Chapter Text
As soon as you apparated to your new shop, you knew you should have taken your friends up on their offers to help you move in. The bricks were uneven, the stairs were steep, and you had what felt like a million boxes to move into the shop and the flat above it. Magic would speed up the process, but you could only lift so many at a time.
You’d dropped your third box when you tripped on the stairs and nearly broke your arm. Rubbing your arm and cursing yourself for your stupidity, you weren’t paying attention as you walked outside to retrieve more boxes.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” you cast, anger coloring your tone. Two boxes shot up into the air, and before you could stop them, they hit the man walking past right in the face.
You clapped your hand to your face and lowered your wand, immediately causing the heavy boxes to fall right on top of him.
“Shit!” you cursed as you ran over and squatted next to him. “I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”
You cursed yourself. Of course he’s not alright. You just hit him in the face with a heavy box. Twice.
“Christ,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “You really know how to make an impression.”
Heat flooded your cheeks. Of course, he was attractive too. Fiery red hair, a strong jawline, and freckles all around his face. It looked like he was tall too. You couldn’t really tell since he was mostly on the ground, but he looked strong.
“I am so sorry,” you repeated. “I have some bruising salves and if anything hurts more I can probably fix it, I mean I am a healer-” you cut yourself off. “Are you okay?”
“I’m alright, I think it's just my pride that’s bruised,” he said, smirking as he moved into a seated position. You cringed as you saw the blue and purple mark that was already developing on his forehead.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything to fix that bruise? It looks pretty nasty.”
“Just your pretty face should be fine.”
You felt like your face was on fire as you grabbed the salve. Still, he was cute…
“I don’t know,” you teased as you began applying the ointment to his face. “Delusions like that might indicate some sort of brain damage.”
His smile widened. “Does that mean you’re a hallucination? Because that would be cruel.”
You rolled your eyes as you finished. “Seriously though, I am so sorry,”
“Seriously though, it’s fine,” he mocked with a deadpan expression. “I’m Fred, by the way. My brother and I run that shop over there.”
Fred stood as he pointed to the massive orange shop labeled Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.
“Really, I couldn’t tell from the massive statue of your face on the front.”
He smirked. “Can’t miss it,” he paused for a second. “And you never told me your name.”
You introduced yourself, and Fred smiled. “Pretty name.”
“Uh…thanks,” you stuttered. It felt like the flush on your face would never go away.
It was silent for a moment before Fred asked, “Do you need any help bringing those boxes up?”
You immediately shook your head. “No, no I’ve got it. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Are you sure?” he smirked. “It seemed like you were struggling a little bit before.”
You glared at him. “I was perfectly fine until you got in the way.”
“Got in the way!” He gasped in mock-anger. “I was simply walking the pavement when someone hit me with like ten flying boxes!”
“It was not ten, you liar,” you couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across your face as you continued to banter with him. It was just so fun.
“Wow,” he tutted. “Barely known me five minutes and you’re already calling me a liar.”
“I’ve always been a good judge of character.”
Unbeknownst to you, Fred had already taken his wand out of his pocket and was beginning to edge toward the boxes. He waved his wand, and two boxes rose into the air as if they were feathers.
Of course, he has to be good at magic too.
“No. You are gonna go home and make sure that you don’t get hit by any more stray boxes,” you demanded, trying to sound as authoritative as possible.
Fred’s smile grew as he lowered the boxes (much more gracefully than you ever have) and placed his hands up in surrender. “How about we make a deal?”
You cocked your head. “What kind of deal?”
He clasped his hands and stepped closer to you. “How about I help you with these boxes-”
“No.”
“Let me finish, I swear did no one teach you that patience is a virtue?” There’s a smiling lilt to his voice that makes you want to melt into a puddle.
“Fortune favors the bold.”
“Anyway,” he continues, smiling still as he rolls his eyes. “I’ll help you with these boxes, and in return, you’ll come and visit me in my shop tomorrow.”
You paused, pretending to think for a moment. Of course, you were going to do it. More time with cute ginger shop boy who was definitely taller than you and looked like he had some very strong arms? How could you say no?
“I suppose I could fit it into my schedule,” you said, daring to elbow him in the side as you both walked toward the boxes.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with more laughs than you thought possible. Fred was so funny, you supposed it made sense that he ran a joke shop. It felt like both of you were laughing every single second.
And the best part was when you found out how strong his arms really were.
Fred had just been telling you about one of his Hogwarts escapades when he and his brother used an age potion to try and enter the Triwizard Tournament.
“So you really grew long white beards?” you couldn’t stop giggling as you followed Fred down the stairs.
Fred threw a smile your way as he reached the bottom of the steps. “Yup. We nearly started fighting each other too. Would have if not for- woah!”
In your incessant laughter, you hadn’t been paying much attention to your very steep stairs and found yourself falling…
…straight into Fred’s very strong arms.
It was silent for a second as you stared into each other’s eyes. His arms held you tightly as if you weighed nothing at all. You could feel heat creeping up your neck.
Fred paused, looking like he was thinking hard about something.
“You know, I guess you could say that you fell for me,” he said, his eyes twinkling.
You smacked his (heavily muscled) arm. “That was disgusting.”
“Sorry darling, I couldn’t resist.”
Was it possible to die from joy and embarrassment at the same time? It had to be.
You told him more about your shop as you floated the last few boxes upstairs. You were opening an apothecary with potions, ointments, and other helpful tools for healing so that people didn’t have to go to St. Mungos every time they had a problem. You were also thinking about offering small healing services once you had more staff.
“Thats so cool!” Fred grinned. “I think we’ll probably end up with some similar customers.”
You snorted. “Yeah, I’ll get all the victims of your schemes.”
“I just sell the stuff,” he objected. “What my customers do is their own business.”
You gave him an unimpressed look. “Sure Fred. You tell yourself that.”
He gave you an innocent smile as both of you looked outside to realize that you had just brought the last boxes in. You stood there awkwardly for a moment.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” you said. “I did make a promise to see your shop.”
“That you did,” Fred replied. “I better see you. I didn’t carry all these boxes for nothing.”
“That excited to see me, huh?”
“Yes, actually,” his smile was genuine. “I can’t wait to see your reaction to all my ‘schemes’ as you call them.”
Heat spread through your cheeks. “I’m excited to see you too.”
*
The next day was torture. Showing up at Fred’s shop at eight in the morning would have been the definition of creepy, so you forced yourself to set up your shop and unpack most of your boxes.
You were quite proud of the work you had done for the last few hours. Twinkling lights were strewn around your shop, and magical plants wrapped around the shelves. All in all, the glass potion bottles and herbs would fit right in.
You finally allowed yourself to head upstairs and choose an outfit. It took far longer than it should have, considering that Fred saw you yesterday in what was quite possibly the ugliest outfit you owned.
Then you messed with your hair and your makeup. You knew it was kind of stupid, considering how flirty he had been yesterday, but you wanted to feel confident. And looking good was probably the only way you were going to get there.
Finally, after spending far too long on your appearance, you stepped out the door of your shop. Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was the brightest thing on the street, and your eye was immediately drawn to the massive statue of Fred at the front, the orange coloring, and the smiles and laughter that surrounded the building. Even just looking at it made you want to smile.
As you walked briskly toward the building, you could feel your heart beginning to race. You bit your lip, trying to hide the smile that was emerging, because really, you should not have a crush this big. You'd met the man once, for Merlin’s sake.
Your smile immediately dropped when you actually got to the shop.
Because Fred was standing there, his smile wide but different than yesterday. It wasn’t filled with the same laughter and joy. He wasn’t looking at you. He was looking at someone else. He was looking at another girl. Another girl who leaned in a kissed him. And he kissed back.
And you turned on your heel and fled back to your shop.