Trick or treat?
Author: Aramintalupin
Title: Trick or treat
Ship: Angelina/ George
Word count: 500
Rating: G
The shop was empty. Not a customer in sight.
“Fred? George? Where are you?” called Angelina. Receiving no reply, she shook her wand out of her sleeve and peered among the shelves for her friends.
In one corner, a display had been knocked over and a red sticky substance oozed ominously over the carpet.
As she stepped forward, a cold breeze tickled the back of her neck and a disembodied hand tapped her shoulder.
“Trick or treat?” rasped a voice.
Angelina jumped in fright, sparks shooting from her wand.
“Argh!”
“Angie! It’s just me!” said George, laughing as he emerged from a Disillusionment charm.
Angelina’s heart was beating so fast she could barely speak. She thumped George’s chest angrily.
“You complete idiot! Don’t you know there’s a war on? You could’ve been a Death Eater for all I knew!”
Nah, I’m much better looking for a start,” George replied off-handedly, determined to see the funny side even if Angelina couldn’t. He had a cloth in one hand and a jar of Magical Mess Remover in the other, with which he began to scrub the floor.
“You know I’m really starting to sympathise with Filch-this stuff is impossible to get out,” he mused, while Angelina stared at the stain, trying to recover her breath.
“I-I thought it was blood” she said in a small voice.
“What, this? Nah, it’s-” But what it was, Angelina didn’t find out.
“Angie, what’re you crying for?” George asked, leaping up to pull her into a hug.
“You- you-” Angelina searched and failed to find a word strong enough. In his arms she hit his chest once more, but feebly this time.
“You can’t do that to people, George! What if it’d been your mother? Would you really want to scare her like that after everything she’s been through? It’s just cruel.”
George held her at arm’s length and tipped up her chin. Angelina glared and fear flashed across George’s face for the first time.
“I’m sorry.No one’s been in the shop for ages and I was bored. I dropped this jar just as I saw you crossing the street; I thought it’d be funny-it being Halloween and all.”
“Well, it’s not. And Halloween’s not until next week,” she sniffed.
George scuffed his thumb across her wet cheek. “Please don’t cry. Fred’ll be back soon and he’ll kill me if he thinks I’ve upset you.”
“It’s nothing-to do-with him” Angelina said, hiccoughing, as George squeezed her to him once more.
“I really frightened you, didn’t I?”
“I don’t-want to-lose you. Either of you.” As though to emphasise her point, she ran her fingers across the scar where his ear should have been.
George caught her hand in his, staring intently into her eyes. Without warning, he brought his lips crashing down on hers.
“Oi, George! Where’s today’s Prophet?” yelled a voice suddenly from the back room.
Angelina and George sprang apart, panting.
George’s eyes never left her. “Trick or treat?” he asked.
Angelina touched her tingling lips and whispered: “Treat.”