First Kiss (Edited)
Twelve-year-old Bill Weasley looked up in indignation, as his History of Magic textbook and his essay on goblin wars, which he, unlike a majority of the student body found intriguing, although he kept his interest well concealed, was pulled out from under his nose. He was doing his homework on a Sunday evening. His mother would have a fit if she knew that her second-year son was leaving his schoolwork until that late, but he had always managed top grades by working steadily in this manner, sometimes at the last minute. After all, cool people did not study on Friday or Saturday evenings unless they were in the fifth, sixth, or seventh years, and Bill was cool. At the very least, he was popular, but he would not be popular if he was boring, and studying too much on the weekends was boring.
He was expecting to discover Chris or Mike, or even Jason Flanagan or Brian Johnson, both of whom shared his dormitory, looking at him mockingly. Instead, he found himself gazing into Stephanie James' hazel eyes. "Hey, Steph," he greeted her as she took the seat across from him at the table in the Gryffindor common room. "What's up? Did you finish your History of Magic essay yet?"
"No," she answered gloomily. "I still need six more inches—a two foot essay on goblin wars, that's insane! I hate Professor Binns, who ought to be chucked in a blasted garbage bin, where he might be of some use."
"Nah, all the garbage would just complain that he was lowering their real estate value, and flee into the outside world, and then we would have to throw out all the rubbish again, this time in another container."
"You're probably right." Stephanie smiled slightly.
"Aren't I always?" Bill raised his eyebrows in a way that had caused an increasing amount of girls to giggle this year. "Can I have my essay back now? Maybe we can work together?"
"I don't want to work on my essay at the moment; it's not due until Wednesday, and I can't bring myself to work on it now." Stephanie's face became purposeful. "I didn't come over here to work on any essay with you."
"Great, well, then can I have my essay back?" he asked patiently.
Waving her hand, as though he were a pesky fly she longed to swat, Stephanie ignored this. "I came over to talk to you, idiot, and you can have your stupid essay back when I'm done, but, for now, I want your undivided attention."
"You sound like my mum," he complained, rolling his eyes. When she glared at him he groaned, "Alright, alright, you have my undivided attention, so say what you will and then return my essay so one of us can pass this year, Steph." He grinned endearingly at her, so she would understand the last remark was a harmless joke to be taken with a grain of salt.
"You know Jennifer Cassidy, right?" asked Stephanie, speaking of her best mate.
"Jennifer Cassidy?" Bill frowned in mock consternation. "The burnette with awesome blue eyes who happens to be in my year and best friends with one Stephanie James? No, I don't know her. Why?"
"Because she wants to know if you'll, er, go for a walk with her around the grounds next Saturaday at five," replied Steph.
"You mean she's asking me out?" Bill asked stupidly.
"If you want to put it so bluntly, yes." Steph bobbed her head in affirmation.
Bill allowed himself a grin of triumph, because the prettiest girl in the year was asking out him of all people, which meant that he was very popular, indeed. He could not wait to spill the beans to Chris and Mike, who would certainly be a little jealous, but happy for him.
"Tell her I'll meet her in the entrance hall at five, then."
"I will," agreed Stephanie, handing him back his textbook and essay before walking across the common room to speak with Jennifer, who, Bill now realized, had been watching their exchange like a hawk.
Now that he had his materials back, Bill discovered with a pang that he did not feel much like studying anymore, and he packed up his homework, promising himself he would do it the following day, and plopped down in a sofa beside Chris and Mike. Feeling Jennifer's eyes upon him, Bill made certain that he made Chris and Mike laugh more than usual.
All through that week, Jennifer flooded Bill's poor befuddled mind. When his professors were speaking, he found himself thinking of her, of her body, and watching her fiddle with her hair, though by some miracle his grades did not slip, probably because he was determined to keep them up, so she would not become convinced that he was an airhead. Whenever he answered a question in class, or performed a spell correctly, he found himself shooting her furtive gazes out of the corner of his eyes, seeking her approval. Sometimes she would notice, smile, and offer him a double-thumbs-up.
Finally, Saturday night came, and they met in the entrance hall. For a little while that felt like an eternity to Bill, they stood their awkwardly, gazing at each other in their jeans and T-shirts. Then, he heard himself suggest, "Shall we go for a walk in the pale moonlight, then?"
"How romantic," giggled Jennifer, rather more shrilly than she usually would have done, and they stepped out into the grounds, moving down the stairs slowly. She looked up, and the dying sun was reflected in her brilliant, piercing turquoise eyes, the color of a tranquil sea. "A pity it isn't dark enough for the moon to be out yet."
"We can use our imagination," he responded, acting on some barbaric impulse and slinging his arm around her shoulders as they began walking toward the lake.
To his surprise, she did not pull away, but nestled closer to him as they continued their stroll. "How are Chris and Mike?" she inquired.
"They're fine. And Steph?" he returned the question.
"She's fine. Well, actually, she's jealous, because she's spending the night alone."
"Chris and Mike are jealous, as well. Maybe we can hook one of them up with Steph."
Again, Jennifer emitted a somewhat hysterical laugh. "You're funny."
"I'll have you know I was being serious," Bill teased her, as they arrived at the lake's edge, and she slipped out of her trainers, rolled up her jeans, exposing her smooth ankles, and flopped down onto the sand, dipping her feet in the chilly early October water.
"I love the water," she remarked dreamily, as Bill lay down beside her, and dipped his own feet in the lake. "I always wanted to go swimming in here from the day I arrived, you know, but I was afraid of the giant squid."
"I've always heard it was friendly," Bill observed. "I'm not as good a swimmer as I'd like to be, though. I spent most of my childhood at home, because Mum was afraid something horrible would happen if we strayed too far from home."
"She might have been right," Jennifer noted fairly. "You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters are quite dangerous, but I didn't have to go far away from home to swim, because I was raised near the beach."
"That's nice."
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them once more, then Jennifer spoke up. "I hear you have a massive family."
"I do, I'm the oldest of seven kids, which means I also spent most of my childhood caring for my younger siblings," he informed her.
"It doesn't sound like much of a childhood," she remarked. "I found it annoying enough looking after my little brother."
Bill shrugged. "I never knew anything else, you know, and, as annoying as it could be sometimes, being responsible for Percy and the devil twins, I wouldn't miss it for all the gold in the world."
"And I would have given all the gold in the world to not have a kid brother to care for," Jennifer replied, smiling, as the sun went down at last, staining the earth and the lake blood red. Suddenly, she looked coy, and leaned closer to him. "But I know one thing that I wouldn't miss for all the gold in the world."
"What?"
"This." She pressed her lips, which were infinitely softer than he could ever have imagined even in his wildest of daydreams, to his. For a moment, they remained in that pose until Jennifer pulled away just as abruptly as she had initiated the kiss.
"Shall we meet again next Saturday evening?" Bill inquired.
"Yes, but next time you have to start the kiss," stipulated Jennifer.
Bill smiled and brought his lips to hers with more confidence than he thought he could have in a moment like this, although, to be honest, there were butterflies zooming around at about a million miles an hour in his stomach, but, at least, they did not seem to affect his kissing her. "Deal."
He and Jennifer continued to see each other every Saturday night, and their evening strolls soon became a part of Bill's life, a part of his weekly routine, and slowly they spent more of their time together, though they both were careful not to neglect their friends.
When Christmas approached and it came time to ride the Hogwarts Express back home to their families, Bill, Mike, Chris, Jennifer, and Stephanie crowded into a compartment, and feasted on Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and Chocolate Frogs, laughing and talking merrily with each other, excited by the prospect of the holidays.
It was mid-evening when they finally pulled into Kings Cross Station, where they quickly unloaded their trunks, eager to see their families, who were waiting on the platform, once more. After they had exited the train, and Mike, Chris, and Steph had left them to find their families, Bill swept Jennifer up into a farewell kiss, one that most unfortunately was interrupted...
"Bill!"
Bill broke free of Jennifer, and pivoted to see his father rushing toward him, his face the same hue as his hair.
"What are you doing?" his father demanded, as he reached them.
"Saying good-bye," Bill mumbled.
"I see," responded Mr. Weasley dryly.
Deciding that his father was dead set on humiliating him in front of his girlfriend, Bill waved to her. "Bye, Jennifer. See you at Hogwarts."
"See you. Er, nice meeting you," she added to Mr. Weasley, before bustling off in search of her own family, leaving the two Weasleys alone.
Mr. Weasley said nothing, as he hugged and kissed his son, and put the boy's trunk on a trolley, and, after a while, Bill felt compelled to shatter the awkward silence. "Dad, where is everyone?" he asked.
"Your mum says that Fred and George are going through an even more horrible phase than usual, if you'll believe it, and they made Percy's skin turn green, so naturally your mum doesn't want the three of them in public. Charlie, Ronnie, and Ginny all have colds—you know how these things spread like wildfire in our house. But—" Here he gazed severely at his son as they exited the station—"you ought to be immensely grateful that it was me, not your mum that broke up that 'good-bye.'"
"I know," muttered Bill, "trust me, I know. She would've flown off the handle worse than you did."
"Excuse me? I did not fly off the handle."
"Um, yeah you did," Bill countered. "You screamed my name in the middle of a public place, for Merlin's sake..."
"Most people would just interpret that as a greeting from an indulgent father," Mr. Weasley smiled, as they stood on the sidewalk, waiting to cross the street.
Bill ignored this. "Then you had to ask what I was doing when it was obvious to anyone who hasn't got rocks rolling around in their head what I was doing."
"I couldn't believe you were doing what you were doing at the age of thirteen in a public place, if you must know," responded Mr. Weasley. They crossed the heavily congested London road, and dashed into their car. As soon as they climbed in, he gazed furtively at the thirteen-year-old beside him. "You won't tell if I, er, use the Invisibility Booster? I mean with Muggle holiday traffic...how on earth they manage it when it is so slow...do you know how they do?"
"No." Bill shook his head. "We can't take Muggle Studies till third-year. I'm a second-year, remember?"
"I remember, and it doesn't matter that you don't take it, after all, they don't teach anything of any interest...like how plugs, I think I'm pronouncing it right, although it might be pugs...work, or..."
"Yeah, Dad, that's right," interrupted Bill, having heard this several times in the past. "Anyway, I won't tell Mum on you if you don't tell her about my little secret."
"Are you blackmailing me?" Mr. Weasley frowned at him.
"Nope, just making a deal," Bill improvised calmly.
A sigh. "Fine, as long as you keep your grades up, I won't say anything to your mother."
"Fair enough." The boy shrugged, and the car flew into the air.