The Transfer

Ch4 Serenade

Disclaimer: No own=no $$$

So I have often wondered—what is everyone else doing while the trio is saving the day and having all the fun? Haven't you? This chapter gives you a little peak behind the scenes in the 6^th year boy's dorm. It was fun to write and hopefully will be fun to read. One word of warning… those of you with your Gary-stu/Ginny-sue detectors set on full sensitivity will need to give the boy a break and let him play!

The common room had a few younger students still sitting around catching up on summer gossip -- but I knew Hermione was right. I should get some sleep. I climbed the stairs to the boys dorm and looked into each room I passed, trying to find that conspicuous Seabag.

I found it atop a four-poster bed that looked like it had been magically made to fit into a room already full to the brim. As I crossed the threshold, I heard Seamus's voice to my right say, “Cor! Look at her go - I take back everything I've ever said about you, Creevey!”

Sitting on the first bed to the right of the door was Seamus, Neville and two younger boys with brown hair and fair skin. They were obviously brothers; the younger was a one-eighth scale model of the older. As I turned to walk towards them they all froze suddenly and Seamus clutched something tight to his chest.

“Oh, Bloody Hell, Vin!” he exclaimed, “Thought you were Dean for a second.”

“Or Ron,” added Neville.

“Yeah, that'd be worse actually…” he agreed.

My curiosity peaked, I asked, “What you got there Seamus?”

He handed over a magic picture of a girl's backside that was continuously walking away, hips swaying and long red hair bouncing in rhythm with her step. The hair was a dead give-away as to the subject's identity, but having walked behind her myself, I would have known who it was if she had been wearing it in a bun.

“Whose photographic accomplishment is this?” I asked with a smirk.

“That's Creevey here,” said Seamus slapping the older of the brothers hard on the back, then saying to him, “Good thing too, mate. I was starting to worry you were more interested in Ron than Ginny!”

“Fuck off!” was his reply, and his face told me he was seriously pissed by the remark, but Seamus just beamed at him as his little brother literally rolled on the bed with laughter.

I handed the photo back to Seamus, who sat back down discussing copies with the elder Creevey as I walked to my bed to unpack.

I noticed Neville was as red-faced as ever as I passed, so I gave him a hard wink and said, “Make sure Neville gets two copies there, Creevey. He might ruin his first one.”

They all burst into laughter again, even Neville, but as I opened my bag, Seamus said, “Actually, he was saying you would want a copy for sure, Vin. Said something about you noticing her on the train.”

“That so?” I narrowed my eyes at poor Neville, who almost cowered.

“Yeah, he said something about `dang that girl' or the like. What was it Nev?”

Neville just shook his head.

“Yeah, he said you found a girl to fancy already, mate. Not one to waste time are you?” continued Seamus with his patented mischievous smile and devilish tone. “Too bad you've got a long line of blokes ahead of you. Not the least of which includes everyone in this room! Oh, and she's dating one of your roommates too.” He gestured towards another bed in the room and I saw the last name Thomas across the trunk.

I put a pile of clothes away in a drawer and said, “No, man. You got me all wrong.” I poured the remaining contents of my bag across my bed and sifted through them. “She's very easy on the eyes, I won't argue that fact, but I never said I liked her.”

“Ha! You're a piss poor liar, Vin,” laughed Seamus, “Although I did notice you spent a lot of time following poor Granger around like a little lost puppy.” He leaned back across his bed and put his hand to his chin as he looked at me contemplatively. “Like the swotty ones, then? You'd be mental to pick Granger over this!” He raised the picture at me, swaying it slowly back and forth so that the hip movement was exaggerated further still.

I found my shrunken guitar case and put it aside while sweeping the remaining clutter into the last empty drawer and said, “What's wrong with Hermione? She may not have all that,” I gestured to the picture, “but I'd be a fool to stand at the back of that line you were talking about, wouldn't I?”

“Nothings wrong with Hermione!” said Neville suddenly.

“Yeah, you fancied her for a bit didn't you Nev?” chimed in one of the Creevey brothers.

“No, no. I just asked her to the Yule ball back in forth year. She already had a date though,” said Neville flatly.

“Weird that you ended up taking Ginny then, isn't it?” said Seamus with a laugh.

My mouth went slack, “You took Ginny to a dance?”

“Yeah, we had a good time too,” replied Neville with pride.

“Please Neville,” said Seamus, “you know and I know she was almost a different girl back then. Not to take away from your grand time or anything,” he turned to me then and said, “but the last two years have been pretty busy for Ginny from the neck down -- if you get my meaning.”

“Ah,” I replied, but I wanted to get back on topic. “So I take it swotty means smart, right?”

Seamus laughed, “Yeah it means she'd rather go to the library than the astronomy tower. You've got a grasp of it.”

They all seemed to find my interest in Hermione suddenly very funny. I sat on my bed and pulled out my wand giving my tiny guitar case a few taps to enlarge it.

Noticing I was ignoring them Seamus said, “Look mate, there isn't anything wrong with Hermione. It's just that we've known her since she was—“ he put his hand out, about three feet from the ground, “and she used to have this hair!” he stuck his hands out then and moved them around his head like they were planets orbiting a sun.

“And these teeth!” chimed in the older Creevey, pointing two fingers out from his mouth so he looked like a beaver.

“She was a bit of a bossy know-it-all too,“ added Neville reluctantly. “She was always very nice to me, but I'm sure there were some people who didn't like her.”

“So you see, we have a bit of a warped view of her, “said Seamus. “I actually think the hair has come along nicely these days. She's still a know-it-all though.”

“Well, I guess that just means I won't have to wait in line to be with her then, will I?” I said, taking the guitar out of the case and testing the strings with a strum. Damn. I never could keep it in tune after re-enlarging it.

“Don't bet on that!” said small Creevey.

“Yeah, she is never without her two hit-wizards, Potter and Weasley,” added Seamus. “She seems to like you though. She doesn't usually walk and talk with anyone but those two. Play your cards right, who knows.”

“Hmmm,” was all I said to his last comment as I sat there tuning and pretended to concentrate. In reality, I was pretty happy with what I had learned. If she really didn't hang out with anyone but Ron and Harry, then I guess things were going good so far.

“How long have you played?” asked Seamus, getting up from his bed and crossing the room for a closer look.

“Since I was about twelve. I can play a pretty good number of songs now. Want to hear something?”

“Know any Weird Sisters?” asked big Creevey.

I did know a few of their songs, but they were so played-out these days. That was the problem with Wizard music; a band could release an album every ten years and be popular. I got sick of it too fast.

“Sorry, I don't.” I lied.

“Dodgy Cauldrons?” asked Neville.

“Nope.”

“Wyvern?”

“Nah, don't you guys know any Non-Magic bands?”

“Nope, not really,” said Neville, “Should we?”

I opened my mouth to respond but Ginny's voice came from just outside the room before I could speak.

“Everyone decent? Good--,” she said without giving anyone near enough time to put clothes on if they'd needed too. She came striding into the room looking at Dean's bed hoping to find him there but stopped when she saw everyone gathered around me and the guitar.

“Oh, free concert tonight, then?” she asked.

“Sure, have a seat,” I smiled at her, while Seamus quickly tucked the picture into his back pocket.

“Seen Dean around?” she asked us as she sat on the bed across from me. Everyone else shook their head at her but I said, “Dean, Dean… hmmm. Your boyfriend Dean?”

She eyed me curiously and said, “Yeah, that's him.”

“Tall, dark, good looking guy, right?”

“That's the one.”

“Nope, “ I said with a smirk, “No one in here like that.”

I heard Seamus chuckle to himself, but Ginny looked me over and said with a smile tugging one corner of her mouth, “Oh I wouldn't say that…”

Must be the guitar, I thought.

Seamus rose to stow the picture, and as he crossed behind her he mouthed `line jumping bastard!' to me so that I had to duck my head and pretend I was still tuning to avoid laughing.

“So what are you going to play?” she asked, apparently content to let Dean find her now.

“Well that's a good question Ginny, we were just discussing Wizarding versus Non-Magic bands. Do you know any Non-magic music?” I asked optimistically.

“Um, maybe. Can you name some for me?”

“Sure,” I said. Let's start big, that have to have heard of Nirvana right? Everyone knows them. “How about Nirvana?” I played the first few bars of Smells Like Teen Spirit and watched as their faces remained indifferent. “I'll take that as a no then.”

“Smashing Pumpkins?” No.

“Soundgarden?” No.

“Pearl Jam?”

“Is that a band?” asked Neville with a disgusted look across his face, “Sounds like a condition.”

Ginny burst into laughter and said, “Yeah, isn't that what they call it when you can't—,“ and she made an up and down motion with her right hand, like she was stroking a certain part of the male anatomy.

The Creeveys, Seamus and Ginny lost it, laughing long and hard, but Neville just covered his face and said, “I can't believe you just said that Ginny.”

I was a little annoyed. Pearl Jam was one of my favorite bands. I guess it was funny though.

Not making any progress I went for a bigger name, one from Britain too. They had to know them.

“How about the Beatles?” I plucked out the first few bars of Yesterday but Neville just asked, “The who?”

“No, The Who played—,“ and I pounded out the chorus to Baba O'Riley and sang the `teenage wasteland' lyrics as best I could.

“Ah, me Dad knows that one,” said Seamus when I finished, “he told me my room was a teenage wasteland the other day.”

Ginny snorted back another laugh as I shook my head in frustration. I was picking bands too old or too foreign. I needed something English and popular now.

“How about Oasis?” I asked.

“Yeah, them I know,” said Seamus finally. The elder Creevey nodded also. Maybe their folks were Non-Magical like Hermione's.

“Great! I know a good one of theirs. I was practicing it before we came over from the States.”

They all gathered around as I played the intro once through, just to make sure I remembered it all. The music must have traveled down the hall outside because I looked up as I was about to start and saw a pretty Indian girl with her blonde, curly haired friend standing in the doorway. Ginny turned and motioned for them to join her on the bed.

An audience worth playing for, I thought as I looked at the three girls across from me. There was someone still missing of course, someone who I wanted to play the song for more than anyone else that I had met so far. Maybe if I play a little louder than I need to, I can get her up here too.

I started the intro again, a little louder this time, and saw another group come in and stand by the door. I didn't recognize any of them, but it looked like they could hear me in the common room.

I began,

Sittin' on my own
Chewin' on a bone
A thousand million
Miles from home
When Something hit me
Somewhere right between the eyes

I looked up and saw Romilda Vane and a group of her friends in the room now, giggling and whispering back by the door. Dean entered as well. He sat next to Ginny and took her hand as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Sleepin' on a plane
You know you can't complain
You took your last chance
Once again
I landed, stranded
Hardly even knew your name

Again I looked up and this time I was happy to see a mane of caramel hair enter the room and weave its way through the small crowd until it stopped next to Neville on my left. I glanced at her and saw she was indeed carrying a notebook and quill in her hands, she actually did have notes to go over and wasn't ditching me as I theorized she might have been.

I wanna talk tonight
Until the mornin' light
'Bout how you saved my life
You and me see how we are
You and me see how we are

All your dreams are made
Of Strawberry lemonade
And you make sure
I eat today
You take me walking
To where you played
When you were young

I'll never say that I
Won't ever make you cry
And this I'll say
I don't know why
I know I'm leavin'
But I'll be back another day

I chanced another glance at Hermione and saw she was smiling broadly at me and mouthing the words as I sang them. Did she know the song, or had she learned the words as I played it? I wasn't sure, but I found myself trying not to stare at her so that everyone wouldn't think I was serenading her. Though, I guess actually, I was.

I wanna talk tonight
Until the mornin' light
'Bout how you saved my life

You saved my life
I wanna talk tonight

By the time I finished, there were probably twenty-five people in the room, all of them transfixed on the performance. They applauded heartily and someone called out “Play another one!” but before anything else could come of it, Ron and Harry came into the room looking tired and annoyed that they had to fight their way into their own sleeping space.

“OI! I want the lot of you out of here and in bed now!” yelled Ron, sticking out his chest to make sure everyone could see his Prefect badge.

I watched Hermione go past Ron with a group of students so that he wouldn't know she was there. Probably to avoid the argument that would have come if he knew she was there and had let me play. I tried to follow her out with my eyes in case she turned around so I could see her expression, but Ron was so tall, he took up the whole doorway.

“Hey, that was really good, mate” said Seamus as the crowd thinned. “Don't worry about Ron, he can be a right prat when he wants to be.”

“So I keep hearing.” I replied.

Eventually everyone left except for Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville. We settled into bed and before I could even offer a good night to everyone, I heard Ron and Neville snoring. It had been a long day.

I sat for thirty or so minutes, waiting to feel tired enough to shut my eyes, but the feeling wouldn't come. I was wired from playing guitar and also, I realized, from a lack of nicotine. I hadn't had a cigarette since that morning after breakfast.

When I was sure that everyone else was asleep, I crept downstairs with my wand and a pack of Marlboros, lighting one with the wand tip as I sat by the fire.

“Ah, that's the stuff,” I whispered to myself as I exhaled up the floo, making sure the smoke didn't creep back into the room. Before I was halfway through with the smoke, I found my eyes going heavy and my thoughts getting light. I flicked the butt into the fire and cast a cleaning charm on my clothes and mouth, walking carefully back up the stairs, not making a sound.

As I slipped back into bed the last image in my mind was of Hermione's cinnamon eyes, the common room fire held in them as she looked up at me. I fell asleep, hoping I would remember my dreams.

AN- before any judgment is passed on the musical tastes presented here, due try and remember what year this is supposed to take place in…

And keep an eye out for next chapter, the first day of classes looms large on the horizon!