Chapter 4

Harry woke early on Saturday. It was so early that the birds were still asleep. Harry looked around the dimly lit room and saw Ron fast asleep in a bed next to his, snoring away.

Harry lay in bed, awake, for several minutes trying to decide rather or not he should go to this concert. He wanted to move on with his life, but losing Sirius was had been very devastating. It felt like losing his parents all over again.

But he wasn’t completely alone. He had friends that cared deeply for him, who cared for his happiness, who came to his rescue when he needed help. They were always watching his back, just as he was watching theirs.

What am I going to do, he thought, I want to get over Sirius’s death, but I barely new him. Just as I barely knew my parents. Why does everything I care about die?

Harry turned over and studies Ron’s sleeping position. He was one of the people he cared about. He was one of the first friends he ever had. They had their share of fights, but Ron still stuck up for him.

When the birds started chirping, Harry got dressed and went downstairs to see if he could find anything in the kitchen to eat. When he reached the kitchen, he found Lupin, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, and Hagrid were already up and talking at the kitchen table.

“Good morning, Harry,” said Mrs. Weasley, who was at the stove stirring a smoking pot. “You’re up early.”

Harry didn’t say anything. He nodded and sat opposite of Lupin, next to Hagrid.

“Of course he’s up early,” said Tonks. “Tonight’s the night of the concert. I know how you feel Harry. I was excited.”

Harry didn’t reply. Excitement was one of the feelings he didn’t feel.

“To bad Dumbledore can’t come,” said Hagrid. “He did after all pay for all the tickets. Must have cost him a fortune. Great man Dumbledore.”

“Dumbledore’s not coming?” asked Harry, speaking for the first time since last night in the car.

“I think he said he had other things to do,” answered Hagrid. “He’s been acting odd lately.”

“Really? How so?”

“It’s not important,” Lupin answered. “He said don’t worry about it.”

XXXXXXXXXX

“No,” said an angry man with spiky blonde hair in a business suit. “I can’t believe you did that without consulting me.”

Latoya was back in her hotel room and was just telling her band and manager, Troy Miller, about her deal with Voldemort. They weren’t pleased.

“It was a great deal!” she yelled. “It’s not like you have to dance with the little orphan boy!”

“You will go back to that man and you will cancel this deal.” Troy said angrily.

“I-I can’t. I made an agreement. He made me. . .sign a paper.” She was about to mention the Dark Mark, but remembered that Voldemort didn’t want her to.

Troy started to pace up and down the room. “I give you everything you ask for and you go sign a deal with this. . .guy. . .just so you won’t have to touch the kid. I told you the orphan idea was for publicity.”

“You’re missing the finer point.”

“What’s the finer point?”

“He can really sing. You should have heard him.”

“Yes, I should have. You had no permission to leave this room. I told you I didn’t want you to speak to anyone.”

“That’s not fair,” she retorted. “This is my career. I should have a choice of who sings with me and who doesn’t. I’m tired of you guys making all the decisions for me. I’m an adult now. I have a mind of my own.”

“I don’t give a damn. It was me who made you who you are. You were lucky that you got to choose your own band members. I even regret letting you do that.”

He had touched a nerve.

“Troy. . .” she said in a shaky voice. “. . .you’re fired!”

“Fired? Fired?” he said, not believing what he heard. “But we have a concert to give tonight.”

“No, we have a concert to give tonight.” She said pointing to herself and band. “You don’t have anything to do.”

“After all I did for you, you’re going to fire me?”

“Eddie, T, get rid of this man.”

Eddie and T grabbed either of Troy’s arms and began to drag him away.

“You’ll be back!” he yelled, as they reached the door. “You’ll come crawling back.”

When he was gone, she turned to Shawn. “We’re going to go on with the show, because the schedule is already written out, but Voldemort goes on with us.”

“If that’s what you want.” Shawn said, looking uncertain.

“It is,” she said. “When they get back, we’ll rehearse.”

XXXXXXXXXX

Harry and his friends arrived at the concert an hour early, so that they could have time to look around. It turned out that a lot of people bought tickets, not as good as Harry’s, but they had them.

As he saw how excited everyone was, Harry began to feel excited himself. He saw people selling programs, phony autographs, t-shirts with Latoya’s picture on it, and people trying to sell their own tickets.

When they reached their seats in the front row, the concert was ready to begin. A man walked out on stage, wearing very thick glasses and a dorky tuxedo. He was about a few inches taller than Professor Flitwick and looked as blind as Ernie Prang, who drove the Knight Bus.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” he said in a booming voice. “Welcome to tonight’s concert, brought to you in part by Rockin’ Clothes, Rock Those Clothes. Without further ado, I give you LATOYA AND HER BAND THE BEATERS!!”

Latoya, Shawn, Eddie, and T came onto the stage. The audience cheered and applauded. The crowd went wild. A lot a people shouted.

“I LOVE YOU, SHAWN!”

“MARRY ME LATOYA!”

“WOOOOOO!! T!!”

“OVER HERE, EDDIE!!”

Latoya walked over to the microphone and lifted it out of the stand.

“ARE YOU GUYS READY TO ROCK!?” she shouted.

“YEAH.” The audience answered.

One nerd said, “IN THE SPOTLIGHT!!” he was the only idiot at the concert holding a lighter.

The band started to play a very slow tune He Left Me At Night. Then they went into a faster beat Don’t Leave Without Paying. Then they went into a very fast beat Dance Dance.

“We had a special request from a fan.” Latoya said when they was finished singing. “Is there a Harry Potter in the audience?”

“YEAH!” shouted the Weasley twins. “HE’S RIGHT HERE!”

A spotlight lit up Harry’s seat. He felt himself going red in the face.

“We heard you like Christmas songs; so this is for you.”

They sung Christmas song after Christmas song. The audience still was into the concert, wishing that they were Harry. They didn’t even notice when Voldemort got onto the stage singing a few songs.

“Would you like to dance, Harry?” Voldemort asked.

“What?”

“Go for it, Harry!” his friends encouraged.

Harry got onto the stage where he danced to the song Last Christmas and Do You Hear What I Hear? He only did it so that the band didn’t feel embarrassed. Harry couldn’t wait for the concert to end.

Neither could Voldemort, because at the end of the night, Harry Potter would be his.