14 Sept 1923
9:00pm
”Rook and Morgan sitting in a tree…”
For the past week the rumors and pestering had been relentless.
”Come on mate. What are you waitin’ for? Too afraid to snog the Professor’s Daughter?”
They were kidding right? Both Barlowe’s could make him disappear, and be happy doing it.
"The hard part's done, mate. She already likes you."
That was SO not the hard part.
"You're holdin' hands like you're eighty years old."
He had nothing to say to this. He liked holding her hand. A lot. If that made him eighty, well then sign him up for the old folks home.
"Didn't you threaten a bloke twice your size? But a five foot nothin' Gryffindor's too dangerous?"
Ummm… Have they met her?!
"Maybe ask Professor Barlowe’s permission first."
The boys snickered loudly at that one. He wouldn’t be doing that. He liked his head attached securely to his shoulders, thank you very much.
”We’re just friends.” He tried to deflect. To which the entire dorm yelled, ”OOOOOOOOOOOH!” Prat’s, every last one of them.
“Just friends? You held hands for six hours! And don’t think I didn’t see you playing with her hair on the train, cause I did.” He had nothing to say to that either. He held her hand for six hours, not stopping until they had to head to their dorms. And the hair thing was correct as well.
With no other recourse, he got up and flipped off the entire room. "Ah, feck off." he said, walking out of the dorm. He’d come back later… much later, when they were all asleep.
15 Sept 1923
9:30 am
It was happening…
Today was the day. No more denying it. He liked Morgan Barlow. Mysty.. Myst. Whatever. She was gorgeous and he wanted to snog her.
A lot.
Aww fuck this… he thought, turning back around to head back to the dorm… No… THEY were in the dorm. He couldn’t deal with another day of pushing him.
He wanted to kiss her.
Maybe not for months. Months ago he'd been perfectly happy just holding her hand. Somewhere along the way that had changed, and now his stupid brain refused to think about anything else.
Walking down the steps and out the main door to the grounds, he looked like a man on a mission. People tried to stop him to talk, he ignored them. Muttering things under his breath to help psych himself up.
We’re friends. Like GOOD friends. We hold hands. There was that one time she blushed and bit her lip. That HAD to mean something. Yeah, totally. She’s into me. She likes me.”
He walked with purpose towards the lake, vision blurry, moving on autopilot. By the time the dark water was in view, he had worked himself up like a fighter before a match. Adrenaline pumping with only one thing on his mind.
Mysty.
As he got closer, he saw her there, standing by a tree. Looking beautiful as always. Hair long, smile on her face when she saw him. He got closer, never losing steam as he approached her. She said something, he heard it, but didn’t process any of it.
She was still talking. He had absolutely no idea what she'd said. His brain had stopped processing the moment she smiled.
Without allowing himself time to think, he walked right up to her, took her face in his hands and kissed her.
It took a few beats before his mind caught up with his actions. His eyes opened, because at some point they closed between touching her face and kissing her lips. He couldn’t read what her face was saying. Shock maybe? Surprise? Pure unadulterated loathing? He really hoped not.
”Shit Myst… I am… Hi… wow… Sorry… But yeah… Not really sorry. Been wanting to do that for a while now.”
He took a step back, his hands dropped away, letting her have a moment to collect herself. If she rejected him now, he was pretty sure he'd throw himself into the lake.
As far as first kisses went, it wasn't his best showing. Hopefully she would allow him to make it up to her… Repeatedly.
It was like a pressure point. All last term, no one said anything to her about Brooks. Well, Tilly had that one time, but then it was dropped. Until Julia mentioned it. BUT BESIDES THAT, everyone else had been FINE with her and Rook and their friendship.
But something happened at the Opening Feast, or even before that when they were on the Hogwarts Express. Ever since then, she felt eyes on her. For a couple of days it seemed to be fine, though, until the girls in her dorm began speaking up.
“The hand holding. MORGAN. The hand holding."
"He looks at you like you hung the moon and you're sat there talking about David."
"Has it occurred to you that boys don't just hold girls' hands for six hours because they're friends."
"Even David likes him and David likes nobody."
Morgan shrugged it all off. They were FRIENDS. She didn’t want to overcomplicate things. So what if they held hands, or hugged, or spent all their free time together? So what if David never screamed the way he did when Benji grabbed him? So what if just being around him was her favorite thing on earth to do?
It didn’t matter. She remembered vividly what happened the last time she had a crush on someone and while she kept things tucked away in the over-flowing drawer in her head, she refused to address them.
No matter how annoying the other girls were. No matter how aware she was that they were being watched anytime they were together. Even the portraits were watching!
All of this was going through her head as she leaned up against the tree at the Black Lake, waiting for her boy – best friend to arrive. He was late. Again. Because he was always late. But she had something important to talk about. The drawer was overflowing and the words of the girls in her dorm were causing it to not shut anymore. She’d have to address it.
When she finally spotted him coming across the grounds with the specific walk he had, she felt the familiar thing in her stomach and ignored it the way she’d been ignoring it for a while now.
“You’re late,” she said when he was close enough. “Again. You’re always late, do you know that? It’s like you have a specific gift for it, some people have a talent for music or languages but yours is apparently showing up exactly when it’s least–”
He grabbed her face. She immediately shut her mouth.
And then he kissed her.
Morgan’s brain stopped mid-sentence. Completely. Her mouth was occupied so even if her brain was capable, she wouldn’t be able to speak anyways.
She didn’t pull back. That was the first thing she was aware of. She didn’t pull back and she didn’t push him away and her hands apparently decided to grab his robes without consulting her because there they were, fisted in the fabric at his chest.
When it ended, she stood very still. The lake behind him, the grounds around them, everything just continued like nothing had happened.
”Shit Myst… I am… Hi… wow… Sorry… But yeah… Not really sorry. Been wanting to do that for a while now.”
He stepped back, and her hands loosened, but still held the fabric. She looked up at him, unsure of what to say. “You interrupted me,” she heard herself say. “I was saying something important.”
What was it she’d been saying? She couldn’t remember so she couldn’t even begin to try to tell him what it was. She could ignore that bit.
She looked down at her hands that were now only loosely grabbing his robes. She bit her lip slightly, and then looked up at him again, her eyes wide.
“Do it again.”
Morgan's words hung in the air. "Do it again."
Brooks blinked. "...What?" Surely he heard her wrong. Looking down, he noticed her hands still clutching his robes. Still standing close enough for him to count every freckle on her nose.
His heart was trying to escape through his ribs.
A slow grin spread across his face. That signature Rook smirk. Before long he was laughing, rubbing both hands over his face.
"Feckin hell..." he muttered, shaking his head. "I spent the whole walk over here convinced you were about to punch me."
His blue eyes found hers again. "Or jinx me." Another smirk, ”or both.”
He took a second to take in every detail of his face. Feeling like he was allowed to look now. Before, if he spent too long cataloging each eyelash and highlight in her hair, he was afraid she would call him out on staring. But now, he could look his fill.
"Y'know..." he whispered, unable to stop smiling, "...you're still hangin' onto me."
He wasn't making fun of her, and he didn’t want her to stop. Quite the opposite.
Without taking the time to question his actions, Brooks hand found hers, untangling her fingers from his robes so he could lace them with his own. That felt... right.
He gave her hand a small squeeze. "Good. ‘Cause I've been wantin' to do that for ahile now. Turns out I’m a coward.”
His free hand reached up, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear like he'd done a hundred times before. Only this time, instead of letting his hand drop, he kept it cradling her jaw and leaned in again.
This kiss wasn't rushed. There was no charging across the castle grounds. No adrenaline. No panic. Just Brooks and Morgan. Rook and Mysty.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead lightly against hers, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. "Yeah. That one was better." He said, kissing her on the temple, letting his lips linger.
Then, because he was still Brooks, a teenage boy and an idiot when it came to girls, he groaned and said. "The lads are going to be absolutely unbearable when they find out."
He didn’t kiss her. Not right away. Morgan bit her lip as she peered up at him, her eyes looking from his eyes to his lips and back again as he spoke. She loved the grin when he grinned, she loved his laugh when he laughed. Mostly, she loved being so close to him.
And even more than that – she loved his lips when they were on hers. He seemed to focus on her again and she smiled softly, releasing her lip. She finally got to truly look at him, and she knew that he was doing the same.
The normal Morgan would give him shit. The normal Morgan had been in the process of giving him shit when he interrupted her rant about him being late. Again. Because he was perpetually late.
But this Rook, he had broken her. The armor she’d so carefully crafted and attempted to hold together was gone now. She didn’t have anything to hide, she had nothing to keep from him.
It was strange. She thought back to everything the girls had been saying to her since the Opening Feast. Hell – everything Tilly had said last fall. And everything Julia had said in the spring.
"Y'know...you're still hangin' onto me."
Morgan looked back at her hands just as he took one of them in his. Her other hand held firmly to the fabric of his robes, unwilling to let go. Though, she had to admit it felt good to have his hand back in hers already.
She looked back up just in time for him to brush hair behind her ear, like he often did. She couldn’t help but to smile up at him slightly when he didn’t let his hand drop from her face. Instead, he leaned in, and she closed her eyes.
This kiss was better than the first one. Softer. Less desperate. The boundary had been crossed, and there was no going back. Now everyone would have to watch them snog all the time, too.
He rested his forehead against hers, and she locked eyes with him.
"The lads are going to be absolutely unbearable when they find out."
Morgan laughed slightly, smirking while looking up at him. “The girls have known since the train…” she responded and then, because she couldn’t help it, she stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his again. This was going to be a problem.
Time was moving, the sun moving across the sky. Birds were singing, leaves falling, the giant squid floating on the surface of the lake. Brooks noticed none of it.
All his attention was focused on Morgan. His Mysty.
For two people with very little snogging experience, he thought they were doing pretty damn good at this whole kissing thing. Pulling away once again, he looked down at her lips. Puffy and red, looking all the more kissable because of it.
Running his thumb across her lower lip he smiled. Then his brain came back online and a small voice began nagging him. If they walked into the castle at this moment, everyone would know exactly what they had been doing. It was obvious.
What if… ”So, Myst…” He hesitated. Not wanting to pop their perfect bubble, but now becoming increasingly more nervous.
”Umm… What do you think your parents are going to say when they find out? I mean… I don’t think it’s possible to keep it from them. My mom won’t care, as long as I’m happy and we aren’t populating the earth.”
He laughed, then realized what he said. God he was a f’eckin idiot. ”Sorry… That was not… I shouldn’t have… Whatever. I mean. Do you think your parents will attempt to kill me? I really hope not, because I really like kissing you and don’t want them to make us stop.”
He was rambling. He never rambled. It wasn’t his thing, but apparently talking about his potential murder caused all sorts of things to happen.
Morgan’s brain caught on one word: Populating.
Her eyes went slightly wide for approximately one second before she forced her face back into something neutral. She was not going to react to that. She had not reacted to that. Moving on.
“Your mum sounds reasonable,” she said, which was the safest thing she could find to say.
And then… the actual question landed.
Her parents.
Morgan thought about her dad first, which was just natural, and then immediately wished she hadn’t because her dad had portraits everywhere and the portraits talked to each other across the whole castle and she had explained this to Rook herself in the bookshop when they first met and somehow – somehow she had not thought about this until right now standing at the Black Lake with her lips still warm.
On the one hand, they were outside. On the other… someone probably saw. Someone always saw everything at Hogwarts. Which meant someone was probably talking about it within the walls, which meant a portrait – at least one – already knew. Which meant… her father would know any second.
“The portraits…” she said, slightly softly. “The portraits already know.”
She looked at him, her eyes serious. “Which means dad already knows.”
She paused.
“Which means Julia already knows.” She closed her eyes briefly. “Julia is going to be so smug about this. You don’t understand. She’s going to be completely insufferable and she’s going to be right and that’s the worst part.”
She opened her eyes, locking onto his.
“My dad might actually kill you though… just so you’re aware.”
Morgan squeezed his hand. “I’ll put in a good word.”
The thought of populating anything was still running around in her brain and she was doing her best to completely ignore it. She’d been obsessed with the thought of kissing Brooks for ages and now for that to enter her brain?
Nope. She would not acknowledge it. Not one bit.
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