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Kissing Away the Nargles

Mistletoe? Check. Unable to move? Check. One of the most unpopular girls in school? Check, check and double check.

If this was Draco's idea of a joke, then it was far from funny – or original.

Being stuck under the mistletoe was a prank nearly as old as Hogwarts time itself, having been started in the 9th Century shortly after the founding of the school. Since then, this classic had been passed down through the ages, leaving many a witch and wizard with red faces and the talk of the student body for quite some time. It was a joke that never got old, and each time it was played the reactions of the victims were always different, thus leaving their own unique fingerprint on this classic Hogwarts' legacy.

Whilst Blaise had always admired this simple trick, and had approved of it greatly, he had never thought it possible for him of all people to be on the end of it; they just wouldn't dare. And yet…

And yet here he was.

Bugger.

I'm going to kill Malfoy.

Never again was he going to trust a word that came out of the blond Slytherin's mouth. Clearly, all he ever did was lie. As far as Zabini could see, there was definitely no Daphne Greengrass anywhere in sight.

Trying to remain as outwardly calm as possible, Blaise's dark brown eyes darted between the petite, blonde frame of Luna Lovegood and the sprig of mistletoe that was currently looming over them, unwilling to let them go until they had… kissed.

Malfoy knew how to play dirty, that was for sure.

"Well, you're a funny looking Daphne Greengrass." Folding his arms across his chest, Blaise stared down at the blonde hard; silently unnerved by the unfazed look she was giving him, as if this was an everyday occurrence.

In front of him, Luna cocked her head to the side, brows furrowing slightly at his comment. "No, I'm a Luna Lovegood." She replied, before digging into her robes and drawing out her wand. Blaise eyed it wearily, wondering if Luna was about to hex him. Instead she smiled at him and said, "But I can get her if you want? Obviously I can't move – why can't I move? Do you know why I can't move? – but a simple Patronus will –"

"No!" Blaise's face twisted into one of horror at the thought of anyone – most of all Daphne – finding him with Luna Lovegood under the mistletoe. It would do no good for his reputation at all. His voice grew softer as he noted Luna's startled face. "No," he repeated. "It's fine, perfectly fine."

Though not looking convinced, Luna obeyed and slid her wand back into her pocket. "Okay…" she said slowly.

They fell silent, each second seeming to last a life time as the awkwardness between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin grew. Every now and then, much to Blaise's concern, Luna would let out a giggle, flapping her hands wildly in front of her face as if trying to shoo something away. In that moment in time, he was honestly grateful that this area of the castle was empty.

"Why can't I move from this spot?" Luna asked again suddenly, after another bout of flapping. Ten minutes had passed, and Blaise was still none the wiser as to how he could get out of this situation… without placing his lips upon the crazy blonde's. She stood on her tiptoes – for a second Blaise thought she was going to kiss him – placed her lips against the shell of his ear and whispered, "Do you think it's the Jumping Hinkalops?" The soles of her feet scuffed slightly as she planted them firmly back on the floor, and she giggled once more, a small grin tickling her face.

At this sound, Blaise felt something shift in his chest at the carefree nature which emanated off of her in waves. Even with the war over, it was still raw in many people's minds, meaning that it was still hard for some to feel the happiness they had once been able to have. To see Luna – a girl who had fought in the war, been tortured and imprisoned in Malfoy Manor – still have that incredible innocence about her aura, was a breath of fresh air. It was something that made her quite pretty.

I did not just think that.

Just before he opened his mouth to finally reply, Luna's hands shot up in front of his face, worrying them madly, extremely close to taking out one of his eyes. Swiftly reaching out and grabbing both of her hands – enough of this madness – Blaise was quickly reminded as to why Luna Lovegood was not classified as attractive: She was barking mad.

"What the hell was that for?" He demanded, separating her hands and clamping them firmly to her sides.

"Wrackspurts," Luna answered, by way of explanation. "You didn't answer my question, and then you went all quiet and weird – I was brushing them away before they completely addled what little of your brains you have left." She followed this by a supposedly endearing smile.

Dumbfounded, Blaise let go of Luna's hands. He eyed her curiously, unsure of how to reply.

Had she just insulted him?

Clearing his throat, Blaise decided to ignore both of Luna's comments, and reply to her original question. "Let's just say, Malfoy's decided to be his usual self – a complete and utter arse. He's gone and enchanted this piece of mistletoe, and it will not let us go until we… kiss." He pulled a face at the last part, and watched as Luna did the same.

"I'm not kissing you!" She cried, her voice laced with sudden disgust.

"Likewise," Blaise spat, relieved to be back on familiar ground. For a second there, they had almost been… friendly to each other. "Trust me, Loony, when I say that I –" he suddenly broke off, the Ravenclaw's words sinking in. "Hang on, and why wouldn't you want to kiss me?"

It was a well-known fact that Blaise was considered one of the best kissers in the school; many a girl had planted their lips firmly on his, curious to know if the rumoured talents of his tongue were true.

"You're a Slytherin." Luna stated, her chin jutting out defiantly. "And it's well known that, upon getting sorted, all Slytherins have poison injected into their gums; the amount of people that have died from kissing a Slytherin is well documented. My father wrote an article about it in The Quibbler a few years back; it's incredibly fascinating."

Blaise couldn't help it, he laughed. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Trust me, Lovegood, no such thing has ever happened." He then broke out into a deep chuckle.

"That's because your memory's erased after," Luna explained to him, her voice fierce with conviction.

Oh, the things this girl is willing to believe.

"Looks like we're going to be here for a while then," Blaise told her, his heart sinking at the thought. The longer they stood there, the more chance they had of being caught. "This spell doesn't wear off, you know."

If it were possible, Luna's blue eyes widened even more as she shot a terrified look up at the green-leafed and white-berried plant.

Okay then…

"I don't like mistletoe," Luna murmured so quietly that the Slytherin was only just able to catch her utterance. "Nargles live in them."

For a moment, he was about to ask her what Nargles actually were – clearly he had been spending too much time with her – but then came to himself, and quickly stomped such a thought out of his head. Instead, being the cunning Slytherin he was, Blaise used this to his advantage.

Not going to kiss me, eh? He thought slyly, a smirk forming on his full lips. We'll just see about that...

"Seems like you've got a tough choice to make," Blaise drawled, with an exaggerated sigh. "A night spent under the mistletoe with me and these – er – Nargles, or a quick kiss on the lips with yours truly – poison free, Lovegood, I promise – and a night away from both of us. Just think, we could simply kiss the Nargles away." The look on the Ravenclaw's face was priceless. Gone was her normal serene visage; instead her eyes glowed with a mixture of fear and thoughtfulness. "So," he breathed, turning on his charm and bending down to be level with her. "What's it going to be?"

His dark, smouldering eyes stared piercingly into her brilliantly azure orbs, which were slowly glazing over at his tone of voice. Blaise gave a feral grin, relishing in Luna's sudden reaction to his close proximity. Very slowly, he grazed his nose over hers, and deepened his smirk as the blonde's breath quickened.

What he didn't expect, however, was the sudden leap in his own heart and a desire to kiss her as well.

"I will leave it entirely up to you."

Blaise made to pull away, his flirtatious teasing complete, but before he could even get a fraction of an inch between them, Luna had grabbed hold of his tie, and planted her lips firmly on his.

For a second, Blaise stood there unresponsive, completely shocked by how quickly his plan had worked, but then he was kissing the blonde back just as eagerly, finding the taste of her more addicting than he ever thought possible.

Well, this is certainly an unexpected surprise. His thoughts came to him in a jumbled mess. Who knew that Looney could kiss like this?

The Slytherin stumbled backwards into the corridor's stone wall, as the spell holding them under the mistletoe finally lifted and released the unlikely pair, bringing Luna's petite frame with him. Teeth and tongues clashed violently, as the two of them got their fill of each other. It was different, it was intoxicating and it was wrong, but no matter how hard he tried Zabini refused to pull away. From not wanting to even kiss the girl, Blaise now wanted to do nothing more than –

Suddenly Luna pulled away, breaking their heated kiss. The dark young man groaned at the loss of contact, half-tempted to reach out and pull the blonde back for more, but resisted. Her blue eyes were glistening with desire, and her breathing heavy. Blaise thought he probably looked to be in a very similar state as well.

"Not dead then?" Blaise smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess not," Luna replied, straightening up her attire. She had a beautiful flush creeping up on her cheeks, making her look even more ravishing than before. And then, as if she had not just had the best snog of her life, she turned on her heel and skipped away, humming to herself slightly. "Merry Christmas, Blaise."

"Merry Christmas, Luna." He called after her, running a hand through his hair and grinning. Perhaps Malfoy's choice in prank hadn't been so bad, after all…

Author's Note: And here is a little Christmas present for you all. Blaise and Luna are a recent new-found love of mine (you can thank bex-chan for that) and I thought that this was the perfect time to have an attempt at writing something with them as the main characters. I have to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm entirely happy with this piece – especially the ending with the kiss (I'm not good at writing kiss scenes at all!) – but this is like my fourth (perhaps fifth?) attempt at writing this out, and the thought of writing it out again kind of makes my head hurt.

Naturally there is a slight element of OOC-ness in this fic, but I tried to make it believable all the same – it's also meant to be a fluffy-ish, funny-ish and romantic piece, so give me some lee-way, yeah? Hehehe.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed it anyways! Please review either way and let me know either way. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

VickytoriaGreengrass