Author's Note: A follow up segment to Shut Up and Dance, because just when I think I've got my Muse back on her leash, she yanks it out of my hands.
This one is...God, ridiculously fluffy. Probably give you a toothache, honestly. I can't believe I even wrote it.
~EA
Boxing Day
December 26, 1994
"I think I'm going to walk to the library," Alicia yawned.
Angelina was lying sprawled out on one of the Gryffindor sofas, with one of her long legs over the back of it and her head on the armrest, reading December's Quidditch Monthly mag. She tilted her head to look at Alicia incredulously. "Excuse me?"
"Just for something to do," Alicia clarified, struggling out of the comfy, squashy armchair she'd been draped across. She swept her hair behind her shoulder as she stood, wondering why she'd left it down today.
She had no good reason to. She should have pulled it back, really. Putting it in a ponytail would have gotten it out of her face. But... she still had a few curls left that hadn't been crushed in her sleep, and she girlishly wanted to keep them a bit longer. So when she'd jumped in the shower that morning, she'd twisted her hair up so it wouldn't get wet, and after she got out, she hadn't even brushed it because that would have merely straightened it out even more. She'd simply left it down and pinned it back with couple of barrettes. But, despite her still-slightly-curled hair, she — like everyone else — was dressed very casually for the day; she had thrown on a pair of old, faded, comfortable jeans and a soft, cream-colored aran-knit jumper.
"On Boxing Day?" Lee looked horrified at the idea that anyone would go to the library during a holiday. He was flopped on the couch next to Angelina, scanning through a broom catalogue, but Alicia's statement had made him stop flipping idly through the pages to stare at her.
"Bonkers," Fred grumbled. Alicia had thought he was asleep in his armchair, but apparently he was half-awake. "Absolutely fucking bonkers."
"Mind if I walk with you, Alicia?"
Kenneth, who had been building an Exploding Snap card house on the floor with George, stood up and stretched.
She shrugged. "If you want."
"Have fun in the library, kids," George leered, carefully balancing another card.
Alicia arched an eyebrow at his little remark, reached over, and flicked the card house with one finger. The whole thing exploded in George's face, causing everyone in the vicinity to burst into laughter as he swore violently.
"You too, Georgie," she said sweetly. "Have fun!"
As she and Kenneth exited through the portrait hole together, she could still hear George yelling obscenities at her from inside the common room.
The corridors were empty, as Alicia had known they would be. Beside her, Kenneth yawned a couple of times and rubbed his hands over his face in an effort to wake up a bit. In truth, all of them were sleepy today; she was sure no one had gone to bed before three or four that morning, even with McGonagall desperately trying to make them. She also noticed that Kenneth looked far more relaxed today than she had ever seen him; he was wearing jeans and a plaid Gryffindor button-down. It made him look more approachable, she decided. Not that she could crush on him — her current feelings were far too wrapped up in someone else to think about Kenneth in that way — but it was nice to see he could dress a bit laid-back.
After walking a few minutes in comfortable silence, he observed, "You don't usually wear your hair down, do you?"
"No," she admitted, as they headed down a staircase. "But I just didn't feel like putting it up today."
"It looks very nice, curled like that."
"It looked better last night. It looks a bit defeated today, after sleeping on them."
"Lee especially liked them." Kenneth coughed and looked embarrassed. "He, uh, might have mentioned it in the dorm."
Ugh. She didn't want to think about Lee gushing over her in the boys' dorm, so she said, "Yes, he told me last night. But it's too much work to curl my hair regularly. It takes an hour."
"Did you have fun last night with George and Lee?"
"Sure." She smiled at him. "Did you have fun with Viola?"
He shrugged. "I suppose."
"You suppose?" She arched an eyebrow. "I thought you were going out with her."
"We are, yes." He flushed a little. "Actually, that's why I wanted to go to the library. To see if she was around. We meet there sometimes. But I didn't want the guys to take the mickey, so it was a relief when you said you were going. It gave me an excuse to slip out. So... Why are you going to the library? Surely you aren't actually going to study on Boxing Day."
She could feel sudden warmth in her cheeks and she looked away. "No. I wasn't."
Kenneth stopped and stared at her. "Alicia? Are you meeting someone?" She could practically hear the gears turning in his mind. "Did you hook up with someone else at the Yule Ball? But... you went with George and Lee last night —!" His voice turned slightly panicked. "Alicia, Lee was raving about how pretty and amazing you were last night when he got back to the dorm! Please tell me you aren't playing him —!"
"Kenneth!" she snapped crossly. "You can't play someone you aren't actually going out with, you know. Lee and I are just mates! That was our agreement in going to the dance together: as friends. And no, I'm not meeting anyone. I just... thought I'd walk around a bit, that's all. I was tired of lying about the common room."
He didn't look convinced, but he held the library door open for her. "Okay, fine," he muttered. "If you say so."
Of course, there was hardly anyone in the library. Ernest was there, studying as always, because that was just the type of annoying prat he was. Kenneth disappeared among the shelves and Alicia went a different way, meandering down a side aisle towards the back of the library. But it was practically empty, just as it should be the day after Christmas, and she was being a daft idiot for thinking she might randomly run into... a certain person... here. Abruptly annoyed at herself for being so utterly ridiculous, Alicia turned and headed back out. From the corner of her eye, she caught Kenneth and Viola among the stacks as she left. She wouldn't classify what they were doing as snogging, but they were definitely blushing and murmuring sweet nothings to each other. It sort of made her annoyed and jealous, and she got angry with herself about that, too.
Bollocks, really, that she hadn't managed a kiss the night before. Even Hermione had pulled that off. Maybe she should have kissed Lee goodnight and been done with it. Hell, she could have kissed Lee and George. Maybe liking or not liking them didn't have anything to do with it and maybe she was just being too soddin' romantic.
Besides, her latest crush couldn't be the right person anyways, because he'd made it clear from the start that it would be impossible for them to date, for a myriad of very solid reasons.
Alicia sighed and tilted her head back in frustration as she headed down the marble staircase. Part of the problem was that she was hungry. She'd slept through breakfast and lunch, and dinner was still two hours away. She might as well stop by the kitchens and grab something to eat. That would lift her mood a bit, get her out of these maudlin thoughts.
However, right before she got to the portrait of the bowl of fruit, it swung open and a small group of older Hufflepuffs came out, including Chrysanthe and Cedric.
"Alicia!" Chrysanthe's face lit up and the Hufflepuff prefect ran forward to hug her happily. "What are you doing down here? Oh, your hair is still curly! You looked so amazing last night. I love it like this," she added, tugging one of Alicia's curls between her fingers and watching it spring back, though admittedly not with as much bounce as it had the night before.
"Thanks. You looked amazing, too." Alicia smiled. "It takes forever to curl my hair though, so I don't do it often. Way too much work for a normal day. But right now, I'm hungry. I missed breakfast and lunch. What are all of you doing?'
Jane Ramsey giggled. "Same. All of Hufflepuff slept late today, too."
"Which means," Chrysanthe said, her eyes twinkling with humor, "all of Hufflepuff is bloody well starving. So we decided to beg the house elves to bring some snacks to the dorm before dinner."
Bess Oakfield grinned, her Scottish brogue heavy as always. "Hungry badgers are angry badgers, don't you know. Never a good combination, especially when we're all cooped up in the same room together. Murder might happen. And that would be bollocks for me to explain to Dumbledore. Pretty sure I'd lose my Head Girl badge."
The group laughed at the joke.
At that point, Cedric sidled up and bumped Alicia's shoulder gently with his, while Chrysanthe continued to play with her hair.
"So... I have a question," he teased. "You had two dates last night, Spinnet. Trying to show the rest of the prefects up by being an overachiever? I mean, even Ernest didn't pull that off!"
Pretending to look horrified, Alicia said, "Surely you aren't comparing me to Ernest!"
He chuckled. "Never. You're way prettier than Ernest."
Gilbert Royle, one of Cedric's closest friends, snorted. "She's also not a poncy prick."
"I should seriously hope I'm not," she answered loftily, joking back with them.
"Stop teasing," Chrysanthe scolded her classmates. "You're both being rude."
Alicia laughed. "It's okay. Besides, Ced, you know perfectly well that George and Lee are just my mates. The three of us went stag together because we thought we'd have more fun that way. It wasn't like we were on a date date, not the way others were."
Cedric mused, "And last night didn't make you magically fancy one of them all of a sudden, after five and a half years?"
"Definitely not." She grinned. "Not that way, at least. You and Cho looked nice last night though, dancing the opening dance."
He blushed and grinned back sheepishly. "Thanks. She's amazing."
"I'm really happy for you," she said sincerely, even though Cho was not her favorite person in the castle and she really thought the girl was a bit of a chit. But Cedric liked her, so... best not to make waves.
"Did you dance with anyone else last night, 'Licia?" Bess asked. "Or did those two maniacs keep you to themselves?"
Cheekily, Alicia answered, "Well, when people go stag, they can dance with whomever they want. So... I may have danced with a couple of other people, yes."
There was a round of good-natured laughter again, except from Chrysanthe, who was still standing next to Alicia.
Alicia felt, rather than saw, Chrysanthe's shift in posture, as though her friend were suddenly very interested in knowing more, because Chrysanthe picked up on little things like that, which was not what Alicia needed right now.
Trying to divert her before she started asking questions, Alicia nudged her and said, "You and Danny looked like you had fun too, when I saw you out on the floor."
Danny Youngman slung an arm around his girlfriend and winked at Alicia. "We always have fun! But we definitely didn't spend all night on the dance floor. Another floor, maybe..." He grinned indecently, and Chrysanthe laughed and whacked his arm and told him to stop saying things like that in polite company. Everyone snickered; Will made a comment that no one wanted to hear about Danny and Chrysanthe's sex life.
Alicia had always thought Danny and Chrysanthe were an odd match, but they seemed to make it work. She envied that, a bit. Chrysanthe was a prefect, but she wasn't terribly strict about her duties, and heaven knew her muggle-born boyfriend cared less about following rules and more about bending (or breaking) them. Danny always had a cheerful attitude and a lot of cheek. He was very rebellious and yet, he somehow always managed to get away with things. Chrysanthe adored him.
"Well." Cedric coughed. "Not to break up this fun little chat, but... should we get back to the dorms? Before Professor Sprout finds us and tells us off?"
All of the Hufflepuffs cheerfully agreed. It was well-known that Professor Sprout was not nearly as strict as Professor McGonagall. She would probably be more likely to join the Hufflepuffs in a mid-afternoon nosh than scold them for asking the house elves to bring food to the dormitory in the first place.
"Sure you don't want to join us, Spinnet?" Danny asked, shifting his arm to put it around Chrysanthe's waist. "We don't care."
"Yeah." Gilbert grinned. "We know you won't tell our password to anyone. Here's a hint, it's Mistletoe."
Everyone burst out laughing. They didn't share their password with just anyone, but it was a mark of how much they trusted Alicia that Gil had willingly told her in front of two prefects and the Head Girl.
Alicia giggled and said, "I would hope I wouldn't tell, since I'm a prefect! But I'll pass — I should get back up to Gryffindor Tower before Lee comes looking for me."
"Alright, but you always have an open invitation," Bess said cheerfully, as the boys called out "See you, Spinnet!" and they all turned back for their dormitory.
Chrysanthe stepped away from Danny to hug Alicia before going, but to Alicia's disquiet, her friend whispered, "We're going to talk later, don't think you're getting off the hook that easily."
Alicia winced. Rats. She should have seen that coming. Well, at least it would give her time to come up with an excuse. Like Angelina, Chrysanthe wouldn't tell anyone if Alicia did actually confide that she'd danced with a certain Slytherin, or even if she thought he was fit. But Chrysanthe would do something very different: she'd pull out a tarot deck and want to do a reading. Alicia wasn't in Divination because she didn't put much stock in it, but Chrysanthe swore by it. Especially when it came to romance.
She sighed, waved until the Hufflepuffs disappeared around the far corner to their common room, and then turned and tickled the pear to enter the kitchens. She'd figure out what to tell her friend later.
The house elves were overly helpful as usual, offering to supply her with tea and Christmas cake and eclairs and half-a-dozen other treats if she wished. She was just trying to decide exactly what she wanted when she heard several elves squeak out another welcome.
The portrait must have swung open again, but Alicia didn't turn around. It was just that sort of day, she supposed. Everyone had slept late and everyone was hungry. There had probably been a veritable stream of students coming down to the kitchens all afternoon.
"Christmas cake," Alicia decided, and the elves bobbed and beamed and rushed off to cut her several slices.
And then all of a sudden, someone leaned an arm on her shoulder — a strong but oddly comfortable weight — and she was assaulted by a woodsy scent she distantly remembered from the night before when she'd been briefly wearing a set of dress robes that were not her own. She stiffened and sucked in her breath. Merlin, seriously?
"Fancy meeting you here," that ridiculously deep, sexy voice breathed in her ear.
How was it, she thought furiously, that she'd hardly had any interaction with him in five whole bloody years, and then suddenly they were crossing paths in the library, where he had admitted that he fancied her, and they had unexpectedly danced at the Yule Ball, and then they had accidentally met in the grotto only to have a late night conversation, and now they were stumbling across each other in the kitchens on Boxing Day?!
She couldn't seem to get any words out of her mouth, damn it, and her fingers went completely numb as that fuzzy, tingling feeling she remembered so well from the night before spread from her chest down between her legs. Her face was bright pink, she knew it was.
He suddenly chuckled. "Merlin, Spinnet, calm down, I was just winding you up!"
She closed her eyes for patience, opened them again, and glanced behind her. He was right by her shoulder, grinning cheekily down at her, because there was no one around except the house elves to see this hidden, playful side of him, and her mouth went dry.
Merlin's arse, he was so fucking fit. Did he have any idea just how hot he was?
And his clothes! She'd thought those dress robes were nice, but today was entirely different. He was wearing dark jeans and an untucked t-shirt bearing the logo for the wizard rock band Sapphire Overdose, and he'd tossed a green plaid flannel button-down over that. It was completely unbuttoned. She'd never dreamed he even owned anything so informal. He looked like a bloody model, standing there smirking at her with his hands in his pockets. His hair was perfectly styled, nothing like her day-old curls slowly straightening back out. Why hadn't she worn something sexier than this comfortable, old jumper?
"So, cake?" he asked, as he turned his gaze from her to the house elves. "I'd like tea too, please. Black tea. What kind do you want?" He looked back at her curiously.
"I... was just going to get the cake..." she managed.
"You don't want tea, too?" His brow furrowed slightly.
Alicia stared at him. "Are you asking me to have tea with you?"
He gave her a sheepish, boyish smile. "I guess I am."
Her mouth was still dry. "Black, please," she stammered to a house elf at her elbow. Then, trying to make sense of it all, she retorted, "And where exactly are we going to have this tea, rich boy?"
Pucey's smile turned secretive. He crouched down and whispered something to one of the house elves, who nodded and squeaked that they could do as requested. Then he gracefully rose back to his full height, jerked his head towards the painting, and said, "Come on."
Baffled, Alicia stared at him for a moment before she found her (rather wobbly) legs. "I think you're messing me about. Again," she huffed. Why the heck was she even following him? Why did her knees have to feel like mush?
"Just come on."
Instead of heading back towards the Entrance Hall, he went the opposite way, towards the Hufflepuff common room, but after a few moments, he stopped along a bare stretch of stone wall. To her surprise, he ran his fingertips over it and murmured, "Repono absconditus..."
She'd never heard that spell before. Was it even a spell? Damn it, he was messing her about. She should have expected this; he was a Slytherin! Had he just played her last night and the week before? She was about to turn and storm off, when he suddenly pushed his hand against the wall and his hand disappeared beyond it.
Her mouth dropped; he looked both up and down the corridor to make sure they were alone, before holding out his right hand and grinning at her. "Coming, Spinnet?"
Alicia hesitated only a fraction of a second; now she was intrigued. She reached out and put her hand in his. His fingers curled around hers, warm and strong and firm, just like she remembered from the night before, but without the dampness, and she felt breathless again as he walked through the wall, pulling her with him.
Then suddenly they were in another corridor, more dimly lit, but not dark. It was lined with doors. He released her hand and started to walk, pointing at each door they passed on the right side of the wall. Was he counting them? What was even in all of these rooms? How had he found this place? She'd never even known it existed!
"Pucey, where are we going?" she finally demanded.
"You'll see," he answered absently, his mind still focused on counting.
She tried not to act as exasperated as she felt. "Where the hell are we?"
"Under the castle, of course."
She couldn't see his face, but she knew his lips had twitched with amusement at the joke. She had a brief inclination to shove him or punch him in the arm. "Now I know you're messing me about. That's it, I'm going back —"
"Here." He stopped at a random door, opened it, and gestured for her to go inside first.
She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you going to lock me in?"
He smiled — that deep, warm smile that reached his eyes and made her a bit weak in the knees. "Now do you really think I'd lock the sexiest girl in school in a room by herself," he mused, "when I could be in there with her? Guess again, Spinnet."
Her breath caught and she flushed. Did he really think she was sexy? He'd said so last night, but... now it was mid-afternoon the next day, and she wondered if he'd really meant it. If they were sneaking into a hidden room in the castle, was he going to snog her after all? That would be...rather nice, she thought. The fluttery feeling was back in her chest. Trying not to look sheepish that perhaps she'd misread him (again), she ducked inside.
It wasn't what she expected. It was a dimly-lit storage room, actually. Cramped, ancient wooden shelves reached to the ceiling, all of them full of wooden packing crates. Pucey closed the door behind them and moved around her. It was tight quarters, but he wove through the shelves and headed for the far right side of the room, and she realized there was a small brick fireplace on that side, with a black and gold couch in front of it. It honestly looked as though the couch had been shoved in there, completely out of place and wedged against one of the shelves. There was a small antique coffee table in front of it. It suddenly occurred to her that it must have been set up this way by some older Hufflepuff students at some point, to escape for hook-ups without getting caught. But none of her Hufflepuff friends had ever mentioned it to her, which meant it was likely some well-kept secret. So... how did Pucey know about it, then?
The coffee table was already set, with a china Victorian tea service. The cups and saucers were rimmed in dark green with gold trim and patterned with fir boughs and pine cones. The tea was already steeping, and the Christmas cake had been neatly cut and placed on matching dessert plates with gold forks and cloth napkins. The house elves had even decorated the little mantel over the fireplace with fir boughs. It looked...quaintly festive. Cozy. The perfect place to snog, she thought, and she resolutely squashed the thought. Pucey had made things clear; they weren't going to do anything like that. She was being silly again.
But then, why did he bring you here? asked that little voice in her head.
"Come on," Pucey said again, sliding in to sit on the couch. "You were hungry, right? I'm going to bet you slept through breakfast and lunch like I did. I was knackered last night."
Alicia suddenly felt awkward and a bit shy. What was going through his head, damn it? She had been so sure that he was just messing with her, just stringing her along, but he really seemed to want to have tea with her. She hesitated, then blurted, "Is this... a date?"
Pucey's mouth opened, but he closed it just as fast and his eyes darted away from her towards the cheery little fire, as though trying to think how to explain himself.
Alicia tried again. "It's just... last week, and last night, you said this... us... we wouldn't work, and..."
"It wouldn't, no, but..." A resigned expression marred his handsome features and he murmured, "...it's just, when I saw you in the kitchens, I thought it'd be nice to have tea with you." He glanced at her and blushed. "As acquaintances? Maybe... I don't know, maybe learn more about each other? If you want, of course. I didn't ask you first, did I? I'm sorry. That was selfish and presumptuous of me."
"No, it's...fine. I don't mind. That sounds..." She paused, then admitted the truth. "Nice."
It did sound nice.
Alicia carefully edged between the couch and the table, and slowly sat down. In an embarrassed voice, she added, "But... if I'd known I was going to have tea with you, I would have... I don't know, at least tried to look more presentable. Even if we're only having tea as... acquaintances." She nervously tugged at a loose curl, hanging limply over her shoulder. "I look —"
"You look beautiful," he said softly. "You look just as incredible as you did last night. Maybe even more."
And then he suddenly blushed fiercely and couldn't meet her eyes. To make up for it, he started fixing his tea. But that adorable blush didn't fade. Godric, he was cute. In the span of a week, he'd given her more sincere compliments than any other boy in her life. It was odd and she wasn't used to it, this unreadable Slytherin boy giving her compliments.
Alicia was sure she was blushing too, so she went about fixing her tea to cover how giddy she felt. But they both reached for the sugar at the same time and their fingers touched. They each snatched their hands back as though burned.
"S-sorry. You first," he insisted.
Suddenly, Alicia burst into giggles and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, God. We're hopeless, Pucey."
And just like that, the tension broke and they were both laughing. Falling back against the couch and holding his ribs, he sputtered, "Merlin, you're right. I just thought it'd be nice to spend a little time with you, that's all. I truly wasn't expecting you when I walked into the kitchens. You took me completely by surprise and it... I don't know. It threw me off. I don't know what I'm doing or how to act and... I'm a ponce, aren't I?"
"No! No, you aren't!" She leaned back, her shoulder against the back of couch so she was facing him, and met his gaze evenly. "I mean, I would have said you were two weeks ago, but... you're really not. And I wasn't expecting you in the kitchens, either. I nearly jumped out of my skin when you leaned on my shoulder."
"We can't even touch without acting like dolts, can we?" He grinned at her and sat up again. "When just last night we were touching quite a lot..."
She sat up again too, dropped two sugar cubes into her tea, and handed him the sugar bowl. "Well, we were dancing last night. There's a difference —"
"Is there?"
She finished stirring the sugar and reached for the cream. "Yes. Last night, everyone was having fun and it was normal for us to touch while dancing. But here... it's just... us."
"Thankfully." He took the cream from her. "So...what are the Gryffindors doing on Boxing Day?"
"Not much of anything. Most of us slept late and we're all dead tired. People are just... reading magazines or sitting around talking or playing Exploding Snap, mostly. What are the Slytherins doing?"
"Pretty much the same."
"And you got bored of that?"
He smiled at her. "Something like that. What about you?"
Remembering the half-lie she'd told Kenneth so he wouldn't question her motives for wandering around the castle, she smiled back and said, "Something like that."
Out of nowhere, he commented, "I like that sweater on you."
"This?" Startled, she glanced down. "It's just a sweater —"
"It's soft," he mused, reaching over and tracing his finger down the pattern on her arm. "And it brings out the color of your eyes."
Flushing and slightly ticklish at the touch, she jerked her arm away and said, "I didn't think you even owned casual clothes."
He snorted and his eyes glittered with amusement. "Come on, Spinnet. Just because I'm a — what'd you call me a few minutes ago? A rich boy?— doesn't mean I don't own casual clothes. I can hardly walk around in my school uniform or dress robes on the weekends, now can I?"
"I know that! It's just... I guess I never pictured you wearing anything like that. Muggle clothes, I mean."
"Yeah?" He set his teacup down and reached for the cake. "And what do you usually fantasize about me wearing? Or... not wearing?"
She nearly spit out the sip of tea she'd just taken and he burst out laughing.
"Geez, Spinnet! I was joking! I promise!"
Her face was flaming, she just knew it. "I... you... You are messing me about," she muttered.
"That time, yes. I couldn't help it, but I won't do it again. Word of honor."
Barely able to even look at him, she grumbled, "So where'd you get the shirt?"
Pucey looked down at his shirt and tugged it slightly. "I've liked Sapphire Overdose since I was thirteen. I snuck out to one of their concerts this past summer, that's where I got it. Do you like them?"
She nodded. "I didn't get to go to the concert, though." She did not say it was because she couldn't afford the bloody tickets. "They were sold out when I learned about it."
"I was lucky. Warrington got the tickets, and much as I hate to owe Warrington for anything, I did jump at the chance to go. The Weird Sisters weren't bad last night, were they? They aren't my favorite group, but they did a pretty bang-up job for the dance."
"They did."
He suddenly gave her a secretive sort of smile. "You know... a week ago, neither of us were looking forward to last night. But... I hope you had fun, just the same."
"I did, thank you." Alicia smiled at him, sucking icing off her thumb from where she'd just put down her slice of cake to take another sip of tea.
His eyes glazed over a bit as he watched her thumb go between her lips and her tongue dart out, before he shook his head slightly, coughed, and said, "I'm glad."
"Going stag was a good idea."
"You were stag?" he asked in a mock-serious voice. "And here I thought you had two dates...!"
She laughed. "Not really. Lee, George, and I decided to go together because we thought we'd have more fun that way. And we did. What about you? You went stag, too. Did you have fun?"
"I did, yes. One dance in particular."
"Yeah?" She decided to tease him a bit. "Me, too. At one point, I got knocked into this really fit lad in green dress robes, and Merlin, but he was the best dancer. Wish you could have seen him. He was very sexy."
Pucey's face turned pink, but his voice stayed light. "What a coincidence. An insufferable arse was nice enough to knock this amazingly gorgeous girl into my arms last night too, and... well, she sort of made me forget about all the other girls I danced with because I couldn't bloody well take my eyes off of her. She was wearing this killer velvet dress... and her hair was curled really pretty..." He reached over at that point and lifted one of her lax curls, running his fingers through it, until it slipped out of his easy grasp and fell back against her sweater.
That had her blushing again, damn it. To cover the moment, Alicia looked at the fire and said softly, "And then... afterwards... I had a really nice conversation with him, too."
"Yeah? I had a good conversation with her afterwards, myself." He paused, then murmured, "The only thing that didn't happen, that I wish had... I didn't get to slow dance with her. But... that would have been impossible."
Alicia's chest tightened again. Slow dancing with him? Yes, please. "...what a shame."
"Maybe next time. If there ever is a next time, I mean."
She smiled wistfully. "Maybe."
"So, what are you going to do the rest of the day?" he asked, coughing slightly as he tried to shift the conversation again.
"I don't know. One can only watch George and Kenneth build an Exploding Snap card castle so many times."
He chuckled. "At least they aren't snogging their girlfriends, which is what Bletchley and Warrington were doing in the corners of my common room."
"Gross. You are ruining my appetite, Pucey. Between that image and Snape in his twisted knickers —"
He snorted into the last sip of his tea and laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't help saying that last night. Merlin, he was in a bad mood."
"He's always in a bad mood!"
That was when she realized she'd finished her cake. The edge of hunger was gone, thank Merlin, but sitting here with Pucey and talking for hours on end seemed...far too intimate without food, for some unexplainable reason. Abruptly, she stood up, tossed her hair behind her shoulder, and said, "Well, as fun as this has been, I should get back. Thank you for letting me join you for tea. How did you know about this place, anyways? I never even knew it existed."
"Oh, Danny told me about it last year. It's a Hufflepuff secret, but every once in a while, one of them slips up and tells someone from another house. It's actually part of the house elf portion of the castle, and it's where they store all the old Victorian china and cookware and stuff they used during the nineteenth century. I think, once, several of these rooms were dormitories for the house elves, which explains the fireplaces, but over the past two centuries, things were rearranged and the elves were given different, larger quarters. The Hufflepuffs use this one as a make-out room, mostly. Apparently, there's even a little light that flickers on beside the door when someone's in here, so no one else bursts in."
She laughed. "Doesn't surprise me."
"Me, either. The password to get into this corridor is Repono absconditus."
Latin for Hidden Storage, huh? She nodded. "Which makes perfect sense. I was thinking when you said it that I'd never heard the incantation before. And because it's just in a stretch of wall, no one would ever know where the entrance even is."
"But it was a nice place to hide for a bit from the rest of the world." He gave her a sad, wistful sort of smile as he stood up. "Thanks for having tea with me today, Spinnet. It made my afternoon a lot nicer, if you want to know the truth."
"I enjoyed it, too," she said softly. "Maybe...we can do it again one day?"
She could see a light in his eyes at the idea, but he kept his voice level. "Maybe. Come on, let's sneak back out. It's probably getting close to dinner. And Jordan will come looking for you if you're gone too long, I suspect."
They reached the door, but instead of opening it, Alicia turned around, threw her arms about his torso, barely missing the shelving behind him, and hugged him. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you at first," she admitted into his shirt. "Thank you for bringing me back here. You were right. This was a nice diversion today, having tea together."
He stiffened beneath her, but rubbed a hand down her back. "Don't mention it. I'm glad you enjoyed it."
They walked in silence back up the corridor, until they were facing the back of the stone wall. They glanced at each other, and Pucey said softly, "See you about, Spinnet."
He gestured for her to go through the wall first.
There was no one in the main corridor, thank Merlin. And as she headed back up the corridor to the Entrance Hall, she was careful not to look back. She was afraid if she did, she might run back to him, and she didn't need to do that. Their relationship — or whatever the heck one wanted to call it — was still too strange and new. She wasn't sure how to navigate it at all.
But damn it, but she was absolutely going to be fantasizing about him in jeans and t-shirts for a while! Merlin help her.
Additional Notes: I had already created some of the Hufflepuff students for other parts of this story, so I just reused them - specifically Chrysanthe Hayden, Bess Oakfield, Jane Ramsey, Will Richardson, Gilbert Royle, and Danny Young.