HP: I got Transmigrated into the World of Magic [Chapter 119: First Kiss! ] (Patreon)

Oh, shit.

An involuntary grunt escapes when Hermione pushes off my chest and starts to run away. "Hermione, wait!"

She freezes with her back turned but says nothing.

"Hermione..." I begin, but I'm not sure what to say. "I...I'm sorry..."

She coughs out something between a laugh and a sob. "What are you sorry for?" She asks, back still turned.

"I...thought maybe I..."

"It was my fault, you didn't do anything..." Hermione sounds pained when she says that.

"I just...wasn't expecting it is all. I was looking at you, thinking about how..." I trail off, realizing now is probably not a good time to say that.

"Thinking about...?" Hermione asks, not letting that slide.

I let out a breath. "...how beautiful you looked, Hermione. I didn't even think about anything else until after lips had already touched."

She rubs her face with both sleeves, then turns her slightly splotchy face to meet mine. The redness is fading slowly. "William...I know you said that we couldn't...that we can't..."

"We shouldn't," I say, as that's the most accurate.

Hermione's shoulders droop. "I am so close to saying I don't care about that."

I close my eyes, not wanting to say that I'm close to the same thing. Of course, I catch her meaning that she really doesn't care, but she's only holding off on my account. And I do care. 

I am going to disappoint her, in the end, when she finds out how I've been lying to her, manipulating her and Harry. Getting into this would make that betrayal so much worse. But how do I get out of this? 

How do I get the point across without either hurting her or leading her on? Is that what I'm doing? I want to say that I wish things could be different, that I wish...

Then, suddenly, it hits me. "Hermione, talk to me again after the Third Task."

The probably sudden change in my expression surprises her. "What?"

"The Third Task," I repeat. "Our number one priority is getting Harry through the Third Task. I wouldn't feel right about...well, much of anything, if something happens to Harry."

Hermione's mouth opens and closes, then she flushes in embarrassment. "I can't believe how selfish I've been," she says, then her voice becomes a bit more determined. "We can't...get distracted now. Harry really does need us."

I smile at her thankfully. "Yes he does. Now I need to fix something really quick, then we can get back to work." I put one hand against her cheek, then slide it to the back of her head and lightly grasp a fistful of brown, bushy tangles. 

Her eyes widen in surprise when I tilt her head back and press my lips gently onto hers. She arches herself against me in response, her hand sliding up my back and into my hair. It lasts a wonderful but painfully brief moment.

"William..." she whines when we break apart, trying to suppress a shudder.

I'm torn between hitting myself for being so weak and giving in to that weakness and kissing her again. "Sorry, I figured we should have a proper first kiss, where we're both participating."

"That was my first kiss..." Hermione says in wonder, more to herself. She's holding her fingers to her lips as if trying to capture the feeling.

My smile falters at that.

"No, William, that's not a bad thing," she says, noting my expression. Then she blushes and smiles shyly, "in fact there was nothing bad at all about my first kiss."

"Well, I'm glad I got a chance to make it a good one." Then I give her a quick hug and kiss on the forehead. "Now, where were we?"

"We were kissing," she deadpans.

I look at her in shock for a moment, then bark out a laugh. "Oh no, Hermione, have I rubbed off on you even more?"

"I guess so," she agrees. "You have literally kissed me senseless."

"Oh hell, I think I did," I say with a laugh. "You aren't going to start hitting on portraits and stuff now, are you? Do you actually remember what we were doing? Because you never told me."

"Yes, I remember, William," she says, rolling her eyes. "I was just teasing you."

"Well, what was it? Do we need to do more experiments?"

"No, I think I've got enough for now to make a general conclusion," she says. "As we've said, it's not entirely critical to help Harry, so it should be good enough."

I look at her expectantly, and she looks at me confusedly, which makes me laugh. "So are you going to tell me the hypothesis or the conclusion?"

"Oh yeah! Well, there are two key facts. First, you don't seem to have the same limits on what you can make your magic do. Your display from early this year, your fake ultimate flare ritual thingy, completely wiped you out, right?"

"Ultima demi-flare," I say, smiling, "and yes it did."

"Well these tests here have shown that it takes less magical energy to do normal wizarding magic. Or, perhaps more precisely, the same amount of magical energy goes further if you use normal wizarding magic.”

“Of course this brings up several untestable hypotheses, like determining whether it is some sort of limitation of yours, or if magic itself is...I don't know, quasi-sentient or something, and works best when shaped a certain way."

"Well if I ever magically disappear to some other place with people like me, I'll send you an owl. Or whatever they use there."

She presses her lips together.

"Sorry," I say quickly. Note to self: joking about the kiss is okay, joking about disappearing is not. I quickly continue in order to change the subject. "I think you're on to something, though, Hermione. Maybe that whole ultima demi-flare thing will have to be retired."

My diversion is successful, since she mock-glares at me. I think she realizes I'm not going to do that again. "Yes, that would be wise."