There are those who are blind, those who are deaf, those who can't smell, those who have destroyed their taste buds well beyond tasting, but no one ever hears about the minority in those five senses.
Those who can't feel.
And Fred Weasley is one of them.
It happened when he was 5. His brother and him were fooling around with magic and a spell George cast at him backfired with terrible consequences. The healers at St. Mungo's were baffled with the results. It seemed that the young boy had lost all ability to feel… anything.
They poked, prodded, pinched and pressed, but Fred responded by shooting them an unimpressed look and asking his mum if they were done yet. It appeared that the only place he could still feel was his mouth.
"How soon?" His mother asked earnestly, when they told her that it should wear off soon.
"It depends. It might take some sort of… this sounds strange, but strong urge to feel from him for it to come back. This injury is magic, and magic can be strange sometimes."
But it never wore off.
No one ever found out about it, and he preferred to keep it that way. His 5th year proved to be his hardest year at keeping his 'disability' quiet. Him and his brother had grown over the summer, and it had shown. He turned down girls almost every week and soon rumours were circulating that maybe… maybe he was gay.
The rumours soon died down and Fred and George left Hogwarts in the middle of their 7th year with an exit sure to be written into the history books. Their business (Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes) grew over the course of two years and by then they had opened up a new branch. Zonko was itching to retire and eagerly let Fred and George buy his Hogsmeade store.
The two were then split, with George in Hogsmeade running their new shop, and Fred in Diagon Alley.
-
It all happened very suddenly. Fred was locking up the shop for the night when someone ran straight into him. The only reason he noticed the impact was because it had caused him to lose his footing slightly. He looked down and who had hit him and snorted.
The girl was a mix of all different sorts of colours. Her hair was a mishmash of reds and oranges, which clashed magnificently with the bright pink and green sweater she was wearing. The only thing that was monochromatic about this girl was her black jeans and shoes.
After snickering for a few moments at the girl's appearance, Fred reached down to help the girl up. She smiled shyly at him to his utter shock.
"Er… S-Sorry. I wasn't really watching where I was going and I--Well I'm sorry." She blathered on. Fred raised an eyebrow.
"It's fine. Are you all right? You seemed like you were in a hurry?" He leaned against the door of his shop. She seemed surprised that he was still talking to her and bit her lip.
"Er… I was trying to…" She stared blankly at him. "I wasn't in a hurry."
Fred aah'ed and reached out his hand.
"Well, I'm Fred Weasley, and you are?" Again, the girl looked completely flabbergasted that he was still talking to her.
"P-Penny. P-Penny… er…" She hesitated. She hated telling people her last name; it was like her parents had thought it was some sick joke.
"Well, Penny Er, it's nice to meet you." Fred said, raising his eyebrow in an amused fashion.
"N-no! That's not my last name! My last name is…" She let out a sigh. "Pompadour." She finally said quietly.
Now, we all know that Fred isn't always the most sensitive when it comes to human beings and… well he burst into laughter. Penny looked unsure of what to do and glanced around at the darkening street as his raucous laughter echoed around her. When he was finished he glanced at her.
"Well, Penny Pompadour," at this he paused to let out a little snort, "Would you care to accompany me on a little errand I'm about to run?"
"P-Pardon?" She blinked her round hazel eyes at him. He laughed.
"I asked if you'd like to come with me to…" He looked around for an open shop, his eyes finally resting on Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. "Get some ice cream." He finished, grinning. Penny raised an eyebrow and shot him an incredulous look.
"It's… 7 at night and freezing and… you want to go get ice cream… with me." She said flatly, as if trying to convince herself this was actually happening. "Okay?"
Fred grinned and hooked arms with her like he'd just found his new best friend and bounced off to the shop. When they got in and ordered and sat down, Fred actually got the chance to examine this stray girl he'd wandered into.
Her entire appearance was a direct contradiction to her entire personality, and he briefly wondered if she'd planned it that way. She had violent looking colours smeared on her eyes and her lips were an almost un-natural red. Freckles that she'd tried to unsuccessfully hide poked through the thin layer of foundation she was wearing and as she licked at her ice cream Fred realized that she probably couldn't be older than fourteen.
"Er… Penny. How old are you?" He sat back. Her eyes snapped back to his.
"Eighteen. Why?" She asked softly. Fred let out a whoosh of air.
"Just making sure I wasn't… Well, anyways." He grinned at her.
"Um… Okay?" She went back to staring at the window as she'd been doing previously, which didn't bother Fred much, as he went back to examining his newest discovery.
He finally decided that she wasn't stunning, or pretty, but just cute in a quirky weird sort of way. By that time she'd noticed he was staring and she was staring back. Fred briefly noted that for someone who had come across as timid, she had a killer stare.
"Is something on my face?" She asked blankly.
"Nope."
"Then why are you staring?"
"I need a reason to stare?"
"I…" She stopped short, frowning. "I don't suppose so… But it's making me feel… weird." She fiddled with her hair.
"So, Penny Pompadour. Where did you blow in from? I've never seen you before, did you go to Hogwarts?"
"Me? Uh, no. I was home-schooled by my parents. They didn't like the idea of me going to a school so far away. They're a bit possessive."
"Figured as much, I'm sure I would've remembered your hair. That, and you didn't automatically know I was a Weasley." He laughed.
"… Should I have known that?"
"Only if you'd been to Hogwarts or if your parents worked at the Ministry of Magic."
"Oh, okay."
A silence fell between them with Penny looking around at her surroundings quite frequently. Fred just watched her with an amused look, especially when she caught him staring and looked down quickly, a blush creeping onto her pale cheeks.
"Well, since you asked, I do own that shop!" Fred said enthusiastically.
"You own a shop?" She looked at him in awe, like a little child seeing magic for the first time.
"The one you saw me locking up." He said with a pride that could almost be considered arrogance. She frowned, trying to remember which one.
"That… Wheezes place right? I've walked by that a few times… It's a joke shop right? Wait, how old are you? Not like, really old right?" She propped her chin on both her elbows.
"I'm only 19, actually." Penny's jaw dropped.
"You own a business and you're only 19? How?"
"Well, actually, I own it with my brother…" Fred couldn't help but feel a bit proud of her awe.
"Oh that's so neat!" Her entire face lit up and she nearly let her entire guard down as she began to babble aimlessly about wanting to have her own fashion line as a child but then giving up on that because: "I mean, needles are really… pointy and they hurt." When she'd finished she clapped her hands over her mouth.
"Oh no, I really didn't mean to talk your ear off. I'm sorry, that must've been so boring for you, hearing about my rubbish dreams and whatnot. I-I have to go anyways, it's late and my flat isn't in the greatest of areas plus I have to get up early tomorrow a-and--" She stood up.
Fred stood up with her and raised a bemused eyebrow, grinning down at her (well, she was tiny).
"All right, if you insist, but I insist that you come by my shop tomorrow." He said in a fake upper-crust English accent, which he obviously found to be hilarious. Penny, however, didn't understand and shot him a perplexed look.
"Er… If I have time I don't know." She blurted out. "It was nice meeting you!" She yelled as she dashed out of the shop, stumbling and nearly falling on her shoelace.
"Well, that was interesting…"