Summary: A Fred x reader story where you involuntarily attend a Gryffindor common room party to your ex Cormac MgLaggen flirting with every girl he can find, so your best friend convinces you to get a fake boyfriend for the night, to pay him back in kind.
Warnings: alcohol, douchy ex-boyfriend, teenage angst and drama, physical fights
Word count: 5.5k
Sometimes relationships just don't work out. Sometimes you have to end things before they get even worse. And sometimes you get dumped and realise the guy you've been seeing for months has been an idiot all the while.
Just one more day until Christmas break and you could go home for two weeks and try to forget him. One more day and an upcoming common room party. A Gryffindor common room party, for all four houses, to be precise. You hadn't planned to attend it actually, but your best friend Claire had convinced you.
"Don't give me that look Y/N", she said when you were on your way to the party. "It's going to be fun! We look good, we'll have some drinks, we'll dance a little. It will be fine."
"If we see Cormac, I swear I'm leaving right away", you told her and pulled your dress down, to check if everything was still in place while stepping on one of the moving staircases.
"Don't you dare", she mumbled. "Maybe he won't even come."
"He's gonna be there, you know it."
"But we'll still have fun! You don't need him for that."
You frowned as you waited for the staircase to finally stop moving and said: "I know I don't need him. And I don't want him. I just know he's going to be an ass about it and he'll try to make me jealous."
Claire grinned. "I know. But I have a plan. Come on now." The stairs had stopped at your desired spot, so she took your hand, pulled you with her and up to the Portrait of the Fat Lady.
The common room was packed with people already, loud music drowning everyone's voices and you had to squeeze through the crowds to reach the far end, find a somewhat quiet corner, get something to drink and check the room for familiar faces. While greeting some of your classmates and clinking glasses with Claire you recognized your undesirable number one from the corner of your eye.
Recently-single-Cormac stood just as far away as he needed to be for you to see him. He was surrounded by girls, some from your year and one or two from a year below. Classy. You knew he wanted you to notice him, as he wandered slowly and not so subtly towards you, followed by his new worshipers. He turned his head, sent you a sinister grin before carrying on talking to one of the girls, his hand resting on the small of her back, letting you know it was just a matter of time until he would decide who would be the lucky one to snog him tonight.
"Now that's just pathetic", you grumbled and turned away to look at Claire.
"It is", she said, her eyes in the same shocked expression as yours. "But, I told you, I got a plan."
"And what's that gonna be?"
"Fake it till you make it."
"Wow", you sighed. "What a plan."
"No, no, no. Wait for it!", she told you with an impish grin. "We'll ask some guy if he'll pretend to be your boyfriend for the night."
"What?"
"Yes!"
"Claire, that's a bad plan. That's not even a plan."
"It's a great plan and I'll make it happen. Come on Y/N. Give him a taste of his own medicine. And tomorrow we'll go home. No one's going to talk about it afterwards anyway."
She waited for your response with an open-mouthed smile, ready to go, fingers snapping and lightly bouncing on her heels as if she had just told you the cure for every single disease on earth.
You raised your hand, one finger pointing upwards, showing her to wait, downed the rest of your drink in one big sip and said: "Fine. Do it. But don't bring anyone that's even slightly similar to McLaggen."
"No worries. I'll find you a nice chap", she sang and went into the crowd.
The minutes passed slowly while Cormac made sure to glance your way every now and then, turning away with a pleased smile each time. You decided to get yourself another drink and tapped your foot to the stone floor impatiently while filling up your glass. You had almost finished it again when Claire finally came back. She beamed at you and wiggled her eyebrows in excitement before turning around to present you your new fake boyfriend.
An equally confused as amused Fred Weasley followed her and stopped to look at you, the left end of his mouth pulling upwards slightly before he turned to Claire again and whispered something into her ear. She shook her head, gestured wildly with her hands while telling him something you couldn't hear and brought him closer to you.
"Alright, I got to go now", she told you wily and disappeared.
"Um, hi", Fred said after a few seconds and took a sip of his drink.
"Hi", you answered and smiled to cover up the awkwardness.
"You wanted to ask me something?"
"Oh. Um - didn't Claire tell you anything about her plan?"
"No", he said, although it sounded more like a question than a statement.
"Oh, well, perfect", you sighed. "Okay, um listen. This wasn't my idea, so please don't think I'm a total freak, but I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend."
Fred's eyes went wide for a moment before he barked a single laugh: "You need what?"
Your fingers started to shake in embarrassment, you knew this wasn't a good plan. "Shit", you whispered to yourself. "It was Claire's idea. You see, Cormac dumped me some weeks ago and acts like a total moron right there, showing off how many girls are swooning over him. So we thought I'd get a fake boyfriend for the night, to pay him back in kind. But the more I'm explaining, the more I see how stupid this idea is."
"I'll do it", he simply said and took another sip as he watched Cormac from afar.
"You what?"
"I'll do it. McLaggen is a cocky idiot, I'd love to see his stupid face when he sees us together", he told you, took a step closer and added quietly: "Also I couldn't deny the chance to be a beautiful girl's fake boyfriend, could I?"
Both of you laughed, clinked your glasses to seal your deal and downed the rest of your drinks.
"Alright", Fred said after putting your glasses aside. "First, I'll have to introduce my new girlfriend to my friends."
"They already know me, Fred."
"Sure, but we got to start somewhere. Come on", he told you and offered his hand.
You looked at it for a second, raised one eyebrow and asked: "You want to hold hands?"
"Duh, that's what lovers do", he said and laughed while holding his hand up higher and more prompting.
You shook your head grinning, took his hand and mumbled unnoticeably: "This is going to be a hell of a night."
The two of you squeezed through the crowd again and made your way to the other side, next to the staircases where Lee, George and Angelina stood. You didn't get a chance to see if Cormac had already spotted you, but other people's confused facial expressions when they saw you holding hands, made it clear that your plan wouldn't go unnoticed.
When Fred started to tell his friends about your plan, they were absolutely amused by it. Angelina giggled mid-sentence, George put his fingers on the bridge of his nose to hide his sneer and Lee shamelessly threw his head back and simply burst out laughing.
"Brilliant mate", he said and wiped one corner of his eye over-dramatically. "I didn't know you were such a prankster, Y/N."
Fred still held your hand, didn't let it dangle loosely in his palm, he properly held it, which wasn't even necessary if you were honest, but you weren't bothered by it. You actually liked it and jumped slightly when you felt his thumb moving back and forth over your skin.
George crashed into thoughts by saying: "If you got any other ideas for future mischief, let us know. We're always in need for something new."
"Oh, I wasn't the mastermind behind this, actually", you told him. "It was Claire's idea and I thought it was terrible, to be honest. But I'll let her know you'll appreciate her suggestions."
"Don't let them drag you in too deep though, Y/N", Angelina jokingly said. "The boys get more detention than you can imagine."
Fred snorted and answered: "Come on, detention can be fun too." He leaned closer to you, whispering: "She likes it when George's in the limelight, even if she would never admit it."
"Oh stop gossiping about me", Angelina snickered and hit Fred's shoulder. "I heard every word. And you're telling lies, Freddie."
He acted shocked: "I would never lie to my girlfriend, why would you say that?"
The whole group laughed again before Lee stated: "Oi mates, you've been spotted."
Fred let your hand go immediately, making you worry about your secret plan for a moment, before you felt his arm being placed around your back, his fingers firmly holding on to the curve of your shoulder.
"Oh yeah, there he is", he said and pointed to the other side of the room, where Cormac leant against the wall, taking lazy sips and staring your way in suspicion.
"Hi Cormac", Fred called over to him, leant forward and waved his hand, making McLaggen raise his brows and roll his eyes unimpressed, while you held yourself back from laughing.
"You're not really a guy that likes to be reluctant, are you?", you asked him while Cormac went out of your sight.
"Honey, if you wanted someone to be subtle about it, you should have asked someone else I'm afraid", Fred joked.
"Honey?", George asked cringing.
"We need cheesy nicknames, it's got to be believable", Fred said and scratched the back of his head.
"Well, Honey is certainly not it", you grinned.
"What about Baby?", Angelina suggested.
"No", Lee said and pulled a face. "Something more subtle for Mister I-can't-be-subtle. Like Sweetheart. Or Sugar, Muffin, Pancake, Cookie, okay I'm hungry."
"That's far from subtle and also a bit gross", Fred chuckled. "I like it."
"Oh lord", Angelina whispered.
"Hmm... What about... Love? Just Love. It's cute, short and has nothing to do with food", you asked and waited for their replies.
"Yup, I can see that working", George agreed.
"Alright, love", Fred said while squeezing your shoulder. "True, it works. Love. I like it."
"And what about you, Freddie?", Angelina asked. "What's your nickname gonna be? Boo, Hun, Romeo?"
"Oh please no", you intervened laughing. "I'd need at least three more drinks before I could call anyone that."
"What about Darling?", Fred asked you. "Would you call me Darling? That would be nice, wouldn't it?"
"Sure, why not keep it classy while we're faking a relationship", you joked.
"Darling it is then", Fred said. "Anyone else want something to drink?"
As all of you nodded, he asked Lee and George to help him out.
While the guys went over to get drinks, Angelina took a step closer to you and said: "Wow, what a night huh? And your little plan - hilarious. McLaggen deserves it." She tilted her head and went on: "Don't let him fall too hard, though."
"What do you mean?", you asked.
She pondered for a bit and pressed her lips together while thinking before she explained: "I think he likes you. I mean, I don't know, we never talk about those things, but he doesn't seem unhappy at all with this whole pretending thing you got going on."
You stopped yourself from absentmindedly picking the fabric of your dress and mumbled: "Oh. I -"
Angelina winked at you and stretched her head in the opposite direction, showing you that the boys were coming back.
"Alright, who's thirsty?", George cooed when he handed you a glass.
You kept on talking, listening to Lee's infamous story of when McGonagall threatened to make him clean all of the dungeon's floors alone if he wouldn't stop to take the piss out of Slytherin while he announced a Quidditch match last semester.
"And that's when I decided to call it quits for the day. Minnie isn't messing around when she's handing out punishments. She made me polish every single broomstick in the castle once."
"What an icon", Fred snickered and slid his fingers between yours again.
You looked over and sent him a questioning glare, to which he answered: "What? Got to keep all eyes on us when we go dancing."
"Dancing?", you asked, equally startled as amused.
"Sure dancing. We want to entertain our lurkers", he said and looked behind himself, where a couple of fifth-years stood and exchanged whispers.
You turned around yourself, to catch them staring at you, as Fred took the half-empty glass from your hand and passed it to his friends, along with his own.
"Ready, love?", he asked and winked lightly.
You inhaled deeply, hoping for more confidence and answered: "Sure Darling."
He took you to the small dance floor, the only place that wasn't absolutely packed, as you heard Lee cheering from afar: "Whoo, kill it!"
As soon as you started to feel comfortable swinging to the fast beats of the music, the song faded. The next one was unbelievably slow compared to the one's that were played all evening.
"You can't tell me George and Lee didn't manipulate the jukebox", you nagged jokingly. "The timing is like in a damn movie."
"Well, I wouldn't deny it", Fred said and grinned as he took your hand again. "Want to keep dancing? We can head back if you want."
"No, it's fine. Slow dancing is way easier at least."
He came closer, put his hands on each side of your waist, while you laid your hands on his shoulders and started to twirl in slow circles, all while looking into each other eyes, your bodies closer than ever before.
"So. How do you like my friends, love?", he asked.
You laughed and played along: "Well, they're very nice and welcoming. I would say Lee is the funny one of the group, but the more we talked, the more I saw you're all pretty fun."
"We sure are."
"And you're very nice. I mean, you didn't have to do this. I'm surprised you even agreed", you told him. "Thank you by the way. Have I even thanked you for it?"
"You have now", he chuckled and still looked at you as you kept on spinning leisurely.
"You really made my night, you know. I would have probably left an hour ago if it wasn't for you", you confessed. "Sorry, I should stop talking."
"No, no keep it going. Keep praising me", he told you and leant forward to whisper into your ear: "I like that."
Your cheeks touched when he moved his head back, the brief and warm feeling catching both of you off guard, so you smiled at each other in silence for a moment, still staring into each other's eyes and swaying slowly to the music.
Fred's glance wandered down to your lips, where it stayed for a solid moment as he mumbled: "Kiss me?" He blinked once, his eyes meeting yours again. "For the show?"
You thought about what to say when he quickly turned his head sideways. His brows rose. "Wow. I predicted it. All eyes on us."
You looked over as well and saw that most people in the crowd had turned to watch you on the dance floor. You spotted Claire in the first row, she grinned broadly and held both of her thumbs up towards you, to which you giggled. A bit more on the left stood Cormac with a girl next to him, trying to get his attention, but he stared at you vividly and didn't seem to listen to her at all.
The next thing you heard was George, Angelina and Lee applauding for you from the other side, as another fast song chimed in. You looked at Fred again, smiled at him and said: "Excuse me for a minute Darling. I got to go talk to Claire."
"Sure. I'll be over there", he answered and made his way back to his mates.
Most people turned around and started chatting again, so you quickly went over to your friend.
"What on earth is happening tonight?", she asked. "I love it!"
"I don't know! You started this. And now I'm dancing and actually having a good time."
"Wait, wait wait. Do you really like him?", she asked. "I mean, it certainly looked like you do."
"I don't know. He's really sweet. And funny. He wants to hold my hand all the time", you told her and wiggled your whole body to get the excitement out.
"You do like him", she concluded and squinted her eyes.
"I mean... Maybe", you said. "I don't know what's going on. Okay, I got to go back to my fake boyfriend now. Want to come?"
"Nope", she grinned. "Go and have fun missy."
You started to make your way back to Fred, still high on adrenaline, had almost reached the group, when a hand touched your shoulder from behind.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?", a familiar and unpleasant voice asked.
You turned around, wondering why Cormac had to come and ruin your night before you asked: "What do you want?"
"I just want to talk. Over there?", he asked and pointed to a more quiet corner.
A hand grabbed yours from behind before Fred turned up next to you. "Mate, she doesn't want to talk to you tonight."
"She can speak for herself I believe", McLaggen huffed. "Are you coming, Y/N?"
"Are you coming Y/N?", Cormac repeated himself, still pointing to the corner next to the dance floor, where he wanted to talk.
Fred held your hand a little tighter, looked over to you and quietly said: "You don't have to do this."
"I know", you told him and smiled. "But it's okay, I'm going to hear what he has to say."
"Alright", Fred sighed and you squeezed his fingers for a second before letting go of him and taking some steps towards Cormac, who led you to the other side of the room, turning his head back and sending a sneering grin to Fred.
You leant against the wall, caught a glimpse of your fake boyfriend returning to his friends and asked McLaggen: "What do you want now?"
He exhaled sharply, you could see his tongue stuck between his teeth on the right side of his mouth, the left end of his lips pulled upwards as he shook his head mockingly. His eyes shot up to yours when he asked: "What are you doing, honey?"
"What?"
"You heard me. What is this show tonight supposed to mean?"
You could tell he was jealous, he tried so hard to cover it up with coolness but failed miserably as he nervously tapped his index against the glass he held.
"What show Cormac? Are you trying to actually have a conversation, or is this just some stupid joke?", you asked with furrowed brows.
He barked a single laugh and took a sip of his drink, his eyes piercing yours. "So I'm the one making jokes now, huh? Do you think I'm stupid? That everyone here is? I know full well that this sweet little date you're having was to get revenge on me. Wasn't it?"
It was.
"It was not", you lied.
"Admittedly, I wouldn't have thought you'd be cunning enough to come up with something like that on your own. You needed a real Slytherin to help you out. Claire, perhaps?"
Yes.
"No. I-"
"Oh stop lying", he cut you off scornfully. "I even saw her bringing him over to you when you stood all alone and waited for rescue. And she brought you what? A Weasley?" He took another sip and shook his head again. "Claire could've at least gotten someone to actually keep up with me. Which one of them is it even?"
"How about you shut up for a minute?", you snapped, your hands on both sides of your waist to prevent them from shaking. "I know you love to hear yourself talking, we've been there. It's none of your damn business who I'm going out with and Fred's a nice guy, he treated me better tonight than you have in our whole relationship."
That went deep, you saw it in his eyes and in the way he nodded. You didn't mean to be so coarse, he just made you furious and the alcohol did the rest. Cormac's view darted from your face to the floor, he downed the rest of his drink in one sip and clenched his jaw while swallowing. The knuckles on his hand went white from how firmly he held the glass cup.
He leant in with dutch courage, a sneer on his face again and said: "Well then, honey. You're free to return back to your new lover. I just wanted to let you know you're embarrassing yourself. You know, first I thought you were just testing out the waters. I found it funny how you two held hands, really." He came even closer, his collar touching your skin as he whispered into your ear: "But when you went over to dance, like the attention whore you are, it all made sense."
"Excuse you?", you hissed wide-eyed and pushed him back.
"People are already gossiping about you, I heard them. And you know what, your little game actually worked. It made me jealous, I'll admit that. So I thought, why not give you a chance to redeem yourself."
"Redeem myself? Cormac, what the hell are you talking about?", you asked and felt your heart pumping rapidly.
"I'm offering you a second chance. To be with me. We'll tell everyone I couldn't stand seeing you with someone else, we'll make me the weak one if it makes you feel better. Or you go back to Weasley and I'll tell everyone that you're just pretending to be together like kids."
He took your hand as if he knew what your answer was going to be and smirked triumphantly before you snatched it away from his grip.
"Are you mad?", you scoffed as you yanked your arm and tried to escape from your spot. "What makes you think I would want to be with someone extorting me? Tell everyone what the hell you want, they're not gonna believe a lunatic anyway. I'm glad you broke up with me, now more than ever."
As soon as you intended to step away, he grabbed you by the wrist and held you back, pressing you against the wall with his weight.
"You're going to regret this", he threatened while your free hand fumbled inside your bag, to get your wand.
"Cormac, I'm warning you", you shouted when you finally grasped it and his grip around your wrist went even tighter.
Suddenly a hand was placed on Cormac's shoulder from behind and pulled him off you. Fred stood in between now and pushed McLaggen even further away, yelling: "Back the fuck off!"
It all went fast from there. Cormac took a moment to realise what just happened and shouted something to Fred, that was drowned by the music. Both of them took steps towards each other, clearly trying to appear bigger, as they held their heads high, puffed up their chests and shook their arms, ready to go at each other.
A cluster of people had already formed around them, some silently watching, some yelling at them to start fighting, and you in the middle, knowing if you went between the two to stop them, it would only make things worse. Still, you tried to prevent a fight and shouted "Stop!" repeatedly.
They ignored you completely, peered at each other like animals and McLaggen made the first step to push Fred back as he had done to himself. Fred immediately bounced back and pounded his fist against Cormac's face, who stumbled two steps backwards and went back at Fred with an equally strong hit on the chin.
The crowd roared, some people even tried to take pictures and you were sure they would keep going until one of them blacked out, as they started pushing again, so you took out your wand and yelled: "Petrificus Totalus!"
It went silent after the two fell to the ground, limbs snapped together and stiff as two stone statues lying next to each other in peace. Everyone else turned to look at you, a younger boy next to you took a picture with his huge camera, the flash blinding you for a moment.
"What are you looking at? The show is over", you shouted in anger and turned around to squeeze through the crowd and rush out of the common room. You heard people starting to mumble and whisper as soon as you turned your back on them until you exited through the portrait.
Walking quickly along the corridors, careful to remain silent and not to get caught this late after curfew, you didn't really know where to head, so you just kept on walking straight ahead until you heard Claire's voice behind you. "Y/N, wait!"
You stopped and turned around, seeing her running towards you and she tried to catch her breath when she had reached you.
"Are you okay?", she wheezed. "I wanted to follow you as soon as you went out, but people didn't make way."
"I'm okay", you answered. "I'm just super pissed."
"What was going on with McLaggen?", she asked. "I saw you talking to him. But before I was able to get to you, Fred pushed him and hell broke loose."
"Yeah I don't know what happened to him", you said, shook your head and pulled her down to sit with you on the lowest step of a spiral staircase. You sighed deeply and rested your head on her shoulder. "Your plan was shit."
Claire laughed, you could feel her body moving up and down as she did before she said: "I'm sorry. I thought it was so good, really."
"It's not your fault. Cormac sussed it out though."
"He did? How?"
"He said he saw when you brought Fred to me. He was super jealous, he even admitted it. Then he called me an attention whore and threatened to tell everyone we're fake dating if I didn't take him back."
"What?!", she gasped and sat up straight, so you lifted your head and looked at her. "Y/N, what did you do?"
"Well, I basically told him to go fuck himself. Not with those words, but essentially it meant that."
"Good", she sighed. "Oh lord, what an absolute dickhead. What a prick, what a son of - I'll kill him."
"No, not you too", you jokingly said and hid your face in your hands. "Fred's tried doing that and you saw how it turned out."
"He helped you", she said and rubbed your shoulder.
"He made everything even worse. I could've helped myself."
"Well, it didn't look like you could from where I was standing."
"I just paralyzed two grown guys at once. I clearly could have helped myself", you said and sighed.
"You're right. That was super impressive, by the way", Claire said giggling. "Hah - that sound they made when they fell down. Thump, thump. I would've loved to see their faces when the spell wore off."
"Betcha this guy Creevey took at least five pictures", you joked and both of you laughed quietly.
After a few minutes you heard footsteps coming your way, both of you went silent and took out your wands, just in case Cormac wanted to pay you a visit again. It was pretty dark in the hallway, so you couldn't see who was approaching at first and held up your wand in defence, but as soon as you saw a strand of red hair, you lowered it and put it aside.
Fred was holding two glasses, your questioning glares made him shrug and he said in a rather meekly tone: "We didn't finish our drinks earlier."
You chuckled, while Claire turned to you and asked: "Do you want me to stay?"
"No, it's okay", you told her and hugged her quickly, while whispering: "Thank you."
She stood up, patted Fred on the shoulder and made her way to the Slytherin common room, while Fred sat down next to you and handed you your drink.
"Thanks", you said and clinked your glass with his, taking big sips while looking forward at the stone wall.
He shuffled back and forth next to you, clearly struggling with himself and what to say, before he whispered: "I'm sorry for what happened."
"I didn't need your help", you stated, eyes still peering at the wall.
"I realised that once I hit the floor", he mumbled and started to rub his shoulder.
"Sorry for that", you said with a grin. "Just tried to keep you from further injuries."
"I didn't need your help then", he joked. "I have five brothers, I know how to win a fight."
"You're troublemaker", you muttered and finally turned your head his way. "Why would you- Oh. Your lip is bleeding."
"Mhm. Collateral damage", he mumbled.
You put your glass aside, grabbed your wand again, pointed it directly to his mouth and whispered: "Episkey."
The slit healed immediately and Fred rubbed away the small residue of blood before he looked at you surprisedly.
"What? I have a brother too", you said and pushed his shoulder with yours. "My mother always used this when we had a fight."
"Thanks", he said. "And sorry again. I just saw how he cornered you and how he grabbed your arm. I don't really know what happened then, next thing I know is I pushed him away."
"It's okay. You just wanted to help", you said as you laid your head on his shoulder and felt him wrapping his arm around you. It was nice, warm and safe, so you closed your eyes for a second and exhaled softly. "I'm sorry too. I'm the reason you're even involved in this whole thing. I shouldn't have let Claire ask you for that favour."
"Oh no", he chuckled. "I'm still glad she did."
"You are?", you asked and lifted your head to look at him again.
He pinched his eyes together like he didn't believe what you just said. "Of course! It was a nice evening. Before, you know... McLaggen happened."
He made you laugh again and you agreed: "It was. Your friends were fun, dancing was nice too. You're a clingy fake boyfriend though. Always wanted to hold hands."
"Ha- so what?", he asked and grabbed your hand again, held it as properly as hours before and ran his thumb over your skin. "I like it."
"Me too", you admitted.
"No faking?"
"No faking."
Fred let your hand go all of a sudden and you felt his fingers beneath your chin, as he gently raised your head and looked into your eyes before he leaned in and placed his lips on yours. His grip around your shoulder tightened, his hand caressed your cheek as he kissed you over and over again, while your arm found its way around his neck, to pull him in even further. Moving in unison, your whole body tingled and suddenly this night didn't seem bad at all anymore.
When you parted, Fred looked at you and chuckled: "Wow. Thanks."
You hit his arm playfully, laughed before giving him another quick peck on the lips and rested your head on his shoulder again. His fingers found yours once more and you silently held onto each other for a while.
"Y/N?", he asked after a minute.
"Hm?"
"Would you mind if I sent you an owl or two, during Christmas holidays?"
The end.