A ginger story
Brenna walked the zigzag road down the green hills to the small local convenience shop, got out her keys and opened the shop door before starting another rather normal workday. Indeed it was a rather normal day, the old lady from the neighbourhood came to top up her elaborate collection of canned food which she collected in case another world war broke out, the local teens snuck in and gathered their daily supply of junk food and energy drinks and the local potato farmer came in to buy his cigarettes. What, however, was not part of a normal day was when two identical red-headed guys came into the store. "I love this muggle stuff," said the right red-headed guy, going straight to the bubblegum and Reese sweets, "we could potentially get this in the muggle stock." said the left one, nodding along, inspecting the packaging.
Brenna sat behind the till and, looked up from her book - Frankenstein- she had never seen these red-haired boys before, and that was saying something, considering she knew everyone in this neighbourhood. Not being able to keep it in, she tossed her long brown hair out of eyes and asked, "excuse me, but what is a muggle?". The twins looked at each other in the eyes as if they had forgotten that the word was not used in everyday conversation. "Uh" the left boy said, "it is a secret" he blurted out, winking as he said it.
"Ow, is that so?!" Brenna replied, her eyebrows rising in disbelief. The boy leapt forward, leaning on his elbow on the till while looking at Brenna. She just blinked and looked back at him, unstirred by his attempt that could be considered a cheeky flirt.
"Fine, don't tell me then" she snapped, then pointed at the sweets in the other boy's arm, "Is that all?" she asked in her working voice. The boy at the counter stood straight and extended his hand so she could shake it, Brenna narrowed her eyes at this attempt but shook it. "Fred" he introduced himself.,"We have a store up in London and we're looking for some additional products to sell, any bestsellers here?". Brenna continued to point out the sweets that most teens bought and soon both the boy's arms were full, she scanned every item and told them their total, "that is 22 pounds then please". The boy named Fred looked surprised "pounds?" he stuttered, and looked at the other boy, named George, who looked equally astonished.
"I will tell you what," said the guy named Fred, taking out a deck of cards, "I will pay you with my magic tricks" he winked again. Brenna rolled her eyes, looking sternly at the two while saying nothing. But sure enough, Fred's card tricks really did seem like magic, he let the cards fly around the room, and always guessed the exact card that Brenna had taken previously, not only this but the card she picked appeared in her pocket. "It is almost like real magic", Brenna blurted out, not believing her eyes before saying, "just take it" she said, nodding to the sweets.
The two boys laughed with her, "now, why don't you bring all this back home" Fred semi-whispered to his brother while giving him the remainder of the sweets. George left the store, heading back to the burrow which was protected by charms to appear invisible but was a 10-minute walk away from the store.
"Where do you live?" Brenna asked curiously. "I have never seen you here before" she added casually. "Out of town, we were just passing by" Fred answered. Weird, thought Brenna, not having seen a car parked outside the shop. "I am just getting some tea ready, fancy some?" Fred nodded and Brenna took out the kettle, poured hot water into two mugs, added some milk and gave a steaming mug to Fred who accepted it happily, as the snow was still falling outside.
The two talked for hours, Brenna found out he and his brother had a joke shop in London, have 6 siblings and told her all about them, as well as his plans to expand this summer, and that his favourite food was Pumpkin soup. Fred learned that Brenna worked in the shop in order to save for university tuition fees, that her parents chased their dream to become yoga instructors in LA and that she didn't have any siblings, she wanted to study medicine, which he figured was some sort of study to become a healer, and that her favourite food was apple pie, on which he replied that she should try his mothers. Besides this, she seemed to have a knack for adventure, and she told him about the time she managed to travel to France with only sweets as a currency. After an entire afternoon of talking, even past opening time, Brenna sent him away, locking the door of the store behind her. Heading back home, she wasn't sure whether her heart had warmed from the tea or from the company.
The next day the boy came again.
And so did he the day after.
They spend much of the Christmas holidays chatting about everything, walking long hours in the snow. On Christmas day, in the afternoon, they walked over the frozen lake, talking about the time where Brenna managed to accidentally blow up a microwave, which amused as well as confused Fred in equal measures. "And that's when it happened," she said, making an explosion sound, BOOM", she waved her arms around to indicate the fire. Fred smiled, "boom," he said softly and stepped closer towards her, Brenna was aware that if he took one more step they were touching. He took her hand and slowly pulled her closer while looking her in the eye to check if she wanted this, she nodded, stepped closer and kissed him first. His arm pulled her closer around her lower back, and the other one was in her neck. It was a soft kiss, he smiled and pulled back, she bit her lip and together they laughed before continuing kissing on the frozen lake, snow tangling their hair together. After a while, they slowed down, looked each other in the eyes, and both of them burst out in laughter, so hard that it brought them to the snowy ground, the pair laughed like idiots under the rapidly darkening night sky before moving closer together, he wrapped his arm around her, she wrapped hers around him moving in closer.
They saw each other over the rest of spring, it was difficult, as Brenna knew something was up, but they made it work, one way or another. Brenna taught Fred how to do the moonwalk, and she took to him to a club, which he absolutely loved, even though he tried to order something called a butterbeer at the till, which the barman didn't know, they hiked through the Scottish mountains, and explored a different part of life together.
As summer came they saw each other less frequently, and when she saw Fred he was tired looking and stressed, he seemed to really want to talk about something but holding it back every time. They had just hung out at her parent's house, playing board games and she showed him how to play on the PlayStation, which thoroughly fascinated him for a while but when he left, he was looking more tired and downcast than ever.
It was a hot summers night, and again she tried convincing him to stay so he didn't have to take the bus all the way to London, something was up, and after he closed the door behind him she followed him, she wasn't sure what made her do it, he zig-zagged over the road and walked into an empty hayfield, where he all of a sudden disappeared.
Brenna let out a yelp, panicking and running after him into the field, to the exact spot where he had disappeared, her breath was frosty in the cool evening air as she walked around, before deciding to turn around, thinking she must have imagined it. "What are you doing here?" he said, grabbing her elbow, to hold her there "you followed me" his voice was serious and full of betrayal.
"It doesn't make any sense!" she blurted out, "everyone in this neighbourhood knows everyone, and there is no house 10 minutes walk from the shop," she said frantically, trying to explain it all, "and you, you just disappeared into thin air" she started becoming more frantic "it all doesn't add up!". Fred looked at her, his breath was equally as frosty in the evening air, he took small quick breaths as if to calm himself down, "don't worry about it" was all he could think of, "the dark must have made it look as if I had disappeared" he lied smoothly. "No," she said, "you are lying," she thought of the cards flying around the shop, him mentioning something about a war in the country of his origins, the time when he had broken his thumb and it was better the next day, and other unexplainable moments that had occurred. "STOP. LYING. TO. ME" she spitted out the words with frustration, a pause between each word to emphasize the importance.
He looked at her, a sincere sort of apology in his eyes, "I let this go on for way too long" he mumbled, "you make me happy okay?" he said, it seemed like he was more speaking to himself than to her. "And now there is this wa..-, it's not safe for you, what was I thinking?" he let out while pacing around the field, his hands squeezed in a tight fist. He looked up at the burrow, she, of course, did not see it, she had seen him disappear when he stepped into the protective enchantments, of course. He thought deeply, Dumbledore was dead, and Voldemort was stronger than ever, his death eaters would hunt blood traitors families and partners down, he could not risk it.
"Okay," he said softly, "trust me", Brenna looked angry but took a deep breath and nodded, "close your eyes" he said, she looked confused, "just do it, I will explain everything", she closed her eyes, so Fred could take out his wand, and said "adtraho muggelum", then he took her hand "you can open your eyes now".
She did, and swore loudly, where there was an empty grain field before, now stood a large wooden house, toppled over by weight. Despite what he was about to do, despite everything, Fred let out a booming laugh at her reaction. "How?" ask Brenna weakly, "magic" replied Fred, winking at her. "Come" he took her by the hand and guided her through the gnome infested gardens, towards the front door and kitchen which he opened, pulling her forward by her sleeve.
Ginny was busy painting a banner that said Bill & Fleur, Mrs Weasley was sitting on the lounge chair listening to the radio and sipping fire whisky, while Mr Waeasly appeared to read the newspaper with a headline stating "Dumbledore's demise". They all looked up from what they were doing when Fred entered with Brenna, Ginny smiled, thinking she would finally meet the witch that captured Fred's mood and had been teasing him about becoming like flem and bill.
"This is Brenna" said Fred weakly, the Weasley's introduced themselves to her, and Mr Weasley complimented her, saying "nice muggle attire". Brenna ignored this but smiled, and admired the self knitting scarf, his family must be inventors, she thought.
Fred looked at Mr Weasley and said, "can I have a word?" he asked, uncharacteristically serious. Mr Weasley nodded, while Molly took Brenna's arm and sat her down at the kitchen table, bringing her a drink. Harry and Hermione came downstairs, together, Hermione carrying a dozen books to read by the fireplace, and Harry a version of the exploding snap which he intended to pay with Ginny. They smiled at Brenna, also introduced themselves, and went on with their own business in the living room.
Mrs Weasley asked her about when she was at Hogwarts, Brenna looked confused back at her, but didn't have to answer as Fred and Mr Weasley returned, they both had a sunken look on their faces.
Mr Weasly moved a comfortable chair to the fireplace, and put his on the other side, "Sit here Brenna, if you will" he said, patting the chair opposite him, Brenna sat down, confused by everything that happened. Fred kneeled beside her, taking her hand. Mrs Weasley seemed to be under the impression this was a marriage proposal and beamed, while Hermione looked in horror at what was happening, Harry just looked confused. "Do you want to say anything before?" asked Mr Weasley to Fred.
Fred squeezed her hand and whispered softly "boom" to her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, before she smiled and protested he should just act normal.
"Right Brenna," said Mr Weasley softly, "just sit still and look at me" he took out his wand and murmured, "Obliviate".
Brenna's eyes froze over and became blank.
Brenna went on with her life throughout the next year and saved enough money to go to university, sometimes she still returned to work in the small convenience shop in town. One day a curvy red-haired woman entered the shop, she gave Brenna a sad look when she stood behind the till, pressed a ring in her hand that said "FW", and murmured "he would have wanted you to have it" before wiping a tear from her eye and leaving without explanation.
Brenna didn't know what made her do it, but she never took off the ring.