Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Thirty Nine

Hope watched as Henry walked towards her and then stopped in front, standing awkwardly as he shifted awkwardly back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Okay, well what is that you want to talk about?" Hope asked him as it remained quiet between the two. "I mean, I was going to go-"

"No, don't go!" He said nearly hitting her in the face with his hands as he threw them up to prevent her from leaving.  She took a step back before Henry grabbed her sleeve and moved her over to sit back down on the sofa. 

He continued to twiddle his thumbs nervously before he rubbed his sweaty palms onto his trousers.

"Henry, you're so nervous, you're making me nervous and I'm not sure what's going on, which makes me even more nervous." Hope told him. "Just spit it out. Well, not literally, but come out with it, man!"

She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and shook him.

"What is with the Lupin family and shaking people?" Henry muttered as he turned his body towards her.

"Okay, look Hope," he began. Suddenly, she turned her head.

"Where?"

"No, that's not-" He grabbed her head and brought her to look right at him. "Look at me."

"Alright." she said softly. "I'm listening and looking."

"Good." He smiled at her, his fingers trembling slightly as he held the sides of her face before they dropped down to his sides. "I wanted to talk to you about this whole mess that we've gotten ourselves into, because we both listened to the wrong people. Mostly me."

"And by the wrong people we listened to...you mean Stella and Teddy?"

"Pretty much. I..I didn't want to ignore you all summer. In fact, I wanted to send you plenty of letters, especially when I heard that you were in Romania."

"I wanted to send you letters too. But Stella told me not to, and Eliza agreed with her. They said that I should wait on you to send a letter first."

"Teddy told me to wait until we were face to face."

"Sounds like him, but what I don't understand Henry, is why you were upset in the first place? I certainly didn't want you upset with me."

"I know," Henry nodded his head. "It was all my fault, well sort of, but it was mostly my fault. It's just...McGregor."

"But you didn't have a problem with Benji before." Hope pointed out. "It's not like that was the first time I had spoken with Benji. We saw him plenty of times between quidditch games and with Elliot."

"It wasn't the same. It's not the same."

"Why? What changed?"

"Me? And...and you." Henry pointed at her.

"I changed?" Hope repeated. 

"Yes...well...no...but....ugh why is this so hard to explain?!" He groaned covering his face and flopping back into the sofa.

"Henry relax, take your time." Hope said grabbing a pillow from the sofa and settling it into her lap as she propped her legs beneath her.

"You didn't change in a bad way," Henry finally spoke again as he lowered his hands back to his laps. "In fact, there wasn't anything bad about it, it was just different. We've been around each other almost every day since we were born, so I didn't notice things change between us, until you started spending time with McGregor."

Hope's green eyes watched him, as Henry felt himself growing hotter and hotter sitting before her. He pulled at the collar of his shirt, desperately wanting to loosen his tie so he could breathe as his throat grew tighter.

"So you were actually jealous of McGregor?" Hope asked bluntly.

"Yes." Henry admitted looking down. "I was. Partially because he was able to spend time with you when I wasn't and the other reason because I knew he liked you and that bothered me so much. I didn't know why it bothered me for the longest time, but then I figured it out. It bothered me because I wanted to be him. Not him in that sense, but I wanted to be the one that made you blush like him."

The girl's eyes became wide as Henry fumbled around with a loose button on his shirt. 

"Awww Guppy Puppy." Hope smiled warmly at him. "You know I can't stand it when people make me blush."

"I know." Henry chuckled before his face fell for a second. "But even so, when I saw him kiss you...it felt horrible. I wasn't angry with you, but I seriously wanted to punch McGregor in the face. I still do."

"But...none of this makes sense to me, Henry. Because I saw you kiss Alyssa back on the train and then only a little while later did you go strolling by holding onto Tori's hand."

"Right and that's what I want to explain! That whole thing was a huge misunderstanding! You have to believe me!"

"I don't have any reason not to believe you, Henry. I trust you with my life, I just want to know what the bloody hell is going on."

Henry glanced around as students began to pour into the Common room in between the break of classes, no longer giving him the privacy he wanted while talking to her.

Jumping up to his feet, he took her hand and pulled Hope up, leading her up to the boy's dorm. Fergus was resting on his bed, flipping through a quidditch magazine when the two came in.

"Uh, do you want me to leave?" He asked.

Henry didn't answer him as Hope shrugged before she was sat down on the boy's bed.

"Okay, listen very carefully," Henry said. " Tori likes McGregor, but obviously McGregor had his eyes set on you. I'm the one who likes you, Hope. McGregor...well...who cares about him!"

Fergus peered over the top of his magazine to see Hope's reaction. Instead of shock or surprise, all the girl did was smile at Henry as the boy went on.

"So Alyssa tried to come up with some plan to make him jealous over Tori, and then you jealous of me, but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't...so she kissed me trying to make a point. I couldn't do it. She told me to hold Tori's hand but it all felt so wrong, because I didn't want Tori. She's a great friend, but she's not you, Hope."

"Aww." Fergus said before squeezing his magazine close to him. The other two looked over at him. "Er....sorry."

He quickly covered his face as the two chuckled before looking back to each other.

"I'm so sorry I confused you, Hope. Really, I truly am. But I was absolutely terrified about scaring you off, because if you don't see me in the same way, I have a feeling this whole friendship would be absolutely ruined. "

Hope reached her hands out and placed them over Henry's that continued to shake beneath her touch.

"Henry, it would take so much more for our friendship to be ruined, I mean you would have to have hurt or killed someone I loved dearly in order for me to end our friendship. Too much has happened between us for me to just let that go. Besides, I wish you would have told me all this sooner rather than beat yourself up about it. It would have saved you so much trouble because I really like you too, Henry. And I think it goes beyond friendship."

Henry's face lit up as his smile showed off his pearly white teeth as he beamed with giddiness. 

"Really?"

"Yeah. Now don't go trying to make me blush or I'll punch you in the face." She told him.

"I'll try but no guarantees."

Fergus sighed to himself on his bed. "Finally. Praise Merlin."

He looked back to the two, to see Henry lean forward in attempts to kiss Hope, but before he could, she turned her head away slightly in a bashful manner, leaving him to kiss her cheek. Hope struggled to keep her face from turning a bright red, a Weasley trait that she could not escape even if she tried her hardest.

She turned back to him, with a small grin.

"We'll get there, Henry. But for now..." She moved towards him and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad we had this talk."