Tuesday December 8
Weasley house, upstairs landing
3:57 am
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Her feet were cold. Really, really cold. As eight-year-old Rose Weasley shuffled down the hallway quietly, her bare feet lightly touching the cold, hardwood floor, her toes became more and more frozen. As she reached the top of the staircase, Rose paused and rubbed her cold feet, all the while looking down the hall to her parent's room. All was quiet. Perfect.
Rose crept down the staircase as carefully as possible, taking great pains to avoid the fifth stair which creaked loudly. Reaching the bottom of the staircase she congratulated herself for getting downstairs, undetected. Grinning, Rose turned in the direction of the kitchen. It was just past the parlor, barely out of her line of sight. Rose started down that way, her mouth already watering at the thought of what awaited her in the kitchen, her mum's apple pie. Delicious, fluffy and with just the right amount of cinnamon, it was enough to make any person mental or, in Rose's case, get up extra early.
Rose bundled her hands further into her robes as she continued on her walk. She was well aware that she wasn't supposed to be up at this time of the night, much less be on her way to eat a pie that her mum made specifically for the annual holiday party at the Ministry but Rose couldn't help herself. As soon as Rose heard her mother mention the pie during the previous night's supper, the images of dancing apples and melt-in-your-mouth pie crust got into her head and refused to go away. Hence, her midnight wanderings. As she opened the swinging doors to the kitchen, Rose was so engrossed in her apple dancing thoughts that she didn't notice at first the figure already sitting at the kitchen table.
"Dad?"
Ron Weasley looked up in surprise, a tiny bit of apple clinging to his lower lip. "Rosie?" he asked as he attempted to shove a half eaten pie behind his back. "What are you doing up?"
Rose stepped further into the kitchen and raised one of her eyebrows –a trait she inherited from her mother- mildly. "What am I doing up? What are you doing up?"
Ron grinned, flustered. Lightly tugging at his pajama top he avoided his daughter's eyes as he answered, "Oh nothing, just nicked down here to get a cup of water, that's all."
Rose took in the opened can of whipped cream and the apple pie sitting on the countertop with a large, Dad-sized piece missing. Shaking her head, she gave her dad another look. "So what's the pie doing out then?"
"Um, to chase down the water of course," answered Ron, as smoothly as possible. Stretching back in his seat, he suddenly re-examined his daughter intently. "Wait. What are you doing down here at this hour of the night?"
Rose tried to think fast. "Um, to get a cup of water?" she said with childish innocence.
Ron laughed and brought his piece of pie out from behind his back. Setting it down on the tabletop, he leaned towards the counter and grabbed the apple pie. He set it down in front of him and looked up at his daughter, a mischievous twinkle beaming in his eyes. "Water huh? Now tell me, would that be with or without cream?"
"With!" Rose couldn't stop the large smile from breaking out over her face as she scampered across the kitchen, her cold feet long forgotten. Grabbing an extra plate from the cupboard, she sat down next to her father and held it out for him.
"Now Rosie," Ron began sternly as he started to pile the cream onto Rose's piece of pie, "remember, we were never here. If your mother finds out then we, or at least I, am dead."
Rose nodded in agreement as her father handed her plate. Taking a small bite, she closed her eyes blissfully as the delicious pie entered her mouth. "Got it Dad, we were never here."
And four hours later when Hermione Granger-Weasley entered her kitchen to discover over half her pie missing, no one could give her a straight reason as to what happened to it. Shaking her head fondly, for Hermione could smell apple on her husband's breath and her daughter had a small, reddish smudge near the top of her dressing gown that hadn't been there the night before, she walked over to the cupboards and pulled out another apple pie. Laughing at the expression at their faces, she started to cut the pie into quarters, "What, did you think I didn't have a back up? With you two?"
Ron smiled foolishly as his daughter tugged at his shirt. Bending down, he met his wife's eyes and smiled at her as Rose whispered into his ear, "Da-aad. We could've eaten the whole thing!"
The whole kitchen rung with Ron's groan.