Seamus knew that Neville had promised that Ginny would be the second to ride his new Nimbus 2001 but he did hope to get a turn. Harry had let him ride his Nimbus 2000 a couple of times and he'd really enjoyed it. There was no way his family would ever be able to afford such a broom. In fact he didn't own a broom, having to use a school broom for class and enjoyment at Hogwarts.
At the moment, he was relaxing with the boys on the terrace behind Longbottom Manor, or as its flue address was, Foggy Bottom. After the ritual, they'd had cake and butterbeer, before coming out to try out the Nimbus. There were several benches around the terrace, and somehow Seamus, Neville, Harry, Dean, and Ron had found themselves seated on the same long bench.
"So, Neville, how is the 2001, compared to the 2000," Harry asked.
"I'm not sure how to judge them," Neville replied. "I haven't really put either of them through the paces really. I think Dad got me much more of a broom than I'll ever need."
"Well it looks like Ginny is putting it through the paces now," Ron said, with just a hit of jealousy. Seamus knew that he wasn't alone in that.
"You know Ron, your sister has really started to fill out," Neville said.
"Don't remind me," Ron said. "I think all my brothers and I got a reminder on just how much she's grown when she came down the stairs this morning. She's supposed to still be all knobby knee and little girl like. I mean she's still ten for another twelve days, but I couldn't help but notice that she's almost as developed as the other girls when she was at the Grangers last week."
"They're all that way," Dean said. "Hermione's got more of a bust of course, with having had Jimmy and everything, but with those bikinis last week ... a boy can dream."
"You know I was terrified on Valentine's Day when we took them to dinner," Neville said. "I was sure I would do something wrong."
"It didn't help that Oliver had to tell us of his bad dates," Seamus said. "Remember the tale of his date with Erato White?"
"Remember, it played over and over in my mind when I saw Lavender coming down the stairs," Ron said. "And the disaster that was Athena Goldstein?"
"That one at least alerted me to the fact that I shouldn't have a steak with Parvati," Seamus said. "Speaking of that witch, anyone else want to compliment one of the girls on their outfit today and just can't get the words out?"
"Oh God yes," Dean said. "I think they chose the dresses just to make us tongue-tied. It took me a half hour before I could string two words together with Sally-Anne."
"Don't look now, guys, but I think they're deliberately posing so the wind will catch their dresses," Seamus said. The wind had picked up a bit, and the girls across the terrace were having to press their dresses down a bit to prevent their bottoms from showing. Seamus had already seen that Parvati was not wearing panties. Padma was. He knew how to tell them apart even without discovering that fact. It was mostly in the voice.
"Where is my sketch pad?" Dean asked. "I've got to capture this."
"In your shirt pocket, Dean, and you might want to get one of those pocket protector things," Harry said. His eyes were obviously focused on Hermione, who was off a bit to the side of the other girls "I think your pencils are marking it."
"Mum should be able to get the graphite out," Dean said, pulling out his sketch pad, which enlarged in his hand to a full A3 size. Then with a pencil in hand he began to sketch.
Seamus's attention was elsewhere, though, looking at the girls. They were giggling. He was pretty sure they'd spotted that the boys were looking at them. They were not posing because Dean had his sketch pad out. On second thought, maybe they were. The Gryffindor girls at least seemed to be a lot sillier than they had been.
Neville groaned. He wasn't looking at those girls. Seamus followed the birthday boy's gaze. It looked like Ginny had just pulled up from a steep dive, and her dress was not exactly positioned demurely. She was looking right at Neville. Ginny had worked up a bit of a sweat on the broom, and had an expression of pure glee on her face. She winked, and Seamus knew it was directed directly towards Neville.
"Ron, your sister is going to kill me," Neville said.
"No, my brothers and I are going to kill you if you so much as touch her," Ron said cheerfully. "She'll curse us for it, but she's not old enough to date yet, and I think Mum will agree with that."
Ginny landed in front of Neville and offered him his broom back. "Thanks for letting me fly your broom, Neville," Ginny said. "Be sure to bring it with you when you come to the Burrow for my birthday."
"I will," Neville replied, taking the broom. It was obvious to Seamus that Neville wanted to say more but couldn't.
Then Ginny walked off to join the other girls.
"Course she might just kill us all before we get to you," Ron said. "Can I try the broom now, Neville?"
"Yeah," Neville said, his eyes still on Ginny. Ron quickly took the broom and rose in the air.
"Harry, you've got to be the luckiest of us blokes," Dean said, still sketching. "You've got Hermione. The rest of us are just tongue-tied little boys who as soon as we notice that they're girls, we can't tell them tell them we like them."
"Lucky?" Harry said. "In case you don't remember, my son with Hermione is not the result of any romantic action. We're both still virgins."
"Yes, but I bet you're going to be able to kiss Hermione on the lips before any of us get another date," Seamus said, his eyes now back on Parvati. She had her right index finger in her hair and was twirling it. He couldn't keep his eyes away from it.
"Not bloody likely," Harry said. "I don't have that much courage."