Weasley Twins - A Fate You Can't Escape

Chapter - 14 - Missed Kisses and Kisses

The rest of the date goes splendidly. No more unruly interruptions occur, and we are able to enjoy each other's company and conversation. At the end of the date, I walk her down to the Slytherin dorms, hand in hand. I really hope she doesn't notice how sweaty my hands are.

"I had a great time. Thanks for asking me." I say as we stop in front of the entrance to her common room.

"Me, too." She squeezes my hand, and my heart feels squeezed too.

"Would you like to maybe... do it again sometime?" I hope she's on the same page as me. We agreed to be upfront about how we felt about all of this.

"Yeah. Let's do this again." She leans in and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I realize that this is my opportunity. This is the perfect time to kiss her.

Instead, I awkwardly hug her and tell her goodbye. I chickened out and couldn't do it. I leave her so she can enter the common room unobserved, and head back to the Hufflepuff dorms. Inside, I am cursing myself for not going for it. It would have been so simple. I would have asked, 'Celese, may I kiss you?,' and she would have said, 'yes.' And then the most magical moment of my life would have occurred.

But no. I was too scared. I was worried she would say no, and didn't even try.

"Stupid, stupid." I mutter angrily to myself as I walk the nearly deserted halls.

"Maybe a bit dumb, but I wouldn't call you stupid." Fred and George hop down off of a ledge they were perched on and walk beside me.

"Do you guys have anything better to do than mock me?" I groan, not in the mood.

"Nope." Fred says.

"Not a thing." George agrees.

I put my face in my hands, over all of it. They keep walking for a few steps, not realizing I stopped. Once they notice, they quickly double back.

"Aw, I'm sure it's not all that bad," George pats my shoulder trying to comfort me.

"Yeah, really. How bad could you have messed up?" Fred also tries, but fails in his attempt.

"You two idiots were right. I was too scared to kiss her." I mumble through my hands.

"That's okay. I'm sure there will be other opportunities." George wraps me in a hug. He's surprisingly good at this comfort thing. Fred on the other hand, not so much.

"Were you worried about your breath?"

"Fred!" George hisses at his brother.

"Fine, fine. I'm sure it just wasn't the best time. I bet there will be a better one soon." Fred finally manages to say something nice about the situation.

"Yeah. Maybe." I remove my hands and take a deep breath, attempting to compose myself. "The moment is gone, so I just have to keep moving towards the next one."

"That's the spirit!" The boys cheer encouragingly.

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Sunday morning, I am up early. I slept really well last night, and today feels full of potential. I take my time getting ready before heading down to breakfast. It's still early, so not many people are down there. I scan the Hufflepuff table to see if there's anyone I know. I spot Edwin, and make my way over to him.

"Good morning." I take the seat next to my fellow beater.

"Hey, Hazel. You look nice today." He greets me, looking up from his reading.

"Thanks. You too." I grab a scone and some eggs and take a bite. "What are you reading?"

"Just a book on quidditch maneuvers. I read a lot of them in my free time." He holds it up so I can see it. Cunning Quidditch Tactics for the Modern Beater.

"Is it good? I could probably use some brushing up. I'd gladly take recommendations." It's been a while since mom drilled maneuvers into my head.

"Sure. I can make a list for you, if you'd like!" He offers eagerly. "We could even do some one on one practice at the field sometime to try them out."

"Yeah, that could be cool." I nod, in agreement. I'm glad he's so willing to work with me.

"We could go after breakfast if you're free. Odds are the pitch is empty at this time."

"Alright. Just a for a bit though. I have a ton of homework to do." We finish up our breakfast and grab our brooms. As predicted, the pitch is bare. It feels strange to be the only ones here. I've never seen it completely empty before.

He heads to the storage shed to grab a beater for us to practice with and I mount my broom. For the next hour and a half, we work on different plays and flying patterns. We also come up with a signaling system for games.

Exhausted, we land our brooms and wrestle the bludger back in place.

"Whew, that was quite the workout." I roll my shoulders, confident they'll be feeling it tomorrow.

"For sure," he wipes at the sweat on his forehead. "Just means it was a strong practice."

We head back to the castle and up to the dorms. When we reach the split between boys' and girls' dorms we stop to say bye.

"Thanks for the practice. I feel it helped me a lot." I shift my broom to my other hand.

"No problem. We can do this again, anytime you want." He smiles warmly at me.

"I'll have to take you up on that sometime. I'm still a bit rusty." I roll my eyes at myself.

"Nonsense. You're doing great!"

"Alright. Well I have a bunch of homework, so I'll catch you later." I am about to turn to go, when he completely surprises me. He leans in and swiftly plants a kiss on my lips. I just stand there, shocked. After a couple of seconds he pulls away.

"See you later!" He quickly flees to the boys' dorms and I am left standing there at the entrance to the girls'. In a bit of a haze, I walk down to my room where Mia and a couple of the other seventh year girls are at.

"Hey Hazel." Sophie, the girl that sleeps across from me says.

"Hi." I blink, trying to bring myself back to reality.

"You okay?" Sophie asks, sensing something is off. Her question makes Mia turn away from her wardrobe to look at me.

"Yeah, you look a little pale," my best friend comments, coming over to me.

"You guys know Edwin? The other beater?" I sit down on my trunk at the foot of my bed.

"Uh-huh," they both nod.

"He just... kissed me." I furrow my eyebrows, trying to figure out when I indicated interest in him. It just seemed so out of the blue.

"What?" Mia gasps. "I thought you were dating Celeste!"

"Wait, you're dating Celeste?" Sophie comes and sits with us.

"We went on one date. To Hogsmeade. I don't know if that counts as 'dating' exactly." I inform her. "But I certainly didn't go on a date with Edwin! We just practiced quidditch for a bit. And when we got back, he kissed me with no warning!"

"I guess Trelawney was right." Mia chimes in. "Two admirers."

"That's not important right now!" I am freaking out a bit. "I don't want to date Edwin. I'm not interested in him. What if when I tell him, he takes it badly and ruins the team dynamic?"

Something even worse occurs to me.

"What if I only got on the team because he likes me?" My heart sinks and I feel terrible. I was finally starting to feel comfortable with playing quidditch, and now I'm doubting everything again!

"Hazel, I'm sure that's not what happened." Mia speaks softly, wrapping an arm around me. "Everyone that watched tryouts would vouch that you were the best. Besides, it's not just up to Edwin. It was a team decision. And I doubt that they would have chosen based on Edwin's crush."

"I guess you're right." I take a few deep breaths to calm myself. "I just hope that we can still get along after this."

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