𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 55

CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY
SCHEME

. . .

"What the actual, living fuck, Aviana?" Harry asked, as soon as the bathroom door closed behind them. Of course, at this hour, it was empty, but nonetheless Aviana stepped forward, away from him, to check each toilet stall, before settling on the sink counters, marble cold beneath her tights-clad thighs. "Why are you... why did you... what?" 

"Oh, calm down, Potter." She rolled her eyes. "What, you never kissed anyone before?" She scoffed, shaking her head as she examined the back of her hand, where blood spilled over from the scrawled lines cut deeply into the once soft skin.

"I've never kissed you before." Harry said pointedly, watching as she dug through her bag to pull out a small tin, and a cloth, which she ran under the tap for a moment before beginning to clean up the wound.

"Yes, that was a specific choice I made, I'm sure you know." Aviana hummed. She looked up for a moment, beckoned him forward, passing him the cloth. "You know, you really need to do a better job."

"Pardon?" Harry blinked. 

"You have to be more convincing than that if the hag is going to believe it." Aviana said as he, too, washed the dried blood from his hand, hardly even wincing. "She might be absolutely awful and most certainly completely brainwashed, but she's not stupid. Although... I can't imagine her experience with love has been anything but good for her to turn out like that." She mused.

"Love?" Harry repeated, incredulous.

"Yes, Potter, love." Aviana fixated on him for a moment, and the most scathing look covered her pretty features. "You really need to focus."

It was his turn to roll his eyes, wincing as he was a little to rough as he cleaned the cut. "It's pretty fucking hard to focus when you just kiss me like that." Harry replied.

"I gave you a warning, Potter, you said you wanted to kiss me." Aviana said, quite simply, as if the idea of it all wasn't outlandish and completely crazy - which Harry truly believed it was. He may be free to admit, in the presence of perhaps Ron and certainly the twins, who had made enough digs at one another for him to realise that they too, believed her to be beautiful, but prior to that summer his sole memory of her saw her stood alongside Malfoy and his snide comments. 

Certainly, over the past couple of months he had seen a different side to her, less sarcastic, softer. He was sure if he was to tell her that he would actually be slapped, but nonetheless he had seen it, and somehow that was all he could picture now. 

He spluttered, almost defensive. "Yeah, I just didn't expect it to be like that?" Harry replied, as Aviana once more turned her attention elsewhere, picking up the small tin that had previously been just sat there. She used the end of her nail to push some of the balm onto her finger, and to his surprise, reach for his hand first.

"What, did you think it would be some lame half-arsed attempt of a snog?" She asked, carefully applying the salve, thumb brushing carefully over the cut, and despite the initial shock of it's cool nature, the sharp pain began to soothe. "Do you think I got to where I am, to dress like this, to act like this, just to be a shit kisser?" Her eyebrows rose as she looked up at him.

He shook his head slowly, and got that sort of feeling in the pit of his stomach like he was about to fall into a trap. "I didn't think you were gonna be a shit kisser, it's just-" Harry began, before swiftly being cut off."

The corners of Aviana's lips curled upwards merrily. "Ah, so you've thought about kissing me?" She teased.

He could feel his ears turn warm, but he too couldn't avoid the grin that seemed to appear on his face. "Shut up." He deflect it. "I'm just saying, I didn't expect that."

"And I didn't expect you to like it so much." Aviana rolled her eyes. "Merlin, you need to pull yourself together because I don't know how long Umbridge will buy you looking absolutely gormless and totally stupid as a genuine reaction to every time I kiss you."

Harry stared at her for a moment, as her hands retracted and she began to spread the balm over her own injuries. "So it's going to happen again?" He blinked. 

"Most likely." She hummed. Her actions slowed to a complete halt, quite easily being able to feel his eyes watching her every move. "What? Do you think it's going to be believable if she turns the corner and finds us hurling insults at each other?"

"I guess not..."

"Exactly. What, have you never done anything like this before?"

"I don't think it's exactly normal... why have you?" Harry asked, surprised.

"You know who Adrian Pucey, right, year above?" Aviana asked, head tilted. He pulled a face. "Yes, I know, incredibly attractive but so stupidly awful. Yes, well, when Draco massively pissed me off last year-"

"He seems to do that a lot."

"It's Draco Malfoy, there's only so much fussing one can take until it's utterly fruitless to even try. Well he hates Adrian, so I pretended to date him for a couple of months until it forced Draco to apologise." Aviana waved her hand, dismissing the incredulity of it. "It mostly consisted of making out with him at parties."

"So you're well practised in the art of it all." 

"One could say that." Aviana crossed her legs, looking up at him, head tilted to the side. "What, what do you want to know?" 

"What are the... I don't know, what are the rules for this kind of thing?" He asked. 

"Well, other than in front of Umbridge, nothing like... that." Aviana said, her own hesitation clear for a fraction of a second. "In front of my friends, if you even try and talk to me then I'll hex you." She said. "Feel free to tell your friends, I'm sure Granger will be very pleased by the news." 

"Well..." Harry trailed off. He couldn't imagine Hermione thinking any of this was a good idea, and thus he thought he might avoid telling her. Ron on the other hand... well he was just as likely to accidentally tell Hermione as he was to keep it a secret. "It's probably best not to tell anyone." 

"Perfect." Aviana smiled, her fingers trailing over his shoulder, leaning there. She smiled prettily and Harry watched her. "Hm, I'm just slightly concerned about the whole gormless expression." 

"How concerned?" Harry asked, because his hand had found her waist again, thumb pressed against the plush fabric of her cardigan. 

"I think it would be a good idea to get some practise in, you know, before we go back to our dorms?" 

Harry wasn't going to disagree.

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