Hours later, I lay in my four-poster bed. Everyone else in my dormitory was already asleep. I had danced all night with Edward. Apart from being absolutely gorgeous, he was quite a good dancer. He was smart, polite, funny, sensitive, kind…I sighed. I just couldn't believe that I might be falling love. I jolted out of my near-sleep. Love? No, that wasn't right. I wasn't falling in love. That wasn't me, I wasn't boy crazy like that. (Well, vampire crazy.) But still…he was amazing. I turned in bed to stare around my curtains, and gasped. Edward was outside the window. I rushed to it and flung it open quietly, so as not to wake the other girls. He grinned. I saw that he was hanging casually from the window sill, a hundred feet from the ground, his legs dangling. He didn't seem to pay any attention to that. He was staring at me. I noticed a Nimbus Two-Thousand and One slung over his shoulder.
"Hermione," he whispered, "What would you say to a little midnight ride?" I laughed softly as I jumped on to the broomstick with ease, pulling me on in front of him. His cool arms snaked around my waist, securing me to the broomstick. I quickly shut the window.
"The draft might wake them," I explained. He nodded, and then we were flying away. It was amazing. Hogwarts disappeared as we zoomed over the miles of forest surrounding the school. He didn't seem to need to concentrate on flying. Suddenly, I felt his long nose nestle into the crook of my ear ad neck. I almost fell of the broom. Finally, we landed in a large tree somewhere in the forest. "I'm not supposed to be out of bed," I mumbled. He laughed.
"Actually, the rule states that you can't be on the grounds or in the halls after dark. As you are neither…" he trailed off. I gasped.
"We're not on the grounds?" I said. He smiled mischievously. I noticed now that he was relaxed, slung over a thick tree branch, while I stood ramrod straight on the highest branch. I sat down, my legs dangling towards the ground. Edward cautiously wrapped his icy arm around me. It felt comfortable, natural. We stared into each other's eyes for an immeasurable moment. And then, very slowly, as if contemplating it, he moved closer. I could feel his cool breath on my neck. He kept coming closer, until our faces were mere inches from each other. I could see in his eyes that he had suddenly made some sort of decision. He paused, and then, he leaned in and kissed me. I fell out of the tree.