As promised…Chapter 55! :]
Reeeeeeview please?
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!
CHAPTER 55
As always, Audrey ran through the empty halls of Hogwarts barefoot, making her way towards Hisoka's room. She knocked quickly, excited.
"Ah, I see someone's excited." Hisoka beamed, opening her door. Audrey bowed to her.
"Thank you for the dress, it's wonderful." Audrey smiled.
"It's a black tie event technically, which leaves the performers at a range for dark but vibrant colors." Hisoka's eyes danced.
"What is the event?" Audrey asked, anxious to hear.
"It's a gala for the International Quidditch League, being held in the south of France. They take a break around this time of the winter because it is so cold in some areas. Teams from all over the world will be there, as well as entertainers."
"With so many entertainers though, how will the run times be?"
The run times per gig varied, depending on the gig. I had learned that before I debuted that our run times always depended on the number of guests and the number of entertainers. That night at the gala there were nearly three hundred men there, more than half were married or had dates so there were only fifty of us entertaining.
The venue was incredibly large, it was surrounded by large windows that over looked the Mediterranean sea. I'm sure it was a rather odd building to see from the outside… It had an odd shape, the main room was circular, where there was a dance floor and a few tables around it, and from that room there were five rectangular and square chambers branching off from it. There were more tables to accommodate all of the guests in those chambers. With fifty of us, we were divided into sets of ten and assigned to a chamber for performances. So while I performed, there were five other girls performing at the same time. You could just barely hear them as you played, I had the fortune of playing second which gave me time to mingle after my performance.
Hisoka had always told me, especially before I debuted that half of this job was mingling. The gala was the first opportunity I really had to do that, and my was it tempting when there were a bunch of good looking athletes around.
…But none can top me.
"Excuse me." said an accented voice.
Perhaps because I have spent portions of my life in Russia, England, and within several banshee colonies I have an easier time differentiating accents than my peers. I have been told often that my accent has a hint of Russian and something else.
Audrey turned around to find a rather burly man with short brown hair and light brown eyes staring down at her with a smile. He was a head taller than she was.
"Would you like to dance?" He asked, Audrey smiled and nodded.
"I really liked your interpretation of that Schubert piece." He said, twirling her around.
If someone actually knows what you're playing, they're worth keeping around.
"Thank you, I wasn't sure if anyone was paying attention." Audrey laughed, he grinned. "Half of the blokes here just stare at the women anyway, they don't really use their ears much…I'm Blake, by the way."
"Ayla." Audrey smiled.
"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He murmured, still smiling.
"Thank you." Audrey blushed.
I will admit to you that it was me genuinely blushing behind my stage persona.
"This may seem like an odd question." Blake began, as the music slowed. "But where are you from? I can't entirely place your accent…" He blushed, seeming a little embarrassed.
When it came to questions of origin, or questions about ourselves, we always answered truthfully. What all of those entertainers in the gala that night had in common was that we were not who we said we were. Back then, my name was Audrey. My birth name is Audrey. But you must understand that when you start to do this for so long and you want it bad enough, it consumes you. Some say that is all a part of the artistry, but it is a very painful revelation.
"I was born in Russia." Audrey replied. "But I currently live in the United Kingdom."
"That explains it, Sheila." Blake smiled, twirling her around again. Audrey laughed again.
As the evening went on I noticed Hisoka staring at me, a small smile on her face, and as always she was putting something together.
At the end of the evening, Audrey bid Blake a good night and went off to find Hisoka.
She still had that look in her eyes, an all knowing look.
"Six…five…four…three…two…"
Audrey was perplexed as to why Hisoka was counting down.
"Ayla, wait!"
Audrey looked over her shoulder and saw Blake running through the crowd towards her. She turned when he was closer.
"I..uh…" He was a little nervous, grinning like a fool. "Can I ask for your company again?"
"Certainly." Audrey nodded, taking a small piece of parchment from her bag. She inconspicuously looked over her shoulder to see that Hisoka had vanished.
We carried around small parchment squares with our full stage name and contact information for references. Our mentor's usually handled all of our engagements.
"Thank you." He grinned, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Good night…again."
Audrey laughed as he left, she turned and found that Hisoka had reappeared.
"Come, let's go…I have things to tell you but I will wait until we get back to the castle." Hisoka extended her arm, Audrey grabbed on with her cello and bag in the other arm and they dissapparated.
It was around one in the morning when they returned to the castle, and as promised, Hisoka began to speak.
"Do you know who that was?" Hisoka beamed.
"Blake…" Audrey stopped, she realized she didn't know his last name.
"Blake Williams." said Hisoka.
It never ceased to amaze me how she seemed to know everything.
"Alright, Blake Williams, a Quidditch player from Australia." said Audrey.
"He is the star chaser for the first ranked international team, the Woollonggong Warriors, Ayla-san." Hisoka said. "And he has just requested your information which means that he plans on calling on you."
He hadn't mentioned any of that the entire night that we talked, I'm sure you could imagine my surprise.
"A star Quidditch player…call on me?" Audrey was shocked.
"I don't understand why you are so surpised, Ayla. We were at a Quidditch gala after all." Hisoka mused.
"I thought…I thought he might have been one of the managers or the coaches." Audrey was wide eyed.
"Nonsense." said Hisoka. "He is far too young to be a manager, a coach, I could understand."
"How did you know?" Audrey asked, looking at her as they made their way up the staircase.
"How did I know who he was? I have several clients that are Quidditch fanatics, I know the entire international roster." Hisoka replied.
Though Hisoka disguised herself as a very elderly woman when she was out with me, she was just restarting her career for the third time as an apprentice geisha in Japan and she couldn't be seen in her normal state in England. On the nights that I wasn't entertaining, she was in Japan entertaining.
"We are making progress, that is your first major client." Hisoka beamed, bowing to her and bidding her a good night. Audrey made her way up to Gryffindor tower, she was exhausted, shocked, and happy.
She wasn't surprised as she entered the portrait hole that all of her friends were lounging around the common room.
"Oh la la." Audrey said, walking in and noticing that James was asleep, and Lily was asleep on his chest.
"I know!" Marlene said, popping up from one of the couches. Remus and Sirius were still awake as well. Peter, Alice, and Frank were all asleep.
"How did it go, Russia?" asked Sirius, sitting up.
"Fine, thanks for asking." Audrey smiled.
"HA! YOU'RE TALKING TO ME AGAI-"
Marlene, Remus and Audrey shushed him, pointing to their sleeping friends.
"again…" Sirius said quietly, grinning.
"Yes, yes. I'm feeling nice tonight." Audrey laughed. Sirius made room for her on the couch he was sitting on and patted it.
"In a few minutes, I want to get out of this dress." Audrey replied. Sirius' eyes lit up.
"Need help?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Audrey laughed.
"No, thank you…Marly, if you don't mind?"
"Of course!" Marlene said, popping up from the couch. The two silently made their way upstairs to their dorm.
"So, judging by the wide grin on your face and the fact that you seem to have forgotten that you were giving Sirius the cold shoulder, something really good happened tonight." Marlene said, helping Audrey out of the long dress.
Marlene knew me all too well.
"Yes." Audrey replied, grinning as she threw on a teeshirt and flannel pajama pants. She waved her fingers and all of her make up vanished, then she undid her hair.
"What?" Marlene grinned back.
"The gig…it was a gala for the International Quidditch league."
"Oh my Merlin!" Marlene jumped. "Meet any sexy players so you can get rid of Sirius?"
Audrey looked at Marlene for a moment, and there was an awkward silence, then they laughed.
"Marly, there were tons of good looking players but I can't just…" Audrey shook her head.
"You like him, don't you?" Marlene replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I did, then I didn't, then I did again, then he kissed me, then I didn't what was anything anymore." Audrey replied.
"So why won't you just go out with him already?" Marlene asked.
"Because I'm not going to commit to someone when I don't know what my feelings are." Audrey said in a tone that told her friend to 'Please change the subject.'
"So, what happened at this gala that you're so giddy about?" Marlene asked.
"I have my first potential client…" Audrey grinned.
"That's wonderful!" Marlene chirped, excited. "But what do you mean by potential?" She cocked her head.
"He asked me for my information, but he hasn't formally set up anything yet." Audrey replied.
"But he asked you for your information." said Marlene, in a matter of fact tone. "Which usually means he's going to set something up, which means he's a client…So who is he?"
"Blake Williams."
Marlene's jaw dropped.
Marlene, like myself, did not know much about Quidditch. But she did know who Blake was…
"He's the chaser for the Woollonggong Warriors!" Marlene jumped up and down excitedly. "My brother loves their team!"
"Good, for a second I thought you actually knew something about Quidditch." Audrey snorted.
"I know nothing but of the incredibly attractive men that are on the Warriors." Marlene said, putting a hand over her heart. "You know the boys will die when they hear of this, especially James."
"I think I might just not tell them until he definitely schedules something." Audrey replied, biting her lip.
I didn't want Sirius to get the wrong impression…
Audrey and Marlene made their way back downstairs into the common room.
"Bloody hell! What took ye?" Sirius said, he was now stretched out on the couch.
"It's not as easy as it looks getting out of long dresses." said Marlene coolly, a total lie in the case of the dress Audrey wore that evening.
"If you would have just let me help you instead of McKinnon then it would have taken five seconds." Sirius purred, grabbing Audrey's hand from where he lay and kissing it. Audrey withdrew her hand quickly.
"Move."
"No, I'm quite comfortable here."
"Sirius, move."
"Why?"
"I'd like to sit down." Audrey replied in a sweet sarcastic tone. Sirius' arms shot out and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her on top of him.
"Happy now, love?" His breath tickled her face, Audrey grabbed a pillow from the floor and started hitting him. He laughed.
"I'm going to smother you if you don't let me go." Audrey threatened, holding the pillow over him.
I knew it was an empty threat.
In a quick motion, Sirius flipped them both over and pinned Audrey to the couch.
"You were saying?" Sirius asked, looking at the pillow that fell out of her hand and then back to her.
"Nothing." Audrey replied, he grinned, pecking her on the lips.
"And Sirius Black strikes again." Marlene gagged, Remus laughed.
"Oh shut it." Audrey said to her best friend, as she and Sirius rearranged themselves again on the couch getting comfortable.
After a few seconds, Audrey spoke again. "Say, did anyone get a photo of…?" She nodded her head in the direction of James and Lily's sleeping forms.
"Remus did." said Sirius.
"I'll develop it sometime tomorrow." Remus grinned.
"It is tomorrow, technically." Audrey smirked.
"Thanks for the obvious fact, Russia." Remus said sarcastically. Audrey threw a pillow at him.
"I've got this." Marlene said, grabbing a pillow and hitting Remus. He laughed.
After talking for another half hour or so, the four finally fell asleep.