Harry Potter Imagines

Excuses F.W

Y/N's POV-

She sighs, clenches her fists, and steels herself for the inevitable and incredibly humiliating moment that is about to unfold in five, four, three, two, one—

Standing on her tiptoes, Y/N puts her hands on his shoulders and plants a kiss on his cheek as fast as humanly possible. As soon as she does, she pulls back, fast as lightning, and hurriedly explains herself. "It was a dare—I was dared, no, wait—blackmailed to do this and I didn't wanna risk it so—I know what you're thinking, Fred, and I don't like you. I mean. Not in that way. And I'm not a pervert either," she adds as an afterthought, finding herself breathless as she takes a step back and clears her throat awkwardly.

For a moment, Fred Weasley looks just as surprised at herself as she does. And then he starts laughing, which makes Y/N feel ten times more embarrassed than she already is. Although she can't see herself, she is still very much aware of the fact that her cheeks have turned a bright shade of red—perhaps almost as red as Fred's hair.

Just so she doesn't have to stand there awkwardly, she forces out a few timid laughs. Fred grins at her. "I'm sorry, Y/N/N, but that's a very poor excuse," he says, and though his tone is teasing, there's still that underlying tone of you like me, don't you? Or maybe Y/N is just imagining it. Is she, though?

She bloody hates having crushes.

She rushes to defend herself—albeit not doing a very good job at it. "No—" she sputters out, feeling ridiculously helpless as she catches the eye of none other than Ginny Weasley, who is standing a mere few feet away looking severely amused. Y/N sends her a death look that she hopes to Merlin sends the message across: "I'm never forgiving you for this."

And forgive Ginny she will not. It's at times like these that she horribly regrets ever telling Ginny about her little crush on her older brother. Ever since Y/N had told her a month ago, Ginny hadn't stopped teasing her every chance she could get. This morning, it seemed that the evil side of her well and truly came out as she threatened to tell Fred about her crush if she didn't kiss him on the cheek. (Downright evil.)

Not willing to risk it, Y/N had decided that a tiny kiss on the cheek was slightly more doable than having to admit to the fact that she liked him. Him being Fred Weasley: the tall, ridiculously attractive redhead in her year who she only started talking to last year when she'd befriended his younger sister, Ginny. Ginny had introduced Fred and George to her briefly, and ever since then she'd developed a friendship with them. She wasn't extremely close with the twins—their friend groups were drastically different—but they were friends: she'd wave to them when she passed by them in the hallway, they'd tease her about random things whenever they felt like being annoying, and sometimes she'd even help them come up with prank ideas.

But while she'd become good friends with both Fred and George, there had always something about Fred that attracted her in a way that didn't seem to fit the "friends" spectrum. Sure, he and George were quite literally identical, but Fred just felt—different. She'd feel butterflies in her stomach whenever he'd sneak up on her and tug on her braid, singing "Y/N!" into her ear, after which she'd raise her eyebrows at him and go "How can I help you?" Or when he found out that she loved strawberries and made it a habit to take her strawberry-flavored food whenever he snuck down to the kitchens. Fred was something else; something that made her feel like a blushing, giggly little girl. Made her feel unlike herself.

And so here she is, a few moments after making an absolute fool out of herself, trying to explain to him that "No, listen to me, Fred, I was literally blackmailed. Now excuse me while I cleanse my lips ferociously."

She turns on her heel and speed-walks away, refusing to look back. She doesn't even wait to see if Ginny has caught up with her—what's important right now is getting away from Fred. And perhaps never showing him her face again. Because if he hadn't known back then that she'd liked him, then he certainly does now.