"Are you always this charming or am I just lucky?"

-Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

"For you," Fred said later that night, presenting Scarlett with a small box, messily wrapped in red paper with a ribbon around it.

"What's this?" she asked, looking up in surprise. She had been sitting in a corner of the living room, talking with Ginny and Hermione and tuning out Celestina Warbeck for the second night in a row, when Fred had come over.

"A gift," he answered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "I just thought—well, I thought you might like it."

Scarlett took the gift wrapped package from him and smiled. "Thanks. Actually, I got you something as well, but then I didn't know if we were doing the whole gift thing.…" She trailed off and looked down at the box in her hands.

Fred smirked. "I didn't know either, but I figured I'd take a chance."

Scarlett smiled and looked up at him, not sure what else to say.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ginny asked with a laugh. "Go get his gift and give it to him!"

"Right, of course," Scarlett said quickly. She jumped up, placing her gift on the couch before sharing a smile with Fred and slipping out of the room. She hurried upstairs, retrieved Fred's present, and returned a moment later. Fred had taken her spot on the couch and was talking to Ginny and Hermione while he waited. He looked up and smiled when he caught sight of Scarlett.

"Your gift," Scarlett said formally as she reached him, handing Fred his gift with a flourish and a smile.

"Are you going to curtsy, too?" Fred smirked, taking the present from Scarlett's outstretched hand.

"Only if you're planning on bowing," Scarlett retaliated.

Fred smirked wider and stood up, setting his gift down and picking up Scarlett's. He held it out to her, bowing dramatically. Scarlett giggled and took it from him.

"Thank you," she said, curtsying.

"My pleasure," Fred responded, standing up straight again. "Go ahead and open it."

Scarlett sat back down on the couch and pulled on the end of the ribbon as Fred sat beside her. "This isn't going to blow up in my face, is it?" she asked, pausing.

Fred shook his head. "I need to keep you safe. You die, I die, remember?" He half-smiled and nudged her with his knee.

"Right," Scarlett said, almost nervously. She untied the ribbon the rest of the way and ripped open the paper, which fell away to reveal a container full of Muggle joke and magic trick items. "Fred," she laughed.

"I'm guessing you know what they are and what they do," Fred said.

She nodded. "Itching powder, playing cards, a hand buzzer…." She let out a giggle. "Thanks, Fred."

"There's actually one more thing." Fred reached into his pocket and pulled out two fortune cookies. "Two more to add to your collection."

"Fred, I don't believe it! Where did you get these?"

"At a Chinese restaurant. Where do you think?"

"No, it's just that…I didn't know that you knew of any Chinese restaurants and I didn't think you normally ate Chinese food."

"I didn't on both accounts, but I'm willing to start eating it now that I've tried it. It's delicious. And I managed to locate a restaurant in a Muggle town with the help of Hermione."

Scarlett turned to look at Hermione, who shrugged. "He made me keep it a secret."

"Originally, she wasn't supposed to know," Fred said. "We're not supposed to leave the house as it is and naturally, Hermione was suspicious, so I had to tell her. She lectured me for a while, but I didn't listen-,"

"I didn't think you did," Hermione sighed.

Fred shrugged. "I had already decided to risk it. Anyway, I went to the restaurant a few days ago with George. When the fortune cookies came, I took both mine and George's and saved them for you."

"You didn't have to go through all that trouble," Scarlett said, shaking her head. "It's not safe to leave the house."

"Yeah, but really only to go wandering around for long periods of time. George and I went to one restaurant for an hour or two and it was in a Muggle area. No Death Eaters in sight."

"They could have been in disguise."

"In a Chinese place?"

Scarlett sighed. "You still shouldn't have gone through all that trouble."

"What trouble?" Fred asked, laughing. "George and I got a delicious lunch and you got a Christmas present."

"I'm not worth it."

"I beg to differ."

"Fred-,"

"Just say thank you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Fred said, leaning back into the couch.

"I don't get it," Ginny piped up. "You collect fortune cookies?"

"Just the fortunes inside of them," Scarlett answered. "I haven't collected any in a while, though."

"Why?" Ginny asked. "I mean, why do you collect them? Or, why did you, I should say."

"It's a long story, but basically my dad got me started," Scarlett answered. "We always wondered if fortune cookies had some truth to them."

"Well, now you can start collecting again," Fred said, gesturing to the cookies.

"Here," Scarlett grinned, tossing one back at him. "You open one. See what's in your future or what kind of advice a cookie has to offer."

Fred grinned as they both removed their cookies from the wrappings. "Together?" Fred asked, holding his cookie ready to snap in half.

"Together," Scarlett nodded. "One, two, three." At the same time, they both broke open the cookies and pulled out the tiny slips of paper inside of them.

"What does yours say? Read it out loud," Scarlett ordered excitedly, holding her fortune in her lap until it was her turn.

Fred cleared his throat dramatically and held up his fortune. "It is a perfect day to give your special someone a gift," he read, letting out a snort of laughter once he had finished. "Well, of course it is. It's Christmas."

"Well then, I'm hoping you did give that special someone a gift. And I'm guessing that special someone is Angelina," Scarlett laughed.

"Yes, I did and yes it is," Fred answered with a grin. "Sent it off this morning."

"What do you know?" Scarlett said quietly. "You already fulfilled your first fortune before you even opened it."

"Ahead of the game," Fred said. "How long have you been waiting? Ten years, give or take a few?"

Scarlett lightly hit his shoulder. "I guess fortunes do have some truth to them," she said somewhat sadly. "Experiment over."

"No," Fred said, holding his fortune out to her. "This one's too vague. It could apply to anyone. You keep it.'

"All fortunes could apply to anyone, but the fun for me and my dad was seeing if it would hold any truth for us specifically. Yours wasn't fun because you had already done what it predicted. And you should keep it." She nudged his hand away. "Start a collection that's actually interesting."

"Rocks are interesting. These fortunes seem pretty silly to me. They're almost as bad at predicting the future as Trelawney is. Maybe even worse," Fred teased.

"They are not!"

"Okay, read yours then. Prove me wrong."

Scarlett gave him a pointed look and held up her fortune. "An unexpected event will soon bring you happiness," she read.

Fred snorted. "Again, vague."

"But oddly enough," Ginny chimed in, "it could apply to your life, Scar."

"It could apply to anyone's life," Fred argued.

Ginny ignored her brother and kept talking. She looked excited. "I mean, the unexpected event could have been finding out that you have to marry Fred and it's going to end up making you happy. Good to know," she smirked. "And maybe Fred's fortune applies to you! He gave you a gift. Maybe your his special someone!"

"Ginny," Scarlett said quickly, turning pink, "Fred could be right. These may just as well be a load of rubbish. And they really could apply to anyone. It's just something I did for fun with my dad. I don't think-"

"You two are going to fall in love. I just know it," Ginny plowed on. If she had heard Scarlett's protest, she didn't show it.

"Ginny," Fred said forcefully.

"What?" she retaliated, sounding irritable.

"It's not going to happen."

"How can you say that?" Ginny huffed. "You don't know that. Just because you like Angelina now doesn't mean you can't fall for Scarlett. You do have to marry her! And since you know you have to, it couldn't hurt to try to fall in love, or even try dating or something! That's why you were told when you were. So that you'd have the opportunity! And you're just wasting it!"

"Ginny!" Fred spoke louder this time and Ginny spluttered to a stop while Scarlett stared down at her hands. She felt embarrassed and she couldn't stop thinking about how Ginny's words almost exactly mirrored Erica's.

"What?" Ginny asked angrily, crossing her arms.

"This isn't any of your business!" Fred said. "It's not your fight, it's not your problem, and it's not your business trying to meddle in things you don't understand!"

"I expect that's what Mum thinks every time you and George ask to join the Order," Ginny snapped.

"That's different. The war and the Order are my business because it affects me just as much as it affects everyone who's already in the Order."

"And you don't think this affects me?" Ginny gestured to Fred and Scarlett. "I'd say it is my business that my brother's practically being forced into a marriage and he's not even making an effort to make the best of it and have a chance to be happy."

"All my chances of being happy went out the door the day I found out about this stupid vow," Fred responded furiously.

Scarlett winced at that. She knew that she and Fred didn't love each other, but all of his chances at being happy were gone? Really?

Fred noticed Scarlett's expression and paused to look at her, lowering his voice as he spoke again. "Scar, I didn't—I didn't mean—." He reached out and tried to take Scarlett's hand, but she twitched it away.

"You did. You did mean it," Ginny interrupted, receiving a glare from Fred.

"I know you aren't in love with me, Fred," Scarlett whispered, "and I get that because I'm not in love with you either. But I know that we're friends and I was under the impression that we had both come to terms with this and that we were ultimately okay with marrying each other. I didn't know being around me made you so miserable and unhappy. I didn't know everything you said the other night was a lie." With that, she collected her fortune and her box of Muggle magic tricks and hurried out the door, ignoring the looks being sent her way from every occupant of the room.

Scarlett had been in her room for the past hour. Fred had tried to come upstairs and talk to her, knocking on the door for at least five minutes until he had finally gone away. Scarlett hadn't wanted to talk to him. She felt embarrassed, confused and hurt. Perhaps she was being somewhat silly, but she needed time alone to get her thoughts together. It wasn't helping that she had decided to look for a way to get out of the vow even though she knew she couldn't. And even if she could, she certainly wouldn't find the answer in her school textbooks. The information they did have on the vow didn't really go into detail.

"It's no use," she finally sighed, flopping back onto her pillows. It was then that she heard another sound at the door. She paused. It was probably Fred again and it was also probably time she talked to him about what had happened and perhaps apologize for behaving so moodily. Sighing, she pushed herself off of the bed and headed for the door. When she opened it, she found herself blinking in confusion. No one was there.

"Hello?" she called. Her call was met by a muffled squeaking sound down by her feet. Looking down, she saw Binky, bouncing up and down, a rolled up piece of paper in his mouth.

Smiling, Scarlett bent down and took the paper from Binky. "What's this?" she cooed. "Huh? What did you bring me?" She reached out and patted the pygmy puff's head. Binky seized the opportunity to squeak happily and scurry up Scarlett's arm, coming to rest on her shoulder. Scarlett stood and unrolled the note in her hand while Binky sniffed at her earlobe.

Once upon a time, there was a lovely girl named Scarlett, the note began. Scarlett smiled faintly and leaned up against the doorframe as she continued to read. Scarlett was extremely fun to be around and knew some amazing stories to boot. She had to get married to a noble prince with dashing good looks named Fred. Neither of them was exactly thrilled about the situation because they were just friends. Besides, the handsome Prince Fred was dating the fair maiden Angelina Johnson, and Scarlett was dating Sir Finch, but all the same, Scarlett and Fred were friends and got along well. Until one day, the prince led Scarlett to believe he was miserable around her, which wasn't the case at all. After all, he did tell her that if he was going to be forced into a marriage, he was glad it was with her. And that was true. The prince offered his deepest apologies, Scarlett accepted, and they (hopefully) lived happily ever after as married friends. They even adopted the Finch to be their messenger bird. Not quite as efficient as an owl, but close enough. The end.

Scarlett didn't know whether to laugh or groan as she finished the note. Eventually, she decided to do both.

"So, how was it?" A voice sounded to Scarlett's left. She turned to see Fred standing in a doorway down the hall, leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. He had clearly been hiding to watch Scarlett's reaction to the note. "Do you think it's good enough to be put into a book someday?"

Scarlett smiled. "I don't know. I can see a few issues."

"Such as?" Fred prompted, raising an eyebrow and coming to look at the note over Scarlett's shoulder.

She held the note up as she looked over her shoulder at him. "We hired Justin as our messenger bird?"

Fred chuckled. "What? I thought it would be a nice touch to have a talking pet."

"Justin is a real person. You know, with real feelings."

"I know that. You don't see me calling him names to his face, do you? And Hermione will fail all her OWLs before you show that note to Justin. So really, he'll never know and his feelings never get hurt."

Scarlett half-smiled and pocketed the note. "Well, I do have to say that this was a thoughtful apology, even if it does have its issues."

Fred smirked. "I know. I'm just so clever, aren't I?"

"And so modest, too, isn't that right?" Scarlett teased, raising her eyebrows.

"Not to mention handsome and charming."

"Of course. Are you always like that?"

"I have to be. I am a prince aren't I?" He gestured to the note in Scarlett's pocket.

"That's a shame. I thought I was just lucky and special."

"No, not really," Fred retaliated.

"Gee, thanks," Scarlett said with a laugh as she absentmindedly reached up to pet Binky. "I tried finding a way to get us out of having to make the vow," she said after a moment.

"That's what you were doing?" Fred asked in surprise. "You wasted your time. There is no way."

"I know that. I knew it when I started looking for answers, but I wanted to look anyway." She began playing with the ends of her hair. After a few seconds, she looked up at Fred agin. "The last thing I want to do is be the reason you end up unhappy," she whispered.

"You aren't going to be," Fred replied quietly, shaking his head.

"But you said-"

"I know what I said. I just meant that this situation is nowhere near ideal for us. It's difficult. I didn't say I couldn't or wouldn't be happy with you—"

"You said all your chances of being happy were gone."

"Not all of them," Fred said. "I just—I spoke without thinking. Like I said, our situation is difficult for us. We're working through it. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"It doesn't really matter. I was being stupid." Scarlett dismissed his words with a laugh and a shake of her head.

"No, it was a perfectly legitimate reason to get offended."

Scarlett didn't answer. Instead, she shrugged one shoulder and looked down at the floor.

"Scar?" Fred asked quietly.

"Hm?" She looked up at him again.

"By no means was anything I said the other night a lie. I meant every single word."

A soft smile turned up the corners of Scarlett's mouth. "Me too," she nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too, for storming out and refusing to answer the door when you knocked earlier."

"At least you got out of Celestina's last few songs," Fred smirked.

"Shame," Scarlett shrugged, smirking.

"As for you not answering the door, I was pretty offended," he continued, mock-seriously. "And then to discover that you did open the door for Binks, here." He scratched Binky's tiny head and the pygmy puff made a purring sound.

"In my defense, I thought it was you," Scarlett answered, turning her head and smiling at Binky.

Fred grinned. "I opened your gift, by the way."

"Oh," Scarlett blinked. She had completely forgotten that Fred had never gotten the chance to open his gift earlier.

"It's incredible. Where'd you get it?"

"It's just a doodle pad for your invention sketches." Scarlett shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but George and I are always running out of sketch pads, so it's a very useful gift, and it has our initials on the cover, and it only opens when it recognizes my fingerprints or George's…. I—well, I appreciate it. Thanks."

Scarlett smiled. "You're welcome. Oh, and I actually have something else for you. It came in by owl-order this morning. Very last minute, really, but to be fair, I did order it last minute. I couldn't decide whether or not to get it, but in the end—,"

"Scar, stop babbling and give it to me already."

"Someone sure is greedy," Scarlett muttered, smirking.

"I'm sorry. I mean," Fred paused and cleared his throat dramatically, "another gift? Scarlett, you're way too good to me. I don't deserve you."

Scarlett rolled her eyes and went over to her trunk. Fred followed her into the room and stood behind her as she pulled out a book. "Here, it's not wrapped, but like I said, it was all very last minute."

Fred took the book from Scarlett and broke into a massive grin. "Peter Pan? Really? My very own copy?"

"Your very own. I got the idea the other night when you asked me to tell you the story on the roof, so I ordered it and managed to get an expedited delivery. It cost a little extra, but it was worth it."

"Scar, you don't have to go crazy buying me gifts. I know money's almost as tight for you as it is for us and-,"

"Like I said, it was worth it," Scarlett interrupted. She gestured to the book. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah, this is great, actually. It's one book I might actually read, although I do still like it better when you tell it to me."

"Of course you do. Hey, at least it'll bring the book count on your bookshelf up to a total of one. Your mother will be pleased."

"Hardly, when she finds out the one book is a Muggle children's tale. Not suitable for adults."

"I beg to differ, and besides, what your mother doesn't know won't hurt her," Scarlett smirked.

"Scarlett, I believe George and I have tarnished you."

"You didn't do anything. Maybe I've always been tarnished."

"You'd like to think so," Fred said with a wink, "but I know the truth. It was all my and George's doing." He headed for the door.

"Big head," Scarlett called after him.

"More for you to look at," Fred replied, turning at the doorway and grinning back at her before disappearing from view.

"That's the problem," Scarlett called after him. It was then she realized that Binky was still on her shoulder. "Fred." She stuck her head out into the hallway. "You forgot Binky."

"Keep him for the night," Fred smirked. "It can be your turn to watch him."

"We aren't married yet, Fred. As much as I love him, we don't share custody of your pygmy puff."

"Yeah, but one day we will be married and you'll have to become accustomed to the little tyke's snores, so go, enjoy yourself."

"Little tyke? You act like he's a real child."

"Shh, you'll hurt his feelings," Fred hissed, walking back towards Scarlett and bending down slightly until he was level with Scarlett's shoulder and looking at Binky. "Binky can be whatever he wants to be." He scratched one of Binky's tiny ears before glancing up at Scarlett. "We did briefly discuss the children issue previously, did we not?"

"Are you saying your pygmy puff can serve as our child?"

"I'm just tossing out options."

"So, let me get this straight. You want to have a real human being as our messenger bird, and a pygmy puff serving as a child."

"Sounds about right," Fred grinned.

"Your pygmy puff will serve as a pet, Fred."

"Oi, I've just said you're going to hurt his feelings," Fred answered.

"Fred." Scarlett put her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look.

"Thanks for the book," Fred laughed, waving the book at her as he turned and walked away.

"Yeah, yeah," Scarlett muttered, heading back into her room. She set Binky down on the nightstand as she changed into her pajamas. "Don't worry, Binky," she said as she pulled back the covers of her bed and climbed in. "I'm sure you don't snore. Fred's just trying to blame his faults on you." She kissed Binky's head and he purred. Scarlett smiled and turned out the light, falling asleep almost instantly.

A/N: I hope everyone likes this chapter. It's another one of my favorites so far and I hope everyone else enjoys it as well!

Thank you so much for all the reviews so far! It's good to know that people are enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it!

Happy Holidays! :)