I see you shiver, with antici....
"Do I really have to? I mean-- it'd just be ONE night without me.."
Draco Malfoy sat on a chair in the dressing room, tilting his head up to the ceiling. Draco did that almost every night, actually. The whole 'trying to get out of work even though it's kinda fun' thing.
In front of him stood none other than Pansy Parkinson, rolling her eyes while she grabs the pile of clothes that were thrown onto the floor.
"You really need to stop complaining. Either that, or quit this job. And who am I kidding, finding another job that pays you this good is most definitely impossible for you."
Draco groaned slightly. She was right though. Ever since the war, no one in the wizarding world would employ Draco, no matter how hard he tried. So when he got a job as a performer in a nightclub, he took it. Getting into that kind of job was a rough experience. His boss, Adam, seemed much nicer on phone calls, and the only other man that worked there was Will.. who was definitely a manlier man than Draco. It was so awkward the first few months until he gained the right confidence.
Draco sat up on the chair, looking at Pansy with tired eyes and a rather childish glance. “Just because I enjoy it doesn’t mean that I can’t complain..” he mumbles while slowly getting up from the chair. The dressing room is small and the floor was covered in dresses and shoes. Draco never tidies up after a show, and Pansy refused to do it after the millionth fucking time it happened.
Reluctantly Draco goes to his closet and glances over all of the dresses. If he would go back in time and tell his 11 year old self that singing on a stage with sparkly dresses and horny audiences is what he does for living, he would’ve laughed. It seems so ridiculous every single night. Especially since his only actual close friend was Pansy.
“Oh you should wear the red one!! Red suits you so well and the audience adores it.”
Pansy shoves Draco aside and yanks out the dress she was referring to. It was a tight red dress that he wore so often, that he’s actually getting sick of the colour. It was, in fact, a fan favourite. Draco didn’t really understand why though. He was always under the impression that green was his colour. And red was... well you know what red was.
He thinks about the war often. Well- obviously.. but more in a way that made him question his choices. The way he helped the Harry Potter when he and his friends got brought to the Malfoy manor. The way Potter himself helped him out of the fire. And how Potter-- for fuck’s sake he thought about Harry too often. The last thing he had heard before he moved into his small flat in London was that Harry broke up with Ginny Weasley after the 8th year of Hogwarts. Tough world. The only other gossip that Draco gets, is from Pansy and her life.
Draco puts on the dress and gets pushed back into his chair.
“Oh, let me do your make-up! I’ve been thinking of really pretty looks that could make you look even better!” Pansy smirked.
Before Draco could even answer, she had grabbed the make-up box, crouched down and started working on her grand masterpiece. She’d squint her eyes and bite her lower lip as if she’s painting the biggest and best artwork in the world. And indeed it actually looked quite good. Shit ton of red though.. god this is really becoming his main colour. Red eyeliner, lipstick and even the eyeshadow had hints of red in it. But he liked it. It looked.. nice?
“You know I’m capable of doing my own make-up. You don’t have to come in here every night as if I’d screw anything up in the first place,” Draco rolled his eyes while smiling faintly... because god forbid a compliment would ever escape his lips. He glanced at her and carried on, “Also speaking of coming in here every night, Adam doesn’t like-“
“Yeah, yeah I know, your boss doesn’t like visitors, blah blah blah” She sprays setting spray in his face, which led him to cough for a few seconds. Pansy stood up and grabbed the hairspray that was in the corner of the room. Draco hated it, gave up using it after his hair just refused to work with it. “Now shut up and let me do your hair.” Pansy said, barely above a whisper at this point. She gets quieter when she concentrates.
~~~
Harry is way too busy. He never has time to relax. That’s what Hermione always says at least. Harry is the first person to deny that. Of course he isn’t too busy.. he couldn’t be! Isn’t that how life is supposed to be? He’s Harry Potter after all.
So after a million tries to convince Harry to take some time off, Hermione finally did it. Every weekend, preferably Fridays and Saturdays, they make a trip to London and visit bars. Each week a different one. It’s a fun time, Harry really enjoys just forgetting everything for a few hours. Harry’s been working as a curse breaker for the Ministry. Everyone convinced him it was such a good job and so fun. And it was... until you’ve worked there for a couple of years and all the curses are just annoyingly difficult to remove. Harry also had to work overtime recently which just led him to barely get any sleep. So luckily today was a bar day. This week Harry was the one who picked out a bar. Some were harder to find than others. As they were about to take a turn, Harry leading them, Hermione stopped.
“Actually.. I know it was your turn and I’m sorry- but- I found this really cool bar, it’s close to here and it even has entertainment!! It was so hard to find and I was wondering if maybe we could... go there today?” Hermione grinned desperately, the way she always does when she spontaneously changes plans.
Harry doesn’t really care where they go, so he just agreed and Hermione pulled him in the direction of the bar. And- Jesus-- she was grinning from ear to ear. How excited can one be for a bar of all things. But Harry quickly saw why Hermione was so excited about this. It was more of a nightclub rather than a bar. It had so many LED lights all in different colours and the place smelled... nice? Well usually the bars they go to just smell like alcohol and vomit, but this club has this scent.. like someone went all out making sure this’ll be a good experience. Harry liked that idea. It made him feel much more happy to be here now. Usually he’s just semi-excited- because he’s usually too tired to want to go out, but at the end it was nice either way. As they entered the club the energy just kind of shifted. What a cliché thing to think, wow. The air was thick and warm, but not in a disgusting way. Harry’s house has that. He barely opens windows and it leads to his friends being really concerned every time they enter. No... this was a nice warm atmosphere.
There was a faint sound of radio music playing in the background, and the club was pretty full. It might be hard to find but, Jesus, fuck, it was popular. It was mostly men of all ages, and women with revealing clothes, who were pretty gay. At least Harry swore they were all gay.
Harry and Hermione found a small table that was placed rather far away from the middle of the club. In fact, they chose a table that was right at the wall of the place. The whole table was outside of the lighted up areas, usually the audience chooses to sit as close as possible. At least that's what Harry thought when he noticed how neglected this table was.
“This place is nice, right?” Hermione looked at Harry with wide eyes, she seemed so excited to be here. “I found this place last night- well, actually, Ron told me about it. He got it from Seamus. Apparently this bar is not unfamiliar with witches and wizards!! And it certainly looks nice here!”
“Seamus comes here often, huh? I wonder why, I mean he’s usually the first one to change the subject when it comes to going out for drinks..”
“Oh, you’ll see.” Hermione gave him a mischievous grin and looked at her watch. She was clearly waiting for something.
~~~
A few minutes go by, Harry and Hermione were just catching up, talking about how their week went. Suddenly the lights go out, people stop talking, and slowly a spotlight lit up a red curtain. Harry didn’t even realize there was a curtain- even better, the big ass stage in the middle. He looked over to Hermione, who looked like a kid watching the same movie over and over again, ever so excited.
A deep voice started speaking, echoing through the speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are ever so thrilled to start off this evening with no troubles what so ever.. Please welcome to the stage, Will Allison.”
A brown-haired muscular guy walked on stage. He was wearing quite revealing clothes, and was carrying a microphone with its stand. Harry’s face went from surprised to really confused way too quickly. What confused him even more is when he started singing and the audience went absolutely wild.
“Is this- What exactly is this??” Harry shouted, looking at Hermione in disbelief. Sure, Harry wasn’t complaining and- holy shit that Will guy is half naked..
“A Cabaret show!! We haven’t had fun like this in years.. I just thought it’d be nice! And it is, isn’t it?”
“Hermione Granger thinks that watching sexual performances is equal to the fun we had back in school..” Harry huffed, then turned his eyes back to Will.
Will was definitely an amazing singer, Harry couldn’t deny it. And the audience seemed to love him. Harry leaned against his chair, slightly hitting his head against the wall on accident. Their table really was closer to the wall than he estimated.
As Will finished his little performance, Harry was practically lured into the show. He developed an interest he never even imagined of having. This was amazing.
A few more people performed after Will. Several women, a few more men and time seemed to stop at every single performance. Harry would glance over at Hermione, who was way more interested in this than he’d ever imagined.
And then a man in a white button up shirt entered the stage and the audience went wild. He didn’t seem to fit in at all. The same deep-ish voice from earlier spoke.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I’m Adam and I’m your host, have been for 14 years and hopefully for many, many more years. I hope tonight’s performances are to your liking so far,” He stops as the crowd applauds frantically. Harry was amazed at how much love this place got despite being so hidden. Adam continued as the applause died down, “of course we are far from closing for tonight. And I definitely don’t want to keep you waiting, especially not all you freaks who are here for the millionth time! Now I know you’ve been waiting for her, and I am happy so say your wait is over. I give you, the pride and joy of this fine establishment, the beloved and one of a kind dream girl! And don’t forget to leave a big tip if you want her to come back.” Adam winks before quickly walking of stage while the audience goes absolutely wild.
Suddenly all the lights dim once again, it gets so quiet that Harry could hear himself breathe. It was insane. The spotlight got bigger, faint music starts playing and the audience made an exciting gasping noise. Harry fidgeted with his fingers, rubbing the tips against each other while waiting out the anticipation. It was killing him.. why are people so excited?! This has to be a top notch performer, right? He glanced over to Hermione a couple of times but even her face didn’t reflect a single ounce of knowledge. Those are some first-time-observations at least..
The red curtains rise, revealing a large band and.. a woman. A pale, blonde woman in a red glittery dress that suited her so well it almost seemed unreal. Everything else around Harry started to blur, his eyes merely focusing on that woman. Holy shit.. this was like in sixth year when Harry started liking Ginny. Except now Harry is a grown man and knows he doesn’t just randomly fall in love with women he never saw before. But in this moment he didn’t care. That woman had a breath-taking voice and red might as well be a colour owned by her.
~~~
When the curtains got raised Draco rolled his eyes again. He did that a lot, it’s a habit. The spotlight was blinding like always, and he tried his best not to look like a fucking idiot staring into the sun. Then the music got louder and Draco tried to give the best performance, as always, while looking through the crowd. Examining the audience was pretty fun. Some faces were regulars, who Draco could recognize from miles away. But every now and then there were some new visitors. He’d observe their reactions, clothes, faces- basically anything, and would talk about them with Pansy after work. But this night was pretty boring. Draco had to arrive earlier than usual because they were short-staffed in tech. Of course he had no fucking clue why he would be any help there, since he has absolutely no idea how “tech” even works. It’s all muggle-friendly and that’s already beyond his understanding.
And now his audience was a pile of boring faces he already saw nights before. Although.. he couldn’t quite see the back as much as he wanted. Whoever did the lighting for tonight should be sued.
Draco took his microphone and just started walking towards the middle of the bar. Much better, now he can actually see everyone. He glanced around the club and- what the FUCK. Hermione Granger. Granger was there-, GRANGER. WAS. THERE. Does she know?! Why is she staring so much- WHY IS SHE HERE???
Draco stopped concentrating, his balanced, somewhat sexy-looking stance started to look really silly. He had so many questions. He felt the room spinning. In all the 2 years he’s worked there he’d never seen old classmates in the crowd. Sure, there were all kinds of witches and wizards he recognized but it was never someone he ACTUALLY knew.. And now Hermione fucking Granger is sitting there, smiling? Does she- does she know it's him??
Draco overthought this thing for so long, he started messing up the lyrics. As he glanced around the room, trying to forget the fact that THE Hermione Granger was sitting there watching him, he noticed Adam. Adam had an intense stare, one that he only uses to scare his employees to never make mistakes.
Draco thought it was weird comparing him to Voldemort, but he often thought about the two of them being in the same room. Obviously that would never happen. But Adam had the kind of power over Draco that made him tense. And after scolding him for mistakes Adam always told him that he only wants the best for Draco. He did that too. Voldemort pulled that shit often. Pansy told Draco several times that Adam was a bastard and that he doesn’t deserve being treated like that. Like an object. A circus animal.
He closed his eyes and pulled his shit together, getting back on track. The rest of the show was nerve-racking. As Draco finished his closing number he quickly made his way to his dressing room where Pansy was waiting.
“Oh my FUCKING god. I am quitting. I am so quitting- I can’t believe it- Pans- HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP DOING THIS?!?”
Pansy looked confused. She couldn’t even get a word out before Draco was rambling on while undressing himself.
“Do you think she knew?! A dress and makeup isn’t really a disguise- she totally knew!! And I fucked up my show.. Adam was staring- I am so dead. What if there were others. WHAT IF I LAND IN THE DAILY PROPHET-“
“Holy shit can you, like, calm down for a second?? What even happened?” Pansy grabbed onto Draco trying to stop him from walk over his clothes. Draco looked horrified, his eyes seemed huge especially since they were so bright.
“I saw Hermione fucking Granger in the audience. Pansy- she just sat there!! She literally watched me perform you know how weird that is?!”
“...So? She probably didn’t even recognize you!! I mean I barely even recognized you when I came here for the first time. Trust me, she most likely didn’t know it was you.” She took a make-up wipe and started cleaning his face. “Also- don’t worry about Adam. I know he’s a dick but he won’t try to kill you for a small mishap.” Draco huffed a desperate laugh but didn’t quite respond any other way. “Come on, get dressed and I’ll tale you home. Then we can get a driiink and taaalk and just forget about this day!!”
He grabbed his sweater. It was a faded merch-sweater from a muggle singer. Pansy gave him that sweater after he threw out 50% of his clothes because he wanted to get rid of the memories. After moving to London a lot had changed. He dresses so casually nowadays. Like a muggle. Draco had turned into a 23 year old muggle. What a strange thing to realize.
..pation