Eleanor & Fred

“There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” I glanced up from my book as I sat in the Great Hall to see Fred, taking a seat across from me.

“Well, I didn’t know I was that hard to track down.” He shrugged and smiled in his goofy way before speaking.

“I was wondering if you were going to be busy today. I know we just went to Hogsmeade yesterday, but I had something I wanted to show you.”

“I’m free. Alice is still in detention and Jay went to find Wes in the library. What did you have in mind?”

“Well,” he smirked, standing, “Follow me, my lady.”

He led me up a few sets of stairs and, after being told not to, I quit asking questions. He stopped when we reached an empty corridor. “What are we doing?”

“Shh, just stay there.” He proceeded to pace in front of me and, much to my surprise, a door appeared in front of where he had been walking.

“Wha…”

“This…is the Room of Requirement.”

Still a little astonished, I allowed him to open the door for me and I stepped inside. Only when he shut the door behind us did I realize that it was completely dark. “What’s going on…?”

He muttered something under his breath and above us hundreds of tiny, yellow lights appeared, floating like fairies. While the room still wasn’t fully lit, I could see all of my surroundings. Most of the floor was taken up by a wooden dance area with a thin, golden canopy above it. He stepped in front of me and turned to face me, bowing slightly and holding out his hand. “May I have this dance?”

While I think even he knew the line was cheesy, my heart sped up a little in my chest as I took his hand and let him lead me to the center of the dance floor. A waltz began playing and the ‘fireflies’ floated into the canopy, surrounding us and giving the appearance of falling glitter as they twinkled.

Fred must have noticed the slight distress I was feeling, because he asked “What’s wrong?”

“I, um, I can’t dance…” He laughed a little, sounding relieved that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”

He grabbed my right hand with his left and held it up. I noticed how his hand was almost twice as big as mine, engulfing it in warmth. He placed his right hand on my waist, causing my cheeks to burn a little. I noticed, just as before, that his cheeks were rosy too. “Put your hand on my shoulder.” I did as was told, trying not to focus on the warmth of his hand on my waist or my hand in his hand. “Now stand on my feet.”

“What?” I raised an eyebrow at him as he grinned.

“Stand on my feet. Just trust me.”

Feeling slightly foolish, I complied. “I haven’t done this since I was five, you know.”

He simply chuckled. “Now, don’t look down. Keep your head up, alright?” I nodded, locking my eyes with his. He waited until the song was at the right count to begin, and without any effort on my part we were gliding across the floor. “Don’t look down,” he reminded, as I had done just that.

I didn’t know how long we had been dancing before he spoke. “Are you having fun?” I simply nodded, too lost in his brown eyes to speak. “So…we already know how I feel about you, but I can’t help wondering…how do you feel about me?” The corners of his lips were tugging up into a smile, giving me the feeling that we both knew the answer.

“Well, Fred, I feel that…you’re charming, thoughtful, and don’t hesitate to go after what you want.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before responding.

“Well, Eleanor, I’m glad you feel that way, but the last part isn’t necessarily true all of the time.”

“No?” I gave him what I hoped was a shocked face before the grin took over once more.

“No. See, right now, actually, I’m in a bit of a dilemma. There is something I want, but I
just can’t figure out if I should be patient or go for it.”

“What is it, exactly?” I noticed that we had stopped dancing, though how long ago I didn’t know. His face had also grown closer to mine; I could have counted his freckles. Due to our close proximity, his voice was almost a whisper.

“Well, there’s this girl. She’s the quiet type, kind of shy. She’s also kind of hard to read. We’ve gone out once, but I already think she’s fantastic. She seems to be sweet, smart, funny. Not to mention she’s wicked beautiful. The problem is…I want to kiss her. Really bad. But like I said, she’s hard to read. How do I know if she wants me to?”

My heart was racing and my hands were shaking slightly. I hoped that he didn’t notice as I slid my right hand from his and placed it on his shoulder, mimicking the position of my other arm. “Well…you could tell her, though if she says no then that could be awkward. Perhaps, you should just go with your gut instinct.”

“Are you sure?” I pretended to be deep in thought.

“Yes. I’m positive.”

My stomach sank as he pulled away from me. I couldn’t hide the frown on my face. In one swift motion, however, he stepped forward and placed his lips against mine quickly, pulling just far enough away to murmur “You didn’t really think I could just walk away from you, did you?” before placing his lips on mine once more.

I was surprised at how soft and warm they felt. I expected my first kiss to be awkward and strange. It was anything but. His hands rested on my waist, mine around his neck, as the kiss grew longer. I wasn’t aware of any of my surroundings, just the feeling of his mouth against mine. He pulled me closer and I didn’t fight it. His hands slid from my waist to my mid-back, causing chills to run down my spine. The best part about the kiss was how innocent it was.

After what seemed like ages, we pulled apart. I had never seen Fred look so bashful before as he looked away from me, biting his lower lip. “That was my first kiss,” he mumbled. It sounded almost like an apology and I realized what must have been going through his head.

I grabbed his chin with one of my hands and turned his face toward mine. “It was mine too, but even without anything to compare it to I can tell you one thing.” A hopeful glint appeared in his brown eyes. “I could not have asked for it to be any better.”