IWSC Summer Camp 2- This is gunna get messy- Write about someone trying to break into the world of the arts (i.e art, performing arts).
Word count: 3288
Cabin: Weasley
Warnings: past character sickness and death
Author's Note: This was written with the amazing support of the rest of the Weasley cabin (Charbo2567, DrarryMadhatter, and Hummus and Peeta). They're all wonderfully talented so go check them out!
"You've gone viral, darling, and not for the right reasons." Lavender Brown was sitting in her office, twirling a pen while she spoke to her client. "You're finished. Sorry, love, I can't represent you any more."
"Lavender, wait, let me explain-"
"The people don't want explanations, they want blood. Good luck, Gab."
"Lavender, please, I-" The line went dead. Gabrielle stared at her phone. She wanted to call back and yell at Lavender, to curse out Brown Talent Agency for not standing by their clients, but the mortification stopped her. It was over. She dialled a different number.
"Oh, Gabrielle." Something fell into place when she heard Fleur's voice through the phone. The tension that she had been holding melted away a little and she felt that maybe things would be all right.
"You know?" Gabrielle's voice broke. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and didn't care about the mascara that smudged over the white cloth.
"I do. Come home."
"No, I can't. Maman—"
"Come to me, petit canard, Maman does not need to know."
"I have failed."
"No, do not say that. Get on a train, I shall have Bill pick you up from the platform. The children will be so happy to see you."
"Ok."
That was how Gabrielle Delacour found herself on the floor of her sister's living room, a cushion clutched tightly to her chest, staring at her laptop and an obscure theatre YouTube channel. A video titled A Modern Icarus? Gabrielle Delacour's Fall From Grace playing on the screen.
"A little known rising star is suddenly the talk of the town- for all the wrong reasons. What's happening, guys? Hannah Abbott here with your latest star buzz." Gabrielle glared at the perky girl on the screen with her too-bright smile and chipper voice. Everything Gabrielle was not. A picture of herself flashed up on the screen next to Hannah, it was one of her more recent headshots and not the one she would have chosen.
"You may not know her name but, trust me, you certainly know her face. Gabrielle Delacour was born in France and has trained in some of the most prestigious art schools across the globe. All that privilege is bound to get her somewhere, right? Well, it seems Madam Delacour took that privilege and used it in all the wrong ways. You'll recognise her from the scandalous video of a young girl, Delacour, hitting an elderly citizen with her handbag and sprinting away. Witnesses claim there was some sort of altercation between Delacour and the citizen, now identified as Minerva McGonagall, founder and CEO of Dance for Change, but we think this video speaks for itself. We don't think Gabrielle will be working in this town anymore, how about you guys?
As always, leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on this video and why do you think Gabrielle assaulted Minerva? Like and subscribe for more daily Star Buzz content."
"You shouldn't be watching those." Fleur handed her sister a mug. Gabrielle sniffed its contents and smiled when she recognised hot chocolate with a hint of cinnamon. Gabrielle shrugged and closed her laptop, lifting it onto the coffee table next to her.
"Have you spoken to Maman?" Gabrielle tried to hide the sting of desperation behind her mug.
"No, I have not. She has not called me for a month or more."
"Oh."
"You should spend some time with the children tomorrow. Perhaps you could take Victoire to her karate class, and go to the park with Dominique and Louis?"
"I think I'd rather stay here."
"Please, Gabrielle, do not be ashamed you have come home."
"Home." Gabrielle scoffed. She had not had a home since she was eleven years old and her father had died in a car accident. Her mother had taken her from city to city, across countries and continents, for the better part of five years before she put a stop to it and moved herself to England and stood on Fleur's doorstep. "I don't think I know what the word means any more." Fleur sighed, the same sigh she had been sighing for five years, ever since her 16-year-old sister turned up on her doorstep soaked through with rainwater. Fleur pressed a kiss against Gabrielle's temple and stroked her hair. Gabrielle sat still for a moment but pulled away quickly. "Good night, Fleur."
"Gabrielle Delacour." Gabrielle winced and tightened her grip on Louis's hand. She should have known it wouldn't be long before she was spotted. Why has she let Fleur talk her into taking the children out? "So you're back now?" Gabrielle forced the happiest smile she could muster onto her face and turned around.
"Daphne, you look lovely today. I didn't know you were back. Sorry, but I said I'd take Louis and Dominique to the park so I really can't stay and talk."
"I run my own business now. Came home a few years ago to help when my sister got sick. You heard about that, right?" Daphne was full of fake smiles and it made Gabrielle wish she would just yell at her and get it over with. Of course, Gabrielle had heard about Daphne's sister, she had dated Astoria for a while until she moved away. They had parted on good terms but it still stung to think of her.
"Yes, I," she cleared her throat, "I heard about that. I'm so sorry."
"I'm sure you are. Have a nice day." Daphne glared and walked away. Gabrielle took a moment to compose herself then smiled.
"Ok, time for the park."
Daphne's business, it turned out, was called Astoria Art Studio and was a multipurpose arts space for dancing, acting, painting, sculpting and anything else you might want. It also had a small cafe attached to it serving tea, coffee, and scones. Gabrielle thought it smelled like Astoria when she walked in. Warm and cosy with a hint of the smell of freshly baked goods that seemed to follow Astoria anywhere she went.
Gabrielle hadn't meant to go inside but she hadn't read the name of the place and just knew she was in desperate need of coffee.
Gabrielle had been recognised almost instantly by not one, not two, but around ten of the people in the cafe and unfortunately, that was mostly as 'that girl from the internet' rather than recognising her from living in the town. Rumours had spread like wildfire after that and Gabrielle had no control over them. Most of them were harmless but Gabrielle couldn't help but feel like she had never been cut out for a life in the acting industry if she couldn't handle a little town gossip. But when it involved her and Astoria it just hurt a little too much.
The whispers seemed to follow her through the streets. Fleur told her she was being paranoid but Gabrielle knew when someone was watching her. It was intrinsic knowledge for an actor. You just knew when someone was paying attention to you because if you didn't then you wouldn't know how to hold the audience's attention. So Gabrielle tried to leave the house as little as possible aside from the occasional last-minute food run for Fleur and Bill while they were busy with the children.
"You know," the elderly man on the tills at the Co-op said to her as he scanned her shopping, "my grandson moved to London, too, a while back. I went out to visit him last month. Says he's producing a show off Shaftesbury Avenue. Small town musical, he says, nothing major, mostly done by something called go fund me? Anyway, he's coming home next month, you two should talk. I never know what he's saying when he throws all those names around."
"Sounds great." Gabrielle held a stiff smile and grabbed her shopping to make a hasty exit. She ran right into Daphne, quite literally, and knocked the other woman's coffee to the floor.
"Watch it!"
"I'm so sorry I didn't-"
"Oh. It's you." Daphne tossed the coffee cup into the bin. Gabrielle's cheeks flushed and she tried to hide behind her hair. She had been avoiding Daphne since they ran into each other on the way to the park that day. "It's actually good I ran into you. As much as I am loath to admit it, the drama group needs your expertise on their summer production. We would be… honoured to have you on board." Gabrielle thought that Daphne saying the words couldn't have sounded more painful if she was being taken through Traitor's Gate.
"I'm done with acting."
"I'm not asking you to act." Daphne rolled her eyes with a scoff. "I'm asking you to help."
"Fine. Sounds like fun."
"We rehearse Tuesdays and Thursdays straight after school. Don't be late." Daphne levelled her with her best glared and walked away.
"Charming," Gabrielle muttered. "I hate my life."
"Is it true you fought Minerva McGonagall?" Gabrielle had barely made it through introducing herself when one of the girls asked her that. Her hopes that the younger children might not know who she was had been well and truly dashed
"It wasn't a fight, not really." Gabrielle tried to say.
"But you were on YouTube." Echoes of 'yeah' bounced around the studio as the rest of the group started to catch on. Gabrielle ground her teeth and put on her best smile.
"Yes, but YouTube isn't a very good news source. You shouldn't believe everything you see."
"Well, my big sister said that you pushed her into a gutter!" Gabrielle recognised the boy as Angelina Johnson's brother. She winced internally as she recalled their rivalry over the years and at the fact that the description of events wasn't entirely inaccurate.
"Was your sister there? No? Didn't think so. Now do you guys want to learn this musical or not? I have a lot of knowledge and very little patience for time wasters so line up!"
"But you hit her with your bag!" Another child shouted.
"I said. Line. Up. We're going to work on a basic four count. Let's go! Chop chop, time is money."
"I'm not paying you," Daphne said from the sidelines. Gabrielle rolled her eyes.
"I know."
"Astoria would have loved this." Gabrielle smiled while she watched the scene play out in front of her. The children were working on the finale and she was standing with Daphne at the back of the room.
"You don't get to say that." Daphne snapped.
"I'm sorry?" Daphne's sudden outburst broke the strange, unspoken truce the two had called earlier in the year to help the children produce their show.
"She thought you loved her and you ran at the first sign of fame and never looked back. Not even when she was sick. She wrote to you. I posted the letter myself and still you didn't come back." Daphne jabbed her finger into Gabrielle's chest hard enough to push the younger woman slightly off balance.
"Can we not do this here?" Gabrielle pleaded. Daphne looked between Gabrielle and the children who had started to falter in their actions when they heard the fighting.
"Fine."
At the end of rehearsal Gabrielle stopped to look at the photos on Daphne's desk. There was one of her and Astoria from the last birthday party Gabrielle remembered before she moved.
Gabrielle brushed her fingers across the image of Astoria's face. She suddenly remembered why she had been avoiding pictures of Astoria.
"She asked me not to come home." Gabrielle whispered. She felt Daphne next to her more than she saw her.
"What?"
"Astoria asked me not to come and I couldn't face it anyway so I took the excuse. I could tell myself that she didn't want me there. I was a coward when she was alive and I was selfish after she died. She kept telling me that there was time and I didn't need to come home. I was kidding myself to think that there would be a time when I was ready, that I could come back and she would just be there. I was in love with her, even if we broke up. I thought… I thought if I didn't come back then she would hang on just a little bit longer. If I didn't see her then it wasn't real. And then I didn't come to the funeral because I was so sick with myself. I couldn't face you or your parents. It was selfish and it was wrong and I have no right to ask for forgiveness because I don't deserve it. I will regret all of this for the rest of my life. I should have come back."
"I still want to act, Fleur. I thought that helping this show would change that somehow. I don't know, make me hate it? But it hasn't, it's just made me want it more." Gabrielle was sitting at the dining room table and looking morose. She could hear Bill whistling in the kitchen and her sister tapping her fingers against the table.
"Then you will find a way."
"It's not that simple." Gabrielle threw her hands in the air. "I ruined every chance I had when I tried to hit that wasp with my bag and hit Minerva McGonagall instead. She has ruined me. My reputation, my name, they're both marred and blacklisted. Even if I turned up and hit every note they asked me to I still wouldn't get a job."
"You have talent, Gabby, believe in that."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. It had always come naturally to Fleur to be unendingly positive. Gabrielle hated it.
Gabrielle decided that she needed to stop her late-night ice cream runs. The children weren't that bad. Not really. Sure, she got frustrated that none of them ever seemed to know their line or what a cue was and that they could never remember where their mark was or to enter stage left or right. But they were still children. Still, Gabrielle couldn't help but hate their amateur attitude to something she was putting her heart and soul into for them. She briefly wondered if this was what being a parent was like but then realised she didn't care enough to think about it too much.
"It's you! Hello again." Gabrielle smiled at the old man, John, she had seen during almost every one of her late-night ventures. Well, as late as Co-op was open which was usually 7 pm. "My Nickolai is coming home soon, I think he's going to come see that play of yours. I told him about you, you know. He's intrigued, he says. Apparently you've got a bit of a reputation. Well, I told him not to listen to rumour and that you're a lovely girl. So we'll be seeing you soon, eh? Bet you've got those kids singing like angels."
"Wow, I, uh, thank you." Gabrielle stuttered. She was suddenly grateful that her mother had drilled so many manners into her that they came on instinct else she might have been standing there gawping. John smiled at her, the picture of a loving grandfather. "Good night, John."
"Good night, Gabby." He gave her a little wave as she left. Gabrielle spent the rest of the night curled in her pyjamas watching Gossip Girl on Netflix with her ice cream in her lap.
"Excuse me," a tall man who looked to be in his late twenties walked up to Gabrielle, "Gabrielle Delacour? My name is Nickolai and I believe you now my grandfather."
"Oh! Hi, hello yes I do. My supplier of late-night ice cream. Oh, um," Gabrielle tucked her hair behind her ear, "that sounded funnier in my head. Yes, I know him." She finished after clearing her throat.
"He has had nothing but glowing things to say about you, Miss Delacour. He makes it hard to believe that you would attack a defenceless old lady in the street with your bag." Gabrielle groaned.
"No, that's not what happened, I swear! There was a wasp and I'm allergic so I went to hit it and get it away from me and she just happened to walk into the street at the same time and I tried to apologise but people were already there and staring and taking photos and the wasp came back and… I'm rambling"
"A little, but it's good to know that you don't just like attacking people."
"You believe me?"
"Yes, if you were lying I think you would have come up with a much better story."
"Oh." Gabrielle blushed. She hadn't even thought of lying and trying to come up with something better. The internet had turned against her and that was that.
"Right, I came over here to congratulate you on this production. I heard you really dragged it off the ground. And as a favour, and on some recommendations, I came to offer you an audition for my new show. Hopefully no wasps will show up around helpless old ladies this time." Gabrielle dropped her jaw in shock.
"Thank you for this. You won't regret it." Gabrielle beamed at Nickolai.
"Don't thank me, though I do appreciate it. Thank Daphne, I think her name was? She was the one who convinced me to give you a chance."
"She was?" Gabrielle searched the room for Daphne. She spotted her mingling with some of the parents over a glass of prosecco. She saw Daphne throw her head back, laugh and then place a hand on her heart. Astoria did that too when she was embarrassed. Gabrielle felt such a pang in her heart that she barely heard Nickolai when he next spoke.
"Yeah. Blaise Zabini is our leading man. I'll see you in London for the audition, Gabrielle."
"Goodbye."
The curtain dropped and Gabrielle almost collapsed in relief. The show had been just like she had imagined when she first moved to London, but also nothing like she could have ever dreamed. The sea of maroon in front of her muffled the sound of the audience gathering their belongings and leaving the theatre.
"Congrats." Blaise came up behind her and dropped a hand onto her shoulder. "You were good, newbie."
"Thanks." Gabrielle left for her dressing room and the vase of bright red roses waiting for her. When Gabrielle inspected it she found an old photograph of herself and Astoria in their first school play together.
Congratulations
Gabrielle refused to acknowledge the tears that started to well up in her eyes. She took the photograph and slid it into the frame of her mirror. She pressed a kiss on her fingers and then pushed her fingers to the picture.
"I will always love you. Thank you for believing in me." She whispered. Gabrielle left to meet Fleur outside the stage door. The late-night November air bit at Gabrielle's cheeks when she stepped outside. Fleur grabbed her the second she was on the street and pulled her into a hug.
"Come, look." Fleur tugged her sister's arm and took her around to the other side of the theatre. "There." Fleur pointed at the poster of Gabrielle framed on the wall. Gabrielle had seen it before and she didn't have the heart to tell Fleur, who looked like all her birthdays had come at once. Fleur, who always looked at her with a pride she had never got from their mother.
"You did it." Fleur squeezed Gabrielle's hand. Daphne came around to join the pair and placed a hand on Gabrielle's shoulder.
"Yeah, I guess I did." Gabrielle stared at the poster on the wall.
"She'd be proud of you." Daphne smiled. "I'm proud of you."