Mark Cohen – Ron Weasley
Roger Davis - Harry Potter
Mimi Marquez – Hermione 'Mimi' Granger
Benjamin Coffin III – Draco Malfoy II
Maureen Johnson – Luna Lovegood
Joanne Jefferson – Cho Chang
Tom Collins – Dean Thomas
Angel Dumont Schunard – Colin 'Angel' Creevey
PrologueThe war is over. The entire Wizarding community has been rebuilding itself for the past eight years. Hermione disappeared right after the war and left Ron and Harry to themselves. In the last year of the war Draco Malfoy turned into a double agent, aiding in the efforts of the Order. Since the Order ran out of money, Harry gave all of his to its disposal. He is now broke. Once the war ended, Ron discovered movies, and the new Wizarding Video Camera or Wideo Camera quickly filled his expectations. Harry took up guitar, in hopes of making something of himself. He'd had enough of wars and fighting and decided against becoming an auror. Music became his life.
Harry and Ron moved into a flat with Dean Thomas, Draco Malfoy (who had become a close friend) and Ron's girlfriend, Luna Lovegood. Draco moved out once he married Lavender Brown. Lavender's family was one of the few rich wizarding families left. Draco took advantage of that.
Dean moved out too. He was offered a spot at the Magical Institute of Technology, or MIT, and has been off the radar for seven months. The boys haven't talked to him or seen him. Just like Hermione. Little is known of Hermione up to this point. Except that she's gone.
After the war, a strange wizarding disease was discovered, the Aquired Magic Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AMIDS. Much like AIDS in Muggles, this horrible disease kills off M-Cells (Magic Cells) in the blood of a wizard or witch. It makes them less immune to other magical disorders, diseases and spells. It started spreading quickly through the population.
And now without further ado is…
RENT
We begin on with me…I'm Ron, and my roommate, Harry. We live in a flat between 11th street and Avenue B in London. Our building opens up to Diagon Alley. This building used to be used by the Ministry of Magic as a storage facility…then it was used as a music publishing building. It's been abandoned for a while now. There are posters on the wall with Harry's old band on them, advertising gigs at the Broomstick Haunt and at Cow Wizards. (Don't ask me how they came up with that one…it was an experiment gone awry.) We have an unregistered fireplace that goes up to a broken skylight. All our power comes from one ratty old extension cord that snakes its way in from the hallway. Unfortunately at this point in time we have no heat. The owners of the building shut it off. A protest is in the works in the empty lot next door…the lot where all the homeless wizards in London are.
I turn to Harry, the purple light on my Wideo Camera flashing. "Smile!" I say. He scowls at me. Its December 24th, 9pm Greenwich Mean Time, from here on in I'm shooting without a script.
"First shot Harry." I say, smiling. "Tuning the Fender Guitar, he hasn't played in a year."
"This won't tune." Harry says in frustration as a string breaks and lets off an awful noise.
"So we hear." I remark, grinning at him. He just scowls again. I return to my wideo. "He's just coming back from half a year of withdrawal."
"Are you talking to me?"
"No, my camera. Are you ready? Hold that focus. Tell the folks at home what you're doing Harry!"
"I'm writing one great song…" Then the phone started to ring. Harry smiled.
"Saved."
"Not for long my friend. We're screening." The answering machine beeped and my mother's voice came through. I wanted to turn it off. I haven't talked to her in months. I just can't go home right now.
"That was a very loud beep. I don't even know if this is working. Ron – Ron are you there? I guess not…it's Mum. We wanted to call and say we love you and we'll miss you tomorrow, Ginny and the kids are here, send their love. OH! I hope you like the jumper! Just remember to hang it up to dry. Oh and Ron…we're sorry to hear that Luna dumped you. I say c'est la vie. So let her be a lesbian! There are other fishies in the sea dear…love Mum!"
I rolled my eyes and zoomed off the answering machine. I turned my lens back towards Harry. "Tell the folks at home what you're doing Harry!"
"I'm writing one great song…" Then the phone rang again. I frowned. This wasn't going as planned. Zooming in on the answering machine again I heard Harry mutter "Yes!" behind me as he turned back to his guitar.
"Chestnuts roasting…" Harry and I both looked at the phone. I grabbed it.
"Thomas!" We shouted together.
"I'm downstairs" Dean Thomas said over the line.
"Hey." I said smiling.
"Harry picked up the phone?"
"No it's me."
"Well throw down the key Weasel." I smiled to myself. He continued. "A wild night is now pre-ordained."
"Of course." I heard muffled noises in the background as Thomas groaned into the phone:
"I may be detained." He hung up. I turned off the phone and turned to Harry.
"What does he mean?" I asked. Harry shook his head. The phone rang again. I put it on speakerphone quickly, expecting it to be Dean. "What do you mean detained?" There was a pause at the end of the line before a voice I hadn't heard in awhile answered.
"Ho Ho Ho." Harry and I looked at each other again. We knew that voice.
"Draco."
"Shit." Harry said under his breath.
"Dudes I'm on my way." Draco said, his voice happy.
"Great…" I rolled my eyes.
"Fuck!" Harry said a little bit louder this time.
"I need the rent." Draco kept going.
"What rent?" I asked. Once Draco married Lavender, he bought our building. AND he told us we could stay there.
"This past year's rent that I let slide." He explained. I shook my head at the machine.
"Let slide? You said we were 'golden'."
"When you bought the building…" Harry led off.
"When we were roommates!" I finished. Harry glared at the phone and then put his face in his hands.
"Remember? You lived here." Harry tried to clarify. Not that Draco would not recall.
"How could I forget?" Draco chuckled. "You, me, Thomas and Luna…how is the drama queen?"
"She's performing tonight." I said, thinking of the empty lot next door where Luna had her protest planned.
"I know." Draco didn't sound too happy anymore. "Still her production manager?" I sighed.
"Two days ago I was bumped." Draco kept pressing.
"You still dating her?" I sighed again and shook my head.
"Last month I was dumped."
"She's in love." Harry said smiling.
"She's got a new man?" Draco sounded surprised. I don't know why. Luna was hot now. She'd really grown up since her fourth year…and I mean REALLY grown up.
"Well no…" Harry and I glanced at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
"What's his name?"
"Cho Chang." Harry and I said in unison.
"Rent my amigos is due, or I will have to evict you." Harry and I looked at each other and groaned. "Be there in a few."
Harry started to play again, and it was finally sounding like something real when.
BOOM
The power blew. The guitar stopped and all the lights went out.
"Oh fuck." I heard Harry mutter on the other side of the room.
"What a wonderful film…five minutes into it and the power blows." I said moodily as I shut of my camera. "How am I supposed to document real life when real life gets more like fiction everyday?" I heard Harry laugh behind me. "All these Headlines and bread-lines blow my mind and now Draco's giving us a deadline to pay him the fucking RENT!"
I stormed across the room and grabbed a firing barrel.
"You think you've got it bad?" Harry said in the dark. "How am I supposed to write a song, when the chords sound wrong."
"Dude, they weren't sounding right in the first place." I said. He growled from the corner.
"Get bent! These notes are all sour then Draco the asshole shuts off our power so I'll never get it right anyway. I was good once…god I'm hungry."
"I'm frozen." I sighed.
"Some life we've chosen hey? But honestly…how are we going to pay last year's rent?" I ignored him.
"Lets light candles." I said, hoping it would help me see. "Luminous…now where are those stupid candles?"
"We need to start a fire, but there's nothing to burn…and I think something's stuck in the flue." Harry had gotten up and headed towards the firing barrel. "INCENDIO!" he shouted, and flames burst up. "We need to find something to keep it going."
"We'll light up a mean blaze with…posters?" I grabbed some of the old band's posters off the wall and threw them into the barrel. Harry grabbed an old notebook from a full box.
"And screenplays. But seriously Ron…how are we going to pay the rent?" I again ignored him. I didn't want to think about Draco and those problems right now.
"Where's Thomas do you think?" I asked looking out the window at the cold London night.
"Probably picking up some hot guy or another." Harry picked up an old review of a documentary I did. "The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit." He smiled at me in the candlelight."
I picked up one of his poster with a review on it and read it out to him. "The music ignites the night with passionate fire. We really were good once, weren't we?"
"Can't live in the past." He replied simply. The phone rang. I slowly walked over, cautious to answer. "It might be Thomas." Harry suggested from the couch.
"Yea, but it might be Draco." I countered.
"Just answer the phone." Harry shot back. I picked it up.
"Hello?" On the other line was… "Luna? Your equipment won't work?" Harry rolled his eyes as my ex-girlfriend begged me to come help her. Her voice was getting more frantic and high-pitched and I finally yelled out "OKAY, ALRIGHT, I'LL GO!" I hung up the phone and Harry started laughing at me.
"How are you going to leave the past behind when it keeps getting to you Ron?"
"She just knows my weaknesses. It's like she reaches way down deep and tears me inside out until I'm torn apart." I sighed and sat down next to him. "How are you going to connect in an age different from the last time you really experienced it?"
"You get to use your camera to spar."
"You sound like an old fashioned knight you loser. Why don't you make music? Use your guitar to fight it." Harry looked over at me, his eyebrow raised.
"We're not going to pay the rent, are we?"
"No…and you know why!"
"Enlighten me."
"Because everything is rent! And we're broke."
A/N more coming soon, review please! I own nothing is all J K Rowling's or Jonathan Larson's
KaCcEe