| Inked | (George Weasley)

Chapter Sixty-Seven

They pulled away after several moments, as if woken from a dream. Ollie was flushed and breathless, her hands slipping out of George's grasp. Her eyes looked down, her lips tingling, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

George was speechless, as he had been before. His eyes were closed for a moment or two afterwards, heart racing in his chest.

Once his eyes were opened, they stared at each other some more. Months of shared moments, of unconscious flirting was suddenly making sense to both of them.

"George." Olive suddenly said. While the kiss had been good, amazing really, her thoughts were starting to get the best of her, "I-"

Had he liked it too? Was his silence good or bad?

"Olls."

He always called her that. Olls. The name rolled off his tongue like honey.

He reached over, thumb brushing her cheek, tucking a dark curl that had slipped out of her braid.

"Hmm?" The fast-paced beat of her heart felt like a hum in her chest. To her, the ghost of his lips was still on hers, warm and soft, slightly parted in surprise.

"Would you dance with me?" George asked, holding out his hand like the gentlemen he was in that moment. His head was bowed slightly, eyes looking up with a charming playfulness to them.

He was trying to amuse her, to hide his true giddiness that the kiss had left him with. Olive quirked a brow, the corners of her lips twitching upwards into a smile. If it were possible, her cheeks blushed even more.

"Of course." She took his hand, giving it a squeeze as he began to lead her back towards the Great Hall.

Olive felt dreamy-eyed and weightless, not caring that her shoes were somewhere out in the courtyard, or that she accidentally got a small smudge of lipstick just in the corner of George's lips. Walking with him hand in hand, she felt that same breathless, thrilling feeling that made her feel like she could do anything.

They got to the dance floor, and from what Olive could see, it was like it hadn't changed from when she had seen it nearly twenty minutes ago. A slow song was just winding down, the Weird Sisters playing a particularly upbeat rock and roll set that drew a lot more people to the dance floor.

Finding a spot that gave them some room, George spun Olive around once or twice, letting out a laugh as she gasped in surprise.

"George-" She couldn't help but laugh too at how perfectly funny it was, "I'm not much of a dancer-"

"Nonsense." He steadied her, "It is my philosophy that everyone, deep down, is a dancer. Even you, Ollie."

The Ravenclaw hit him playfully in the arm, "I can't tell if that was supposed to be a compliment or not."

"A compliment." George answered like it wasn't already obvious, "With you I couldn't say anything less, Olls."

She was surprised at his words, "Oh?"

He started swaying to the beat, doing the safe step-touch and making it bigger and sillier with every passing moment.

"Did I mention that I can't dance either?"

"No?"

"Well.... I can't dance either."

Olive mimicked his pose from before and offered him her own hand, "I guess we could figure it out together."

Once again their hands locked. George spun her again, more slowly, watching the smile on Olive's face as she twirled around. Her blue eyes lit up, her cheeks tinted with a blush that hadn't left since they kissed. Her blue dress spun around her, hair starting to fall loose from its braid. He spun her again just so he could take it all in once more.