Mischief | Fred Weasley

Five

When Elaine woke up in her own bed at home the following morning, she could not believe what happened the day before at the shop. She had almost convinced herself it had all been a wonderful, crazy dream, until she looked at herself in the mirror for the first time that day. The first thing she noticed was the marks on her neck, just low enough that she could hide it with one of her jumpers, likely a strategic decision of Fred's. The sides of her thighs also had small, fingertip-shaped bruises, but she found that she didn't mind as she remembered his hands and lips on her.

Well, today's work shift was going to be awkward.

Everything seemed normal when she got to the shop. George was fussing over some new blueprint while Lee did the more mundane tasks around the shop, and Fred seemed to be avoiding her like always, running around the shop doing various tasks without saying more than a "good morning" to her.

It wasn't until the afternoon, when Elaine was in a more secluded corner of the shop, placing a few fanged frisbees on shelves, that she felt strong hands grip her hips and someone's chest press against her back.

"You're looking quite modest today," she heard Fred's quiet voice next to her ear.

Elaine turned in his arms, noticing that he already had a proud expression on his face even before she pulled down her collar to reveal the deep purple bruises on her neck.

"You know, we do have a potion for that," he said.

Elaine rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should have given me some before throwing my clothes at me and telling me to take myself home."

Fred let go of her hips and instead leaned over her, holding himself up by an arm that rested against the higher shelf behind her. "I know that you're trying to be mean to me right now, but I think I'm liking this new attitude of yours. It's more of the Elaine that I remember from school."

"The Elaine you knew would have smacked you just for looking at me like that."

Fred chuckled. "And I would have loved every second of it."

When Elaine didn't give him the pleasure of a response, Fred let out a dramatic sigh. "I'm sorry for yesterday. The bit about you leaving, I mean. I just thought that you wouldn't have wanted George to know."

"Of course I didn't want George to know," Elaine said in a quieter tone than him, wishing he would at least take the hint to keep his voice down. "It was wrong-"

"And here I was thinking that you enjoyed yourself."

"I didn't mean-" Elaine let out a groan in frustration. "If you're just over here expecting me to sing praises, Weasley, you should have just kept ignoring me."

"I wasn't," Fred argued back. "I was mostly just wondering if we could do it again sometime."

Elaine stared back at him for several heartbeats, forcing herself to keep a neutral expression to hide her surprise. Despite what he said, she fully expected their actions from the day before to be a one-time thing. She had not come to a conclusion about what it was to begin with, if it was an act of weakness or desperation on both of their parts at that time that they were now over. She nearly shut him down, nearly told him that never again would she do something so reckless. Then she remembered the way his hands roamed her body, his fingertips pressing into her thighs, his lips...

"Only if you can tell me what this is supposed to be."

"I was thinking that we should keep it professional," Fred said.

Elaine couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I would think that this is anything but professional."

"I mean no strings attached, no expectations," he said. "You have to admit that it was nice to let go of it all, even if it wasn't for very long."