So this one-shot was written for the iPod shuffle challenge by LynxMalfoy. I think it came out pretty good. I only mention who the person is who's talking in this story maybe two or three times, so pay attention! The coupling is pretty random and I've never tried to write a random coupling before, so we'll see how this turns out. Please review!
Beautiful, Clever, and Other Things I'm Not.
"Good morning, gorgeous." came the cheerful voice laced with mischief that belonged to Fred Weasly. This was a great way to be woken up, with my boyfriend whispering nice things in my ear. It was the waking up part I didn't like. The sun was too bright and my brain could never get started. I scrunched up my eyes against the offending sunlight and rolled over, hiding under the blanket. Fred promptly ripped the blanket off of me. I sat up and tried to snatch it back.
"Hey, give it!" I said in a loud whisper, not wanting to wake the others. Fred shook his head, a smile on his face and a glint in his eye that I knew all too well. It was the look both he and George got when they were planning something. I raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What are you planning?" I asked.
"What, you don't remember?" he asked, face falling just a bit. I racked my brain, trying to think of a prank he may have mentioned or something he wanted to do today. What was today, anyways? I shook my head, biting my lower lip just slightly.
"Sorry." I said. Fred only laughed.
"No matter, I didn't even tell you anyway. I was just messing with you." I blushed and cuffed him playfully on the side of the head, a bit embarrassed I hadn't figured that out for myself. He laughed again and pulled me to my feet and threw a pair of my robes into his hands that I hadn't even noticed he was holding.
"Get changed and then meet me in the common room. Dont keep me waiting, Neville, or you'll pay." he said in a mock angry voice, giving me a quick kiss. I changed quickly, both excited and nervous about what Fred had planned. He wasn't planning anything to dangerous, right? No one would get hurt, would they? I knew he never intended to hit anyone, but sometimes he got a bit... out of hand. He just had a hard time telling where to draw the line. I always had to draw it for him.
"Hey Neville, why you up so early? And on a Saturday, too." said Fred's younger brother Ron, his head poking out of the curtains so I could only see his unbrushed hair and one hand rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Just going to hang out with a friend before the common room gets to crowded is all." I said vaguely. It was a poor lie, but luckily Ron was too groggy to notice and just nodded, disappearing being the bed hangings again. As I finished dressing, I thought about how Ron resembled his twin brothers and why I didn't feel attracted to him if I liked Fred. It must be his personality, I thought. He acts different than Fred does.
But no. That wasn't it. I stopped midway through buttoning my robes up and stood motionless, thinking hard. Why then? Why did I like Fred and being with him and not Ron if it isn't the personality difference?
Well, said a little voice in my head, Fred likes me. He tells me all the time how much he likes me. Ron doesn't. I immediately pushed the little voice away and went back to buttoning up my robes, shaking my head. That idea was preposterous. I didn't like Fred only because he liked me and told me how nice and beautiful I was, although it was certainly a perk.
I didn't want to think about this right before I was supposed to meet Fred so I attempted to stop thinking about it and distract myself. I hummed quietly and thought about books that I had read. I thought about homework. I tried to remember spells we had learned in Charms. Nothing would drive the tiny voice in my head away. It kept whispering to me about how the only reason I was with Fred was because I was insecure and he made me feel special. It couldn't be true because I genuinely cared for Fred. I knew I did.
I rushed down the stairs and into the common room which was empty of everyone except Fred, who was sitting in a large squashy armchair by the fire. He looked up when he heard me coming down the stairs and smiled.
"Certainly took you long enough." he said, getting up and coming over to meet me. He pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss that was somehow both passionate and casual at the same time.
"Sorry." I apologized. "Ron woke up and I had to come up with something." I said. This wasn't far from the truth; he had woken up and I had had to tell him a white lie to head him off, but that hadn't been the reason it had taken so long. I certainly wasn't going to tell him what the real reason was, though. Fred paled only slightly.
"Ron? Did he believe what you told him?" he asked anxiously. I nodded and placed a comforting hand on his arm.
"He was barely even awake anyway." Fred nodded. He took my hand and pulled me along after him, not bothering to explain where we were going. We had been walking for 5 minutes and were now in a part of the castle that was unfamiliar to me. I started to get a bit worried. Should I say something about it to him, or should I just let it alone? Chances were I had been here before and just didn't remember it... Finally, I decided to speak up.
"Uh... Fred? Where are we going?" I asked tentatively.
"Oh, just a place." he said in a too innocent voice which made it obvious that he had a plan I wasn't supposed to know about. This did nothing to calm my nerves. Walking in silence, my mind started to wander a bit, going back to the thoughts of earlier, about whether I liked Fred just because he liked me and told me how wonderful I was. I had to ask, just to see...
"Fred? What... what do you like about me?" I asked in a small voice. Without even missing a beat, Fred started to list off all the things he told me all the time, all the things that helped to bring up my mood when I was feeling down.
"You're beautiful," My heart swelled, even though I looked in the mirror every day and saw a plain boy look back at me. "Your smart," I remembered my last test score - D. Not even remotely smart. Even so, it felt good to be called smart. "You always make me smile," Was this true? Did just seeing me make Fred happy? "You're always there for me," This was obviously a lie. Half the time I didn't know what to say in casual conversation, so how was I comforting when it was a big matter? But I still wanted to hear more about myself, about how I was so good when really I knew that I wasn't. My original motive was forgotten in the bliss of listening to Fred say all these wonderful things about me.
"Am I really that amazing?" I asked when he had finished. He looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling.
"Yes, you really are." he confirmed. I squeezed his hand and he stopped and turned abruptly, pulling me into his arms and kissing me slowly. I returned the kiss, enjoying a moment where I didn't have to think, it was just me and Fred and right now. When he pulled away, he looked me straight in the eye with a look that made it feel as though he could see into my soul, but not in a way that made it uncomfortable. It was like we were being connected through a special bond, something that only we had and no one else could even touch on. "Never think that you're less than amazing because you couldn't be if you tried." I smile at him, feeling very good about myself, contrasting to how I had felt this morning.
Fred pulled away and began to pace the corridor, his face screwed up in a look of concentration. On his third walk down the hall, a door appeared opposite a tapestry, and he looked positively delighted. I was confused about how a door has suddenly just appeared in the wall, but before I could ask, Fred had run up and grabbed my hand, pulling me after him inside the door.
Inside, it was amazing. It was like a giant greenhouse just like the ones outside on the grounds of Hogwarts, except this one had plants even the greenhouses didn't have. I spotted a mimbus mimbletonia, a very rare plant, and also a mandrake, although Hogwarts had had them a one point, I wasn't so sure they were here anymore. There was a Devil's Snare as well. It was any Herbology experts dream. I looked back at Fred who was standing near the door and smiling as he watched me explore.
"Where are we? What is this place?" I asked, walking back over to him and leaned against him, my back against his well-toned chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder, taking in the surrounding plant life with me.
"This," he whispered as though if he spoke to loud he would wake something up. Which in all honesty, he may have considering these were magical plants. "Is the ticket to your happiness Neville Longbottom." I smiled and leaned into him a little more.
I realized now that yes, I did depend on Fred to make me feel better. Yes, I did need him to tell me that I was beautiful and cool and good because I knew that no one else saw me that way, even me, and I needed him to say it because he was the only one. Yes, I always craved that one more kiss, that one more word, just to hold me over a little bit longer.
I was addicted to Fred Weasly.
But the thing was, I didn't really care.