A Naked Dare

On a sunny day before Christmas, Fred and George were on the Quidditch pitch, practicing their Beater skills with Lee Jordan. The practice however, had long since turned into a game of Let’s-Pretend-Lee’s-A-Slytherin-And-See-Who-Can-Knock-Him-Off-His-Broom-First. Lee was artfully dodging Bludgers when they noticed something falling from the sky.

"It’s snowing!" cried a gleeful Fred.

"How observant of you," commented Lee sarcastically.

"Do you think it will get bigger?" pondered George. "And cover the whole pitch?"

"In a blanket of snowy whiteness?" said Lee.

"How poetic of you," said Fred.

Lee stuck out his tongue in a very mature manner. "I’ll take that as a compliment. It might, you know. The first snow of the season usually does."

"Why are you asking, by the way?" wondered Fred. "I think you’ve got a scheme coming to mind."

"Not quite a scheme," said George with a sparkle in his eye. "More like a dare "

"What sort of dare?" asked Lee, looking like he might like the idea.

"You have to say you’ll take it first."

"And if it’s something stupid?"

"You don’t get to know until you say you will. I’m not wasting such a wonderful idea on an unworthy person."

"Fine, I will," said Lee impatiently. "Just tell already."

George winked at Fred. "Well, he asked for it. I dare you to run across the Quidditch pitch tomorrow. Without any clothing on."

"You mean streaking?" asked Lee, looking horrified. "There’s no way I’m doing that!"

Fred grinned. "You did say you would "

Lee sighed. "Fine. I will." An evil sort of smile began to appear on his face. "But first Georgie boy, I double dare you to do the same thing."

"Et tu, Brutus?" Fred said absent-mindedly.

"What?" asked Lee, confused.

"Nevermind."

"Of course I agree. But first, I triple dare Fred to join us," said George, looking perfectly calm.

Fred was appalled. "How did I get dragged into this?"

"You were liking the idea before I said your name, you have to admit," said George.

"But this involves me! In front of a whole bunch of people! Naked!"

"C’mon Fred, you’ve never been bothered by this sort of thing before," said Lee with a grin. "And you have done this sort of thing before. What’s the reason?"

"Nothing," mumbled Fred, the tips of his ears beginning to redden.

"I believe this might have something to do with a certain girl, hmmmm?" said George cheekily.

"NO!" Fred’s reply was given a little too quickly.

"He does, he does! Who’s the lucky lady?" asked Lee, dancing around as well as he could on a broom, grinning smugly.

"There isn’t one!"

"Fred, you’re a horrible liar. Any fool could see through that pathetic attempt," said George, patting his brother on the back.

"I’m not lying!"

"Then you’ll do this with us tomorrow?" said Lee with a smirk.

Fred could see that he had been trapped. "Fine," he said, an idea pushing its way into his head. "But only on one condition."

"And what might that be?" asked George.

"We can only do this if there’s at least six inches of snow on the ground tomorrow."

"But we’ll freeze!" cried Lee.

Fred only smiled.

George scoffed. "He’s only doing this as an excuse. He knows there’s no way that it’ll snow six inches by tomorrow. But I’ll accept your condition just the same."

"So will I then," agreed Lee.

"So it’s settled then," said Fred. "Six inches, or we won’t do it."

* * * * *

It snowed seven.

"Why, why, why?" Fred cursed himself inwardly. "Why did I have to come up with that stupid condition?"

"Looks like your little plan backfired on you," said George with a laugh. "Twelve o’ clock on the Quidditch Pitch."

"Be there, or be square," added Lee.

* * * * *

"Oliver!" cried a delighted Angelina as she presented him with a hug. "What’re you doing here?"

The former Quidditch captain smiled at her. "My team’s playing in the Scottish Quidditch Tournament this week and it’s Christmas and everything, so I thought I’d drop in and say hi. Got permission from McGonagall and everything. I can’t believe it’s been two years since I left. It feels like so much longer. How’s the team been doing?"

"Good. We’ve won every game so far. Not that there have been all that many games " Angelina was about to delve into the details of their tactics when they heard a voice booming over the Pitch.

"Attention everyone!" announced George (at least she thought it was George; she couldn’t really tell from that distance), his wand tip to his mouth. "Have we got a show for you! Today, you’ll get to see, not one, not two, but three pranksters streak about the Pitch!"

This announcement got quite a few howls and catcalls from the audience.

Oliver grinned apologetically at her. "Sorry to cut you off, Angie, but this I’ve got to see. It was nice talking to you."

"Same to you!" she called after her. She was about to head over herself, to see what all the fuss was about, when she heard a voice from the bushes.

"Psssst! Angelina!"

She stepped closer to the talking bush, until she saw that there was a head of red hair sticking out of it.

"Fred?" she inquired. "Is that you?"

Fred sounded relieved. "Oh Angie, I’m so glad I caught you. Come in."

She parted the leaves and stepped in. "Um, Fred, exactly why are you in a bush?" Her gaze fell on his robes, or rather, his lack of robes. "Am why are you not wearing clothing?"

"I’ve got a towel on!" said Fred indignantly. "And really, you must’ve heard George’s announcement."

"Um, Fred, if you haven’t noticed, there’s at least half a foot of snow on the ground," she pointed out.

"Seven inches," he mumbled.

"What?"

"There’s seven inches, not half a foot."

"All right don’t see how you would know this. So, do tell, why are you doing this?"

"It was a dare," grumbled Fred. "Everyone knows you can’t refuse a dare."

Angelina giggled. "You’re so childish. You know, most people stop taking dares after they turn thirteen or so."

"I’m only four years past that," protested Fred. "Well five Anyways, that’s not my point. You’ve got to help me with my problem."

"Your problem?"

"I can’t do this."

"Then why did you agree to it?" she asked sensibly.

"I’ve told you already, you can’t refuse a dare. But I can’t do this either."

"Why not? Haven’t you done this sort of thing before?"

"Angie, that’s not the point!" There was a loud howl from outside. "That would be George, he said he’d go first. Please Angie, I’m begging you, you have to help me." His lower lip trembled.

Angelina sighed. She never could resist his puppy dog eyes. "Fine. What do I have to do?"

Fred grinned. "Just distract them as I go. That shouldn’t be too hard, should it?"

"How am I supposed to distract them?" she asked, but he wasn’t paying attention anymore.

"Thank you so much, you’re an angel. I have to go now, don’t let me down." He snuck out of the bushes.

Angelina sighed. It would be much harder than it sounded.

* * * * *

She climbed out of the bushes just as Lee flew by. Slipping into the broomshed (where a mischievous Katie and Alicia were gathering certain things), she grabbed her broom and hovered in the air.

Fred peeked out at her from his place behind a tree. As far away as she was, she could still see that he was shivering uncontrollably and beginning to turn blue. "Okay?" he mouthed.

She nodded. And as he began to discard his towel, she shouted at the crowd, "Hey! Over here!"

One by one, the heads began to turn.

"I’m going to uh sing you a song!" she improvised. "The erm " Her eyes fell on a girl’s bag, which read Ima Kew Tee. What, she thought. Oh wait, nevermind. I get it. "The I’m a Cutie! song!"

"The I’m a Cutie! song?" asked a girl from the crowd.

"Um yes " replied Angelina as she did a loop-de-loop on her broom, followed by a few other tricks. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fred run across the field. Everyone was looking at her; no one saw him at all. "But now I uh forget the melody," she continued, as Fred sped into the safety of another bush. "So...um bye!" She sped back towards the broomshed, trying to ignore the strange looks people were giving her.

A rather blue Fred was waiting for her there.

"You did great," he said, his teeth chattering.

George and Lee ran up to them, just as blue.

"Hey! That’s not fair!" protested George.

"Yeah!" agreed Lee. "Nobody at all saw you."

"That was the whole point," said Fred contentedly.

"But they saw us," said Lee.

"It was never in the rules that you could hire someone to make a distraction," grumbled George.

"It was never in the rules that you couldn’t," Fred shot back.

"He’s got a point there," said Lee.

"Oh shut up," grumbled George.

Fred laughed. "You’re just upset that everyone saw you naked and no one saw me."

"Um, guys, I hate to interrupt this little fight," said Angelina, cutting in, "but you’re all going to get hypothermia if you stay out here any longer."

"Good point," said Lee. "I can’t feel my feet anymore."

"So let’s get our clothes," said Fred sensibly. He looked around them, and poked his head into the broom cupboard. "They’re not here!"

Angelina snickered as the three pranksters turned to give her suspicious looks. "It wasn’t me!" she laughed, holding her hands up. "I’m innocent!"

"But something tells me you know who it is " said George.

"Two certain girls who have stolen them while you boys were doing your little dares. And I’m rather proud to announce that your clothing is the new design for the school flag."

Lee followed her pointing finger to the flagpole, where sure enough, three pairs of robes, shirts, ties, pants, socks and boxers were flying in the breeze.

"How did you know?" asked Fred accusingly.

"I encountered the certain girls while they were gathering the certain material for their flag and made them give up their plans."

"Well, this is just great," said George.

"Want to go ask Alicia for our clothes back?" suggested Lee.

"She’s your girlfriend," complained George.

"And Katie’s yours. It’s probably just as much her fault as it is Alicia’s."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

As they walked away, still arguing and turner bluer by the second, Angelina turned to Fred. "Don’t you want your clothes back?"

"Nah, it’s more fun this way. Ow!" he said as Angelina smacked him. "What was that for?"

"You think it’s fun this way? Then why in the world did you make me distract the crowd for you? I made a complete fool of myself!"

"You do know I’m eternally grateful to you for that, don’t you Angel?"

"But I had to sing!"

"No you didn’t."

"That’s not my point. I almost had to sing."

"But your voice is nice "

"That’s sweet of you Fred. Completely wrong but still sweet."

"C’mon, don’t tell me you’re mad at me."

"Not mad. More annoyed than mad."

"We’ve done this sort of thing before I think we make a great team."

"And pray tell exactly when we’ve done anything before."

"Last year. Yule Ball. All that dancing, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already."

"Like I could forget that "

They walked in silence the rest of the way. At the door, Fred paused.

"Angie?" he asked.

"What?"

As a response, he kissed her.

"What was that for?" she asked, with a pleased sort of smile on her face.

He pointed upwards, where a sprig of mistletoe hung from the door. "Mistletoe. Everyone knows you have to kiss under mistletoe So, Angel, you still mad at me?"

"I wasn’t ever mad. Just annoyed."

"Fine. Still annoyed then?"

"After that kiss? How could I be?"

"Happy Christmas Angelina."

"Happy Christmas Fred."

"You know Angie, since we’re still standing here, under this mistletoe, do you want to "