Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything you recognize. This is for the HPFC 100 Christmas Prompts challenge.
The challenge: My pairing was Roxanne/Lorcan, and my prompts were 'tinsel' and 'broomstick'.
Sometimes, Roxanne Weasley really, really hated being short.
Okay, that wasn't true. She hated being short all the time.
But, for theatrics' sake, let's go with 'sometimes'.
The problem her height (or lack thereof) had caused her this time was that she was supposed to be decorating the Weasley family Christmas tree. All twelve of the kids took turns decorating it on Christmas Eve. Her decoration of choice happened to be tinsel and, wouldn't you know it, the stupid tree was too tall for her to reach the top.
She put her hands on her hips and glared up at it. While she had a very menacing glare for a fifteen-year-old girl, it had no effect on the tree whatsoever.
"Ugh!" she huffed in frustration. "Would you just shrink a little? Stupid tree."
"Y'know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, Roxie," piped up a teasing voice from behind her. She whirled around to find Lorcan Scamander leaning against the doorway to the Burrow's backyard, his trademark grin on his face.
"Well, color me insane, then," she muttered, not even bothering to flash him a smile of greeting.
"Someone's not in the Christmas spirit," he said in a sing-song voice, wandering off the stairs and towards the center of the backyard where she stood next to that thrice-damned tree. "Want some help?"
Roxanne glared at him. "I'm fine," she said stiffly. "I'll just levitate it up there—"
Lorcan snorted. "Oh, please. You're too much of a goody-two-shoes to use magic outside of school."
She drew herself up, too prideful to let his obvious challenge slide. "Wanna bet?"
He smirked at her. "Two galleons."
"You're on," she said, shaking his hand. She took a deep breath and drew her wand from her jacket pocket, aiming it at the tinsel lying on the ground.
"Wingardi—"
"Roxanne!"
She gasped and dropped her wand, whirling around. Her mother stood on the porch, tall and suddenly imposing, even though Roxanne knew she couldn't possibly have seen her wand.
"Um, yes, Mum?" she called, her voice shaky from adrenaline. She could hear Lorcan shaking with suppressed snickers and felt herself blushing furiously.
"Dear, do hurry up!" Angelina said. "Poor Hugo's getting impatient for his turn!"
"A—all right, Mum!" she replied, waving with nervous fingers and waiting until her mother had slipped back inside before rounding on Lorcan.
"I do believe you owe me two galleons," he said, grinning infuriatingly at her.
"No, I don't!" she protested. "I was just interrupted. Where's my wand?"
He twirled her wand around in his hands, still smirking. "Right here. And, face it, you're never gonna do it now that you were almost caught."
"Will too! Give it back!" Roxanne stuck her tongue out at him in a stunning display of maturity.
"Will not," he taunted, but tossed her wand at her. "But, go ahead, prove me wrong."
She caught it and sent him a glare before re-aiming her wand at the tinsel. She took another deep breath, opened her mouth and—
"Merlin, I hate you," she grumbled, fishing two galleons out of her pocket and shoving them at him. "Can you go now?"
Lorcan's smile faded. "Whoa, hey, there's no reason to go all depressed and angsty on me," he said, curling her fingers around the galleons and gently pushing them back towards her. "I don't want your money, Roxie. I just came over here to talk."
"You mean to annoy me," she corrected. "Take the galleons. You earned them."
He sighed. "Seriously. Keep them. I didn't mean to make you upset."
She stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was being sincere or not. Finally, she slid the galleons back into her pocket. "All right. Are you gonna leave now?"
"Let me make it up to you," he suggested, smiling hopefully at her. It was amazing how he could go from an irritating prat to someone sweet and kinda, sorta cute in two seconds flat.
"How?" she demanded, unwilling to let him know that there were butterflies swirling around in her stomach.
He grinned. "Have you ever flown at night, Roxie?"
She stepped back. "I don't fly." In fact, she hadn't touched a broom since one horrible accident when she was six years old. "I don't fly at all, Lorc. There's no way."
"Oh, come on," Lorcan sent her a pleading look, his silvery-blue eyes dancing. He produced his shrunked broom from his pocket and, with one tap of his wand, restored it to normal size. "It'll be fun. I promise I won't let you fall. And we'll get the tinsel up there without breaking any rules."
She swallowed. "I don't—Lorcan, I hate flying."
"C'mon, please?"
Roxanne sighed, unable to resist his charms. "Oh, all right. But if we fall, I will hate you forever."
His face brightened. "All right! Hop on, then!" he said, clambering onto his broom and patting the space in front of him.
She giggled at his expression and grabbed the tinsel, hesitantly swinging up onto the broom, unsteady and unsure. With a smile, Lorcan slid his arms around her waist, pressing his hands on top of hers to keep them steady. His body was warm against hers, his chest pressing into her back, his breath winter-fresh on her neck.
"Relax, Roxie," he whispered in her ear. "Ready?"
Without waiting for a reply, he kicked off into the air, soaring higher and higher until they were circling the tip of the tree. Roxanne cried out, half in delight, half in fear, but managed to keep holding on until they stilled to a stop above the tree.
"Go on. Do the honors," Lorcan urged. She took the tinsel from her pocket and draped it around the tree. He circled around it until the top of the tree was wrapped fully in tinsel.
"It looks great," he told her warmly.
"Thanks," she said, sighing in contentment. Then, she added, "Now, get me down!"
Lorcan chuckled and took off for the ground, looping around once or twice just to startle her. Once safely on the ground, she whirled and smacked him.
"Ow!" he laughed, rubbing his arms. "What was that for?"
"That was for being a prat," she told him, though her smile was affectionate.
He grinned and poked her waist, making her squeal. "You love me anyway," he stated, shifting his body closer to hers.
"I do not," Roxanne sniffed, turning away even though there was a smile on her face. "You're appallingly annoying, you know that?"
"Big words for such a little girl," he smirked. She smacked him again. "Ow! Geez, Roxie! I'm not your personal piñata!"
She stuck her tongue out at him. He took that as an excuse to lean in and kiss her.
"Admit it," he whispered against her lips when they pulled apart, their foreheads still touching and their breaths mingling like tinsel on tree leaves. "You do like me."
"Do not," she giggled, but she didn't move away.
"You wouldn't have kissed me back if you didn't," he challenged, sliding his arms around her body and pulling her in.
Roxanne laughed, finally relenting. "Oh, you're insufferable."
Lorcan grinned, stealing another kiss. "Merry Christmas, Roxie."
She decided not to reply with words.
Author's Notes: So, to be perfectly honest, this is not one of my favorite pairings. It's more of a 'oh-cute-but-whatever' sort of pairing, but if you like them, I do hope I did them justice! And, also, if you liked this story, please review! I'd love to hear what you have to say! Thanks :)