The hoots and catcalls from the students in the Great Hall filled Ginny’s ears. “Come on!” “Woo!” “Kiss her already!” “Pucker up, Weasley!” She closed her eyes to shut them out. Maybe if she just ignored them, then they’d all go away. Like magic. She sighed. That had never worked with her brothers though. Maybe if she could learn a spell to make the Earth rise up and swallow you whole.
Yeah, that was the ticket. Damn Earth wasn’t cooperating though.
Ginny cracked one eye open to look up at the pale faced boy who stood in front of her. Was it just her imagination or did Draco look paler than ever?
“Draco and Ginny sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” screeched Lavender Brown before she erupted in a fit of helpless giggles. That was witty, Ginny thought wryly, Lavender clearly has a long and fruitful career as a dimwit ahead of her.
Draco was scowling more than ever now. He kept looking up at the mistletoe that hung above them as if he were trying to make it spontaneously combust. Ginny rather hoped it would work. If the mistletoe wasn’t there, then she wouldn’t have to kiss him. In front of the entire school.
Damn mistletoe wasn’t cooperating though.
She glanced around the Great Hall. All the Hufflepuffs were standing up to get a better view. The Ravenclaws were sniggering as if they had never seen anything funnier. The Gryffindors and Slytherins were all torn between being amused and being ill. Ginny’s brother, Ron, was pretending to vomit into his goblet of pumpkin juice.
“Come on,” whined a particularly annoying Hufflepuff who Ginny wished would die a painful, horrible, gruesome, ugly death. A death with lots of blood. Ooh! Ooh! Or maybe she could contract some rare disease that ate away at her insides. Painfully. “You two are under the mistletoe. You have to kiss. It‘s tradition.”
Ginny violently cursed that moment when she had decided to leave the Great Hall. That same moment that had just happened to be the same moment Draco Malfoy had decided to leave the Great Hall. Thus, they walked under the mistletoe together. Thus, the hell began.
Malfoy folded his arms across his chest. “It’s a stupid tradition,” he scoffed. For once in her life, Ginny heartily agreed with Malfoy.
“You’re not getting out of here until you kiss her!” shrieked the annoying girl, emphasizing the word kiss for extra irritation. Visions of transfiguring her into a fruitcake danced in Ginny’s head.
Draco sighed and squared his shoulders. He shot a withering glare over his shoulder at the Hufflepuuff. As he leaned towards her a frightening (and oddly exciting) thought occurred to Ginny: Ohmigod! He’s going to kiss me! Her mind whirled in a frenzy of nervousness. She tried to remind herself of all the things she should do when kissed while simultaneously taking in every sensation.
Don’t open your mouth. Don’t open your mouth. Do NOT open your mouth.
Oooh. He smells good, like the woods after rain and some other scent that was like... money.
Keep your hands North of the border! On second thought, no touching! Touching is bad. Bad! Bad! You break it, you buy it.
The crowd “ooh”ed and “ahh”ed in unison as Draco’s lips descended on Ginny’s. Even Ron stopped barfing into his drink to stare at the pair of them. Ginny didn’t hear them whisper amongst themselves. All thoughts immediately left her head other than “Kissing is good. Me like to kiss.”
Just as quickly as it began, it stopped. Ginny slowly opened her eyes. Draco was looking down at her curiously. Neither one heard the Great Hall burst into applause and whistles. Ginny opened her mouth to say something. In her brain it had been something intelligent and endearing but in reality it was a squeaky “Eughhh....” It looked like she’d be enjoying the same illustrious career as Lavender Brown.
She was surprised to see Draco wink at her before walking away with his goons, leaving her standing there like an idiot.
“I can’t believe you kissed her,” said Goyle, stupidly.
“It’s tradition, right...?” his voice was carried away by the sounds of her friends running over to her. Some of them were laughing, others were shocked that they had actually gone through with it. They whisked her away to first period, chattering about who they would like to get caught under the mistletoe with.
“Maybe I’ll walk under it with Malfoy too,” giggled someone, Ginny was in too much of a daze to recognize who. “He’s so hot. Was he a good kisser, Ginny?”
It was that moment that she realized that she had forgotten to keep her mouth shut.
Damn mistletoe.