The Quidditch Kiss

Someone is knocking on the door. I know it's Hermione. I don't open; I don't want to talk to her. I can't believe what I just did.

We were at the Quidditch Pitch, watching the Ravenclaw against Slytherin Match. I was so hyped up. I was screaming over the winds and rain, rooting for Ravenclaw. Hermione was next to me. She had her umbrella up and was trying to convince me to stand under it with her, but the rain on my skin made me feel so alive. Watching Quidditch always made me feel alive, I guess. How I wished to be on a broom out there with them, shooting the Quaffle through the hoop, pounding a Bludger at Malfoy, chasing the Snitch. Just feeling the wind on my face while in the stands gave me a surge of energy.

Again she pulled at the hem of my robes, telling me not to be silly and that I should stand under the umbrella before I caught a cold. But I just couldn't; I needed to watch the match! She couldn't understand the difference between watching the match under the umbrella and out in the freezing cold rain. She pulled harder and more urgently, saying something about being idiotic, but I wasn't listening; Malfoy and Chang had just sped off. The Snitch! I looked wildly around, wanting to see it too. There it was, at the end of the pitch, flying against the wind, weaving in and out of the goal posts. Cho was much closer than Malfoy, her hand stretched out in front of her. I cried out again, she was almost there! Merely inches were between her and the tiny golden ball. Almost - YES! Cho held the Snitch high above her in the air, waving it around for everyone to see.

I jumped up and down, screamed, yelled, hugged everyone in reach and - and then it happened. I grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and pressed my lips against hers. For a moment I melted in the kiss, the rain pouring down my back. She let go of the umbrella and it fell the fifteen feet to the soggy pitch below us. She held onto me just as tightly as I did to her. No one around us had noticed us; all were jumping around, ecstatic that Ravenclaw had won. We pushed our bodies against each other; she because she wanted more, me because my knees were wobbling dangerously under me. It wasn't a very romantic kiss; very wet and cold and hard. And I pulled away. What the hell am I doing?! I can't just kiss her like that, we're just friends! Mates! Buddies! She looked me in the eye. She seemed greedy for more, looking longingly into my eyes, wanting me to kiss her again, she even pulled in closer, but I let her shoulders go, my face reflecting the feelings I felt inside; confusion and panic.

I pushed my way to the steps leading down to the grounds, only one thought buzzing through my head, I kissed Hermione. I ran straight for the castle, stumbling many times on the way. I dared not look back, what if she was running behind me? I ran through the Entrance Hall, my footsteps echoing in the empty room; I was by far the first back to the castle. I ran up the marble steps, two at once, leaving puddles of mud and water where I tread. It seemed to take me forever to get to the Gryffindor Common Room. I wheezed the password at the Fat Lady, out of breath from the sprint I had just laid back. I ran the steps up to my dormitory and locked the door with three spells.

And now here I am, sitting on my Gryffindor bedspread, listening to my roommates and Hermione pounding at the door, telling me to let them in. But I can't face Hermione now. I don't think I will be able to face her again for the next five years, 'til we've all forgotten what happened. But I've got no chance of that. Sooner or later I'll have to come out of this room. But right now, I'd rather it be later.