1"Ow! Arthur, watch it, you just stepped on my foot!"

"What? Oh, sorry," the tall young man blushed. "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."

His friend laughed good-naturedly, "Where is she? I didn't see her."

"Where's who?" Arthur nervously ran his hand through his red hair. "I don't know what you're talking about Will."

"You can stop pretending. Everyone knows you fancy Molly Prewett," Will grinned at his friend.

"How do you know that? I mean, no I don't," he continued to blush furiously. His skin color was quickly starting to match his hair.

The other boy slapped him heartily on the back. "As much as I would love to continue this conversation, we're going to be late for Transfiguration if we don't hurry. Dumbledore's a great guy but we've already been late once this week, I'm pretty sure he would give us detention this time. Head of our house or not." He turned to make his way down the hall.

Arthur made to follow his friend. Thanks to his height he was able to see over most of the other students and caught another glimpse of the fiery redhead girl as she chatted and giggled with her friend. His friend was right, he did fancy Molly. Actually to be honest, it was more of an obsession with her.

As he walked behind his best friend he sighed deeply. He had no chance with her, he thought, why would she want to be with a gangly, freckly, too tall oddball. By the time he made it to the classroom he was in a right depression. He dropped his bag on the floor and slumped into the chair next to Will just as the bell rang.

((oo0oo))

Later that afternoon, Arthur was seated at one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room. He was engrossed in the essay he was working on for his Muggle Studies class. It was about something called electricity and he was fascinated by the concept. He was so engrossed in his work that he did not look up when someone else sat down across from him.

When the other person spoke, he his heart stopped for an instant. "Hi, Arthur. What're you working on?"

He looked up, "Um, hi, Molly. How are you?" Uggh, why couldn't I ever think of anything clever to say to her, he thought to himself with a slight cringe. She must think I am a complete moron, he continued the conversation in his head.

"I'm okay," she twirled a lock of fiery hair around her finger. He thought it was so cute when she did that. "Hey, are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Yeah, are you?" He felt his face heating up.

She nodded, "Who are you going with?"

"Just some of the guys, I guess," he nervously wiped his sweaty palms on his lap.

"Oh," she smiled at him before catching her bottom lip between her teeth.

Wow, he thought, she was beautiful when she smiled. Suddenly, he knew this was his chance. His stomach knotted with nerves and he took a deep breath, "Um Molly, would you, I mean if you don't already have plans with someone else, which I'm sure you probably do. But, um, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me? It's okay if you don't," he said all this very fast.

"I would love to," she smiled warmly at him.

"Really?" he beamed. "Well, great then, I um guess I'll just, uh, meet you down here on Saturday? Around 9?"

"Okay," she got up. "I'm going to go to dinner. See you later."

She calmly made her way out to the hallway. Once she was out of Arthur's sight, she began to sprint and did not stop until she reached the Great Hall. Quickly, she spotted her best friend, Ginerva Walsh.

"Gin! He asked me!" she cried breathlessly and took the seat next to the petite brunette. They squealed and ignored the looks they were getting from a group of second years sitting at the end of the table.

((oo0oo))

Saturday morning Arthur woke up very early. Today was the day, his first date with Molly. He stayed in bed and listened to one of his room mates snore. Finally around five o'clock he got up and dressed for the day. Around seven he woke up his best friend, Will, to go to breakfast with him.

"G'way," Will mumbled and stuck his pillow over his head. After several minutes, he quit protesting and stumbled to the bathroom.

As the two boys were making their way to breakfast, Molly was trying on her third outfit of the morning. Gin was patiently watching her and offering her advice. They were the only two seventh year Gryffindor girls so they did not have to worry about disturbing any other roommates.

Molly started rummaging through the clothes that were strewn across her bed. "I don't have anything decent to wear," she moaned to her friend.

"Sure you do, besides he would think you looked great in anything," Gin consoled her friend. "Its obvious he's crazy about you. Here," she picked up pretty blue sweater from the pile, "wear this with your new skirt. It matches your eyes."

By the time, Molly was ready it was five after nine. Arthur was in the common room convincing himself that she was not going to come. Will had given up on trying to convince him other wise and was laughing as his friend argued with himself.

Finally, Arthur looked up and saw her running down the stairs with Gin behind her. He stood up from the chair he had drawn up to the fire.

"Sorry, I'm late," she apologized when she was in front of him.

"That's okay, I didn't even notice."

Will snorted and Arthur turned to glare at him. Deciding now was a good time to leave, Will looked at Gin, who he had been dating for over a year, "Come on, Gin. Lets leave these two alone." He called over his shoulder as they reached the door, "Hey, we'll be at The Three Broomsticks around noon, come join us if you're not busy."

When the two other students had exited the common room Arthur looked down at Molly, "You look really nice. Are you ready to go?"

"Thanks," she smiled up at him. "Let's go," then much to his surprise, she took his hand and led him out of the common room.

The two Gryffindors wandered the streets of Hogsmeade hand in hand all day. They went into most of the stores but were not really looking at the merchandise. They were too busy talking to each other. Eventually, they made their way to The Three Broomsticks. They found Will and Gin sitting at a table near the back of the room.

"Hey, guys," Molly greeted them.

The other couple made room for their friends to join them. Molly sat down across from Gin. The boys went to get Butterbeers for everyone.

Once the boys were out of earshot, Gin leaned toward Molly, "So, how's it going?"

Molly giggled, "Great, he's so sweet."

The boys returned before she could tell her anymore. For the rest of the afternoon the two couples strolled the village streets together. When it was time to head back, Will and Gin began to walk toward Hogwarts. Molly started to follow but Arthur held her back by wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her back against him.

"Let them go on ahead. We can walk alone that way."

"Okay," she looked up into his eyes and thought about how tall he was. She started to blush slightly and her heart rate sped up when he kept his eyes locked with hers. At that moment she could not have broken the stare if her life depended on it.

Before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers. She had been kissed before, but never like this. His hands slid down to her waist and held her close to him. Finally, they broke the kiss and headed back to Hogwarts hand in hand as the sun set behind the castle.