a/n: Fred's turn, with the song No-one Knows by Queens of the Stone Age. This was surprisingly easy for me to write, considering that I don't know Fred very well at all. He's always been a little blurry around the edges for me, I'm not entirely sure why. I think I tend to define him by the girls he's with, which is a problem.
Next up is Albus and my favourite of all my OCs, Chloe Nott.
Live to the point of tears. – (Albert Camus)
through diamond eyes
FredAria
every night of my life i watch angels fall from the sky
every night that the sun still sets, i pray they don't take mine.
- Diamond Eyes, Shinedown
She's always had this attitude that says she won't take any of his bullshit, not even for a second.
(And don't tell anyone this, but that's kind of what he likes best about her.)
;;
He's Fred, the joker of the pack, best mates with pretty much everybody he meets, able to put anybody at ease, even the shy people who sit at the back and pretend they don't want to join in because they're scared they won't get involved properly. Fred always gets them involved.
And, yes, living up to his name is always a challenge, but he's Fred and he takes it on the chin and moves on, because after all he's not his uncle and if his father doesn't know this then everybody else in the world does, and that's okay.
So to most people, he's not "Fred the Second" – he's just Fred. Prefect Fred, easygoing Fred, Fred with the kind smile and the quick wit and the deep laugh.
To her, of course, he's just "", and that's the one label he's not really okay with but he would hate to show any sort of romantic weakness for fear of being mercilessly ribbed by his younger sister and cousins, so he just carries on sitting behind her and being nameless and wondering if she'll ever realise the way he feels, the gift she gives him whenever she smiles at one of his jokes.
And they move up through the school and James hooks up with his best friend Jenny and Fred continues to stare at the back of Aria's head during Charms and even though they're in the same house he's nameless to her even up until they leave school.
;;
He gets a job in the Ministry, despite his father's pleas to work in the Joke Shop. He leaves living up to his father's expectations to Roxanne, since she was always going to be the one who followed in his footsteps anyhow.
Instead he travels by Floo to his office every day, sitting behind a desk and reading reports on broken laws and being as popular with his colleagues as he was at school, keeping peace in the department and making everyone laugh and showing that he's definitely his own person, just Fred, not FredtheSecond.
And then one day, a couple of weeks after his twenty-sixth birthday, he walks into the office and there's a new girl sitting at one of the desks in the large room outside his office.
"Aria," he says before he can stop himself, and she glances up, knee jiggling with nerves beneath the desk, all porcelain skin and sparkling eyes and dark hair.
"Hi," she replies, and suddenly she's standing up and he's reminded how impossibly long her legs are as she comes around her desk towards him, her skirt settling around her thighs as she holds her hand out to him, all of that familiar fire burning in her as she looks him up and down once, consideringly. "I know you."
"Fred," he reminds her, mouth dry, and as he takes her hand he internally marvels that even nine years later she can still reduce him to this, "We were at school together. Gryffindor, same year. I sat behind you in Charms."
Her brow furrows, and then clears suddenly, a smile widening out her features so abruptly it almost makes him take a step back.
"You were the funny one. You always made Professor Merryweather laugh when he was trying to be cross."
He chuckles as he remembers this, and then finally releases her hand and gestures for her to follow him into his office. He takes a seat in the big leather chair behind the desk and conjures up a nice comfortable chair for her opposite him, which she takes, gazing around herself.
"Wow, you've certainly done well for yourself," she announces finally, meeting his gaze, blue eyes mildly impressed. "It's alright for some."
He grins at this, unable to resist, and offers her a cup of coffee. She declines, and he sighs and leans back in his chair.
"So where have you been since Hogwarts? Haven't heard much news about you on the grapevine, no marriage or anything."
"No, I'm a free bird," she replies with a slight trace of self-mockery in her voice that makes him think back to his cousin Albus' girlfriend Chloe, fount of all gossip, telling him about an ex-Gryffindor called Aria Matthews who'd split up from her long-term boyfriend when she found out he'd got another girl pregnant.
"So you've just started working here?" he presses, wondering where that easy confidence he usually feels around other people has fled to, fingering his wand absently.
"I just transferred to this department," she explains, mood apparently lifted, crossing her legs and seeming to relax slightly, "I've been in Regulation of Magical Creatures for a couple of years, but it got a little boring, so I requested a transfer and I ended up here, which I have to admit I'm pretty happy about. They say you're a great boss."
Not for the first time Fred is glad of his dark skin, which hides the blush and lets him take the compliment without a sign that she's just made his day.
"So where were you before that? Anything fun?"
"Oh, I travelled a bit," she replies vaguely, "Spent some time in the East, and then in Italy and Northern Africa. But nothing really made me want to stay anywhere for long, so I ended up back here."
Fred nods as she says this, and is about to ask another question when suddenly a man bursts in through the door.
"Weasley, quick," he pants out, hurrying across the room and dropping a great stack of papers onto Fred's desk, "These have to be in by noon and they're going to take hours and –"
"Calm down, Finnigan," Fred says easily, getting to his feet and offering the man a glass of water, "What's the issue with these papers? Why noon?"
By the time Finnigan has finished explaining Aria has slipped off to get back to work and it takes all of Fred's willpower not to go out to 'check on the department' and inconspicuously ogle her.
;;
He asks her for lunch that day, and it becomes a regular thing, and he finds that she's so easy to talk to he's almost pouring out his life story, but that's okay because she's doing the same, finally disarmed by his kindness, and they end up kind of like friends, hanging out together after work and laughing over stupid things and teasing each other and gossiping about their other friends.
"You hear about Finnigan and Richards?" she inquires of him one evening when they're sprawled out in her flat in front of her television, her head in his lap and both of them half-asleep after their meal of Chinese take-away.
"What about them?" Fred replies, taking a gulp of his beer, and she twists her head to look up at him and winks, putting on a stage whisper.
"They have been canoodling," and here her voice drops a couple of octaves, "in cupboards at the Ministry. Word is they're living together now. How long d'you reckon before he pops the question?"
"Too long," Fred decides eventually, unable to stop the spark that leaps right through him as she rolls over to pick her beer up off the floor, her hand brushing against his thigh, because she's still beautiful and he's still as hopelessly in love with her as ever, even if they are friends now.
"Men," she sighs when she's got her beer, swinging to sit upright and take a mouthful, swallowing suddenly when he pokes her in the side, grinning.
"Watch what you're saying, Matthews," he warns, and she giggles and pushes him away playfully, smacking him hard in the arm to get him to stop tickling her.
That night, she falls asleep on his couch and he carries her through to his bed and tucks her in and lets his control slip for long enough to reach down and press a kiss to her forehead. She wakes up, but not properly, and with a few mumbled commands he finds himself press-ganged into clambering into the bed next to her.
"Are you sure –" he begins, but she cuts him off by snuggling up against him, already nearly asleep again.
"Bed's too big to be alone in it," she murmurs sleepily, words messy with her tiredness, her face against his chest. And then her breathing is evening out and Fred doesn't even bother to argue, just strokes her hand and lets his fingers wander over the planes of her face, liking the sharp contrast of her palepale skin against his coffee-colour.
He falls asleep easily, with her there beside him, and when he wakes up the next morning and finds her already awake, staring up at him with her blue eyes wide and thoughtful, her brow adorably furrowed, he barely even thinks about it before he reaches down and kisses her, slowly and languorously, his hands tangling around her under the sheets.
She kisses him back with alacrity, and when he pulls back to take a moment to not believe his luck and to realise that, finallyfinallyfinally, she's his (she's his), she smiles lazily up at him and raises an eyebrow.
"Took you long enough," she tells him, and he just grins and kisses her again, flipping them over neatly and wondering why he didn't just do this first.
a/n: If you liked this enough to favourite/alert, I'm begging you not to do so without reviewing!
