Padma could not stifle the gasp that followed when Anthony pressed his lips to her wrist. It was so utterly unexpected, and Padma could process little more, for a moment, but the fact that it was happening and the sharp heat that drove from her toes to her cheeks at the touch.
Her breath seemed to hiccup forth after a few seconds held, face thrilling with worry, uncertainty, and something else all together unfamiliar. Was this the risk worthy of being found out, over and over again, by her own ignorant judgment on her rounds?
She did not think she could walk soberly with him on their return to the common room, nor part from him there with any of the usual niceties. Padma's cheeks burned hot at the thought of anything but at the same time as her fingers arched unwittingly into the curls at his temple.