The Beginning of the End

"Guys, that's not fair!" Effie shouted as Fred and George knocked down her snow fort, with magic of course. The boys just laughed and continued to throw snowballs at her. She had managed to dodge quite a bit of them but they got her a couple of times.

"All's fair in love and war." George yelled with a laugh. Effie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Fred and George just walked over to her but what the boys didn't see was that she had a snowball in her hand. Fred came up and wrapped his arm around Effie's shoulders.

"When are you ever going to learn that we show no mercy?" He asked and Effie feigned defeat. She sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe when you learn that I don't give up without a fight." And with that she took the snowball and slammed it into Fred's face. He stood there stunned for a few moments before chasing after Effie who was about 5 feet in front of him. But of course it didn't take long for him to catch up to her. He was a whole foot taller than she was.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and threw her gently to the ground which had about 3 feet of snow covering it, so there was some cushion. Fred began tickling her mercilessly while George just stood by and watched, laughing like an evil villain the whole time.

Fred finally stopped and rested his arms on either side of Effie's head. She was so busy trying to catch her breath from laughing and running that she didn't notice how close he was until he started leaning in.

"What are you doing?" She asked quietly with a raised eyebrow. Fred chuckled lightly.

"Harry's watching us from the window. Just play along." Before Effie even had time to react, Fred's lips were on hers. She had to admit, he kissed really good, but nowhere near as good as Harry did. But still, she played along and kissed back, tongue and all. They were getting pretty into it until George cleared his throat causing Fred to pull away. Effie licked over her pink, slightly swollen lips and got up from the ground.

She dusted off her pants and scratched the back of her head nervously.

"I was just going to say that we should go get some lunch but if you want to stay out-"

"Lunch sounds great." Effie said quickly, interrupting George who just snickered to himself. Effie's eyes widened a bit and she blew out through her mouth.

"Just relax, I just did you a favor." Fred said, throwing his arm around her shoulders again. She looked up at him with an incredulous look.

"What do you mean?!" She whispered.

"Lover boy is probably boiling over with jealousy right about now." Was all that Fred had to say before it finally clicked in her head. He was trying to help her get Harry's attention by making him jealous.

"I know this is going to sound odd but, that is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me." She said as they walked inside.

"You can thank me later, love." Fred said with a wink, causing Effie to blush lightly. She, Fred, and George walked over to a kitchen counter so that they could fix something to eat but George pushed her back gently.

"No, no. You sit down, we'll fix the food for you." He said ruffling her hair slightly as she sat down at the table. Effie huffed and fixed her hair. Why they were fixing her food was beyond her. Maybe it was because they knocked down her Fort, leaving her defenseless.

In a matter of 5 minutes, George handed her a sandwich and sat down in front of her with Fred. Effie took a bite of her sandwich and nodded her head.

"That's really good." She said and took another bite. Fred and George just smiled as they ate their own sandwiches. Effie raised an eyebrow and put hers down on the plate.

"Okay, what's going on?" She asked, fear starting to boil within her body. Fred said nothing as he pulled out an open white envelop. He placed it on the table and slid it towards her. She looked at it curiously and picked it up. When she saw her mothers handwriting, she gasped and yanked the letter out.

"Hello my darling daughter, how are you? Your father told me that you are at the Weasley's house for the Holidays. I hope you have a wonderful time. I wish so much that I could be there but alas, I can't. Don't fret though, you'll see me soon. I'll be back home when you come back home at the end of the school year. I'm getting ready to send your Christmas present so it should be there Christmas morning. I must go now but I'll write again soon.

xoxo"

Effie was smiling from ear to ear by the time she got finished reading the letter. Fred and George were smiling with her. They had read the letter out of curiosity before she did so naturally, they knew what was going on.

"I get to see my mum soon." She whispered, unable to stop the smile.

"That's fantastic." The twins said simultaneously as they reached to grab her hands. She stood up quickly with the letter and ran to where Fred and George sat. She wrapped her arms around both of them and kissed their cheeks.

"I'm going to go tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione!" She exclaimed, forgetting what she and Fred had done. But she was definitely going to be reminded here shortly.