Kissing Booths Aren't That Bad

Hermione was dreaming about sailing when the sky turned dark and the boat started rocking.

"Hermy!"

Someone was calling her. She felt the dream drifting away as she woke up.

"Hermy!" someone yelled, more insistently.

Hermione groaned. Hermy? Of all things, it had to be Hermy. "What?" she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. When she opened them, Lavender's face was two inches from hers.

"Hiya, Hermy," she said.

Hermione screamed and nearly fell off her bed. "Lavender!" she spluttered. "What are you doing?"

"Parvati and I had an absolutely fabulous idea for Valentine's Day this Friday," Lavender exclaimed.

"And what might that be?" Hermione said grumpily, annoyed at being woken up in such a way.

Parvati came up behind Lavender and sat on the bed as well. "A kissing booth!" she exclaimed.

"A what?"

"A kissing booth," Lavender continued. "All this week, starting today, we're going to have a kissing booth an people will pay for a kiss."

Hermione was fully awake now. "But don't you need permission?"

Parvati shook her head. "We already have permission," she said. "We asked Professor Dumbledore and he thought it was a splendid idea."

"What do you mean, we?" Hermione asked warily. "Like, you and Lavender?"

"No, silly!" Lavender said, bouncing on the bed again. "Me, Parvati, Padma, you, Ginny, and Loony Lovegood!"

"Wait - did you say I was going to do this?" Hermione said. "Because I absolutely refuse to take part in something so... so..."

"Wonderful?" Parvati supplied. "Because all the girls get a galleon for doing it, and all the proceeds from the booth go towards books... for the library."

Hermione just looked at them. Books for the library... that surely was a good cause...

"You know, the library, Hermione," Lavender said persuasively. "Brand new, unread books... just sitting there... in the library..."

"I don't know," Hermione said. She hated the sound of a kissing booth, but new books would be wonderful, and having an extra Galleon couldn't hurt...

"C'mon, Hermione," Parvati said, bouncing a little and causing the bed the tremble slightly. "It's not that bad. And new books, you know, that'd be really great, wouldn't it?"

Hermione sighed. "fine," she said, slightly bitter. "I'll do it. But only because of the books, alright?"

***

Hermione's POV

Later that day, after dinner, I was about to leave when Parvati pulled me away from Harry, Ron, and the door. "Wait," she said. "You have to stay to help set up the kissing booth, remember? It's going to open in ten minutes!"

"Oh, right," I grimaced and turned to help, but Harry and Ron followed.

"So you're doing the kissing booth, Hermione?" Ron asked, smirking.

"Shut up," I muttered. "And I suppose you have something negative to say as well, Harry?"

"No, actually," he said, looking at his shoes. "I think it's sort of... nice that you're doing it..."

I'm sorry," I said truthfully. "I didn't mean to snap. Go ahead, tell me what you really think."

"That was the truth," Harry mumbled.

"Oh," I said in slight surprise. Parvati shot me a come-over-here-this-instant look from across the Hall. "I have to go," I said, rushing over.

Lavender watched as Harry and Ron left. "Hermione, I bet Harry likes you," she said.

I tried to hid my grin of pleasure, but it still showed. "No way. Not Harry."

"You like him too, don't you?" Lavender gushed. "Well, I'll make sure that if he comes, you get to kiss him."

I opened my mouth in false protest, but then closed it and smiled to myself. I'd liked Harry since third year - was it possible that he felt the same?

I watched as Lavender, Parvati, and Padma struggled with the booth and sighed. "Stand back," I said. Muttering a few quick spells under my breath, I watched as the kissing booth took shape. It was dark red with some rather ugly pink hearts decorating it, and six stools stood behind it.

"I almost forgot - where's Ginny and Luna?" I asked. Padma turned to look at me.

"First of all, nice job on the booth," she said. I smiled. "Secondly, they should be here any minute." She was right. Luna came in first, and a few seconds later Ginny opened the doors.

"Hi," Ginny said breathlessly, coming towards us. "Sorry I'm late." She looked around. "Where is everyone?"

Lavender looked at her watch. "We have one minute until those doors open and guys start coming in." We took our places at the stools behind the booth and waited.

As Lavender's watch began to beep, the doors opened and boys began coming in. There more than I expected. They all crowded around the booth, and Parvati stood on her stool and whistled - loudly.

"Quiet, everyone!" she shouted. That got their attention. "Now," she continued, composing herself. "Welcome to the Hogwarts Kissing Booth. We will be open every evening after dinner. The money we earn will go towards buying new books for the library."

"The library!" someone shouted in protest.

"Quiet, you," Parvati said. "Anyway, the cost is three Knuts for a kiss on the cheek, and ten Knuts for a kiss on the lips."

There were twitters. My eyes widened. A kiss on the lips? I hadn't anticipated that.

"Ma'am?" a Slytherin called out, raising a hand.

"What?"

"What if you don't have enough for a kiss?"

"Then you really shouldn't be here, honestly," Parvati said impatiently.

"Because I only have two Knuts," the Slytherin continued. His group of friends guffawed. Lavender looked disgusted.

"Shut up," she said. "What an idiot. Anyway - please form lines in front of the girl you wish to be kissed by: me, my sister Padma, Loon - I mean, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Lavender, and Hermione Granger."

I sighed. This was going to be torture. Parvati sat down and the boys began forming lines. I noticed that my line was quite shorter than the others. Padma and Parvati's lines were quickly stretching across the length of the Great Hall, Lavender's was busy curling around the Hufflepuff table, and Ginny's was nearly halfway across the Hall already. I looked at Luna's line. It was also short, but still longer than hers.

She had about ten people lined up. A nervous Colin Creevey sidled up. "Hi," he said, dropping three Knuts on the tabletop.

I let out a small breath of relief. Only three Knuts. I leaned over the booth and kissed Colin (who was standing on his tiptoes) on the cheek. He blushed and I allowed myself a small smile.

Next was Dennis Creevey, who's hand was shaking slightly as he dropped three Knuts on the table; the Seamus, who gave five (the extra was a donation); Dean, who gave four; and then a group of Ravenclaw second years Hermione didn't know.

She smiled to herself as she dropped three more Knuts into her money box. This wasn't so bad - more money towards the library's book collection.

She looked up to see Harry standing in front of her. She felt her cheeks turn a little pink. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," he replied. Then he turned around to Ron, who was standing behind him. "Stop prodding me in the back with that," he muttered. Hermione leaned over and saw around him - Ron was poking him in the back with his wand. "I'm not going to give her ten Knuts," Harry insisted in a whisper.

"Why not?" Ron whispered back. Apparently they didn't realize I was listening.

"I already told you," Harry hissed, "Because she doesn't like me in that way."

"So tell her how you feel and see what she says," Ron muttered. My eyes widened. Harry liked me? Maybe I hadn't heard correctly. But they were standing right in front of me.

Harry rolled his eyes and turned back towards me, dropping three Knuts firmly on the table and throwing Ron (who was sniggering) a filthy look.

I leaned forward and kissed Harry softly on the cheek. His turned bright red and mumbled something to Ron before hurrying off.

Ron came up and dropped three Knuts on the table as well, and I gave him an absent-minded kiss. He held out an extra Knut for a donation, but I was staring after Harry and didn't realize it. With a sigh, Ron dropped it directly into my money box. The clink of the coin hitting the others got my attention. Ron was studying me intently.

"What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. See you later."

I frowned slightly as he walked away, and turned my attention to the line waiting for me. Glancing over quickly at Ginny next to me, I murmured, "Having fun?"

"Sort of," Ginny said, surprising me.

"Can you believe Lavender Parvati hooked us all into doing this?" I asked her, giving some guy a kiss on the cheek and putting his money in the box.

"Um," she said. "Well, I actually sort of volunteered. It's not so bad."

"Hmm," I said, turning back to my line. She'd apparently grown a lot over the summer when I'd seen her last.

Things continued slowly for a while - a guy would hand me three Knuts, I would kiss him on the cheek, they'd move on. I wasn't really paying attention after a while. After about twenty minutes, there was a squeal as Seamus handed Parvati ten Knuts and they promptly began making out. I rolled my eyes. Okay, so they were dating, and it was only to be expected, but come on.

Five minutes later, business was slowing down and something caught my eye near the door. Draco Malfoy had swaggered in, walking slowly towards the booth and wearing a bright green-and-silver scarf. I watched him, restraining from rolling my eyes again as he came so confidently towards us. To my surprise, he lined up in front of Ginny.

She'd been watching him as well, and as she looked down at her money box I saw her smile and shake her head. "Oh, Draco," she muttered.

I was slightly alarmed. She was calling him Draco? She was smiling as she thought about him? I went back to the small group of people still waiting in my line, but I watched out of the corner of my eye as Draco approached Ginny and smiled slightly.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Hi," Ginny said quietly, as to not attract attention. "What are you doing here? I thought we agreed to--"

"I couldn't resist," he replied, smirking. "Don't worry, no one's going to find out. Everyone will just think I've grabbed you and kissed you for no reason like they do every time we make out."

My jaw dropped. I quickly bit my lip and stared down at the counter. What?! Every time they make out?? Obviously a secret affair was going on. But between Ginny and Malfoy, of all people?

I watched surreptitiously as Draco dropped twenty Knuts on the table, watching them spin and clink together. "Twenty gets me a makeout session, right?" he asked coyly.

Ginny grinned mischievously. "Of course."

I couldn't believe my ears.

I snuck another glance at them - which was a mistake. They were all over each other. My eyes practically widened themselves right out of their sockets.

Draco pulled away and winked. "Meet me behind the tapestry of the Goblin Rebellion of 1463," he muttered, turning away.

"Okay," Ginny whispered breathlessly. No wonder she was breathless, I thought to myself. She just had her tongue down Malfoy's throat. I looked around. Everyone else was busy with their parts in the kissing booth - no one had noticed!

Ginny leaned over and tapped Parvati on the shoulder. "Parvati," she said, giving a little cough. "I'm not feeling so well. Can I leave early tonight? I don't want to get sick for the rest of the week!"

Parvati looked around. "Go ahead. Almost everyone's gone, anyway."

Ginny grinned and gave an extra cough for good measure. I couldn't believe it - Ginny was leaving to go snog a certain Slytherin named Malfoy!

I tried to stop thinking about it as the last guy came up to me. "Hi," he said, dropping three shiny Knuts on the table. "I'm Zabini. Blaise Zabini." He flashed me a smile.

"Hi," I said, my thoughts still on Ginny and Malfoy.

"So," he said, leaning casually against the booth. "Which name goes with that pretty face and charming smile?"

A bell went of in the back of my mind. Sleaze alert. I jumped back to reality. "Uh, what?"

"I said," he repeated. "Which name goes with that pretty face and charming smile?"

I gave him a strange look. "Um... Hermione."

"Wow," he said. "That's an amazing name."

"Um... thanks..."

"It means beautiful, right?" he continued.

"No," I replied, glancing around. There were only a few boys waiting in the Hall.

"Can you guess what my name means?"

"No."

"Do you even remember what my name is?" he asked, looking slightly irritable that I wasn't paying attention.

"Um..." I said, trying to recall what he'd been saying. "Blaise... Zucchini?"

"No," he said. "Zabini! Forget it, keep the three Knuts, you're not that pretty anyway."

"Ugh," I said, dropping the three Knuts into my money box.

"What did you say to her, Zabini?"

I froze. That was Harry's voice. I looked up and saw him standing menacingly with his wand pointed at Blaise.

"Harry," I interrupted. "I don't care about it, it doesn't matter--"

"It matters to me," Harry said, turning slightly red but keeping his eyes on Blaise. "Apologize," he said. "Or I'll blast that smirk right off your face."

"Uh," Blaise said, backing away. "Sorry..."

Harry watched him hurry off and turned to me.

"Harry," I said. "You really shouldn't have done that. You know it's against the rules, and--"

I stopped at the sound of coins clinking against the table. Harry had dropped ten Knuts on the dark red surface.

"But, um," I continued, although my voice had gotten squeakier. "I really don't care what Blaise has to say, and... well... Filch would've had you in detention for using magic and..." Harry was just looking at me. "And, um... McGonagall would've been upset, and...and Snape too... you know, b-because Blaise is in Slytherin and--"

Harry shook his head and I stopped. Leaning over counter, he pulled me closer and kissed me.

When our lips met, a miniature explosion went off in my head. Harry... kissing me... for the first time in my life, I couldn't think. But all I knew was to kiss him back, and I did. I leaned (slightly awkwardly) into the kiss and closed my eyes.

When Harry pulled away, he just looked at me with searching green eyes. "Harry," I squeaked. "Um... well... wow, Harry..."

A smile began to grow on his face. "I should have told you every day from the day I met you," he said seriously. "I love you."

I nearly fainted. "I-I love you too, Harry," I heard myself say. The Hermione inside my head was still at a loss for words.

Harry was grinning now, and as he kissed me again, on the cheek this time, I heard Ron's voice behind me.

"You own me five Galleons, Seamus."

I turned as Seamus groaned and handed Ron five Galleons.

"What?" Harry asked in awe, grabbing my hand and leading me off my stool and towards Ron. Seamus sidled away. "What did you bet?"

"That you two would kiss by the end of the day," Ron said, grinning. "And look! Five Galleons!"

I couldn't help laughing. Harry and Ron joined in, and I decided to myself that this kissing booth idea was, indeed, not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be.