Kitchen Antics

Padma smiled to herself as she plucked a cherry from the bowl before her, removed the stem and pit, and popped it into her mouth. The plump red fruit was meant for the pie she was making, but she couldn't resist tasting one to make sure that they were suitable.

As she finished chewing, George poked his head into the kitchen. His face took on a knowing smirk, and Padma briefly turned away to hide her blush.

"Sampling the cherries, are you?" he teased, crossing to the counter and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"What gave it away?" Padma said, laughing.

"The chewing," George replied promptly. "Well, that and the guilty look on your face."

Padma let out a sigh, but there was no real frustration behind it.

"I should have known better than to try and fool you," she said, shaking her head.

George leaned in and kissed her nose. "Yes, you should have," he said solemnly. "You can't fool a Weasley twin, love."

Padma giggled and began to pit more cherries, only this time she put them into another bowl instead of her mouth. The task was rather tedious, but she didn't mind it so much when she had George to listen to. All she had to do was ask him a question about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and he would find a way to make an entertaining story out of his answer. By the time she was finished pitting the cherries, her sides hurt.

"Time to make the filling," she announced, wiping away several tears as she did so.

"My favorite part!" George watched as she carefully measured out the ingredients. His hand snaked towards the bowl of pitted cherries while her attention was directed at the sugar, but she saw it out of the corner of her eye and batted it away.

"Don't eat them!" she scolded.

George's face arranged itself into a pout. "Not even one little, itty bitty one?"

Padma conceded that he could have one and only one, no matter how much many pouts he threw her way. This seemed to satisfy him, however, and he happily ate his cherry while she mixed up the filling.

"What's next?" he asked when she had finished stirring.

"The filling needs to be refrigerated and the oven turned on," Padma replied.

"I've got the filling." George picked up the bowl and headed for the refrigerator. Padma preheated the oven, then asked her boyfriend to take the chilled dough out of the refrigerator while he was in there. He complied, carefully placing the dough onto the floured surface she indicated.

"Don't want to send flour everywhere," he said.

"Right," Padma agreed. "We can't have that."

"But I think a little bit would look quite dashing on your cheek," George continued, smearing his finger on the floured counter and then, before she could stop him, dabbing it onto her face.

"George Weasley!" she shrieked, furiously wiping away the white powder. "I'll—I'll—"

"You'll what?" he challenged.

"I'll put some on you!"

Pie crust forgotten, Padma stuck her own fingers in the flour before moving towards George. He was too quick for her, however, and grabbed her wrist when it was inches from his face.

"Not so fast," he smirked, using his other hand to swipe more flour onto her face. Soon, the kitchen began to resemble a snow globe, white dust clouding the air as the two engaged in flour warfare.

"Alright, enough!" Padma said breathlessly. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and moved towards the sink to wash her hands. "I've got to finish this pie."

"Mm, wait a minute." George grabbed her hand and pulled her in close. His blue eyes gazed at her with a blazing intensity. "I want to capture this moment in my memory—you, covered in flour, still looking as beautiful as ever."

Padma felt her cheeks heat up again. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not," George said, bending down and pressing a kiss to her lips. "I swear it."

Padma reached up and tugged him in for another brief kiss. "Well, thank you. I suppose I should say that you still look as handsome as ever all covered in flour."

"Only if that's true," George chuckled.

Padma gave him a wide smile. There was something so charming about his willingness to let loose and laugh at himself. He brought out her fun side, and she loved him for it.

"Oh, it most definitely is."


WC: 743