The bass guitar thumped along with the rhythm of Harry's heart. He strained to get his voice higher, louder, more emotional as the electric chords squealed upwards.
"Breathe, breathe, breathe, nobody can hear you," he wailed, holding the you with a tenacity unmatched by even the strongest guard dog. "Breathe, breathe, breathe, don't care if they can see you." The lyrics weren't great, but this was a warmup, after all. "Breathe, breathe, just -"
Harry's roar was abruptly stopped by the loud slam of the classroom door. Opening his eyes, the singing passion leaving his throat, he could see it was Ginny, still dressed head-to-toe in her lacrosse gear.
"We started without you," he said dryly, motioning to the other band members to stop playing. They did so obediently, with Colin Creevey clamping his hand on the guitar neck to stop any notes getting out and Dean Thomas slowly sliding his finger down to finish the bass line.
Ginny glared at him. "I had lacrosse practice."
"Seems like you always do these days," Dean snapped. "I swear, it's like you don't even care about the band's image anymore." He pointed around to the decidedly cool outfits the band was wearing - ripped black denim jeans, threadbare muscle shirts, aviator jackets, and, in Harry's case, an iconic red beanie - and then to Ginny's sweaty lacrosse clothes. "Red and gold might be school spirit, but they're a little too...dreampop for our look."
"Dreampop sucks," said Colin, adding nothing to the conversation.
"Yeah, dreampop does suck," Harry said. "But it's a jam session, dress code doesn't matter. Just so long as you stay committed to the band. You missed the whole warmup!"
Ginny seemed about ready to retort, but instead ran towards Harry and kissed him fully on the lips. Colin did a bro-like head nod, while Dean just rolled his eyes.
"Okay, now that you're here, we can start for real," said Harry. "If we're going to perform at the prom, we need to have one or two originals under our belt, so I think it's time to write a song. You know Draco's going to be livestreaming the whole thing, so we better be prepared for an international audience." He smirked.
Thinking of Draco took Harry out of the concert room for a second and into a particularly bitter place in his memory. How could one person be so damn annoying? Draco's dad, Luke, was a famous pastor, so Draco had industry clout from the beginning - it had cost him nothing to gain a huge social media following. Harry, on the other hand, had poured a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money into his band - money his parents had made, sure, but a lot of money nonetheless. Even besides that, the blond-haired simp just got under Harry's skin. He felt hot just thinking about Draco.
Ginny snapped him out of the moment. "I'm just spitballing here, but what if we did a song that sounds like it's romantic, but isn't really? Like, everyone's rocking out, but really it's sad and anti-prom."
Colin whistled. "That's deep."
"Let's just spitball and see what comes out," said Harry. He tossed Ginny her drumsticks (not the food, of course - Ginny was the band's drummer). "Dean, strike up a riff."
Dean opened with a few rolling chords on the bass, and then Colin and Ginny jumped in simultaneously. The result was a rollicking tune - with no room for vocals. Harry motioned them to stop.
"Guys, you need to wait for me to start singing before kicking in. Do-over. Dean, do the same thing. Colin, Ginny, just vibe." They nodded along to his commanding words.
"One, two, three, four." Dean dropped in with the bass. Harry took a deep breath for the first few bars before getting in.
Can't help falling
Falling for you
Corsage, roses, greenery
I'd do it all for you
Bring you to the JS prom
Have 'em play your favorite song
Too bad when you fall
You can't get up
He snapped, indicating to Colin and Ginny to start playing. They launched in with an unbridled enthusiasm.
I don't need a ball and chain
All I need is you
Red heart tattoo with your name
Over veins so blue
I don't need a ball and chain
I don't want a ball and chain
Harry opened his eyes partway through the chorus, words still flowing out of his mouth with reckless abandon. The other three were all still firmly holding their eyes shut, heads tilted back, like a foursome of music. Ginny's hair, still slick from her practice, shook as she hit the drums and snare.
Wish we could eat cake
Do normal things, for Heaven's sake
His parents always said that when you fell in love, it was like the love song wrote itself. But here in the band, songwriting was always a struggle. Too little give, too much take.
Dance floors are just wooden tiles
Where people go to sweat
Maybe that's why he'd cheated on Ginny.
Abruptly, his voice caught in his throat. The instrumentals dwindled around him.
"What happened?" Ginny accused.
"Couldn't think of a rhyme for tiles," Harry lied.
"Neither can I," said Colin. "Shit's unrhymable."
"Dials, miles, files," said Dean. "It's not even that hard."
"Stop arguing!" Ginny interjected. "There was a lot of potential there! We can just start up and try again. I'm thinking of making the beat faster on the chorus - that okay with everyone?"
They all nodded. "Let's start it up again," said Harry. "I'll change the second verse to rhyme better." Dean started the bass line again.
Ginny locked eyes with him. Something passed between the two of them, and for a moment, he was worried - was she suspicious of him? But no, if anything, she was mirroring his look. Like she had something to hide.
Did she?
"Alright, folks, we are Partial Tongue! Get ready to rock!" Harry screamed at the empty room, imagining a surging crowd of fans. And Draco filming him. God, he was even in his fantasies. Maybe more than usual.
He closed his eyes.
Can't help falling
Falling for you
YOU ARE READING
Lockers Full of Thorns
Fanfiction{Harry Potter - High School AU} It's Harry's junior year at Goswarth High, and things are going well - he's got a girlfriend, he's set for life with riches from his dad's hedge fund, and his band is taking off. But with great success comes great res...
