A/N: This is a one-shot that I have written as a birthday present to myself. It's my birthday today :D I'm turning 18! So that's why. The other character is not a invention of mine. She is canon and mentioned in one book and you can find her by searching "Louise Fontwell" on the Harry Potter Wikipedia. There's no description so there is where my imagination helped out! :) Hope you enjoy it! xxx
George woke me up this morning by singing loudly in the shower. He had persuaded me to sleep at his apartment in the muggle part of London since mom kicked me out from the Burrow. We used to have our apartment on top of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes but the war had destroyed so much that even now long after the war it wasn't worth cleaning it up. George had quickly bought an apartment in London but I wasn't that kind of person. I needed some time to save some money and such. Mom thought it was time for me leave though so she had literally kicked me out from the door. I shook my red hair and took a look at myself in the mirror. My sleepy brown eyes stared back at me and I sighed. If I was going to wake up properly I had to go out for a jog. My muscles needed some workout since I had been on the slack side for a couple of months.
I quickly ate a sandwich before changing from only boxers to clothes I could run in. I didn't feel particularly hot, but who cared? I was going for a jog; not to a bar and pick up some chick. Even though it had been a year since… I pushed the thought of loneliness away and went out. It was a nice day. The sun was standing high in the sky and only a soft breeze filled the air. It was in the middle of May and I had almost never welcomed spring this much before. I needed the sun and the green grass. I needed to be able to go outside without a jacket. May was very welcomed.
I walked at first to warm up but after 15 minutes my body sensed what was coming and I started to jog. It was a bit difficult at first to find the right pace but after a while I got into a nice speed and I was starting to enjoy it. I jogged on the streets of London and was surprised of how empty it was. It wasn't entirely empty – when was it? – but it wasn't as much cars as it used to be. I had been so eager to get out I hadn't even checked the time. I knew I wasn't far from Big Ben so I jogged in that direction. When I reached Big Ben I saw the pointer turn to half past five. It was five in the morning! I was so startled by this I abruptly stopped and backed up a few steps – which made my back into someone. I heard a person fall to the ground and I quickly turned around.
"God dammit…"
"Bloody… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you fall. Are you alright?"
"Yeah I think so. I think I only scratched my hands." I helped her up. When I took a look at her I was astonished. She hadn't the striking look you were blown back by but she wasn't ugly either. It was something about her eyes that made my pulse trigger. They were crystal blue and had a depth I had never seen before. Her dark brown curls hanged on the side of her face and she was dressed in shorts and a beautiful chemise. She was quite short by the age I was guessing she was, but it only made her cute. She was clearly a jogger as well. When she stood her face made a grimace and limped.
"Shit, I think I have sprained my foot." I looked around to see if there were any benches nearby but only saw one a couple of hundred meters away.
"Let me help you…" I said and lift her up. I carried her to the nearest bench and she didn't make a sound. I didn't know if she was in too much pain for talk or that she thought I was an idiot.
"Thanks…" she said when I sat her down. "You don't have to stay, I can call someone…" she started.
"I'll stay if you want me to. I won't stay if you want me to go. Just to be clear I'm a nice person and I won't hurt you. Besides this." I smirked. She was beautiful. A bit timid I thought.
"What's your name?"
"Frederick. You can call me Fred."
"Fred…" she said like she tasted the name and then she smiled beautifully. "I'll call you Freddie." She laughed and started to take her guttie off. "I'm just kidding. I'm Louise." She once again made a grimace and then tried to place her foot on the bench without touching me. I was clearly in the way.
"You can rest it in my lap, that's okay." I said and she placed her foot gently in my lap. It felt nice to do something good for someone, even though it was a bit weird having a total stranger's feet in my lap.
"Thanks Fred. You're a sweet guy!" she said and a smile painted her face.
"Do you have a long way home from here?"
"Yeah, I do actually. I took the subway into the city so I could jog here. It's much nicer to jog in the city." She said and I heard a quiet sigh slip through her lips. It would've been simple for a wizard or a witch to apparate home so I let go of the idea that she was a witch.
"You probably need some ice on your ankle…"
"Are you a doctor?" the question wasn't rude; it was only direct – which made me a bit startled. Normally it was I who startled people by being direct.
"No. But my brother and I have the best lotion there is against this kind of injuries." I explained and thought about the product we just had launched for our shop. It was a product that made people fake-sprain their ankles. It would help people skip certain classes, but of course we had the antidote that probably would work as fine on a real sprained ankle. I smiled. I had made a discrete invite to my house and I looked at her to see if she had understood. Her eyes pierced mine and it felt like she examined my brain; maybe she searched for something dangerous in me.
"You leave nearby?" she finally asked me
"15 minutes' walk, or 5 minutes in a cab. You choose!" it would have been 30 seconds if I could apparate but I doubted she was a witch.
"Call a cab!" She laughed at me and I squeezed the bit of leg that was resting in my lap. I did as she ordered and a minute after a cab came rolling towards us. I lifted her up again and placed her in the cab. She weighed almost nothing.
Back at our apartment again I carried her inside and placed her in our couch. I asked her to wait and I went to look for George. I wanted to warn him and don't show any magic; we couldn't risk an angry note from the ministry, could we? His reaction to that we had a muggle inside of our apartment wasn't what I had expected though. A big smile crossed his face and it seemed like he was up to something. I smiled with him but shook my head; I didn't really want to know. I called out to Louise to see if she wanted tea, received a yes and I went out to the kitchen. I heard George sneak beside me and out to the living room. I was both worried and encouraged by the thought of him playing a prank on her. I stood nearby so I could hear their conversation. I guessed George would try to make think he was I.
"No tea?" I heard Lousie ask at first when George probably entered the room.
"Nope sorry!" he answered and I had to put a hand over my mouth to not laugh.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were Fred!" she then corrected and I dropped my mouth to the floor. How could she see that he wasn't me? I took a tray and carried the tea out to the living room.
"Is he being nice?" I asked Louise and she laughed when she saw us both standing beside each other.
"You're not as alike that you think!" she exclaimed and laughed at our faces. We were probably both stunned. I found the ability to speak again.
"Here you go. I'll fetch that lotion!" I said and ran to our prankster room. I took the lotion and went back. George and Louise sat and talked to each other. It was almost like they had known each other forever. I went to sit beside her.
"Let me" I said and lifted her ankle in my knee. I took the lotion in my hand
"This will be over as fast you can say 'Weasley'"
"What's a Weasely?" she questioned with a smile. I spread the lotion on her ankle and she winced at first but then smiled as the lotion did its wonder.
"We're a Weasley!" George said and laughed.
"You're- You are a Weasley? The Weasley?" she said loudly and both George and I looked at each other. What did she mean? We looked at her with confusion on our face.
"I'm sorry. I thought… Where I live…" she stuttered a bit. "Where I live Weasley is a famous name. It's like… a family who did some great stuff. Kind off." She tried to explain without every detail, which sounded like a witch not sharing the thing about magic. George looked at me and a smile spread across his face.
"You mean-" he started to Louise
"-names like Ron, Ginny-"
"-Percy, and us?" George and I said. Louise was at first confused then astonished.
"Bloody hell! That's not even right!" she exclaimed
"What?" both George and I asked
"You were supposed to be famous and stuff…"
"We were for a while. But it's quite nice to not be actually. We haven't seen our faces in the Daily Prophet for-
"-what now?-"
"- A year or so-"
"-Yeah a year."
"Do you do that to confuse me or is it your thing?"
"It's our thing!" we said together once more, but we both liked to confuse people. George excused himself and wandered away.
"Why don't you apparate yourself into the city to jog?"
"I do. I just used the subway as an excuse. I didn't know you were who you are." We talked a while and I was really getting to know her. She had gone to Hogwarts and was just a couple of years younger than me. I liked her; she seemed smart but not overpowering to make me feel dumb. She had this beauty that was difficult to point out. It was mostly her piercing eyes that made me so astonished. Her ankle got a lot better from our lotion and she praised our work. I took her to see our prankster room but warned her about exploding stuff. She laughed at my statement at first but when I had carried her inside of the door we almost got hit by a small charmed airplane. She had laughed and said that she would never doubt a strange comment from me again. She could walk, but I didn't want her to lay pressure on her foot yet. I didn't mind carrying her anyway, she hardly weighed anything and I liked having her close.
When the dark had fallen and I had made Louise dinner we sat in my room and she had looked at a photo album with "all the famous wizards", as she said. I showed her the CD-player my dad had brought me, with an explanation of his love for muggle things, and started some music. It was nice, slow and cozy music and we sat on my bed close to each other. She took my hand and thanked me for the lotion.
"I'm sorry I hurt you…"
"Don't worry about it. It'll heal quickly. I can actually walk a couple of steps now!" I let my fingers through her curly hair and she closed her eyes by the touch. I crept closer and slowly placed my lips on hers. They were warm and soft, just like the weather in May, and she responded quickly. I deepened the kiss and our tongues met and in a couple of seconds she was laying on top of me. I had never been so glad I had accidently pushed someone before. I heard her hum by the touch of my hands and lips and I decided to make the most of it.
"You're as beautiful as May."
"You're a nut head."
"I don't feel lonely with you here."
"Me neither."
And from now on May wasn't the month of the war; it was the month of love.
