Fic, for prompt eight
Er, not sure how this works. Constructive criticism is of course welcomed.
***
The First Hogsmeade Weekend
The first Hogsmeade weekend of the year is always accompanied by a hundred other firsts. The first hours of freedom granted to eager third years, who believe that an entire world will open before them and will show them secrets no one else has yet learned. The first taste of butterbeer, forever delightfully sweet, but somehow always best that first day, accompanied by a smile from Madame Rosmerta that sends a frisson of heat through boys' veins and makes the girls smile back in spite of themselves. The first hint that Christmas is just around the corner, even if it is still only October, and a sixth year Gryffindor will start buying Honeydukes chocolate and expensive fireworks even then, because he has never been able to buy all the presents he would like to in only one trip.
There are first dates, awkward unions in tearooms, almost nearly adults not quite knowing what to say or how to act, but certain they wouldn't trade this day for anything. And, for the lucky few whose dates are a success, the first kisses: exchanged while cheeks and noses are numbed by the driving wind, and the couples pay no heed because they are warm on the inside, filled with the excitement that only that first tentative brush of lips against lips can bring, and the dream that maybe they're will be a second, and a third, and an infinite number to follow.
James Potter will kiss Lilly Evans on a corner leading to Madame Puddifoots and know exactly that feeling, and Lily Evans won't quite admit it, but she'll know it, too.
Peter Pettigrew will knock his tea to the ground, will expect that the day he has hoped and planned for for so long is ruined, but warm fingers will cup his chin, and gentle laughter will blow across his cheek, before soft lips capture his, and he will forget all about spilled tea in the feel of her pressed against him, and the warmth of her breath on his neck.
Sirius Black, however, will know the joy of every first in Hogsmeade but one, because he will never have a first kiss there, even though there are many who dream of exacting one from him. He will say that there is no girl he would spend his precious hours in the village with, but he will drag Moony everywhere with him, sending him away when he sees a jumper or a scarf or a book he thinks he might like. Remus will know what he's doing and go anyway, because he likes this pretence of secrecy between them that isn't secrecy at all.
Later, they will go to the Three Broomsticks. Sirius will press pints of butter beer into Remus's hands, telling him to shut up and put his money away. Remus will take the drink, and for a moment their hands will touch around the warmth of the glass, and they will both think of stolen kisses and the heat they might bring.
They will pull away, because boys don't think about such things with other boys, and they certainly don't act on it in public, but Sirius will say 'You'll have to pay me back for that drink, of course,' and Remus will smile and mean, I think I know away.
And that night, for the first time, he will show him how, as the world outside the shrieking shack grows cold and dark, and Sirius tastes butterbeer and chocolate on Remus's tongue.
***
The First Hogsmeade Weekend
The first Hogsmeade weekend of the year is always accompanied by a hundred other firsts. The first hours of freedom granted to eager third years, who believe that an entire world will open before them and will show them secrets no one else has yet learned. The first taste of butterbeer, forever delightfully sweet, but somehow always best that first day, accompanied by a smile from Madame Rosmerta that sends a frisson of heat through boys' veins and makes the girls smile back in spite of themselves. The first hint that Christmas is just around the corner, even if it is still only October, and a sixth year Gryffindor will start buying Honeydukes chocolate and expensive fireworks even then, because he has never been able to buy all the presents he would like to in only one trip.
There are first dates, awkward unions in tearooms, almost nearly adults not quite knowing what to say or how to act, but certain they wouldn't trade this day for anything. And, for the lucky few whose dates are a success, the first kisses: exchanged while cheeks and noses are numbed by the driving wind, and the couples pay no heed because they are warm on the inside, filled with the excitement that only that first tentative brush of lips against lips can bring, and the dream that maybe they're will be a second, and a third, and an infinite number to follow.
James Potter will kiss Lilly Evans on a corner leading to Madame Puddifoots and know exactly that feeling, and Lily Evans won't quite admit it, but she'll know it, too.
Peter Pettigrew will knock his tea to the ground, will expect that the day he has hoped and planned for for so long is ruined, but warm fingers will cup his chin, and gentle laughter will blow across his cheek, before soft lips capture his, and he will forget all about spilled tea in the feel of her pressed against him, and the warmth of her breath on his neck.
Sirius Black, however, will know the joy of every first in Hogsmeade but one, because he will never have a first kiss there, even though there are many who dream of exacting one from him. He will say that there is no girl he would spend his precious hours in the village with, but he will drag Moony everywhere with him, sending him away when he sees a jumper or a scarf or a book he thinks he might like. Remus will know what he's doing and go anyway, because he likes this pretence of secrecy between them that isn't secrecy at all.
Later, they will go to the Three Broomsticks. Sirius will press pints of butter beer into Remus's hands, telling him to shut up and put his money away. Remus will take the drink, and for a moment their hands will touch around the warmth of the glass, and they will both think of stolen kisses and the heat they might bring.
They will pull away, because boys don't think about such things with other boys, and they certainly don't act on it in public, but Sirius will say 'You'll have to pay me back for that drink, of course,' and Remus will smile and mean, I think I know away.
And that night, for the first time, he will show him how, as the world outside the shrieking shack grows cold and dark, and Sirius tastes butterbeer and chocolate on Remus's tongue.