Pass the Snog

Ginny Weasley dressed herself in her scarlet red practice robes and hurried out onto the Quidditch field. It was hard enough being the rookie on the team, especially one that was expected to play the position the legendary Oliver Wood had just left behind, AND on the team that a large chunk of her brothers had done so well at; the last thing she needed was to be late for practice. Clutching her second-hand broom, she expected to see the team already up in the air, giving her disapproving glares.

Instead, she saw only two figures overhead, dashing about like mad. The rest of the team stood in clump, watching the two flyers with pure enjoyment.

"What's going on?" asked Ginny, joining her teammates.

"Katie Bell's got the Snog," George replied. "And she's gone after Oliver. They've been at this for... oh, I'd say about twenty minutes now. It's quite a show, actually."

"Don't you mean Professor Wood?" Fred asked with jovial sarcasm. They snickered at the thought... Professor and Wood just aren't two words that ought to be put together.

"Now, really, Katie!" they heard former captain Oliver Wood scream as he zoomed about on his broom. "You are completely out of line! I am your teacher, and as such as I order you to stop this nonsense right now!"

Katie let out a shrill giggle. "Oh, you're loving this nonsense and you know it! No come here, you sexy Professor you!" The chase continued.

"Oh, yes," said Ginny, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. "I'd forgotten all about that silly Snog." That was a blatant lie, of course. Ginny had hoped against hope to receive that Snog from Har-- from someone, from the moment she'd heard about it. Of course, things hadn't worked out exactly the way she'd hoped they would. She glanced over longingly at Harry for a moment and sighed.

Ginny pushed her unpleasant thoughts away and tried watching the chase like everyone else. It actually was very entertaining. Besides Oliver's desperate pleas and Katie's ceaseless taunting, there was also the excitement of watching two skilled Quidditch players go at it. Oliver weaved and spun through the air, flying with magnificent skill, but Katie kept close on his tail. Oliver led Katie higher and higher, and she had nearly caught up to him when he suddenly dove downward. His path was straight and fast, but Katie was quick to follow.

"There going to crash!" squealed Alicia Spinnet.

Indeed, it did look rather treacherous. Out of nowhere, though, Oliver pulled straight up just before hitting the ground. Katie let out a terrified squeal just before colliding and taking a mouthful of dirt.

"Woa! Awesome Wronski Feint!" Lee shouted excitedly. The other team members nodded and applauded in agreement.

Katie groaned as she spit out blades of grass and clumps of dirt. She slowly got to her feet, feeling dizzy. Her eyes frantically searched about, and she saw that Oliver had flown a safe distance away. "Aw, nuts," she said, cursing under her breath as she marched towards her fellow team members.

"Can't blame a girl for trying," she said with a shrug and a smile. She turned to Ginny, placed her hand on the younger girls shoulder, and dove in for a wet delicious kiss. "Perhaps you'll have better luck with it, eh?"

Alicia and Angelina giggled at their friend. George, Fred, and Harry all stood open-mouthed in horror. Katie Bell was an attractive girl and normally it would have been a treat to see something as kinky as her kissing another girl. But since it was little Ginny, who was their sister (or almost-sister in Harry's case) definitely NOT another girl.

Ginny was in shock. Sure, getting the Snog sounded like a good idea in her head, but when it was actually in her possession she found herself paralyzed with fear. Me, boring old Ginny Weasley? she thought to herself. Where I am I ever going to find anyone that would want to snog me? For a fleeting moment she thought perhaps she could convince Neville to snog her, since he was almost as timid as her, but that thought quickly faded when she remembered she'd heard he'd already gotten the Snog.

"Oh, no..." whine Ginny in despair. "I'll never get rid of it."

Katie gave her a powerful, reassuring slap on the shoulder. "Oh, don't be silly! Any bloke'd lucky to get a Snog from you. And I can say that from experience." George, Fred, and Harry simultaneously shuddered.

"But..."

"No buts about it, Gin-Gin. A life lived in fear is... uh... well, it's a life lived without much snogging, I can tell you that much."

"But..."

Ginny found her mouth smothered by yet another tasty Snog from Katie Bell. "There now, see? It's not hard at all. You've just got to take command! You're the boss of that Snog now!"

"Wait a minute!" squealed Alicia. "Does this mean Katie's got the Snog again?"

George shook his head. "No, each person can only have it once. Ginny's still got the Snog. There wasn't any magic involved in that last kiss at all..." He thought about that statement for a moment. "So wait... agh! Katie, why would you snog my sister if there wasn't any magic involved." More shuddering on the part of Harry and the Weasley twins.

Katie ignored them. "Got it, Ginny? Now go get 'em! You can do it!"

Ginny bit her lip. "But I don't even know where to start looking... almost everyone I know has gotten it..."

She was interrupted by yet another ferocious snog from Katie. "Then snog a complete stranger! Go wild! You can do it, I say!"

Ginny sighed in exasperation. "Oh, but I'm just not good at this sort of thing at all..." Smack! Ginny was hit with another kiss.

"Oh, you're fine, trust me," said Katie, panting for breath. "Now have a little faith in yourself and get to snogging. And do it fast, too. My lips are getting tired, woman!"

"But..."

"KATIE BELL IF YOU SNOG MY SISTER ONE MORE TIME I'LL SIC A BLUDGER ON YOU!" howled Fred. Katie stopped herself, for she was indeed leaning in for another kiss. Fred took a deep breath. "Er.. sorry about that. But, you know... you're tainting my little sister, man."

Tainted? thought Ginny. That's just the sort of thing Fred would say... or any of her brothers, for that matter. Always thinking of Ginny as the innocent one, the one that couldn't be exposed to anything that would "taint her." Well, not anymore! she thought firmly to herself. I've just got to take control, just like Katie said.

Without another word spoken, Ginny dashed over to Lee Jordan, the only member of the Quidditch team who had yet to be Snogged. She laid a bit wet one on him, working her tongue with expert ease. When she was done, she beamed proudly at her handy work. The three female chasers applauded her as Fred, George, and Harry only shuddered in horror yet again.

[And then, suddenly, the author of this story grew very very lazy. She waved her magic keyboard and three asterisks appeared on the page, representing a time lapse]

* * *

"Yous must be getting quiet, Dobby," squealed Scrabby, one of the chief kitchen the house-elves. "Wes mustn't talk about students the way you is doing!!"

But Dobby couldn't keep still. As the house-elves worked hard to clean-up the kitchen for the evening and prepare for their nightly roundx, Dobby scampered around the kitchen, eager to find someone to listen to all that he had heard. After dinner, when the Weasley twins stopped by to get their weekly store of sweets, they had told him all about the excitement that had been going around Hogwarts that day.

Dobby wanted to share this story with the others, but no one seemed interested. House-elves were not keen to gossip, given their obsessively loyal nature. Dobby sighed in dismay. Having something interesting to say wasn't any fun if no one was willing to listen.

Suddenly, a house-elf burst into the kitchen in tears. Dobby recognized the voice and ran to help. "Winky?" he asked. "What happened? Why is Winky crying?"

Water poured from the enormous eyes of the petite house-elf and she looked up at Dobby. "Winky is... Winky is..." She burst into tears yet again, but before Dobby could offer another comforting word, he was silenced by a kiss. He blushed fiercely, so much so that even the tips of his oddly- shaped ears were pink.

Winky continued to bawl. "Winky is sorry, Dobby, but while she was cleaning the halls a student was sneaking up on her and kissing her! And so Winky had to kiss Dobby, you see, so Winky would not be getting a Snogging curse!"

Dobby smiled nervously and pat Winky on the shoulder. "It's okay, Winky. Dobby does not mind." Quite the contrary, Dobby was thrilled, but he was far to shy to say so. Besides, he was pink enough as it was.

"DOBBY!" cried Scrabby, approaching them with a tray containing Fig Newtons, lemon drops, a Chocolate Frog, and a glass of warm milk. "Take this to Dumbledore's chambers."

Dobby nodded obediently and took the tray from Scrabby. He turned away from Winky and headed for the exit, but stopped suddenly in his tracks. He turned around, approached Winky, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Then, he turned and ran as fast as he could, for his face was nearly scarlet.

He crept through the halls of Hogwarts quietly and indiscreetly, the way a good house-elf would do. All the while, though, his mind was slightly troubled. If he understood George and Fred's explanation correctly (which is not always an easy thing to do with those two), then he now possessed the cursed Snog, and he only had thirty minutes to get rid of it.

"Ah, Dobby," said Dumbledore in warm greeting once Dobby had entered. "Thank you so much. I never can get to sleep without a little late-night snack."

Dobby nodded and placed the tray on a nearby table. "It is Dobby's pleasure, Headmaster." Dobby's eyes darted around the room nervously as he wiggled his fingers and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

Dumbledore gave the elf a curious look. "Is something wrong, Dobby? Something on your mind?"

The house-elf sighed. "Wellllll.... can Dobby ask a question, sir?"

The old wizard smiled warmly. "Of course."

"You see, sir... well... the Weezey twins... and Winky... and then...." Dobby let out a frustrated yelp and dove for the Headmaster, giving him a good wet snog.

The two broke away, Dobby feeling very awful indeed, and Dumbledore laughing like mad.

"Dobby is so so so sorry, Headmaster!" cried the elf.

"Oh, no, not at all," said Dumbledore with that old twinkle in his eye. "I remember the custom very well. And who am I to stand in the way of an unofficial tradition?"