Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or any of its characters. Also, I have no idea if the Shooting Star information is correct. It was just to help along the story. Sorry if it's incorrect. Hah.
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Shooting Stars
(one-shot, drabble-esque)
Checkerboxed
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Alone in the Head's Common Room, she stares out of the window, watching the moon rise. Tonight, said the astronomers, two shooting stars would collide. She hopes to watch them, hopes the share their light.
Because she's been so empty these past few weeks.
She hasn't seen much of her two best friends, isolated as she is in the Heads' dorm. She has few classes with them, and after classes she is too busy studying. She knows it is her fault, her fault, her fault—
Up in the sky a star shimmers erratically. She blinks, gets to her knees in the window seat.
The portrait opens, and her Head partner stumbles in. She ignores him, still staring earnestly at the midnight sky, in which another star is loosening itself from the night.
It's not until he slumps down on the seat next to her that she realizes he's drunk.
She tears her gaze from the sky. "What the hell are you doing?" she hisses, scooting away from him.
He blinks up at her, eyes slightly out of focus. "I'm… I'm…"
She exhales angrily. "Go de-drunk, Malfoy."
"I'm not drunk," says Malfoy indignantly, "I'm just… slightly… intixoxitated."
"Intixoxitated?"
He realizes his mistake and grips her hand. "Imptoxitated. Um. Inpoxitated. No..."
By this time her eyes have returned to the sky. "You're drunk. Leave me alone."
"You're beautiful," he slurs, slumping over on himself, "I love you."
She glances sideways at him. "At least you're a happy drunk," she says wryly, pulling out her wand. "I wouldn't normally do this, because I believe in repercussions, but you're making me miss the stars."
He stares up at her, clearly confused by "repercussions".
Quickly, efficiently, she waves her wand at him and mutters something under her breath. Almost instantly his eyes go into focus and he wipes a bit of slobber off his chin. "Thanks," he says, much more sharply than the voice he was using a few seconds ago. "Did you say I was making you miss the stars?"
She nods, not meeting his eyes.
"Are you drunk, Granger?"
She glares at him. "No, Malfoy, I'm watching an astrological phenomenon, thank you. Will you leave me alone, please?"
"'Please'? You're sinking, Mudblood."
She slaps him lightly across the arm, and then settles again against the wall. "If you're going to stay, will you do it quietly?"
He doesn't say anything, so she takes it as a 'yes'. Several minutes go by, and she watches the two stars make their way slowly towards each other.
"…What, exactly, are we supposed to be watching for, Granger? Or is another figment of your imagination?"
"That," she whispers, pointing upward at the exact moment the two stars collide.
He doesn't watch the impact. He watches her face as it lights up, both from the light of the collision and from the childlike fascination that is taking over her face.
He hadn't lied when he told her she was beautiful.
And after the stars have sunken back into darkness he takes her into his arms and kisses her, full on the mouth.
The kiss is as beautiful as the two stars, and she doesn't think, just presses herself closer to him. She's not worrying what to do, because it feels natural, and it feels right, and…
Before he can get carried away he pulls back and grins down at the flushed girl in his arms.
"Don't think that'll happen every time there's an astrological phenomenon, Granger. My kisses are a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
She grins back at him. "Two shooting stars colliding doesn't happen all that often, either."
He stands up and turns away, just so she can't see him redden. "Good."
She watches him leave and then convulses into silent laughter.
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