Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Twenty Three

Heading down to the Black Lake during the evening when the moon was high in the sky, Hope took off her shoes to place her feet in the water, while she waited for Henry to arrive as he claimed he would meet her there. The water was still pretty cold for Hope as she retracted her feet from the cool water. She didn't understand how Henry could bear the cold water, but she was sure it was just a merfolk thing. Waiting patiently, she rocked back and forth on the grass until she heard splashing in the distance.

Squinting her eyes to adjust to the darkness, Hope tried to make out what was in the water. Perhaps it was the Giant Squid, something that Hope had been wanting to get a closer look at since she first heard about it from her family when she was younger. She had only been able to catch a glimpse of a long arm and tentacles, but she wanted to see the beautiful creature up close.

Rising to her feet, she neared the water, to where her toes were resting in the water to get a closer look.

It suddenly became silent, and Hope quickly realized she had just fallen into a trap.

"Oh no..."

A hand reached out of the water, wrapping around her wrist and pulling her right into the water. The water was freezing as Hope emerged coughing and spitting out the water.

She heard a splash in the water and then laughing, before she whipped her head to the side and saw Henry.

Hugging her arms around her body, she narrowed her eyes at him as her teeth chattered.

" Hope!" Henry called to her. "You look a tad bit cold there, my friend."

"This water is freezing, you git!"

"Oh it's not that bad, you just have to give it a few minutes and you'll get used to it."

"Or I'll become an ice cube, whichever comes first."

"Just give it five minutes, you'll live!" Henry laughed.

"And if I don't, I swear I'll come back as a bloody ghost and haunt you!"

"I invite you to." Henry responded before disappearing below the water, his blue tail being the last thing Hope saw.

"Oh I don't like this game." she grumbled. "I'm just going to slowly make my way out of the water..." She went to swim back towards the land but Henry wasn't about to let her get away that easily as he grabbed her foot.

She laughed as tried to pull her leg away, only to end up kicking him in the face.

'Ooops.."

Henry came out of the water holding his face with both hands.

"Oh...Henry, I am so sorry!" she told him. "I didn't mean to kick you in the face!"

"That's what happens when you kick your leg in the direction of someone's face, Hope! You wind up kicking them in the face."

"Well, perhaps your face shouldn't have been near my foot!"

"You were the one trying to get out of the water!"

"Because it's freezing! I might as well be pronounced dead with what my body temperature is right now!"

He made a face before placing his hands back over his face. "Ow, that really did hurt..."

Hope frowned. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to kick you in the face. It's a reflex really...something grabs you...kick."

"You knew it was me!"

"Did I? Did I really, Henry?"

"Yes! You did. Merlin...I think ...I think I'm bleeding! I'm bleeding!"

Hope pressed her lips together knowing all too well that Henry was not very big when it came to looking at blood. She remembered the time just before they started Hogwarts when Hope fell out of the tree the two were climbing. She got a pretty nasty gash on her knee that was bleeding heavily and before Henry could help her, he fainted.

Hope prayed that he wouldn't faint in the water, because it meant that she was going to have to drag the merboy up to the Hospital Wing.

"Calm down, Henry, you're going to work yourself into a frenzy." she said swimming to him. "Here, let me see."

"No..don't-"

"Henry, I'm not asking." she said grabbing his hands and pulling them away from his face. Instantly, she saw the blood and grimaced.

"Oh it's bad, isn't it? I can just tell by your face."

"No, it's not that bad." she said calmly. "It's actually not bad at all. You just have a small cut over the bridge of your nose. It's not even internally bleeding. You're fine."

"Doesn't feel fine," he muttered.

"Do you want a kiss to make it all better?" she said in a mocking tone.

"Actually..." he grinned at her.

"Henry.." she said in a warning tone. "Don't you..."

"Pucker up, Weasley!"

She giggled as she tried to swim away.

"Oh you can't out swim me!"

Suddenly, the two heard bubbling sounds in the distance.

"Gross, Henry."

"That wasn't me!"

The two looked out to see a disturbance in the water. A minute later, Hope gasped loudly before clapping her hands over her mouth as she proceeded to squeal loudly.

"Henry!" Her hands gripped his shoulders and shook him. "It's the Giant Squid! It's the Giant Squid!"

"I wouldn't know...I can't see because...YOU KEEP SHAKING ME!"

"My life is complete...I can die happy now!" Hope cried out as she and Henry entered the castle after she nearly froze to death in the water watching the Giant Squid. The squid didn't remain long but she was just incredibly happy to see it.

Henry walked beside her pulling his hair back and wringing it out. Flinching every time Hope's shoes squeaked.

"Did you have to wear those shoes, Hope?"

"You're the one who pulled me into the water!" She squeaked them aggressively at him.

"Stop it!"

"Never!"

She squeaked them louder.

"Give me those shoes!" He dropped down and grabbed her leg to pull the shoes off.

"No! These are my shoes!"

"Not anymore, I'm going to destroy them!"

Hope fell to the ground as she tried to prevent him from taking her shoes, the two of them wrestled back and forth, unaware of the two professors watching them in the distance.

"Should...we stop them?" Neville asked looking to Kefira.

"No way, I'm about to give Hope a chair! Give him the chair!"

"Kefi, we can't hit students with chairs!"

"I'm not the one doing the hitting...I'm simply offering a tool...it's really up to them how they choose to use it."

"Please don't tell me you've been teaching Armina any of this!" Neville groaned.

Before Kefira could answer, they were interrupted by a triumphant call as Henry jumped up with Hope's shoes in hand and ran off the opposite way.

"Get back here!" Hope yelled after him as she chased him.

"I'm going to throw these into the fireplace!"

"Black, don't you dare!"