A/N: Two short notes: Wizards of the Coast is a real company and I'm pretty sure they're not
really wizards although I wouldn't swear to that. The "Partners" game is based on a game I own
called "Imaginiff . . ." by Buffalo Games and I have adapted some of the actual questions to be
more magical and made up some of my own. This is not actually a kissing game, but I think it
sounds like so much fun, that the next time I play, it may suddenly turn into one. Enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 66
Christmas and Kissing - Lots of Kissing
Everyone sat down to a scrumptious brunch of omelets, kippers, muffins, fruit, orange juice,
pumpkin juice, coffee, and hot chocolate a few minutes later and Cassie felt guilty she hadn't come
in to help. Truthfully, she had enjoyed sitting with George so much that the thought of leaving
him for even just those few minutes to help Molly had never crossed her mind. Molly looked
unfazed, though, and when Cassie tried to stumble through an apology, she waved her off. "It was
no trouble, dear. Most of it you had already helped on before. And you looked very comfortable
where you were sitting." Cassie flushed but was grateful for her understanding. The conversation
quickly turned to the morning's haul of presents, with everyone discussing what they had gotten
and what had surprised them the most. Cassie was still amazed at the beautiful robes George had
given her and told everyone that was her big surprise present. Cassie was listening intently as
Ginny described her big surprise present from Molly and Arthur and so when everyone started
chuckling, it took her a minute to realize they were laughing at her. Everyone's gaze was focused
above her head, so she looked up and smiled. There was mistletoe right above her. She elbowed
George and he forced his face into a very surprised expression as he looked up at it as well.
"Aah, I was wondering when that was going to show up. It's family tradition, you know. Mum
and Dad used to have us all snogging each other as kids. It was quite disgusting." Everyone
laughed.
"I see. Well, you're not a kid anymore."
"No. And I don't think I'd snog Fred again, fun as it was at the time." Fred groaned and threw a
muffin at George.
"You never snogged me - don't believe a word he says, Cassie."
"I don't."
"You can believe some of what I say. For example, if I tell you that we have to kiss in the next
minute or so or that mistletoe will start insulting us, you can believe that." Everyone laughed and
George stood up, pulling Cassie to stand next to him. He smiled at her and his hand slipped
behind her neck to pull her closer. The kiss was short but very sweet and she grinned at him,
lifting her face for another round. "Sorry, the mistletoe's moved on. Our turn's all over." Cassie
looked up despite her knowing that she shouldn't and she noticed that it had indeed moved and
was now hovering directly over Harry's head. Ginny looked at him with a question in her eyes.
Harry glanced at the other occupants of the table, then shook his head in resignation and bent
over and kissed Ginny very thoroughly. Cassie sat down and watched as the mistletoe then
tracked over to Molly who stood expectantly, looking down the table at her husband. Arthur
flushed bright red as all the Weasley children started catcalling and whistling. But he walked over
to Molly and bent her into an elaborate dip as their lips met. When they stood back up, Molly
fanned herself and slid back into her seat. Her cheeks were quite pink and Cassie thought she
looked 10 years younger than she had when they sat down to brunch. Hermione pinched her lips
in faint disapproval as the mistletoe moved over her head but Ron enthusiastically pulled her up
into a very long kiss that didn't end until Mr. Weasley cleared his throat.
"Oh, sorry everyone," Ron said. But he didn't look very sorry and Hermione's secretive little grin
didn't make it look like she was sorry either. Charlie got a peck on the cheek from Cassie to
appease the mistletoe above his head and everyone clapped except for George. Fred tried to kiss
Hermione but Ron scowled so deeply at his brother that he wound up kissing his mother on the
cheek and muttered something about jealous brothers. It was Remus who provided the most
amusing episode with the mistletoe. He tried to peck Tonks on the cheek, but the mistletoe was
not fooled and started hurling down insults, questioning his masculinity and his virility, and Cassie
turned three shades of red before he finally stood up, pulled Tonks out of her chair (who at the
moment when she certainly wanted to appear most graceful and feminine, kicked over her chair
and tripped over one of its legs) and planted a long kiss on her partly-opened mouth. Both Tonks
and Remus sat staring at the table for a long time after that and no one bothered them although
Cassie knew she wasn't the only one sending them covert looks down the table.
The mistletoe, apparently sensing that it had caused a sufficient amount of havoc for one meal,
then floated gracefully out of the kitchen. "Where's it going?" Cassie whispered to George when
everyone else's attention was drawn to Fred, who was discussing his plans for the rest of the day.
"Into the living room. I'll help you find it later." Cassie flushed, smiling. She'd have never guessed
that she'd be so brave about asking for kisses. But something about George made her throw all
caution to the wind. She didn't care if everyone knew they were snogging. She just wanted to be
with him as much as possible.
After the brunch dishes were all finished, Arthur announced he was going out to fly his airplane
He insisted that he could do it himself but when he actually got the box out, it was obvious that it
was a bit beyond his depth. The controller needed batteries inserted in it and he seemed unsure of
how to put them in. "I'm familiar with batteries and everything, Cassie, but these are not clearly
labeled." He seemed embarrassed that he couldn't figure them out, but once Cassie worked with it
for a few minutes, she realized that it was really poorly explained. The airplane itself also took
batteries in two different parts and the controller had two places that needed them.
"Don't feel bad, Arthur. You're right about the instructions being bad. I'll try to find someway to
mark the plane so you remember how to load the batteries later." The entire family wanted to go
out and watch him fly the plane on its maiden voyage so it took a few minutes for everyone to get
their cloaks and get ready to go outside. Finally all of them were standing out in the brisk breeze.
"Now how does this work exactly?" asked Molly looking askance at the bright red plane. "It
doesn't look like it would stay in the air."
"It works on the principle of lift and changing air pressure. That's how the big ones fly, too."
"I personally would never get in one of those things. They scare me." Cassie laughed at Tonks'
comment.
"So, being in the air on a broom doesn't frighten you but being on an airplane would?"
"Well, yeah. I know what's keeping the broom in the air."
Hermione looked like she was going to say something but changed her mind and shrugged. Cassie
met her eyes and they both grinned. Arthur meanwhile started up the plane and a second later, it
flew into the cold winter air. He did pretty well with it after a couple of minutes, flying it around
and around in big circles. Everyone clapped and cheered as it zoomed around, the noise of its
engine echoing through the quiet yard. Cassie felt something brush against her leg and looked
down, expecting to see a cat or something. She let out a small squeak of fear and backed up into
George. "What is that ugly thing?" George looked around her to see what she was pointing at and
he laughed.
"It's just a gnome."
"A . . . what?"
"A garden gnome. We're constantly trying to get rid of them, but they always come back. Dad's
too soft on 'em."
"I've never seen one out here before." She was trying to escape around George and get further
away from the squat, ugly little creature looking up into the sky. However, his arms were around
her waist anchoring her in place and he was either oblivious to her attempts to get away from the
gnome or unsympathetic to her fear.
"They normally don't come out in the winter-"
"Ouch!" Ron yelled loudly. "Blasted things!" Cassie glanced over to see Ron hopping on one foot
as he rubbed his ankle with his hand. It started shaking its little fist at Ron and saying something,
although it didn't sound like any language Cassie could understand.
"Either go back in your hole, or I'm tossing you!" Ron said to the little figure, who ignored him
and continued shaking his fist. "That's it! I mean it!" Finally, despite Hermione's telling him to
leave the poor thing alone as it was Christmas after all, Ron picked up the gnome, spun it around
once, and let go, at which time it flew with an almost artistic flair over a distant fence.
George laughed again and continued, "Like I was saying, they don't usually come out in the
winter. I think the noise has made them come out to see what's happening." Cassie was never
exactly sure what happened because she was busy paying attention to the whole gnome situation.
But why it happened was not really important. The only thing that really mattered was that
somehow Arthur lost control of the plane. Which would have been bad enough had the plane just
dove into the ground or something. But no. He was desperately trying to regain control as the
plane buzzed low enough to be a serious threat to the heads of the crowd watching. Everybody
ducked as it made one pass virtually through their space but then it turned around and came back
through as though it had its own little death wish, because this time, it aimed right for Molly's
head. Molly took one look at it bearing down at her and rather than duck again to let it pass by,
she moved. The plane still followed and a second later Molly was jogging briskly, trying to get
out of its way.
That's when it really got bad. She was -- well, not exactly running, but close- and the plane was
right on her heels. Everyone was laughing desperately hard except for Arthur who was really
trying to raise the plane higher so that his poor wife didn't have to run for her life. She did pull out
her wand and Cassie had the sudden fear that she would blast the new plane out of existence but
fortunately someone, and Cassie never was sure who, magicked the wand out of her hand and
sent the plane a different direction. Molly stood there, looking windblown and angry, seemingly
undecided whether to run over and start cursing at Arthur or whether to just make a semi-graceful
retreat into the house. Arthur managed to at least look sheepishly at her before the plane took
another steep dive, this time toward the ground, and he managed to right it just in time for the
plane to start chasing gnomes instead.
This time, despite Molly's obvious embarrassment, even she laughed as two or three of the
gnomes started running toward the edges of the garden trying to get away from the big red bird
that must have looked like it could eat them for lunch. They ran for several minutes and when
Cassie looked at Arthur, he didn't look like he was trying too hard to get the plane back up into
the sky. But then it buzzed a bush, almost swung into a tree, and if somehow sensing that flying
this low could be dangerous, the plane flew almost straight into the air and did two giant loops
before landing, gracefully, upon a small patch of winter-frosted grass.
Everybody clapped and laughed and walked over to Arthur to congratulate him on his new toy.
And thus started the great debate of the Weasley family that Cassie thought would undoubtedly
be a subject of discussion for many years to come. Had Arthur accidentally had the plane chase
Molly or had he done it on purpose? Molly and several of the kids were convinced it had been his
idea of a joke. Others were quite sure that he would never risk the existence of the plane by
having it chase an armed witch. George and Cassie were actually on different sides of this
argument and it was only Cassie deciding it wasn't worth fighting about that ended their "friendly"
debate. George took this as an indication he had won and Cassie finally had to pull him aside a
few minutes later (when he was crowing about how it was obvious even to Cassie that he had
done it on purpose) and tell him in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to fight about it, but
she was quite positive it had been a mistake. That ended his crowing, but he was still convinced it
had been his dad's sense of humor coming through and all of Arthur's protestations of innocence
were shoved aside as George confided to Cassie that it was something he certainly would have
done if it had been his airplane.
The group made its way back inside, still bantering, and Fred announced he was going to go to
Angelina's now "although after you lot, it's bound to be boring." His twin reminded him that he
was really going to snog his girlfriend senseless and Fred even blushed as he picked up his small
pile of presents and dispparated. His departure seemed to be some sort of a signal that the
morning of family time had officially ended and that everyone could do their own thing now.
"I'm going to go look at my presents some more, Cassie. You want to come?"
"Sure." She and George somehow ended up on the living room couch. She was curled up next to
him reading Hogwarts: A History and he was looking over several of the items Fred had given
him, all of which looked to Cassie like they could be dangerous. Finally he set them aside and
pulled over the present she had given him.
"Okay, Cassie. Help me figure this out, please. I want to use it, but I'm not really sure how." A
rather inauspicious beginning, Cassie thought later, to what had turned into a really wonderful
afternoon. They had gone through the DayPlanner one section at time. Sometimes he had
charmed the pages to be more helpful to him. For example, there was a whole section on foreign
exchange and he had added in a part on converting Galleons to Pounds that she thought was
pretty clever. He also removed whole sections that he didn't need, one being an entire five pages
dedicated to keeping track of your frequent flyer miles with various airlines. "If I ever do fly in
one of those aeroplanes . . ." he had said, shaking his head at the thought, " . . . it won't be often
enough that I'll get any bonus points." She and he had discussed his short-term and long-range
plans for the shop and it pleased Cassie that he and Fred had thought these sorts of things through
before they even opened the shop in the first place. By the end, he seemed genuinely pleased with
the idea that this little notebook could help him with the shop and Cassie felt much better about
having chosen it.
George then stood up and got something from Fred's pile of presents and brought it back over to
where she was sitting. She saw immediately that it was the book she had given him. "That was
sort of a stupid idea, wasn't it? I just . . . I don't know. I thought it would really be something you
two should consider."
"It wasn't stupid. It just may take us a while to get used to the idea. I'm not really sure the Muggle
world is ready for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Even the Wizarding World seems ill-prepared at
times." Cassie laughed.
"You couldn't sell all your products to Muggles, obviously. Anything like your Canary Cremes or
the Rudolpho's or anything like that would be too . . . magical. And I think your Skiving
Snackboxes, although they could work, would be dangerous. Someone could get seriously hurt
with those things. But your firecrackers, that bubble bath, even your drinks, could be marketed
easily enough and I think Muggles would just assume it was all chemicals rather than magic that
was making things happen."
"But I don't know anything about computers. And I don't think I could actually learn 'cause I
don't think they would work around me."
"I know. Believe me when I tell you that most business owners don't design their own web sites.
You would just hire someone to do it and make it look the way you want it to and maintain it.
They'd also take care if there were any breakdowns or hackers broke into it or anything. You'd
just have to provide pictures of the products and tell them what sort of price you have in mind."
"I don't know . . ." George thumbed through the book quickly. "We'd need to get permission from
the Ministry, I suppose."
"Probably. So you don't get in trouble for doing magic in front of Muggles. And you'd need to get
a business license, too, so that you could sell to them. And you'd have a lot to learn - taxes, credit
cards, the mail system, etc. - and that's just to start out with."
"Ugh. You'd have to help me."
"Of course." George stopped and stared at one page for a minute.
"Is this a joke?"
"What?" She looked to where he was pointing and smiled broadly.
"No. Just a coincidence. But I think it's great. WWW stands for World Wide Web, actually. It
was originally supposed to be one of several different networks, but now pretty much it's
everything."
"So, it really doesn't stand for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"
"No, but I think you could be quite clever and think of some way to take advantage of everyone
knowing WWW and let it help you with your marketing." George nodded and turned to another
page, this time his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline as he read.
"It says here that there are several wizarding businesses already on the internet."
"I noticed that."
"It says that they don't even try to hide the fact that they're wizards and that the Muggles don't
question it."
"They don't really believe they can do magic, though."
"Wizards of the Coast - they sell game cards, like Pokeymans, whatever those are --"
"I know. I don't even think you'd need to change your business name or anything. Just the
packaging. I don't think it should move." George nodded again and flipped to another page.
"So, we could hire a Muggle firm to ship the products?"
"That's what this book recommends. And they could handle all the customer service and
everything. That way, you don't have to get involved in that side of it since those are things you're
not really comfortable with like telephones and the post office."
"Hmmm. We've usually done all that ourselves. It's part of keeping our customers happy."
"I understand that. But, I think the book's suggestion is a good one. You could set certain rules,
so to speak, of how you wanted customer complaints addressed. You just don't have to be the
one on the phone. For one thing, you wouldn't have time."
"Well, I-"
"Oi! George! Cassie! We're all going out to fly! Want to come?" Cassie looked up at Ron, Harry,
Ginny, and even Hermione, who were all standing there bundled up and holding broomsticks. She
hopped up immediately and even though George looked less enthusiastic, he also stood up from
the couch.
"Yeah. That sounds great. Just let us get a few more clothes on and we'll be out there." He put
the book back in Fred's stack. "It really is a good idea, Cassie, even if we don't do it immediately."
"Well, of course. For one thing, you're going to have to wait for this thing with the Ministry to
resolve itself somehow. I don't think you could even apply for any sort of license with Nightscall
in there." George smiled wryly as he took her hand and they started up the steps.
"You don't think I could go up to him and announce that my girlfriend is this Muggle blond-haired, blue-eyed girl named Cassie Robinson and that she suggested we get a license to do
business with Muggles?"
"That would probably not be a really great plan."
"It would make things interesting, that's for sure." By the time they got outside, everyone else was
in the air. Almost everyone, that is. Hermione was bundled up against the cold but was sitting on
a blanket spread on the ground reading a book. "Don't you want to fly, Hermione?"
"You know how much I love to be up on a broom, George. I'm happier here."
George just shrugged and helped Cassie onto the front of his broom. The two of them shot up
from the ground and quickly joined the other three in the air where they were playing tag. Being
the newcomers, Cassie and George were "it" and they spent the next few minutes chasing the
others until they caught Ginny. The five of them continued to play tag for quite awhile until they
tired of the game and just began flying around the paddock in lazy, relaxing circles. Cassie noticed
that every so often Ron would swoop down close to Hermione and she would look up from her
book and smile at him.
George let Cassie do a lot of the steering and she took them into several tight curves and loops.
George leaned close to Cassie's ear. "You do love flying, don't you?" Cassie turned a little, smiled
at George and nodded. He looked intently into her blue eyes. "You may not be able to do magic,
Cassie Robinson, but you have the heart and soul of a witch." Cassie felt her stomach tighten and
her skin tingle. She again turned and looked into his eyes.
"Do you really think so?"
"Yes, I do. I also think I'd love to kiss you. Right now."
Cassie arched an eyebrow at him. "Right now? While we're flying?"
George grinned and Cassie thought she could see fire burning in his hazel eyes. She looked away,
a bit overwhelmed at the intensity of his gaze, which she thought might actually set her alight. It
was only then that she realized they had made a full sweep of the paddock and were close to the
area where Ginny and Harry had flown. She glanced over at them and stifled a giggle. "George, it
looks like you weren't the only one who thought kissing on a broom sounded like a good idea."
George looked over and saw Ginny and Harry flying slowly along next to each other, arms around
each other as they kissed.
"It's easier if you're on the same broom, you two!" George called as he flew by them and both he
and Cassie watched with some amusement as Ginny looked back at them and then looped on leg
over Harry's broom, shifted her weight and practically climbed into her boyfriend's lap. Once she
left her broom, the magic that had been holding it up didn't work anymore and the broom headed
straight for the ground. Cassie watched nervously but it landed without incident. George's arms
tightened around her as Ginny's arms slipped around Harry's neck and the couple lost themselves
in another passionate kiss. "They've got the right idea, Cassie. Shall we follow their lead?" She
nodded shyly.
Cassie heard George give a low moan of desire. "Turn on the broom. It'll be easier to kiss you
that way." The thought ran through her mind that she should be careful as it would be extremely
embarrassing to have to explain to Arthur, Molly, and her parents that she had several broken
bones because she and George were snogging thirty feet in the air on a broom and she had gotten
so carried away she had fallen off. Even so, she wasn't going to pass up an opportunity like this.
As if reading her mind, George pulled her a little closer to him and whispered in her ear that he
wouldn't let her fall. She turned as he instructed so that she was sitting across his lap, her arms
sneaking around his neck, partly so she could hold on and partly because that brought her closer
to him. His lips found hers and they began another lazy circle in the air in each other's arms.
Cassie barely noticed Ron gliding by and mumbling about everyone getting to snog but him but
when George pulled away from her for a minute a little later to steer the broom through a rather
rough patch of wind, she did notice Hermione sitting on Ron's lap, her arms around his neck, and
their lips pressed together. She smiled into George's mouth as it lowered to hers again, even
though she never did explain what she was smiling about.
The impromptu lesson on the logistics of kissing on a broom lasted about half an hour before
Ginny called out to all of them that they should probably go in. Cassie was glad they did, too,
because Molly was starting to get dinner on the table. She looked up when they all walked in and
smiled as she could tell they had been up on their brooms. "Did you kids have fun playing Quidditch?"
"Yeah. It was great."
"Who won?"
"We did," everyone said at once and although Molly looked confused, they were all laughing as
they trooped up the steps to change out of their heavy clothes and deposit their winter robes.
"Did you have a good time, Hermione, on the broom?" Cassie asked when it was just the three of
them in the bedroom.
"Better than usual. I never would have guessed that kissing like that would have been so fun. But
holding Ron like that, feeling the way his muscles were moving in his arms, . . .it was great."
"Please, Hermione. I don't want to hear any details. And none from you either, Cassie. Remember
those are my brothers you're kissing."
"Well, I'm not too keen on hearing any details about your kissing Harry either, if you want to
know the truth."
Ginny looked at Hermione a bit askance. "Why not? He's not related to you."
"No, but he's the closest thing I have to a brother. So, it's practically the same thing."
"Let's just agree not to share any details," said Cassie as she peeled off her Weasley sweater. It
was, as usual, warm in the house and she had noticed as they passed through the kitchen that
Molly had the fire going full blast, presumably as part of the Christmas celebrations. The other
two girls obviously thought along the same lines because they were changing into blouses, too.
Cassie was already pretty dressed up from this morning but Ginny and Hermione weren't, so they
quickly changed from jeans into slacks and pulled their hair back. All three of them had gotten
jewelry for Christmas and they all put on the ones from their boyfriends, so that they wouldn't
have their feelings hurt.
The girls descended again to help Molly finish getting dinner and none of them, they confided to
themselves as they giggled over the silverware, were surprised to see that the boys hadn't
managed to make it downstairs. And, when they all sat down to leftovers 20 minutes later, they
also weren't surprised to see that none of them had even changed clothes. But when Cassie asked
George under her breath what he had been doing in the meantime, he just looked vaguely
confused and shrugged. "Nothing, really. Why?"
"No reason. Just wondering."
Dinner was good although just reheated from the night before. The conversation was animated
and much less tense than it had been the night before although Cassie keenly felt the absence of
her parents. She knew they would be over at her grandparents' house, as they always were on
Christmas afternoon, and she wished she could see them. She wondered what story they had told
them to explain her absence, probably something about her visiting friends for the day. They didn't
really see each other very often, and her absence for a month or a little more would not be noticed
in the grand scheme of things.
After the dinner dishes were cleaned up, Arthur, Molly, Remus, and Tonks all announced that
they were going to a meeting/get together of Order members. Everyone was immediately
concerned that they would be exposing themselves to the possibility of arrest, but Molly and
Arthur weren't concerned about that. They were going to a very secure place, they explained,
where most Order business was being carried out now, and they supposed that most of the Aurors
who were working on hunting them down were with their own families tonight. Charlie was
invited to go along, but declined and Molly said that was probably for the best as he could then
chaperone the three younger couples.
After the four adults left, Charlie looked at them. "Do you think you need me to chaperone you?"
"No. I can take care of the youngsters - and you certainly don't need to watch me." George did
his best to look mature. Cassie had the feeling that he was lying through his teeth; however, she
kept her face serious and didn't laugh even though she was sorely tempted. Charlie looked at him
with a studious gaze.
"Well, um, what are you going to do? Mum would kill me if I left you alone and you got up to
something."
"I think we'll just play Exploding Snap or something. Maybe Gobstones. I don't think Cassie's
figured those out yet." Charlie looked them over carefully.
"Is that true?" Everybody nodded. Even Harry, who was notoriously bad at lying, looked at
Charlie completely deadpan. It was apparently Harry's expression that did it because Charlie
looked at him, nodded to himself, and went into the kitchen where a quiet pop announced his
departure.
Harry said into the sudden silence. "Cassie never has figured out to play Gobstones." Everybody
broke up laughing and Cassie realized that the way Charlie had asked the question had allowed
Harry to not actually lie when he had answered.
"But what are we going to do?" Ginny asked. "We need to take advantage of this un-chaperoned
time and do something totally wicked and unsuitable!"
"Yeah! I've got something upstairs that fits the bill perfectly." George had a rather wicked grin on
his face as he went upstairs to retrieve whatever entertainment he had in mind for the evening. He
came back down a few minutes later with a small box. "Okay. Now that the old folks are gone, it's
time we got down to some fun and entertainment. And tonight's fun and entertainment will be in
the form of the all-time party favorite - 'Partners.'"
Cassie, who had never heard of "Partners," watched the mixed reactions of the other people in the
room. Ron got a big, goofy grin on his face and Ginny bit her lip with barely controlled
excitement. Hermione looked slightly scandalized while Harry had a look of guilty pleasure. Ron
was the one who dared to say something to his older brother.
"Yeah. That sounds great. Now we can do some serious kissing."
"I've never been allowed to play. Is it really as risqué as I've heard?" Ginny exclaimed eagerly,
grabbing Harry's hand and leaning toward George.
"Pretty much. Some of the questions could make a sailor blush. That's why I keep it hidden
upstairs with a charm to make it look like a box of spare potion ingredients. Mum would have
kittens if she knew I owned it. But due to the fact that you five are still under age . . . we'll just
play with the milder questions."
"It's only Cassie and Ginny who are under age!" Ron protested; and the two girls shot him a dirty
look. Hermione elbowed him in the stomach.
"Ron!"
"Fine. . . but, uh, how do we know which ones are the milder ones?"
"We read them, of course!" said George and Cassie thought that he had a slightly wicked grin on
his face as he said it. "So . . . is everyone in?"
"Are you kidding?" Hermione said. "I wouldn't miss it. I've read a lot about this game. It's banned
at school, you know."
"Banned? By whom?" Ron asked as George opened the box and started pulling out the pieces.
"Filch, of course. Haven't you ever read the list of banned items on his door?"
"Oh, yeah. Every term." The sarcasm in Ron's voice was practically dripping and Cassie
smothered a smile behind her hand.
"Well, you should. It's quite interesting."
"Yeah. I'll do that." But he rolled his eyes and even Hermione smiled even though it was her he
was teasing.
They all sat down on the floor in a circle as George explained the rules of the game. "Now, we
spin a die and whoever's name comes up, the question gets asked about them. Then that person
and his or her partner have to both answer the question and see if they both select the same
answer from the five options. If they both answer in the same, they get a point and they get to kiss
each other. If they don't get it right, then they don't get a point and the other two teams each get a
point and they get to kiss each other. It's pretty easy, really. It's just to see how well you really
know your partner."
Cassie felt butterflies in her stomach as George charmed the die to read their names and set up a
magical scoreboard in the air above the couch. Then he handed each of them a card. "Hm. I'm not
sure how Cassie is going to be able to play."
"Why not?"
"Once you've decided on your answer, you set a charm on the card and it doesn't allow you to
change your answer so you can't cheat."
"Oh." Cassie thought for a minute and then had Ron hand her the set of Exploding Snap cards she
had gotten for Christmas. "There are five answers to each question, right?" At George's nod, she
picked cards numbered Ace-5 out of the deck. "I'll just show one of these. And you know I can't
cheat by changing the numbers magically, so this will work." Everyone agreed that it would, and
they settled down to play.
"How high shall we play?" George suddenly asked and they decided that the first couple to get 15
points would win the grand prize. Cassie asked what the prize was, but George didn't say, just
promised it was worth winning, so they needed to work really hard at trying to answer correctly.
The die spun by itself when George pointed his wand at it and Cassie remembered an earlier
conversation they had had about wizards and dice. "I thought you never played with dice because
it was too easy to cheat."
"Well, that's true, but in this game there's really no advantage or disadvantage to any spin, so
there'd be no reason to cheat." George explained. "Now, we can either read the questions
ourselves or have the card read itself. Any preferences?" Hermione insisted that they each read
their own questions so they could weed out any that crossed the line of decency. Ron looked
disappointed but shrugged, undoubtedly realizing she was right and maybe thinking that if he put
up too much protest, she may nix the idea completely.
As it turned out, Hermione ended up being the first person to have a question asked about her.
Cassie listened with interest, wondering what kind of questions were on the little cards in the box
George handed to Ron. Everyone's eyes were bright with enthusiasm as Ron reached in and pulled
out the first one. Ron groaned as he read the question. It was a rather innocuous one: If your
partner could be brilliant in one category, which would it be? The possible answers were
1.Quidditch, 2. Charms, 3. Potions, 4. Transfiguration, and 5. Divination. Ron had to answer first,
according to George, and register his vote before Hermione could. Ron agonized for a long
moment, looking nervously at Hermione as though hoping to read the answer on her forehead.
But he finally touched his wand to the card and Hermione quickly touched hers. "It's obvious,
really. You should have figured it out immediately." Ron looked even more nervous at that and
Cassie felt bad for him. This was supposed to be fun, after all. But fortunately for him, they both
had selected Transfiguration and everyone else clapped. George marked a point on the scoreboard
in the air and with great ceremony announced that they could kiss. The fact that four people were
watching them didn't seem to dampen their enthusiasm for their prize and they kissed happily.
When they finally broke apart, George raised his eyebrows at Cassie, an unspoken question in his
eyes. She flushed and winked at him. He smiled back and pointed his wand at the die, which spun
quickly and landed with Harry's name on the top.
Ginny, with a large smirk, read the question. "If your partner were a display of affection, which
would he be?" The choices were 1. A lingering kiss, 2. A hug, 3. A firm handshake, 4. A wink, 5.
A slap on the back.
Ginny giggled as she selected her number, which turned out to be a 3. Harry, who held up number
2, scowled. "Hey, I'm not that bad, am I? I mean, I know I'm not too open with my affection, but
that's just cold." Ginny just laughed harder and leaned over to kiss Harry.
"Uh, uh." George held up his wand and grinned evilly at them. "You didn't answer correctly. You
two don't get to kiss. However, we do." With that, he marked a point in both Ron's column and
his column, and then he took Cassie in his arms and gave her a big kiss. Cassie quickly decided
this game really was a lot of fun. Afterward, George pointed his wand at the die and groaned
when his name was the one on top when it was done spinning.
Cassie took the card, skimmed it, and laughed. Then she read the question out clearly to the
waiting group. "Pretend you and your partner were kissing goodnight on your first date. Where
would he plant it? 1. Lips, 2. Earlobe, 3. Cheek, 4. Feet, or 5. Tonsils." Cassie grinned at
everyone's expectant looks, then picked the Ace out of her pile and laid it face down on the floor
in front of her. George touched his wand to his card and then they counted to three and turned
them over at the same moment. Both she and George had selected lips. and, as they enjoyed a
long kiss, he made a mark in the air with his wand on the scoreboard.
Ginny was next and Ron groaned. "When is it going to be my turn?" Hermione just tutted at his
eagerness while Harry reached for the next card in the pile. He read it over quickly and his
eyebrows disappeared completely under his fringe as he finished.
"Uh, I think we'd better get a different question. I think this is one of those really risque ones we
talked about. You'd kill me if I knew the answer to this one." Cassie was dying to know what it
asked, just out of curiosity, but George whisked it away from Harry and tucked it into his back
pocket. Harry picked the next card and visibly relaxed as he skimmed it. "Pretend your partner
turned you into a bundimun, which of the following would she do? 1. Laugh about it, 2.
Apologize and try to change you back into a human, 3. Run away and hope no one finds out, 4.
Call The Daily Prophet to give them an exclusive interview, or 5. Turn herself into the same thing
so you could be together." Harry and Ginny both began snickering and when they flipped over
their cards, they both held up number 1. Again, there was applause as George made a mark in the
air and Ginny and Harry enjoyed their first long kiss of the game.
Cassie looked at Hermione. "What exactly is a bundimun?"
"Well, it looks like green fungus with eyes and it lets off a horrible smell."
"I see. Sorry I asked."
Cassie was the next subject and George picked out a card and read it to himself. His eyes grew
large in surprise. "I'm not going to ask this question. It doesn't apply." That card joined the other
one in his pocket and Cassie giggled. He picked up another and scanned it quickly. Cassie
chanced a sideways glance at George. She noticed he had a bit of a blush but was fighting to hold
back a laugh. "Hmmm. Okay, I think this will work. Pretend your partner is a Quidditch player.
What position would she play? 1. Seeker, 2. Chaser, 3. Keeper, 4. Beater, or 5. Water-boy?"
Cassie knew immediately which number she would pick, but she waited for George to select his
answer and he looked at her appraisingly for a minute. He finally tapped his card, she laid hers
down on the table and at the count of three, they held them up. George had selected number 2,
Chaser. To his obvious chagrin, Cassie had selected number 1, Seeker. Harry cheered
enthusiastically and George scowled at him. "You've never played Seeker before."
"No, but I've never played Chaser, either. If I had my druthers, darling, you know I'd play Beater.
But Seeker would be second best." Everyone had a good laugh at the thought of her playing
Beater but George didn't look too appeased, especially as she couldn't even kiss him to make him
feel better. Finally, Ron's name came up one the die and he grinned as Hermione picked a card out
of the box.
"Pretend your partner is a body part, what would he be? 1. Nose, 2. Foot, 3. Ear, 4. Buttocks, or
5. Tongue." Ron began smirking almost immediately. It took Hermione a minute to decide her
final answer, but then she tapped her card and Ron quickly did the same. They held their numbers
up at the signal and groaned. Hermione had selected number 3. Ear, while Ron had selected
number 5. Tongue.
"Ear! You picked ear for me? You always say I never listen to you!"
"Well, I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking that you have rather large ears. And why on
earth did you pick tongue?"
"My ears aren't large! And I picked tongue because -"
"Because you're always hungry?" Ginny guessed.
"Well, no. Because, uh, Hermione says she likes my tongue. She says it's very talented."
Hermione turned beet red, glanced quickly around at the others who were in various stages of
open-mouth surprise or actually laughing out loud. "Oh, thanks, Ron! Let's just announce to
everyone, why don't we?" She turned to George "May I change my answer to buttocks, please?"
It was at least five minutes before people could stop laughing long enough to continue the game.
Hermione's turn came around next again and she was asked what potion she would be, and among
the options such as a calming potion and a love potion, was polyjuice potion, Hermione and Ron
both smiled as they selected number 4. polyjuice potion and got to kiss to make up for the
misunderstanding earlier.
The game continued for several more rounds with Ron and Hermione in a comfortable lead.
Cassie was surprised to find that she and George were second. Unfortunately, that meant Harry
and Ginny brought up a very distant rear. However, Cassie realized this was because Ginny
seemed to have more fun selecting some of the wilder answers than actually trying to match
Harry's responses. For example, Cassie was pretty sure Ginny really didn't have a desire to snog
with a centaur, although Harry rolled his eyes and muttered something about school-girl crushes.
However, he was not so stoic when Ginny had answered that his secret favorite color for robes
was pink. Again, it took awhile for people to regain their composure to continue with the game.
Cassie and George both selected a unicorn for Cassie if she were a magical beast, while Ron and
Hermione naturally selected a Kneazle for a familiar that matched her personality. The fact that
Crookshanks was a Kneazle helped their selection. Their unity in selection faltered a little when
Ron selected blond for the color of hair of someone he would secretly like to snog with. Although
Ron insisted he had accidently picked the wrong number, Hermione and the others had doubts.
Everyone looked at her in surprise when she muttered a rather strong swear word under her
breath in conjunction with Fleur's name. Cassie was just grateful that Hermione didn't jump to the
conclusion that it was her Ron wanted to snog.
Hermione finally forgave Ron for his injudicious selection and they continued their winning streak,
the winning question being one directed to Hermione. Ron grinned wickedly as he read the
question. "What would your partner do if she had to win you from another lover? 1. Create a love
potion, 2. Have a wizard duel, 3. Polyjuice into your rival and break-up with your lover, 4.
Arrange for a crippling or even fatal accident, 5. Perform the Avadra Kedavra curse on the
competition." Both of them seemed to really sweat over their choice. However, they both came
up with the winning answer: Have a wizard duel. This response brought not only cheers, but a
good amount of laughter and comments about not getting in Hermione's way.
As the game came to an end, George stood up and declared Ron and Hermione the winners.
"Good game, everyone. And although I wish it could be Cassie and myself, you two definitely
deserve the grand prize. And that is . . . Ten minutes uninterrupted time in the coat closet, to
converse about the game or do whatever else you wish." Everyone clapped and cheered and
Cassie thought that Ginny looked a little disappointed she hadn't worked harder toward winning
the game. "You two may proceed to the closet," and he indicated the other end of the living
room.
Hermione demurred. "It's packed full. There won't be any room in there."
George grinned. "Oh come now, Hermione. How much room do you and Ron need anyway? I've
seen you two kiss. Besides, Fred and I cleaned the closet a couple of nights ago. We had hoped to
play this when Angelina was here. We just didn't get a chance."
Ginny laughed. "You mean Mum and Dad spent every evening here and you didn't want them to
know you owned the game."
"Uh, that too."
With that, George ceremoniously opened the door to what appeared to be a clean and spacious
closet. To a chorus of loud cheers, Ron and Hermione entered the closet and George officiously
announced that he would put a silencing charm on the closet so they would be able to enjoy their
privacy. As he started to shut the door he commented, "Now behave, you two. I don't want to see
any unbuttoned or inside out clothing when you emerge."
The other four enjoyed some chocolates and light conversation for the next ten minutes although
Cassie had to admit her attention was focused firmly on what was happening behind that door. A
timer sounded somewhere and George walked over to the closet and pulled on the knob.
"I hope you're both decent because I'm opening the door."
Ron emerged with disheveled hair and an embarrassed grin on his face. He was followed closely
by a blushing Hermione who had a dazed but very pleased expression on her own face. However,
it was the rest of her appearance that caused the others to gasp. Her hair looked windswept and
her blouse was buttoned crookedly. Ginny pointed at Hermione's blouse and the two snoggers
flushed bright red, but then started laughing.
"It's a joke. That's all. Ron thought of it and it took a lot of talking for me to agree to it. He just
suggested I unbutton my blouse and then re-button it wrong. Honestly." Cassie wanted to believe
her. She really did. But she didn't. For one thing, she thought that if she and George had been in
that closet, they wouldn't have spent time thinking about practical jokes to play on the other two
couples. For another thing, she didn't think that sort of subtle humor was really Ron's style. But all
four of them nodded seriously and Hermione tried to look dignified as she hurried back into the
closet to adjust her clothing.
It was Ginny who finally dared to break the rather uncomfortable silence when Hermione came
back out. "Well, I'd say they had a pretty good time snogging in the closet. So, Harry, want to go
in the closet for awhile?"
"Sure. But, I'm not too good with buttons. You'd have to undo them yourself." George and Ron
both growled their displeasure and Harry held up his hands. "Kidding. I'm only kidding. I, uh,
appreciate the offer, Ginny, but I think this is a bit public for my tastes."
"You two didn't seem so shy this afternoon," Cassie teased. George cleaned up the game as they
all visited about some of the questions. "That was a fun game." She sighed in vague
disappointment as George took the cards out of his pocket and slipped them into the box. She
was hoping he would at least let her look at them. He caught her eye and winked. She flushed, a
little embarrassed at being caught staring at the cards with the naughty questions.
"Curious, little girl?"
"A bit. Should I be ashamed?"
"Oh, most definitely. Very ashamed. I believe I have corrupted you quite thoroughly."
"Yes, I believe you have."
They had hot cocoa in the kitchen as they waited for everyone else to arrive home from their
social engagements. The four older wizards arrived first and smiled around at the six sitting calmly
at the table. Molly looked around and then asked where Charlie was. There was a moment of
uncomfortable silence, and then Ginny spoke up. "Well, he stayed with us for awhile, but then
asked if we would be okay if he went and visited someone. We've been just fine. We played a
game and then came in here to have some hot chocolate."
Molly's eyes narrowed at Ginny in careful scrutiny and then, after a moment or so, she relaxed,
sighed and muttered about Charlie obviously visiting Sylvania Smallwood who had been assisting
him with his dragons for the past several months. "I think he's quite smitten with her. Maybe
something will come of it. Well," she mumbled, stifling a yawn, "it's late and I am certainly tired.
Goodnight, everyone and Happy Christmas again. Don't stay up too late." She bid Remus and
Tonks goodnight and a minute later they too said goodnight as they climbed the stairs.
Cassie and the others reluctantly agreed that Christmas was officially over. The three couples
climbed the stairs to the girls' landing where they kissed goodnight for a long while outside
Ginny's door. Tonks came out of Bill's room to go to the loo and she looked meaningfully at
them. "Much as I hate to play the heavy, I feel somewhat obligated to tell you that you need to
break this little party up." So, with obvious reluctance, the boys left the girls and with only a few
secretive glances, all three of them headed upstairs.
Cassie changed into her nightshirt and slipped into bed, smiling happily to herself. It had been one
of the best Christmases of her entire life. And no matter what eventually happened between
George and herself, she intended to remember every minute of this wonderful Christmas Day.
