Yellow (George Weasley)

70 - April Fools

I peered out the four pane window in the kitchen of Aunt Muriel's home as Mrs. Weasley flipped through one of the older cookbooks she had on the shelf. I was relieved to see a similar view to the one I had grown accustomed to at the Burrow. Spring is just beginning—and it shows. Deer gathered in her backyard to munch on fallen crabapples. The only activity missing was the scurrying of gnomes in the garden. Aunt Muriel did not find them as amusing as Mr. Weasley did. Little buds of pink littered the trees that shaded the grassy yard. Oddly, I felt they may not bloom with all of the events of the year. We had such a dark winter I was a little worried that the sun might never come out this bright.

George and I have been trying to spend some time outside now that things are warming up. The fresh air is liberating, but it's also a weird sense of relief to see the nature changing around us. When you're stuck at home as much as we are, it can feel like time's standing still. Ginny and Fred have kept us pretty entertained too. Especially when Fred found a whole shed full of old lawn games. I'm actually getting pretty good at croquet.

I cracked a couple of eggs into the large mixing bowl Mrs. Weasley had set in front of me. We were in the kitchen working to make Fred and George the perfect birthday cake. I was pretty novice to all of this baking stuff until these past few months. Mrs. Weasley and I have been having a bit of fun with cooking, even if we have the not-so-helpful Aunt Muriel lingering around. She's taught me a lot. I learnt the basics from my dad of course but I'm happy to learn some of the Weasley family recipes that she's been willing to share.

I pushed the long sleeves of George's shirt back up my arms for the third time in the last ten minutes. Maybe wearing one of his shirts to bake wasn't my brightest idea. The sleeves go far past my wrists but it's much more comfortable than any of my own clothing. I just might get a bit of batter on the sleeves.

Once I had mixed the ingredients thoroughly, I set the batter aside. Mrs. Weasley had finished hers and was fishing through the cabinets for two cake tins. George prefers chocolate while Fred prefers vanilla, so we always ended up making a cake for each boy.

"Here you go, dear." The woman beside me beamed as she handed me a tin. She has made it very obvious that our baking and cooking over the past few months has her overjoyed. It's been a nice distraction. Ron is safe at the moment but Fleur told me she thinks the three are planning to jet off again. We'll at least have Ginny back from now on. It's far too risky to send her back to Hogwarts. The stories she told me the night she came home were nearly enough to make me get sick on the quilt of her cot. The Carrows made Umbridge look like a kitten. Students were forced to practice the Cruciatus Curse on those who got detention. If you refused, well, the bruising on Ginny's pale face was testament enough—though she told me she looked good compared to the others.

"Leah dear, be sure to not make the cake too lumpy." Aunt Muriel piped up, peering into my mixing bowl.

"Her batter looks great, Aunt Muriel." Mrs. Weasley insisted.

"Well, you know it's important for a wife to know how to bake a proper cake." She stirred some more sugar into her tea. Let's hope it actually makes her sweeter.

Before I could respond, the familiar sound of thundering feet on the stairs signaled the boy's arrival in the kitchen. They had been up in their room sending out orders for the joke shop. They've had a lot of time to work on the shop lately. It'll be quite the grand reopening...whenever that happens. An arm reached around me and fingers dipped into the batter of my mixing bowl. "Fred!" I scolded, slapping the boy away as he quickly stuck the mixture into his mouth.

"It's my birthday!" He argued with a grin as he sat down at the kitchen table by his displeased looking great-great aunt.

"Every year they use this day as an excuse to be even more mischievous than the other 364 days of the year." Mrs. Weasley shook her head and poured her batter into the pan.