Kissing Booth

Kissing Booth by Sarea Okelani

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"Next," Harry said distractedly, staring over to the other side of the pitch at Hermione, who was smiling a bit too flirtatiously at Dean Thomas for his liking.

There was a plunk of coins on the table and then Lavender Brown had his face between her hands and was mashing her mouth against his.

"Mmph," said Harry resignedly.

"Ow!" he heard Malfoy yell beside him. "Ow! Teeth! No biting! What are you, a vampire?"

Lavender finally pulled away to confer with Parvati -- no doubt to compare his and Malfoy's kissing technique -- and Harry saw Susan Bones giggling to herself as Malfoy scowled after her skipping form.

"Am I bleeding?" he demanded.

Harry peered closely at Malfoy's lips, but other than being a bit swollen from all the kissing he'd been doing, the skin was intact. "No," he said, looking a bit warily at the hulking form of Millicent Bulstrode as she seemed to be making her way to their booth. Harry heaved a sigh of relief as she passed them by.

"This is ridiculous," said Malfoy for the tenth time in as many minutes. "It's degrading. Kissing people for money. And for ten Sickles at that! A kiss from these lips are worth at least a Galleon."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You know, there's really not enough room in this booth for you, me, and your raging ego."

"It's not ego Potter, it's simple fact. I'll prove it to you."

Before Harry knew what the other boy was about, Malfoy had grabbed him and planted a kiss on his startled mouth. He wasn't sure he was particularly fond of Malfoy's aggressive style, but he did taste like peppermint candy and sure knew how to move his lips and tongue in very enjoyable ways...

"Malfoy! Potter!"

The two boys sprang apart at the strident voice of Professor Snape, who was glaring at them.

"Uh..." said Harry.

Professor McGonagall was with Snape, and she looked at the two boys disapprovingly. "What is the meaning of this indecent display?"

"We were providing a demonstration of what people might expect from us," Malfoy slotted in smoothly. "Advertising, you know. To encourage patrons."

McGonagall raised a skeptical eyebrow while beside her, Snape bristled. "This is a charity event," he snarled. "Quit giving out freebies!"

"No one will buy the lemur if you give the milk away for free. Remember that, Mr. Malfoy," said McGonagall.

After the professors had left, Malfoy turned to Harry. "Well?" he asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'd give you a Galleon for that," said Harry.

Malfoy smirked. "That's what I thought. And I'd give you two Knuts for your performance, you wooden mannequin. Unfortunately for you, that was a one-time deal, to prove a point. No amount of money could induce me to kiss a four-eyed git aga--"

"That was really hot," said Tracey Davis, dashing up to them. She dropped three gold coins onto the table. "The girls and I will give you this if you'll kiss again."

"No w--" Harry began, but was interrupted by Malfoy's tongue. It was overly nearly as soon as it began.

"Hey!" Tracey cried. "No fair! That barely lasted two seconds!"

Malfoy scooped up the coins and dropped them into their collection jar. "What's not fair? You set out the terms, and we fulfilled it. It's not our fault if you weren't specific. Now, away with you." Tracey scowled at them, but turned on her heel and went back to her friends, who looked equally disappointed and fascinated.

Harry looked at him askance.

"It was for charity," Malfoy said regally.

All around them, people were enjoying the charity fair and the lovely day. Thirty more minutes, Harry thought. I can do this. They'd already been in the booth for half an hour; every student was expected to contribute in some way. It had just been his and Malfoy's luck to have drawn the boys' (or the girls', depending on how you looked at it) kissing booth.

"So," Harry said, trying to make conversation. "Of the people you've kissed so far, who's been the best?"

"Finch-Fletchley wasn't bad," Malfoy said absently. "And Mandy Brocklehurst's tongue ring was interesting." Harry could tell that Malfoy wasn't really listening. The other boy's gaze was completely focused on the girls' (or boys', depending on how you looked at it) kissing booth across the way. Harry followed Malfoy's line of vision and saw that Ginny was engaged in a rather enthusiastic kiss with Seamus Finnigan.

"Why don't you just tell her you like her?" Harry suggested.

Malfoy whipped his head around to glare at Harry. "Who? Weasley? I don't like Weasley. I don't like her name, or her hair, or her eyes, or her smile, or her voice, or the way she looks in a Quidditch uniform, or the way she can't eat a pumpkin pasty without dropping crumbs everywhere so she has to lick the corners of her mouth, and I never, ever think about her while looking at dirty magazines!"

"Yeah, all right," said Harry.

"Who is that? Is that Kevin Entwhistle? Isn't he gay?" Malfoy cried, as Ginny's next customer bent down to kiss her.

Hermione caught Harry's eye and waved; Harry felt a funny little jump in his stomach as he waved back. Their relationship was so new; official only since last week, and here they were kissing a bunch of other people already. Clearly, if they could survive this, they were going to be in it for the long haul.

To Harry's surprise, he saw Ginny's eyes open as she was kissing Kevin to look at Malfoy. If he wasn't mistaken, when she closed her eyes again she threw herself more energetically into the kiss. Harry could hear Malfoy's teeth grinding.

"Hello," said a shy-looking Hufflepuff third-year, coming up to their booth. She looked from Harry to Malfoy and back again. "I don't know who--"

Malfoy plucked the money from her hand and pulled her in to be snogged. He did this quite earnestly, though Harry noted that his eyes were open and he was still glaring over at Ginny. Ginny, for her part, had moved on to Terry Boot; it appeared that she was quite popular with the Ravenclaw boys.

In the next fifteen minutes, Harry kissed four more people, but the true entertainment was in watching Draco and Ginny try to out-do one another with their kissing partners. He wanted to tell Malfoy to stop being such a ridiculous prat, but then Hermione (who he was pleased to note kissed very matter-of-factly and never used tongue) would smile at him and he'd forget while his brain melted.

It all came to a head when Blaise Zabini sauntered up to Ginny and took one of her curls between two of his fingers, pulling it taut and letting it bounce back as he released it. Harry turned to tease Malfoy some more, knowing that the other boy would turn blue and expire before he'd admit to being the least bit bothered by anything Ginny did, but to Harry's surprise, his booth-mate was not there.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked uncertainly. Maybe he had expired. But no, there was no body on the floor.

Dismay creeping up his spine, Harry turned quickly and had his fears confirmed: Malfoy was striding toward the girls' (or boys', depending on how you looked at it) booth, shoving unfortunate people out of his way.

Harry vaulted over the booth and sprinted to Malfoy, pushing his glasses back up as they'd slipped during his dash. "What are you doing?" he asked, sounding a bit out of breath.

"Get out of my way, Potter," Malfoy snarled.

"I'm not in your way, I'm just off to the side here," Harry pointed out reasonably.

"Well, don't talk to me, then."

"I want to know what you're going to do."

"Bloody Ravenclaws. Stupid Gryffindors. Even ruddy Hufflepuffs," Harry heard Malfoy mutter. "But someone from my own House is carrying it beyond the scope of reason!"

Malfoy's rage sent two little first-years scurrying; they ran as far as their little legs could carry them in the other direction.

In another few strides they had reached Ginny and Hermione's booth. Hermione raised an eyebrow in question at Harry, who shrugged and gestured toward Malfoy helplessly. He made the universal sign for "he's mad," and Hermione nodded in understanding.

Ginny had crossed her arms and was studying Malfoy coolly. "Yes, what is it, Malfoy? I'm afraid you'll have to wait your turn. As you can see, I'm busy at the moment."

Without a word Malfoy pushed Zabini to the aside, then shoved his hands into his pockets and withdrew two handfuls of gold coins, which he showered unceremoniously onto the table. Before the last coin hit the table, he grabbed Ginny around the waist and dragged her forward as far as she could go, considering there was a booth in the way. He buried one hand into her thick red-gold curls, angling her face up to receive his rough kiss.

"Oh," Harry heard Ginny sigh, but apparently she liked Malfoy's aggressive kissing style far better than he himself had.

"What brought this on?" Hermione asked curiously.

Harry leaned against the booth. "Maybe he was tired of being an idiot."

"Well," said Hermione reasonably. "That's years of habit he'll have to get past."

Harry nodded in agreement, taking one of Hermione's hands in his. "Maybe the love of the right woman will help him," he said meaningfully, and kissed her hand gently.

Hermione considered this, then squinted at the still-kissing couple. "Or some serious, can't-be-bothered-to-come-up-for-air snogging."

"Or that," Harry agreed.

The End