Teenage Dream

Well, I’m not the
Moon, I’m not even a
Star
-Your Best American Girl (Mitski)

Harry woke up to “super freak” blasting from his alarm. He tore off his covers and headed towards the bathroom. Every day the same old routine; brush your teeth, wash your face, choose an outfit, eat, school, eat, sleep. The normalcy was making his head hurt. There was never anything exciting in his life. Well not much for a fourteen year old. He grabbed his comb and tried to tame his unruly hair that never seemed to lie flat. After a bit he just gave up and headed downstairs to get on his bus.

“Harry, dear, put on a sweatshirt for merlin’s sake. It’s freezing outside. “ Poppy said from the doorway. Harry rolled his eyes but grabbed an old sweatshirt from their coat rack and put it on.

“That’s better, love.” She smiled. “Come here. “ She tightened her arms and gave him a bone crushing hug.

“Aunt Minnie will be home by eleven today so just you and me for dinner, huh.” She said her eyes betrayed the sadness in her eyes.

“Yeah, okay, Love you Poppy.” He said, closing the door and walking toward the bus. The bus driver, Ernie Prang, Yelled at him to hurry up as he walked towards the bus sign.

“Geez, I’m coming. “ He scoffed. One of the things that Harry was certain of was that Ernie Prang loved to mess with him. What for, Harry would never know. Harry had been homeschooled for most of his adolescent life only joining a real public school two years ago. The only two real friends Harry has made are Ron and Hermione. Ron and him had clicked from the beginning both being outcasts, Harry for being homeschooled and not knowing how to act around kids his age, and Ron for his poor parents attending the posh school only allowed in because his father and the principal are old friends. He thought that Hermione at first was just a nerd who was very annoying, But after spending a whole lock down drill with her made him realize she wasn’t half bad, it took a while to convince Ron though.

He spotted Ron and Hermione in the back of the bus as usual.

“Hey guys, “ Harry said as he sat down on the edge of the seat.

“Bout time you showed up was about to get a beating from Mione about not doing my homework. “

“Didn’t do mine either. “ Harry shrugged. It’s not like he was a bad student though, He just had other things to do, like writing songs for the whole night. His aunt Poppy had tried to get him interested in being a doctor and his Aunt Minnie had tried to get him to be an entrepreneur. None of which particularly appealed to Harry. Only thing he was ever interested in was sports and music.

“Oi, Potter, ever thought of buying a comb. “ the obnoxious, prat Malfoy yelled from across the bus. He was one of the rich spoiled kids who was going to do whatever their daddy wanted them to. Harry thought it was all rather stupid.

“Ever think of tanning Malfoy, you look like a corpse rose from the dead then thought you were too pale to eat. “ Harry said. Malfoy and Harry have been at each other’s throats since the moment Harry’s set foot in the school. On the very first day Draco walked up to him and went.

“Is it true? They’re saying down the hallway that Harry Potter’s in this class. So it’s you, isn’t it.” He smirked.

“Yes.” Harry said, He was busy looking at the two goon looking guys by Malfoy. Both looked like complete knitwits.

“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” Malfoy said without giving the two boys next to him a second thought. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

Ron coughed at this and almost sounded like he was laughing. Draco immediately looked at him.

“Think my name’s funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford. “Draco said, turning back to Harry.

“You’ll soon find out some families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there. “He held out his hand as if Harry should shake it.

“I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks,” Harry said, sticking his hand in his jean pocket.

Draco’s face didn’t go red but a slight pink rose around his cheekbones.

“I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,” Draco said slowly. “Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same as your parents. They didn’t know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasley’s and it’ll rub off on you.”

Ron looked ready to punch the blonde’s face, Harry stuck his hand out to signal to stay back. Ron kept pushing though.

“Say that again,” Ron said.

“Oh, you’re going to fight us, are you?” Malfoy smirked. He did have the advantage of two henchmen looking ogre friends.

The rest of that year was a blur to Harry, most was spent arguing with Draco and their chemistry professor, Snape. He did not have chemistry with him for sure, that man HATED him.

Second year was a bit better, He was more used to the social hierarchy. He finally got his foot down in the school when a toilet flooded and everyone thought he had clogged it. Everyone thought it was him, and Fred and George even rewarded him with the toilet seat for it. Draco taunted him about it for two months. The first half of the year everyone kept calling him the toilet monster. Posh people did not realize that it was a girls bathroom toilet. The next half of the year people lessened the stares and taunts. He was used to the stares, being the boy who lived was just one giant spectacle where people would stare at his scar. Minnie always called him a gift from God for surviving that car crash. Personally he likes to think that his mothers love was powerful enough to save him from that Hell hole.

Third year his parent’s murderer escaped from Azkaban, the highest security prison in the country. Sirius Black, his father’s best friend, who was drunk driving and killed them. He sought Harry out particularly and tried to get Harry to move in with him. But Harry was never in his life going to move in with a drunk and rich asshole. Especially since his boyfriend is a drunk who takes depression pills every night and has AIDS. Although Minnie and Poppy have a few words to say about them, Harry has started to warm up to them against his better judgement. He’d much rather live with Minnie and Poppy. They treated him like their own grandson, and he truly loved them with his whole heart.

This year has been a pretty chill year in terms of school and his life in general. Songwriting has become a great outlet for him to write out his thoughts instead of grappling with them forever. It helps him almost like therapy, but better. He’s written quite a few but have only shown them with Ron, Hermione, and Minnie and Poppy. This year is also the year that Draco got into modeling due to his Fathers rich connections he was highly internet famous at this point. Harry usually avoided seeing his instagram, it annoyed him too much.

“Potter, can you even hear me,” Draco laughed, quickly pulling Harry in from his thoughts.

“Just thought you might shut up for once, “ Harry frowned, this was the point in the argument that one of them usually gives up and stops talking.

“Oh, you wish, scarhead. “ He joked triumphantly, Harry just rolled his eyes and listened to Ron and Hermione’s conversation. They were arguing about this thing where a gorilla escaped the zoo and was running around. Ron thought it was hilarious, but Hermione strongly believed that zoos should invest in a stronger security system. He grabbed his notebook, not his diary that Ron so liked to call it, and started to just stare at the paper. The first thoughts in his mind though are not good things to be writing down, mostly stuff about Malfoy but he’d already written a few of those. He just wished that Minnie and Poppy would help get started with the music industry. They told him it was too dangerous, but he had survived a car crash surely he could survive that.

The minute he stepped foot in school he felt their eyes on him, everywhere he looked people were staring. It’s okay it happens every day, he thinks. Ron and Hermione see how uncomfortable he is and stick close to his side, whispering random things as they walk down the hallway to their first class of the day, chemistry. His first class every day for the past two years, it’s like his schedule is out to haunt him. “Enjoying the fame, Potter.” Professor Snape drawled from inside the classroom. Harry just ignored him and found his usual seat next to Dean Thomas.

“Hey, Harry.” Dean said. He had been friends with Ron since grade school so he was friendly enough towards Harry.

“Hey,” Harry answered, putting his head on his arms and resting on them.

“Good weekend?” Dean asked politely.

“Yeah, it was good, pretty boring though. You?” He answered, lifting his head from the spot on his arms.

“Same,” Dean smiled. Dean pulled his notebook out of his backpack and Harry accidentally looked down at his bag and saw a rainbow pin sitting in the bottom of it. He’s gay, Harry thought. It’s not that he minded gay people, he just didn’t know about it. Dean looked at him strangely then looked back at his work.

“You okay, Harry, you look a little pale.” Dean asked concerned.

“Yeah, just tired.” Harry answered, putting his head back on his arms. He heard Dean swallow beside him.

“You're not gonna tell anyone right?” Dean whispered, staring hard at his notebook.

“Yeah, of course. Dean, it doesn't bother me. “ Harry whispered right back.
“Thanks, Harry.” Dean said appreciatively. The bell rang just as Snape closed the door. Harry rolled his eyes as Snape slowly trudged to the front of the room, in his all black fit and greasy black hair. Class was as boring as ever, still wasn’t as bad as his first week of school. Which went like;

“There, look.”

“Where?”

“Next to the tall kid with the red hair.”

“Wearing the glasses?”

“Did you see his face?”

“Did you see his scar?”

Harry was the hottest gossip that whole day. People looked through his classes windows to look at him and weren’t even shy about openly staring at him in the hallway. Harry really wished they wouldn't, it was hard enough trying to find his classes. First off Smeltings was huge, much bigger than his house that’s for sure. Some of the doors seemed like they appeared out of nowhere. Then of course, there was Filch, Smelting's caretaker. If you even ‘smelled’ like trouble he would send you straight to detention, which Harry got a lot the first week of school. Easily the most boring class was history of magic, the professor was so boring and pretended like they weren’t even there. There was a rumour that he was a ghost that died while teaching.

Their french teacher, Flitwick, was tiny. He had to stand on a bunch of books to even be as tall as Harry was, and even Harry was short. The class everyone was excited for was PE but their teacher Quirrel was afraid of everything so they were stuck playing tag for like half of the year.

Chemistry class was a disaster, and the first time he realized that Snape despised him. He started the role call and of course had to stop on his name.

“Ah, yes.” He said softly. “Harry Potter, our new– celebrity.” Snape drawled from the front of the classroom. Draco and his friends, Crabbe and Goyle, sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished the roll call then stared at the class.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of chemistry.”He began very quietly but everyone was too afraid to speak. “I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly shimmering beaker with its shimmering fumes, the delicate powders of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper to death–if you aren’t as big of dunderheads that I usually have to teach.” Silence followed the speech. Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows at each other. Hermione looked ready to prove herself.

“Potter!” Snape suddenly snarled. “What element do (I) stand for?”

“Uhhh…I don’t know professor.” Harry said.

“Tell me what does Bi and Te stand for.” Snape drawled looking unimpressed. Hermione’s hand was in the air for the second time in a row.

“I don’t know, but maybe Hermione knows. “ Harry said, looking down at his paper.

“What about ER or LI, RA, GA, TI, Li, LI, Po.” Snape’s lips curled into a sneer.

“Tut, tut- fame clearly isn’t everything.” He ignored Hermione’s hand. The day continued in that same sort of fashion.

Professor Snape cleared his throat, which brought Harry out of his thoughts. “Hmm,” Harry looked up and the whole class was staring at him.

“Draco just asked if you really did faint yesterday. “ Seamus said from across the room. He saw Dean tilt his head as if he was laughing slightly. Okay, rude. Harry sighed and stared at his feet.

“Shove off, Malfoy. “ Ron said from across the room by Seamus. The bell rang just then and Harry walked over to Ron and Hermione like usual.

“Ready for the rest of the day.” Hermione asked.

“Yeah, “ Harry smiled, today was going to be alright.

—

Harry walked home from the bus to the front door. He walked in and immediately heard Scottish bar songs playing from the kitchen. Minnie and Poppy were swaying together baking. Once they saw him they looked up and smiled at him.

“How was school?” Minnie asked, walking to the flour.

“Same as normal, I guess.” He said, turning towards the door. He was tired and just wanted a break from his bloody life. His room was a small, middle sized room. He didn’t mind that it was very small, it’s better than a cupboard under a stair. Poppy used to tell him of boys she’s had to help before that had to live in a cupboard in their houses. He thanked his lucky star, Regulus, that he had a better life than most orphans he’s seen.

Harry went over to his closet and grabbed his hidden shoe box. In it were all the articles he’s found of his parents. Some were clips from newspapers about the car crash and some were articles about Lily Evans, the best actor of her generation. The articles of his dad were mixed reviews. Some people hated him and some loved him. He’s found some reports of this one guy named Mulciber, his rival, about getting into fights with him all the time. He looked into the mirror and saw the things he always saw, his messy hair and bright green eyes. He checked his phone and looked at his screenshots of anything he could find of his parents. He hated that he knew the same amount of his parents as their fans and he’d never know them like how he was supposed to. He sat on his bed and put on his sad emo boy music. It was a rough day. So he did the only thing he knew how to do. He grabbed his guitar and started writing.

I took the supermarket flowers from the windowsill
I threw the day-old tea from the cup
Packed up the photo album Matthew had made
Memories of a life that's been loved
Took the get well soon cards and stuffed animals
Poured the old ginger beer down the sink
Dad always told me, "Don't you cry when you're down"
But mum, there's a tear every time that I blink

Oh, I'm in pieces, it's tearing me up, but I know
A heart that's broke is a heart that's been loved

So, I'll sing Hallelujah
You were an angel in the shape of my mum
When I fell down, you'd be there holding me up
Spread your wings as you go
And when God takes you back
He'll say, "Hallelujah, you're home"

Minnie heard a sound coming from Harry’s room. At first she thought he was talking to himself but then she heard the soft melody of a song coming through.

I fluffed the pillows, made the beds, stacked the chairs up
Folded your nightgowns neatly in a case
John said he'd drive then put his hand on my cheek
And wiped a tear from the side of my face

And I hope that I see the world as you did, 'cause I know
A life with love is a life that's been lived

So, I'll sing Hallelujah
You were an angel in the shape of my mum
When I fell down, you'd be there holding me up
Spread your wings as you go
And when God takes you back
He'll say, "Hallelujah, you're home"

Hallelujah
You were an angel in the shape of my mum
You got to see the person I have become
Spread your wings and I know
That when God took you back
He said, "Hallelujah, you're home”

A tear fell from her cheek and as she looked up from the door in front of her. Her, poor, baby boy. She couldn’t hold him back now. There was no way she could stop this boy from becoming what he wanted. She grabbed her phone and dialed the one number she swore she’d never contact again.

“You’ve finally come to your senses then.” A familiar voice said from the other line.