The next morning, Scarlet awoke to the sound of birds twittering outside her window.
Putting on her favorite pair of overalls, she went downstairs to eat breakfast, all thoughts of yesterday forgotten for the moment.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning; Monica had already left for work, and Derek was sitting at the dining room table, sipping on coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Good morning dad." Scarlet said, as she popped toast into the toaster and sat down to wait.
"Good morning sweetheart." Derek smiled at her over his paper.
"Where's Dom?"
DING!
Scarlet got up to get her toast, topping it with peanut butter and honey.
"He left just a little while ago. Wanted to go play baseball with some of his buddies." Scarlet's dad replied, folding up the newspaper and stretching.
That's weird, Scarlet thought, Dom's baseball buddies are all out of town on vacation, except for Jake. And he absolutely sucks at baseball.
As Scarlet sat there munching her toast and pondering what her brother could be up to, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Derek stood and answered the door.
"Scar, it's for you!"
Puzzled, she stood up, put her dish in the sink, and walked to the front door.
Standing on the stoop were the Weasley twins.
"Hiya Gingersnap." Fred grinned, "May we come in?"
"Of course you may. You're alway welcomed here boys." Scarlet's dad smiled, stepping back to let the boys in.
"Hey guys." Scarlet beamed, "Come on, I want to show you something."
She grabbed Fred's hand and dragged him upstairs to her room, with George following close behind.
"What's up Scar? You finally figured out how to read?" Fred often liked to tease her for her love of reading.
"Ha ha ha, very funny. At least I know how to read, unlike you." Scarlet stuck her tongue out at Fred.
Once up in her room, Scarlet pulled out her sketchbook and plopped down onto the floor. George sat next to her criss cross style and Fred sprawled out on his back in front of her, looking up at her face.
"You know, Scar, I pride myself in my ability to read."
"Yeah, Dr. Seuss books you git." Scarlet grinned innocently at Fred while he glared up at her.
"So are you going to show us whatever it was or not?" Fred demanded, peering upside down at Scarlet.
"If you'll be patient and stay still, I'll show you guys." Scar said, poking Fred's forehead. "Now sit up and sit next to George so I can sketch you guys. Yeah, like that. Okay, now George, wave please."
"But why?"
"Just do it you git."
"You're not very nice." George pouted.
"Yeah well, you're pushing my patience. Do you want me to show you something cool or not?" Scarlet demanded, one eyebrow raised.
"Don't you mean button?" Fred implored cheekily.
"Can it Weasel!"
"Ow!" Scar had flicked his nose.
"Now shut up and sit still or it's the eye next time." Scar threatened, waving the pencil in Fred's then Georges face.
"Okay okay, we surrender." Fred put his hands up mockingly.
"Thank you."
And with that, Scarlet started to sketch the twins.
Following the smooth curves of their knees with the tip of her pencil, gliding down the softness of their cheeks, and climbing up the roughness of their hair, Scarlet sat, immersed in capturing every detail she could. The dimple above Georges lip. The twinkle in Fred's eye as he smiled at her. The rough edges of their hands from years of prank development.
Finally, after about twenty minutes and many groans and complaints from the twins, Scarlet was done.
"And I present to you the drawing, 'Mes deux petites bites!'" Scarlet announced, showing the twins the sketch.
"Meh doo petty what?" George questioned, confused by Scarlet's title for the picture.
"It's French mon petit fromage. Don't worry about it." Scarlet replied, a wicked gleam in her eye.
"So-o-o, what's so special about the sketch? Other than that it's really good." Fred asked, studying the picture.
"Just keep watching."
"Watching? It's just a plain ol- AH!" Fred yelled in surprise, jumping back and knocking the sketchbook out of Scarlet's hands. "It-it... The picture.. Ge-George... He.." Fred stuttered, looking up at his twin brother, eyes wide. "Did you see that George? Your picture waved at me."
George rolled his eyes.
"Fred, the only pictures that move are special wizard ones. Not ones that a muggle drew in her sketchbook. No offense Scarlet."
"None taken."
George continued, "The picture didn't move, you just imagined it. Probably going senile. See?" He pointed down at the sketchbook, before yelping in surprise.
Pencil George had waved up from the paper.
"That's impossible!" George spluttered, before looking at Fred.
"I told you! I'm not crazy! Well," Fred said, when Scar gave him an eyebrow up. "Not that crazy anyway."
He turned to Scarlet.
"How did you do this? You're a muggle, not a wizard."
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. I don't know though. One day I was out sketching the woods out back, when some deer came out to the edge. I added them into my drawing, and when I went to show my parents at dinner, the deer were simply gone. It was as if I'd never sketched them. Well later that night, I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I got my sketchbook out and looked at the picture again, and much to my surprise, there were the deer. I stared at the picture for a long time, and that's when I noticed the baby deer move. Slowly they came to life and moved about the picture, just as they had done when I was sketching them, then they ran off the the right. A moment later, they came back into the picture and it happened all over again, like a slide show of sorts." Scarlet explained, watching the twins awed faces.
"But- but how did none of your chalk drawings come to life then? All those hours you spent trying to teach me to draw, and not once did any of your drawings come to life."
"Well Fred, I learned that I could control whenever they came to life. If I thought hard enough, the picture would stay still. I couldn't risk anything with the chalk drawings. Too many people around. But yeah, this is what I wanted to show you guys!"
She fell silent for a moment, chewing her lip in thought.
"What's wrong Scar?" George asked.
"Well.. I've been thinking.. Could this mean that I'm a wizard?" She looked up at the twins pleadingly, longing to be one of them floating in her eyes. "I mean, no muggle could ever do something like this! Yes my mom can create beautiful art, but she can't make it come to life. Only a wizard can do that!"
Scar was getting excited now, her eyes lighting up with a fire that only burned when she talked about something she was passionate about. Like becoming a witch.
The twins looked at each other, before turning to Scarlet.
"We honestly don't know Scar. It could mean something, but it could also just be a coincidence." Fred reasoned.
"A coincidence? How can something like this be a 'coincidence?' Drawings don't just randomly come to life just because!" Scarlet was starting to get agitated. She thought the boys would be excited for her. Something like this could mean the possibility of her being a witch!
"Let's just forget about it all for a little while and go see what your brothers up too, okay?" Fred pleaded, placing his hand on her arm.
Sighing in defeat, Scarlet just nodded.
"Good, let's go find that git then!" George jumped up along with Fred, and they both pulled Scarlet to her feet.
"Any idea where he is?"
"Well, my dad said he went off to play baseball with some of his buddies earlier." Scarlet offered.
"Then to the park we go-o-o-o!" Fred sang, running out the bedroom door.
"Wait!" Scarlet followed and stopped at the landing, looking down at Fred a few steps below.
George came up behind her, "What's up?"
"The thing is, is all of his baseball buddies are on vacation right now, except for Jake. And he absolutely SUCKS at baseball. Only played because the others paid him in candy, sometimes cash."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at Fred, "See what I'm getting at?"
Fred just stared blankly up at Scarlet.
"George?" She turned to him.
He shook his head.
"Bloody hell you two, sometimes you can be so smart one minute, and the next you're dumber than a stack of damn bricks." She rolled her eyes. "Dom lied to my dad about where he was going this morning. Which means he's hiding something. Which means?"
"That's it's our job to follow him and figure it out!" The twins shouted together.
"Correct! Now let's go find my brother."
After checking the local park for Dominique, the trio had decided to head into the village to find him.
Walking down the street, the sidewalks and cafes and quaint little shops were overflowing with weekend shoppers.
Scanning the area, George spots Dom exiting a flower shop, a bouquet of daisy's in his hand.
"There!"
Crouching in the alley between a coffee shop and drug store, the trio watched Dominique walk down the sidewalk a few stores before entering the candy shop.
"Well well well, what do you think is going on?" Fred asked, looking at Scarlet and George.
"Who knows, but let's keep watching and find out." Scarlet answered.
Several minutes later, he walked out again, this time a box of chocolates in his hands.
Turning around, he came back up the street, towards Scarlet and the twins.
"Shit! Back back back!" Scarlet hissed, shoving Fred and George further into the alley and behind a dumpster.
Peering around the corner, Scarlet watched as Dom walked past the alley. Thankfully he hadn't seen them.
Once he was out of sight, the three got up and walked to the opening of the alley, peering around the corner to make sure Dominique was far enough ahead for them to follow.
"Why do you think he went in there?"
Scarlet and the twins had followed Dominique to a small cafe on the outskirts of the village. He sat down at a table outside, put the flowers under his chair, and the chocolates across the way. Then he just sat there twiddling his thumbs and looking around nervously.
Several minutes went by, and a girl with shoulder length, chestnut brown hair, wearing a white sundress about the same age as Dom, entered the little cafe courtyard and strolled up to Dom. He stood up, hugged the girl, pulled out her seat like a gentleman, and sat down across from her.
The girl, who had a very freckled face and blue eyes, seemed kind of shy at first. As did Dominique.
They exchanged small talk for awhile, until Dom remembered he had the flowers. Reaching down, he picked them up and presented the daisy's to the girl. Her face lit up in a huge smile.
After that conversation seemed to flow pretty well for them. They were laughing and smiling and having a generally good time it seemed.
Twenty minutes went by, and Fred and George were growing more agitated.
"Can't we leave yet? We found out what his secret was. He went on a date, whoop de doo. Let's go." Fred whined, tugging Scarlets arm.
"No! I want to watch him a little longer. If you want to leave, be my guest."
Fred just huffed and didn't reply, grumbling under his breath.
"Look! She's getting up! Shhh!" Scarlet shushed him.
The young girl stood up, along with Dominique, flowers in hand.
They stood a moment, awkwardly, before she kissed Dom on the cheek and walked off.
Even after she was gone, Dom just stood there with a stupid smile on his face, before leaving for home.
Fred and George looked at Scarlet,
"Well, little Dommie has a girlfriend."