I fly towards him, my stomach fluttering with butterflies. But it’s now or never. I can’t face Rowan’s wrath if I don’t keep my word. I wave at him and he waves back looking kind of cute and… shy? I land in the box and sit next to him.
“Hi,” I say, trying to gather my courage.
“Hey,’’ he answers. We fall into an awkward silence
“Do you like me?”
“I really really like you, Murphy.”
We speak at the same time.
I blush vigorously, he is red as well.
“You fancy me?” he asks baffled.
“Yeah,” I say turning my eyes to the floor trying to hide my face, “but I understand if you don’t like me like that. I just really miss being friends.”
“I missed you too, and I like you too, Eliza, very much,” he reaches for my hand. I look into his eyes and he looks really apologetic and serious.
“I’m sorry,” he says, “that I avoided you, and lied to you. I don’t know why I couldn’t just admit that I think you are very beautiful. I thought you would just reject me. And I’m still afraid that you might just turn this into a joke and laugh at me.”
I’m confused
“Why would I laugh at you? And why would this be a joke?”
He gives his head a slight shake, “You are so perfect, and I am just a cripple.” He looks so vulnerable which is so uncommon for him. Usually, he doesn’t seem at all held back by his disability and seeing him like this breaks my heart.
I squeeze his hand and lift his palm against my cheek. “I don’t care if you have disabilities or not, I’ve grown to like you for you. It’s you and your personality that matters and not any superficial trait.”
He smiles, and it's the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, so I can’t help but smile back. He caresses my cheek with his hand and raises his other hand to cup my other cheek.
He softly pulls me closer to where I’m almost in his lap, I close my eyes. I feel his breath on my lips and then… we kiss, softly and carefully.
“Erm, sorry but if we could get our chaser back on the field? Or are you going to continue your ‘tactical discussion’ much longer?” Skye says as she floats above the box her eyebrows wiggling wildly.
I had totally forgotten where we were and I personally wished practice was over.
“I… I am coming” I mutter as I squeeze Murphy’s hand as I let go to grab my broom from the bench. Before I can take off, he grabs my wrist.
“Do you want to go on a date? This Saturday, Hogsmeade? Meet me in the common room in the morning at 9?
I smile and answer, “Yes!”
After practice, I wave to Murphy to say bye as he stays to prep Orion about his tactical insights. Though, I don’t know if Orion has ever used that information planning our game strategy, or if he has any planning at all…
Murphy waves back smiling and it fills me with happiness. We’re going on a date! I’ve got to tell Rowan! I wonder if she kept her part of the deal.
I practically skip and dance my way to Ravenclaw Tower and run straight to our room. But Rowan isn’t there. I’m a little bit disappointed, but she sometimes stays late in the library, so I’m not concerned. I sit down to brush and rebraid my hair. I then pick up my Transfiguration notes from last week and begin to review them.
The door opens and slams closed. I look up to see a fiercely grinning Tulip with her back against the door. The two other dorm mates that were studying quietly are starting to give her the bad eye.
“ELIZA GRIFFIN, I heard some rumours about snogging in the Quidditch field!” she exclaimed.
I blush fiercely and try to shut her up, by slamming my hand over her mouth. She bites my hand and I yelp.
“So it’s true?!” She looks very delighted, and I’m about to deny it when there is a furious banging on the door.
“Eliza! Tulip! Let me in! There’s gossip about quidditch lovebirds!” Rowan shouts
It is incomprehensible how fast gossip and rumours can spread around Hogwarts. I can’t believe it. Must be some kind of magic…
I pull Tulip away from the door and let Rowan in, and she looks thoroughly smooched. Her lips visibly sore, clothes wrinkled… and is that a hickey? I wonder how fast that gossip reaches everyone.
“So?” she asks
“So, to yourself! Do you know what you look like?” I wave my hands to indicate her present state. She turns even redder if possible. Tulip is doubled over, laughing hysterically.
“Do you guys mind?” says a visibly annoyed dorm mate and Rowan drags me and Tulip to sit on her bed, she draws the curtains shut. I then cast a silencing spell. Tulip is recovering from her laughing fit. I shake my bitten hand.
“Tulip, you didn’t have to bite me,” I complain. She just rolls her eyes. Rowan has dug out her pocket mirror and is checking her appearance in shock.
“So both of you have been playing kissy-face tonight!” Tulip grins, “Some steamy snogging in the quidditch pitch, huh, Griffin? Who is the lucky guy? Is it someone from your team? Or is it that girl? That Parkin sure is cute and sassy…”
“First of all, it wasn’t in the pitch but in the commentary box and second, it wasn’t ‘steamy snogging’ we only kissed.”
“Aaah, so it was that McNully guy. He sure is talkative at least,” Tulip considers
“So, he did like you!” says Rowan recovering from her initial shock, “I wonder why he wouldn’t just admit it in the first place.”
I’d rather keep that information to myself, so I just turn the attention to Rowan.
“But look at you, Rowan Khanna. You look scandalous! Do tell what happened,” I smirk
“Well I kept my part of the deal,” she answers looking dignified, “I asked Barnaby out and he said yes.”
“And?” Tulip and I ask in unison
Rowan looks anywhere but toward us as she continues.
“Well… I uhm he…” she looks at us pleadingly, but we aren’t going to give her mercy. “He said he’d been liking me for a while but didn’t ask me out because I’m Eliza's best friend. And I told him that he was hot and then he said I was gorgeous and one thing led to another… you know. So anyway, we ended up in an empty classroom near the library and things got a bit heated. We didn’t notice we were in the history of magic classroom, and then Binns happened to float in, he floated straight through us because we were leaning up against the wall where he usually floats in. And you know that kind of kills the mood when your ghost teacher floats through you while you were doing that.” Tulip and I were howling with laughter as Rowan smacks us with her pillow, “Guys it was traumatizing!”
“Ahahaha, Ro stop hitting me! So you have a date?” Tulip manages to ask
“Yeah, this Saturday in Hogsmeade!” Rowan smiles
“Me too! What are you going to do? I don’t want end up in the same place with you guys if you’re going to be snogging the whole time,” I say smiling
“Oh! Well, probably just Puddifoots,” she looks a bit embarrassed
“You aren’t even going to try and deny that you plan on snogging the life out of him are you?” I say smirking
“No,” Rowan says laughing as Tulip smashes her pillow down on her face and the pillow fight begins and lasts long into the night.