Harry Potter and the Final Chapter
By
Lewis M. Brooks, III
Chapter 29 – Like It Was Yesterday
"Are they ever going to be ready?" asked Hugo. "I'm not even waiting for a date, I'm waiting for all of your dates."
Hugo was waiting with Tommy, Danny, and Albus. They were waiting for Lily, Rose, and Carly. James was meeting Lucy at her room, and was going to meet them at the ball. Tommy, Danny, and Hugo were wearing black dress robes, but Albus was wearing his emerald green ones that matched his eyes. They were Carly's favorites.
It was December twenty-first, the ball was being held earlier than usual this year. The next day the Hogwarts Express would be departing to take those going home for the holiday back to London. They were the only ones left in the common room, as everyone else fourth year and up was already waiting to go into the ball in the Entrance Hall, and Hermione had a less formal event for the younger students happening in the Room of Requirement.
"You know girls," said Tommy with a shrug. "They take forever to get ready."
"I don't know what you are complaining about, Tommy," said Albus with a laugh. "Danny and I have been waiting for Rose and Carly to get ready for dances for six years. We have twenty more minutes before we even think about it."
"Yeah, Tommy," said Danny. "But, at the risk of annoying your date's brother, they always look great, and it's well worth the wait."
As if on cue, Lily descended the stairs. She had her long red hair done up in a fancy bun on the back of her head, and she was wearing a green dress. It came down to just above her knees. It was fairly low cut. Lily usually dressed in jeans and a jumper under her school robes, none of which showed off her figure, which was enough to make any fifteen-year-old boy do a double take.
Tommy had never seen Lily in a dress like this before. Stunning was the only word he could think of. Of course he couldn't even get that one word out of his mouth, he had completely lost the ability to speak.
Tommy just stared at her for a moment, mouth open. Albus watched for a moment in amusement.
"You look like you've been hit with a bludger, Tommy," said Albus trying not to laugh. "Put your eyes back in your head, pick your chin up of the floor, and don't forget to compliment my sister…and don't forget she's my sister. I did slay a dragon." Albus was trying to do this with a straight face. Neither James nor Albus ever worried about Lily like that, as she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but Albus couldn't resist.
"What was that?" asked Tommy as he returned to reality, still somewhat stunned. "Sorry, yeah, Lily, you look…wow."
"Wow is good," said Lily with a smile. "And Al's kidding, by the way, if I thought he wasn't, I would deck him."
"Shall we…um…go then," stuttered Tommy, still staring at Lily. "Or should we wait for…um…you know…them."
"Rose and Carly," said Hugo with a laugh. "You might remember them."
"Yeah, them," said Tommy with laugh.
"They may be a while," said Lily. "Why don't we go?"
Tommy managed to stop staring at Lily long enough to kiss her on the cheek and hold out his arm to her. She took his arm and they left, with Hugo who didn't want to wait anymore.
Danny and Albus looked at each other for a moment and burst out laughing.
"He's never seen her in a dress like that before has he?" asked Danny.
"I don't think so," said Albus with a laugh. "Lily has grown up a lot, but she usually hides it. She doesn't wear some of the really tight stuff a lot of the girls do. She's really very modest about her looks."
Danny smiled to himself. "Do you remember the first time you saw Carly like Tommy just saw Lily?" asked Danny. He was thinking of the first time he saw Rose in a rather sexy dress fourth year.
"Like it was yesterday," said Albus, thinking back to the summer day before fifth year when he saw Carly in a Muggle bathing suit for the first time.
"We are really lucky men, Al," said Danny with a smile. "We are each engaged to smart beautiful women who for some reason that I certainly can't fathom love us when they could have any man they wanted."
"You are absolutely right, Danny," said Albus with a laugh. "And I can't fathom it either. We have the two most wonderful women in the world between us. We are both very lucky."
They heard the last two people left in the girls' dorm descending the stairs. Though Albus and Danny didn't know it, they both had the same thought when they saw them. Their fiancés looked more beautiful each time they saw them.
Rose had her brown hair done up in an elegant knot on the top of her heard. She was wearing a light blue, strapless, floor length gown. It was very elegant.
Carly's dress was red. It was backless and sleeveless, and made of smooth silk. She never failed to take Albus's breath away when she dressed like this. Carly had left her hair down, because that's the way Albus liked it. Albus knew, when she walked into the Great Hall, every eye in the room would be on her, but her eyes would only be on him.
Albus and Danny walked over to their fiancés and greeted them with kisses.
"You look incredible, Rose," said Danny.
"Thanks. Danny," said Rose with a smile.
"Carly you look…wow," said Albus with a smile. "I mean…wow."
"Thanks," said Carly with a smile. She would never admit it, but she loved the fact that Albus could look at her and lose the ability to speak.
The four of them made their way to the Entrance Hall. There they met Stefan Popov and Sophie Leroy, and Anton Popov and Danielle Girard. The four couples would make there way into the Great Hall to open the Yule Ball with the first dance of the evening. Ron was also there, waiting for Hermione.
Ron and Hermione were to enter first, and then Hermione was going to announce the champions. The host school sponsored the Yule Ball, so unlike the Weighing of the Wands ceremony where Cho was in charge, as Headmistress of Hogwarts, Hermione was in charge of making the formal announcement of the Champions tonight. It was the one part of the Triwizard Tournament Hermione was looking forward to.
"Hi, guys," said Ron. "Carly, Rose, you both look beautiful." There was a time when his daughter wearing a strapless, sleeveless dress bothered Ron, but she was an adult now. "Rose, you haven't seen your Mum have you?"
"No, Dad," said Rose. "Don't worry, I'm sure she's not standing you up…probably not anyway." She was trying to hide a smile.
Before Ron could respond with a joke, Hermione walked into the Entrance Hall. She was wearing a dress as opposed to robes, which she usually wore for formal occasions. He immediately recognized the color and material. It was made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material. The exact same material as the robes she wore to the Yule Ball twenty-nine years ago. She had her hair done up the same way she did that night. Ron walked over to her.
"Wow," said Ron. "You look amazing. Really amazing, even better than you did at the last Hogwarts Yule Ball."
"Thanks, love," said Hermione with a smile. "You don't look too bad yourself."
Ron was wearing black dress robes. He gave Hermione a kiss. "I do look good, don't I?" asked Ron with a grin. "Shall we go in then?" Ron offered her his arm.
"Absolutely," said Hermione with a smile. "I've waited twenty-nine years for this. I don't want to miss a moment of it. Lead on."
Hermione smiled at Rose and Carly as she walked by them into the Great Hall. The champions lined up, Stefan and Sophie first, Anton and Danielle second, Danny and Rose third, and Albus and Carly at the rear.
The Great Hall had been reconfigured for the Yule Ball. The enchanted ceiling showed a clear night sky. The long house tables had been removed, and small round tables had been placed around the outside of the room, leaving a large dance floor. Where the teachers' table normally stood, a band was set up. On the large drum was a brightly painted unicorn, the emblem of the band, the Unicorn's Horn. The Unicorn's Horn was of course, a wizard band, but they played every kind of music there was, Wizarding and Muggle. They would be starting off the evening with classical selections, and later would play a selection the students would find much more enjoyable.
Ron and Hermione walked to the center of the dance floor, where Ron left her to stand at the edge of the dance floor with Harry and Ginny.
"It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball," said Hermione with a smile. She paused for a moment as applause was heard throughout the room. When it died down, she continued. "Please welcome the Triwizard Champions. From Durmstrang Institute, Stefan Popov, and from Beauxbatons Academy, Sophie Leroy." She paused again for the applause as Stefan in his black dress robes, and Sophie in a yellow dress entered the Great Hall and took their places on the dance floor. "From Durmstrang Institute, Anton Popov, and from Beauxbatons Academy, Danielle Girard." Anton was wearing black dress robes, just like Stefan's. Danielle wore light purple dress robes. They too took their place on the dance floor. "From Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Rose Weasley, escorted by her fiancé, Danny Finnigan." Deafening applause filled the room as Rose and Danny entered the hall and took their place on the dance floor. Hermione could not hide her pride. As scared as she was for Rose being in the tournament, she could never be more proud of her daughter. "From Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Potter, escorting his fiancé, Carly Jones." Deafening applause filled the room again as Albus and Carly came in.
Carly received a number of whistles, but Albus was used to that. He didn't let it bother him, he wasn't the jealous type, and after all, she didn't pay them any mind. He knew a few flattering whistles at Carly were nothing to think twice about. Albus and Carly took their place on the dance floor. Hermione walked over to where Ron was standing. A moment later the music began to play and the four couples began to dance.
After a few minutes, other couples began to join them, and the Yule Ball was in full swing. Against the wall on one side of the Great Hall, Hugo leaned against the wall by himself. He was standing in front of a fountain topped with an ice sculpture of a reindeer. The water was coming out of its antlers, and fell gently into the pool below, causing barely a splash. The lights in the Great Hall seemed to dance in the water, reflecting beautifully, almost romantically. Unfortunately, a romantic setting was of little use to Hugo.
It truly didn't bother Hugo, but it would have been nice to have a date to just one dance, Hugo thought. The only 'dates' he had ever had was when he escorted his aunt to the Halloween Dance when he was nine and ten years old. He was looking at the floor in front of him, having lost interest in the fountain. He wasn't really paying attention to anything, when he heard someone lean against the wall beside him and sigh.
"You really don't recognize me do you?" asked a girl's voice.
Hugo looked to his right to see a sight that stopped his heart. The drop dead gorgeous girl with long black hair and hazel eyes that he had been trying to talk to for months was leaning against the wall beside him.
She had always been wearing robes when Hugo had seen her before. She had such a pretty face, and beautiful eyes, and his imagination seemed to enjoy teasing him with how good she might look in something more flattering than robes. His imagination hadn't come close to doing her justice.
She was wearing a white dress with lacy gold trim. Her long black hair was, hanging down her back. It seemed to shine in the light from the fountain, making her look even more beautiful, if that were even possible. The dress wasn't very low cut, but it seemed to fit her perfectly, and showed off all her curves, which could have put the hottest muggle actress to shame. She was much shorter than he was, but that was not surprising since Hugo took after his father, and was tall for his age. The dress she wore was fairly short, and was showing off her legs. Hugo had never known legs could be so beautiful.
"Well, you act as though you've never seen a pretty girl before," she said, snapping Hugo out of his all too obvious examination of her body. Hugo was sure he turned the color of his hair, but she smiled that warm smile, not seeming to mind.
He was a little surprised she did not have any accent since she was from Durmstrang. She sounded like she had been raised in Britain.
"I'm…sorry," said Hugo not sure whether he was apologizing for not knowing her or for ogling her. "Do I know you?" In the back of his mind he was thinking, 'I would really, really like to know you.'
She smiled warmly again. "Do you remember school before Hogwarts?" asked the mysterious girl. She continued not waiting for an answer. "When you were eight years old, you sat behind this really annoying girl who was constantly complaining about your jokes and pranks. Honestly, she was pretty full of herself, best student in class, etc. You used to give her a hard time about it. She kind of deserved it, because she was awfully nasty to you, though the jokes about her glasses and how short she was were a bit mean. Her Mum used to tell her you gave her a hard time because you had a crush on her and that was just how boys were. She never believed that. She moved away to Germany after that year, and ended up going to Durmstrang Institute and, due to her excellent academic record, was allowed to accompany the older students to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the Triwizard Tournament. Stop me when you figure this out Weasley, I know you weren't the smartest in our class, but that really should be enough to figure it out."
Hugo was staring at her mouth open. He now knew exactly who she was, but he couldn't get his mouth to work properly. He couldn't believe he hadn't recognized her, but then, she looked much, much different now. That was actually the biggest understatement the world had ever seen.
"Colleen," said Hugo almost in a whisper. "Colleen Manning. Wow. I'm so sorry…I didn't even recognize you. You look…incredible…amazing…wow."
"Why, thank you," said Colleen with a laugh. "I grew up a lot in seven years."
"If you knew who I was, why didn't you say anything until now?" asked Hugo. "You've been here two months."
"Why don't I answer that a little later," said Colleen with a smile. "Are you going to ask me to dance, or are we going to stand here holding up the wall all night?"
It took Hugo a moment to wrap his mind around this. Of course, he remembered the little girl he used to argue with in primary school. Thinking back on it, he knew he had been downright awful to her. He would have understood if he'd hexed him when she first saw him.
Hugo and Colleen went out onto the dance floor, and they started to dance. As they danced Colleen told Hugo all about her life the past seven years, and he told her all about his, leaving out a few details from first year of course. After several fast dances, a slow dance came on. Colleen seemed happy to have a slow dance with Hugo. Hugo had never slow danced before, but he seemed to do all right, as she was smiling the whole time.
After the slow dance, they got some butterbeers and they sat down at one of the tables.
"So, Colleen, are you going to tell me why you waited so long to tell me who you are?" asked Hugo. He really wanted to know.
"Well, will you tell me something first?" asked Colleen with a smile.
He knew as long as she smiled, he could never say no. "All right," said Hugo. "What do you want to know?"
"Was my Mum right?" asked Colleen. "Did you have a crush on me?"
A bomb went off in Hugo's head. "Well…I don't know," said Hugo, not really sure what to say. "I never really thought about it." Hugo smiled. "I thought I just enjoyed winding you up, and got a kick out of how angry you got. It certainly never bothered me when you were mean to me. Maybe your Mum is right, for an eight year old that's a crush. So why did you wait so long to say hello?"
"I don't know," said Colleen with a sigh. "I just couldn't seem to get up the courage in that first month. I don't know why, maybe I felt bad because I was so nasty to you when we were in school together. Then I finally got up the nerve, and then well with your sister and cousins were in the hospital, and it didn't seem like the right time."
"Well, I'm, glad you said hello," said Hugo with a grin. "Lily promised me a dance so I wouldn't stand by myself all night, but I much prefer dancing with you."
While Hugo and Colleen were talking, on the other side of the room, Albus, Danny, Rose, and Carly were standing together talking, when their conversation was interrupted.
"Rose, Albus, how are you," said Cho, as she walked up to where the four were standing.
"Hello, Miss Chang," both Albus and Rose replied.
"I would like to introduce you to some of our guests," said Cho. "This is Alec and Bogdan Yotov. Their father, Danail Yotov is the Minister of Magic of Bulgaria. As you know, though the location of Durmstrang is a closely guarded secret, the Bulgarian Ministry was given the task long ago of officially overseeing the school. Alec and Bogdan have come to represent their father. Their father had important affairs of state to attend to, and had planned to arrive in time for the ball, but since he will not be able to attend at all this year, he sent Alec and Bogdan to represent him."
Cho introduced Albus, Carly, Rose, and Danny.
"It's nice to meet both of you," said Albus, extending a hand to Alec.
"Yes, I am honored to meet you," said Alec. "Your heroism in slaying the Horntail has made the papers even in Bulgaria."
"I was lucky," said Albus with a chuckle. "But thank you."
Albus extended his hand to Bogdan. Bogdan hesitated before shaking Al's hand. "Nice to meet you," said Bogdan coolly.
Albus thought he was rather less friendly than Alec, not that he was looking for any praise, but it would seem a warmer greeting would be forthcoming from an official representative of the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic. Albus thought there was something off about Bogdan Yotov, but he just wasn't sure what it was.
Alec spoke with a heavy accent. He was tall and burly, with short dark hair, and brown eyes. Albus was pretty sure Alec was four or five years older than he was. He wore dark red dress robes. He seemed friendly enough, but that was in sharp contrast to Bogdan. Bogdan had short blond hair and blue eyes. He was tall like Alec, but far thinner. The family resemblance was obvious. Bogdan had an air of unpleasantness about him. He seemed to be about their age, but Albus assumed he had to be at least a year older or he would still be in school. Albus didn't know what it was, but there was something about Bogdan Yotov that bothered him.
With introductions concluded, they all chatted for a few minutes. The band began to play a different song, and Carly took Albus's hand.
"I love this song, Al, can we dance?" asked Carly with a smile.
Albus was about to say yes, but Cho stopped him. "We need all the champions in the Entrance Hall for a few minutes for some pictures," said Cho. "Carly, Danny, I'll get your fiancés back as soon as possible."
"Sorry, Carly," said Albus. "But I would love to dance when I get back." Albus gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Miss Jones, would you give me the honor of this dance?" asked Bogdan Yotov.
Albus was a little surprised Alec seemed friendlier. He might have expected it from him, but not Bogdan.
"Sure, I would love to," said Carly with a friendly smile. "But only if you call me Carly. See you in a bit, Al." Carly took Bogdan's arm and they headed out onto the dance floor.
As Albus and Rose followed Cho away, Albus looked over his shoulder at Carly and Bogdan on the dance floor.
"I think someone's jealous," said Rose with a smirk.
"Come on, Rose," said Albus. "You know I'm not. There's just something bothering me about Bogdan Yotov."
Albus and Rose went to the Entrance hall for pictures. About fifteen minutes later, they returned to the ball. Albus saw Bogdan and Carly still dancing. They were talking and seemed to be having a nice time. Albus stopped by the edge of the dance floor and watched them for a moment as Rose went to find Danny. Albus couldn't shake the bad feeling he had about Bogdan Yotov.
"Lose your date, Al?" asked Harry with a laugh coming up beside him.
"Dad, have you met Alec and Bogdan Yotov?" asked Albus, still watching Carly dancing with Bogdan Yotov.
"Yes," said Harry with a nod. "For just a minute, why?"
"Something bothers me about Bogdan Yotov," said Albus. "I don't know what it is."
Harry looked out at the dance floor and saw Carly dancing with Bogdan Yotov. "I didn't think you were the jealous type," said Harry with laugh.
"Come on, Dad, it's not that," said Albus. "I don't know what it is. Can you have Kingsley check him out? Check both of them out?"
"Sure, Al," said Harry. He was sensing Albus thought this was something serious. "I can do that. What do you think is wrong?"
"I don't know," said Albus with a sigh. "He seems unpleasant, but that describes two thirds of Slytherin House. I'm probably just being paranoid."
"Al, I think you've earned the right to be a little bit paranoid under the circumstances," said Harry "I'll talk to Kingsley about him right now. Everyone here from outside the school had to roll up their sleeve and prove they didn't wear the Dark Mark. He's not a Death Eater, but we'll see what we can find out about him."
"Thanks, Dad," said Albus.
Harry headed off to find Kingsley. A moment later the dance ended, and Carly spotted Albus. She and Bogdan headed towards him.
"Did you have a nice dance?" asked Albus, hiding his suspicions.
"Yes," said Carly. "Thank you again Bogdan."
"It was my pleasure, Carly," said Bogdan. "Mr. Potter." Bogdan nodded to him, then turned and walked away.
Albus watched him go suspiciously. Regardless of what they found out from Kingsley, Albus was going to keep an eye on him.
"What is it, Al?" asked Carly. "You aren't jealous are you?" She was trying to stifle a laugh and starting to fail.
"No…why does everyone think that?" asked Albus as he put his arms around her. "He may get to dance with you, but I'm the only one who gets to do this." Albus leaned in and kissed her.
Across the dance floor, Hermione and Ron were dancing. They had waited twenty-nine years to dance at the Yule Ball, and were having an awful lot of fun.
"Is it all you hoped it would be?" asked Ron with a smile.
"Well worth waiting twenty-nine years for," said Hermione with a smile.
They continued to dance, but Hermione noticed Ron seemed distracted by something.
"Is something wrong, Ron?" asked Hermione.
"I am trying not to let it bother me," said Ron with a sigh. "Kingsley told Harry and I this afternoon that there has been an upsurge of suspicious incidents all over Europe."
"Death Eaters?" asked Hermione.
"Looks like it," said Ron. Ron smiled. "But the Death Eaters don't matter tonight. You're all that matters to me in the whole world tonight."
"My, my, you have gotten good at knowing just what to say," said Hermione with a smile. "How exactly did that happen?"
"Simple," said Ron with a smile. "I'm just that charming."
Just then the song ended as Hermione laughed.
"Why don't we get something to eat at the buffet," said Hermione still laughing. "I'm starving."
"I thought that was supposed to be my line?" asked Ron with a laugh.
Ron and Hermione got something to eat and went to look for a table. They found an empty table and went to sit down.
Hermione looked around a moment, and looked toward the door. "Well, isn't that interesting," said Hermione.
"What is it?" asked Ron though he seemed more interested in his food at that moment.
"It seems our son has made a new friend," said Hermione with a grin. "A very pretty friend."
That got Ron's attention. "Really, where?" asked Ron in surprise.
"They just headed out of the Great Hall," said Hermione.
"Well, it's about time," said Ron. "He's never even had a date."
"You should talk," said Hermione incredulously.
"Yeah," said Ron. "You do have a point. I however had already found the right girl, I just couldn't tell her." Ron smiled.
"I can't argue with that," said Hermione. "You have to admit, Hugo has it kind of tough. He has the same sense of humor as the twins did at his age, and your lack of self confidence."
"Hey," said Ron. "I don't…"
Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"All right, he has my lack of self confidence," said Ron with a shrug. "Poor kid."
It started to get late, and Hugo and Colleen decided to go for a walk down by the lake. They were quite tired from dancing, but were having too much fun to call it a night. They retrieved their cloaks and changed their shoes for a walk in the snow. It was very cold outside the castle. They had talked and danced all night long. They had never been friends before, but Hugo found it very easy to talk to Colleen, and he had enjoyed their conversation. Hugo did remember, there was one question she hadn't answered.
"So Colleen, why is it that you moved to Germany seven years ago?" asked Hugo. "You didn't say earlier."
Colleen frowned. "Oh, well, my Dad was an archeologist," said Colleen, with a profound sadness in her voice that had not been there before. "He had an opportunity to work on the excavation of several ancient castles and ruins in Germany. My Mum and I are actually moving back to Britain this summer. That's why I wanted to make the trip. I'll be attending Hogwarts next year, in fact, my Mum is moving us in the spring, so at the end of the year I won't be returning to Durmstrang at all."
It was obvious from what she said, that something had happened to Colleen's father. Hugo didn't think he could not ask her about it. He stopped walking. "He was an archeologist?" asked Hugo turning toward her.
She stopped walking as well. "He died this past August," said Colleen softly. "My Mum and I were out for the day, and he went to the market, and returned home to find someone had broken into the house. They were still there. They…"
The look on her face told Hugo what had happened. He pulled Colleen into a hug. "I'm so sorry," said Hugo.
Colleen hugged him back. "It's been really hard…we were very close," said Colleen as she blinked back tears. "The saddest part is, they didn't even take anything. They just trashed the place…and killed him."
"That must have been terrible," said Hugo. Hugo wasn't sure what to say, he was way out of his element. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"Yeah, actually I would," said Colleen.
They continued to walk down by the lake they were standing just in front of a rocky area of the shore. Colleen told Hugo all about her father, and how much she missed him. She hadn't been able to talk to her mother about her father because her mother burst into tears whenever she tried to talk to her about him.
"It's been really hard at Durmstrang this year," said Colleen. "It's always been hard, I've never really had any good friends there. I never really fit in at Durmstrang."
"Well, you have a friend here," said Hugo with a smile.
"It's really nice…to have a friend here to talk to," said Colleen softly.
When they arrived at the lake, Colleen looked out over it for a minute. Hugo stole a glance at Colleen while she looked out over the lake. She really was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, Hugo thought. He thought about asking her out on a date right then and there, but assumed she had a boyfriend. Even if she didn't, it wasn't right to ask her out right now after she just told him about her father's death. It was a friend she needed, and Hugo was going to be that.
It didn't really matter anyway, Hugo thought. He had never been on a date, so he wasn't sure what to say to ask her anyway. She would never go out with him though, she was so beautiful, and smart, and funny and she could have any boy she wanted. He was now actually staring at her while she looked out over the lake. Just looking at her blocked Hugo's thoughts out. All he could think about was how beautiful she was.
"This is really a beautiful place," said Colleen.
"Not as beautiful as you are," said Hugo softly.
The words came out of his mouth without thinking and he turned away from her and looked out over the lake. That sounded like such a line, and after what she just told him about her father, how could he have said that. What a lousy thing to do.
"Wow," said Colleen. "You are quite the charmer, aren't you?" Her voice was even, betraying nothing of what she was thinking.
"I'm sorry," said Hugo looking out over the water. "I shouldn't have said that, not now after you just told me about your father. Not that I didn't mean it, I did. I mean…you're gorgeous…I'm just…going to shut up now. I've embarrassed myself enough for one night."
Hugo closed his eyes. He had practically been babbling. This couldn't get any worse. He wanted to be her friend, and he gave her a line like that.
Hugo assumed she would be leaving now after his insensitive, unforgivable, thoughtlessness. It was terribly insensitive thing to say something like that, right after she told him about her father, not to mention how lame it sounded. She needed a friend, not a date.
She would be gone in a moment, Hugo hoped, and then he could do something constructive like drown himself in the lake. Humor couldn't get him out of this, and that was really all he was good at. He kept his eyes closed. He couldn't face her.
Suddenly, Hugo was shocked to find her warm, soft lips on his. He didn't open his eyes. He felt her arms around his neck and put his arms around her, pulling her close, and kissed her back. Hugo hoped he was doing it right. He was only barely aware of the fact that she had been standing on the rocks in front of him. She would have had to climb up him to kiss him otherwise. He was now holding her up, her feet dangling several inches off the ground.
After several moments she pulled back a little, but kept her arms around his neck, as Hugo continued to hold her against him in the air. Hugo opened his eyes as he was trying to catch his breath, to find her smiling at him. Hugo was speechless.
"Everyone I know has walked on egg shells around me since it happened," said Colleen. "No one would listen to me talk about it, about how I felt. No one would just talk to me like I was a regular person. My boyfriend even broke up with me because he didn't know how to act around me. What I really needed was someone to talk to and not treat me like I was made of glass. You don't know what it means that you listened and cared how I felt."
"Oh, well, I'm a great listener," said Hugo. "Anytime you want to talk. You don't even have to kiss me afterwards…unless you really want to, then by all means feel free." Hugo smiled.
Colleen laughed. "I'll keep that in mind," said Colleen. "You know it's been months since anyone could make me laugh." She just held onto him for a minute. "It's getting late, would you walk me back to my room?"
"Of course," said Hugo. He just stood there a moment looking into her eyes, still holding her against him off the ground.
"You know, you'll have to put me down so we can walk," said Colleen with a grin.
"Yes, I was just trying to figure a way around that," said Hugo. "No such luck I'm afraid, we would look awfully funny if I carried you like this, though I can think of worse things." Colleen laughed again. Hugo liked the sound of her laugh. It was a beautiful sound.
He set her down and offered her his arm as they walked back toward the castle.
