No Strings Attached

Brielle stared out the window of the Gryffindor common room. The wind forced the few leaves left on the trees to fall. The stars gleamed in the night sky, shining down. She knew that it was insane to stay up this late when she had class the next morning, but she couldn’t pull herself away from the window.

“You do know it’s around three or so in the morning, right?” a familiar voice sounded from behind her. She turned around smiling at him.

“I’m pretty sure I know what time it is, Fred,” Bri said as he walked toward her to sit beside her.

“Well then, why not go to sleep?”

“Because I’m thinking,” she said, her eyes drawing toward the window again. She sighed heavily before turning back to Fred, who ran his hand through his short bright red hair.

“About?” he asked.

“Anything and everything,” she said. “What would you think about if you were here?” But, all Fred did was look at her, his usual smile placed on his lips. She stared into his chocolate brown eyes. She looked so much different than most in Gryffindor, including him, so much darker than them. She had pitch black hair with bright blue eyes, her skin pale, but tinted pink on her cheeks. She was slender. She felt so different from people in Gryffindor house, if only for the fact that she enjoyed challenges and being sneaky. She loved her secrets. She ignored her thoughts, waiting for his answer.

“I suppose anything really,” he said. “But, Miss Brielle, you never did tell me what your mom thought we were doing last summer when I came over to spend the night.” He smirked.

“You don’t need to know that,” she said, breaking the eye contact. Her cheeks turned red, though she tried to hide it with her hair. Her bangs covered a single eye. Fred lifted her chin, making her stare at him.

It wasn’t like it was anything bad. It was kind of a funny thought, actually.

Last summer, going into their sixth year at Hogwarts, both Fred and George Weasley came to her house to hang out. Sooner than she knew, the twins were sleeping over and Fred was in her room. George was, of course, trying to distract Bri’s mother on Fred’s command.

He was in her room, and nothing but talking was happening. Not that anything was supposed to happen, except a simple kiss just enough to know what it felt like to kiss Brielle.

She was so used to talking to him and opening up to him. She always laughed when he was around, like anybody else would. But, what she felt that day was so much different.

“What would you do if I kissed you right now, Bri?” Fred asked as his back was against the bed as he stared at the ceiling. Brielle collapsed to lay next to him then.

“I’m not sure, why don’t you find out?” she said with a smirk. She didn’t know that he would actually act on that. He turned onto his side, looking her directly in her eyes for only a second, her heartbeat racing for a moment before she heard yelling.

“Why are you not letting me upstairs?” she heard her mother said, storming up the stairs.

“Because…” George tried to buy time for them. “Fred’s in the shower!”

“With my daughter?!” her mom exclaimed. She always took things too far. Brielle sighed and shut her eyes, waiting for her mother to burst through the door. “What’s going on in here?” Her mother walked into her room, hands across her chest. She should’ve been used to her mother staring at her like that.

“Absolutely nothing,” she said, rolling her eyes. Her mother, then, hugged her daughter and smiled before walking out, giving George a death glare. That’s what Brielle got for having an overprotective muggle mother.

Now, back at Hogwarts and thinking back to that day, she laughed a bit. “Why are you laughing? I just want to know,” Fred said.

“Because it was funny, silly boy.”

“Then you should tell me,” he said with his adorable smile.

“Once you left, she caught me in my room and started yelling at me, saying, ‘This is why boys never come here,’ “ she said, imitating her mother’s voice. The twin laughed at her.

“Is that all?”

“Oh, she assumed we, in fact, did something, when we didn’t.”

“Did something? Like…?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Like what I knew you wanted to do that night,” she said with a smirk. He moved in a little closer to her.

“And that would have been a bad thing?” Brielle’s heart raced the instant he said that. She looked him directly into his eyes then.

“I suppose not,” she said.

“I think we should give her a reason to be worried about me,” Fred said, his smirk never faltering.

“And how would we do that? Friends with benefits?” she said, with a little laugh. It wasn’t like she meant what she said. Well… not entirely.

“Sure, why not?”

“Are you serious?” she asked.

Fred looked her dead in the eyes and said, “If you’re serious, I’m serious.”

“It wouldn’t be a serious relationship, just something for fun. Any time of day, whenever I want you. Or you want me, I suppose,” she said, making sure he knew her rules.

“Absolutely no strings attached,” he said.

“Until one of us falls for the other,” she added. Fred bent down, kissing her then. A small kiss, and her heart beat so fast.

“I assure you, it won’t be me,” he said, with a smirk.