Untouchable: a Fred Weasley fanfiction

Muffled

It's honestly mesmerizing how well the muffling charm works on a bustling night party inside our Slytherin common room.

I can't hear a thing from outside; it's only until I say the password aloud by the old, stone door that it creaks open and floods my ears with noise while I step in, taking a breath.

It's our same large, furnished common room, but this time, crammed with people from all houses, who are loudly laughing, calling to each other across the room, throwing back shots, or dancing in a huddled crowd in the center.

I carefully weave my way further in, trying to get to a wall or side where I'm not in the dead center of the action. The music buzzes the floor beneath my feet as I walk.

Thank god- I spot Draco and Angelina at the beverage table almost immediately. Draco is facing her as if trying to avoid making accidental eye contact with someone in the bustling party. Angelina is staring out at the crowd, incredibly unfazed (as per usual), as she dangles a drink cup from her fingers and listens to Draco mumbling something to her.

I slip myself in front of them. "Filling up already?"

"If I'm going to these things, I'm taking advantage of the free booze," Angelina replies matter-of-factly.

"I shouldn't have come down," Draco shakes his head a lot as he says this. "I should've skipped this whole thing."

"What?" I scoff. "Why? If I can haul my arse to a party, so can you..."

"I'm just setting myself up for disaster," he throws his hands up, scoffing at himself. "I should've stayed upstairs, in my dorm, buried beneath my high-thread-count covers and meticulously counting the minutes until the party is over."

"He's all worked up about seeing Harry here," Angelina says to me, motioning out her words with her pointer finger drifting from the edge of her cup.

"Ah," I nod slowly, watching Draco suck down another hefty gulp of alcohol. He recoils the cup and grits his teeth while I add, "you gonna talk to him?"

"Talking to him means talking to him," Draco says over the music.

I blink. "That's... the general idea of conversing with another person..."

"Just you wait until you're in a situation like this, Jo," Draco snaps at me, making me chuckle. "You'll see why it's so incredibly stressful."

"Look at me, Draco," I reply nonchalantly. "Do I look like I would ever be in this situation?"

Draco groans and hangs his head back before lifting it to look between Angelina and me to inform us, "I'm gonna make a round... scout out the area. If I don't come back, I've strangled myself with a girl's miniskirt to escape reality."

"Of course," I say.

We watch him leave, and I laugh a little, before turning to Angelina.

"How's your observation of humankind going?" I joke, noticing her seemingly focused expression fixated at the groups of dancing teens in front of us.

She shrugs. "It's always fascinating to see how our peers physically interact with one another in a setting such as this."

I grin, nodding with amusement.

"I mean, just look at Roger Davies and Cassia Andino," she scoffs, shaking her head. "Do you think she knows he has a hard-on or is she just pretending to not notice?"

I giggle but am glancing past her shoulder and doing a double-take.

My eyes fall on Fred leaning against a wall, three girls around him (two on either side and one in front) as he is staring at the floor and chuckling at something they are giddily saying to him.