why she couldn't say no. Jobs weren't exactly plentiful, and any income was needed.
I slid into the seat next to Hermione while Fred took the other spot beside Lee.
"So what games do we have, and where are the drinks?" Oliver asked, leaning back into the couch and draping his arm over the back of the couch. Lee raised an eyebrow at the action making Oliver grin wider and wrap his arm around him. Fred scooted further away, stifling a laugh as Lee reached for his wand.
"You have 3 seconds to remove that hand." Lee deadpanned.
"Or what?" Oliver questioned, squeezing Lee closer.
"Or I'll change it to a tentacle."
"You mentioned games?" Alicia questioned, shaking her head at Lee and Oliver.
"Yeah, what do you want to start with?" I asked, pointing my wand at the table. "Exploding snap, Snatch the Snitch, Gobstone, Wizards Skittles, Hangman, Cracker Pop It," I said, summoning the game after I said it, "Or, Hermione brought some Muggle games we can also try out."
"How about a round of Exploding Snap to get started, and then we can try a Muggle game." Alicia suggested, grabbing the deck off the top. I nodded my head and grinned, levitating the rest of the boxes to the floor.
"How about we pair off like this: Lee and Alicia, George and Hermione, Oliver and me?" Fred suggested. I nodded my head and gripped Hermione's hand loosely in my own. Lee got up from his couch and moved to the chair next to Alicia.
"Just so you all know, we will dominate." Lee stated, picking up the cards Alicia gave him.
"I don't know, I can read George like a book, so I know what not to play." Fred said examining his own cards with a frown.
"You know that works both ways, right?" I said, straightening my cards as Hermione organized hers.
"Don't bother me with details." Fred said with a dismissive wave of his hand. I just smiled and shook my head, looking to Hermione.
"Think we can take them?" I asked with a large grin. She nodded her head, smiling herself.
"Unquestionably." She answered mischievously.
Fred started the game, and chaos reigned the minute he laid the first card down. We sped through our deck, making matches and claiming hands as quickly as we could, setting the cards off when we bumped them in our eagerness.
Lee and Alicia won the first hand, and Fred and Oliver won the second. Hermione and I figured out how to read each other, and won the last three. She was a brilliant player, and won the hands with almost no effort. She was great at giving subtle signals, which I found myself reading almost without thought.
She'd scooted closer to me during the game as well, if I wanted to all I'd have to do was raise my arm and she could be by my side. If we hadn't been playing an extremely intense game, I probably would have. As it was, I had a feeling it would be frowned on by the others, I'd be able to see her cards. Trust me the though, that would be the last thing I'd be looking at.
We won the game, much to everyone else's annoyance (we were the team that had spent the least amount of time playing with each other) and it was time to try a muggle game.
"I brought a few of my favorites, we can play any of them you want too."
"What's Hotels?" I asked, looking at the boxes of games she had brought. She grinned at my question and picked the game up.
"The basic goal of the game is to make the other players bankrupt. You build hotels and other players land on them and pay you money. The more money you have the more you can build."
"Sounds like fun." Fred said with a grin. "We can pretend we're rich. Want to keep the same groups?"
"Yeah, sounds good to me." I said with a big grin when I realized this game had no cards. I put my arm around Hermione and she blushed, looking up at me before moving minutely closer to my side. I grinned even wider and held her closer, running my hand up and down her arm. She brought her legs up to the cushion and tucked them beside her, fully leaning into me now. We were going to be married in about three weeks, we needed to get comfortable touching each other.
Weird, weird, line of thought.
I looked back at the board and noticed Fred and Lee were both staring at me with big grins, which I returned with a smirk.
Hermione explained the rules and set up the board, so that a few minutes later we were starting the game. My team had the obvious advantage of having the only person that had actually played the game before. We took a fairly quick lead, but the others wanted it bad, and we all knew how to handle money, even though none of us actually had any. That was probably the reason why we were all so competitive. Before we knew it we had some pretty impressive hotels going on and a lot of laughs as we charged each other.
"But I'm your twin!" Fred exclaimed when I told him to pay the fee. I grinned and laughed, shaking my head.
"Sorry, Freddiekins," Hermione said, laughing despite herself, "Pay up."
"Wow, Granger," Fred said, shaking his head as him and Oliver paid the money, nearly going bankrupt, "that is just cold."
I gave her a kiss on the cheek and squeezed her closer. "Yep, I'm sticking her in charge of finances." She smiled proudly and flushed at my praise, setting the money in our growing pile.
It was the most fun I'd had since the war, and it almost felt like how it used to be. We stayed up late into the night, playing crazier and funnier games until we finally crashed.
A/N: Okay, Bill is the oldest child and is closest to Charlie because they've been together longest, he watches out for Percy so he also has a connection to him. Charlie is closest to Bill, and watches out for the twins so he has a connection to them (the three of them, Charlie, Fred, and George, are also the short Weasley's so they have that too). Percy is closest to Ron, and watches out for him as well, he's close to Bill, but Ron is his favorite. The twins are closest to each other, obviously, they watch out for Ginny, so they have a special bond, they also are close to Charlie because he watches out for them. Ron is closest to the twins and Ginny, but also is close to Percy, because he watches out for him. Ginny is closest to the twins, but also is close to Ron. Neither of them had to look out for anyone, because they were the youngest.