"Do we really have to go to some rubbish muggle concert?" asked Ron. Hermione turned to him with a glare. "Yes we have to go, Ronald!" She shrieked, practically hysterical. "And," she continued, regaining her composure and turning full Hermione on him, "One Direction are not, I repeat not rubbish. "Yeah, Ron, listen to Hermione," Harry murmured as he put the finishing touches of glitter on their poster. "If they're so rubbish," Hermione interjected, "How come they have millions of fans across the planet? How come they're a global sensation and practically the biggest band ever? How come they have a huge fan base of both wizard and muggle fans? How come-" "Okay, okay 'Mione. I get it. But why can't we at least fly?" Hermione gave him a withering look. They both knew full well there were far too many muggles around.
"Okay," Hermione stated, choosing to begin a pre-set spiel, I'll apparate us just around the corner from the stadium." Harry squealed with excitement. "Harry don't forget your poster," she warned. Harry grabbed it and they were off. Seconds later, the trio appeared near a huge throng of people. Upon further investigation, Ron realised that most of them were tweens or young teens. The other thing he quickly realised was that about ninety nine percent of the crowd were girls. He shifted uncomfortably. Harry, however, seemed to have no such reservations. The Boy Who Lived squealed with delight and let out a less than manly shriek. Blood curdling, ear splitting, immensely shrill and purely un-Harry like. That was how Ron chose to describe it anyway, but the rest of the crowd took no notice. Apparently, Harry blended right in.
Ron dug his hand deep into his pocket. "Oh no! Would you look at that?" he began the very picture of innocence. Hermione gave him (another) withering look, but allowed him to continue. "I seem to have forgotten the tickets! Isn't that a shame... Oh well! S'ppose we'll have to come to some other day… To some other show…" Harry was too busy fangirling to notice Ron's monologue. Hermione meanwhile…. Well THAT was a different story. "Nice try," she said with a nonchalant air. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not stupid enough to trust you with the tickets. Following this, she pulled from her bottomless purse three tickets. Ron groaned.
Harry struck up an annoying whine of, "can we go in yet?" and "come on, at this we'll get in just as soon as Snape and Sirius rise from the dead and get married!" Ron contemplated his choices. He could run, but the crowd was thick and Hermione would be on him in seconds. In the end, he gave in. "Fine," he muttered. Hermione smirked before feigning innocence and obliviousness (neither of which she ever was).
The crowd was surprisingly aggressive for a group of teenagers holding signs professing their love for random people they would most likely never have a genuine conversation with. Hermione and Ron looked slightly uncomfortable, but Harry held his ground; never once giving into the wave of fans attempting to displace him from his spot in the line. Ron was so busy grumbling about how 'this situation couldn't possibly get any worse,' that he failed to notice the clouds above darkening and the heavens beginning to open. That was until he was suddenly drenched to the bone in a matter of seconds. This brought him momentarily out of his stupor and gave him even more material for complaint.
As they finally entered the giant stadium and Ron's moans subsided, Harry was again thrust into a state of pure, adrenaline powered excitement. As the crowd simultaneously began engaging in what appeared to be a screaming contest (in which Harry certainly seemed to have a shot at winning), Hermione again reached into her purse and pulled out two pairs of noise cancelling headphones. As she handed one to Ron, she warned: "these are just for until the show begins." The tone of her voice and the fear in her ginger friend's eyes signified that the threats were being taken well into account. What felt like hours later, Ron felt a hand bash repeatedly against his arm and turned to see Hermione gesturing towards his headphones. He sighed knowing any protests would be met sharply.
The extreme noise came as a shock to his system. It was complete and utter chaos in the stadium and the golden trio had to scream at the top of their lungs to be heard above the commotion. "THE CONCERT IS DUE TO START ANY MINUTE NOW!" Hermione informed them, complete with meaningless hand gestures. "YOUR PONCHO NEEDS SOME CHOW?!" Harry screamed back, prompting Hermione to marvel at the fact that this was the guy who saved the entire wizarding world. Just then, five young men bounded on stage, filling the arena with a wave of energy and eccentric screaming. Harry bounced up and down on the balls of his toes in anticipation.
The crowd quietened as the lads began to talk onstage with an ease that Ron held a grudging respect for. Before any of them could fully come to terms with what was happening, the band had begun the first song. Harry belted out verse after verse, it was clear that he knew every word.
12 songs later, the tables had turned. Hermione was singing along, but she seemed like the only person in the crowd who wasn't totally enthralled. She was neither dancing nor looking particularly excited. Harry, being the only member of the golden trio who stayed true to himself and expectations, was still dancing ridiculously and singing at the top of his lungs (though this was, admittedly, much quieter than previously and included the occasional voice break). Ron had clearly transformed the most. He was singing with no hesitation and when he didn't know the words (a regular occurrence), he simply yelled something along the lines of "I love you Zayn!" and "I love your hair Harry!" (He had developed an obsession with Harry Style's hair).
In truth, Ron's dancing was not only atrocious but was also a downright safety hazard. His arms flailed from side to side as he bounced around, never once stopping to rest (a record he held for the entirety of the concert, beginning at the second song, when he started to notice how catchy the songs were. He also realised at that point that he had A) been swaying along with the rest of the crowd and B) had caught the viral disease which was known as 'Directioner Disease').
As they exited the building, new 'One Direction' t-shirts in the hands of the two boys, Hermione commented, (she had been contemplating what to say for the past half hour, she knew she had to tread lightly) "well, I'll admit, I was slightly disappointed." Hermione ploughed ahead despite the boys' shouts of protest. "I mean, I just wasn't as engaged as I thought I'd be…. They clearly use a lot more auto tune than I thought!"
"Bloody Hell, Hermione! Are you crazy?! That was amazing, spectacular, terrific, absolutely fant-" Hermione cut him off, "thank you, Ronald, but we are both entitled to our own opinions." Ron darkly muttered something along the lines of 'only if they're at least somewhat valid' but Hermione let it slide and was delighted to see him quickly return to his former over-excited self. "Harry, Ron, are you ready to go?"
The boys whined in protest and were preparing themselves for a full-blown debate, when they saw a group of girls running past and giggling, clearly trying to look inconspicuous (and failing miserably). "Where are they goin'?" Ron asked, though it came out as more of a muffled series of moans as he had just bought a tub of seriously overpriced popcorn from the concession stand. "I don't know, Ronald," Hermione said purposefully over enunciating each in-di-vid-ual word "do you perhaps think we should follow them?" Ron nodded his head vigorously, either not picking up on or totally disregarding the sarcasm which thickly coated Hermione's voice.
Harry bounded ahead and upon seeing this, Ron adjusted his pace to catch up with 'The Boy Who Lived.' Hermione called after them like a concerned mother hen to 'stick together' and 'stay in sight.' The three followed the group of teens round and round in what Hermione was sure was a series of large, interconnecting circles. Just as she was warming to the idea of begging the boys for mercy, they rounded a corner to find a crowd of around 300 people clustered around a pair of double doors. They were bolted, and it was clearly a necessary precaution. One Direction never came through those double doors, but despite this, the boys' spirits weren't dampened.
"This has been the best night of my life!" Harry gushed. Ron's squeal of delight made Hermione wince. She simply shrugged. "It was a good experience," she conceded and the boys nodded promptly. "I guess….." Hermione chose to ignore the accusatory stares, instead opting to segue into a conversation about the softness of Harry Style's hair. And as the sun began to retreat for the night, bathing the streets in a soft yellow glow, the Golden Trio seemed to glow as they sung 'That's What Makes You Beautiful' at the top of their lungs.
A/N Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just in love with them!
I finally finished this story! Yaaaay! I abandoned it almost a year ago now and decided to finish it on a whim a couple of days ago. I know I probably should have written another chapter for that Dramione one, but I kinda have a case of writers block on that one (yes, I know, that didn't take very long)! Anyway hope you enjoyed! Give me feedback, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!