Author's Notes: This chapter contains scenes and characters from the 1995 (US release date) teen artificial angst movie "Empire Records," which in some respects is a lot like the uber-classic "Clerks" but in color and without references to the number 37. The "Empire Records" screenplay is by Carol Heikkinen, movie directed by Allan Moyle.
Chapter Ten: Open Until Midnight
Parking garages exist in Guildford, but none of them have a landing strip for flying cars. Bill had to dodge a few vehicles, nearly hitting a Jaguar XJ40 before swerving into an empty spot on the upper level of the Bedford Road Car Park. "There, you see," he crowed. "I told you parking was easy."
Harry slowly lifted his head from the crouching position he had taken during the approach. "I hate to think how you did on the parallel parking section of your license exam," he muttered.
The Anglia emerged to a visible state, and the four exited. The air felt muggy, just sitting there, even this far up where Harry thought there ought to be a breeze. The sun remained far above the horizon, at least another hour before the sunset colors would blanket the sky. "Air conditioning," Harry mumbled to himself.
"What eez that?" Fleur asked.
"Oh. Air conditioning. Cinemas are notoriously nice places with air conditioning," Harry noted.
"He means cool air pumped through pipes," Bill added, walking up to his date and taking her hand. "Let's get you indoors before your hair gets all frazzled."
Fleur screeched much like a 14-year-old and hopped onto Bill's back, as he hurried her off to the elevator doors across the parking level. Harry watched them run off like children, slowly walking the path they took, and he turned somewhat nervously toward Luna.
Luna kept her face forward in the direction they needed to go, but her eyes would glance over to Harry with every other blink. Eventually she smiled a bit and faced him as the two walked. "You can relax, Harry. I don't need to be carried."
"Oh. Well it's... Well I guess I'm okay with that," Harry smiled back. But he gave it some thought, and a few seconds later he shyly reached his hand about a foot or two from his body. Toward Luna. Offering to hold hands with her.
Luna's arm moved slightly, then a little more closer, finally reaching out with her hand to clasp his. They both dropped their arms to their sides, the act drawing them rather close to each other, and they walked like that for a few seconds until Harry glanced at Luna's face again. Her smile, Harry was seeing that smile again, just before Luna let go of his hand. But they were still walking very close to each other.
Harry glanced down to her necklace of seashells. "Luna. You didn't have to get rid of your butterbeer caps."
"I don't mind, Harry." Her dreamy voice remained steady. "And it's my decision. I do know it looks weird."
"Well... But it's you, isn't it?"
"So's this." Luna's smile lightened. "Actually, it's my mother's."
Harry couldn't say anything. He was feeling the same awkwardness he had when discussions about Cedric would emerge whenever he and Cho... Yeah, very awkward, Harry noted. Worries about getting off on the wrong foot again echoed in his brain.
And then, all of a sudden Luna grabbed his hand again as they kept walking.
The elevator ride down went rather quietly, as Bill and Fleur hugged each other and as Harry and Luna kept smiling modestly at each other. They reached the street level and hurried out into the crowds that moved along the city's walkways, finding their way toward the Odeon Cineplex. At one corner just in view of the River Wey, Harry hurried over to Bill. "I need to talk to you for a moment."
As the girls kept going toward the river to get a better view, Harry glanced at Bill with a guilty look. "Bill, I can pay for the movies tonight, you and your parents don't have to..."
"If you're worried about my family being poor," Bill interrupted, a serious expression upon his brow, "don't. I am gainfully employed and can very well take care of Fleur. I was willing to help out with you, but if you want..."
"That's alright, I just... It's my date with Luna, so I should take care of her, at least, by myself. You think?"
"Why not?" Bill grinned at that moment. "And about your uncle's window?"
"Well, I'll pay for that too," Harry noted in a low voice. "You didn't have anything to do with that, and neither did your parents."
"Ah, but I know who did," Bill answered, still grinning. "And with the profits they'd made on all those pranks they sold to drive Umbridge out of Hogwarts, I was going to make sure they'd start taking care of the consequences of some of their shenanigans."
"Oh, I dunno," Harry groaned. "Are they still in trouble with the goblins after what I'd said last week?"
"No," Bill nodded, and he would know as a Gringotts employee. "But they don't know that. I've gotten my bosses to sweat 'em out a little. By next Monday they'll be just a tad more humble and a little eager to help out, you think?"
Harry arched an eyebrow. "Maybe. But what about Ron? He was there too..."
"Not his fault. You're his friend." Bill patted Harry on the shoulder. "Let's get going, we've got two girls wondering why we're not paying attention to them..."
Turnout for the film wasn't so bad, most attendees at the Odeon were there for an alien invasion movie. Even Fleur got caught up in the crowd's momentum. "Beell, this film we are zeeing, does it 'ave explosions and gun fights?"
"Uh, no?"
"Oh." She grabbed Bill and dragged him over to the line waiting for alien invasion flick. "Bye, 'Arry, bye Luna! Enjoy your movie!"
Getting the tickets was easy. Getting the sodas took awhile because of the crowds, but the lines moved rather fast. Getting good seats in the theater was ridiculously easy, Harry and Luna finding good spots in the middle of the uppermost row of seat.
Getting Luna to settle down took some work. "So where are the sounds coming from? It's like they're right behind that white wall with the constantly changing portraits."
"Look along the ceiling," Harry pointed to the speaker boxes placed here and there. "That's where the sound comes from, and they've got it so you get the impression that the sounds are coming from the screen, that's what that white wall, it's like a curtain."
The questions kept coming. "Is this part of the movie yet, Harry? Should we be expecting more people? Why does the floor feel like it's covered in Spellotape?
Harry tried to answer but the questions went by quickly and Harry was attempting to think the right words to say. Luna then looked up and saw the shafts of light coming from the projector room just behind them? "What's that light for?"
"That's how the movie appears on the screen, Luna. Wait, let me explain. I think I said this earlier, but hold on. In film, they have a series of frozen images that capture people in action, and what they do is move each frozen image very quickly through what's called a projector. The projector has a bright light that shines through the series of images. And as the images move, it gives the illusion that the people on those images are moving. You'll understand when we start seeing it."
"Let me see now," Luna answered, still focused on the light. She stood and raised her hands, reaching into the beams and casting shadows onto the screen. Luna gasped as she watched the colors and patterns of the preview advertisements change upon her fingers and palms. She wasn't aware that there were a few other people in the theater with them, and one of them sitting in the middle row grouched, "Hey! Sit the eff down!"
"Luna!" Harry hissed, and reached out, grabbing her by the waist and attempting to pull her back to her seat. Instead, she seemingly lost her balance and tipped one way, then the other. Finally, she landed harshly but neatly onto Harry's lap.
His hands had moved from wrapping her waist. One arm went around her shoulders, cradling her from the fall, and the other arm slid slightly down one of her legs to steady her. The hand on her leg came upon the skin of her thigh, as the skirt of her dress had slid up just slightly above her knees. It was a perfectly innocent move on Harry's part, he was merely making sure Luna didn't get hurt.
Still, he wasn't even wondering if he ought to move that hand.
Their faces were very close, and Harry could see a very small mole, not even a bump, just below her left eye. You wouldn't even notice it under normal circumstances. Her breath came and went in short gasps, and Harry's glasses fogged up, at least the right lens did, and it did hamper the amount of eye contact the two teens were attempting. Finally, her breathing slowed to normal, and Luna whispered, "Sorry about the fall, Harry."
He finally noticed where his hands were and moved the arm along her legs out of the way so she could get back to her seat. "Well, it's a good thing I left my soda in the armrest," Harry answered sheepishly. "But Luna, let's...settle down and wait for the film to start, please."
"Oh. I guess I should then," she answered back, getting into her seat and adjusting herself with three or four hops, straightening something out, perhaps her skirt. She took her soda from its armrest and made a loud slurping noise through the drinking straw. "Odd flavor, this root. Doesn't make for a very good butterbeer substitute."
Harry got more comfortable when the movie previews started, and Luna fell quiet as she watched and watched. Soon the Feature Presentation sign flashed and Harry whispered, "Here's the movie itself. Here we go."
Luna glanced at him and was about to ask something, then paused and whispered back. "Let's not go. Let's stay, Harry."
The summary of the movie was this: a small independently owned music store in the East Coast United States was going through one of its daily crises. The store's money had been gambled away, an always-evil multinational corporation was threatening to take over the universe, the kids who work there were undergoing the kinds of stress and relationship conflicts that made teenagers so much fun to watch, and to top it all off, it was Rex Manning Day.
Harry found himself laughing, but not uncontrollably, at some of the antics the characters were indulging themselves in. He did find the overly witty banter going on between the teens rather clever. He took time every so often to watch Luna's reactions, and he noted she was focusing very hard on the images flashing before her. She did ask at one point, in her normal voice, "What's the big deal about Rex Manning?"
"Shh!" the jerk from the middle row answered her harshly. Harry tapped her hand to get her attention. "We've got to whisper, Luna. No loud noises, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered back. "So who is Rex Manning?"
The shoplifter scene definitely caught her attention, as the Zen wannabe character Lucas approached a juvenile music thief. As the shoplifter fled for his life with Lucas dogging his every step, the blonde character Gina that Luna thought could be British made a store-wide announcement: "Attention Rex Manning fans, to your left you will notice a shoplifter being chased by night manager Lucas. This young man will be caught, deep fried in a vat of hot oil, and served to our first hundred customers. Just another tasty treat from the gang at Empire Records."
"Ahh!" Luna shouted. "They're promoting cannibalism!"
That got a huge wave of laughter from most of the audience in attendance, except for the jerk in the middle row that answered back, "Shut up!"
Harry remembered the rule about not using magic in front of Muggles, but he started wondering if he could get away with the old-fashioned tossing of the soda in his hands at that jerk.
Luna calmed down when she learned that the shoplifter wasn't going to be served up as a treat, and nodded when she found out his name was Warren Beatty: "Oh, I've heard of him," she whispered. "But isn't he older?"
Harry tried to settle down himself to enjoy the movie. He was having a problem, though, with the relationship stuff on the screen, it just seemed so ridiculous to him. That one guy pining for that girl, the one Luna thought was an elf, seriously, he should have just said something, and at least well before the events going on that day. He much preferred the twisted antics of getting Rex Manning Day to go off without a hitch.
"No, seriously," Luna whispered during the autograph session. "Who's Rex Manning?"
Harry didn't much care for the part of the movie where the elvish girl went all psycho to serve Rex Manning his lunch ("Warren's still in one piece, isn't he?" Luna whispered), and then he got flat out confused when, even after Rex had suggested a rather rude act (that Harry didn't quite get anyway), which had driven her to run away in anger, that she would get more psychotic when her almost-British coworker DID make out with Rex.
"He's not worth it," Harry whispered, shaking his head. "Why fight over a guy with a hairstyle even Flock Of Seagulls avoided using?"
At least the relationship squabbling gave way to what Harry felt was a classic moment in teen angst cinema: the airhead character Mark suffering a hallucinogenic moment and watching a monstrously dressed metal band named GWAR invite him into the TV and join the band. Luna's expression when seeing the band was one of mild discomfort, but said nothing.
Harry watched with a big grin, however, even when GWAR's frontman announced, "Mark, man, you play a mean guitar, man. It's really a shame that NOW you must DIE!"
"That is rather sad," Luna watched as the mutated drum set consumed Mark. "His axe handling skills should have saved him from the pagan ritual. Good guitarists are hard to find."
"Will you SHUT UP?" The jerk in the middle row shouted back at her.
Harry stood up, but Luna's hand touched his. He looked down to see her blink a few times, actually thinking it over. "No."
And the rest of the theater audience applauded when she said that. The jerk in the middle row tried glowering at everybody surrounding him, then finally sat down in a huff.
The movie got to be a little more enjoyable from then on, even though Luna did stop making loud comments during the rest of the viewing. The bald Wiccan-looking girl tried to enjoy her own funeral, the juvenile shoplifter returned to shoot up the place and ask for a job, the kids all rallied together to save the music store, relationship issues were resolved, and all was made right with the world as the credits rolled.
While most of the audience packed it in, Harry and Luna kept watching: after all, the film was still showing scenes of two store employees arguing over the future of rock and roll, even with a car crashing into something off-camera. Finally, the credits over, as the theater lights brightened, Harry and Luna saw they were the last ones there. "So, what do you think?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Luna answered after a few moments. "It could have used more of the Ramones."
Chapter Eleven: The Opposite of Rage
I will be traveling to San Diego this weekend. There will be significant delays in finishing the next chapter. Please enjoy the chamber music I am piping through your computer while you wait. ("Girl from Ipanema" begins playing soothingly)
Chapter Ten: Open Until Midnight
Parking garages exist in Guildford, but none of them have a landing strip for flying cars. Bill had to dodge a few vehicles, nearly hitting a Jaguar XJ40 before swerving into an empty spot on the upper level of the Bedford Road Car Park. "There, you see," he crowed. "I told you parking was easy."
Harry slowly lifted his head from the crouching position he had taken during the approach. "I hate to think how you did on the parallel parking section of your license exam," he muttered.
The Anglia emerged to a visible state, and the four exited. The air felt muggy, just sitting there, even this far up where Harry thought there ought to be a breeze. The sun remained far above the horizon, at least another hour before the sunset colors would blanket the sky. "Air conditioning," Harry mumbled to himself.
"What eez that?" Fleur asked.
"Oh. Air conditioning. Cinemas are notoriously nice places with air conditioning," Harry noted.
"He means cool air pumped through pipes," Bill added, walking up to his date and taking her hand. "Let's get you indoors before your hair gets all frazzled."
Fleur screeched much like a 14-year-old and hopped onto Bill's back, as he hurried her off to the elevator doors across the parking level. Harry watched them run off like children, slowly walking the path they took, and he turned somewhat nervously toward Luna.
Luna kept her face forward in the direction they needed to go, but her eyes would glance over to Harry with every other blink. Eventually she smiled a bit and faced him as the two walked. "You can relax, Harry. I don't need to be carried."
"Oh. Well it's... Well I guess I'm okay with that," Harry smiled back. But he gave it some thought, and a few seconds later he shyly reached his hand about a foot or two from his body. Toward Luna. Offering to hold hands with her.
Luna's arm moved slightly, then a little more closer, finally reaching out with her hand to clasp his. They both dropped their arms to their sides, the act drawing them rather close to each other, and they walked like that for a few seconds until Harry glanced at Luna's face again. Her smile, Harry was seeing that smile again, just before Luna let go of his hand. But they were still walking very close to each other.
Harry glanced down to her necklace of seashells. "Luna. You didn't have to get rid of your butterbeer caps."
"I don't mind, Harry." Her dreamy voice remained steady. "And it's my decision. I do know it looks weird."
"Well... But it's you, isn't it?"
"So's this." Luna's smile lightened. "Actually, it's my mother's."
Harry couldn't say anything. He was feeling the same awkwardness he had when discussions about Cedric would emerge whenever he and Cho... Yeah, very awkward, Harry noted. Worries about getting off on the wrong foot again echoed in his brain.
And then, all of a sudden Luna grabbed his hand again as they kept walking.
The elevator ride down went rather quietly, as Bill and Fleur hugged each other and as Harry and Luna kept smiling modestly at each other. They reached the street level and hurried out into the crowds that moved along the city's walkways, finding their way toward the Odeon Cineplex. At one corner just in view of the River Wey, Harry hurried over to Bill. "I need to talk to you for a moment."
As the girls kept going toward the river to get a better view, Harry glanced at Bill with a guilty look. "Bill, I can pay for the movies tonight, you and your parents don't have to..."
"If you're worried about my family being poor," Bill interrupted, a serious expression upon his brow, "don't. I am gainfully employed and can very well take care of Fleur. I was willing to help out with you, but if you want..."
"That's alright, I just... It's my date with Luna, so I should take care of her, at least, by myself. You think?"
"Why not?" Bill grinned at that moment. "And about your uncle's window?"
"Well, I'll pay for that too," Harry noted in a low voice. "You didn't have anything to do with that, and neither did your parents."
"Ah, but I know who did," Bill answered, still grinning. "And with the profits they'd made on all those pranks they sold to drive Umbridge out of Hogwarts, I was going to make sure they'd start taking care of the consequences of some of their shenanigans."
"Oh, I dunno," Harry groaned. "Are they still in trouble with the goblins after what I'd said last week?"
"No," Bill nodded, and he would know as a Gringotts employee. "But they don't know that. I've gotten my bosses to sweat 'em out a little. By next Monday they'll be just a tad more humble and a little eager to help out, you think?"
Harry arched an eyebrow. "Maybe. But what about Ron? He was there too..."
"Not his fault. You're his friend." Bill patted Harry on the shoulder. "Let's get going, we've got two girls wondering why we're not paying attention to them..."
Turnout for the film wasn't so bad, most attendees at the Odeon were there for an alien invasion movie. Even Fleur got caught up in the crowd's momentum. "Beell, this film we are zeeing, does it 'ave explosions and gun fights?"
"Uh, no?"
"Oh." She grabbed Bill and dragged him over to the line waiting for alien invasion flick. "Bye, 'Arry, bye Luna! Enjoy your movie!"
Getting the tickets was easy. Getting the sodas took awhile because of the crowds, but the lines moved rather fast. Getting good seats in the theater was ridiculously easy, Harry and Luna finding good spots in the middle of the uppermost row of seat.
Getting Luna to settle down took some work. "So where are the sounds coming from? It's like they're right behind that white wall with the constantly changing portraits."
"Look along the ceiling," Harry pointed to the speaker boxes placed here and there. "That's where the sound comes from, and they've got it so you get the impression that the sounds are coming from the screen, that's what that white wall, it's like a curtain."
The questions kept coming. "Is this part of the movie yet, Harry? Should we be expecting more people? Why does the floor feel like it's covered in Spellotape?
Harry tried to answer but the questions went by quickly and Harry was attempting to think the right words to say. Luna then looked up and saw the shafts of light coming from the projector room just behind them? "What's that light for?"
"That's how the movie appears on the screen, Luna. Wait, let me explain. I think I said this earlier, but hold on. In film, they have a series of frozen images that capture people in action, and what they do is move each frozen image very quickly through what's called a projector. The projector has a bright light that shines through the series of images. And as the images move, it gives the illusion that the people on those images are moving. You'll understand when we start seeing it."
"Let me see now," Luna answered, still focused on the light. She stood and raised her hands, reaching into the beams and casting shadows onto the screen. Luna gasped as she watched the colors and patterns of the preview advertisements change upon her fingers and palms. She wasn't aware that there were a few other people in the theater with them, and one of them sitting in the middle row grouched, "Hey! Sit the eff down!"
"Luna!" Harry hissed, and reached out, grabbing her by the waist and attempting to pull her back to her seat. Instead, she seemingly lost her balance and tipped one way, then the other. Finally, she landed harshly but neatly onto Harry's lap.
His hands had moved from wrapping her waist. One arm went around her shoulders, cradling her from the fall, and the other arm slid slightly down one of her legs to steady her. The hand on her leg came upon the skin of her thigh, as the skirt of her dress had slid up just slightly above her knees. It was a perfectly innocent move on Harry's part, he was merely making sure Luna didn't get hurt.
Still, he wasn't even wondering if he ought to move that hand.
Their faces were very close, and Harry could see a very small mole, not even a bump, just below her left eye. You wouldn't even notice it under normal circumstances. Her breath came and went in short gasps, and Harry's glasses fogged up, at least the right lens did, and it did hamper the amount of eye contact the two teens were attempting. Finally, her breathing slowed to normal, and Luna whispered, "Sorry about the fall, Harry."
He finally noticed where his hands were and moved the arm along her legs out of the way so she could get back to her seat. "Well, it's a good thing I left my soda in the armrest," Harry answered sheepishly. "But Luna, let's...settle down and wait for the film to start, please."
"Oh. I guess I should then," she answered back, getting into her seat and adjusting herself with three or four hops, straightening something out, perhaps her skirt. She took her soda from its armrest and made a loud slurping noise through the drinking straw. "Odd flavor, this root. Doesn't make for a very good butterbeer substitute."
Harry got more comfortable when the movie previews started, and Luna fell quiet as she watched and watched. Soon the Feature Presentation sign flashed and Harry whispered, "Here's the movie itself. Here we go."
Luna glanced at him and was about to ask something, then paused and whispered back. "Let's not go. Let's stay, Harry."
The summary of the movie was this: a small independently owned music store in the East Coast United States was going through one of its daily crises. The store's money had been gambled away, an always-evil multinational corporation was threatening to take over the universe, the kids who work there were undergoing the kinds of stress and relationship conflicts that made teenagers so much fun to watch, and to top it all off, it was Rex Manning Day.
Harry found himself laughing, but not uncontrollably, at some of the antics the characters were indulging themselves in. He did find the overly witty banter going on between the teens rather clever. He took time every so often to watch Luna's reactions, and he noted she was focusing very hard on the images flashing before her. She did ask at one point, in her normal voice, "What's the big deal about Rex Manning?"
"Shh!" the jerk from the middle row answered her harshly. Harry tapped her hand to get her attention. "We've got to whisper, Luna. No loud noises, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered back. "So who is Rex Manning?"
The shoplifter scene definitely caught her attention, as the Zen wannabe character Lucas approached a juvenile music thief. As the shoplifter fled for his life with Lucas dogging his every step, the blonde character Gina that Luna thought could be British made a store-wide announcement: "Attention Rex Manning fans, to your left you will notice a shoplifter being chased by night manager Lucas. This young man will be caught, deep fried in a vat of hot oil, and served to our first hundred customers. Just another tasty treat from the gang at Empire Records."
"Ahh!" Luna shouted. "They're promoting cannibalism!"
That got a huge wave of laughter from most of the audience in attendance, except for the jerk in the middle row that answered back, "Shut up!"
Harry remembered the rule about not using magic in front of Muggles, but he started wondering if he could get away with the old-fashioned tossing of the soda in his hands at that jerk.
Luna calmed down when she learned that the shoplifter wasn't going to be served up as a treat, and nodded when she found out his name was Warren Beatty: "Oh, I've heard of him," she whispered. "But isn't he older?"
Harry tried to settle down himself to enjoy the movie. He was having a problem, though, with the relationship stuff on the screen, it just seemed so ridiculous to him. That one guy pining for that girl, the one Luna thought was an elf, seriously, he should have just said something, and at least well before the events going on that day. He much preferred the twisted antics of getting Rex Manning Day to go off without a hitch.
"No, seriously," Luna whispered during the autograph session. "Who's Rex Manning?"
Harry didn't much care for the part of the movie where the elvish girl went all psycho to serve Rex Manning his lunch ("Warren's still in one piece, isn't he?" Luna whispered), and then he got flat out confused when, even after Rex had suggested a rather rude act (that Harry didn't quite get anyway), which had driven her to run away in anger, that she would get more psychotic when her almost-British coworker DID make out with Rex.
"He's not worth it," Harry whispered, shaking his head. "Why fight over a guy with a hairstyle even Flock Of Seagulls avoided using?"
At least the relationship squabbling gave way to what Harry felt was a classic moment in teen angst cinema: the airhead character Mark suffering a hallucinogenic moment and watching a monstrously dressed metal band named GWAR invite him into the TV and join the band. Luna's expression when seeing the band was one of mild discomfort, but said nothing.
Harry watched with a big grin, however, even when GWAR's frontman announced, "Mark, man, you play a mean guitar, man. It's really a shame that NOW you must DIE!"
"That is rather sad," Luna watched as the mutated drum set consumed Mark. "His axe handling skills should have saved him from the pagan ritual. Good guitarists are hard to find."
"Will you SHUT UP?" The jerk in the middle row shouted back at her.
Harry stood up, but Luna's hand touched his. He looked down to see her blink a few times, actually thinking it over. "No."
And the rest of the theater audience applauded when she said that. The jerk in the middle row tried glowering at everybody surrounding him, then finally sat down in a huff.
The movie got to be a little more enjoyable from then on, even though Luna did stop making loud comments during the rest of the viewing. The bald Wiccan-looking girl tried to enjoy her own funeral, the juvenile shoplifter returned to shoot up the place and ask for a job, the kids all rallied together to save the music store, relationship issues were resolved, and all was made right with the world as the credits rolled.
While most of the audience packed it in, Harry and Luna kept watching: after all, the film was still showing scenes of two store employees arguing over the future of rock and roll, even with a car crashing into something off-camera. Finally, the credits over, as the theater lights brightened, Harry and Luna saw they were the last ones there. "So, what do you think?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Luna answered after a few moments. "It could have used more of the Ramones."
Chapter Eleven: The Opposite of Rage
I will be traveling to San Diego this weekend. There will be significant delays in finishing the next chapter. Please enjoy the chamber music I am piping through your computer while you wait. ("Girl from Ipanema" begins playing soothingly)