| CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE |
I ONLY WANT TO DANCE WITH YOU.
NATASHA COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT Cedric's arms, one of which was wrapped loosely around her waist, the other held onto her right hand, causing goosebumps to run down her spine. Her eyes swam around the room, trying to give her something else to concentrate on as she hoped that the blush had disappeared from her cheeks (even though they still felt like they were on fire).
She spotted a few other couples on the dance floor, before her eyes landed on the brunette Ravenclaw she recognised as Cedric's date, she was chatting away to a Durmstrang boy, her hand stroking his bicep as she batted her eyelashes at him flirtatiously. Nearby, she spotted Grace standing besides Theo, Rosie and Aleks, all of them looking directly at her and Cedric; the girls with enormous smirks on their faces whilst Natasha simply glared at them before looking away once more as they moved on the dance floor, their bodies still pressed up against each other.
Natasha noticed George standing besides Fred, when he caught her eye, he sent her two thumbs up with a giant wink as she felt her cheeks warming up yet again. When she tore her eyes from the Gryffindor, she looked up at the ceiling, looking at the gorgeous chandelier hanging right above the dance floor. It felt like everyone's eyes were on them and she absolutely despised it.
"You alright?" Cedric's voice caught her from her little daydream. He noticed how tense she seemed and part of him feared that it was his fault.
She snapped her eyes from the chandelier and leaned back slightly, finally letting her ocean blue eyes lock with Cedric's light grey ones, "Y-Yeah," Nat nodded, biting her lip as she spotted a group of girls looking straight at them from the corner of her eye, "Just feels like everyone's looking at us," She muttered, nodding to the side where Cedric in fact did spot the group of girls, four of them, who looked away as soon as he looked in their direction.
"It's probably because you look absolutely breathtaking," Cedric muttered, hoping that the blonde wouldn't hear him, but by the grin that appeared on her face and the blush that crept up her face she did.
"Or because they want to dance with you," The blonde suggested, her eyes sparkling with life as she kept her gaze on Cedric.
"Well..." Cedric twirled her and when she turned back to face him he continued, "I only want to dance with you. Do you...Do you want to go get some air?"
Natasha felt her heart skipping a beat as she nodded, her throat felt far too dry to speak. With a smile on his face, Cedric finally stopped dancing as did she, he kept one of their hands interlocked as he led her off the dance floor. Natasha did everything she physically could not to look at anyone, she could feel eyes burning at the back of her head but she kept hers on their interlocked fingers, observing how right her hand looked in his and how right it felt.
She let out a sigh of relief when they exited the school, the cold air hitting them instantly. The large crowd of dancing students certainly made the room feel far too hot and it was starting to get difficult to breath (especially whilst dancing with Cedric), so the air that finally entered her lungs made her feel more at ease.
It had snowed the night before, and a thick white blanket was over every inch of the outside. Neither of the pair spoke as Cedric kept leading her towards a bench. When they reached it, he wiped the snow away before they both sat down besides one another, their fingers no longer glued together.
Natasha kept her eyes on her dress, watching as the dress sparkled from the light emitting off the moon, when suddenly, she felt something warm being wrapped around her shoulders. Looking up, she noticed that Cedric no longer had his suit jacket on and now, it was wrapped around her shoulders, keeping her warm in the winter night.
"You'll get cold," She told him, reaching up to shrug the jacket off but he was quick to stop her.
"You'll get cold," He pointed out, sending her a look to say 'don't even try it' and with a sigh, the blonde dropped her hands, letting the warmth of his jacket envelope her, "I was telling the truth earlier," Cedric suddenly spoke up after several moments of silence, "When I told you that you looked breathtaking," He reminded her after noticing the puzzled look in her eyes.
Natasha was more than thankful for the coldness of the night since it meant that she could excuse her blushing for feeling cold. Her heart was hammering violently against her ribcage as she grinned to herself, she hated how much of an effect Cedric had on her, "Thank you. You look really handsome," She told him, looking up at him through her lashes.
Cedric let out a shaky breath, his eyes never once faltering from Nat's face, "I'm sorry."
Natasha looked confused, "For what?" She asked.
"For not asking you to the ball," Cedric clarified, "I was going to, I really was, but I was so nervous, I--I just couldn't do it."
Natasha bit her lip and reached her hand over to place onto his, squeezing his fingers lightly, "It's okay. I should've asked you," She told him, "But I was so sure that you wouldn't want to go with me."
Cedric's eyes softened, "I'm sorry we didn't talk about the kiss," He added, "I'm so stupid I should've already asked you to be--"
He couldn't finish his sentence due to Natasha leaning forwards and pressing her plump lips lightly on his, stopping his ranting. His eyes widened in shock before he let them close as he finally responded to the kiss, his hand reached up to softly touch the side of Nat's face as hers reached up to his biceps.
When they finally pulled away, their faces stayed close as they stayed as close as they physically could with Nat's large puffy dress in their way. Their breathing was uneven and they could see the vapour of it swirling in the cold air.
"Well, that was certainly a way to shut me up," Cedric grinned, the memory of their first kiss flashing through his mind, "Maybe you should shut me up again?"
Natasha let out a small chuckle, her smile wide and her eyes sparkling as she kept looking into Cedric's eyes, "With pleasure," She told him before leaning forwards to connect their lips yet again.