Chapter Text
It wasn't supposed to happen in an ancient stone chamber that hasn't been used for probably multiple centuries, or under a battlefield, and most of all he wasn't supposed to miss the first one. But he did, but he came back to her for the second, which is a miracle, because he was supposed to die. It was written in the cards, it was destiny– if you believe in those sorts of things, which she doesn't, not anymore, because it wasn't supposed to happen, not like this.
It is like one of those things that feels like a dream when it first starts. At least it was for her, everyday leaving their shared apartment and going to work under Madam Pomfrey as a healer-in-training while her fiancé goes to work in the business he owns with his brother. By now, there's been enough clues as to who her husband is. Or maybe not because he is one of two. One of them always waited. The other never did. She married the one who laughed first, the one who ran headlong, and the one who treated danger like it was something you could outpace. Which is why, it should've happened any other way, the way that was written in the stars, not like this.
She's the kind of person to be utterly unbothered with nonsense. As a Ravenclaw, she focused all her time on what mattered most, her education. She believed that intellect and educational greatness, is what gets you the furthest in life and the reason why she was gifted with the ability to do magic. Until she met him, the boy who is all fake bows, over-the-top compliments, winks from across the Great Hall, and purposely unserious in serious moments. The one who's attentive, who remembers all her favorite sweets, the things that annoy her the most, and most importantly (in her opinion) how to make her smile when she really doesn't want to. She became bothered with his nonsense- only tolerated it from him. Only him. And when they fell for each other, they were the complete opposite, she was quiet and planned every last flirt, and he fell loud, only thinking for about half a second before diving in the deep end. When they met, he was her worst nightmare, the exact opposite person that she wanted to be paired up with for a partner project in 7th year Potions. Little did she know, he’d seen her doing homework in the Great Hall one day, and had been entranced with her since. He’d been praying this would happen. Dating Fred Weasley was laughing until her stomach hurts, random gifts, being the first test subject of his latest prank, and late night talks in one or the other person’s common room when nobody was around to catch them.
Now? It's almost 3 years in, she can read him inside and out. She can tell when he's serious: he'll stop joking, something he never seems to do. He only wants to be with her, which is strange to her. Growing up in a house with seven siblings, most would think he would be comforted by being surrounded by many people. He is (un)surprisingly protective of her, she is his whole world and she knows it. Being wrapped around his finger is her favorite part of being with him (but don't tell him that.) The parts only she sees? How he uses his humor as an armor, especially after the war, but he only lets it fall around her, because she grounds him. Remember this, because it'll come back later. Arguments? Of course, every couple has arguments, but theirs are rare and always intense. He hates, absolutely hates disappointing her. In his eyes, she is the most amazing person ever: the smartest, most beautiful, kindest person. At first he deflects with jokes, which only irritates her more, but if she was to genuinely call him out? He shuts up immediately, because he refuses to lose her. Apologies are sincere words, a peace offering, and a promise to do better, which always comes to fruition, because it's him. Fred Weasley, (one of) the king(s) of pranks and the king of his word.
Everything only multiplies by ten when he proposes: his intense loyalty, his pride always showing her off, and his dream of an endless future of laughter, love and chaos with her. He knew from the very beginning that she was going to be his one person forever. Between you and me, he always knew that Angelina wasn't the one, why else do think that they didn't last long after the Yule Ball? Everything you've read about the couple so far is nothing compared to when they got married and had their children. You haven't seen anything. The days always start the same: mornings smelling like parchment, coffee, and sugar. Loud laughter at all hours and the occasional explosion or two. He fills the space, the same way he always has. She chose him knowing love would be loud, reckless, and deeply felt. Knowing he would meet uncertainty with laughter and danger head-on, hands already reaching forward before the ground was steady beneath him. He was raised on noise, warmth and family, wearing joy like an armor. He makes survival feel possible by refusing to treat it like a miracle. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. But loving him was always a choice to believe that joy could exist even here- even now.
They lived in a flat across the street from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes above a random shop, because the owner wasn't using it. While there was space in the flat above the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, they felt it wasn't fair to Fred's twin brother that they lived in the same space, if you catch my drift...which George was eternally grateful for. Fred always made sure that he gave her a kiss before he left to run his prized possession. She always accidentally (or purposely) became his test subjects for his latest products. The shop was always thriving, because people love laughter, especially the Weasley Twins. It always bustled, loud at all hours, with more explosions that either of them would care to admit, even though most of them went by unnoticed. They were probably entirely too used to them. Sometimes Fred came home bruised, (which she always tended to at the end of the night) exhausted and glowing with pride all at once. She was (and still is) the first person he told when something succeeded or failed, and honestly, his family loved her more than him, she was family. She was a member of his family and not an honorary one: a real Weasley. As tensions from the impending war stressed the whole wizarding world, arguments slowly increased too. Raised voices, and Fred pacing with his hands in his hair, but their apologies were just as emotionally intense. Fred whispered into her neck (which is his favorite place to be), foreheads pressed together, and a promise to be together always. She was his grounding angel, always has been and frankly, he is a full believer that she always will be.
Marrying Fred Weasley before the war means choosing joy in the middle of uncertainty-and being loved loudly, deeply and without regret. It means Fred being unconsciously affectionate, him bringing you sweets (that he definitely did not steal), leaving notes in your pockets or under your pillows. Fred Weasley in this era is a man who has built something real, a career and a relationship, a man who has tasted what joy is and who refuses to lose it, a man who knows what he fights for. You are his home, the shop is his dream, the world hasn't broken him yet- but only because you keep it from trying.