Lemon Grass and Sleep

A BIT OF STUDYING

Silently, Fred and I sat at the table in the room, idly flipping through textbooks with quills moving across parchment. Sixth year homework was no joke, and we had been sat there at least an hour already.

"Bloody hell, this is too much," Fred sighed, setting his quill down and massaging his temple. His eyebrows were furrowed and I noticed he'd been on the same assignment for a while now.

"Do you want me to look at it?" I asked softly, placing my hand on his arm gently.

"It's just so much, and I can't figure out where this is." He gestured to a question and pointed to a paragraph on a page, "It really seems like it should be in here somewhere but it isn't, and I can't find it anywhere else in this chapter."

"Oh," I piped up, "You have the wrong edition."

I leaned over into my satchel and pulled out my textbook that had a different cover, "Use this one."

He huffed out a frustrated breath before opening my book and laying it on top of his, eyes scanning through the freshly printed pages in search of his answer.

I knew Fred had been placed into several N.E.W.T.s, but I hadn't expected him to also take part in the apparition classes. In short, his schedule was pretty full and he'd had mountains of homework to do daily.

"How about we take a break after these assignments?" I suggested, still looking him over carefully.

"Mmm," he thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I could probably do that."

I nervously glanced over at the bed, whose curtains had been closed. When I conjured up the room I had only thought about wanting a study space, but it was still there regardless. At first I thought the room was innocent, but over the year we'd been using it, I was starting to think it was a bit taunting.

"What are you looking over there for?" Fred spoke dangerously close to my ear.

I jumped at the close sound, reaching up quickly to cover my ear as I turned around to face him. "N-No reason."

"Were you asking to take a break because you were feeling a bit naughty, Soot?"

"No, we're finishing our assignments," I bit my lip, snapping my eyes down to my parchment even though I wasn't thinking straight enough to even begin to comprehend the words on the pages.

"Ah, of course." Fred backed off immediately, going right back to studying as if nothing had just happened.

I took a moment of pause for myself, catching my breath and trying very hard to not replay that moment over and over in my head.

A few scribbles later and I had finished my assignment, squeezing my legs together to try and hide the little situation in my trousers. I tucked my other hand between my legs for good measure as I wrote down my last few answers.

As if this couldn't be any more humiliating, as I wrote down my last answer and set my quill down, I looked over to find Fred staring at me with a teasing smirk on his face.

"How long have you been looking at me?" I spoke quietly, horrified.

"Long enough," he glanced down at my waist, before slowly bringing his eyes back up.

I avoided his eyes, already feeling the embarrassment collect in my cheeks as they warmed up. Fred slid off his stool and approached me, grabbing my chin gently and bringing my face up parallel with his.

"Could I steal a kiss?"

"It isn't stealing if you ask permission," I quietly retorted, sliding my eyes shut as he leaned forward.