Untouchable: a Fred Weasley fanfiction

Booked

Okay.

Here's the deal.

I need to come up with multiple good, learn-able songs for our setlist for this Halloween dance in as little time as possible in order to master them sooner.

Which means for the past twenty-four hours, I've made a plan to do so and thus lead to a successful outcome of nailing all of our numbers, rocking the stage on Halloween night, and winning the overall respect and undying admiration from all of our peers.

The rest of our group is also in band mode. Ginny told me that she's going to spend every free second she has, even outside of rehearsals, practicing her bass. Seamus and Lee have their own listening devices for music, to my (at first) shock, until I realized that considering how long they've played instruments, it's not surprising that they listen to music somehow.

I write to Mum the night after seeing the Halloween dance announcement poster, telling her to send both my black and purple Walkman. Luna needs one; Ginny told me that she already has her own after her father gifted her one for a holiday due to their shared love of muggle devices. Cute.

I write Mum after the request: I think I'm onto something here. Don't worry; I'm not getting distracted from any schoolwork. I just need the Walkmans as soon as possible. Like, yesterday. Love you and miss you.

I start writing down any songs I remember listening to over the summer throughout the school day. Today, I scribbled down My Sharona on the last page of my History of Magic notebook.

While I wait for Mum's response the next day, I'm sitting in Transfiguration next to Angelina, the two of us sharing a small box of chocolate frogs under the table as McGonagall explains a partner project for the day. Desk partners, so, win-win.

"You guys figure out any songs yet?" Angelina asks while everyone is breaking out into conversation before receiving the assignment. "You know, for the dance?"

"Something like that." I chew the chocolate in my mouth. "Hopefully people like them. A lot of American stuff. Hopefully, people like us."

"They will," she says firmly, digging out another candy. "Stop worrying."

I scoff and grab my quill, spotting McGonagall approaching with the partner assignment. After she places it onto our desk and Angelina pulls it closer to dully read, my eyes flick across the room at the sound of a sudden, bright laugh.

Fred sits near the front, a distance from us. I didn't even really notice who he sits next to until just now, likely due to the fact that the kid who used to block my view from his desk is out sick today and also, the person he's sitting next to is laughing quite a bit at the moment.

It's a girl; a shockingly beautiful girl, with long, curly blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She's holding a hand lightly to her chest as she giggles and shakes her head, long eyelashes touching her cheeks as she closes her eyes out of amusement. Fred is smiling at her, presumably having just cracked a joke.

"Who's that girl Fred's sitting next to?" I ask curiously, twirling my quill. "I feel like I haven't noticed her much before."

"Hm? Oh, Ella?" Angelina yawns, looking up from the parchment briefly before returning her gaze to the assignment. "Yeah, Ella Walker. You haven't?"

I shrug. "Guess not. Are they friends?"

"Who, Fred and Ella?"

"Mmhm. They're looking pretty goofy together."

"Nah, not really," she replies. "At least, I don't think so. I remember he had a thing for her in our fourth year... we always teased him about it on the team."