"The Triwizard Tournament… Blimey, who would've guessed?" breathed Satoshi, sitting against a pillar outside. It was the first of September, and the Hogwarts students had all been told about the upcoming dangerous tournament which took place among Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang schools. They had only been held a handful of times before, and competitors' lives had been lost during it. However, it was supposedly going to be safer this year.
"Yeah, seems pretty big… And that prize the winner gets…" Shiro whistled. His family could definitely do with the amount of money the champion of this tournament would receive, but the age limit was 17; Satoshi was 16. "Are you going to find a way to get your name in anyway?"
Satoshi shook his head. "Nah. Fred and George are, though. They asked me if I wanted to do the same, but you know what I told them? 'I can't risk something going wrong, I have a little brother and sister to take care of,' I said." Shiro suddenly felt guilty. It would've meant the world for Satoshi to enter such a significant event… However, he grinned down reassuringly at his brother and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry your pretty little head. I'm going to help them devise a way for them to get in."
It was silent among the two brothers, their thoughts on two completely different topics: Satoshi's on the tournament, Shiro's on…
"Hey, Satoshi? Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
Shiro gulped and took in a deep, shaky breath. "How… How do you ask girls out so easily?"
Satoshi blinked, then grinned broadly. "Oh, thank God! I thought you'd turn out gay."
Shiro's face flushed. "Shut up and answer my question! … Please!"
Satoshi chuckled and wrapped his arm around Shiro's shoulders. "Alright, alright. I'll answer your cute little question, but I'm sure you won't be happy with my response… Asking them out comes so easily because I look at girls as points in a game. As you well know, I love to win."
"You're right, I don't like that answer," Shiro muttered.
Satoshi's smile softened. "I WILL help you though. First things first: who's the lucky lady? Still Luna?"
Shiro blushed again. He was silent for a moment. "No, it isn't Luna… I… I won't tell you who. You'll laugh. Or you'll tell her I like her."
"Aw, of course I'll laugh! But I can assure you I won't tell her. I want my baby brother to find love. Which I can't do if you don't tell me who it is. If I've learned anything about females, it's that they're all unique. You can't approach them all the same way."
Shiro stared at the ground, his cheeks flaming. "It's Konata," he whispered almost inaudibly.
As promised, Satoshi let out a quick laugh. "Oh my gosh, that's fricking adorable! So, let's see. Konata is shy, and sweet as sugar. If she rejected you, she'd do so gently, and she'll be all flustered and flattered when you ask her. She dated Longbottom, so you're WAY above her priorities… We also have to take into consideration that she might think dating you will make Blaze feel like a third wheel…" Satoshi clasped his hands together. "Alright, so I say you get her alone- any time of day will work. Except morning, you don't want her thinking about it all day… Okay, so maybe around or after dinner time would be best. Make sure she looks fine, don't want her to be upset about something while you're confessing, then she won't be so confused."
Shiro blinked, speechless. "Wow, Satoshi, you're a genius…"
Satoshi shrugged, grinning. "I try."
"I tried to ask her out already, actually…" Shiro admitted quietly. "I'm kind of glad it didn't work though. I mean, the timing was all wrong… And Blaze and Sakura were right there…"
"Oh REALLY? How and when did this go down exactly, hm?"
Shiro glanced away, biting the inside of his cheek. "I, er… It was after we'd packed up our stuff. We were waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Dopple," those were the people who now lived with the Ueda kids, "to get ready to take us to the train station… Blaze and Sakura were talking, and Konata was sitting on her suitcase, kicking her feet silently, and… I sat next to her, and started chatting with her, but before I could get to asking her out the Dopples were ready to leave," he explained softly.
"Mm, yeah, that wouldn't have been the best time. There could've been tons of worse times, but that wasn't all that great," Satoshi remarked. He gripped Shiro's shoulder.
"S…Satoshi?"
"S…Shiro?"
Shiro ignored the mockery and whispered, "What if I don't just want to date her… What if I'm in LOVE with her?"
Satoshi looked abruptly serious. He tightened his grasp on Shiro's shoulder a tiny bit. "Then you'd better follow my advice, baby bro."
Meanwhile, Konata was walking the grounds with Blaze, Hermione, and Hannah.
"I love your new 'do, Kana," Hannah commented.
Konata smiled, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. This year, she'd pulled the edges of her hair into a high, thin ponytail, and straightened away all the curls her braids had created. "Do you?"
"It looks good on you," Blaze agreed. Hermione nodded, smiling.
"Thanks!" Konata peeped, blushing very slightly.
Blaze suddenly stopped. She stood in front of Konata and crossed her arms. "Okay, what's on your mind?"
Konata blinked. "What? Nothing. So, that Triwizard Tournament sounds pretty intense, huh?"
Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Don't change the subject. Is something on your mind? You don't have to tell me what, just-"
"I'm thinking about the guy I like," Konata squeaked. Blaze grinned.
"Ah, there we go. Mr. Ueda, hm?"
"No way, you're crushing on Shiro?" Hermione gasped.
"Well there's no way she likes Satoshi," mused Hannah.
Konata's cheeks turned pink. "Yeah, yeah, I do like Shiro… It's why I broke up with Neville… Just don't tell anyone, please?"
"Of course we won't!" Hannah assured her. "It's not like we see him very often anyway."
Konata gave a miniscule nod. Her eyes drifted to Blaze, and she sighed. "I don't know what to do… I'm like a little sister to him, and one of his best friends, he'll be so weirded out… And I don't have the slightest clue of how to ask him if he likes me or not! I tried over the summer, but chickened out…"
"Oh? When did this happen?" inquired Blaze.
Konata ran her fingers through her milk-chocolate colored hair uneasily. "The first night we were at his house, during dinner… Shiro and I reached for the salt at the same time, a-and our fingers touched, and I think we both blushed… Remember how I said 'Did you… want to use it first first?' Yeah, well, I was GOING to ask if he felt sparks too."
"How sweet!" all three girls chirped. Konata let out a shaky sigh, blushing a level more.
"Yeah, well… H-how should I go about asking him?"
The others all shrugged. "None of us have ever had a boyfriend, Konata. We wouldn't know what's right or not," Blaze told her.
"We don't want to give you bad advice," murmured Hannah sadly.
"Yeah, I get it. It's okay, I'll… I'll figure it out." Konata shrunk down a size and whispered very quietly, "Besides, I don't just want to ask him out… I want to tell him that I think I might be in… in love with him. "It's getting dark, let's get back up to the castle," she offered quickly, before anyone could comment.
The next few days didn't go quite as Konata and Shiro planned. Konata tried to ask out Shiro as they cleaned up after Potions, but she felt Snape staring them down and hurried out the door. When Shiro approached her as they headed down to dinner that day, Harry asked Shiro if he wanted to hang out later. During Care of Magical Creatures the next day, Konata fell into Shiro when jumping away from revolting creatures called Blast-Ended Skrewts, and started to tell Shiro she liked him; conversely, Hagrid called them over to pick out a Skrewt to raise. Shiro was going to ask her on the way up to bed that night, but she was with a group of friends. Konata almost asked him at breakfast, but Peeves the Poltergeist dropped water balloons on her and she had to go dry off. Shiro succeeded in getting her alone that night, but Ron walked up and asked if Shiro knew anything about the twins' plans for getting their names in the Goblet of Fire.
It wasn't until about a week after school started that they found success.
"Professor Flitwick?" Shiro asked hesitantly one Friday night.
"Yes, Mr. Ueda?" said the tiny professor without looking up from his work.
"I, er… I was wondering if I could have permission to go up to the Astronomy Tower."
Professor Flitwick began scribbling something on a piece of parchment. "If you're willing to scale that long walk." He smiled softly. Shiro sheepishly returned the smile, took the parchment (it read "I, Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw, grant Shiro Ueda permission to be in the Astronomy Tower"), and bowed his head gratefully.
"Man, that IS a long walk," Shiro huffed a good amount of time later. He clutched his side and slid down against the wall, trying to catch his breath. It was then he detected a small amount of movement with his peripheral vision. To his left, a girl sat back against the opposite wall, her quill moving sluggishly across papers balanced on her knees. A light glowed from the tip of her wand, which was stuck behind her ear.
"Konata?" Shiro whispered incredulously. He immediately wished he hadn't said anything… There was no way it was Konata; how could he recognize her in the dark? Nevertheless…
The girl looked up, and from the light emanating from her wand, Shiro could see she looked as disbelieving as he felt. "Shiro?"
Smiling, Shiro stood and walked over to her. At the same time, Konata gathered up her belongings. In her haste, however, she dropped them all. Shiro chuckled and kneeled down to help her pick them up.
"No, no, don't bother. I'll get that stuff later. Thank you, though," Konata said quickly. Shiro nodded and stood, handing Konata her wand. His heart gave a sudden lurch: it was after dinner… Konata looked about as peaceful as she ever did… They were alone…
"So what were you doing up here?" he began, propping his elbows on the wall. Konata did the same.
"I wanted a head start on my Astronomy homework. I zoned out in class, though, so I have to look at the sky instead of consulting my memory about what was discussed in class," she explained. "What about you?"
"Oh, I just wanted to clear my head. Be alone for a while."
Konata looked abruptly alarmed. "Oh! I'll go, I've got most of it done, I can have someone help me with the rest…"
Shiro grabbed her arm before she could turn around, and shook his head. He smiled at her. "Nah, you can stay. If anyone was to be up here with me, I'd want it to be none other than you."
Konata blushed lightly and turned to face the grounds again. "W-wow, it's really, REALLY high up here…" she whispered. "I-I guess that's to be expected, I mean, it's the highest tower." She chuckled nervously and gingerly gripped Shiro's sleeve. "If I fall, you're coming down with me."
Shiro took a side step closer to her. "Every time."
It was silent for a moment, until two voices said, "I have to tell you something." Konata and Shiro glanced away from one another for a moment. "Y-you go first," they told each other.
"Uh… At the same time?" Shiro offered.
Konata nodded, her eyes drifting up to meet Shiro's. "Okay. On three?" Shiro nodded. "One… two… three."
They gazed unintentionally into each other's eyes, and declared in perfect unison, "I think I'm in love with you."
Their hearts simultaneously skipped a beat; they were silent in shock for a few tense seconds. "I…I was kidding, you know," Konata whispered. Before the feeling of dread could take its full effect on Shiro, Konata put her hands on his and added, "I AM in love with you. I don't THINK I am."
Shiro felt immense relief swell up in him, and he slid one of his hands away to put it atop Konata's. "I'm certain I love you too, Konata. Would you happen to be looking for a boyfriend?"
"Why yes, I am. I have some priorities, though: he must be Shiro Ueda."
Shiro grinned. "Oh, well I don't know anyone like that." He slipped his hands around Konata's waist and pulled her close to him; she softly pressed her palms against his chest and rested the side of her head on his front.
"Don't let the sun ever rise," they thought, "even if it makes me freeze… I want the night to last forever so this moment will never end. Besides… I have the one I love to keep me warm."