DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter (and associated characters, likenesses, concepts, etc.) belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. AOL/Time Warner, Inc., among others. I make no claim, written or implied, upon Harry Potter. No money is being made and no infringement or disrespect to the creators / copyright holders is intended.
Warning: This story will contain slash (ie. male/male relationships) and mpreg, although neither will be graphic.
A/N: This story was inspired by the many wonderful stories that I have read and enjoyed here at fan fiction and any similarities to existing stories is not intended. This story is AU, meaning that the events that occurred in the OOTP have not been taken into account and am I in no means suggesting the material described in this story should be considered as a direct interpretation of cannon. Also, I am American so I apologize in advance for any Americanisms.
Chapter Eight – Mister Kingston
Silence met the Phoenix's announcement as most of the Order members were in shock. Many had given up long ago on locating what could quite possibly be the only remaining hope the wizarding world had at defeating Voldemort.
"Where is he?" gasped Sirius, who was practically bouncing in his seat with excitement.
Albus smiled at the animagus' behavior. "I think I'll let Mrs. Weasley explain; Hermione, if you would please."
Draco was so caught up in what she had to say that he didn't even take time to insult her as he usually would.
"Well, yesterday, Ron and I went to visit my parents to pick up Rebecca. They had babysat our daughter over the weekend, as Ron and I had Order business that we needed to take care of. While we were at their home, my Dad was watching television; some morning show that he likes to watch. For those of you who don't know, a television is a muggle device that broadcasts pictures and sound similar to how we fire call, but it can be shown to millions of people at the same time and many of the images shown on the television were recorded earlier; they are not necessarily live." Seeing that most of the Order members appeared to understand the basics of what a television was, Hermione continued.
"Anyway, my mum and I were in the kitchen talking when I heard a familiar voice. Ron and I went into the family room with my Dad and saw that on the television the host of the show was interviewing a popular singer from the United States who had just won some big award for his music over the weekend. I'm not sure why but the singer seemed vaguely familiar to me, so I decided to record the program." Hermione took a recording device out of her pocket and placed it on the table. Soon, the room was filled with the images that Hermione and Ron had seen the day before.
Draco watched half interested, 'Who cares about some American pop star? What does all this have to do with Harry?' Soon the host ended the first part of the interview and the singer got up to perform one of his songs. Draco watched as the attractive man, who looked to be in his early twenties, picked up his guitar. The man sat on a stool and pushed his brown hair out of his crystal blue eyes. Draco started to fidget as the first strains of the song filled the room, however his mood soon changed when the singer opened his mouth and began to sing, then he almost forgot to breathe. Memorized, Draco could do nothing more than watch the image of the man sing his heart out. The song itself was rather good, Draco admitted, but it wasn't the song that had captured his and everyone else's attention. It was the words.
It was the same exact words that Hermione had read out loud to the Council the day after Harry had escaped Azkaban. Somehow, hearing him sing about wanting to die and the pain that he had been through was so much worse than merely reading them aloud. The passion that the singer put into the song lead one to think that the words held a special purpose to him; that this was about more than just a song.
No one moved as the last haunting note faded away. Hermione reached over and picked up the ball on the table. Draco took a moment to look around at all the pale faces in the room. Sirius even had tears running down his face as he still stared at the place on the wall where the image had once been.
Hermione decided to take that moment to continue with her explanation. "The singer's name is Emrys Kingston. He is in his early twenties, and lives in Southern California. He is an extremely private person, so we were not able to find very much out about his personal life."
"We do know that he has been singing with the band Black Onyx for almost three and a half years now, and most of the music that the band performs could be classified as hip hop, this was the first song of this type, you know, darker. According to what we were able to find out, he is a very popular singer and has won many awards, not the least of which was a Grammy for Male Vocalist of the Year. We tried to do a background check on Mister Kingston; both through muggle means and through the American Ministry of Magic. Both searches came up negative. It looks like before a little more than three years ago, there was no record of an Emrys Kingston; he just seemed to have popped up out of thin air, and as I'm sure that you will all remember that is about the time that Draco gave Harry the means to create his new persona."
"Lastly, the singer's voice is vaguely familiar. Now it isn't exactly like Harry's was; he doesn't have a British accent but it is still could potentially be him. Also, not many people know this, but Harry used to sing. Not in public mind you, but when he was alone, or thought he was. Ron told me that the boys that shared a dorm with him used to make fun of him for singing in the showers." Ron nodded as Hermione paused to allow everyone an opportunity to assimilated this information. "It is Ron's and my conclusion that there is a remote chance that Emrys Kingston is Harry Potter, and if he isn't, then someone must at least talk to him to see where he got the words to that song." Finished with her analysis, Hermione crossed her arms in front of her and leaned back in her chair.
Gray eyes that seemed alight with an inner fire met and held a pair of twinkling blue ones. The old wizard nodded at the much younger one. "Draco, I think that you know what it is that I must ask of you."
The Phoenix interrupted him as the blonde started to protest. "I have listened carefully to all your reasons why we must let Harry go, but I do not think that it is in the best interest for any of the parties involved. I need you to go to the United States and bring Harry home."
Draco had known for some time that if they had located Harry that Dumbledore would ask this of him, still it didn't make him feel any better about it. "Look, you think you've found him, why does it have to be me that brings him home? I was the one that made it possible for him to leave."
Albus smiled at Draco's weak protests, he always suspected that there was something more than just friendship between the two boys. "And that my dear boy is exactly why it must be you. Harry trusts you and, if I am not mistaken, owes you a wizard debt for the help that you gave him in escaping from prison. The rest of us, with the exception of Severus, have betrayed him; we didn't believe in him at a very crucial moment in his life, and he had to suffer tremendously for our weakness. He is not likely to listen to anyone else's explanation. But with you, I am hopeful that he will at least listen to what you have to say, if not come back to Hogwarts with you. We need him, Draco."
"You do realize that he'll probably just tell us all to go to hell. And to be honest with you, I hope he does."
"Yes, I expect that Harry holds a lot of anger at what we did to him. His initial reaction will most likely be to reject any offer that we make, but you know deep down Harry is still the Heir of Gryffindor; he is the descendent of the one of the oldest and most noble bloodlines in our world. I do not truly believe that he will allow our community to perish when there is something that he can do about it. I believe that while he may not forgive us, he will not allow innocent people to suffer due to his inability to move on. He will be back."
Draco smirked at the hopeful faces around the large table; these people were no better off now than they were when Harry came to Hogwarts as an eleven year old. They were still vesting all their hopes in to the hands of one person. When would they realize that Harry was only human? "Am I to go alone?"
"No, Severus will accompany you."
Before the Potion Master could comment on this latest development, the words "I'm coming too" were shouted from the far corner of the table. It figures that Black would want to come along; well, Harry is his Godson.
Draco saw the determined look on the Sirius' face and knew that there would be no talking him out of it. "Very well Sirius, if you want to come, I don't have a problem with it, as long as both you and Severus agree to behave yourselves." Both men were old enough to be Draco's father, but sometimes you would never be able to tell that from their behavior. The pair had done a decent job of putting aside their differences and working together for the good of the Order, but every now and then one of them would say or do something that set the other off and then look out. That was the type of incident that this mission couldn't afford.
A very much relieved Black nodded his head.
Draco raised one of his fine eyebrows at his own Godfather, "Severus?"
"Fine, I agree to go with you, and I also promise not to do anything to dreadful to Black as long as you keep him as far away from me as you can."
Knowing that that was as much of a promise that he was going to get from the Potion Master, Draco nodded.
With more enthusiasm than a normal person should be allowed, the Headmaster rose up from his chair and clapped his hands together. "Good, now that that's settled, you will all leave tomorrow."
Draco leaned back in his chair not sure how to feel, for so long now he had completely given up on the dream of seeing Harry again. But now with a real possibility that he very well may be seeing him again tomorrow, he felt nervous. Deep down, he was worried about how Harry would react to seeing them again, and more importantly, how he would react to seeing Harry again.
* * *
Draco looked around him curiously. A portkey had taken him, Sirius, and Severus to New Orleans, Louisiana, in the heart of the deep south of the United States. Draco had heard many things about this place and having never been there was fairly interested in looking around a bit. However, this wasn't the time or place for that. They were here because Hermione had said that Black Onyx, Harry's band, was playing a concert here tonight.
The men had no trouble locating the arena where the group was to perform that evening. The place was a huge dome shaped building called the Super Dome that would seat more people that probably existed in the entire English magical community. Draco thanked Merlin for magic when they went to purchase tickets. The clerk had the audacity to laugh in their faces before he managed to spit out that the show had been sold out for over a month. Draco had to fight the urge to hex the man when he winked at them and said "better luck next time."
Grabbing three pieces of trash off the dirty ground, Draco went in to the men's restroom and transfigured the paper wrappers into tickets, and VIP passes. He had seen someone else with a VIP pass and he knew that if they wanted to get close enough to the lead singer to have a conversation with him that they may have to apparate with him somewhere private. And in order to apparate with another person, you needed to be touching them; hence the need for VIP passes.
Severus checked them into a nearby Marriott hotel, while Sirius and Draco sat in the lobby looking for anyone who appeared to look like the picture that Hermione had given them of Emrys Kingston.
Not having any luck at spotting the singer, the threesome decided to walk around a bit as they had a few hours to kill before the gates opened at the Dome. Never having been this far south before, they were overwhelmed by the strength of the sun. It only took a few moments before Severus, who rarely came outside of his dungeons, was complaining about the heat. In an effort to cool down some, they elected to stroll down the famous river walk.
Draco was grudgingly impressed; the architecture wasn't nearly as old as most of the buildings in England, but it was still a sight to see. The French influence was very apparent. After a rather uneventful walk, Severus and Draco allowed themselves to be directed down one the most notorious streets in the world, Bourbon Street.
Looking around at the various bars and shops Draco's gaze fell on a small group of ladies wearing impossibly short skirts and what could barely be described as a top. All of the women in the pack seemed to be wearing an unordinary amount of cheap, gaudy plastic beaded necklaces. Not wanting to give them the wrong idea, Draco tried to avoid eye contract. Unfortunately, Sirius wasn't so inclined and kept staring at the girls.
Hoping that the females wouldn't notice, Draco put his head down and kept walking down the street. A loud giggle was their only warning and, soon they found themselves surrounded.
"Where are you going, sexy?" one of the girls said in what she most likely assumed was a sultry voice.
"Excuse us, but we must be off" Severus said in a tone that has sent many first years scurrying for cover.
"What's the rush, luv?" a different girl answered, one that seemed to be unaffected by the glares that they were directing her way. "We just wanted to know if you have any beads."
"Beads?" Sirius asked, clearly confused.
More giggling met his question. "Yes, beads, three handsome gentlemen as yourselves surely must know what nice girls do for beads, don't you?" With that, they watched transfixed as the girl that had been speaking reached down and, with both hands, lifted her shirt up over her head, exposing herself to them.
If Draco hadn't have been in such a hurry to get out of there, he would have fallen over laughing at the expression on Severus' face. You would have sworn that the man had never seen a pair of breasts before in his life. Thinking quickly, Draco grabbed his companions and pulled them away from the girls who were outright laughing at them by now, and walked very fast down the street.
"Did you…did you see..?"
Sirius laughed and patted Snape on the back. "Come on old boy, spit it out. It was only a pair of …"
Having pulled himself together by now, Severus snapped, "I know exactly what they were, you don't need to tell me. I was just surprised as all. I surmise that the women here are a little different then the ones in England."
Draco nodded in agreement, wanting to put the incident out of his mind.
Sharing a look between them, they decided not to risk anymore of those types of encounters, they decided to go back to the Super Dome to wait for the doors to open.
* * *
Sirius looked around him anxiously as the mass of people continued to file in and slowly make their way to their seats, 'there has got to be over 70,000 people in here'.
Draco, sharing some of Sirius' own thoughts, said distractedly, "I heard Harry sing in the shower before; he was good, but certainly not this good."
A few moments later, the house lights went down, and Draco was forced to eat his words.
Three completely astonished men stood off on one of the ramps and listened in disbelief as the band Black Onyx began their first set of songs. The band was good, really good. It was no wonder that so many people wanted to come and hear them perform first-hand.
After the initial surprise wore off, Draco found himself concentrating solely on the lead singer, the man that Granger thought might be Harry. His voice, while vaguely familiar, didn't sound like Harry's and while the man was the same approximate height as Harry and had a similar build as him, Draco just wasn't sure if the handsome man that called himself Emrys Kingston could in fact be Harry Potter.
All too soon, the band was playing what was to be the final song of the night. Barely giving his companions a glance, Draco found himself swept up in the crowd's enthusiasm and was soon chanting for an encore along with everyone else.
The crowd quieted immediately when Emrys walked back onto the stage. The singer graciously thanked everyone for coming and stated that he hoped that everyone had enjoyed the show. His remarks where met with loud approval from his adoring fans. After expressing regret that this was the band's last concert this season and plugging the band's new CD that was due to be released in a couple of months, Emrys settled himself down on a stool that one of the stage hands had placed in the center of the stage.
As soon as he strummed the first haunting notes of the song that he was about to sing, Draco froze. Here was the song that had brought him, Severus and Sirius almost half way around the world. Reading the words were one thing, hearing them put to music on some sort of recording device was another, but neither compared to listening and watching this young man pour his heart and soul into this one single piece of music.
Feeling someone nudge him from behind, Draco turned and saw that Severus and Sirius had started to walk away from where they had stood for the concert and were making their way towards the stage. Before the last note of the song died away, the crowd was on its feet demanding more; another encore.
By this time, the Hogwarts group made their way backstage, after a brief stop to show their back stage passes to security. Using a subtle charm to confuse the band's manager, Severus managed to convince the man that they had previously set up an interview with Mister Kingston immediately following the performance. As such, they were shown to a private room, where they were told to wait for Emrys.
The room was comfortable enough, with several leather couches and a small fully stocked refrigerator. It was a good thing that the room was so comfortable, as they were forced to wait there for what seemed to be an ungodly amount of time. Just when Sirius had exhausted what little patience the Gryffindor was gifted with and was about to go look for Mister Kingston, the door to the room burst open.
"Look, I don't know who exactly you people think you are, or what you did to Tony, but I sure as hell did not set up a meeting with anyone after the concert tonight. Now if you'll excuse me…" With that, Emrys Kingston turned back to the door ready to leave.
Draco watched as the lead singer came rushing into the room, clearly in some sort of snit. As the young man's rant waned, Draco took the opportunity to study him. Draco hated to admit it but he was very attractive, and appeared to have an incredible body. So intent on studying the man, Draco missed it when Kingston finally took the time to look at the people he was currently dressing down. If he hadn't, he would have seen the almost nonexistent flicker of what could have been described as recognition in the singer's deep blue eyes.
Severus however wasn't about to let this opportunity pass and quickly moved to block the retreating singer. "Mister Kingston, we do have some questions for you that we need some answers to. Now, we can talk here or we can take you to somewhere more private for our little chat. Make no mistake however; you are going to talk to us. The sooner that we have the answers we require, the sooner you can back to this existence you call a life, do you understand?"
If Emrys was surprised by Severus' demeanor, he didn't show it. With an almost bored glance at his watch, the singer sneered, "You have five minutes and not one second more, so I suggest you tell me what you want from me and then get lost."
Draco decided to take the initiative before either one of his two companions could utter another word and risk pissing off Kingston any more than they already had. "Mister Kingston, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, but we are interested in learning where the words for that last song you sang came from."
Emrys' eyes flickered briefly in Draco's direction. "And which song was that?" came the lazy reply.
Counting slowly to five so as to not lose his temper, Draco responded. "It was the song that you sang for the encore; I believe that the name of the song was 'Bother".
The only sign that the singer had even heard him was an abrupt nod as the singer turned from the three strangers and walked over to the window. As they watched the young man, Draco shared a bewildered look with his Godfather, not sure of exactly how to proceed from here.
After a brief moment of silence, Emrys turned once more to face the men. "I am familiar with which song you are inquiring about, but before I answer, I want to know why you are so interested in that particular song."
"Look Mister Kingston, my Godson has been missing for almost four years, I haven't seen him in over five and I really need to get in touch with him." Sirius started to explain.
"And that concerns me because…"
"Because one of the last messages that he left before he disappeared were the words to that song." Snape was clearly annoyed. "If you would be so kind as to tell us who wrote that song, we'll be on our way."
Glaring at the tall dark haired man Emrys responded, his own tone showing his impatience with this conversation. "Fine, I'll tell you, just so that you will leave me alone, not that it's going to be much help to you anyway."
Before the three men could respond, the singer continued. "A few years back before the band got our big break we were spending a lot of time playing in some dive clubs in New York City. There was this one place that we played at fairly often. While we were there we got to know some of the regulars. There was this one man there, a loner really, that would hang with us occasionally. We kinda felt sorry for him. Anyway, he wrote that song and he gave it to me. That's all there was to it."
Draco thought about Emrys' answer, it seemed on the surface to make sense, Harry most likely would have been in New York at that time, but something just didn't feel right. "What did this man look like, can you describe him?"
Emrys rolled his eyes. "Lets see, he was about my height, scrawny looking, almost like he hadn't had much to eat for a long time, he had dark hair and a strange scar on his face. When we asked him about it he said that he had gotten in a fight when he was younger; now that I think about it it's kinda ironic."
Sirius exchanged an excited look with Draco. The man that had wrote the song certainly sounded like he was Harry. "Why did you say that it was ironic and where did you last see this man? Did he have a name?"
Reaching a hand back to massage his neck, Emrys sighed. "He called himself James. I never knew where he lived, so don't bother asking. Besides, he's not there anymore anyway."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I was there the night he died."
If a feather would have fallen to the floor, it would have sounded like a gun shot, the silence was so deafening.
"W—Wh—What do you mean 'died'?" Draco was so stunned that he didn't even notice his stutter.
"James, the one who wrote that song, died in a bar fight in New York City a couple of years ago."
"Are we finished? I have other places that I need to be." And without an additional comment, Emrys Kingston walked out of the room, leaving three depressed and confused wizards behind him.
To Be Continued.