Basilisk (Dark Ominis Gaunt x OC gothic romance)

Chapter 99: Damien's Gift

~~Marie~~

It was so ridiculous that she would be nervous about something as simple as a date, yet here she was feeling her heart hammer as they walked toward the Three Broomsticks. This was her first real date, and it was with Damien of all people.

She glanced over to him as they walked through Hogsmeade, blushing as he caught her look and gave her one of his heart melting smiles. He'd been smiling so much more, lately... it was nice to see him smile. He'd been so morose when she'd first met him.

"You look antsy." He said in amusement, the hint of fangs coming with his smile. Oh Merlin, did she like that, though.

"Well it's my first date." She said softly, looking down when his hand brushed against hers as they walked. She blushed as he did it again, and realized it was an offering.

She let out a soft sound of embarrassment before she took his hand, letting him hold hers in his much larger grasp. She couldn't help a little breath whooshing out of her at how large his hands were, the palm callused and rough compared to hers. It showed he wasn't afraid of hard work... and she did like that about him.

She gave him another smile as she squeezed his hand to silently say that she liked this, and chuckled when he gave her a surprised look before smiling back. Agh, there went her stomach doing flips again!

As they entered the bar Damien continued to hold her hand as they walked up to Sirona. She glanced down at their joined hands and gave a little knowing smile.

"It's good to see you again, Damien." Sirona smiled, glancing over to Marie. "And you were here with Ominis and his wife, right?"

"R-right." Marie blushed that she'd been recognized like that.

"Well, welcome back. Two butterbeers?" Sirona said with a little smirk toward Damien.

"Please." He said, his smile widening happily. He passed her the coin for the drinks and released her hand to grab both of them, walking over to a table in the corner of the room for privacy.

He set hers down at the chair across the small table and took the other seat, waiting for her to sit before sitting down as well. She noticed the little polite motion, and blushed a bit more that he had done so. She took a sip of her butterbeer and looked down in surprise at how good it tasted. She'd had butterbeers before at other bars, but never this one.

"Is it good?" Damien grinned at her surprised look.

"Yeah." She said softly, smiling back to him. She felt a bit shy for some reason, which was ridiculous after she'd been flirting so blatantly in the boiler room before.

"So, usually on a date you ask the other person things about themselves." Damien smiled, reaching out across the table to hold her hand again. "But I don't want to make you uncomfortable, so how about you ask me some things?"

Right... that was very considerate of him, though she did want to tell him about herself.

"How about you just ask basic things?" She smiled. "I do still want you to know more about me."

He let out a soft rumbling sound that made her shiver a bit, the rough sounds he sometimes made causing heat to coil in her belly. It certainly sounded like a good sound...

"Alright then, besides flying what other things do you like to do?" He asked, smiling over to her.

She felt a bit flustered that he was interested in what else she liked, but it was nice that he cared. "Well, I like to read of course, Ariadne makes sure I read a lot." She chuckled, his laugh joining hers in amusement. "But I also like to uh..." she blushed a bit, because it wasn't exactly very typical. "Swimming."