Chapter 4 : Snogging
Disclaimer : You know the spiel
At seven o'clock, I was walking to Professor Lupin's office. Cedric insisted that he would walk me there. When he first mentioned this to me, I had said something like, "You don't have to, don't want to be an inconvenience, no need," but he said that it was no trouble and that he was happy to do it. Why should I worry about people seeing Cedric and me together? Well, not exactly people – someone in particular. And that certain someone is probably twenty years older than me and is my teacher.
As we were walking down the hallway to his office, Cedric grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He was rather affectionate. We hadn't snogged yet, but he put his arm around me and gave me a lot of hugs. When we reached Professor Lupin's office the door was wide open, so Cedric and I stepped into the doorway.
"Hello, Professor," Cedric said to the man, who was poring over papers at his desk. He looked up, probably surprised to hear Cedric's voice and not mine. He had black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose and his hair was falling on his face.
"Good evening, Professor," I said, quickly letting go of Cedric's hand, "Is this a good time?"
"Perfect time, Miss Knightly," he said, walking towards us, "I just started on some fourth year homework assignments."
"Great," I said and turned to Cedric, "Good night, then." He enveloped me in a big hug, but noticing my stiffness, he let go quickly and murmured, "G'night."
I stood near the door awkwardly for a few moments before saying, "Sorry about that, sir."
He laughed and said, "No problem," but his smile was a little too broad to be totally believable. He sat back down at his desk and said, "So, on to the work. As I said, I'm grading fourth years' assignments. I'll put them in a pile here," gesturing to the corner of his L shaped desk, "And what you can do is record the marks in the grade book." I nodded and sat down at the other section of the desk. Picking up the first essay on top of the stack, I read the name Marietta Edgecome, a girl in my house two years younger than me. Just as I was dipping my quill into an ink pot to record "8/10" under her name, Professor Lupin stood up. He walked over to a record player, tapped it with his wand and a swingy big band tune echoed through the room. I was thankful for the music, because for several minutes, the blaring of horns and beating of drums was the only sound in the room.
"So, Miss Knightly, have you enjoyed your first week back?" Lupin asked, not looking at me, but handing me Katie Bell's homework assignment.
"Oh yes, it was quite enjoyable," I answered, straightening the stack of papers. "All of my classes were great…well, Professor Snape's was challenging."
"Ah, Severus," Lupin said. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him grinning. "He hasn't changed much."
"You knew him?" I asked, curious.
"Severus…Professor Snape was in my year when I was at Hogwarts," he said, "Different houses, though. He was in Slytherin and I was in Gryffindor."
I recalled a memory from my first night at Hogwarts, where the Sorting Hat was deciding between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. I wondered if Lupin had been considered for Ravenclaw as well. There was so much that I wanted to know about him.
Lupin's voice turned my attention back to our conversation. He looked at me, but turned away quickly and said, "If you don't mind me asking, er, are you… in a relationship with Mr. Diggory?"
His question startled me. I put down my quill and said slowly, "I don't really know…yes, I suppose I am."
He turned to face me and I did the same. He looked at me with a slightly troubled look on his face for a moment before saying quietly, "Just look after yourself, alright?"
I nodded and said, "Alright, Professor." I turned back to my work quickly, but I felt his eyes linger on me for a few seconds before looking away. The record ended, but we continued working in silence for I don't know how long. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence though; it was kind of comforting just knowing that he was in the room with me. When he had finished marking all of the assignments and I had put the grades in the book, Professor Lupin stood up and I walked to the front of the desk to face him.
"Well, thank you for all of your help," he said nervously, wringing his hands.
"It was no problem at all," I answered.
"Would you be willing to do it again?" He asked, a small smile creeping over his face.
"Of course," I said softly. It reminded me of the end of a first date. Him walking me to my front door, asking me out again. I half expected him to lean over his desk and plant a shy kiss on my lips, but of course, this was not an actual date – we were grading papers.
"So, goodnight, Professor Lupin," I said, my voice still quiet.
"G'night," he said, sitting back down. I turned and walked out the door, feeling him watching me until he couldn't see me any longer.
Walking back to the common room, I wasn't exactly ecstatic, as I was the last time coming back from his office. I was confused, a little lost, and completely inside my head. It wasn't until I saw Cedric leaning against the wall where the bronze eagle doorknocker was did I remember that I even had a boyfriend.
"Cedric," I said, startled and stumbling a bit, "What are you doing here?"
He swiftly walked towards me and grabbed both of my hands. "Waiting for you. I wanted to make sure you got back okay."
"Of course I got back okay," I said, a little irritated, "I was in a teacher's office, not gallivanting around the school.
"I know," Cedric murmured in my ear, "I wanted to say goodnight…again." He reached up and gently stroked my face with both of his hands. He slowly leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. He quickly pulled back and studied my eyes. I couldn't help but smile a bit, thinking that this wasn't the kiss I had wanted to receive that night, but he assumed that my expression meant that I had enjoyed it and wanted to continue. He held me close and we snogged for a couple of minutes. It wasn't bad – the boy was a fairly good kisser. But you know those clichéd fireworks everyone supposedly sees when they kiss someone new? There weren't there. No connection. It was nice; that's it.
"Cedric," I said after a little bit, pulling away.
"Blake," he whispered passionately. I stepped even further away before things got too heated, on his part at least. I was grateful for the sudden appearance of a portly and pearly figure – the Fat Friar. I hurriedly smoothed down my hair and hoped the dark lighting hid my red face.
"Good evening, Friar," Cedric said, surprisingly collected, "I was just finishing up my prefect duties and saying goodnight to Miss Knightly here."
"Of course," the Friar said cheerily, "I'm just patrolling tonight. Good evening," and disappeared.
"Well, goodnight then," I said hastily, turning away. He grabbed my hand and looked at me with his face full of wanting. I yanked my hand with perhaps to much force and said sternly, "Goodnight." Noticing the somewhat hurt look on his face, I gave him a sweet smile before turning away to the bronze eagle knocker. It opened its beak and asked what walked on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night. I hurriedly answered, "Man," and bolted through the common room to my dormitory.
There, I found Sam lying on her bed, reading her Charms book. She popped up when she saw me open the door. "Hi Blake. How was helping Lup- God what happened to you?" She asked, eyeing my messed hair, rumpled blouse, and pink face, "Did Lupin do something to you? Do we need to report this?" She jumped off the bed, looking like she was about to run out the door.
"No, no, Sam…god, nothing like that. Helping Lupin was fine." Like that man could ever harm anyone…though I expect, if needed, he could kick some major arse. I whipped odd my blouse and skirt and flung on a tee-shirt and plaid flannel pants. "It was Cedric," I said darkly, "He was waiting for me outside the common room, and we snogged a bit...Sam, can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course," Sam said, sitting on my trunk.
"What's it like…Er, how do you feel when…you're kissing Eddie?" I asked nervously.
"Well, she started, "I'm so happy…I'm calm, but it's so exciting. He's gentle, but passionate. It's perfect. Why? How was kissing Cedric?"
"Er, hot, and long, and actually…nothing so special," I admitted.
"Seriously?" She asked, "But so many girls love him!"
"It wasn't terrible," I said, "I just didn't feel anything. Is that bad?"
She stared at me flopped on my bed for a few seconds, then said seriously, "Blake, when you told me you liked someone, it wasn't Cedric you were talking about, was it?"
I responded by flipping over to lie on my stomach and hugging my pillow to my face. No, I wanted to tell her, I think Cedric is very nice, but I have no interest in him. The person I fancy is Professor Lupin, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher…obviously. I laid there for a few minutes, thinking what would have happened if Lupin did kiss me tonight. I tried to imagine how it would feel to kiss him. If I got a shock just when our hands touched, imagine what would happen if our lips met, if our bodies were intertwined. God, he made me shiver without even being in the same room. I looked up from the threads on my pillow case and said to Sam, "I think I'm going to go to sleep."
"Alright," she said, standing up, "Goodnight." She walked out of the dormitory, blowing the candles out as she went, and left me to the thoughts swirling around in my head.
Author's note: Oh my goodness, I totally love everyone who reads and reviews. You guys are so awesomely awesome, I can't even stand it. I'll try to be quick with the next chapter, but seeing as school is starting soon, I can't make any promises. Besides, don't you want quality over quantity? Ha-ha. So, thanks to my beta, Samansha, who is one of my favorite people in the world. Oh, just a couple of notey things – As much as I love the movies, I never pictured Remus the way he is in the films…not saying anything against David Thewlis, he's a great actor…but he's just not my Professor Lupin…plus, he's about a decade older. But then again, Sirius was not my Sirius, but to each his own. Remus can be whoever you want. Oh, and all of those who have read the seventh book, I know the door knocker doesn't ask riddles, more like questions, but I don't have time to be that deep. I'd rather work on the plot! Thanks again, especially if you read this insanely long author's note!