A/N: Obviously I don't own anything here.

The Escape

"No. No. No." Hermione gritted her teeth in frustration as she stared down at the table.

Across from her Seamus just blinked in surprise. "Am I doing it wrong still?" he asked.

"Seamus, how many times do I have to tell you that the spell you want is deletrius, not aparecium. You're supposed to be learning how to make things disappear—not how to make invisible ink visible!"

"Oh." Seamus shrugged nonchalantly as he leaned back in his seat. He studied the rows of books around them before going on. "Think maybe you could repeat that one more time?"

"How in the world am I going to get you to pass the next Charms exam?" groaned Hermione rubbing her aching temples.

"You could do it for me. Or not," said Seamus hastily as Hermione looked up at him. "It was just a suggestion."

"Tell me again how I was so lucky as to tutor you for exams."

"Something along the lines of Flitwick being upset that I accidentally set his robes on fire."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in question. "How can you accidentally set someone's robes on fire?"

"I don't exactly remember. I might have said the spell wrong…or was it because I waved my wand in the wrong direction?" Seamus tugged at his tie as he studied the shelf of books behind Hermione's head.

"You're impossible, Seamus. You know that, don't you?"

Seamus flashed Hermione one of his cocky grins before replying. "That's why you're my tutor."

"Okay, let's try the charm one more time. Remember, it's deletrius—oh, and don't forget to swish and flick!"

"Yeah, yeah," muttered Seamus under his breath as he rolled his eyes. Hermione narrowed her eyes at her fellow Gryffindor, and he began to concentrate on the spell he had been trying to learn for the past hour.

After a few practice flicks of his wand, Seamus readied himself to activate the charm. Unfortunately, it didn't go exactly as planned.

Just as Seamus was about to say deletrius—he sneezed, and rather than make things disappear, he made them appear out of thin air.

Hermione squeaked in surprise as marbles began to fall from the library's ceiling. Seamus quickly ducked under the table as Hermione opened a book over her head to protect herself from the falling marbles. Seconds later she felt a tug at her foot, before Seamus pulled underneath the table for cover.

"Are you crazy? There are marbles falling for the sky and you think a book is going to protect you? Geez, Hermione, you really are kinda hopeless if you're supposed to be the smartest witch for your age," hissed Seamus as Hermione glared at him.

"Of course I'm hopeless, Seamus. But, then again, I wasn't the one who conjured marbles to fall from the sky."

The pair lapsed into a makeshift silence as all around them shouts of surprise and pain could be heard from the other students who had been in the library. From beneath their perch, Hermione and Seamus watched as multitudes of feet ran past them.

One boy, judging by the shoes, had the unfortunate mischance of slipping on some marbles. Hermione winced and Seamus snickered when the said boy fell flat on his back after some skidding around.

"Aw, man, why me?" moaned Neville covering his face with his arms. With much difficulty, Neville got back onto his feet and skid across the marbles and out of the library with a crash.

"Sor…sorry, P…professor," came Neville's voice. Seamus groaned and buried his face in his hands as Hermione began to chew he nails.

"What is the meaning of all this?" demanded Professor Snape harshly.

"We're in for it now," whispered Hermione with wide eyes. Seamus gulped and scooted closer to his tutor and further from the doorway, praying Snape wouldn't see them.

Then they heard Pansy shouting from down the hall. "Professor! Professor!"

"What is it?" snapped Snape irritably.

"Potter's beating up Draco, sir!"

"Very well. Longbottom! Don't you dare move—I'm not done with you yet."

Footsteps retreated further away from the library doorway, allowing Seamus and Hermione to breathe in relief.

"See? No harm done." Seamus leaned back on his hands and looked over at Hermione. As he caught her gaze though, his face fell.

"No harm done? Seamus, you screwed up a simple charm---with a sneeze none the less! Now there are marbles—hard marbles—falling like mad inside the library! If Snape finds us here when he returns, we're going to be in detention for a week!" screeched Hermione lividly. "And to make matters even worse, you almost killed Neville!"

"I didn't try to kill Neville! It was an honest mistake, Hermione! I can't control my sneezes—my body does things on its own! You can't hold that against me!" protested Seamus looking around for a possible escape.

"Your mind controls you body, Seamus! Maybe if you used that more often we wouldn't be in this predicament right now!"

"Predica—what?"

"Mess! This horrible, awful mess! As soon as we get out of here I'm going to hex you!"

Seamus gulped nervously. "See, funny thing about my mind—it doesn't like to listen to me either—it has a mind of its own. I can't help the things that I do!"

Hermione paused in confusion as she tried to make sense of Seamus' babbling. Rather than calm down though, she clenched her jaw and continued her tirade.

"If you would pay attention in charms we would never have had to work together! But nooo. You have to sit there and daydream, or flirt with Lavender—or even talk to your dimwitted friends!"

As Hermione took a deep breath to go on, Seamus found his escape. Without thinking it through, he quickly planted his lips on Hermione's. She gave a tiny gasp of surprise, allowing Seamus to deepen the kiss. He gently placed a finger on her cheek, waiting for her to respond. The moment Hermione let herself sink into the kiss, Seamus pulled away with a grin. Hermione just stared back at him speechless.

"Think I could get away with that on some of the professors come tomorrow when they find out I started this mess?" asked Seamus leaning back on his hands again.

"Only if they catch you first," murmured Hermione in a daze. Then she narrowed her eyes. Seamus scooted backwards as she centered her gaze on him.

"Come on now, Hermione, I thought we had reached a peace," said Seamus as he bumped into the leg of the table.

"Well, you thought wrong. Seamus?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd run if I were you."

Seamus' eyes widened in surprise and he quickly scrambled out from under the table with Hermione on his heels. The two Gryffindors skated across the marbles toward the library entrance. Seamus was the first one out and took off down the hallway. Hermione was screaming possible hexes at him as she came skidding out. She barely glanced at Neville as she started after Seamus.

"I'm going to turn you into a yellow-bellied, three-eyed, bushy-tailed, fly-eating toad!"

"Mercy! Mercy! It was just a kiss!" hollered Seamus as they passed the Great Hall. Everyone turned to watch as Seamus ran past with Hermione right behind him.

"Huh," said Ron after they had passed. "Did Seamus just say what I think he just said?"

Harry nodded. "I think so. I wonder why he kissed her."

Ron nodded in agreement and turned back to his food. He lifted the fork to his mouth and paused upon opening it. The entire Gryffindor house watched in anticipation. "Wait a minute! Seamus kissed Hermione!"

Harry nodded again as he stuffed some potatoes in his mouth. "Yeah, that's what he said."

"Wait till I get my hands on him!" And with that Ron shot out of the Great Hall, wand at the ready. "Seamus! I'm going to kill you!"