The final owl had been sent that morning, at breakfast, so that Neely could watch for his reaction. Over the past week she had sent him a few others, mysterious enough, but also obvious in terms where they had come from. Each gave one gave bit of information: the meeting time, what to bring (himself), clues about what might be happening, and finally where to show up. But the main even had been kept under wraps, teased only vaguely in pretty green ink, perfumed paper, and a flourish of bubbly letters. Whenever he asked her about it, Neely played dumb and filled the time with kisses.

Over the past couple of months, they had tried all sorts of things. Neely was proud of herself, of the triumph (and slight surprise) that came with making Julian shiver and… other things. It was always the sort of study break one looked forward to, even if there were plenty of milestones to reach and little improvements to be made. It’s not like anyone had offered either of them a map. (It didn’t mean she hadn’t looked outside of the library for helpful books and glossies). Whatever awkwardness it brought, Neely thought they had a truce not to share that with anyone else. If she shared some things with Jordyn, it didn’t count, it was necessary.

They had both learned a lot, improved quickly. And Julian had been classy enough to loan her his jacket when they wandered off to less crowded parts of the castle.

If there was a checklist in her diary, she wasn’t nerdy enough to bring it with her to the boathouse. The place had been spruced up nicely with floating candles, chicer than the ones in the Great Hall, which cast pretty shadows on the wooden walls and added to the shifting shapes the quiet tide made. There were also a few on the ground near a woven, tasseled green blanket and some throw pillows in varying shades of cream and off-white. It was laid out where the wall met the floor, several feet from the docks. She had brought a charmed thermos of a very-appetizing looking drink, peach-colored, fragrant, and frozen… and spiked with something she had smuggled in from Hogsmeade. Half of it had already been poured into two glass goblets, and the other half was just waiting to give them a second boost of liquid courage.

Near the start of the docks was one of the school’s many wooden boats, but this one was much nicer, thanks to Neely Woolfolk. It was full of more pillows and cushier blankets, freshly laundered sheets, plus a few things Neely knew they would need.

She waited, staring scrutinizingly at the boat with her wand at her side, her back to the boathouse entrance. She thought it was all perfect, but she wouldn’t really know until Julian showed up. Even Neely doubted herself sometimes. Tonight was possibly the most important night of her time at Hogwarts (NEWTs who?).

---

title reference

Julian had opened each letter with excitement and apprehension. He had a pretty good idea of who was sending it (after all, her handwriting was difficult to replicate, and her lips... he had a fair amount of experience with those, even pressed as reminders into the paper). He had tried to pry it from her since the first letter, but she had been rather close-lipped about the entire situation.

Or she had been rather open and closed lipped about it... He had yet to get tired of kissing her. Add in all the other things they had dabbled in, and he was a happy boy indeed. What else were they to spend their hours of freedom between classes doing? Studying? That only filled so much time. Plus, Neely had him enrolled in extra-curricular activities that he wanted to be the top of his game in.

Maybe it helped that she had a lot of opinions and was willing to tell him which way was good and what to not do ever again. It was important to Julian to at least try; he couldn’t write home for tips on these sorts of things. The most important thing was remembering that practice made perfect. Eventually.

He’d finally finished the present he had been making for her, but when the letters started coming, he decided to wait on giving it to her until she gave in to him. Julian thought it was fair, plus it let him get excited for her reaction. After the sculpting and curing, he had spent time with his magnifying glasses to paint it. It was small but he didn’t want it to be sloppy.

After classes had let out, Julian had grabbed a snack to munch on while he cleaned up. He left his tie in the dormitories, opening the top couple buttons on his shirt before rereading the letters to make sure he had it all correct in his head. Julian swallowed the biscuit before heading out, resurfacing to the ground level of the castle. He slipped out the door, glancing to the sun set in the later part of the afternoon.

Why did he have butterflies? He juggled the small boxed gift he had as he made his way as nonchalantly as possible towards the boathouse (which was to say, a little too obvious to anyone paying a lot of attention to him).

His knuckles rasped against the door, glancing around as he waited for the invite. Finally he smirked and pushed open the door, stepping in. He didn’t really take anything in, not yet, as he glanced over quickly until he saw her. She made his chest hurt while his stomach did back flips. “How interesting to find you here-” He shut the door, smirking as he put his free hand in his pocket, “-when you denied any involvement with the letters.”

Neely turned to look over her shoulder at the sound of the knock, her heart jumping as if someone had shoved a hyper kitten inside of it. It was the right pattern of knocks, and so she knew it was Julian, which only made her more nervous. (Unless, of course, it was a professor had confiscated her letters and worked up an elaborate scheme to land her in detention. Which would provide a different and less pleasant sort of jumping heart).

Neely took a few steps towards the door, which opened to reveal that it was, indeed, the St. James boy. She took him in, his boyish smirk, his sharp attire, the box at his side. Immediately Neely’s koala cheeks spread into a huge, gleaming-teeth grin.

At his words, she tilted her chin up a bit and bit her lip casually, though the expression still revealed some of her giddy excitement. “No one ever said I wasn’t a brilliant actress.” She shrugged her shoulders upward, tilting her head into one of them, and then grinned wide again, taking a few steps toward him. Neely paused only inches away, and looked down at their feet, eyes roaming slowly up. For a moment her face was pensive, a little apprehensive, or nervous, but sincere. She reached out to grab his wrists and used them like anchors to lunge herself up on tippy-toes. “Did I surprise you?” She asked, pleased that things had gone according to plan. “What if you had walked into a trap? All for me.” She was still smiling as she pressed her lips toward his.

Neely came back down onto her feet and breathed in heavily. “I thought we could… Have some fun.” She looked her shoulder again, first pausing at the blanket near the wall, and then turning further to settle her gaze on the boat and extra pillows. She looked back at home, eyes gazing up under thick lashes. “You know, the most fun.”

She began to tug him toward the blanket, walking backwards and trusting that Julian would let her lead him straight into the lake. He was not George Carter. “I have drinks.” She looked from his face down to the box in his hand again, seeming to ask silently and what do you have? But if it was a surprise, Neely wanted to be surprised. Or maybe he’d figured it out and brought extra supplies. Did you need a box like that for… that? Should she tell him she had it covered? What was the protocol? She looked at him again, smiled quickly, then turned a bit to make sure she kept her balance.

As she sank down onto the blanket pulling him, with her, she leaned into him again, lips first, hands on either side of his waist, Neely stretched up on her knees. She kissed him with humming desire, as if she hadn’t seen him earlier that day, or as if she still had a a lot to show him. For some reason, it was right and comforting that he was wearing suspenders. As she tilted her head to kiss his neck, her eyes shot down his front.

He loved to see her smile. It really brought out her eyes, when they lit up with it. She had varying degrees of smiling, of course, from annoyed to over-excited. “You should go into drama. I was convinced.” Except he wasn’t. But that was ok, it was part of the facade. He broke his gaze with hers, looking her over as she stepped closer. Julian thought the whole world could hear the pounding of blood against his hears.

A nod answered her question before he took a slow breath in, holding it as he looked her face over. “That wouldn’t be the first time.” He smirked, regardless, and pressed against her lips. It wasn’t as if their detention hadn’t been productive, all that time ago. Look where they were now! Sure, they had their ups and downs... what Hogwarts couple didn’t? Especially when one decides to date Neely Woolfolk! That was a lot of expectation around certain crowds of the school.

His lips followed after hers for a moment before he blinked and straightened up, smiling closed lipped at her thought. Eyes glanced over her shoulder to where she gazed, a mildly confused look slipping over his features, finally hearing her words. Eyebrows rose and his mouth opened just barely. “R-really? Like... like what kind of-” He swallowed.

Julian stepped forward, steering her gently, slowly, towards her already determined destination. He saw the look she gave his hand, shifting the box around a bit as he pulled her to his left slightly, missing a small box in the process. “I am a little parched.” His mind was going a thousand kilometers a minute; did she mean fun like he thought she had meant it? He was already getting excited, and he wasn’t even completely sure she wasn’t just toying with him.

Not that that would be a bad thing. They had had plenty of fun, toying with each other. He was an eager study if nothing else.

When she pulled him down, he nearly stumbled over it. Julian caught himself and got situated, having barely time to catch his breath before she was on him. Not that he minded! He responded to her advances, both hands moving to hold her when he realized he still had the box. His hand set it down before holding her waist, teasing her parted lips with his exploratory tongue.

He would have had to be... not a post-puberty Hogwarts boy to not be effected like he was. Julian swallowed again, catching his breath as she kissed his neck. Fingers moved over the fabric of her dress, skimming across her low back.

Julian cleared his throat and smiled, hand fumbling for that box and offering it to her, showing it between them, under her, so she should see it if she was so inclined. “I, uh... I made s-something for you.” His head craned to the side, brushing her hair out of his way as he kissed her earlobe, sucking on it gently while his hand moved down, further, to her soft thighs before he started once again back up, under the material.

Neely knew she was a great actress, but Julian’s words made her want to quit school and fly off into the sunset— in a chicer way than the Weasleys— and become an actress. Except dropping out wasn’t so chic, really. And she needed to pass her exams and get the Trace off her back. If everything had been a little more obvious than Julian said, he was a very good boyfriend.

Her smile redoubled, somehow, as he recalled the last trap they’d been in. Ugh, Bombay. But Neely supposed she owed him a thank you owl for bringing her closer to the adorable, talented, obviously brilliant creature in front of her. (Not that they wouldn’t have found each other on their own.)

“R-really? Like... like what kind of-”

She delighted in the words he stumbled over. “Like the…” Neely lowered her voice and looked around him, toward the door. She wanted to be classy about it… and now was not the time to earn detention. She was not leaving this boathouse without losing something first. “All the way kind.” She waited only briefly for his reaction, though, before they headed for the blanket.

Kissing him was more important than quenching their thirst at the moment. A shiver ran down her spine as his fingers settled on her back, and Neely pressed up into him, the mouth on his neck intent. If she left a mark that let everyone know he was he taken— not that they didn’t already— it was only a bonus.

At his words, her eyes opened again, looking down once more and this time catching the box. She pulled back slowly, but curiously, and her hands gently landed over his as Julian’s mouth started to distract. She laughed and shifted, but not away from him. “Wait,” she said, nearly squealing. “I want to see it.” But she did want to see where his hands went, too… Just as hers started to undo the box, Neely drew in a sharp breath; the air felt heavy and her skin hot and tingly as Julian’s hands explored her thighs. She batted at one of his arms, but hardly enough to suggest she really wanted him to stop. Neely reached out with one hand, using him to keep her balance, and grabbed one of the peachy drinks. She shoved it at him, then continued with the box, much of her limbs still entangled with his.

Grinning ear to ear, she finally got the box open.

“Julian.” It was perfect. Her eyes were wide as she stared at it. Neely held it in one palm as her other arm slid over his shoulder. “It’s the cutest!” Tilting her head to the side, she tried to catch his, and was able to get his cheek at weird angle, pecking it as if they were playing a game of tag. Soon she was forcing him to put the drink off to the side, and toppling him back onto the blanket. Legs on either side of his, skirt hiked up a little too much in the back, she leaned down to kiss him— but pulled back just before her lips met his and very carefully reached past his head to set the little gift down so that it watched them. Then her forehead bumped with his and Neely kissed him again, teeth tugging lightly at his lip as she smiled into it. One of her hands stayed up by his neck, but the other was roaming down now, toward where his shirt and trousers met. Exploring over the material.

Her words would have caused more stumbling from him if he hadn’t been speechless. Julian’s eyes widened as he looked at her, mouth parted slightly as he remembered to breathe. He cleared his throat and tried really hard to think of a suave response. Nothing was coming. “Oh, oh, yeah, of course.” The grin was stuck to his face, however, and he was already getting excited.

The kissing was nice; he didn’t even realize what she might be doing to his neck. Julian was so wrapped up in the moment that he didn’t care if he came out looking like he’d gotten into a fight with the Whomping Willow. Right now, it was worth it. The stories that would go with it would be even better; everyone knew what bruises on the neck were from, after all. He had had a few already, since dating Neely again.

Of course the box was distracting her. The insistent swat had his hands stopping in pursuit of her undergarments, accepting the glass with slight indignation. Julian sighed and pulled back, trying hard to not acknowledge what she had already done to him and his well fit trousers. He shifted just slightly and played with a suspender as she messed with the box, gulping down the delicious drink with hardly a thought. It was something to keep him busy.

Her reaction to the gift, however, was exactly what he’d wanted. He grinned and tried to kiss her back, easily reacting to her, trying to set the glass down without just knocking everything over. Heart beat quickened as he found himself on his back, hands moving over her while he moved up to meet her lips. When he didn’t get there within a reasonable reach of his head, he looked to what she was doing, craning to see the unicorn.

He laughed and kissed her back, allowing her to do as she wanted. If his heart thumped harder, it was partially due to their close proximity and partially because she’d told him what they were doing. Noisier breaths escaped against her lips as he felt her roaming hand; his own moved over the back of her thighs, pushing the dress further up. Unsure hands moved up to try and find the zipper, finally grasping it and pulling it down slowly, his other hand following behind and feeling her soft skin under it.

No matter how much he’d grown up learning the female fashion, Julian did not have the best knowledge of bras. Once the zip was down, both hands fought to try and get it off, pulling one way and then the other. He paused in the kiss, head pulled back as he frowned. “How... do you even get these on...”

If they weren’t both somewhat inexperienced, Neely’s smile might have been more of the laughing kind rather than matching-his-excitement and pleased-with-herself kind. It took a few more minutes before she realized his other reaction. Even though she’d seen it by now, it was still always a little… surprising… the way it just… popped there against the material of his clothes and her shifting limbs. Her cheeks going a little pink as her mouth played with his neck, she peered down again and dared herself to shift a little more purposefully.

The gift was a nice interlude, a way to catch her breath and let her face go back to its normal color. Sort of. With the unicorn as their guardian, though, they were soon at it again, this time horizontally. The feel of his hands returning and exploring further made her breathe out against his skin.

As Julian navigated her clothes, Neely’s hand continued to do the same, in a sense. Fingers pressed in over his belt, her palm feeling hot all of the sudden, as if she were holding her wand, but more intense. The pinkness was quickly returning to her face, but it was ok: she was in good company.

She sat up a little as finally got the dress unzipped and started to shift it down over her chest. She helped, letting it bunch at her hips. Neely grinned into another kiss, tongue moving past teeth to help capture his mouth. Her hands slid back up, joining at the topmost button of his shirt, undoing a few, slowly, before sliding out to the suspenders and pulling them down over his shoulders. Laughing into the corner of his mouth, she kissed his cheek quickly and sat back a little.

Neely looked at him carefully before letting her hands take a break from his clothes. She reached back carefully and unhooked the garment, letting the two parts of the band fall open in the back. Her hands came up to the front, cupping what little bit of material was left on her top half. “Here,” she whispered, waiting for his hands to join hers, to pull at the straps. She felt her heart speed up again, matching the beat she’d felt in his chest while playing with buttons.

When it was discarded, Neely bit her lip and grabbed his hands, encouraging them (nervously) to explore where they’d left off. For all of the magazines she’d read, none offered advice on how to combat the wonderful panic of having someone look at her chest. Minus a few supportive layers. Even if it had happened a few times before.

After several more minutes of intense snogging and touching, Neely started to finish unbuttoning his shirt. With the suspenders down and the shirt completely open, Julian neared matched her level of clothedness. Breathlessly, she shifted carefully on his lap and began to stand up slowly, pulling at his hand. It was easier, then, to let the dress drop to the ground, where as before it had been trapped between them. Neely slipped out of her shoes (which looked ridiculous, with the rest of what she was wearing… or not wearing…) and leaned up on tippy toes again to kiss him, arms going around his neck. She paused, breathing heavily, to look over her shoulder at the boat. She looked back at him with a sudden honesty, even if her voice betrayed a laugh. "Should we bring the unicorn?"

Her hand was so close; Julian felt an all too familiar tugging in his lower abdomen, a breath of a groan escaping him as he closed his eyes. He couldn’t help pressing up, pushing her hand further into the band of his trousers. At least suspenders left one less thing to have to move out of the way; he detested belts, personally, on himself. As an accessory for a girl with a dress or long shirt, of course it was cute. That was different. Accessory versus necessity.

Julian wanted to get this right; he just didn’t understand the puzzle of the bra. He shifted just slightly so that the suspenders weren’t pulling at his shoulders, slipping them down off his arms as he repositioned himself. His attention was elsewhere, watching and observing and learning. Even if his cheeks flushed from her laugh and teasing kiss, he was still curious. That she did it so easily was even more of a defeat, but he found his concern melting as... it all slipped away. Fingers moved up her arms, brushing gently over her skin as he accepted her invitation.

The butterflies in his stomach were threatening to burst through; it was almost as real as what was straining against his trousers. It was uncomfortable in a good way. With the supporting garment now gone, his eyes widened as he stared. Julian really did enjoy seeing them, and he hadn’t always gotten the best view from their snogging and exploring sessions before. He accepted her help, having been momentarily spellbound by them, eagerly taking over where she left them.

He squeezed and turned, his clammy palms trying to... best hold. They fit perfectly, in his opinion, and he stared at them and played for as long as she let him. Their kissing resumed, his awkward handling disrupted as he tried to focus on more than one thing at a time. Julian worried, some small part in the back of his mind, that she might not like what she uncovered. Even if they had been uncovered before, had gone to bathtub-pool parties and...

Well. The shirt was unbuttoned, so there was no turning back. As she stood, his hands lost their hold. He followed her lead, pushing himself up onto his hands as she stood over him, her dress bunched up on the floor. If his eyes had been big before, that was nothing compared to how they were now, staring at Neely in her nearly-full birthday suit. Julian swallowed audibly before scrambling carefully to his feet.

Where she stood up on tip toes, he bent down a little, kissing her as his own arm wrapped around her. His free hand did slide up, cupping her even as they kissed. Eyes found the uncovered prize when she stopped their snogging, blinking at her question. “What?” He looked over at where she had looked, trying hard to piece it together. Then it finally did, and he laughed as well, looking first to her face and then... further down.

“You’ve been giving it a front row seat so far. It seems only right to bring it along.” Now that his suspenders weren’t doing what they were supposed to, his trousers were threatening to drop off his nonexistent hips. They sagged slightly with his boxers helping to hold them up.

She knew she was doing something right, by the way he was breathing. It thrilled her, to make him breathe like that; by now the blush seemed to be spreading all over her body, a nice heat that made her look as if she wasn’t blushing. As he pressed toward, she continued to press back, to tease, to test, to explore. There was something satisfying about seeing his suspenders fall away, even if she loved them where they were.

The falling bra was obviously more noticeable, given what was behind it. If Neely spent a little too much time trying to find ways to make them grow, the look on Julian’s face was reassuring. She shifted up a little, letting him play, kissing him where she could. Goosebumps broke out over her arms as his hold became more noticeable. Neely pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck and breathed out.

Even as they stood, Julian seemed distracted by what she had on display… which both pleased her and made her a little nervous. There was a difference between all of the touching and prodding and… hands-on, mouth-on exploration they had done, and this.

She waited for his answer, her mouth widening into a smile, relaxing a little as he laughed. She laughed with him, leaning up for another kiss. Eyes might have flickered down at his almost-falling trousers before she stepped away to grab the unicorn. As she walked back past him, Neely grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the boat. She turned when they reached the dock, slowing to kiss him again, to take a few measured steps backwards.

She propped the unicorn on one of the posts that stood every few feet, then crouched down on the edge of the dock, looking up at Julian before carefully slipping into the boat. It teetered a tiny bit under the small Slytherin’s movements. Neely sank down onto the second pile of blankets, waiting for Julian to join.

When he was finally in the boat with her, Neely cast a suspicious glance at the calm water below them. It was settling again, perhaps a sweet, false sign. Even so, the Woolfolk girl was relieved, she sat in front of her lanky, fellow Slytherin, knees a bit apart, legs at either side of him. “I brought…” She indicated a small box that had a few things she thought they might need. Looking down again, and then back up, she smiled.

The sun was setting, and the open side of the boathouse gave them the perfect view.

Neely leaned toward him enough to encourage him back with her, this time with Julian on top. She kissed him as her hand found their way to material near his lower stomach— now easily accessible. And daunting. She pushed down, her other hand up on his back, knees on either side of him. Her fingers navigated to the front. Her hand smaller now, somehow. She moved her hand slowly, leaning back in the almost non-existence space between them to gauge his face and whether she should do something differently. Neely could spend all night talking to him, but somehow he’d rendered her speechless.