Disclaimer- I don't own any of the songs used in this chapter, or Avril Lavigne for that matter
"This has to be the best memorial party I've ever been to" Hanna said, taking another swig of butterbeer. It was Saturday already, and over half the 2nd year Hogwarts students had shown up on Primrose beach. The sun was setting now, and Emily couldn't help but be reminded of Maya even more as it did. She had loved the sunset, almost as much as she'd loved Avril Lavigne.
"I agree, this is a pretty awesome party" said Spencer.
There was a large fire near the bottom of the beach, where people were cooking various different things over. Not too far off the stage where Avril Lavigne was currently performing, was a large wooden pole with gifts to Maya placed around it. There were teddies, flowers, pictures, notes, and various other possessions that people had left for her.
"Maya would have loved it" Aria said, wrapping a jacket around her. Emily nodded her head.
"Great party you guys" a Ravenclaw boy said to the girls in passing.
"Oh look" Hanna pointed to two people approaching where they were standing "It's that lady that gave us the rest of the money for the memorial"
"Oh yeah" Spencer looked over at her as she was walking closer. She was dressed different than had she been when they met her, now in black jeans with brown boots and a white tee with a leather jacket. "Who's she with?"
Indeed, there was another young woman stood next to her with flaming red hair. When the two women were only a few metres away from the girls, Emily dropped her Butterbeer.
"Oh my gosh" she breathed "That's-that's Ginny Potter!"
Finally, Hermione Granger and Ginny Potter reached over to where the girls were standing, and Emily was still staring at her in shock.
"Great turn out" Hermione said "Hope you don't mind, I brought my friend Ginny-"
"-Potter" Emily finished almost instantly "Y-you played for the Holyhead Harpies" Ginny smiled.
"That, I did" she said "Why, you know them?" Emily nodded her head so rapidly that she could have been mistaken for the Ginny Potter bobble head she had gotten for Christmas last year.
"I'm a massive fan" she said "C-can I have your autograph?" Alison rolled her eyes at Emily, who looked as though she was about to start drooling any second from now.
"Thank you again for the money you gave us, Mrs Granger" Spencer shook her hand.
"It's Weasley, actually" Hermione said "But I still use Granger on my cheques. Can't be bothered to change my signature really" This made everyone laugh.
"Weasley?" Emily quizzed, glancing back and forth from Hermione to Ginny.
"I'm married to her brother" Hermione explained "Biggest mistake of my life really"
"She's joking" Ginny laughed, seeing the look of horror on some of the girls faces.
"You're married to Harry Potter!" Aria suddenly remembered, a look of triumph in her face.
"Yep" Ginny nodded "Biggest mistake of MY life" Everyone laughed again.
"You like Avril Lavigne?" Alison asked. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and simultaneously said "Um, yeah!"
"When Hermione told me that she knew some kids who had booked her privately, I couldn't resist the offer to come watch her play. She's brilliant, don't you think?" Everyone nodded.
"We tried to get Harry and Ron to come too" Hermione sighed "But they have some meeting with Draco Malfoy"
"I'm still convinced Harry's in love with him" Ginny added "Honestly, he doesn't stop going on about that man. You'd think he was the one he was married to"
"Draco Malfoy?" Spencer said "Wasn't he a death eater?" Hanna nudged her in the ribs, her face reading a look of 'Shut the fuck up'
"He was momentarily" Hermione said "Long story, really. But he's an alright guy now"
"I am so sorry about your friend" Ginny said very suddenly, changing the subject "We brought her a little teddy. Mind if we go put it under the pole?"
"Not at all"
And Hermione and Ginny walked off, cracking open bottles of butter bear and putting a teddy under Maya's memorial pole.
"That" Emily breathed "Was awesome. She's even more awesome than I thought she would be"
"Ooooo, is someone in love?" Alison teased, making sure the rest of the girls had walked away. Emily punched her in the arm and rolled her eyes.
"Shut up" she hissed "And no, that's stupid. She's just my idol" Alison sarcastically nodded her head.
"Come on" she held her hand out for Emily to grab "You like this song. Let's dance"
"How do you know I like this song?" Emily asked, reluctantly grabbing hold of Alison's hand.
"Everyone likes this song" Alison told her. Emily couldn't argue, as the two headed to the dance floor and broke into the first chorus of 'Sk8er Boi'
Halfway through the night, Avril stopped playing the music and everyone was building a small chinese lantern and sticking a note to the side of it. Emily tapped the pen against her face, and stared down at the paper.
"Stuck?" Alison offered. Emily nodded her head.
"There are so many things I want to say to her" she admitted "I don't know how many of them I'd be able to fit on this tiny piece of paper". Alison stuck her own note to the side of her lantern.
"Tell her the thing you loved most about her" she suggested. Emily shook her head.
"Maya wouldn't want me to that" she said "She'd tell me off for being too cheesy. What did you put on yours?" Alison cleared her throat and brought her fist up to her chin.
"'Maya, I loved your clothing style more than I love my own mother'" Emily laughed.
"See!" she retorted "That's something Maya would have liked to hear"
"Well write down a memory you had with her" Alison said "Something special" Emily knew exactly what she was referring to, and blushed.
"I've got it" she suddenly said, clicking the pen and scribbling something on her paper.
"Good girl" Alison mocked. Emily smiled, and let the lantern go, a drawing of a small white rabbit stuck to the side of it, peacefully hopping through the snow.
"Just try a bit" Hanna offered her. Emily shook her head and turned her nose up.
"Han, it's bad enough we all drink Butterbeer, let alone Firewhiskey!" she retaliated.
"Oh come on, just a little bit" Hanna offered again, and Emily was tempted to slap it out her hand.
"This is peer pressure" she stated "What would McGonagall say to this?" Hanna rolled her eyes.
"Ol' Minnie probably has a few secrets herself" she argued "It's good stuff, really"
"I'm under-aged" Emily mockingly turned her head away. Hanna shrugged.
"So am I" she said "Come on, for Maya"
"You can't just stick 'for Maya' on the end of a request and expect me to do it" Emily chuckled.
"Says who" Hanna asked, staring Emily longingly in the eyes "Oh come ooon, loosen up a bit"
Emily bit her lip, and glanced back and forth from the bottle of firewhiskey in Hanna's hand.
"Where did you even get that from?" she quizzed.
"My mums cabinet" she explained. Emily raised an eyebrow.
"Muggles drink Firewhiskey?" she asked
"Muggles who are friends with wizards, drink Firewhiskey" Hanna answered. Emily stared at the bottle of Firewhiskey once again, and knew that if Maya were here she would have downed the whole thing by now.
"Fine" she spat "But only a sip, no more. And no telling my mother" Hanna dramatically threw her hands in the air and handed her the bottle.
"That's the spirit!" she cried "Gosh, we should have our friends die more often" Emily shot a poisonous look, but Hanna only laughed "It was only a joke, trust me" she said "I don't wanna lose anyone else, not for a long time"
-
"It's been a pleasure playing for you guys tonight" Avril shouted into the microphone, followed by loud cheering "But we can't forget why we are gathered here tonight. Maya St Germain, this one's for you"
Emily knew what song it was before it even started playing. It had been Maya's favourite song, after all.
'Uh huh, life's like this'
Alison, reading Emily's mind, went and stood next to her.
"She'd be proud of you, you know" she told her, clinking her own butterbeer with hers. "She'd be proud of all of us" Emily looked up at Alison, the light of the fire reflecting in her dark eyes.
"For what, breaking all the eggs?" she joked. Alison laughed, and nudged her in the ribs.
'Chill out, what you yelling for
Lay back, it's all been done before
"Even for breaking the eggs" she said "She'd be proud of you for moving on with your life- for being happy. And she'd be proud of you for all this" Emily smiled.
'And if you could only let it be, then you will see'
"She's really gone, isn't she?" she said, taking a large slurp of her butterbeer. Alison sadly nodded.
"It's only just hit me fully" Emily continued "You know, hearing this song. Maya used to play it on a loop every time we hung out. It's like this is the final goodbye"
'I like, you the way you are
When we're, drivin' in your car'
"Well then what are we doing here?" Alison grabbed Emily's wrist abruptly, causing her to drop her bottle "Maya wouldn't want us to be standing around crying, would she?" Emily stared at the broken glass on the floor and contemplated picking it up.
"No" she said in a small voice "If Maya were here, she'd say something like 'What the hell are you two turtle-necks doing standing still? This is the greatest song ever written!'" Alison put her butterbeer down and started dragging Emily dramatically toward the middle of the floor.
'And you're talking to me one on one, but you become-'
Emily reluctantly followed her and stood in the middle of the floor. Alison knew the lyrics, of course. She started singing them at full volume and urged Emily to join in.
'Somebody else, 'round everyone else
You're watching your back, like you can't relax
You're tryin' to be cool, you look like a fool to me.
Tell me-'
"For Maya" Emily shouted over the music. Alison slipped her hand down from Emily's arm to her hand.
"For Maya" she agreed.
'Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're actin' like you're somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this, you
And you fall, and you crawl, and you break, and you take what you get and you turn it into
honesty and promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it
Nooo, noo, noo'
Emily laughed as she watched Alison sing the lyrics full blast. She had to admit, this song had grown on her since it was the only thing Maya ever listened to. Maya would have loved this day, and that's why she owed it to her to love it too. Alison grabbed Emily's wrist and forced her to dance until the end of the song, where everyone gave a huge cheer and Avril took a bow.
"Thank you guys so much! I have been Avril Lavigne, go check out my new album, and goodnight to you all!" Avril hopped off the stage and picked up her belongings.
"Hey, Avril, thanks so much for performing tonight" Spencer and the girls had gathered around the pop star now, handing her the £2000.
"It was a pleasure" she smiled "Hey, I hope all you girls are okay. I know how hard losing someone close to you can be" she took the money lightly out of Spencer's hand, and noticed the butterbeer bottle in her other.
"Hey, what's that stuff all you guys been drinking all night?" she asked, pointing at it. Crap. They forgot Butterbeer didn't exist in the muggle world.
"Oh-uh-" Spencer, for the first time in her life, didn't know what to say.
"New brand of cream soda" Alison quickly interjected "Butter flavoured" Avril's head tilted.
"Mind if I have a sip?" she asked Spencer. Spencer offered her the bottle, and she took a gulp.
"Wow, nice stuff!" she exclaimed, examing the bottle before handing it back to Spencer "Hey tell you what, I'll knock £100 of the price if you send me a crate-load of this stuff" The girls nervously looked around at each other, as Avril handed Spencer back 5 £20 notes.
"S-sure" Hanna eventually managed to say.
"Awesome! Here, I'll write down my address and you can either send it through the post or drop it at my house or something" she took out a piece of paper from her pocket, scribbled something down, and handed it to Emily.
"Sounds cool" she said. Avril nodded her head.
"Well, it's been a pleasure playing for you, and I wish you all the best" she gave all the girls a high five and started walking off. As she neared the grass at the edge of the beach, she suddenly turned around.
"Oh, guys?" she called back, the five girls simultaneously whipping their heads round. "What's a 'Hogwarts'?"
Songs- Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne
Complicated by Avril Lavigne