Disclaimer: I own none of it. Not the characters, and not even a chunk of dialogue (borrowed and modified from a movie). If I did own all of it, I'd be rich, now wouldn't I?
A/n: The one-shot to make up for long absence, as promised. I don't really have anything to say, so please read, review and enjoy. (Idea partially inspired from a question and the answer I gave on the SS Bludger and Quaffle over at FictionAlley).
Walking Away Forever
"All ready to close up?" George asked, emerging from the back room, his hair less neat than when they had opened he store that morning.
Fred sighed. "Ya. Let's close. Then I'll get to work on these inventory papers." Fred rose from his desk to join George as he strode from behind the front desk to middle of the store.
The Weasley twins swiftly but tiredly went about their evening duties as they closed up the store, turned out most of the lights and then retreated to their offices off to the left in the back room. It was starting to get dark outside, but they were still closing fairly late.
"I'll head up. See you in a while." George said. "Let me know if you need a hand."
"Will do." Fred gave George a tiny salute which George returned before Disapparating with a loud crack.
Fred leaned back in his black office chair and it gave a loud creak. He looked down at it and decided he ought to get a new one soon or at least oil this one. He moved his neck from side to side, heaved another sigh and began tackling the stack of inventory papers in front of him.
About an hour later, he was rubbing his eyes and his attention was seriously ebbing. He found his mind wandering all over, from what he was going to accomplish the next day to old memories of him and George at Hogwarts. He amused himself for a moment as he remembered the day he and George had left school, right in front that tubby Professor from the Ministry. Man, he'd hated her.
Memories of school slowly brought him to an unexpected but ever present train of thought, or image attached to emotion, rather.
She had chocolate colored skin, pretty plump lips that he'd had the privilege of kissing once, a long time ago. Her laughter had always made him smile and he would never forget the way she looked when she was mad.
Angelina Johnson.
It'd been so long since they'd been together. After he and George had left school, he and Angelina had started seeing more of each other, mostly through friendly lunches with mutual friends. After that, it grew into outings with just the two of them. Then they began dating, and then the war had hit. Fred had to concentrate on so many other things at the time, having a girlfriend seemed to just be in the way.
He'd never wanted to break up with her. It was just that at the time, he thought not being together would be better for the both of them.
She'd taken it well. She'd left gracefully, though he would never ever erase the hurt and tears in her eyes as she gave him one last look and walked out the door. He'd felt horrible, but he'd gotten over it – more or less. She'd never come back.
Fred looked down at his desk and slowly opened the bottom drawer. Visible on top were many boring looking papers that no one would ever look twice at. He lifted them up and underneath he revealed a picture frame. He carefully slid the picture frame out of the drawer to look at it.
It was of her, smiling widely. She'd just won a Quidditch match with the Gryffindor house team, and Fred had insisted that she looked so beautiful, he just had to take a picture. The picture of Angelina moved so she was laughing. She covered her mouth a little then went back to that gorgeous wide smile.
Fred couldn't help but smiling himself, gazing at her image right then. But even more pronounced then his smile was the sadness and ache in Fred's heart. He missed her very much. Not even his stupid prideful side could deny that. In fact, to say he hadn't thought about her nearly every day since they broke up would have been a fib. To say that he wasn't still completely in love with her still would have been a flat out lie.
He ran his finger down the side of the cool blue frame and then replaced the frame back in the bottom of the drawer. He wondered what she was doing right now.
As Fred got back to his inventory papers – more to push thoughts of Angelina out of his mind then the feeling of need (to finish his work) – George slowly took a few steps back into the shadows and tiptoed back up the steps.
He'd come quietly downstairs, needing to get something, but when not hearing the sound of a quill scratching nor Fred mumbling frustratedly to himself as he often did when doing inventory, he'd tried to be as silent as possible to discover why. He'd stopped at the bottom and cautiously peeked into the offices. From where he had been standing, George could see clearly the picture that Fred was gazing lovingly at. He had not wanted to intrude, so he silently left, forgetting what he'd come downstairs for in the first place.
So Fred still loved her after all.
George had suspected it for a long time, but he'd never wanted to say anything. He was going to have to carefully consider this somewhat new development.
George half-smiled a moment later as an idea struck him. "Tomorrow, we'll get the ball rolling." He mumbled to the cat and gave it a small pet before heading off to the shower, humming quietly to himself.
The next afternoon, Fred was cleaning off the counter after some kid spilled a bit of Extra-Bubble Bubble Bath, when George came up and stared at Fred almost accusingly.
"What? I didn't do it!" Fred gestured to the bubbles that continued forming because Fred wasn't scrubbing fast enough. "Some kid – "
"That's not why I am looking at you like this." George interrupted and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Ok..." Fred raised an eyebrow. "You're scaring me then. Whatever it is, I swear I didn't do it." He half-smiled and chuckled. "Unless you mean the packet of Stinksap I put in the shower – "
George couldn't help but half-smile back. "Ya, that was good. Had to shower twice, you prat." His face hardened a little. "But no, that's not why I am looking at you like... how I was."
Fred wiped off his hands and sighed, abandoning his futile attempt to clean the Bubbles from the counter. He was regretting putting a charm on the Bubbles that made it impossible to clean up with most magic spells. He looked at George expectantly.
"You are still in love with Angelina Johnson." George said flatly.
"Oh, come on, George! How many times are you going to bring this up?" Fred groaned.
"Fred, I know you better than anyone, and I know above all you're a liar when it comes to girls. You never even told me that you liked her until you were about three minutes from asking her out."
"So?" Fred didn't care if George was right, he wasn't helping him along in this argument.
"So, my point is, I don't know why you're always standing around here thinking about her and not trying to find her to at least be friends with her." George paused very briefly. "Its only been a little over a year, you know."
"A year? That's generally a long time for normal people." Fred was getting rather aggravated by his brother's directness. "I can't just call her up and say, 'Hey Angelina, remember me, Fred? Ya, we used to date! Want to pick up where we left off?' Do you realize how horrible that sounds?"
"You're so difficult. You can't start as friends? You don't have to " – George made quotations with his fingers – "pick up where you left off. You love her, sure, but you can friends!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, George." Fred said warningly. This conversation was becoming increasingly annoying and he quite wanted it to end. "I never said I was still in love with her."
"I know you are." George said snappily.
"How?"
"Because of the way you look at that picture of her you still have!"
Fred paled. "How do you - I – when did you – how – "
"I'm your twin. I know everything. Now, will you – "
"Have you been messing around with my stuff?" Fred demanded.
"No, I – "
"HAVE YOU BEEN MESSING AROUND WITH MY STUFF?"
"Don't shout at me, you git! I saw – "
"Hello?" A female voice said.
The door to the shop opened and the bell to signify a customer jingled. The argument between the Weasley twins ceased immediately, not especially because the customer had spoken, but because of who the customer was.
George took a step back. He really hadn't planned on this. Not even a little. He had no idea how this was going to play out. Especially just after he'd confronted Fred like that.
Fred swallowed and stared at the customer, a million different things pulsing through him. He'd already forgotten George was even in the room.
"Hi." Angelina Johnson smiled a little shyly as she approached the front counter.
Fred swallowed and hearing her voice was like a tiny punch in the gut. "Hi."
They stared at each other for a moment, before Angelina cleared her throat uncomfortably and looked around. "Wow. So your store looks great."
Fred was having trouble getting over the feelings that had just exploded familiarly through him when he'd gazed into her eyes. He forced himself to pull on the old Weasley twin bravado and began showing Angelina around the store. "Oh, it's nothing, really. Just a few knick knacks George and I came up with..."
After a small tour of the store, during which George had inconspicuously vanished, Fred gathered his courage and wits together and was about to ask Angelina something he knew he'd be turned down for, when she spoke first.
"So... how have you been?" she said.
Fred shrugged, but kept a slightly cocky half-smile on his face. "Business is good."
"No, not the store." Angelina seemed a little uncomfortalbe as she added the last part quietly. "I mean you."
"Oh." Fred wanted to say, Missing you every minute of my life and regretting I ever let you go. Instead, he shrugged again, kept the smile pasted on, and said, "Great. You?"
Somehow she seemed disappointed by his answer, though he wasn't sure why. "I'm good."
"Good."
They both nodded a little and an awkward silence began to descend. Fred, never one to let an awkward silence last, even when his hands were trembling in his pockets and his mouth was suddenly very dry, spoke first.
"Angelina..." he hesitated. The famous Weasley twin fearlessness was deserting him suddenly.
"Yes?"
"Would you..." Fred rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "A-as a friend, mind you, nothing more..."
"Yes?" Angelina seemed very interested.
Fred took a small breath and then just blurted it out. "Would you please like go to – like to go – er, coffee. Somewhere. With me." He smiled a little embarrassedly. You are an idiot, Fred Weasley. He thought.
Angelina dropped her eyes momentarily.
"A-as a friend, of course." Fred added hastily.
Angelina slowly nodded. "Fred," she brought her deep brown eyes back up to meet his. His insides were jelly flopping around in twelve different directions. "I would really like to. I really would, it's just that – "
The door to the store opened and once again the bell ringed. A loud male voice rang out, "Angie? You in here?"
Angelina sighed and looked away from Fred. "In here!" She answered.
A tall man with dark brown hair came around the corner into the room that Fred and Angelina were currently standing in. He glanced from Fred to Angelina, and then stood quite close to Angelina.
Angelina seemed even more uncomfortable than before as she said, "Fred, I'm sure you remember Roger Davies. Roger, Fred Weasley."
Fred thought he knew why Roger was here, standing so close to Angelina, but before it was verbally confirmed, he refused to believe it. "'Course I remember Roger." Fred said tightly, forcing a natural-looking smile and outstretched his hand for Roger to shake.
"Ah, yes. Weasley twin. Good guy." Roger shook Fred's hand and grinned widely, revealing a very white, very straight set of perfect looking teeth. "How've you been, Fred?"
"Great." Fred said with as much gusto as he could muster, though he still sound tight and fake to his own ears. "Never better."
Roger seemed quite genuine as he put his arm around Angelina's waist and asked, "And how's your family, Fred? Doing well, I hope?"
"Great!" Fred's chest felt very tight and he suddenly felt a very strong urge to punch Roger right where his very white teeth were shining obnoxiously. "Never better!"
Roger hid that fact that he felt a little confused by Fred well. "Good, good. Well, Angie and I are doing great too. Been dating for about one full year now, and actually we were going ring shopping today when Angie suggested we stop by your store. Isn't that right?" he looked down at Angelina and smiled genuinely again, his white teeth practically glistening.
Angelina smiled back, though Fred could see she was still feeling quite uneasy by the whole situation. And so you should be. Fred thought as Angelina confirmed, "Yes."
Fred felt like he couldn't breathe. Was it the air? Was there no air? Why couldn't he breathe? I love her so much... I love her so much... I can't breathe... can't breathe... can't... His head was spinning as he watched Roger dip his head down and kiss Angelina sweetly on the lips. Love... can't... breathe...
"Fred? Are you alright?" Roger asked in that sickeningly genuine way that meant he really was concerned and that Fred truly wanted to hit him for. "You look terrible all of the sudden."
"I... can't breathe..." Fred choked and stumbled backwards.
"Oh my – " Roger's eyes widened. "You're super pale, Fred – "
"Fred!" Angelina jumped forward to help Fred, but he pushed her hand away.
He'd never felt like this before in his life. Not once, and never did he want to feel like this again. He hadn't died yet, so air must've somehow been getting to his lungs, though he surely felt like he hadn't taken a breath in at least a full minute.
"Get away from me..." he said hoarsely and stumbled past Roger and Angelina towards the door. Air... he needed air...
"George!" Angelina called, and George was in the room in a flash. She looked at Roger. "Tell George what happened."
Roger didn't question her nor hesitate and immediately began relaying the conversation and situation to George while Angelina bolted after Fred.
Fred collapsed on a stone bench several feet away from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, breathing heavily. The air... that was all he needed right then. Just fresh air. The sun was nearly set and the bench was just out of the ring of light of an overhead street lamp. He hoped no one could see him very well.
Angelina came bursting out of the shop. "Fred!" she spotted him immediately, mostly because there was no one else around, and rushed over. "Are you alright? What happened?" She put her one hand on his back but didn't sit down.
Fred couldn't take it. He wasn't going to lie to her or beat around the bush. What did he have to lose? She was going to be engaged to stinking genuine Roger with super white teeth anyways.
He looked up into her eyes with a pained expression on his face. "I love you, Angelina Johnson." She gasped loudly in shock, but didn't move as Fred continued. "I always have and I bet I always will. You fill my thoughts every day, whether it be memories of the times we had together, regrets about ever letting you go, or wishes that someday I'd see you again."
"Fred..." Tears were glistening in her eyes as she slowly sank down onto the bench beside Fred and let her hand slid off his back.
"No, let me finish." He swallowed against the emotion in his throat. "I was only half a person before I met you. I didn't know any better, but then you came along. You're my other half. When we were together, we were a whole. And then we broke up, and I had to go back to being just a half. You can't go back to being just a half when you were once whole."
Shining tears slid down Angelina's cheeks.
"Angelina... you complete me." Fred said. He turned to face her, took both of her hands in his, and stared into her deep chocolate eyes, his own eyes now glistening with tears.
"Fred..." Angelina swallowed and wiped her eyes. "I can't..."
Fred's heart was splitting into tinier and tinier pieces. The misery he felt at that moment was filling him up and it sprang from the feeling that she wasn't going to say something to change the fact that she was going to go on and marry Roger, while he was going to live a very empty life without her.
"If only you'd found me sooner." She whispered. "I'm sorry Fred."
If he hadn't been trying to save a little bit of face at that point, Fred seriously wondered if he'd have just broke down crying like a small child. The other reason why he didn't just start writhing in emotional agony at that point, was because Roger and George came hurrying out of the store.
Fred dropped her hands and moved away from her a bit.
"Fred, you ok?" George asked in concern, glancing from him to Angelina and back to Fred.
"Angie, everything alright?" Roger helped Angelina off the bench.
Fred and Angelina locked eyes for another moment, and the she turned away, letting Roger walk with her.
"Did you want to go home now..." Roger was saying, but he was shortly out of ear shot.
"What happened?" George questioned, his eyebrows furrowed with worry.
"I told her." Fred clenched his jaw against the tears that were threatening to overflow. He watched her figure moving beside Roger's as they mad their way down the street. "And she's walking away forever."
Fred didn't "man the counter" the next day. George thought it was better if Fred just stayed in bed for a day, though to keep Fred from doing anything drastic, George kept both of their wands on his person at all times.
Fred had spent the previous night wallowing in the misery of his situation and the events that had caused him to lose the love of his life. He'd never felt like this and was quite sure he hadn't even shed a tear since he was much, much younger, excluding Dumbledore's funeral, where even the most hardened person had let a tear slide out.
Now, lying in bed, staring out the window where the weather was as cold and dreary as he felt, he mostly was just hollow and blank. Nothing was running through his head anymore. He didn't feel overly miserable, though he was far from feeling anything else. He had no idea where his Weasley twin charm, fearlessness, bravado, ability to hide one's emotions, ability to ignore ones emotions, or ability to change ones emotions had all gone. Flitted out the window never to return, he supposed.
He had no idea what time it was. He hadn't eaten anything since the previous day, though George had warned him that he would force feed Fred if he had to by the time the day was done. Fred just kept sighing and staring out the window.
Hours later – maybe minutes, actually – George knocked tentatively. "Ginny's here to see you."
Fred didn't respond. It'd be nice to see Ginny. He hadn't seen her in a long time. Maybe she would make him feel better.
George sighed a little. "I'll send her up... then."
If Fred had been more himself, he would've noticed the catch in George's voice. Being as he was though, he just went on silently assuming his red-headed younger sister would come walking in the door shortly, ready to lecture him on why he should be up getting over Angelina rather than slumping in bed wishing with all his being that she were his.
Hence the royal, painful shock he received when the chocolate skinned woman he thought he'd never see again stepped timidly into his room.
"Hi." She whispered and Fred shot up in bed.
He hadn't combed his hair or brushed his teeth or eaten or slept in a day and a half, and here she comes in looking quite beautiful as usual. He wasn't sure if he was happy to see her again or whether ripping his heart out the first time had been enough.
Fred just looked at her, trying to convey the hurt he felt.
Angelina bit her lip. "Fred, I'm so sorry."
"Sorry doesn't sew my heart back together." Fred mumbled and turned his head to stare back out the window instead. Instead of more hurt, he only felt small embers of anger starting to swell within him.
"I know, Fred, and that's not what I came to say. I mean, it is, but – "
"Do you have a point to make, Angelina?" Fred turned to face her again and added harshly, "Or should I call you Angie like perfect Roger? With his perfect teeth? And the way he is so concerned about everything?"
Angelina's lip quivered. "You don't understand..."
Fred stood, the hollow feeling still there, but he was no longer feeling blank. He'd been extremely depressed before, though now he was feeling quite angry. "How could I not understand? I fell in love with you, let you go because I was a complete moron, thought about you at least twice a day, pour my soul out to you, and get it handed back to me, all mangled and torn."
Angelina's eyes overflowed with a torrent of tears. "You have a right to be angry, I know you do – "
"Darn right!"
"But please, Fred! Let me speak!" Angelina pleaded.
Fred crossed his arms angrily over his chest. "You have one thirty quick seconds."
Angelina took a deep breath. "I wanted to check in your store yesterday to see how you were doing. Not because you were an ex-boyfriend I wanted to spite, but because – b-because I care. I never loved Roger, alright? His teeth were just too white."
Fred had to inwardly smile. So she thought so too.
"I broke up with him after we went home yesterday."
Fred uncrossed his arms slowly, not sure how ton take this piece of news. "Go on."
"And I didn't break up with him because his teeth were too white," she smiled wryly at this comment, but continued seriously and a little shakily. "So don't spread that around." She was essentially crying as she talked, but she managed another small smile, before, again, continuing seriously and shakily. "I broke up with him because I'm in love with someone else."
Fred's eyes dropped to his shoes. So she comes to tell him this. Nice. "Why're you telling me this? Do you think I want to know you're in love with somebody else?"
"Gosh Fred! Don't you get it? I'm in love with you!"
Fred's eyes snapped to hers.
"Yesterday, what you said... about the halves and wholes and stuff... it made complete sense. I wasn't love with Roger, I was in love with idea of Roger. A major Quidditch star choosing to date and marry me? What girl wouldn't be infatuated with the idea!" Angelina took a step toward Fred. "But try as I might, somehow this guy with red hair and mischievous smile wouldn't get out of my head."
Fred's heart was aching in two different ways. The first was that it was mending so fast it was starting to hurt. And the second was that the deepest desire of his heart was coming true, and that ache was a nice one.
Angelina took another few steps towards Fred, so she became so close that Fred could've counted her eyelashes. She said in almost a whisper, "Fred Weasley, I love you. And you complete me."
"Angelina – "
The pair embraced in a brilliant kiss that lit up the room with love. They'd waited so long to be reunited, it was a kiss that was well worth the wait. When they finally broke apart enough to speak, Fred smiled a signature Weasley grin - all that famous Weaskey twin stuff was back - and said,
"And to think: Yesterday I thought you were walking away forever."
Angelina smiled. "Well, you thought wrong."
THE END
A/n: Awww... leave me a review, let me know what you thought. Check my bio often to see what's going on with me and my fics. :D