Little one shot that was inspired by seeing the part of little help of my friends in across the universe
With a Little Help From My Friends
You know the Gryffindor Common Room. Mrs. Rowling has made sure of it. You know its wooden chairs, comfortable rugs, plush sofas and warm fireplace. I am sure you know the color of the decorations and the stairs that lead to the dorms. You know its entrance, a very peculiar painting of a Lady in a huge pink dress who likes to kid herself into thinking she can sing. And if you have no imagination whatsoever, you can always play the Harry Potter DVD and watch the first scenes of the first movie. But if you like reading fanfictions of a magic world, then usually it means you do have imagination.
But what you don't know, it's that this room hasn't changed a lot. Sure, its inhabitants change every year, with new ones going in and old ones walking away. But they are generally the same type of inhabitants. Whether it's the young curious ones that sneak out to discover a new world, or the old ones sneaking out to meet their dates. Whether they are reading and learning for their classes or they are gossiping about the latest couple in Hufflepuff (which weren't really that loyal after all, if you get what I mean).
But anyways, the Gryffindor Common Room hasn't change at all since the beginning of the last century (when a group of treasure hunters decided that in the walls of the tower were the 78 rubies of Godric Gryffindor's Mother and the Ministry of Magic approved their expedition - let's just say that the left wall near the fireplace hasn't been the same since).
You certainly have read the books, so you can easily imagine the status of the Common Room one rainy Sunday afternoon in 1977.
If you have no idea of the time line in the Potter Saga, then let me refresh your memory: 1977 was the last year of the Marauders and Lily Evans.
So now, close your eyes, imagine yourself walking towards that portrait and telling the Fat Lady the password ('Guantanamera'). Picture yourself crouching to fit trough the hole on the wall (although you do not need to crouch) and entering that place where our heroes will cry, laugh, kiss and, for the inconvenience of their friends, occasionally fart.
But for now, forget about Neville's indigestion problems. Instead, think of our favorite characters: James, Sirius, Lily, Remus and Peter (who many will object and drop him off their fic, or present him as a stupid disgusting boy, but let's face it: if he was friends with James, Sirius and Remus, he must have been at least a bit funny or interesting).
Think of them as teenagers, carefree ones that is, for NEWTs are still months away and Voldemort is currently in Albania.
Imagine them, sitting (or sprawled) on the right corner of the Room. The corner they had claimed as their own since the end of last term, when they had noticed they only had a year left and had decided that they would spend more time together.
Picture Sirius on the floor, his back resting on the couch, his long legs sprawled in front of him. There is a box of Every Flavor Beans on the rug beside him, and every now and then he grabs one throws it high in the air and catches it without difficulty with his mouth.
Imagine Sara McCartney lying next to him, her head on his left leg, snoring quietly. She had after all, spent the entire night before with her Ravenclaw boyfriend.
There are some quiet guitar sounds, coming from the couch where Sirius is leaning against. Lily Evans is lying there, her feet propped up on Alice Prewetts lap and her guitar in her arms, she is stringing it slowly, a soft meoldy with a few 'humm's every now and then, floating trough the Common Room. Her eyes are closed in concentration, and her feet are moving to the music.
Picture Alice, who along with the rest of her housemates, adores and admires Lily's music talents and great voice, but is battling with her friend's feet, who keep kicking her arms and chest.
Julie and Remus are sitting on the floor, playing a game of chess. Remus is examining the pieces with hard eyes, while Julie stares reproachfully at some pieces Remus has already crushed.
Imagine James, who is perched on the arm of the couch, his back resting on the stone wall behind it, his eyes watching Sirius's candy, hoping one will hit him on the nose or eyes instead of landing on his mouth.
Meanwhile you can see Hestia reading a magazine on the chair near the fireplace, telling Peter (who is sprawled on the floor in front of the chair, reading another magazine) that if he smears her precious magazine with the Honeyduke's chocolate hanging from his mouth, he will have some limb removed painfully.
That's the image you see, if you did picture yourself walking in the room and towards the far end corner. And if you have really good imagination, you can smell Julie's sweet fragrance (the perfume that Remus hates, because it's so sweetly strong for his superior nose), you can hear the soft notes from Lily's guitar (playing no song in particular), you can feel the beans whisk by you (which get higher every time Sirius tosses them), but most of all, you could feel James's nerves from sitting so close to Lily.
Suddenly Lily grins and lifts up her head and props herself with her elbows. "It's tuned." She announces. James jumps from the sofa with Lily's sudden movement, but with careful eyes watches the spot where Lily's head was resting, and now was empty. And with braveness that would have made Godric proud, sits on the couch and pulls her head onto his lap.
He almost lets out a sigh when she smiles at him and let's her head there. "Requests?" she asked as she places the guitar correctly.
Julie looks up and names a popular song, at which everyone protests. Sirius asks if Lily knows the song about the hag and the Polyjuice potion. No one bothers to answer him.
But it is Alice who catches our attention, she (who along with us has good imagination and noticed James anxiousness) sends him a look that said 'say something to her!'. You can imagine James' gulp and deep intake of breath before suggesting the following: "Play us that muggle music you were playing last week. The Beagles or something."
Lily's laugh made James blush and think he was going to be humiliated again in front of his whole housemates. But that was not the case, because she nodded and strung some notes on the guitar. "It's The Beatles, James."
Sirius banter was cut short when Lily began to sing 'I Want to Hold your Hand'. As her voice fills the Common Room, as it usually does, you can see every Gryffindor quiet down a bit and smile toward the redhead. Everyone knows the Head Girl can sing, and you imagine her almost every week, performing some songs or just random melodies to the eager public. Sometimes she just lounges on a couch and plays music while she and her friends talk, like some sort of background music. Other times she would stand on the table and play the guitar while everyone else belted the lyrics. It is a favorite pastime of the Gryffindors.
Your nerves leave you by now, and you allow yourself to sit next to Remus and Julie and watch as the beautiful girl plays 'American Pie' and 'Hotel California', watch as James stares at the girl in his lap, watch as Remus proclaims himself victorious and Hestia kick Peter so hard that he vows never to touch a magazine again.
But it's when Sirius' Bean misses his mouth and lands on Lily's face with a 'plop' that you see what you have been waiting for: The laughter that fills the room as her music suddenly stops, the way James hits his best mate on the head and mutters 'dunghead', the way that Remus throws his head back and lets out a roar of laughter, the way the Alice giggles, the way Peter slaps his hand on his thigh as Sara sits up and hits Sirius for waking her up.
The way they act. You can imagine them, a perfect Kodak Moment. If you had a magical camera right then, it would be the perfect moment to take a picture.
Because it was the way you want to imagine them, the way you want them to be. Carefree, with the deepest friendship you can think of running through their veins, with the strongest type of love flowing through them. Happy, with hopes and dreams that would never come true.
But lets not ruin their moment with our knowledge. Instead, lets them have their fun while they can. And as Lily starts to sing 'A little help from my friends' you realize that you imagination has done it's job.
You stand up and prepare to leave back to reality. You prepare to go back to a world where there are no longer smacks from Sara, because she dies three months after graduation, and where Alice is no longer capable of laughing. You are going back where James can no longer ache to kiss the freckles on Lily's nose, not because then finally fell in love and he was allowed to do that, but because Peter's principles curled up and died. You hate the idea of a world where Sirius and Remus would die defending their nephew and where Hestia would have removed all fell of joy and happiness from her old days at Hogwarts for fear of pain.
So you take one last look at the people you imagined.
What would you think if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
You see Remus lean back on his arms and grin wolfishly (because you know about his secret), his eyes roaming over James, Sirius and Peter. Silently thanking the gods above for their friendship.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mmm I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends
You see Hestia closing her magazine and look at her friends with a lingering smile on her face. Fear of losing them etched on her face.
What do I do when my love is away
(Does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(Are you sad because you're on your own)
You see Peter eyeing his friends with amazement. (I said he couldn't be that bad, but let's not idolize him either). Amazed to be accepted in this group of great friends.
No, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mmm I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends
You see Alice laugh when Sirius tries to sing along, but fails. Her happy chubby face bobbing to the music confidently. At least for now, you think regretfully.
Do you need anybody
I need somebody to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love
You see James and Lily watching each other with smiles on their faces, as Lily sings the happy tune and James finally plays with her hair. But you turn away quickly, their story more tragic every second.
Would you believe in a love at first sight
Yes I'm certain that it happens all the time
What do you see when you turn out the light
I can't tell you, but I know it's mine
You see Sirius clap James on the knee when he notices that Lily's head is near James and the latter hasn't got a hex on him yet. He eyes him jealously, but happier than he's ever been.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends
Oh I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends
So, as you finish looking at your imagination, you leave them happily obviously. You turn around and head towards the famous portrait, but you can still picture it: the red cushions, the younger students gazing longingly at their older housemates, hoping they too had such a strong friendship.
Do you need anybody
I just need somebody to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love
You can see yourself walking towards the portrait, dueling with yourself, trying to convince yourself that it's better this way, to leave them in your imagination like this, innocently happy, still away from the cold, dark future that you know will get to them.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mmm I´m gonna try with a little help from my friends
Oh I get high with a little help from my friends
And as you close the portrait, you imagine hearing Sirius belt the last words of the song, and you wish you had a magic camera with you, because you know that it will never get as good as this.
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends
Once again, tell me if it's any good please!