A/N: Hey guys, just a little something that popped into my head last night at a late hour which I felt the need to write and share with the rest of you. It's been a while, I know but I have a few months holiday at the moment so hopefully there will be more to come soon.
As always, let me know what you think, I value all of your opinions dearly so please, leave a comment. )
Lickity Split By Nesserz.
"Nearly done Mum?" Ron Weasley asked from his place at the kitchen table, eyeing the bowl in his mother's hands almost greedily.
"Almost Ron, be patient dear," Molly said as she stirred the contents of the bowl, her tongue poking out between her teeth as she worked.
"Oi, it's my lick you git," Ginny called from the living room, and entered the room seconds later, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she walked.
"Like hell it is," Ron said and grimaced as he was admonished for his language by both his mother and Hermione Granger who had followed Ginny into the room. "Sorry," he added, though not sounding sorry at all. He was twenty two years of age for Merlin's sake! He shouldn't have to put up with being berated for his language from his mother and best friend.
"It is mine, don't you remember? You got the last lick before you went off to Hogwarts," Ginny said as she plopped down beside Ron.
"What, when I was eleven? Are you serious? Come on Ginny," he said giving her an exasperated look. "Like you didn't have any when I was first at Hogwarts."
Ginny placed a hand to her heart. "Of course I didn't. It was our tradition, how dare you suggest that I wouldn't honour it," she said, mock glaring at him.
"Now Ginny, if I do remember, I made you a special cake just for you when Ron left, don't you remember?" Ginny turned red.
"No," she mumbled as Harry who had been sitting at the table with Ron, shared a knowing look with her brother. "Oh shut up you two," she said poking her tongue out at them.
"How did you two remember whose turn it was to lick the bowl?" Hermione asked, amused at the sibling exchange going on in front of her, as being an only child, she hadn't experienced anything of the sort. She was staring at the two of them intently, her chin in her hands, much in the way she used to address her professors at Hogwarts, with baited breath.
Ron and Ginny looked at each other and laughed. "Well you see--"
"--We never really 'took turns' it was more of a --"
"First in first served kind of thing," Ron said laughing as Ginny nodded.
"We had a bit of a rivalry thing happening," Ginny said, her eyes becoming glazed as she appeared to be reliving memories of a younger childhood.
"Do tell," Harry said, leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms, an amused look on his face.
"I have to hand it to Ginny, she was a right royal pain in the --er-- backside but she was good at getting what she wanted when it came to getting to lick the bowl,"
Ron said to which Ginny snorted and replied with 'still am.'
"I remember once, I was sick and Mum said I could have the bowl to lick out, I mean, what else makes a kid feel better than chocolate? Ginny was told she couldn't have any because I was sick with dragonpox and she would get them if she ate anything I ate. So I ate what I wanted and left the bowl by the side of my bed 'cause Mum said she'd be back to get it. I woke up and it was gone. I looked under the bed, around the room, in my closet. Nothing."
Harry and Hermione turned to look at Ginny who was grinning sheepishly.
"I was ill for three weeks," she said laughing despite herself.
"I told her she was to let Ron have the mix, but she wouldn't listen to me," Molly said, joining in on the laughter of the young people sitting around her kitchen.
"What can I say Mum? I adore your chocolate cakes," Ginny said with a large grin.
"Flattery will get you everywhere," Molly said smiling at her only daughter.
"Hey! No fair, my turn I tell you Mum, don't give into the little midget's charms,"
"I am not a midget," Ginny said indignantly crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air, her back to Ron who laughed.
"Not anymore, but what about the time you hid in the broom shed? You had to have been a midget to squeeze in amongst all the brooms and stuff,"
"It wasn't the best place to eat chocolate, but it kept you away. It was full of spiders," she said to Harry and Hermione who laughed as Ginny licked her finger and drew an imaginary line in the air. "One point to me," she said grinning again.
"You came out looking as though you hadn't had a bath in six months though, you stank," Ron said, trying to make himself sound better than his sister.
"No worse than you after you'd played a scrimmage match of Quidditch," she said, poking her tongue out at him. He made a sarcastic face at her.
"Ohh! What about the time that you tried to take a bowl off me?" Ginny said slapping her knee out of laughter at the look of recognition on Ron's face.
"We covered the kitchen in chocolate footprints," Ron said as Molly stood with her hands on her hips, apparently reliving the memory herself.
"I made them scrub the floor three times, the Muggle way," she said, pride evident in her voice. "It had never sparkled so well," she said amidst laughs from Harry and Hermione who seemed to be enjoying the tales they were hearing.
"It seems like you never seemed to come out on top, Ron," Hermione observed, thinking of what she'd just heard.
"Oh, I had my fair share of licks of the bowl," Ron said nodding, "Mum sent me up with a bowl when Ginny was sick after she'd licked my bowl out. I ate half of it before I gave it to her," he said laughing as Ginny looked indignant.
"Oh you didn't! I thought Mum had skimped on the left-overs," Ginny mused to herself as she smacked Ron upside the head.
"Hey, uncalled for."
"I don't suppose you two ever shared a bowl did you?" Harry asked from beside Hermione who nodded.
"Share? Siblings don't share Harry, are you mad?" Ron asked as Harry shook his head in disbelief, laughter evident on his features.
"I did! Once. Don't you remember? You'd fallen off Bill's broomstick, serve yourself right I might add, if you hadn't stolen it in the first place it never would have happened. Anyway, I gave you a lick then didn't I?"
"Only after I started screaming in agony. You felt guilty," he said as she flushed.
"Yeah, yeah I guess that's it," she said laughing despite herself.
"Merlin you were sneaky," Ron said smiling fondly at his sister who smiled back.
"And you were just never up to the challenge," she said. He laughed.
"I tried so hard to outsmart you, it just never worked, you always foiled my plans. What about the time you said I bit you, so you got to have my bowl?" he said as Ginny's eyes widened in recognition.
"I remember that. I felt so bad afterward, I didn't even eat it," she said, casting her eyes downward.
"Are you serious? After all that trouble and neither of us got it? Merlin," Ron shook his head.
"My stomach wouldn't settle. I believe it was an onset of guilt," Ginny said, shrugging.
"Well I don't feel so bad knowing you did have a guilty bone in your body," Ron said, mussing her hair.
"My favourite cakes were birthday cakes. I have six brothers, I had a lot of cake." Ginny said, rubbing her hands together gleefully.
"Yet I also have six siblings yet I never managed to get much cake at all," Ron said, thinking about Hermione's earlier comment.
"You just made it too easy." Ginny shrugged. "I was always up for competition but you never gave it to me."
"Bowl's ready dears, work it out amongst yourselves," Molly said, interupting their storytelling by placing the stainless steel bowl in the middle of the table. Ron and Ginny thanked her simltaneously.
"Cheers,"
"Thanks Mum."
They both reached out a hand to grab the bowl and glared at the other when they were met with resistence.
"Give me the bowl, Ginny," Ron said through clenched teeth.
"No, no I don't think I will, dear brother of mine," she said, a forced grin on her face.
"Sibling rivalry at its best," Harry whispered into Hermione's ear and she nodded amusedly, watching the exchange in front of her.
"Well, if it's so hard to decide, you may have noticed that we have company," Molly said, "Perhaps you'd like to offer them some," she added, raising her eyebrows at the animalistic behaviour that was taking place in front of her eyes between her two youngest.
"Harry, want some chocolate?" Ginny asked, without taking her eyes off of her brother, whose knuckles were slowly turning white from the grip he held on the bowl.
"Er...I'm not that partial to chocolate, thanks anyway Ginny," he said, not entirely sure that he'd heard her.
"Coward," Hermione said, biting her lip as Ginny used two hands to gain an advantage.
"Cheater," Ron said, and flicked his eyes quickly in Hermione's direction. "Want some?" he asked her to which she stuttered slightly.
"N-No thankyou Ron, I'm quite all right."
"Now who's the coward?" Harry asked her and she swatted at his arm.
Ginny sighed, tightening her grip. "You know what Ron? You have it," she said and let go of the bowl, chocolate went everywhere, and coated those sitting at the table in the gooey substance.
Ron parted his hair away from his eyes, which was now the colour of Hermione's hair.
"You're no Weasley!" Ginny said, pointing at him and pretending to be scandalised. "Oh hang on a second, I missed a bit." she took the bowl from his hands and dumped it on his head instead. "That's much better!" she said, standing back and pretending to critique him like an artist. "Magnifico!" she exclaimed, eyeing her artwork.
"You're every bit as evil now as you were as a child," Ron said, pulling a handful of chocolate from his hair and proceeding to chase Ginny around the kitchen with it as she was the only one who had escaped being covered in the sticky substance.
Molly tutted as she turned to the sink. Some things never changed. Her children still fought over who would get to lick the chocolate out of the mixing bowl and they were in their twenties. And she was still going to make them clean up the kitchen afterwards. The Muggle way.
Fin