Hello everyone!
I want to thank you all so much for the amazing response on the last chapter!
You guys are amazing! I am so happy that you are there to read this story and that you enjoy it.
Now I think you guys were anxious to see what is going to happen after that first kiss - woohoo ! - so here it is.
I hope you like it - please keep writing to me your impressions, predictions and suggestions.
Enjoy :) x

wildest dreams
VOLUME I

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"Oh, bugger – sorry."

It was only then, after what seemed like no time at all and forever at the same time, that I felt his lips leave mine. I turned around, breathless, to see none other than Neville Longbottom, his shoes thrown around his neck, apologizing and blushing profusely as he replaced the stack of books he had seemingly run into. I stared at him, feeling a little hazy, as he quickly ran up the stairs to his dormitories, still mumbling 'sorry, sorry, sorry'.

I was then aware of the fact that George's arms were wrapped around me, his face at approximately two inches from mine. One of his hands was on my waist, the other in my hair – and mine rested on his chest. The room was silent. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own breathing. I looked up at him, meeting his gaze, asking him – did this really happen, or did I imagine it ?

"You have no idea for how long I've wanted to do that" he whispered.

I shook my head. It was real, then. George had kissed me. And I had kissed him back – very enthusiastically. I couldn't help it – I smiled.

"You're such a cliché" I answered.

He chuckled. I stood on tip-toe, wrapping my arms around his neck, and did something mad – I kissed him again. I couldn't believe what was happening, what I was doing – but it felt so good. I never wanted it to stop.

"Addy" he whispered against my lips.

"What ?"

I reluctantly pulled away from him, frowning. He took my hands in his, stroking them softly.

"What I wanted to say is that… I like you."

"I think you made that very obvious" I replied, raising my eyebrows.

"I mean – I like you. A lot. I want to make this work."

I smiled, slowly shaking my head.

"Me too. I like you a lot too, George Weasley. "

Merlin, that felt good. He grinned.

"Wicked" he whispered, before pulling me into another kiss.

We sat down on the couches again, and talked, and laughed, and kissed. It had only been minutes, but already knew that I could never get tired of this. It felt like nothing I had ever felt before – it was explosive, it was magnificent. It was right.

"Maybe we should go to bed" I said after a while.

"Why ?"

"Because we need to get up for Quidditch tomorrow."

"I don't want to get up for Quidditch. I want to keep kissing you."

I chuckled, stealing him a quick kiss.

"George, you have all life to kiss me now."

"I do ?"

I smacked him on the chest as he grinned broadly.

"You do if you get that stupid smile off your face" I smirked.

"You love my stupid smile."

"I do."

We laughed, and he walked with me to the stairs leading up to my dormitory. I held his hands, not really wanting to let go.

"I'll see you tomorrow" I said softly.

He nodded, and gave me one last kiss before he let go of my hands and made his way to the other flight of stairs.

"Can't wait for our date" he said.

I laughed as he disappeared up the stairs. I took a second to breathe out before I went upstairs.

The girls were all asleep when I entered our dormitory. I was kind of glad they were, because I wasn't sure I would have been able to put into words what had just happened. This all felt too good to be true – but it wasn't. I felt like my heart could burst out of my chest. I snuggled into my soft, warm sheets, and fell asleep smiling.

The next morning, I woke up to a very quiet dormitory. Angelina and Pam were nowhere to be seen, and Alicia and Melinda were still asleep. I took a quick look at my watch – it was almost eleven. Softly humming 'Magic Works', I slipped on a pair of jeans and a jumper, and made my way downstairs to the Great Hall. There was surprisingly a lot of people eating breakfast for the time of day – but I could guess that many had had a late night due to the ball.

I spotted the two familiar ginger heads in the crowd– and made my way to them, sitting down next to Angelina.

"'Morning" I said with a smile, grabbing a piece of toast.

"Adelaide! I was starting to lose hope that you would grace us with your presence today" said Fred.

I glared at him.

"Sleep well ?" asked George.

I finally turned to look at him, and felt my heart skip a beat. I honestly couldn't wrap my head around the fact that me and George had kissed the night before. He was smirking at me, and all I could think about was – I kissed these lips. And I want to do it again. Very badly. I strangely felt like he knew exactly what I was thinking, too.

"Very well, thank you" I muttered.

And then I thought – what now ? Were we a couple ? Should we announce to everyone that – oh, blimey. Had George told Fred about the kiss ? I couldn't imagine that he hadn't – but then again, George could be surprising, and it didn't look like Fred knew. He surely would have mentioned it by now. Not knowing suddenly made me feel very anxious about the way I should act. Should I pretend that nothing happened ? Or should I kiss him right now, right here in the middle of the Great Hall, in front of half the school ?

"Why are you blushing ?" suddenly asked Fred, frowning.

"I'm not blushing" I quickly replied.

"Then why are you as red as a lobster ?"

"It's just very hot here, all right !" I blabbered. "Leave it alone, Fred !"

He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Angelina who was chuckling.

"Looks like someone woke on the wrong side –"

"Piss off, Fred."

He shrugged, and I rolled my eyes. I didn't know why I felt so on edge – surely because I had no idea where to stand on the whole kissing-situation, and that George's silence was starting to make me nervous. After all, it sure looked like he hadn't told his brother/best friend about it – which made me doubt things that had felt certain the night before. I glanced at George, trying to find a hint of something – anything – in his eyes, but he was staring down at his porridge.

"Is Alicia still sleeping ?" asked Angelina.

"She was when I left the dormitory. She's probably going to sleep all day."

She nodded, and I tried to focus on spreading the jam on my toast. This silence was making me crazy. I glanced up at George again, and finally met his eyes – I raised my eyebrows, silently asking him to explain, but before I could see his reaction, I heard someone call my name.

"Adelaide ?

I turned to see Neville looking at me, looking slightly embarrassed, his eyes a bright shade of red. I was so startled that I didn't even think to correct him and not call me by that name.

"I just wanted to apologize again" he said.

"About what ?"

I realized that a lot of people were listening – the twins and Angelina, of course, but also Harry, Hermione, and a bunch of their friends from fourth-year were looking at us curiously, too. It was true that me and Neville didn't interact very often.

"About last night."

"Huh ?"

"When I disturbed you and –"

The memory suddenly came back to me.

"Neville !" I immediately shrieked.

I stared at him, eyes wide. Oh, goodness. I could feel my heart race in my chest.

"It's – I mean – it's fine !" I blurted out, smiling nervously. "Totally fine. Really. No need to apologize. Really, no need. No need at all."

I was aware of how high my voice probably sounded – and that my face was probably as red as the strawberry jam on the table in front of me, but all I cared about was that Neville would just let it go.

"All right" he said, nodding slowly. "Cheers. Okay."

I nodded, smiling brightly at him, and he turned back to his friends. Realizing that I had been holding my breath, I slowly let it out and went back to spreading the jam on my toast.

"What the bloody hell was that about ?"

I turned to Angelina, and realized that she was staring at me – as were the twins. I shrugged, taking a bite of my piece of toast to give myself some time to think about something.

"Nothing. Nothing important."

"It doesn't look like nothing" said Fred. "You had the same look on your face when you passed out in Charms class last year before the OWL exam –"

"I didn't pass out, I was feeling dizzy because I was dehydrated – and it's nothing, I told you."

"Hey, Addy ?"

George's voice almost startled me. I looked up at him – what beautiful eyes he had.

"Yeah ?"

"You know that thing I told you about last night ?"

"Yeah ?"

"You want to see it now ?"

"Yeah."

I didn't have a bloody idea of what he was talking about – but I knew that it was probably best that I followed his lead. After all, I wanted to know what was on his mind, and what I should do about the whole situation – because obviously, I hadn't been handling it very well so far. I didn't know why I had reacted so strongly when Neville had almost spilled the beans – probably beause he hadn't felt right. If Fred really didn't know about the kiss – well, kisses – learning about it from Neville probably wasn't the best idea.

I followed George as he stood up and walked alongside the Gryffindor Table to the entrance hall, my heart beating hard in my chest. We finally arrived next to a small broom cupboard – George opened the door and gestured me to get in. I glared at him, but he raised an eyebrow.

"Get in" he said sharply.

After a few seconds, I finally sighed and got in the small space. George followed me and closed the door behind him. The ceiling was high enough for me, but I noticed that he had to bend his head in order to fit.

"What was that all about ?" he immediately asked.

"What are you talking about ?" I replied, even though I know exactly what he was talking about.

"Neville. You. That whole thing !"

I stared at him.

"What, did you want me to let him say it ? In front of everyone ?"

"Don't you want everyone to know ?"

"That's not the point !"

"It's exactly the point !"

We stared at each other for a few seconds, before I let out a groan.

"Look – I don't know, okay ? I panicked !" I sighed.

"Yeah, I noticed that."

I then realized that George wasn't mad at me, not at all – he was disappointed. I felt my heart skip a beat.

"It's not that I don't want people to know, George. It's just – it didn't feel right, is all."

He didn't reply, only kept staring at me. I let out a long, loud sigh. Had I already messed it all up ? I was terrified that I had, for a small second – but George grabbed my hands, squeezing them against his.

"Sorry" he muttered. "You're right. We probably should have talked about this last night."

"Definitely" I nodded.

A little smirk appeared on his lips – that was enough to make me smile. Soon, we were both laughing.

"We're pathetic" he chuckled.

"We are. I was so sure you would have told Fred ! Why didn't you ?"

He shrugged.

"I dunno. Didn't feel right. I wanted you to be there. As a witness – just in case he murdered me."

"I'm serious !"

"I'm serious too ! I wanted you to be there. I felt like it was something we should do together."

"I agree. So, what's the plan ?"

"I dunno" he shrugged. "Wait for the right moment, I guess."

"I like the sound of that" I smiled.

And suddenly, I couldn't look away. I looked at his eyes and his nose and his freckles, and I just smiled. It all still felt so unreal. And he was smiling too, that little smile I adored, and he raised one of his hands to gently place a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Can I ask you a question ?" he said.

"Yes."

"Can I kiss you ?"

And there they were – the butterflies.

"George, you know what's great about all of this ?"

"What ?"

"You never, ever have to ask for permission to kiss me again."

I smiled, and he chuckled – and then, of course, kissed me.