"Merlin's beard, how does she do this?" Bill yelled in the empty kitchen, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead.
He'd been toiling at the oven for what seems like hours, trying to bake a strawberry-chocolate cake, Fleur's favourite, to surprise her for her birthday. He had been determined to do it alone, without asking for help from his mother or any of his brothers or sister, but he was now starting to severely regret his decision. All he had to show for his efforts were two bowlfuls of strawberry-chocolate mush, a kitchen that looked more like a disaster zone than anything, and not the slightest hope of getting a respectable cake out of anything in the next ten minutes.
When Fleur came home, she found the house in a sorry state, and her husband in a sorrier state still. He turned to her when she walked through the door, a sheepish grin on his face.
"I wanted to bake you a cake, but… well, as you can see…"
After a second of shock, Fleur burst into laughter and walked towards Bill, stepping over a few upturned cooking pans on the way. She kissed him on the cheek. And softly licked some of the chocolate he'd smeared across his face.
"That's all right, it's quite tasty this way too."
