Kiara Cartier (Fred Weasley Love Series)

Ch. 25: Confessions

"Kiara Cartier."

Chapter 25: Confessions

Two days before Christmas was the final day of trading for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes until Boxing Day. The shop was still receiving a steady flow of customers daily during the seasonal holidays, although their popularity was beginning to decline ever so slightly. It wasn't the same as last year where Fred and George were able to take two weeks off from work and leave Lee in charge of running the store. They were planning to close the store permanently from March onwards and they needed to start planning and organising. This meant having plenty of excess stock prepared for their owl orders, because they wouldn't be able to create the quantity of inventions that they did at the store with their materials and ingredients at easy reach.

Kiara was assigned to start working on the preparation of extra stock, considering she knew how to make all of their products from scratch. She requested the assistance of another pair of hands as well, considering they needed to triple their amount of products. They didn't know how long they were going to go into hiding so they needed to prepare for any scenario. To Fred's somewhat disguised displeasure, Cameron volunteered to help Kiara on the days that he was in store. Fred didn't say a word about it, but Kiara noticed the way that his eye twitched impatiently. She was undeniably proud of the kind smile that he put on for her.

Later that night, Kiara reminded him that, in the alternative, Cameron would work on the shop floor with Fred and he'd have to be a lot nicer to him when they're working together and actually speak to him much more. Fred, although half-heartedly, agreed with her. He didn't want to have to fake his niceties through eight hours a day.

On the days where Cameron was working at his other job, Liliana helped Kiara instead. She worked with both siblings closely, teaching them how to produce their products perfectly. Working with both was completely different though. With Cameron, she didn't feel the need to act like Aria as much around him unless Liliana was in the room. With Liliana, she had to focus on using her French accent easily and refer to George as her boyfriend.

She felt like she nearly tripped up twice already, but Liliana didn't seem to notice, engrossed in her work.

There were a lot of similarities between the two siblings as well. They were both very thorough and delicate in handling the products. They learnt quickly, typically after a single demonstration and they rarely made mistakes. She was pleased that they were making such good progress after a week.

On the Friday before Christmas, it was Liliana helping Kiara. Cameron was at his other job, feeding the Diricrawls and organising their meals for the next two days so they wouldn't go hungry. They mostly sat in silence as they worked, but occasionally, the two girls would talk. Liliana was a lot quieter than her brother, even though she also gave off that mysterious aura about her. Kiara knew that she was merely shy.

They were making Skiving Snackboxes, which involved apothecary and mixing different ingredients. Kiara placed the "potions book" that Fred and George wrote any of their recipes in on the book rest next to her. She knew the recipe without looking at it, but Liliana didn't and her eyes kept glancing up at the pages every few seconds. She double checked every step until she turned to Kiara, finished with her potion making.

"Aria, can you check this before I pour it into the moulds?" Kiara nodded and glanced into the cauldron, checking the colour and consistency with her wand. "Mix ze potion one more time clockwise, and it iz ready. Ze potion for Nosebleed Nougats needs to be as red as possible."

Liliana nodded in affirmation, murmuring her thank you. Kiara turned back to her own cauldron when she heard footsteps enter the back room.

"Something smells oddly mischievous and devilish in here," George said loudly, sniffing. Liliana turned her head quickly, her eyes meeting his. "Nosebleed Nougats?" She opened her mouth to respond but no sound came out. Instead, she nodded silently and turned back to her cauldron, her cheeks slightly pink in colour. George's grin faltered, disappointed that she didn't respond. He sent Kiara a curious look but she merely shrugged. She wasn't sure why Liliana was being so quiet and became much shyer around him. She was talking moments before he entered the room.