It's Better If You Do

Never was Fred Weasley watched so closely until the moment when he took his first bite of the steaming spaghetti. Rose's wide blue eyes were glued to his face and she was completely ignoring her own plate of food, even though she had just been starving not five minutes before. A look of delight came over his face as he chewed his food and then he gave her an odd look, "I thought you said you weren't good at cooking."

She breathed out a relieved sigh, and smiled, "I'm not. I don't much consider this cooking, as opposed to Bellamy's. She uses loads of instructions, different ingrediants, and step-by-step approaches; I just boil the pasta and simmer the sauce."

With a shake of his head, he said with an obvious air, that had a hint of teasing, "That's cooking. No matter which way you want to put it." Rose smiled once more, and merely shrugged before taking a bite of the noodles and realizing it was rather good. Of course, she knew that she hadn't made the sauce, so she remained resolute in her lack of cooking ability.

Remembering that George and Bellamy were at the Leaky Cauldron and that her sister had probably already figured out the plan, she mused aloud, "I wonder how their date is going."

With a rueful shake of his head, Fred said, "Hopefully it's going well, otherwise she's going to stomp in here and start in on us." Rose laughed and nodded, looking a bit sheepish.

"I really hope she doesn't take her anger out at him," she said quietly, twirling her spaghetti absentmindedly. "I've already had to patch him up once today." Fred stopped in the middle of taking a bite, and looked at her warily.

"Bellamy wouldn't severely hurt him, would she?" he asked hesitantly, and Rose quickly shook her head, though in her mind she was running through the spells her sister was best at, and holding back a grimace.

"Not too bad, no," she reassured, though it sounded a bit like a lie and Fred raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. Biting her lip, she murmured, "Well, let's just hope the date goes well." Sighing, Fred gave a short laugh full of mirth.

"Have your plans always been this dangerous?" he asked with a teasing grin and she looked down, her lips twisting into a frown. Taking this as a yes, he prodded her, saying, "Oh, do tell. I need a good laugh to distract me from my brother's impending doom."

Rose gave him a sour look, which took Fred aback a little, and answered him slowly, "Well... when I was little, I was quite the explorer and more than likely would have gotten killed if not for my parents watching me like hawks. But one day when I was about eight, I overheard my parents talking about the pond near our house that had grindylows in it and how they needed to get rid of them. When I asked they wouldn't tell me what a grindylow was, so I snuck out late at night to go see what it was," she paused as she noticed the look of horror on Fred's face and smiled grimly.

"I was near the edge of the pond looking around when one grabbed me around my ankles and pulled me under," Rose stopped speaking and Fred noticed that her face had taken on a clammy, ashen quality. Once she began again, her voice was shaking, "I was drowning and... I began to give up fighting it when someone began to pull me out, and I began to choke and spit up water, while Bellamy pounded me on the back, sobbing. She had woken up and followed me from a distance. When she didn't see me, she jumped in and saved me."

Fred said in a low voice, his expression slightly awed, "That's... you were so bloody lucky." With a small smile, she lightly shook her head in disagreement.

"Not lucky. I just had Bellamy watching out for me. From then on, our parents never questioned leaving us alone together, no matter what the situation, because they knew she'd always protect me," she said in an affectionate tone, resting her chin in her hand while she took a bite of pasta. Fred's expression grew a bit mischevious and he smirked, with a tiny shake of his head.

"We were never protecting Ron. In fact, we tormented him most of the time. One time Ron broke my broomstick, I turned his teddybear into a spider," he said with a jeering laugh, but quickly stopped at the look of outrage on Rose's face, adding hurriedly, "It was all in fun, of course."

"How is turning a child's teddybear into a spider fun?" she asked in an affronted voice. Rose could only imagine the horror that boy had gone through and she scowled at him. Holding back laughter and a cheeky smile, Fred settled on his most innocent face.

"I was only seven," he said in a slightly pouting manner, staring at her with wide eyes. To his astonishment, Rose raised an eyebrow and didn't look convinced in the slightest.

"And fully aware of what you were doing, for that matter," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms. Fred sighed and lowered his head, looking up at her sorrowfully. Rose wavered for a second or two, but then steeled herself against his pitiful glance. "That's not going to work."

Pouting dramatically, he asked in a very blunt way, "And why not?" Letting out a shocked laugh that rang merrily throughout the shop, Rose grinned wryly and shook her head slowly in defeat. This boy was impossible.

"I give up. I can't even mockingly be mad at you," she said before sipping her water. With a self satisified smile, Fred inclined his head towards her.

"As I knew you couldn't. I'm irresistable," he said matter-of-factly, before winking at her flirtaciously. Blushing slightly, she bit her lip against another wide smile.

"You are not," she muttered, and watched warily as the smile he wore grew into a full out grin, and he raised an eyebrow cockily.

"I take that as a challenge, Ms. Lefebvre. You'll be taking back your words before even the night is over," Fred predicted smugly. Rolling her eyes in a very Bellamy way, she scoffed.

"Oh, the challenge is met. Just because I like snogging you doesn't mean I can't hold off from it... I do have self control, you know," she added on heatedly when he looked fit to burst from retained laughter. But he just couldn't hold off anymore, and let out a very long laugh that echoed throughout the shop. Holding up his goblet, he held it out to her.

"To the challenge," he toasted, and she clinked his goblet with his.

"To the challenge," she repeated with a fevered expression that almost made him wonder if he was going to lose, but then he balked at the preposterousness of the idea. Fred Weasley? Lose? Impossible, he thought confidently.