Nine

"Daniel!" Raina cried happily when her boyfriend emerged through her door. He grinned widely and opened his arms for a hug. She squeezed him tightly.

"Hey, Raina. How are you?" He asked, his voice muffled by her hair. While they hugged, he conspicuously touched her behind.

"I'm alright. So, shall we take your bags?" She let go and picked his bag up, directing him to her room, which she earlier religiously cleaned.

"I can stay in your room?" He asked, surprised. Raina giggled as he put his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. She opened the door and she quickly crossed the room to open her window for Yoshi, Daniel moved his bags aside and pulled her into his arms.

"Well, you can, my Mum won't be home for a few days. I guess you don't have too, I have a couch..." She trailed off, jokingly. Laughing, Daniel pulled them to the bed, where he kissed her enthusiastically.

"I have no problem whatsoever." He kissed her lips quickly again. "No problem."

"Good, me either." Raina agreed. The young couple spent the next hour cuddling and talking on her bed.

"So, I never knew you lived in this area." He said casually, but it stung her a bit.

"Whats wrong with this area?" She asked, snappishly. She knew she lived in a poor area of London, she didn't need reminding. She felt momentarily nervous and stupid for inviting him here in the first place. She bet he was from a large farmhouse, with lots of money and land. He studied her for a moment.

"Nothing." He said softly with a cute smile and soft eyes. Feeling like flying and her stomach flipping, her momentary anger melted away when he kissed her nose. His hand rested on her thigh, sending tingles in silly places. His other around her waist, holding her close to him. They fell asleep like that, without changing into their night clothes.

As they talked, Raina felt happy, but dreadful. Daniel sincerely liked her, and even worse, she sincerely liked him. Too much. Was it so bad to be happy like this, to let it go on?

Tap Tap Tap

"Go away..." Daniel moaned, while Raina snuggled her face closer into his chest to block out the bright light of the morning.

Tap Tap Tap. The sound was more urgent.

"Ugh. Yoshi." Raina muttered, untangling her limbs from Daniels. She was hot from sleeping in her jumper and jeans, and couldn't wait to get out of them. She let Yoshi in, who had a letter. He seemed to give her annoyed glares from his perch.

"Yeah, yeah. Give me the letter." Daniel turned on the bed to face the wall, away from the windows light. She sat on her bed and opened the letter. Daniel turned back around and cuddled with her torso, wrapping an arm around her waist.

She scowled as she saw who interrupted her morning.

Scott,

Sorry for writing you again, but I need to tell you about this Thursday. You need to come before two o'clock in the afternoon. It's important as I will not be able to get anyone in the house after that. You may bring one person, my parents have set me a limit. Sorry for the short notice!

James P.

"Well, at least it wasn't Sirius. His letter would have been much more hateful." Raina said, tossing it aside. Daniel said up and rubbed his face.

"Sirius Black writes you?" He asked, running his hands through his short hair. Raina nodded. Her instinct was to say no, to cover herself but last night she decided she was really going to try for this relationship. She knew it would be hard to not act like this was a quick thing, but she was doing it. She would open up to him. Or try, at least.

"Yeah. James invited me to some New Years party. Want to be the guest I bring?" She asked hopefully, but Daniel frowned and shook his head.

"Can't." She frowned at him. "I have my own party like thing to attend. It's with my parents at the Ministry." He said. Raina didn't know if she should believe him, and he found that on her face.

"It's not what you think." He began. "I'm trying to get into the Ministry, in the Magical Law department. I'm just trying to make a good impression, Baby. I swear." He held up his hands, and looked sincere. Raina blinked in shock.

"Baby? That's new." She said, Daniel blushed.

"Yeah. I won't call you that if you don't like it." He said, but Raina smiled and kissed him lightly.

"It's okay. I like it." The couple kissed softly, and Raina felt blissfully happy.

For the rest of the day, Daniel and Raina didn't do much. They sat on the couch and cuddled, she introduced him to the telly (which he loved) and made something to eat around lunch. They were both rubbish cooks, the only thing Raina being able to make is breakfast foods. So they ate egg sandwiches. Nothing exciting was happening, and Daniel was leaving tomorrow night, after attending about one hour of the News Years party. He already sent a letter using Yoshi.

Currently, they were sitting in her room on the bed, facing each other playing regular cards. To his disappointment she only owned a single pair of shabby playing cards, but some of them were missing. She didn't want to burn her sheets with exploding snap, anyways.

"So, where do you stand with boyfriends?" Daniel asked after a while. Raina blushed lightly. "What do you mean?"

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, all the usual questions I guess. How many ave you had?" He asked and Raina blushed. Her first reaction was to lie, but then she stopped herself.

"Oh, I don't know. A couple." She said vaugely, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "What about you?"

"My fair share. Never anything serious though." He responded. "Yeah, me either." She said quietly. She wanted to laugh, nothing she ever had was anywhere near a serious relationship.

Raina bit her lip, was that something to be ashamed of? No real boyfriends? She suddenly felt determined to make Daniel hers. When he caught her smiling, she told him she just had a good hand. This was obviously a lie, as Daniel was winning by a lot of points. The game continued on for a moment in awkward silence. Daniel was starting to win.

"Hah! I win the war! Pass me those cards!" He teased, and Raina was down to three more cards in her hand. In frustration, she threw them in the air.

"I quit. You win. Game over." She smiled and laughed. Pouted.

"Such a sore loser." He teased. Getting up, Raina walked over to her desk and pulled out a drawer and stuck the cards from her bed back in it. Daniel was behind her, and he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her neck. Raina hummed softly as he pulled her to the bed.

The kissed transferred to snogging for a while. She thought this was great, she left like her spirit was lifting and butterflies exploding. Raina was eager for this to continue.

She never had sex, despite what numerous rumors said. She's snogged vigorously. She may have even done some touching but never in her life has she been penetrated. The thought scared her tremendously, and sent an odd twinge up her spine.

It seemed as if that was going to happen today. They were under her blankets, kisses exploding on her skin everywhere. Both their shirts were off already. Daniel kissed her everywhere on her face, slowing. His hands held her in an iron grip. Both their eyes were closed and the hot, stuffy scent on blanket whirled around them.

"Raina." He moaned. She melted. He said her name again. Raina started to nod. Truth was, she wasn't entirely sure yet, but her body wanted it. Badly. She was terrified, and kept her eyes closed so her wouldn't see them widen. She wanted it, yes, but was it the right time? Raina didn't know.

"Yes, lets do it." She said. They continued on, and he quickly undressed them both.

"Why are you so nervous?" Daniel asked on New Years Eve, as the walked slowly hand in hand through the snow to the Leaky Cauldron. They were to grab some lunch, then take the Knight Bus to James Potters house.

" I don't know," Raina mumbled, a knee-jerk reaction. Her long hair framing her face tightly under a tight hat.

In truth, she felt in a foul mood. Daniel was with her, that was a plus, but she was grumpy. First off, she was sore. Everywhere. Their fist time wasn't exactly gentle, and it did hurt her. It was also somewhat awkward in the couples haste to get it going.

She also couldn't sleep. Daniel liked to hog the blankets, so she was cold for the most part. He snored sometimes. Lastly, she was nervous for the party. She was never really part of the boys crowd, and was surprised they even invited her. She wondered if they would ask her questions about being an Animagus, because she hadn't practiced at all, nor done research. She didn't try to figure out the methods, like they must have. It was homework. Starr wasn't coming with her, already having plans and Daniel could only be there for an hour.

But he was here now. So, she smiled, and held his hand tighter. Despite her nervousness, she felt content with Daniel. She never thought she would like anyone this much, and she was glad that night she decided to try for the two of them. She still wasn't sure if sex was the right thing to do, not much seemed to be different between Daniel and her. He suddenly held her hand tighter, and she looked up at him. He grinned at her. They chatted, and walked into the Leaky Cauldron for lunch.

As soon as the couple walked in, they were blinded by flashes.

"What's going on?" Daniel muttered, covering his face. Raina blinked rapidly, trying to recover her eyesight which was now blinded by an orb in her vision where the flash used to be.

Once regained, they eyes found the pub in a mess. Medi-Wizards and Ministry officials were on the scene, crowded around a disheveled man on the ground with a cut on his face. Some important wizards were shuffling the people into the alley, keeping pedestrians away. A man came up to the couple; he was large in every sense, tall and muscular. He had light hair buzzed into a short cut and was young. He had a scar across his eye.

"You two will need to move along, this is a crime scene." He said, Raina read his name tag (Aubrey Buffin). Daniel started talking to the man, while Raina looked around Buffin to see the crime.

A man, about mid-age, was crumpled on the ground. He was dazed, most likely confunded, and seemed to be unable to stand. Aurors stood around him, looking at the place around them. They were right by the bathrooms. Daniel grabbed Rainas hand, and she looked at once last detail.

The man had slightly long hair, but shaved into the side, was the word mudblood. It looked almost like it was dripping in blood.

Daniel finally managed to pull her away, concern on his face, like he didn't think Raina should see such things. He looked around warily. Raina was worried... who were these people? Just a gang, all for blood purity? They quickly grabbed some food and left, deciding to eat in a muggle park a few blocks away.

Sorry it's late :/. Things might slow down as I only have about two more chapters already written.

On the plus side, its my birthday friday =] sweet 16! R&R