Chapter Text
It would be Casey’s luck that that mistletoe would follow her around the school. As the holiday break started, and the student population shrunk as most went home for the break, the amount of mistletoe around the castle seemed to increase by tenfold.
The worst part about it was that wherever Casey ran into mistletoe, Derek seemed to be. It’s not the worst thing in the world, a traitorous part of her mind whispered each time she found herself trapped beneath one of the enchanted mistletoes besides him. Her defenses certainly were beginning to weaken against him each encounter, the kisses becoming something she actually looked forward to.
The two times she dared to step away from the mistletoe resulted in the same sticky and feathered substances that got their head of house exploding on her and Derek, plus an awful rotten egg smell that made them gag.
“Am I really that bad of a kisser,” he complained the second time, coughing out white feathers and wiping away the substance from his eyes. “That this,” he gestured to the mess on himself, “is preferable?”
They had been in the Entrance Hall, coming in from an impromptu interhouse snowball fight out in the courtyard. Lizzie and Edwin had burst out laughing the moment the explosion occurred, while above them a floating Peeves danced and threw slime at unlucky bystanders until the headmistress chased him away.
“.... yes,” Casey weakly defended, pulling feathers out of her hair. The house elves took their robes away to be laundered, somehow miraculously getting every last bit off of it. Later that evening, when they found themselves under one of the poltergeist’s mistletoes again in the Great Hall, she didn’t hesitate in initiating the kiss.
Casey wouldn’t chance the gross, mysterious substance a third time. It had taken a long time in the bath to get it all off, and even then she didn’t feel fully clean.
Strangely, it almost felt like a routine part of Casey’s day by the time Christmas Eve rolled around. Kissing Derek became normal. A week of it would cause that reaction from anyone she reasoned. And it wasn’t like Derek was a terrible kisser. Far from it. He knew how to make use of his mouth.
(She idly wondered how else he could make use of it...)
Honestly the sheer amount of mistletoe that they kept finding themselves under made Casey wonder if there was a conspiracy to get them to work out their ultra high tension in a way that didn’t hinder the rest of the school. It couldn’t all be Peeves handiwork, after all. The poltergeist could be very crafty and annoying with his chaotic pranks, but there was no way he would be targeting her and Derek specifically.
Peeves didn’t venture into the dungeons much, as the Bloody Baron made sure to keep him out, and most of the mistletoe after the first few public ones were concentrated in the Slytherin common room, or the the shared corridors that led to the dorms, or even, shudder, the Slytherin prefect bathroom.
If it weren’t for that last one, Casey would have been inclined to think that Derek was involved with the mistletoe. But each time it occurred, he had the same expression on his face. One of incredulity, hesitation, and wariness that she was going to hex him to oblivion each time. So, while Derek certainly was suspect, Casey couldn’t help to think he was actually quite innocent in their shared circumstances.
The Entrance Hall:
“Oh for Merlins sake, again?”
“I need to learn to look up….”
The Great Hall: “I’m actually really tired of having an audience for this…”
The dungeons:
“Can we make it a rule we don’t leave the common room at the same time?”
“We have to prefect rounds together, princess.”
“Dammit.”
The bridge outside leading in from the Quidditch pitch:
“You don’t even like flying, SpaceCase. Why are you out here?”
“I’m just coming in from my walk!”
“So you were admiring the view. Which is me.”
“Der-ek, shut up and kiss me so we can get this over with!”
The library:
“You don’t even study when classes are in session, Derek, what are you doing in here?!”
“.... Prank on Madam Pince. Might want to hurry this up, Case, before she catches on and we’re both in detention….”
All those places, every day, at least once or twice, they found themselves under mistletoe.
“We really need to stop meeting each other like this,” Casey huffed as they found themselves in the same seventh floor hallway a few days before Christmas. The taunting mistletoe hung above them, sparkling an obnoxious gold shimmer indicating to anyone who walked by they were stuck under the enchantment until they kissed.
“What are you even doing on this floor,” Derek sighed, running a hand through his reddish-brown hair and giving her an exasperated look. “You have no reason to be here.”
“Neither do you,” Casey shot back, only slightly irritated at their situation. “I’m coming from the Room of Requirement, if you really must know.”
He lifted an eyebrow at that. “Didn’t know you knew that room, I’m impressed.”
“Shut up, it's not for some nefarious reason like I’m sure you utilize it.”
“Define ‘nefarious’”, Derek asked suggestively, already leaning in to kiss her. She put her hand up, halting his progress.
“Ne-far-ious means something evil, or criminal. I know it’s a big word, but since we’re talking about you here…”
“I didn’t actually need you to define it,” he grumbled, trying to kiss her again. She dodged the kiss again, her hands resting on his waist casually.
“Well what else would you need that room for if not to seduce girls,” Casey replied, rolling her eyes. “Or typical devious things that so befit our house.”
“You think I take girls to the Room of Requirement to seduce them?” Derek asked, impressed. “That’s actually genius, Spacey. Wanna test that out with me?”
“Hmmm,” she pretended to think it over before standing up to kiss him lightly on the lips, flouncing away before he could register what happened. “No thanks.”
“That’s not fair,” he called, pouting. He ran to catch up with her, snatching her up in his arms with his fast quidditch reflexes. She gave him a questioning look, but didn’t attempt to move out his hold. “I wasn’t ready for the kiss,” he murmured, looking into her bright blue eyes. “That doesn’t count as a proper one.”
“Der-ek,” she laughed, tilting her head up all the same for better access. “Alright then, before I change my mind.”
He grinned, swooping down and brushing his lips against her softly. He pulled back a centimeter, pleased when she unconsciously moved to follow him. He waited the barest of seconds before capturing her lips once more before she changed her mind, taking his time as she matched her speed perfectly with his. They stood there for a long while, their shared kiss building up and up. Derek walked them back towards one of the tapestries in the corridor, moving them out of view from prying eyes.
She let him, lost in the sensations that stirred inside of her each time she felt Derek kissing her. They were getting harder to stamp down.
Unnoticed by them, so preoccupied as they were with each other, Lizzie and Edwin spied from their hidden spot behind another tapestry. Silently they turned down into a secret passageway, holding in their giddiness until they were well clear from the seventh floor.
“I knew it,” Lizzie burst out as they entered one of the lower floors. “Everything is going to plan.”
Edwin nodded, impressed. “How did you know Casey would be at the Room of Requirement?”
“She goes there often to just daydream and read,” Lizzie said, shrugging. “It’s like a comfort thing. She’s just very predictable. How did you get Derek upstairs?”
“Convinced Flitwick to summon him for a meeting that he had no intention of actually making,” Edwin responded. “Easy enough to do since he’s quite pleased with the relatively quietness this break between Casey and Derek.”
“The golden price of silence,” Lizzie smirked. “Merlin I hope this extends past the holidays, the second half of the year will be so much better for us all if they’re too busy snogging to prank each other.”
They walked a few paces down the hallway before Edwin stopped abruptly. “Unless they join forces and target us!”