Life is a Highway- Rascal Flatts
Web Address for Song: /watch?v=mvsmRuRp4cM
It should work, if not just look up the official music video for the song.
~STORY TIME~
"So when is our first performance going to be?" Jake asked at the end of their fifth year; the band had been formed barely six months previously.
"Erm… well we could perform the first day of school," Alysson suggested.
"Not possible," Matthew said sharply.
"What? How is it not possible?" Jeremy asked bemused.
Matthew sighed, exasperated.
"Because of the Marauders, nitwit."
"That's right! They pull a prank on the first day!" Alysson cried.
"Then the second day?" Jake asked after a moment of thought.
"Well… um… guys, I don't really… how do I say this?"
"How about like it is," Matthew said, amused at the Gryffindor's speechlessness.
"I-don't-want-to-perform-in-front-of-everyone," she said in a rush.
"Pardon?" Jeremy asked with an eyebrow almost at his hairline.
"I don't want to perform in front of everyone," she said, slower but softer.
"But- but- you're in Gryffindor!" Jake cried.
"So?"
"Gryffindors are supposed to be brave!"
Alysson shifted from one foot to another, fiddling with the strings of her guitar.
"Well, I didn't want to go into Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat insisted."
"Huh. Well, all in favor of playing on the second day of school say 'Aye'," Matthew said.
The three boys all raised their hands and chorused 'aye'.
Evil demon childs.
"All opposed?" Matthew continued smirking with Jeremy and Jake howling behind him.
Oooh, MEGA evil demon childs…
Alysson half-heartedly glared at the three as she raised her hand and weakly said 'nay'.
Jeremy snorted, "What are you, a horse?"
"What are you three? Pirates?" she shot back.
"Aye matey, we be stealin' yer loot!" Jake thundered, waving an imaginary sword around.
Then as one the three began to bellow horribly off-key,
"YO-HO, YO-HO, A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME!"
They went through the entire song, making it up if they couldn't remember how it went.
"Immature prats," Alysson muttered, but her smile ruined the effect.
"Immature we three maybe,
But none so much as thee!
You put our silliness to shame,
For against your sarcasm uh… we are lame!" Jake said, making it up as he went along.
"Jake, do us all a favor, and never become a poet," Matthew said laughing.
Jake mimed a knife going through his heart and cried,
"Your words fair fellow! They wound me!"
"Good!"
Then they walked out, going their separate ways to their Common Rooms.
The Marauder's end-of-the-year prank came and went, and then the four were boarding the Hogwarts Express. They kept well away from each other, not wanting to accidentally give anything away.
Summer went by with their discussions via owls about what song they were going to play and what was going to be done. There was a long argument over disguises, Alysson and Matthew were all for it, but Jeremy and Jake were fiercely opposed; Alysson and Matthew won it with logic and the words 'psychopathic fan-girls'.
But it was nothing compared to the Muggle music vs. Wizard music. It was Alysson and Jake against Jeremy and Matthew. They bickered and the same arguments kept cropping up until Jake put it in simple terms,
Either we play some good music to show our talents, or we play Celina Warbeck. Your choice.
They decided to play Muggle music.
When the time came for the four to once again board the Hogwarts Express, Alysson couldn't have been more nervous.
The train ride was nerve-wracking; she was tempted to track down the boys, drag them by the ear to her compartment and give them a good talking to about how the band playing in front of the entire school was sheer madness.
The train came to a stop and she silently walked off, effectively freaked out.
The Sorting came and went, the school sang their song, the Marauders set off their prank, and then dinner was over. The Hall slowly emptied and the four made their way to the abandoned classroom where they first met.
The three boys were already warming up when Alysson arrived; she collected her guitar and began to warm up with the boys.
"So we're playing 'Life is a Highway'?" Jeremy asked.
"Yup," Jake answered, popping the 'p'.
"Lets run it a few times and then we can plan our disguises for tomorrow," Alysson ordered. After 20 minutes of practicing, Matthew took over.
"Alright, we'll be changing our hair, eyes, height, facial structure, and house."
"Wait, did you say facial structure?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, oh and skin color!" he said.
"Why?"
"That way we'll be effectively camouflaged. Why, do you want me to go as far as gender swaps?" Matthew replied, with an eyebrow raised.
"NO! That will not be necessary! Jeremy, shut up!" Jake cried.
A half-hour later, the disguises were almost finished except for the houses.
"So… how's this going to go? Rock-paper-scissors? Drawing lots? Pick a number? Help me out here people!" Jake said impatiently.
"I guess we could draw lots," Matthew said.
Alysson ripped a piece of parchment into four equal pieces, tapped one of the ends changing the color for each one and then shuffled them. With the colored ends hidden by her hand, she held them out to the boys.
Jeremy drew first and looked at then end and laughed.
"I'm a Ravenclaw, suh- weet!"
He only laughed harder at the look of horror on Matthew's face.
"I'm next!" Jake yelled then snatched a piece from Alysson's hand.
"GOD DAMMIT!"
"Language Jake!" Alysson reprimanded.
"Fine, MERLIN'S POINTY HAT!"
"What's wrong, did you get Hufflepuff?" Matthew teased, earning a smack from Jeremy.
"No. I got bloody GRYFFINDOR!"
"And what's wrong with that?" Alysson asked, bestowing her most evil glare upon the poor unfortunate soul that is Jake Rayveer.
"Look, no offense to you, but I'm still a Slytherin. And I have standards, this is WAY below them. There is no way in HELL that I will be playing the bass in Gryffindor colors. It's first-class betrayal! " he said trying, and failing, to ignore the death glare Alysson was giving him.
"Not to burst your bubble or anything, but all of us qualify as first-class traitors. We're hanging out with you! A Slytherin! We're all going to face the wrath of the prejudiced gits of our houses! You and Alysson more so because your houses are sworn enemies," Matthew pointed out, causing the mood to plummet.
"Yeah; I'm going to be publically ridiculed, humiliated, bullied, and such by the Marauders and the rest of Gryffindor while Jake is going to get beat up and declared an outcast by the Junior Death Eaters and the other Slytherins. That is of course if they find out about it all. Pleasant world we live in huh?" Alysson muttered.
"Oh yes, absolutely wonderful. Filled to the brim with prejudiced gits, annoying ninnies, revolting womanizers with fan-clubs of whores/sluts/desperates etc., and then there's the bullies, murderers, hypocrites and other nastyfulls. What a WONDERFUL world we live in," Jake said the sarcasm in his voice impossible to miss.
"Let's just get this over with," Matthew said, already drawing one of the slips of parchment. He took one look at it and then burst into peals of hysterical laughter.
"What is it Matthew?" Jeremy asked, he saw the slip and he too burst into hysterical laughter.
"Hello? Mind telling us the joke?" Alysson asked.
"Look- your- piece- color-"Matthew gasped in between laughs.
Alysson looked at the remaining piece of parchment and saw the color.
Green.
There was no sound except for Matthew and Jeremy's laughter, then…
"AW HELL NO! THERE IS NO WAY THAT I AM GOING TO BE WALKING INTO THE GREAT HALL TOMORROW IN SLYTHERIN COLORS!" Alysson shrieked, causing Matthew, Jeremy, and Jake to cover their ears in an attempt to lessen the chance of them becoming temporarily, or permanently, deaf.
They let her rant and rave for a few minutes and when it appeared as if she had finally calmed down, they cautiously approached.
"Alysson, look at it this way, no one in their right mind would ever believe a Slytherin was actually a Gryffindor in disguise and vice versa," Matthew said, hoping that she'd see reason and not make their ears bleed.
"Yeah well, a lot of people in this castle aren't in their right mind," she muttered darkly, but didn't object to wearing Slytherin colors anymore.
"Alrighty then, so we meet here at 7:15 tomorrow?" Jeremy asked, happy to change the subject quickly.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow!" Alysson said then she ran off, the boys quickly following suit.
A Ravenclaw boy strode in, arguing with a Hufflepuff. Seconds later, a Slytherin girl strolled in followed by a Gryffindor boy; nobody noticed them glance at each other, so when the Ravenclaw whipped out a pair of drumsticks and a set of drums appeared, everyone stared, too pre-occupied with the Ravenclaw, they didn't notice the Slytherin girl with a guitar, the Hufflepuff with a keyboard, and the Gryffindor with a bass guitar.
They began to play seconds later and everyone just about had a heart attack when the girl went into a mini-solo, then she began to sing.
Well, life's like a road that you travel on
There's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There's a world outside every darkened door
Where Blues won't haunt you anymore
For the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won't hesitate
To break down the guarding gate
There's not much time left today, yeay
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long
If you're going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long
Through all these cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I love now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights
They knock me down
And back up again
You're in my blood
I'm not a lonely man
There's no load I can't hold
The road's so rough this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivors
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long
If your going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, yeah
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long (mmmm yeah)
If your going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long
There was a distance between you and I
(between you and I)
A misunderstanding once
But now, we look it in the eye
Ooooo...Yeah!
There ain't no load that I can't hold
The road's so rough this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivors
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long (all night long, yeah hey)
If your going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long
If your going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long
Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long
If your going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, yeah
After the first few measures, Alysson's fears went away, she sunk into the song, everything around her melted away; there was only her, the guitar she played, and the song.
She put everything she had into it and the boys noticed the dramatic change, her enthusiasm was infectious.
The song limited Matthew's notes, but he made sure he was heard.
Jake played his part with a small smile, a vague thought about the Slytherins killing him if they ever found out he willingly wore Gryffindor colors drifting through his mind.
Jeremy… he just enjoyed the song, thoroughly losing himself in the beat.
When the song ended, wild applause filled the Great Hall.
The four glanced at each other, charmed away their instruments and then bolted out of the doors.
Nobody noticed a Gryffindor girl suddenly pop up at the table, a Hufflepuff boy materializing out of nowhere, a Ravenclaw walking in with his nose in a book, and a Slytherin creep out of the shadows.
Yes, nobody noticed the nobodies appearing out of nowhere.
They had no clue that the shy Gryffindor just stood up in front of the school and enchanted them with her voice.
They had no clue that the slightly crazy Hufflepuff was pounding on the drums just a few minutes earlier.
They had no clue that the late Ravenclaw boy had been plunking a tune on a keyboard next to the drummer boy.
And nobody had an inkling that the "Gryffindor" boy that was playing the bass was now a Slytherin eating his breakfast while staring out into the distance.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry didn't have a clue.