The First Kiss

The First Kiss

Harry and Hermione scrambled down from the stands and onto the pitch along with the crowd to congratulate the victorious Gryffindor team. The Quidditch players were just landing and dismounting from their brooms as the pair approached. Hermione reached Ron first, and, in his exuberance, he picked her up and swung her around in a circle.

When Ron placed her back on the ground, he left his hands on her waist, and hers were still resting lightly on his shoulders. They looked into each other's eyes, and Harry held back, sensing that he was witnessing something very private. Sure enough, Ron bent his lanky frame downward while Hermione lifted herself up on tiptoe. Their lips met, only briefly, but Harry had the distinct impression that they had been moving toward this event for their entire lives. He felt a sort of click inside his head, like a puzzle piece settling into its proper position.

In this one moment, Harry understood a great many things. He knew instantly that his kiss with Cho Chang had not been at all the same. Cho had kissed him very deliberately, without him really knowing it was going to happen. What he was now witnessing had occurred naturally, as an expression of emotions that had been building over time. Also, Cho had not really been sure she should be kissing Harry and didn't know what she expected to follow. To be honest, Harry wasn't even sure how he'd felt about it. According to Hermione, Cho's emotions had been conflicted, which was why she was crying at the time. In fact, she'd seemed to be a mass of contradictions ever since. However, there was no doubt in either face as Ron and Hermione drew apart. Ron released her, but took hold of one of her hands as though unwilling to completely lose contact with her.

Harry realized that these two had been friends for more than four years. They understood and respected one another. They appreciated each other's strengths and accepted their faults; perhaps they had even come to like them. Between them there could be no deception, no pretense. They already knew each other too well for that.

Harry's heart sank. He was happy for them, but he knew that their threesome would never be quite the same again. In addition, any illusions he might still have retained regarding Cho had completely evaporated. He needed to think about this further, but not now.

Harry remained at a slight distance from Ron and Hermione, unwilling to intrude on them. Fred and George, however, had no compunctions about such things and began patting Ron on the back.

"Well done, little brother," said Fred.

"Y-yeah," Ron stammered, clearly startled. "Great game, wasn't it?"

"Oh - well, that too," replied George with a broad wink. Ron flushed deeply, but his grin didn't falter. Hermione blushed a little, too, although Harry thought her expression looked faintly smug.

Chaos followed as others rushed up to congratulate the team. Ron was forced to let go of Hermione as he was raised up on the shoulders of a mass of Gryffindors. Hermione didn't seem to mind; her claim had been staked, and Ron would return to her in due course. Someone handed Ron the defended Quidditch Cup, while someone else restored to him his nearly forgotten broom. The crowd sang new words to "Weasley is our King" as they bore Ron off the field, transforming it from a song of humiliation to one of triumph.