E is for...

This is a small H/G ficlet I wrote for r_becca 's alphabetical challenge .

Title : Eager

Word count : 570

Summary :  It was like being before a Quidditch match he was almost sure to win, or… opening a menu he knew was full of delicious dishes. Something like that. An impatient feeling, but a feeling that knows waiting is half the pleasure.

He couldn’t quite describe it.

It wasn’t as if he’d never felt happy before – he fondly recalled, amongst the troubled depths in his mind, plenty of occasions he’d had to laugh, and smile. These memories were like snowflakes gently twirling against a dark winter sky, brilliant and gentle. Sharing a Butterbeer with Ron and Hermione. Family dinners at the Burrow. Late night discussion with Remus. Catching the Snitch, and feeling it flutter in his hand like a June bug while the cheer of the crowd alone seemed to carry his broom even higher.

Yes, he’d known happiness - bribes of it at least. But it didn’t quite fit with what he was experiencing right now. 

It was like being before a Quidditch match he was almost sure to win, or… opening a menu he knew was full of delicious dishes. Something like that. An impatient feeling, but a feeling that knows waiting is half the pleasure.

It gnawed at his mind all day, from the moment he jumped out of the bed, looking forward to the day to come, wishing it would go by quickly so the glimpses he caught of her, in the common room, in the Great Hall, would materialise into her eyes looking into his, her hair in his hands, and his lips on hers.

Class dragged on, and he daydreamed, and had to concentrate twice as hard on his homework afterwards. Hermione congratulated for not pushing back his assignments until the last minute like Ron did, and Ron replied he could copy her work right now if she liked it better that way, and she nudged him in the ribs, and Ron smirked.

He didn’t even look up from his notes to watch them bicker. He just wanted to get the bothersome things over with, tidied up and packed away neatly, so his mind could be free to be entirely taken up with her, her smile, her voice, the feel of her body.

He wanted to get rid of everything in life that was tying him down, that filled his nights with silent terror, that filled the eyes of his friends with worry and fear. He was ready to fight for it with renewed determination. The sooner, the better.

The sooner, the better. He glanced at the hands of his watch. It was almost time. The feeling swelled inside of him, making him jittery, anxious, and he wanted to grin but he was afraid it might look goofy, so he held it down and simply told Ron and Hermione he was going back to the Common Room.

The corridors stretched on endlessly, and he found his pace quickening. More corridors, and steps, and finally she was there, waiting for him in front of the Cantering Centaur’s statue, an odd end of the castle almost no one ever visited.

She turned towards him at the sound of his footsteps and her face lit up. “Harry!”

Just a word, and the feeling rushed through his blood, and he couldn’t resist taking her hand and pulling her towards him, embracing her, burying his face in her soft, lustrous red hair.

“I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he told her. “I was so – so eager to see you, Ginny.”

They kissed, and Ginny pressed her forehead against his. “Me too. It’s silly but… I never felt like that before. Not really.” 

“I rather like it,” Harry replied, and kissed her again.

Hope you enjoyed it!