Liebt sie dich so wie ich?

[Harrison Primpernelle]

Du brauchst so viel Liebe; mehr als du verdienst. (You need so much love; more than you deserve)

Harry had been waiting with butterflies in his stomach for a chance to catch Miss Nora Sheehan alone, and he'd been avidly avoiding Miss Harper Hatchitt for that entire time. Luckily, not all of his classes were with Harper, and between Kettleburn and Slug, he could usually find an excuse to look too busy to talk either right before or right after a class. He knew it wasn't very brave of him to be hiding from her like that, but he wasn't the Gryffindor of the pair, and he refused to feel bad about it. He wasn't talking to Harper because he couldn't handle talking to her, not yet. He hadn't figured things out yet.

Every time that he'd seen Nora, his insides filled up with butterflies. This was the moment of truth, he knew. The conversations that they'd had over the break had lead him to two conclusions; first, that he couldn't love Harper, and second, that he didn't love Nora--yet.

He just needed to get the Gryffindor out of his head long enough to give Miss Sheehan a chance, he'd decided. They were both two of his best friends, so there was no reason he should fall in love with one and not the other, except that Harper had gotten to him first. He had kissed Harper a few days after he had really met Nora. Places reversed, he wouldn't have been in this mess; he and Nora would have been blissfully courting, and he would have had an excellent best friend the year above him, in Gryffindor.

It hadn't happened that way, but Harry was determined to fix that. Nora was a wonderful person, and he knew that, given the chance, she would love him; she would do all those things that Harper wanted to do for him, he was sure of it. The problem was that even though they were courting, they were still just friends. They'd kissed once before, but at the time they'd done so more as friends than anything, and he'd immediately felt guilty about Harper; now, it was time to kiss as more than friends. It was time to stop feeling guilty. It was time to fall in love.

OOC: Day 14. You can see the song here; English translation lyrics are in the description.

  

[Nora Sheehan]

January Writing Challenge - Day 16

Nora's arm hurt after some mysterious person wearing a cape stained with mustard pushed her down the stairs, something that still made the Slytherin frown. She could recall no person that would have a reason to do such thing, but weird stuff happened every day at Hogwarts, so she tried not to overthink it. Still, the point remained; her arm hurt and she didn't feel like writing her Transfiguration essay, despite that she really liked the class.

Well, at least she would be doing her essay with Harry.

"So, conjurations." Nora started and gave Harry a smile. She picked up her quill and wrote the basic stuff about her essay, like the topic, her name and the date at the top of the page. She sighed with frustation when she wrote '1882' instead of '1883' and fixed it with her wand; that would surely happen to her for the next couple of weeks.

"I can't believe that we have to practically rewrite this essay just because some forgot to hand their essays on time." Nora commented as she shot a glare to some of her classmates that were playing with some exploding cards and didn't seem to be concerned about any of their classes, like always. "I suppose that we could finish with this really quick and then sneak in the kitchens, get some snacks and do something more fun, what do you think?"


Random words generated:

• arm
  frown
  cape
  mustard
  stairs

  

[Harrison Primpernelle]

Harry startled a bit when Nora addressed him, drawn out of his reverie suddenly. "Conjurations," he agreed with a smile, turning to look at his essay, which he'd half-copied from his old essay during one of his classes earlier. It wouldn't take him long at all, which meant that soon enough, they'd be able to start with the real fun.

Nora's words brought a smile to his lips; they were, apparently, on exactly the same page. "I like the way you think," he said with a grin before glancing down at his essay. "In fact, I'd rather just skip the essay and go on to the fun things," he joked, leaning back on the couch and dipping his quill lazily in his ink. "Is your arm feeling okay? I can help you write it if you want," he offered. At this point, he was honestly up for whatever would get them out of there fastest. The people they were sharing the Common Room with at present weren't his favorite classmates, and more importantly, he couldn't talk to Nora about any of the things he needed to talk to her about while they were present. The more Harry thought about it, the more he begrudged them their presence; there wasn't a thing in the world he wouldn't rather be sharing the common room with. A flying pig would have been more welcome.

As if on cue, the group decided to go elsewhere, and made their way to the door of the common room. "They're leaving," he muttered under his breath to Nora. He waited until the sound of their voices had faded a bit, then stretched his arms out against the couch. "It's a lot quieter without them. It's nice, just you and me."

OOC: Day 20

  

[Nora Sheehan]

For January Writing Challenge - Day 22

"It's okay, I'll survive." Nora assured Harry with a smile. She was not used to writing with her arm hurting like that, but she wasn't going to let Harry write her homework because of it. His hand-writing was a lot different from hers, so if he wrote the essay for her Beckett would probably think that she bullied him into doing it, and she didn't want to get in trouble because some idiot with a cape pushed her down the stairs. Maybe she could just charm her quill so it would write by itself whatever she told it to write.

She glanced at the door when the other Slytherins left and smiled at Harry's comment. It was quite nice that the others finally left the room, both because she couldn't stand their presence but also because like Harry said, they got some time for themselves. "Maybe we can just tell the house elves to bring us food here; it would save us time from going to the kitchens." She commented. Nora wasn't by any means a lazy person, but the common room was rather nice now that the morons had left and it was just good food that they needed.

She peeked at what Harry was writing and smiled when she saw that it was mostly the same text as with his previous essay. Nora tried to put hard work in her essays, but she couldn't help but think that Harry was the genious right now. She would rather not write an essay about the same thing; especially with her arm hurting. "Maybe we can just rewrite our previous essays and then do something fun." she commented. Professor Beckett wouldn't notice with all the students he had. Raising an eyebrow, she asked. "Any ideas of something fun we can do?"

  

[Harrison Primpernelle]

What a question. Did he have any ideas? He had plenty of ideas, though he was hardly sure that they constituted such, or that they were good ideas. How did one go about these sorts of things, again? He hadn't had any 'first kiss' since fourth year. When he'd kissed Nora the last time, things had been fairly awkward, but even that scenario seemed better than anything he could come up with at the moment. That had been part of the flow of conversation; they'd been talking about love and romance beforehand. In that case, she had brought it up.

Harry could have brought it up, but he wasn't sure how to do so, and more importantly, wasn't sure whether that would help at all.

You've got to say something, Primp, he reminded himself, so, shifting his weight so that he was facing her more definitely, he began, without knowing what he was doing or how he was to finish.

"Do you remember," he started quickly, "In fourth year, when we were talking about what it feels like to be in love and be kissed and all of that? You remember--how I kissed you? And then it was awkward because we were just friends?" As if she could have forgotten. He certainly hadn't forgotten, and girls were supposed to be the ones who held on to things like this. Especially since he was fairly certain it had been Nora's first kiss (and she had no reason to suspect it was anything other than his first, too).

Hoping against hope that this was a proper way to bring about such things, Harry continued, with a slight blush, "Well, we're--not just friends any more, are we? Do you think it might be--not awkward? I mean, if we kissed now, do you think--you'd like it?" That was a stupid question, he knew, so he decided to stop talking--quit while you're ahead. Or not terribly far behind, as the case may be.

  

[Nora Sheehan]

Eveyrone seemed quite... interested in love recently. First Miss Harper, now Primp. Nora couldn't help but feel rather weird that she didn't feel particularly interested in it lately. Or perhaps she would, but not now? She never considered herself especially romantic, but then again nobody did until one particular age. Perhaps whatever part of her brain thought about love hadn't matured enough.

"I do remember." Nora said, sligthly blushing though definitely not feeling as awkward as she felt back then. Then again, she was only fourteen back then, and since Harry was her first kiss so it was only normal that it was awkward. Besides, she was afraid that he might be one of those tramps that were only interested in sleeping with girls. Luckily, Harry wasn't one of them.

His second question was a bit more awkward, though Nora tried to shake those thoughts away. They would most likely get married and she couldn't feel awkward about kissing her husband! Besides, she had quite a lot of male friends, so she no longer felt intimidated by the opposite gender. "I'm not really sure." Nora admitted with a shrug. "It was different when you kissed me then. I can't really say... unless you kissed me now, I suppose." With those words Nora couldn't help but feel weird. Harry wouldn't think that she was some tart that wanted to be kissed, right?

  

[Harrison Primpernelle]

Harry felt stupid for asking, now, but he couldn't take it back. Even if he could, he knew that he wouldn't have wished it unsaid. It was something that they needed to talk about, because it was something that he needed to do. He needed to kiss her, because he had to know whether it was the same as when he kissed Harper. This was vital information, and he could not talk to Harper without first having figured it out. However awkward it was to get there, it was necessary awkwardness.

Luckily, Nora arrived at the same conclusion he'd been pushing for, without him having to do all of the footwork to get there. She was a great friend, he reflected; they could practically finish each other's sentences, sometimes. She would make an excellent wife, if he could conjur that one missing ingredient.

Well, time to figure that out. "Could I? Kiss you, I mean--I don't want to do anything you don't want, but things are different," he rambled, thinking aloud as he added, "I didn't ask last time, did I? Which was probably why it was so weird, I don't think either of us were expecting it, you know. I mean, I did it, but I wasn't thinking about it properly. I don't think about very many things very properly, I suppose."

Stop talking. Just do it. Shut up and kiss her.

"Sorry," he said, biting his tongue. "I'm talking too much."

  

[Nora Sheehan]

He wanted to kiss her? That sounded rather weird for Nora. She knew that it shouldn't have, since they were courting and one day they would get married. Kissing wouldn't be so weird if that happened. They would probably do bigger things than just kissing. Still, the prospect of kissing Hary made Nora feel strange. She could feel a weird feeling in her stomach, she wanted to blush and for a couple of seconds she wanted to turn her eyes away from Harry just so he couldn't see her so weak.

Kissing boys was never supposed to be weird for her. Sure, she wasn't exactly skilled when it came to such things, but she had a lot of male friends. In fact, expect for Saoirse, most of her friends were boys. If she had so many male friends wouldn't kissing boys be easy for her?

The only conclusion Nora could end up with was that she was just unskilled when it came to such things. She had male friends, but they were only that; friends. She never thought about kissing them, or holding their hands in hers. She had never even thought that way about Harry, even after they started courting. Not even after he had kissed her.

If Saoirse was here, she would call her a prude.

Nora didn't want to be a prude. Smiling, rather foolishly, Nora said: "Of course you can kiss me." It wouldn't be that bad, right?

  

[Harrison Primpernelle]

Okay. Well. Okay. He was going to kiss her. Why was this so difficult? He had kissed Harper plenty of times, and it hadn't be very awkward, at least, not after the first few times. Maybe that was it; maybe he just needed to kiss Nora more times to get past the awkward stage of it.

Well, no time like the present, he supposed. He smiled, then, before he could overthink things too much, leaned in and caught the edge of her chin with his fingers, pressing his lips up against hers. Harry was certain that he had gotten much better at this since their first kiss, and he was determined that she would pick up on that. This was not just a innocent spur of the moment peck. This was not an exploratory venture. This was a kiss. Their first real kiss, as--as a couple.

A trickle of excitement crackled up his spine like lightening making its way across the sky. He thought about touching her, maybe her neck or her hair, or trying to deepen the kiss, but he didn't want to get carried away. They were still in the common room, after all, and he didn't want anyone whispering about Nora behind their backs. They could talk about him all they liked, but not about Nora.

He broke away after a minute and took a breath, a remnant of a smile on his face. "So, what do you think?" he asked, his head still working on that one himself.

  

[Nora Sheehan]

It happened before she could prepare herself. Part of her felt rather intimidated that she would do something wrong and Harry wouldn't like her even as a friend anymore. Was was she supposed to do this without any experience? Harry was surely more experienced than her. He was a Quidditch player and a boy. Kissing her probably seemed like a piece of cake for him.

Getting used to it wasn't that hard, though. Soon, the awkward burning in her stomach became rather pleasant. Nora felt that she knew what she was doing, as if she had been doing this for quite a long time. She no longer felt that Harry was her best friend; she felt that he was something more than that. For the first time, she could see her as her fiance, and she liked it. Harry was courting her, he was kissing her, and Nora liked it very much indeed.

And then, after what seemed as just a second, but an eternity as well, it had ended. Harry was her best friend again, asking her what she thought as if they had just went to some trip to the forest rather than kissed. Nora felt her cheeks burn and all she could do was chuckle. "You're a quite good kisser."

  

[Harrison Primpernelle]

Harry couldn't stop smiling. Now, this was more of his thing. At least, this was what it was supposed to be like, what it was expected to be like, wasn't it? This was the actual order of things; friendship, courtship, physical things, and then--well, everything else. This was the acceptable, easy way to do things. This was the right way to do things, and it felt right, to be smiling and laughing like this with one of his best friends.

"That's good," he said, adjusting so that he was leaning back against the couch, one arm spread out, resting. "Better than the alternative, anyway." He glanced at her, still smiling, quite content with his little antics now that they had played out in his favor. "I think we're going to be alright, y'know? I think we're going to be happy."

Now, it would be hard to tell Harper that, but that was a conversation for a whole other day.

  

[Nora Sheehan]

Nora had to agree; they would indeed be happy. She very much doubted that Harry would be a terrible husband. They were best friends now and if every time they kissed was as good as this time then there was no doubt that they would be a happy couple.

Grinning, Nora nodded, feeling sligthly silly for doing so. Kissing Harry wouldn't result with her becoming silly every time, right? She had once heard that people that were in love acted silly most of the time. She surely couldn't be falling in love, though, right? It was too early for that. It felt wrong, even if it probably shouldn't have.

Before she could embarrass herself in some way, Nora could hear people approaching, and judging by their voices they were first years. Part of her couldn't help but feel frustrated that the kids had come, but the other was sort of glad. "I guess we should finish our essay..." she suggested, hoping that Harry wouldn't think that she was boring or that she found im boring.

OOC | We can wrap up, I guess?

  

[Harrison Primpernelle]

Harry was smiling, but not because he'd made a choice to do so; he just couldn't stop. He straightened up with a nod when she said that they ought to return to their essays, shuffling his paper around to try and find where he'd put his quill.

It had worked. He had been hoping against hope that it would, but he hadn't been sure. It was a big risk, kissing her and just hoping that the feelings blossomed out from that, but if the smile on both of their faces was any indication, it hadn't exactly been his worst idea ever. This might have been the first time, though, that one of his incredibly stupid ideas had pulled through in his favor.

Deciding to be spontaneous, Harry pressed two of his fingers together and kissed the tips, the brushed his fingers over her cheek, "transfering" the kiss to her with a corny smile and a laugh. "I'm not going to be so ridiculous all the time," he promised apologetically. "I'm just--really happy. You make me really happy."