Except For You ~ {Fred Weasley}

Chapter 17

“Hey! Hey, y/n! Hey, wait up!” Someone calls down the hallway. I stop immediately and turn to see Alice jogging after me.
“Yeah?” I ask when she reaches me.
“I was- I was wondering-” She puffs, hands on her knees. “I was wondering if you wanted to come to the all house party tomorrow night.” She finally puffs out. I stand there, stunned. I had never been to a party at Hogwarts before.
“Um, I guess.” She beams.
“Cool. It's tomorrow night at eight, come down with me. Wear party casual, ‘kay?”
“Yeah, okay. Wait, you said it’s all house?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Oh no reason. What time was it again?”
“Eight to around twelve. See you there!” She runs off again. I don’t really have any party casual clothes though. I guess I just won’t wear the usual.

I get ready at seven-thirty. It’s a Saturday night so I was able to take a short nap. Partly because it’s going until midnight, and partly because I needed to curl my hair and I didn’t want to wait around for my hair to dry. I separate the ringlets and comb my fingers through my hair. I need another haircut. I get dressed out of my usual stockings this time. I put on a light blue dress with flowers that reaches down to my knees and an oversized jacket. I shove my docs on, tie them up quickly and grab my bag. I meet Alice down in the common room, when she sees me her jaw drops.
“What?” I ask warrily.
“You look so good!”
“I always do.” She laughs at my response. “Anyways, should we go?”
“Nah, we should be a bit late. It’s less weird that way.” We stand there awkwardly.
“Well, I’ll read for a bit then.” I say to ease the tension. She nods as I move over to a soft armchair. Soon she flops into one opposite to me.
“So. What’s going on between you and Fred?”
“Nothing.” I lie, reading the same sentence twice.
“Come on, give me something here!” She exclaims.
“I don’t have anything to give you.” I lie again. She blows out and leans back in her chair. After a few minutes she pulls back her left sleeve and checks her watch.
“We can go now.” She states openly, hopping up. “Oh, and leave the bag, you won’t need it.” She adds. I shuffle through it and extract some lip balm and gum, stuffing them into my pockets. I jog to catch up with her. We sneak around going down staircases, corridors and secret passageways. We get to a blank stretch of wall and Alice walks by it three times. A door suddenly appears and I guess because it’s Hogwarts I don’t question it. She opens it and we step into a massive room, with the decorations themed with all the house colours. It’s full of people who are talking, but it feels quiet. Someone runs up to me and flings their arms around my neck.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here!” Del exclaims.
“Me either.” I mutter.
“You shoulda told me! We could’ve worn matching outfits!”
“We do that subconsciously Del. I’m going to leave, this party sucks.”
“No wait! The music hasn’t started yet!”
“Music?”
“Yeah! A Gyrffindor- and Hufflepuff- band! They’re really good, and their songs are original too! The guitarist writes them. Ooh! It’s starting.” She turns to face a sort of stage, and there are flashing lights coming from somewhere.
“Hello everyone! Time to get this party started!” The keyboard player announces as everyone cheers. “Get ready for ‘This Side Of Paradise’!” The lights stop flashing and focus on the four people of the band. There’s the aforementioned keyboard player, a lead singer, a drummer and the guitarist. Lee Jordan’s the keyboard player, I knew I recognised his voice, Cedric Diggory as the lead singer, George Weasley as the drummer and-
“Mr Trouble’s the guitarist?” I hiss to Del.
“Yeah! Oh…”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She stands there for a bit.
“You would’ve left before the music could even start playing.” She mutters. I growl but stay put.
“I’ll stay for one song.”
“What if you like it?” She asks eagerly. I sigh.
“Then I’ll stay a bit longer.” I mumble. She squeals.
“Oh yeah! I never told you! We’re a thing! Like, an official thing!” I grin. Finally, something that makes me happy.
“That’s great Del, really!”
“Okay, shh! We’ve missed like half the song.” I roll my eyes as I move past her and around the crowd to get as far away from Mr Trouble as possible. I make it to the drinks table and ladle some pumpkin juice into a cup. They’re at the chorus. I remember that Mr Trouble’s the one who writes the songs.
“Lonely (are you lonely?). Passion is crashing as we speak. You seem so lonely (are you lonely?). You're the ground my feet won't reach. So if you're lonely, darling you're glowing. If you're lonely, come be lonely with me.” His eyes are on me while he and Cedric sing. He wrote this about me. Del fights through the crowd over to me.
“Hey! Do you like the song?” I shrug.
“It’s not… terrible.” I look at her. “Wait, how do you know so much about these parties?” Her grin fades and she looks nervous. “Well?”
“I’ve been to a few parties before this one.” She mumbles.
“And you’ve never invited me?”
“I didn’t think parties were your thing!” She exclaims defensively. I sigh.
“Alright. I just wish you would’ve at least once.”
“Sorry. You should come to the next one.”
“Only if this one plays out well.”