I've loved you three summers now, honey,
but I want 'em all.
---
Can we always be this close?
"Georgie!" I ran to hug him as soon as he came through the door, "I've missed you so much."
He chuckled as he hugged me back, "I've missed you too, Lettie. Feels like forever since I've seen you."
"I know, right?" Pulling away from him, I beamed, "How's Angie doing?"
I haven't seen Angelina since the summer, nor have I seen George since his dad's attack, and boy, how I've missed them both like crazy. Fred may be my best friend and boyfriend, but George and I have always had a strong, sibling-like bond. If there was ever anything I didn't want Fred to know about, then George definitely knew about it. However, that didn't happen nearly as often now that my relationship status with Fred has changed.
"Angie's great! She wanted me to tell you she's sorry for being unable to write, but she really misses you and can't wait to see you this summer."
"When you see her again, tell her I'm looking forward to it too. How's is she enjoying being Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team?"
"She's actually really stressed out about it. Everything in the universe has been working against her. So, she's been getting all the back rubs," He chuckled, "Don't get me wrong, she likes being Captain, and no offence to Ron and Ginny, but the team is kind of horrid this year. Especially now that Fred, Harry, and I have been banned permanently."
I pulled my lips back, sucking through my teeth, "Yeahhhh, Fred told me about that. I'm sorry that happened, but I still can't believe you and Harry attacked Malfoy! That's mental! It must have felt delicious to sock him in that trap of his."
"Oh, it did! It actually made getting kicked off the team almost worth it."
"Hey, I tried to beat his arse too," Fred chimed in as he walked into the room, "and I would have been able to too if I hadn't been held back!"
I giggled a little, "Yes. We know, Freddie. I'm sure you looked incredibly sexy, all angry and defensive like that."
Once I said it, I couldn't help but picture it. Images of a crossed Fred huffing his chest as his bangs clung to his forehead after an intense game danced around in my mind. Merlin, it must have been insanely attractive. I always liked it when Fred got a little angry.
"Damn right, I did." He smirked with a single adamant nod before turning back to George. They grinned in that charming brotherly way before greeting each other with a tight hug and a few pats on the back.
"How's it going, mate?" George asked as he and Fred pulled away.
"Good. Mum says dinner is ready. So, we should probably head in there," Fred answered, pointing towards the kitchen.
-----
We all gathered around the table and watched a small figurine of Santa fly around on his tiny broomstick. As he zipped past our heads, he waved and repeated, "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!"
The only people not at the table were Harry, Sirius, and Mr and Mrs Weasley. No one else but Fred had seen Mr Weasley today, and I knew that the rest of the Weasley children were eagerly but patiently awaiting their father's arrival to dinner.
Pretty soon, Mrs Weasley's jolly voice echoed in the kitchen.
"Here we go!" She rolled Mr Weasley to the table with the biggest grin as they both dodged the flying Santa, "Daddy's back."
Everyone smiled and applauded Mr Weasley on his recovery and being grateful to be able to spend another Christmas with him.
Mrs Weasley was so happy that she couldn't contain her joyous laughter as she waved her hands at the table, "Sit down, Everybody. Sit down."
We did as she said, and she made her way over to a nearby shelf, saying, "Now, Presents!"
"And a nice big box for Ron," Arthur stated merrily as Molly handed Ron and Ginny gifts. Then she handed one each to Hermione and me.
"Yes, Big box for him!" His mother repeated giddily, causing everyone at the table to chuckle.
She then held our two gifts towards Fred and George but immediately started crossing them back and forth, trying to remember which present belonged to which twin," And, um—uh, here, uh—ohhhh,"
Fred and George just watched her confusion, with George's arm still outstretched to grab his gift and Fred looking like a child while he waited to receive his.
Giving up on telling them apart, she just handed them each a present and laughed it off. With a clap, she urged everyone to open their gifts, "I want to see your faces."
Ron didn't look so happy when he opened his gift. In fact, he almost looked embarrassed. He glanced at Hermione, who smiled sweetly, staining his cheeks with a light shade of pink before he quickly feigned appreciation when his mum looked at him, "Just what you wanted, actually?"
Nodding, Ron falsely agreed with a smile on his face, "Yeah. Thanks, Mum."
Fred and George received matching scarves and quickly wrapped them around their necks, and I thanked Molly when I opened my gift of knitted gloves.
"C'mon Everyone, Let's clear this away. Oh, Harry! There you are," Mrs Weasley beamed as she walked over to greet him with a hug before handing him a gift, "Happy Christmas."
They exchanged a few more words, and once the presents were removed from the table, Mr Weasley filled his glass before hoisting it into the air, "A toast!"
All the Weasleys, Hermione, and I filled our drinks and raised them in the air. Arthur then continued, "A Christmas toast to...Mr Harry Potter, without whom I would not be here."
Harry's mouth twitched slightly as he gulped, but I'm sure he was still grateful.
"Harry!" Mr Weasley raised his glass a little higher.
Everyone else did the same before repeating in unison, "Harry!"
Sirius, who had walked in at some point, caught his godson's attention when he echoed, "Harry."
Many conversations began as everyone filled their plates with food. Unable to reach the mashed potatoes on the other side of the table, I held my plate towards Fred, "Do you mind putting some potatoes on my plate for me, please?"
Fred took my plate from me, "Sure thing."
I gave him an appreciative smile, "Thank you, baby."
"No problem, Sweetheart," He winked.
"'Sweetheart?'," Mr Weasley looked at Fred with surprise before giving me the same look, "'Baby?' Does this mean...?"
Fred coughed a short chortle as his cheeks turned red.
"Yeah, ummm, Charlotte, she's my uhh..." He stammered sheepishly but wore a proud smile, "Charlotte's my girlfriend now."
Seeing Fred become shy made it impossible to hide the grin threatening to tug at my lips. It was a rare sight but one of the most adorable I've ever seen. And a fuzziness warmed me from within when he called me his girlfriend.
"Finally!" Mr Weasley rejoiced, throwing his hands up before holding them out and looking around the table, "And nobody told me?"
"I'm sorry, Dear. Something was always going on at the hospital, so it must have slipped our minds," Mrs Weasley admitted, handing him his plate.
"This is wonderful news!" Arthur beamed as he sat the plate down in front of him, "This means I won the bet!"
Mrs Weasley looked at him in disbelief at what she heard, "Arthur! After everything we taught the children about gambling, you didn't really place a bet, did you?"
"What bet?" Ron furrowed his eyebrows.
"I started a wager on when Fred and Charlotte would finally get together," Ginny informed him.
"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed as Fred handed me back my plate, "Angie mentioned something about that!"
"You mingy little tossers," Ron huffed, "No one ever told me about any wager!"
"Don't worry, Ron," George started after swallowing a bite of his food and using his fork to tear off another piece, "If it makes you feel any better, they didn't let me place a bet on it either."
"How come?" Fred asked the table.
"Because he's your twin, dummy!" Ginny explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah," Hermione nodded as she looked past George to make eye contact with Fred, "There's no way you and Charlotte wouldn't have told him and Angelina every little detail about what was going on between you two. That would have given them access to too much information, which wouldn't be fair, now, would it?"
Ginny spoke up again, "It's the same reason we didn't tell you and Charlotte about the wager we had going for Angelina and George."
George's head shot up from his plate, "There was a wager on Angie and me?"
"Well, I don't find this very fair," I protested sarcastically.
"Yeah! Where's the fun in this for us?" George asked.
"You got girlfriends, didn't you?" Ron answered with a mouth full of food.
"Piss off, Ron. You didn't even get to bet," Fred retorted before looking between George and me, "I say we start our own wagers."
"Yeah!" I agreed, "One for Ron and Hermione."
"And one on Ginny and Harry," George added, using his fork to point at Ginny, who froze as her eyes shifted to see if Harry was listening. Luckily, He was still immersed in his conversation with Sirius.
Ron almost choked on his peas with a look of horror, "Me and Hermione?"
His eyes darted between his brothers and Hermione, "Please, that'll never happen!"
Hermione rolled her eyes at his response and returned to eating her food, mumbling under her breath, "Thick head."
"Yeah, and I have a boyfriend," Ginny defended.
"Hey now, it's only fair," George teased her.
"And you guys were the ones that were so worried about fairness," Fred added before giving her a cheeky grin, "Plus, not all relationships last."
Ginny shot him a glare, "And you would know, wouldn't you? This is your first relationship that's lasted more than two weeks!"
Upon hearing her words, Fred chucked a piece of food at her in retaliation.
"Calm down, everybody!" Mrs Weasley tried to intervene, but it was Mr Weasley who caught everyone's attention again.
"Brilliant!" He clapped his hands together, "That means I definitely won the wager!"
"I thought Harry was the one that won?" Hermione looked confused.
Arthur shook his head, lifting a finger, "Only partially. You see, Harry bet that they would get together on Christmas. However, I bet they would be together for some time before they announced it on Christmas!"
Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes, "Honestly, Arthur..."
-----
"You two go ahead. I just have to grab something out of our room real quick," Fred said just as George and I were about to enter my room.
"Alright. See you here then," George told him.
I stopped just outside my door, "See you in a minute, Freddie."
"See you soon, Darling," Fred grinned before shooting me a wink and turning down the hall.
I smiled to myself at these cute little nicknames he's been giving me lately as I watched him walk away, my body relaxing with the heat building inside me.
George rolled his eyes and chuckled, "C'mon, I have to tell you something before he gets back."
He placed his hand between my shoulder blades and gave me a push, causing me to almost trip over the rug.
"Oi! No need to be so physical!" I shook myself and wiped at my sleeves, pretending to knock dust off my clothes.
"I'm serious, Lettie," George deadpanned.
I feigned confusion, "But I thought you were George?"
"Not 'Sirius'! I mean, this is serious!" He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers while shaking his head, "I don't know how I've ever put up with you."
Giggling, I soften my tone, "Because we're best mates. Now, tell me what's so important."
His breath was shaky as he reached into his shirt pocket, "You can't tell anyone, yeah?"
"Does Fred count?"
"Of course not," He smirked but with nerves still etched into his features, "I'm going to tell him about it tomorrow morning."
Once he fiddled around in his pocket a moment longer, he pulled out a small golden ring with a teardrop diamond fastened to the top.
"Oh my gosh," An audible gasp escaped me before I covered my mouth with my hands and repeated, "Oh. My. Gosh!"
"Do you think Angie will like it?" George bit his lip anxiously.
"She's going to love it! Teardrops are her favourite!"
With a proud smile, he told me, "I know. She told me back when we first started dating. We joked about getting married once, and she was all," George tried to put on his best sassy Angelina impression, " 'If we make it that far, I'm telling you now: Size M, Gold, and a teardrop diamond.' and I committed it to memory straight away."
Placing my hand on my heart, I cooed, "That's so cute! When are you going to ask her?"
He put the ring back into his pocket, "Hopefully sometime this summer, but I haven't planned exactly how I will do it yet."
"You'll think of something, Georgie. You two are crazy about each other, and you know everything about her. Just remember that and focus on all her favourite things; pretty soon, it'll come to you. And I'll be happy to help in any way I can."
George grinned as he hugged me, "Thanks, Lettie. You really are an amazing friend."
"You are too," I pulled away from the hug but kept a hold of his arms before squealing and jumping up and down, "Oh my gosh! This is so exciting! I'm so happy for you guys!"
"What's exciting?" The sudden crack from Fred apparating into the room caused me to jump so forcefully that I fell to the floor with a diminutive scream.
"Fred Gideon Weasley!" I shouted at him as George doubled over with laughter.
"I'm so sorry, Charlotte!" Fred tried suppressing his laughter as he helped me up.
I let him do so, but I pretended to still be angry once I was on my feet.
"Don't touch me," I pushed his hands away before crossing my arms prissily.
"Awe, c'mon, don't be like that! It was an accident! Plus..." Fred smirked as he placed his hand on the back of my neck. With his fingers slightly tangled in my hair, he stepped closer to whisper in my ear, "You promised me a photoshoot, remember?"
I felt the hairs all over my body stand up when his breath brushed against my ear. My chest rose as the memory of my promise started to heat my core, but I wasn't about to let him know that. Instead, I turned away from him, "Doesn't ring a bell."
"You guys know I'm still here, right?" George pipped in, but Fred just ignored him.
"As cute as it is, you'll quit pouting when I tell you I got you a Christmas present," He smiled and held up a large wicker basket by its handle. A bow rested on its lid, "What do you say? Forgive me?"
His big brown eyes peered into mine.
I shifted my gaze to the basket, my lips still pushed to the side, before quipping cheekily, "As you should have."
Grabbing the handle, I turned sharply, making sure to whip Fred in the face with my hair before setting the basket on the bed.
He wiped his face with a laugh as he stepped towards me with mischief in his eyes, "Why, you little minx-"
"Woah! Hold up!" George stepped between us, pushing Fred back, "I do not want to see this! You two will have plenty of time tonight for gifts and..." He looked between Fred and me and cringed, "I don't even want to know what else. So, let's just take care of these love potions, and then you two can be alone. Okay?"
"Okay," Fred and I answered in unison, staring at each other coquettishly. We always smiled at each other whenever that happened.