Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(118) Confessions and Promises

"George!" Florence scolded, swatting his hand away from the cookie batter that she was preparing, "I expected you to know better than to jab your dirty fingers into food." she scoffed at the redheaded boy, before setting the whisk down.

The Weasley twins had been sitting on the kitchen countertops after they had been kicked out from the living room as they kept dropping the Christmas balls and breaking them, now watching Florence scurry all around the kitchen trying to get all her ingredients together. They had approximately five hours until the big Christmas dinner, and Mrs. Weasley wanted heaps and heaps of dessert for everyone.

"Does she sound like someone we know, Freddie?" George called upon his twin, who he had caught in the act of pocketing one of the gingerbread cookies, which made him burst out into a loud voice, "Your boyfriend stole a cookie!" he tattled to Florence, who had swiveled around to glare at Fred.

"Well my boyfriend should return the cookie, otherwise he will be banned from eating any of the desserts later."

"But your boyfriend is hungry." said Fred, still not giving up the cookie. But the hazardous expression on Florence's face made him give up eventually. She flashed him a small smile, before taking another batch of warm cupcakes from the oven.

"He took the cookie back." George said as soon as Florence had their backs to them, hearing a soft smack after his voice, to be followed by Fred's frantic voice. "Flo, I swear I didn't take a cookie. He was just distracting you so that he could take a swipe off of your cookie batter."

"Why do you prefer the raw stuff? You're literally like Nicolai. Why would you want to eat the raw stuff when I'm going to bake those in to perfectly edible food if you wait a little longer?"

"Because he's impatient." chimed Fred, his response making her feel a sort of deja vu. She shook her head, "I swear I've had this exact conversation in the past."

Molly strode in to the kitchen a few moments later, one stern glare towards the Weasley twins was enough to get them to hop off of the counter, a warm smile replacing her previously threatening look as she went over to check on Florence, "Things are looking good, sweetie. Have we got enough for everyone?"

"Yes we do. I just need to pop them in the oven and they'll be good to go for tonight."

"Perfect. Thank you, dear." she smiled, before turning to Fred and George, "You two best help her in cleaning up...and not just sitting around."

Fred gave her a mock salute, before she retreated back to the living room, saying something about Sirius potentially breaking another case of Christmas decorations.

"You know," he said, before ever so cautiously sliding a cookie back onto the tray, "It would have been a nightmare for me if you and my mum didn't get along. But then again, this looks like a nightmare too. You're like...a brunette version of my mum."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Florence smiled, "Your mother is a very lovely woman."

"To other people," the twins snorted simultaneously, Florence raising a brow at them, before she continued creaming her cookie batter. Sloan had came in to the kitchen momentarily, wordlessly getting a glass of water before storming away, as though he was mad at the world.

Julien had flooed to France earlier that day, as he was going to spend his Christmas with the Franssons, at the conjoined request of Alanna, who claimed that she missed her brother so much, and his mother, who basically argued her way through Sloan's protests.

Sloan, on the other hand, was not okay with this at all, his reason being that Julien had two other relatives that he has yet to spend Christmas dinner with them. But Julien, who did not want to make a big fuss about it, promised to come back to Grimmauld place on Christmas morning, despite the fact that he would get zero sleep with doing so, as Christmas parties at the Franssons always lasted until early morning.