(I want there to be) A song in my heart
Disclaimer: It's fanfiction.
Info:Character Appreciation for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Fandom prompt: Write a good place fic.
Mindy rolled her eyes as Petunia hustled out onto the patio to take care of her plants. The woman was obviously trying to listen into the neighbors argument. The walls were thin enough that they could hear the yelling but not the words. Her roommate probably was hoping that they were dumb enough to leave the window open again. They already made that mistake once with her roommate and she was pretty certain they'd never do it again unless by accident.
The news about why the argument happened was all over the building by the next morning. Petunia was many things like nosy, obsessively neat and prone to organize things that weren't hers or shared, and scarily effective in spreading hearsay and rumors like a particularly nasty flu, but she wasn't a bad person. She had strange ideas about marriage that Mindy honestly had no idea where she picked up much less internalized so solidly. It was actually sort of endearing on Petunia.
The woman was naive and desperate. Any nice word from a man and she preened and latched on, not unlike a leech, and if she was his girlfriend, his word was law. Her latest would-be boyfriend was a bully pig in a blue jumper. His name was Vernon and Petunia liked him. He was a consummate bully with an air of power and authority and it took Vernon almost knocking her to the ground after she tried to protect her roommate when he was drunk for her to see his bad side. He tried to convince her that he could change, he would change for her, and things would be better but Petunia saw through the ruse. She said he wouldn't change just like Peter didn't.
Mindy stretched and laid down the couch. It was only a few hours to work so she turned on the television and checked the DVR and guide for anything to watch. Mindy had pretty much all of the channels but nothing good was on until later and she watched the dvr's she recorded at least twice. Her eyes shut slowly as she flipped through the many channels. Netflix and Amazon Prime were already checked when she got up in the morning.
A knock woke Mindy from her sleep. She checked the clock and saw that her roommate wasn't on the porch anymore. Petunia was in her room with some kind of music blasting. Getting up, she got the check from the fridge and opened the door. A dour man stared at her sternly, his wrinkled hand outstretched, and there was an unpleasant odor around him. Barty Crouch Senior was their landlord—or manager of the building at least. He was a washed up, tired, ambitious, but delusional politician. He was absolutely convinced he was superior to them and if he was judged by how he treated his inferiors, then he would have been judged harshly. Still she pitied him a little as she held out the check and he left without another word.
"Do you have a date for Tahani's event this evening?" Petunia asked.
Tahani had occasional mystery events that had strange requirements. This one was you had to bring a date. All of the food and drink was free with no entry fee, which made everyone roped into it suspicious. Still Mindy liked Tahani—the socialite seemed to have a soft spot for her. She almost wanted to ask if the 'nice couple Al-jamil' that Petunia talked about was her parents but it really wasn't her business if they were. It wasn't that common of a name and they talked about having two daughters, apparently.
"No. All of my male coworkers are either dirtbags or already going with someone," Mindy said.
"Well, I can't go alone. Why don't we go with the two men you met at that mixer with strange names… Godfrey and Salvador?" Petunia asked.
"It's Godric and Salazar. You'll owe me a favor if I go with you. I think they're signed up and aren't going with someone else. You work with Salazar, right? Ask him and if they're both free it's a… well it's not a date." Mindy sighed, figuring it would be too much trouble to skip the event and didn't desire to go alone either.
"We work in the same building. I'm on the landscaping team and he works with snakes in the animal building." Petunia frowned.
"Does that mean you don't have his number?" Mindy asked.
"Of course I do! He's the one that got the taipan that escaped from the cage and got in the garden. It's only for emergencies." Petunia was deathly afraid of snakes normally and the taipan was very venomous.
Salazar assured her it wouldn't bite anyone. He recognized her from the mixer as Mindy's roommate. He formally introduced himself and then gave her his work number and his personal number. He wrote hers down, and seeing how pale Petunia was, hugged her before he went to go get his snake catching gear. It wasn't often that snakes escaped but it seemed that between the hug and having a bona fide snake wrangler number comforted Petunia then.
He went out himself with an assistant to find it curled up-half hidden by a basket. Wearing thick gloves and with a snake tong, he motioned to the assistant to go at the back of the basket. His assistant did and lifting the basket and jumping back Salazar caught the snake as it sprang up in surprise. The tongs caught the head and Salazar lifted the snake high. The assistant holding a bag underneath the snake watched as Salazar gently put the snake in the thick velvet bag.
"This is an emergency. Either call him or I will steal your phone and do it for you. Honestly you work with him- you should really know his name," Mindy chided Petunia.
"I… really should. I just couldn't think of it then—they're both really strange names," Petunia said as she handed Mindy her phone.
The phone call was brief. It was a yes, because, and another yes before Mindy ended the call. Mindy informed her that Salazar was now her date and she would be going with Godric. Mindy sighed as she saw the time and rushed to get ready for her part time job. When she came home there was a small snack and a red dress on her bed. Petunia was in her room finishing up. She checked the clock—it was thirty minutes to the bar that the event was at. She put on the dress and did her make-up to see Godric and Salazar in the living slash dining area. They were dressed virtually identical—nice black shoes, black suit pants, and a black blazer over a dark red shirt for Godric, and a dark green one for Salazar. Petunia was in a teal dress and they walked to the bar in an awkward silence.
Tahani came in looking fabulous as usual. Her dark green suit and pants were pristine and the peacock bowtie popped over a spring green button up shirt. Everyone became silent as she crossed the floor to a stage where they saw a karaoke machine. Tahani welcomed them, and like most of them guessed by the machine, it was karaoke night. They each took a number and Tahani introduced Janet.
The brown haired woman smiled and waved at them. She took the stage and the starting tune of a song started to fill the room. Janet sang 'Once upon a time in New York City' pitch perfect and with a large smile as she looked out in the crowd. There was applause as she left the stage and she hugged Tahani and looked at Mindy before smiling and waving at her. Mindy was surprised because this was the first time she ever met Janet but she seemed very friendly. Tahani turned Janet towards her and Janet hung her head a bit before the event started for real. It was dinner first with a menu and time to familiarize themselves with the song they were to sing.
No one seemed to really know the song they were supposed to sing with their date. Mindy and Godric got the song, 'I See the Light' from a movie called Tangled that neither of them saw. Petunia and Godric got 'A Whole New World', which only Petunia seemed familiar with. Forty-five minutes later and a Youtube search during dinner they all heard the songs that many of them had to sing with strangers. A gigantic man named Hagrid and a bespectacled woman named Rita approached first and it was sort of a disaster. The song was 'Something There' from Beauty and the Beast and the woman mumbled about half the words while the man belted out in a fairly deep bass as he seemed to avoid looking at the woman.
There was no applause after that. Half of the crowd was looking away as if embarrassed for them and the other were staring at them intently as if they stripped off their clothing mid way or were a particularly interesting bug. It was a long silence then they shuffled off stage and the stage was left empty. Tahani went on stage and was very nice about how bad the performance was. It seemed to be a long time that the stage was empty as everyone looked around for the next pair.
Mindy looked at the 2 across the other table. It was Salazar's and Petunia's turn. She leaned into him as he led her to the stage. They took the microphones and stared at each other as the song started. It seemed to be a pattern so far that the male was the better singer as he sang well and Petunia sort of went from being flat to pitched most of the time. They seemed to be having fun though and the enthusiasm seemed contagious. By the end there was modest applause and Mindy didn't feel too bad about being forced to go to the event.
She sighed as Godric nodded and stood getting ready for their turn. He held her hand and they waited for Tahani to say something before going on stage. Mindy was the better singer of the pair as they sang. She seemed to get into it as the song continued, and by the time they were singing together at the end, they were smiling at each other and close enough to kiss. Mindy jumped back as she stared out at the mildly interested crowd. They left the stage embarrassed and sat back down at their table. Petunia began talking and they chatted quietly in the back as the Disney duets continued.
Some were as bad as the first, most were just alright, and a few one of the couples could have been professional singers. It was an experience and over the hours both Mindy and Petunia had a surprisingly good time as they watched and cringed just a little at the off tune singing. It was probably better that they went first because as the night wore on the off tune and pitch just got that more annoying. As the bar closed and the air was blessedly silent, Mindy, Godric, Petunia, and Salazar stood feeling a bit awkward under a lamp post.
"That was…" Godric tried to think of words to say.
"The singing was awful as expected but it was an interesting night and I had fun. Maybe we could actually try to have a real date sometime?" Mindy asked Godric.
"I had a good time too, Salazar. How about we have lunch together tomorrow?" Petunia asked Salazar.
The men looked at each other and nodded to their respective duet partner. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, it was a pleasant night bar, the forced karaoke that they had to endure, and they certainly enjoyed talking with each other. It didn't have to be serious or a lifetime commitment—just four souls, striving to be better, and hoping to find happiness without it costing others. As they walked in different directions, Tahani and Janet watched from inside. Both were silent as the lights on the stage faded and the equipment just vanished.
It was only the beginning of the journey for Mindy, and as Janet looked at the points lost and gained, she thought about the many memories of those that moved on—Chidi, Jason, Eleanor, and Michael. Looking at those four outside reminded her a little of the original four humans together that she knew. It was doubtful they'd stay together until the end—at some point someone would 'move out' and reach the good place if the strength of their singing was any indication. Godric was the most likely to go first, but considering the progress they made, it was actually likely that all of them would 'move out' of the program.
Authors note: I… eventually enjoyed writing this after everything finally worked together. I hope that any readers enjoyed it as well. It was an interesting story to try to write and I hope I did both universes justice. Read and review if you like but either way I hope it was a fun read.