"Rules," he echoed, wondering how they would make time to be together. They'd always managed to find themselves together, but never just the two of them. There was always professors or other students around them, not always watching but always in the vicinity to see them. To be alone was against the rules—but, really, they were the two people who would probably manage. Rules were meant to be broken.

"Should we, um...?" He glanced over his shoulder, back in the direction of the common room, and then back to her. His eyes dropped from her eyes, to her lips, to their joined hands, and he did the best thing he could do without being anymore awkward than he needed to do: he lifted her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, pressing his lips tightly together to suppress the awkward chuckle that threatened to escape. He dropped her hands and shrugged mindlessly. So much for being a valiant gentleman. For all he spent around girls, he'd never really considered what he'd do once he had one to himself.

(Or maybe he'd never considered what he'd do once he had Sloane to himself.)

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