Haidee was hidden in the empty library for the first time since the beginning of the Christmas holidays, which was only a mere few days ago. Her hunched figure was securely hidden in the back of the library as her books and notes fluttered over the desk. It had not taken long for Fred to find her, which she had expected. She had only managed to get through her Herbology holiday homework when he had arrived to distract her.
"You thought you could get away that easy?" Fred smirked as he approached, unattended by George.
"No," she simply replied, "I knew it was only a matter of time. However, I do think this is a record." Fred laughed as he pulled up a chair beside her and plonked himself down on it. His eyes wandered over the abundance of quills and different coloured inks she had, which she used for annotations and correction and wondered how he ever came to care for someone quite as opposite as he was.
"You can't honestly tell me you need all these quills," said Fred as he picked one up and fiddled with it in between his fingers, observing it as Haidee reached to grab it from his hands. Fred caught her hand with ease and held it in his own while continuing to fiddle with the quill in his other.
She sighed with a smile on her lips. "Are you sure there is no one else you can bother?" she said, teasingly, tugging her hand pathetically at an attempt to loosen his grip.
"I'll be quiet!" Fred gushed as he continued to fiddle with her quill.
"Fred, you're rather distracting even when you are quiet," she proceeded to explain. She tugged again, but to no avail.
"I can't help that I'm incredibly handsome," Fred whined, winking at her as he held her hand tighter. She sighed and tugged one more time, not in an attempt to free herself for she knew he was far too strong to compete with, but in the hope he would release her out of the wellness of his heart.
She was wrong. He found no wellness in his heart to release her, in fact, he pulled her closer and held her tighter, just decreasing her chance of escaping. "Just let me stay with you. I'll be good, I promise."
Haidee sighed and looked up at him with soft eyes, his hazel ones searching for her eyes behind her bed for hair. "Only if you let me complete my work," she addressed and Fred nodded in agreement, not letting her go. Her eyes moved from Fred's to their hands, which were still connected. "Which I require both hands to achieve." Begrudgingly, he let her go.
Fred watched her curiously as she began her work. He had never actually been with her when she studied, she made sure to be as far away from him as possible in the assurance that he would not disturb her. He stared at her covered desk and repeated the thought that he had never seen that many quills and coloured inks in his life.
With the quill that he still had in his other hand, he twirled it and spun it and even threw it in the air and caught it between his teeth.
She hadn't even made it into four minutes of study when he started to distract her. She sighed and looked at him, a bored and tired expression lingered upon him and he wasn't even the one doing the studying.
"I need that quill, please, Fred," she said as she reached for it as she twiddled it in his fingers.
"Here you go, darling," he said as he gave it to her, smirking as he called ger so, picking up another quill in its place. He started doing the same thing, twirling it in his fingers. She could tell that he was having trouble keeping his mouth shut and staying still. She wondered if staying quiet was such torture to him, how he ever managed to complete any homework at all.
She had not bothered to tell him that she needed the quill he was amusing himself with, knowing that he would just replace it with another quill she would need eventually. After completing another two subjects worth of homework, she had decided that Fred had been tortured enough so she quickly packed her things and turned to him.
"Okay, what would you like to do?"
Fred looked at her in surprise. He hadn't even noticed she had packed up everything and he sprung to his feet in an adrenaline rush that had built up within him while he was waiting for Haidee to finish.
"You're finished?" he asked.
"Well, not entirely. Nevertheless, I can complete the rest later," replied Haidee as she stood up. "So, considering you did what I wanted to do, what do you want to do?" Fred smiled and looked her up and down cheekily.
"So many things," he teased with his characteristic smirk and wink. "But they are far too inappropriate for school, so let make Christmas cookies."
Haidee furrowed her eyebrows as she listened to him.
"You want to make Christmas cookies with me?" she asked. He had never expressed any interest in helping her cook, only eating her cooking. "Why?"
"Oh, just feeling festive. Come on, Haidee, where's your Christmas cheer?" he laughed, pulling her by the hand out of the library and towards the kitchen. Haidee eyed him suspiciously the whole way down, sometimes looking around the corners in case George was signalled to pop out and scare her with boils covering his face.
"You're not going to prank me, are you?" she asked sceptically as they rounded the corner to the kitchen. Fred laughed as he tickled the pear, which transformed into the kitchen door's doorknob.
"It wouldn't be a very good prank if you suspected it," Fred replied as they entered the kitchen. "You know I'm better than that."
"Quite true," she replied as she found comfort and safety in her familiar surroundings, sure that if he were to prank her, her knowledge of the kitchen was well enough to spot anything slightly out of place. Habitually, she walked herself to her corner of the kitchen where she began to pull out all of the ingredients she needed.
"What can I do to help?" he asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. She smiled and gave him her least favourite task.
"You could line the baking trays for me, please. The trays are in this draw down here and the baking paper is in the one next to it." Fred groaned at the mundane task but did what he was asked and once everything was set, they started to bake.
"It's quite a simple recipe," she said to him as she asked him to measure out the flour which she soon learnt was a bad idea, him having spilt it everywhere in his attempt followed by the puff of flour that hit him in the face as he dropped the four into a bowl. "You don't cook much, do you?"
"No, I'm more of a consumer," he laughed as Haidee wiped some flour from his eyes.
The two continued their cookie endeavours with little success, but with many laughs. Fred had managed to destroy four eggs before he was able to triumphantly crack one and accidentally added too much vanilla to the mixture.
"Maybe you should stir it," said Fred looking between his messy and untidy hands and Haidee, who was utterly clean. She laughed and stirred the mixture into dough before sprinkling some flour on the bench so the dough could be rolled out.
Fred had cleaned his hands by this time and decided to join in, sending a fist full of flour descending downwards onto the bench as if he had not learnt from his last attempt that plummeting flour into a surface had repercussions. The flour puffed directly into his face causing Haidee to chuckle uncontrollably beside him.
"Oh, you think it's funny, do you?" he asked and Haidee nodded enthusiastically, but her laughter had blinded her from seeing Fred grab another fist full of flour and aim it directly at Haidee. The flour exploded in her face, covering the entirety of her face that was showing and a large part of her surrounding hair. She gasped, which was a horrible idea, as she sucked in the particles of the flour that drifted in the air, making her chock. It was Fred's turn to laugh as she spluttered as much flour as she could out of her mouth.
Fred expected her to scold him once she had managed to get as much flour out of her mouth as possible, but instead, she said, "I can see why you are a Beater." She licked the roof of her mouth to remove some flour that was still stuck. "Brilliant aim."
She didn't know what possessed her to do it, but before she could examine why she had the urge, she threw an egg directly at Fred's head however missed and hit his shoulder. "I guess I'm not so privileged." Fred's eyes sunk to her as she watched, with an innocent little smile on her lips as the egg dripped down his shirt.
His eyes darkened slightly as he smirked at her. "That was a mistake." Haidee swallowed a lump in her throat at the mischievous smile that grew on her lips and she knew, in fact, that it was a grave mistake. She let out a little gasp as she ducked, narrowly missing the egg Fred perfectly aimed for her head. His laughter filled the room as they continued to fight. Haidee took refuge behind a counter, throwing what she could reach in his direction as Fred advanced to her position.
She laughed as she watched him slip on a broken egg on the floor, landing on his butt. Haidee took this advantage to grab a fist full of flour and aim it directly at his head. The flour erupted over his face giving Haidee the chance to make a quick get-away. However, as she turned, Fred's hand wrapped around her ankle, bringing her down to his level. As she tripped a little laugh escaping her lips. She knew the moment she hit the floor, the game was over. There was no chance of her escape if Fred had his hands on her. She laughed at her own defeat as she felt herself lying on the floor. Fred's hand mover to her wrists to ensure she could not escape.
Panting, she looked over to him. "Okay, you win."
"No, I haven't won yet," said Fred as he moved his body closer to her. She swallowed nervously, but not because of the mischievous smile he had on his lips, but instead where his eyes were seeking.
Fred leaned over to her, one of his hands clamped both of her wrists together as she prompted herself up on her elbow. With his free hand, he delicately cleared her lips from the flour that remained, his hand lingered in her face and he cupped her cheek as he slowly moved in.
She watched as he advanced on her slowly; she could feel his heat radiating on to her as he moved closer. Her heart raced as their noses touched, his breath tickling her lips. He was so close, his grin taunting her as he lingered there for a moment, teasingly.
Then, their lips touched and it was everything she could have imagined it would be. His lips were soft on hers but took control instantly, applying pressure to their kiss. His free hand moved behind her head to steady her before he placed his other hand on her cheek. He pressed a bit deeper, the kiss strengthening as if in search to satisfy a need, but he quickly pulled away.
His eyes examined her for a reaction, unsure if he had done the right thing but the breath he was holding was released when he saw her lips curve into a sheepish smile. He laughed slightly before helping her up off the floor and pecking her once they were both steady on their feet.
"I thought it was about time after a year of making you wait," he laughed, pulling her closer. She smiled up at him as his eyes gleamed with success and light. He looked handsome beyond compare as if he embodied the appearance of perfection. She didn't want to stop studying him, she didn't want him to let her go. She looked down diffidently before aiming her attention back towards the messy kitchen.
"Maybe we should clean up," she whispered before looking back up at Fred. He simply nodded and laughed at her sheepish behaviour, pecking her one last time, as if she was the best thing he had ever tasted, before returning to the kitchen to clean and finish the Christmas cookies.
Once they were done and decorated, the two of them sat on the floor in the now clean kitchen, eating the cookies privately. Fred said something incoherent as he stuffed his mouth with an entire cookie, causing Haidee to chuckle at the sight.
"I did not hear a single word you just said," she replied, taking a civilized bite out of her cookie.
"I just asked you to be my girlfriend," he stated casually, licking his lips after devouring the cookie, a knowing smile on his lips. Haidee rolled her eyes.
"How romantic," she teased, leaning over to peck his sugary lips. "Of course."