Chapter 2: A Concert to Remember
Meara stood in her jeans and shirt looking very nervous. She watched as the other opening band rocked out on the stage, their creative robes billowing around them as they sang a love song. A hand reached out and touched her shoulder from behind her. With a gasp, she turned around to see Ian behind her.
"Relax, babe," he said in his lovely accent. "Everything's going to be fine. You're going to be a star because of this concert, just you wait and see." Meara smiled and took a deep breath.
"No, we're going to be stars. I can't do it alone, Ian, and you know that," she assured the taller wizard. He smiled in return. "Say hello to babe city," she said jokingly, and he laughed accordingly.
"Not so much babe city, love," he said. "I'm looking forward to the lack of worry about where the next paycheck is going to come. And, of course, all the boys willing to get with the gay lead guitarist of The Mysterious M." He shrugged and gave a huge toothy smile. "To each his own, right?"
Meara nodded, a grin on her own face. "Well then, I guess I'd better not screw up the lyrics then, so you can get a boyfriend."
With that, the first opening band finished. The lead singer, a wizard from the highlands of Scotland, grabbed a mike and quieted the crowd. "Thank you all for coming, we really appreciate your enthusiasm. Now, it's my pleasure to introduce to you the wonderfully talented band that comes up next. With members from both the States and Britain herself, please welcome the amazing Mysterious M!"
The crowd roared. Meara took a deep breath and then ran onto the stage to thunderous applause. She grabbed the mike from the other singer and thanked him quietly. He nodded and quickly made his way off stage, leaving Meara to sweet talk the crowd.
"THANK YOU LONDON!" she shouted. The crowd responded accordingly, and she allowed them to shout themselves into a lull before she began the next part of her speech. She was surprised that so many people had shown up, especially knowing that "Moldy Voldy" was on the loose, but then again, everyone needed a morale booster. A rock concert was just the thing. "We are The Mysterious M, and we are so happy to be here tonight. We have a great show in store for you before the Weird Sisters come up here, so hold on to your hats!" She gave a small nod, signaling for Ian to start his guitar riff from the first song. The crowd began to shout again, and then settled down for what promised to be an awesome show. Meara put the mike to her mouth one more time. "This song is from a Muggle band we all like very much. It's called 'Thunderstruck'." Those who knew the song began to sing along as Meara belted out the lyrics to the AC/DC classic. When the song finished, the crowd was in the palm of the band's collective hand. They were ready for anything.
Meara stepped back and talked to Alfie for a few moments, getting the next song. When he finally nodded to her suggestion, she walked to the front of the stage again. Alfie informed the rest of the band of the change in program while Meara began to talk to the crowd again.
"Ok, we have a great surprise in for you tonight. This is our first concert, really, so we're gonna make it extra special. We're gonna do a song that I wrote, actually." A few screams made Meara laugh. She turned to where the calls were coming from. "Yeah, that's right. Ok, this song is called 'Are You the Wizard of My Dreams?'" The song began, and Meara gave it everything she had.
"Are you the wizard of my dreams?
Was it you that I saw last night?
Was it your red hair and freckled smile
That made me turn away in fright
Of what I feel
Of what I had thought
When I saw your muscular frame?"
The crowd had gone crazy. She knew that, with the song's heavy guitar, bass, and drum lines, it would be a crowd hit, but she didn't think it would be this big. She continued the song, breaking into the chorus with a smile on her face.
"The more you say
The more I lie
And try to hide
What I feel inside
"I'm a whole different person when I'm with you
There's nothing else I'd rather do
Than be here with you,
The wizard of my dreams"
A few in the crowd had pulled out lighters, a testament to the song's slower beat and ballad-like lyrics. Meara leaned down to touch a few hands before moving into the song's second verse.
" Do you dream like I dream?
Will you think how I think
Or is this a passing phase
That goes away with a blink
Of an eye
Or with a sigh
Of regret?
"The more you say
The more I lie
And try to hide
What I feel inside
"I'm a whole different person when I'm with you
There's nothing else I'd rather do
That be here with you,
The wizard of my dreams"
Meara moved out to the center of the stage, knowing that if she didn't get the right intensity for the bridge, the entire song would be blown. She took a deep breath and began to sing again, putting all of her power and feeling into it.
"I've always dreamed of forever
I've always thought of eons of smiles
Thousands of miles I've traveled
Is this the end of the road?
"I'm a whole different person when I'm with you
There's nothing else I'd rather do
Than be here with you
The wizard of my dreams
The wizard, yes the wizard of my dreams"
As the final chords rang in the stadium, the entire band sensed that with that one song, they had finally made fans. They knew that the song Meara had written over ravioli professing her confusion over a romance had made them stars. The rest of the show went without a hitch, and when they got back to the trailer to change into normal clothes, none of them said a word. Finally, Robert broke the silence.
"So, when were you going to unveil that little gem, Meara?" he asked, a smile on his bemused face. Meara blushed.
"If I had known that it would be that big of a hit, I would have asked you guys to play it at every concert we've done at the Leaky Cauldron," she said dryly. Bobby broke into a mad smile.
"Did you see those lighters? Did you, Meara? They were in the palm of our hands, and we gave them a gem. They pulled out lighters for us. A warm-up band…" He trailed off, still in awe of their astounding good luck. Meara smiled.
"Yeah, I saw them. I also saw the swaying, and the mosh pit jumping up and down at those songs that you guys wrote. Don't you see? Together, the band is amazing. Separated into parts, we're still good, but not nearly as note-worthy as the band itself. We have to stick together. No one of us is worth a damn outside the whole," she said. Then, she turned to Alfie. "Any more musical phenomenon's you want to give us? Your songs went over the best, the only one of mine that did anything was 'Wizard'."
Alfie smiled broadly. "Yeah, actually, I do have a good one. I'll give it to you guys at rehersal tomorrow." He then turned to the guys. "Don't go drinking to celebrate. We have to remain the band we've been, or else we're done for. So, no drinks, drugs, or girls. Those can wait until your off time. Got it?" The band nodded, packed up their things, and went out into the world. Meara looked back at Alfie before going to the Weasley twins. They deserved to know about the latest amazing thing to happen to them.
The twins thought it was amazing. Meara told them all about the various songs that made the crowd go crazy, and they immediately wanted lyrics. Meara gave the "Wizard", but she didn't have the others written down. Fred and George teased her endlessly about "Wizard", demanding to know who this mysterious red head was, but she kept her lips sealed. She hadn't even told the band of her attraction to George Weasley, so she wasn't about to tell the man himself.
By the time that they had finished teasing, poking, and prodding into her inner thoughts, it was far too late for her to walk back to her apartment. The streets were not safe these days, especially for a lone witch. The twins were loath to let her leave the safety of the shop. After a lengthy argument, George finally persuaded Meara to stay the night. After a second equally lengthy argument, Fred persuaded Meara to sleep in George's bed while George slept on the floor of Fred's room. Fred knew that George wouldn't be there all night; his brother had a habit of getting up in the wee hours of the morning for a bathroom run, and in his sleepy state, Fred knew that George would climb into bed with Meara before light. He watched with amusment as Meara grabbed the extra toiletries that were always kept on hand at the shop and an oversized t-shirt and hid in the bathroom while George quickly tried to clean his room to be less offensive to a female.
The next morning was one of extreme excitement. True to Fred's predictions, George had crawled into bed with Meara. Unfortunately for George, he didn't wake up before Meara, and even if he had, Meara was comfortably curled up on his chest. The earth shattering scream that pierced the early morning filled the residents of Diagon Alley with terror and Fred Weasley with great amusement. After he made breakfast for the blushing couple, he took great pleasure in watching the awkward moments that abounded. Meara and George avoided each other's gaze. It didn't seem that Meara was mad at George, just that she was scared of what had happened when they were both asleep in the same bed. Finally, Fred had to break the silence.
"So, did you two sleep ok?" he asked, an innocent look on his face. Two pairs of eyes glared back at him.
"Do you want to die?" Meara asked menacingly.
"It can be arranged," Fred added, an equally evil look on his face. George frowned.
"Look, you two, it was an accident, it happens, get over it. You two are crazy about each other, everyone can tell," he said quickly, trying to get everything out before his twin and Meara fell on his neck. The look of shock in their eyes told him quite plainly that whatever they had been expecting from his mouth, that wasn't it. They glanced at each other, and upon meeting the other's eyes, quickly looked away. George turned the usual Weasley red while Meara donned a light shade of pink quite becoming to her. Fred rolled his eyes and began to resume eating his eggs.
Finally, George looked up, his face contorted into a confused expression. He turned to Meara.
"Meara, who is that guy in 'Wizard'?" he asked, a sense of urgency in his voice. Meara looked up at him.
"Why?" she asked. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Fred grinned. This was it. The moment of truth had finally arrived.
George looked very uncomfortable for a moment, but soon managed to put it aside. "Look, I think I'm in love with you, and I think you love me, too. But I need to hear it from you first. I think you wrote that song about me, and just couldn't tell anyone about it. You said you haven't even told the band," he said, a note of pleading evident in his voice towards the end. Meara blushed a darker pink, then swallowed and looked down.
"When Mom said that 'I love you' is the hardest thing to say, I never thought it would be like this," she whispered. She then turned to George. "The song is about you. You're right. I do love you. I tried to hide it, thinking that there was no way you liked me back, but apparently I was wrong." Unshed tears shined in her eyes as she gave her confession. Fred smiled even broader.
"It's about time!" he exclaimed before jumping up from the table and running into the kitchen. Meara gave George a look.
"What was that all about?" she asked. George shrugged and reached for his twin's plate.
"Come on, let's get this mess cleaned up before things get all mushy and stuff. I always hated the mushy moments," he said frankly. He stood up, gathering things to him. Meara did the same.
"Yeah, I don't like those moments either," she said, a smile playing on her mouth. "But I sure as hell like them now."
Meara felt almost determined to find her father. She asked around the school, trying to see if anyone knew of a tall, black-haired man that lived with a muggle while in London. Of course, this was Massachusetts. Unless the man was a wealthy heir, no one would know his name. The only name she had as a possible lead was one Sirius Black, famous all over the world as a rich playboy who had been disowned from his well-to-do family. One of the teachers even had a picture.
"Oh, he turned a few heads, even over here," the woman gushed, blushing a light pink. "Of course, we knew he was out of our reach. But look at those muscles!" Meara could tell just from looking that this man was not her father. The man in the photographs with his arm around her mother did not have this man's laughing eyes, and Mr. Black did not have her father's funky hairstyle. She felt it hopeless.
However, her time at Salem was not completely wasted. She made friends quickly as they battled one teacher after another. Bonds were formed that, at the time, seemed would never break. Meara enjoyed playing pranks on various friends and enemies, which soon gave her the title of "Trickster Queen". She relished this title and laughed all the harder when her friends gave her a taste of her own medicine.