Do not take your shoes off on the first date.

For Luciana, this wasn’t so much a rule as it was words etched in the stone that was her heart. She lived by the rule and until now, never had a problem with the rule. She blamed it entirely on Terry, of course. It was, after all, his fault that she couldn’t keep her legs together for the past two weeks. She supposed the problem was that it had all started with sex. Her mother would have Luciana’s head if she knew, but her relationship, if that was what you could call it, was a rather casual one – sex for sex’s sake. Then the idiot had to ask her out on a date. A date! With Terence Higgs! Her client! It was bloody mad.

She’d hardly thought him seriously since it was terribly difficult for Terry to ever be serious, but then he’d owled and insisted that she wear something nice. A real date it was, then. She’d pulled out her heels and her finest little black dress, put her hair in an up-do, and met him at the door with a curious raise of her brow at his clean-shaven appearance.

Dinner had been nice. There was nothing special about it, but it had been a little French restaurant with a French staff that Terry had to translate for her. She tried not to let on that she was too impressed. After all, she was fluent in more than one language herself, but the accent that curled into his voice, deepening it, when he spoke in French nearly drove her mad. It was terribly attractive and he knew this, or he would not have looked so smugly at her each time he conversed with the waitress.

When they arrived back at her flat, Luciana knew that Terry was waiting for her to invite him inside, though his demeanor was ambivalent. Their good night kiss had lasted for several minutes and yes, it was a very good snog. He knew exactly how to fit his mouth to hers and wear to caress to make her feel safe and wanted. That was when she had brought up the rule. Terry had just smiled that lopsided smirk that could both infuriate her and make her want more.

“I’d prefer it if you left them on anyhow,” he said coyly as she unlocked the door. He then made her breath catch by pressing his warm, full lips to her bare back, between her shoulder blades.

Once inside, she let her hair down and it was immediately gathered up by calloused fingers that tangled themselves in her soft blonde locks. She found herself lifted up for a seat on a counter top to wait as Terry pulled off his tie. It was nearly dropped to the floor before she caught his hand to take the silk tie from him. He watched dubiously before smirking as she tied it in a slipknot to her wrist. She smiled, pleased with herself, before he scooped her up once more, in a princess carry. How romantic.

“Bedroom, love?” he breathed against her ear before he nipped lightly at the lobe.

She chuckled. “I’m not going back on my rule,” Luciana stipulated.

“No need,” Terry said with a wicked grin. “I told you, keep them on,” he added before she clutched at the hair at the back of his head.

Gripping tightly, she raised one carefully shaped eyebrow and nodded toward the door across the flat. “The only door available, love,” she mocked, which got her a lip nibble. Luciana gripped his face for a kiss as he made his way across the flat and sat her down next to her bed.

By now, her hair was a disheveled mess and her dress was becoming rumpled, but Terry didn’t seem to mind as he brushed the back of his hand down her bare back before undoing the clasp of her dress, which held it snuggly to her neck. Shimmying her hips, Luciana pushed the dress down her hips, thighs, and finally let it fall to the floor. She stepped out of the dress then turned slowly to see Terry dropping his dress shirt and throwing open the fly on his slacks. He paused in what he was doing when she caught his eye.

“Do you really expect me to have sex in these heels?” she asked flatly, gesturing down to the shoes and her thigh-high, sheer hosiery before planted her feet with her hands on her hips.

A smirk pulled at Terry’s lips as he slowly moved to embrace her waist and wrap his strong arms around her. He dipped his head to brush his lips down her neck and to her shoulder, smelling her as he did so. He then raised back to look at her lazily.

“You’re getting shagged tonight, regardless,” he said calmly a hand wandered to squeeze the back of her thigh.

Luciana sighed and huddled forward to press their foreheads together. “I need to think of new rules,” she said with a pout.

Terry chuckled and surprisingly, nuzzled her face with his. He usually wasn’t so affectionate. “Name your hoops, love,” he said gruffly. “I’ll gladly jump through them.”

Elaine Ackerly was a terrible influence. It was her fault that Rose was marching across the Great Hall headed directly for Slytherin’s table. She’d gotten Rose fired up with talk of rumors. It was all gossip, Rose knew this, yet, she didn’t care. She had a score to settle. Maybe it was because she was sixteen. Maybe it was because she was a bossy blonde. Either way it was, she was miffed and her target was Timothy Greengrass.

Rose made it to the sixth years and rather rudely jabbed Tim in the shoulder several times with a well manicured finger. He dropped his fork immediately and turned around with a bewildered look to see Rose with her arms crossed over her chest and a huffy look on her face.

“Oooo, Greengrass,” Madeline Dodderidge chirped. “You’ve ticked off the princess.”

Rose shot a scowl toward the other girl, who happened to be one of her best friends, but she knew Madge couldn’t pass up a good ribbing when it presented itself.

Tim stirred in disbelief. “What did I do?”

“You’ve been calling me the ‘Huffypuffy Twit!’” she snapped before narrowing her scowl at him. “And I’ll have your head if you keep doing so, don’t think I won’t!”

Tim’s hands flapped in the air as he tried to form a sentence. “I don’t know—Okay,” he babbled as he stared at her in bewilderment.

There were a few catcalls from the rest of the Slytherin table, chiding Tim for taking heat from a tiny, Hufflepuff brat. Honestly, Rose had expected him to put up more of a fight and at least deny the rumors.

“Okay?” she echoed in a miffed tone. “That’s all you have to say for yourself?”

Tim sighed and stood up. He was lanky and towered over Rose by several inches. She took a step back to retain her personal space.

“Can we take this elsewhere?” he beseeched her, gesturing to the audience they had.

Rose scoffed and upturned her nose. “The only place I will see you, Timothy, is in Charms. You’re lucky that I don’t practice them on you right this moment.”

She then turned on her heel and marched back to her seat across from Elaine, who was grinning impishly. Rose kept her face ducked as she finished her tea. He cheeks were flaring red and her hands shook. She was proud of herself, but that had taken a lot out of her. Stupid boy and his pretty, innocent eyes were almost convincing that he had no idea what she was talking about. Rose knew better, though. Elaine would never lie to her. She tried not to let on how much it upset her. Tim had always been a nice boy. She’d hoped he would ask her to the winter ball. Those hopes were dashed now, though. Maybe one of the Gryffindor boys would be willing? She could only hope.