Eventually, the whole group was done eating, and had gone back to the living room. Fred and Gigi had been temporarily able to forget about their problem, as nobody forced them to engage in conversation, but now that they weren't eating anymore, nobody had such a luxury.

Especially not Gigi and Fred. What did they have? They had magical mistletoe hanging overhead. Fred tried to move, unaware of the accessory above him, and found himself unable to do so. He frowned, and tried again, only to meet the same results. Gigi was getting the same thing. A few other Weasleys were snickering over the situation, including Paige.
"Paige," Gigi began coolly. "What in Merlin's name did you do to us?" Paige giggled for a second time and pointed upward. Fred and Gigi both looked up, and a horrified look greeted their faces. "You're so cruel, Paige."

"You've got to be kidding me," Fred groaned, as he ran a hand back through his hair with a frown. This SO wasn't funny. Oh, when he got his hands on that witch…!

"Nope!" Paige assured, with a cheeky grin. "The best part is, it's magical mistletoe. Once it's in place—" She stopped, as Gigi's look became even more hopeless.

"It can't be removed until we kiss," Gigi finished, wincing just at the thought. It was one thing to be set up with Fred for a so-called 'date.' It was another thing to actually start to get along with him. It was a completely new Quidditch pitch and then some to have to kiss him just to get out of the way of mistletoe.

"No," Fred objected, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest like a stubborn child. "There's a way out of this. There has to be. There's no way I'm kissing her." Gigi nodded earnestly in agreement.

Though.. maybe it wouldn't be THAT bad… Wait. No. I didn't just think that. Then why are your ears red? Because.. they just are. Shut up.

"Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!" Paige urged, a grin never budging from her face. This was way too good to hide how much it amused her. The rest of the group wasn't exactly helping the two, teasing them to no end, until finally something had to give.

"Fine!" Gigi sighed in exasperation.

"If it'll make you all be quiet.." Fred growled, at the same time.

Then came the moment everyone had all been waiting for. Fred and Gigi kissed each other, for barely more than a second, but lip-to-lip contact was all that was needed to break the mistletoe's hold over them. How was it? Not bad. Not bad at all, though of course neither of them would ever think of revealing such a detail. Gigi shuddered, Fred rolled his eyes, and sooner or later everyone went back to their business.

Mrs. Weasley, however, was cleaning up the kitchen and the dining room, and the majority of the family decided that she shouldn't have to work so hard, for once. Who would do the job instead? It was decided that Fred and Gigi would do the work for dear old Molly. No matter how much they argued, it was up against a good point. Mrs. Weasley always had to do all the work, and it was Christmas; shouldn't she, of all people, get to spend it out of the kitchen?

Besides, this way Fred and Gigi were alone.

So, with arguing as good as useless, the two ended up in the kitchen. Did either of them have a wand? Unfortunately for them, no. Paige had commandeered Gigi's for the time being, and Fred just didn't know exactly where his was. It looked like they would just have to do the dishes by hand, which wasn't so bad. They weren't going to die from doing the dishes. They might die from being cooped up in the kitchen with each other for however long the job took to complete, but that was a different story.

Neither of them spoke for a long time. Both of them were busy scrubbing dishes, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference for one of them if a wand had been around or not. Fred's dishwashing skills were as good as his dishwashing spells. In other words, there was no point in him helping at all, except for the fact that they were forced into it, and what the poor dears were unaware of: everyone else's romantic intentions, regarding them. Thank Merlin that Gigi was a female and had more experience in these things, even if her family was significantly smaller than the Weasley brood.

"I like your family," she said after a while, in an attempt to get at least a little conversation started. "Your Mum is really nice… And I didn't mix anybody up." A slight grin formed on her face, at her last remark. With that many Weasleys to keep track of, she had a right to be proud of herself for keeping their names straight, especially through her tornado-like emotions. Fred had heard her words, but was still scrubbing his first plate as Gigi moved on with ease. He would have to be more appreciative of his mother from now on; this was harder than it looked, if you had next to no experience.

"That's good," he said, with a small grin. Oi, that was too nice. he thought to himself. "A lot of people say that about Mum… and the rest of them, for that matter.. Sometimes, though, I just wish it wasn't so.. big…"

"Here, you don't need to wipe that hard. Swipe in circles and it gets more quicker," Gigi suggested. She'd just thought that she would give him a little advice; it worked faster for her, most of the time. Why wouldn't it work for him? "I'm a little jealous, honestly. I have a small family… I mean, yeah, it'd get a little annoying to have this many people, but it'd get like that in every family…I was just lonely. It wasn't fun." She doubted he cared about if she'd been lonely or not. It got her point across, as to why she'd been somewhat jealous of him.

Fred blinked. She, Gigi Ardeur, had been jealous? Of him, Fred Weasley? That was a little more than a bit surprising. Not that it wasn't a nice surprise. He listened to her suggestion, and another surprise hit him: her way to wash worked better, after all. The man shook his head, however. "It's not that great… You've got Ginny who can get away with anything, Ron who whines, Percy the Prefect, Charlie the dragon-tamer, Bill who breaks curses in Egypt, and George, who although most people don't know it, is the brain behind most of our operations. I'm just the one crazy enough to do them," he said, with a little grin. "Then you've got Mum, one of the most amazing women in the world for putting up with all of us, and Dad, who works to practically no end at the Ministry…" Fred trailed off, rinsing the dish he had finished with and taking up a new one.

"Well, someone has to do them, right?" Gigi mused, with a light shrug to her shoulders as she continued to scrub at her current plate. "I have to admit, as crazy as you both were, the things you did really were hilarious… I was a little jealous of that, too. You and George, you did things, and people liked it… well, unless they were professors.." It was hard for her to believe that she was opening up like this to him, of all people, with confessions of her childhood, and possibly eluding that the reason she had disliked him so much was because she was envious. In all honesty, Gigi didn't even remember what had driven her to hate him so. It was more than likely something small and pointless, and it would've embarrassed Gigi by now.

"You were jealous of me?" Fred asked, as his eyebrows went up slightly. Wow. That was news to him. Rather unexpected news, for that matter. "You know… There were times I was.. kind of… jealous of you too, I guess." He paused for a moment to think of how to put this, then went on. "I mean, George and I got decent marks, but you were smart… We just weren't like that. I'm sure it would've made Mum happier if we would've brought home more than three O.W.L.s. That, and if we hadn't dropped out… but that's another story."

"I don't blame you for dropping out," Gigi mused. "It's not like anyone wanted to stay there while that fat toad was around. Not unless they were in Slytherin." Inside, she was trying to figure out if he had been trying to make her feel a little better, or if he had really meant it. Had he really been jealous of her, for being smart?… Oh, lord. This was messed up. The brainiac, jealous of the prankster, and the prankster, jealous of the brainiac. It was indeed messed up, but it made Gigi smile a little. "You were really jealous of me?… Aw…" Fred grinned slightly from her reaction, the inconspicuous red on his face deepening. "Yeah. You weren't getting howlers every week in the mail, now were you?" He began to pay more attention to the dishes, and sputtered slightly as a plate slipped from his grasp into the murky, soapy water, splashing them both. "Sorry," he apologized, shaking his head a bit. Gigi, however, was laughing. She had yelped at first, but after she had figured out what had initially happened, it wasn't a big deal.

"It's alright. It's only water," she said. It wasn't like he had splashed acid on her, after all. Hopefully they weren't trying to wash dishes in acid, as that would be rather dangerous, not to mention stupid. Her reaction gave Fred an idea, though, and he grinned a sly little grin.

"If you're sure…" He trailed off, as he picked up his plate again and resumed scrubbing. Once that was finished, however, rather than picking up another plate, he splashed water purposely in Gigi's direction. Heh heh heh.

"Hey!" Now there was a wet spot on her shirt, part of her arm, and even the lower part of her hair was damp. It would've been a good thing for Fred to learn how to aim his splashes. "I didn't mean you could do it for fun, you know!" Contrary to what she had just said, Gigi splashed him back, and poked her tongue out at him. Splash her, would he… Hmph!

"Oh? And what was that for, then?" Fred asked as he arched a brow. Once again, he returned the watery favor to Gigi, and he shook his head, sending water droplets in every direction. Needless to say, the area of the floor beneath them was getting wet.

"You didn't think I'd let you get away with it without getting wet, did you?" Another yelp spurted from her lips as she was made wet again, and she splashed him back a second time. The poor dishes had to share their water with the floor, Fred, and Gigi.

"Not really," Fred admitted. They could always get more water. With that thought in mind, Fred picked up a cupful of water, and dumped it over Gigi's head. "Ha," he said, with a smug tone to his voice.

"That was SO uncalled for!" Gigi exclaimed, looking at how wet she had become now. And they couldn't even dry off without leaving the kitchen. What would everybody think? Oh, well. She supposed it didn't much matter now; they were already wet, anyway. In retaliation, she dumped a small bowl over Fred.

"That's just lovely," the Weasley muttered with an attempt to keep the water out of his eyes. Once again, a sly grin came to his face, and he dumped not one, but two bowls over Gigi's head. Ha.

"I'm wet enough, thank you!" Gigi sputtered. By now her hair was close to completely straight. She looked for something to get him back with, and there it was. A pot. Rather than calling a truce, she picked it up and dumped the water it had contained over Fred. Now Fred was completely soaked, and cold, and wet (which should've been a little more than obvious by now).

"You know, we should probably do the dishes now," he said. "Or not." Gigi shrugged.

"Probably, or we could wait until one of us gets a wand."

"That won't be for a while yet, I don't think," Fred admitted. Moving towards the door, he slipped in a puddle made from their water fight, and grabbed onto the closest thing to try to stay upright. The closest thing happened to be Gigi, and she came down with him. Rather than beside him, she ended up on top of him.

"Smooth." She decided not to say anything regarding their position, or how they wouldn't have been in that position had he not splashed her. It wasn't like her side had done anything to stop it, after all.

"Um… sorry," Fred said, as he once again flushed crimson. What was he supposed to say, when he had Gigi Ardeur lying on top of him, after he had slipped?

"It's alright," said Gigi, breaking the silence, as she rolled off of him. She cringed, then. "I'm sitting in a puddle…" Fred sat up, rubbing his head, and grinned.

"Now you can be wet like me," he said, as he came to a stand. He held out his hand, trying for what, the third time now, to be civil towards her. Wow. That was odd. The least she could do was try to do the same for him, however, so Gigi found herself accepting his offered hand and taking hold of it, standing up as well.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Fred mumbled softly, as Gigi went back to getting the dishes done and over with. Eventually, the chore was actually finished, with only a single water fight. Thankfully.

When the two emerged to the living room, they found everyone with their significant other, each couple engaging in their own snuggle fest. It had worked out that only two places to sit were left, and they happened to be right beside each other. Gigi sighed and shook her head slightly, and went over there after drying both Fred and herself off with a helpful spell. Fred, not wanting to stand the entire time, sat beside her. He slouched, something of a scowl on his face. Gigi leaned forward, elbows on her knees, chin resting in the palms of her hands. Times like these, they were really left out. Just once it would've been nice to have someone to cuddle with, just one time.

"Isn't this lovely?" Fred sighed.

"Which part?" Gigi mumbled as she rolled her eyes. "Everyone else having someone, or us being beside each other again?"

"Gee, they both sound so wonderful," said Fred. The sarcasm was obvious in his voice, though not in his mind. Well, it is. She's the only girl they've set me up with that I can actually stand… That I might actually want to be with… Wait. What? he thought.

"Don't they, though?" she sighed, still resting her chin on the palms of her hands, her elbows still on her thighs. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Paige had anything else up her sleeve. Any more mistletoe she'd suddenly use against herself and Fred, or whatever else the minx might happen to think of... Hopefully not (or was it really like that?).. Gigi didn't know anymore, and it bugged her. Fred, meanwhile, sighed again. He reached his hand up to scratch his head idly. He let it fall back with a thump, not realizing where it landed: on top of Gigi's hand. He jerked his away moments later, his face turning red as he looked the other way. Gigi had noticed it, but she hid her knowledge of the incident well, along with how she hadn't really been bothered by it. It felt kind of nice, but this was still Fred Weasley, and she was still unwilling to come remotely close to romantically linked to him. She looked away also, anyway, and seemed to be thinking.

Paige meanwhile was watching them, slightly, and while none of them were really looking over in her and George's direction, she levitated a clump of mistletoe over them for the second time in the time they had all been at the Burrow.

Fred sighed, wondering when something would happen. He was finding this Christmas to be rather dull, and the fact they were trying to set him up with someone he hated just seemed to make things worse. He sunk lower into his seat, falling into the slouch position he often took to. For now, he had no idea what was lingering above them. Gigi, however, got to find it first.

"Oh no," she groaned out of annoyance, and she shot a dirty look at Paige. That was cheap. So, so cheap. Paige grinned.

"What?" Fred asked. He quirked a brow slightly in confusion, then he looked up. "Perfect," he said. The sarcasm may as well have been dripping from his words. He sighed, and, looking down at her, he wondered fleetingly if he would mind it all that much. He kissed Gigi, and Gigi kissed him back, and though she wouldn't admit it to anybody, she smiled into it just a little. Fred rather enjoyed it himself, honestly, though it wasn't like he would ever admit it either. Soon they had parted, however, and Fred returned to his scowl and slouching position, while Gigi moved her elbows back over her knees and her chin was, once again, resting in her hands.

Nobody said anything about the events of this year's Christmas, especially events regarding Fred and Gigi. Paige left them alone for the rest of the time, and they were left to their own thoughts. Gigi was confused, trying to figure out just what she felt now about Fred. She didn't hate him anymore, and she wasn't all that jealous now. Likewise, Fred didn't hate Gigi now, either, and he wasn't too envious of her brains by this point. What did they feel, though?

Why did emotions have to be so damned confusing?