I ran my fingertips pensively over the bulky spines of the books,
trying very hard not to even glance in Brad's direction, where he was
scribbling notes on a piece of parchment.

Which one to choose, which one to choose...

I settled upon 'Where There's A Wand, There's A Way'. It'd make me
look like I was actually studying, instead of... whatever it was that
I was going to do.

I slid the book off the shelf and went to sit at a table. Any table.

I dropped my satchel at my feet and began to read.

The Riddikulus Jinx is an excellent way of getting rid of a pesky
Boggart. Invented in 1831 by Charlus Fray, it allows the caster to
transform the Boggart into something which he or she finds amusi-

"Psst. Remus."

Without looking up, I knew who it was.

Oh well. No need to prolong the inevitable. I frowned inside.
That's making it sound like a bad thing. It isn't. Is it?

I looked up. And I saw him sliding onto the bench opposite.

Brad put down his work on the table and smiled at me, his eyes lighting up.

"Hey."

I raised an eyebrow and said hi back. Pretending I was actually
interested in my textbook, I dog-eared the page on Riddikulus and
closed it.

"I... uh... just wanted to talk to you for a moment. About... Charms class."

I felt a heavy lead ball drop into my stomach.

"Well, okay." I tried to make my vooice sound cheery and light, but it
came out as sullen.

Brad sighed and fidgeted.

"You haven't really got bad eye-sight. Have you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

I felt myself turning pink.

"Ah. No. I'm not."

"So that begs the question of why you moved seats."

Brad's voice had lowered and taken on a calculating tone. He was talking like a stereotypical Ravenclaw.

"The only plausible explanations are: A - you wanted to get away from something or someone near where you were sitting, or B - you wanted to be nearer to something or someone where I was sitting. So. Which is it?"

I wanted to point out that there were a whole lot of other possibilities than those two. But that wasn't the time.

"I think you know, Brad."

He narrowed his eyes.

"It was me. Wasn't it? You wanted to get closer to me. Both literally and figuratively."

I fought hard to keep my voice even.

"Yes. Yes I did."

And before I could change my mind, before I could rationalise with myself, I grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him full on the mouth, ignoring the scandalised look Madam Pince gave us, and the catatonic-with-joy look of the red-haired girl standing in the doorway.