Story: Let It Be
Author: theherbflower
Chapter 2: While my guitar gently weeps.
Disclaimer: I own no legal rights to the Harry Potter universe.
Playlist: Here comes the sun, Hey Jude, Across the Universe, While my guitar gently weeps, Dear Prudence, Happiness is a warm gun, Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band~ The Beatles. Wonderwall~ Oasis. Will you still love me~ Chicago.
"I look at you all see that your love there that's sleeping,
While my guitar gently weeps.
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping.
Still my guitar gently weeps."
Chapter 2: While my guitar gently weeps.
The Burrow was filled with life and bursting with joy. A happiness I unexpected had crept up upon me and filled within me. Mrs. Weasley was so very happy with her family, love was seen gleaming out of her eyes. Red was pretty ecstatic herself with being chosen to be the next chaser for the Harpies, and so was the rest of her family at her good news. The long wooden table in the middle of the kitchen was stuffed full with well wishers, family and friends. The Chinese food was passed around and consumed amidst laughter and stories. One of the boys had made a birthday garland for her that was strung with ribbons, wild flowers, and glitter. I think it was Percy who made it for her, but none the less she looked so happy sitting there next to Mr. Weasley and her eldest son Bill. On one end of the table George was making his face change into familiar faces with some new product he was selling at his shop; Ron and Red were fighting over Quidditch; Hermione and Fleur were talking in French about something; Bill and Charlie were both messing with Percy by charming his hair different colors at random; Percy's girlfriend Penelope and Alicia Spinnet were talking about work at the ministry; and Harry was stuffing his face while talking to Minister Shacklebolt. I smiled and sat back. It was nice to around a family for once. It was joyous.
I smiled and picked up my butterbeer. I'd much rather have firewhiskey but certain tall irritating red head was monitoring me. I feel so bad for that though, momentary lack of sanity it was. No one ever seen me drunk, as usually I just go down to a market or pub, grab something and go home to get smashed. It takes the pain away; it makes me forget. But it's not healthy, and I know that. I took a long swig of my butterbeer and sat it back down before reaching for the fortune cookie I had on my plate. My mother always told me if you want the fortune to come true you're supposed to eat the whole cookie before looking at the paper treasure it held inside it. And since that had always been a tradition in my family, I ate the cookie first. Then I unfolded the little slip of paper and read. "What you most desire is only but a table length away." I laughed at it, as if I even knew what I most desired. I folded it up and slipped it into my jean pocket and looked up only to have a pair of muddy brown eyes looking back at me. I raised my eyebrows at him questioningly.
"You ate the cookie first." Charlie stated leaning forward to pick up his bottle of butterbeer. "Why did you do it backwards?"
I smiled and rolled my eyes.
"You are supposed to eat the cookie before you read the fortune. That way it comes true."
"Alright." he cracked a grin before taking a swig of his butterbeer. He sat the beer back down and picked up his cookie before cracking it, stuffing his cookie into his mouth. Once he swallowed he read his fortune out loud. "The answer to your question is yes." he laughed, "Funny I don't have a question. What did yours say?"
"What you most desire is only but a table length away."
"And what do you most desire?" he laughed at me. "Lemme guess? Firewhiskey?"
"Don't be a jerk." I mumbled at him before rolling my eyes. "I don't know. It's just random and I can't find meaning in it. That happens occasionally."
"Right." he nodded before turning to his mother. "Hey mum, how about some cake now?"
"That sounds lovely." Mrs. Weasley smiled at him. "Ginny told me that you were going to make it all by yourself yesterday when we went to the market."
"I was." he grinned with pink cheeks. "But Ginny decided today that all I'd do would be give people food poisoning. So Heather helped me make it."
"Oh that's so sweet of you dear." Mrs. Weasley beamed at me. "Thank you."
"Ah it was nothing really." I told her with a smile. "Charlie did most of it. He's a better baker then Red gave him credit for." I nodded towards Ginny.
"It's nice that you helped."
"Yeah mum." Charlie rolled his eyes at me. "She only helped me."
"All the same dear. Now where is this master piece you have made for me?"
"Shall we my short little helper?" he grinned at me standing up. "Besides, you kind of owe me one."
"I'm not short!" I told him sharply. "I am only horizontally challenged."
"In other words, short." he laughed. "Come on…"
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes before standing up from the table and following him over to the counter where the cake was. "Is it that you're just not strong enough to carry this big heavy cake?"
"Sarcasm's laced with disease love. Use enough of it and you'll die."
"Oh is it? I wonder why I am not yet with the departed." smirking at him I picked up the cake and began to walk back over to the party who were watching us with smiles. "Happy Birthday Mrs. Weasley."
"Oh its beautiful dears." she beamed at us. "It's absolutely beautiful."
"Well we can only have the best for our dear old mum right?" Charlie cracked a grin at her. "Happy Birthday mum."
…scene…change…
"You will owl me right?" Red asked me as I walked out of the back door to the Burrow, her on my heels.
"Of course I'll owl you Red. My job is at 15th and Abbey. Number 17 called Der Wunderbar. Trust me Red, I have no plans of skipping out again. I'm here to stay."
"I missed you when you were in Germany. It was lonely with only Luna for our Seventh. We missed you something ghastly. Promise me you'll stop by sometime ok?"
"I'll be right here in England love. Plus I've got a permanent room at the Leaky Cauldron number 8. Just come by whenever you'd like, I promise I'll be either of the two places."
"You had better." she told me with a pointed look. "I don't reckon people will be thrilled about me ripping half the world apart to look for your blonde scrawny ass."
"Are you calling me short?" I raised my eyebrow at her. "Because I am not short!"
"I said scrawny Heather. Not short." she grinned before pulling me into a tight hug. "I'll owl you with whatever happens with the Harpies yeah?"
"Oh no, you had better." I smirked. "I love the Harpies, and now I get to say that my best mate is the next chaser. I want updates every week. And complementary top box tickets to your first game."
"Tickets as in plural? There a guy you've been seeing that you are going to bring?"
"Of course not." I laughed. "Just Casper here. So just one. But I want that one."
"I will." she pulled back and grinned. "Tell Casper I said hello. And to not knock you up. It's not becoming to have ghost children."
"Well you know…"
"Go on and get out of here. Thanks for making mum's birthday cake. It looked beautiful."
"It's nothing really. But at least you didn't call it an art piece."
"Charlie always did like art… eh he's a weirdo. Owl me!"
"I will Red. I will."
…scene...change…
"I don't know why nobody told you,
How to unfold your love.
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you."
I looked up over the crowd of people all crammed into the small coffee shop that I was playing at. It was at a quiet buzz while I played and sang on. It was chump change, but valued. And I loved to sing and play Richards guitar. It reminded me of him, so very very much. And how I missed him; how I missed his bright sunny smile and warm melodic voice when he sang his music. A day never goes by where I don't sit with this guitar in my hand playing, and remembering him. The muggle community was much for forward with music, and therefore I found a larger audience within it. And as the chords of the song resonated into the thoughtful audience I played on.
"I look at the world and I notice its turning
While my guitar gently weeps.
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps."
I looked up into the audience once more, letting my eyes gaze over them. There was a tall blonde man sitting at the bar watching me play with a soft expression on his face; a teenager no more than seventeen sat two tables back from me with a coffee mug in his hand and a sorrowful look etched into his young features; a woman with her husband watched thoughtfully, her head tilted to the side slightly; many more people sat there, entranced by the music. I hit another chord and let my eyes roam over the other side of the shop where people stood when there were no chairs left to occupy. The sunlight was beaming in through the windows of the coffee shops in burnt golden streams, it was nearly evening. On the outside cars and busses drove by taking people to their destinations. Life goes go. Life always picks back up and goes on, no matter the catastrophe.
"I don't know how you were diverted
You were perverted too.
I don't know how you were inverted
No one alerted you."
Death and Life is a circle, and they come back in full. Without the one, then there is not the other. I looked back up to the windows where the burnt golden rays were shining though only to catch glimpse of a tall faceless man with his back to the sun. His silhouette danced over the young couple at the table in front of him. Something about him seemed familiar, only I couldn't place it. I turned back to the audience in front of me.
"I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping.
While my guitar gently weeps.
I look at you all
Sill my guitar gently weeps."
The man took a step forward. With the burnt golden rays bouncing off the red hair it was hard for me not to place him. He shouldn't be here; this was a muggle coffee shop. And no one knew I was here, only my assistant manager who was covering my shift at Der Wunderbar.
"I look from the wings at the play you are staging
While my guitar gently weeps
As I'm sitting here doing nothing but aging
Still my guitar gently weeps."
I finished the song with an elongated crescendo at the end. I stood at the clapping and gave my bow before taking my guitar and heading off stage. I lifted the case up onto the bar before I laid the guitar gently down into its case. I needed to get new stings for it, as well as some polish for the back of it. After shutting the lid of the case I headed over to the owner who was waiting with a warm smile on his face and a crisp fifty pound note in his hand. He told me something along the lines of how good it was and asked if I could come back next week for another bit. I nodded my consent and told him that I'd be seeing him in a week before walking over to the door to the coffee shop where Charlie was standing, the last burnt rays of light setting on his shoulders and head pleasantly. I raised my eyebrow to him before opening the door and walking out it. He followed.
"I didn't know you could sing."
"Neither did I before I went to Germany. Did you know that the Beatles were discovered there?"
"No I didn't. I didn't know that you were a Beatle fan either."
"Oh a big one." I told him as we walked down the alley to the main road. "Have been since I was a child. My father would play old Beatle records and I would sit next to the record player and sing along."
"That's wonderful. Ginny sent me to fetch you."
"Did she?" I asked as we came to the cross walk. "And why might I ask are you fetching me for her?"
"She wants you to come for dinner tonight. She's leaving on the…"
"Twenty first of October. And I do believe that is tomorrow by my judging."
"Yeah. She said if you weren't there she'd fly over to the Leaky Cauldron and beat you with her broom. Someone at the bakery told me that you had a gig tonight at that coffee shop. So I came to get you."
"And how did you get that out of her? Under strict codes we are not allowed to give out other people's information unless it's a direct relative or spouse."
"I might of lied a little." he grinned over at me as we crossed the road. "So expect some questions when you return to work."
"What did you tell her?" I sighed at him.
"That I was your boyfriend. She didn't buy it at first, but a little of that good old Weasley charm went a long way."
"Fine." I sighed turning onto charring cross road. "Let's just get to the Apparating point and get to Red before she has a cow."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." he grinned taking Richard's guitar from me. "Mum made Sheppard's pie."
"Sheppard's pie?" I asked with peaked interest. God I hadn't had that in ages not before…
"Sheppard's pie. I take it your appetite just peaked eh?"
"Yeah." I smiled at him before walking into the Leaky Cauldron. "Floo or Apparating?"
"Floo if you have the powder."
"Come on its upstairs." I indicated for him to follow me.
"Righto."
…scene…change…
"I knew Charlie could get you to come!" Red cheered before flinging her twiggy self at me, nearly knocked me on my bum. "How are you?"
"M'pretty good. How are you?" I asked pulling her off of me. "Excited to be leaving for the Harpies?"
"Of course!" she grinned. "How's the bakery?"
"Good as usual. We're doing good actually, got a couple of big orders."
"That's awesome. So what do you say to some of that Sheppard's pie eh? I know you've got a person favorite in it." she smirked at me.
"Your one evil witch Red. You knew that if you used the power of sheppard's pie you could get me here didn't you?"
"Maybe." she grinned. "But come on didn't you want to see your good ole pal before she ships off?"
"I had planned on coming by in the morning with a going away pie but since you forced me here…"
"And lemme guess, it was blueberry."
"In fact it was. S'too bad I'm not somewhere where I can bake it."
"What! Use the kitchen here!"
I smirked at her.
"I don't have my supplies."
"We'll go and buy some!"
"Eh, it's a different environment…"
"But I love your blueberry pies!" she whined dramatically. "How could you do this to me? Your bestest friend in like the whole world!"
"Relax Red. I brought you your pie." I rolled my eyes and pointed to the counter behind her. "So do have a flip yeah?"
"You are the best!" she hugged me again. "And now I've got a blueberry pie all to my lonesome!"
"Hey! what's cracking?" George asked walking into the kitchen with Percy. "Is that blueberry?"
"Its mine! So back off joke boy." she huffed digging a fork out of a drawer. "Its my good bye present from sunglass girl here."
I rolled my eyes.
"I am not even wearing sunglasses."
"You were when you walked into the house. I took them off remember?"
"So who says you get the whole pie?" George asked his sister. "Is it cause you are going to be on the enemy side?"
"Yes." She nodded cheekily. "Exactly so. Now I'm hungry so what do you say to that Sheppard's Pie that mum made?"
"I look at the world and I notice its turning
While my guitar gently weeps.
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps."
Authors Note:
There is chapter two. Remember that reviews are love.
Cheers, thf