Just Say Yes || Fred Weasley

Chapter Sixteen

It was Christmas Day and an unspoken agreement had been in effect throughout the Weasley house - to ignore that morning, an agreement which I was more than happy to honour.
"Merry Christmas!" Ginny sang, jumping on the end of my bed "Everyone's already downstairs - PRESENTS!"
I laughed at Ginny, hopped out of bed and pulled on my oversized Weasley sweater, before following the excited girl downstairs.
I sat down next to Charlie, leaning on his arm slightly.
"G'mornin" I greeted, waving at the rest of the sprintely bunch (mark the sarcasm. Arthur was snoring on his armchair whilst Percy looked like he was allergic to the light, shielding his eyes from the rays flooding in from outside)
"Mum can we open presents mum please!" Ginny cried, looking at the packages with excitement. Molly smiled, nodding at her daughter. With an excited yelp, the youngest ginger dove into the pile, pulling out all of those marked with her name. Finding her enthusiasm kind of infectious, I started handing out everyone else's presents.
Once I had accumulated my title pile, I started to open them.
From Bill I got a small rune
'A bit of a tomb as promised - had to work pretty hard to get it past the boss so sorry it couldn't have been any bigger. This one means "safety for the beholder"
Darren and Christie send their love
Bill x'
"Cool" I breathed, grinning.
The next present was from Molly and Arthur, and was another Weasley jumper and some homemade fudge. Sending my thanks, I turned back to the pile, picking up a neatly wrapped present. A 'guide to success' wizarding book. Obviously from Percy, I thanked him and moved on to the next one.
By the end I had opened all my packages, receiving some jokes supplies from the twins, a friendship bracelet from Ginny, a notebook with some of Charlie's dragon drawings inside, a bag full of sweets from Conor, a 'magic for idiots' book from Miles, a herbology book from Conor, a potion brewing kit from Bethany, a history book on Merlin from Ebony, as well as some muggle books from my parents and Hermione.
"There's one more you still haven't opened" Ginny pointed out, picking up a package that had been lost under ripped wrapping paper. Quirking an eyebrow, I took off the paper and stared in confusion at the gift.
'A complex wizards guide to useful charms'. The present wasn't signed, but did come with a note.
'Here's to beating George'

"Is this from anyone here?" I asked, confusion obvious on my face. All the Weasley's denied it, but Charlie saw the note in my hand and went to snatch it.
"Hey!" I yelled, trying to get the piece of paper back from Charlie's hand "That's not yours to read you oaf!"
"Who's this from?" He grinned, trying to read the note as I whacked his arm "oooh not signed. Do we have a secret admirer?"
"No! I don't know! Give it back you dragon mother-"
"Why would you best George?" He asked, "looking over to his brother.
"We have a bet-" George started, swiftly getting interrupted by his mother.
"George Weasley what have I said about you and betting? It's completely irresponsible! Wasting money is no joke, think about your securi-"

Whilst the twins were getting roasted by their mother, I turned my attention to Mr Weasley who was looking through the box I gave him.
"What's this Emily?" He asked, pulling out a water pistol.
"That is a water pistol. You pour water in here" I instructed, pointing to the opening, "and then when you pull this trigger it will squirt someone with water - kind of like the augementi spell"
"Fascinating" he murmured.

After a lovely Christmas dinner - after which I felt like I was going to burst - everyone spread out over the house. Ginny went up to her room to look over some of her presents, Charlie was writing a letter to his friends at the sanctuary, Molly was cleaning up whilst Arthur was still trying to sort out the water pistols and the twins and Percy were nowhere to be seen.
Deciding to help Mr Weasley's pitiful attempt at filling the pistols, I walked over and offered I help him.
"Brilliant, yes. It seems the muggles have quite heavy security precautions around this toy weapon" he stated, watching in awe as I snapped the cap off and filled it with water from the tap. I filled the other three, before handing Arthur one.
"Okay" I said with a grin "the way this works is you point it at the person you want to hit" I adjusted the aim at his chest "and pull the trigger".
A large spurt of water burst out the end of the water pistol, and Arthur let out a gasp.
"How magnificent! All without magic! How does the trigger make the water move? Oh what mystery!"
Chuckling, I left him to inspect the item further, now going on the hunt for Fred and George, gun ready to fire at any moment.

"bOo!" George screamed, jumping out at me from behind the sofa, getting squirted directly in the face with the pistol, making him let out a shrill scream.
"Got you!"
"No fair! You have a water thingy!"
I stuck my tongue out at him, racing to the front door to escape. Swinging it open, I came face to face with Fred.
"I'm not apologising first" I said stubbornly, playing with the water pistol.

"Well neither am I"
"I guess we're at a stalemate then"
"I guess we are"
A few minutes of silence passed, neither of us wanting to break it. Though the situation was awkward, the silence itself was comforting. Eventually, Fred decided to speak.
"I'm sorry if I was a bit forward with that joke, it was a bit dirty and I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable-"
I cut him off here with a frown.
"You thought I was uncomfortable because you made a dirty joke? Have you met Bethany? All she speaks are dirty jokes and bad flirting, it really doesn't bother me"
Fred looked even more confused than before, "then why were you mad at me?"
"I wasn't mad. Just a bit freaked out is all - I mean the way you said it-"
Now it was Fred's time to interrupt.
"It's not like I like you or anything! Totally completely platonic here - I could never see you that way-"
"Okay" I scoffed "merry fuckin Christmas"

I stormed back inside the burrow, jumping on to Charlie's back.
"Whatcha writing there?"
"Nothing"
"Oh yeah? Who's Melissa-"
Charlie ripped the parchment from my view, his cheeks as red as his hair.
"Ooooooh Charlie loooves someone" I teased, climbing off his back to sit opposite him at the table.
"Shut up no I don't. She's a work colleague that's all"
I raised my eyebrow accusingly earning a rare middle finger from the boy.
"Ow Charlie. My heart. You hurt it. Ouch" I drawled sarcastically.
"If you must know, we're getting a new shipment of dragons in - they often drift to Romania during the warmer months. The first arrivals are expected in March"
"Oh cool! What types?"
Charlie started ranting about the different dragons, and their rarity and danger level. I listened in awe as he explained how life on the reserve worked. It was very hands on work, however dragons weren't tame, so they needed to be cautious.
"Do you think I could ever see them?" I asked fascinated "it sounds so wonderful"
"I'm sure it does" he laughed, ruffling my hair "but I doubt your parents would let you"
I scoffed, "since when do I let my parents decide if I want to ride a dragon"
"Woah - we don't ride them! If you get within 50 feet you're in danger of losing a limb, let alone trying to mount one"
"You've never even thought about it?"
"No?"
"Oh Charlie" I sighed "I have a movie to show you"
"One of those moving stories?"
"Yes. It's called how to train your dragon"
"Muggles know about dragons?!"
"No, of course not you numpty. They think they're stories, but the film is so good I think you'd appreciate it"
"Won't we need a TP for that?"
"TV, Yes. Wow you really did listen in muggle studies"
"It was one of my O owls" he smirked "I got 11 of them, remember?"
I guffawed at his cocky face
"Ive got them this year, but I bet you that I can get 12 OWLs"
"You're on"