Catechize: to question closely
March 26, 1985
A thunderous crashing rolled down the zigzagging stairs.
"MUM! I'M GOING NOW!"
"Take me with you," Charlie begged his older brother, appearing in the doorway to their bedroom. Behind him, the twins were jumping from bed to bed, shouting and throwing one of Charlie's dragon models back and forth.
Bill smirked. "No can do, mate. Get a girlfriend and I'll think about letting you tag along."
"Some brother you are!" Charlie called as Bill barreled down the last flight of stairs.
"Hey!" Percy complained as Bill whipped around the banister and sent him flying into the wall.
"Sorry, Perce."
"You smell like a pine tree threw up all over you," Percy told him as Bill pulled him roughly to his feet.
"It's called showering. Might want to try it some time."
"Actually, I think it's called perfume," Percy said with a slight snicker. When Percy started making fun of you, you knew it was time to get out of the house.
"Cologne," Bill muttered, ramming him back into the wall as he headed for the kitchen. "Mum, I'mgoingtothevillagenow. Seeyalater!"
He had almost made it to the door before –
"Wait a moment, dear. When are you getting back?"
"I dunno. Before supper?" Bill said impatiently, shifting from foot to foot with one hand on the door.
"And who are you going to be meeting again?"
"Just some friends." Bill told her.
His mother eyed him shrewdly, her gaze taking in his tucked-in shirt, pressed collar, and carefully-parted hair. "Mm-hm. And is Katherine Faucet one of them?"
"Bill's got a girlfriend! Bill's got a girlfriend!" came a high-pitched chant from the table, but the moment Bill whipped around, Ron and Ginny disappeared under their chairs in a flurry of mad giggles.
"She is not my girlfriend," he said, ears flaming. "But yeah, she'll be there," he added, turning back to his mother.
"And what are you all going to be doing?" she asked, suppressing a knowing smile.
"Are you gonna kiss her?" said Ginny, popping her braided head out from under the tablecloth.
"Only married people kiss, Ginny," Ron told her, superior in his five years of wisdom.
"Are you gonna marry her, Bill?" Ginny revised.
"He's not allowed to marry her until he's seventeen, is he, Mum?" Percy put in, scowling at Bill and rubbing his shoulder as he stood in the doorway.
"I'm not marrying anybody!" Bill exclaimed. "Look, I'm just going into the village with my friends."
He reached for the door.
"You be nice to her, Bill," his mother warned before the door slammed behind him.
As he crossed the yard, his father came out of the shed.
"Going into the village, son?" he asked cheerfully.
"I'm not going on a date with Katherine Faucet, okay! Merlin, what's with the third degree around here?"
A/N: :O a whole week! I'm awful. Okay, but now's my catch-up time. Oh and by the way, Bill and Charlie are home for the Easter Holidays in this. Hope you liked it! ;D Review?