Sober

“There’s 19,000 people out there,” Ron said, his voice tight and stars shining in his eyes. “Mate, nineteen thousand people are here to hear us.”

“Yeah.” Harry’s skin was tingling as he waited on the side of the stage for their cue to go on stage. He shared a broad smile with Ron. “Fucking crazy, isn’t it?”

Barclays wasn’t the biggest venue they had ever played, but it was the biggest one they’d done in the last year while Harry led his friends on a rollercoaster of bullshit.

“Ron!” Luna launched herself directly in Ron’s arms out of nowhere and kissed him so sweetly it made Harry’s heart twinge with jealousy.

Never, in the four years they had been together, did Harry and Draco ever treat each other with the mutual love, respect, and kindness that Luna and Ron showcased every moment they were together.

It was easy to say it was Draco’s toxic behavior, the drugs, the booze, the pressure… but Harry could see his own toxic behavior now too. He could see where he had been a shit partner for the things he did and the things he allowed.

He had to hold himself accountable because if not then he’d just fall back in the same patterns eventually.

“Hey, you.”

And god damn did he have a reason to not fall into those patterns anymore.

Harry tried to smirk, tried to adopt the persona he always played on stage, when Theo stepped up beside him. He failed though, because Theo’s smile was so genuine and excited that it would have been cruel to do anything besides allowing his own emotions to show.

“Hey,” Harry grinned. “I didn’t know if you’d make it.”

Theo’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “You thought I’d miss your big night? Pft, never.”

Harry glanced at his watch and felt his stomach curl in anticipation. “Six hours,” he said thickly.

“Six hours,” Luna echoed him with a warm smile full of pride. “By the time you’re done here tonight and make it to the meeting, it’ll be 364 days exactly.”

Harry glanced at Theo and felt uncharacteristically shy. “Do you want to go with me?” he asked him. “I know a great coffee place afterward.”

Theo grabbed Harry’s hand and raised it up to his lips in what was the most ridiculously cheesy and simultaneously sexy thing Harry had ever seen.

“I’d be honored,” he said. He kissed Harry’s hand and then smirked, “Except let’s find a different diner, I wasn’t kidding about Tonks’ Harry Potter appreciation setup. It’s embarrassing, Harry, you’ll hate it.”

Harry laughed as the openers announced their band. “It’s a date,” he winked. “Wish me luck?”

Theo wrapped a hand around the back of Harry’s neck and kissed him. It wasn’t anything heated or full of passion- but sweet and full of eager anticipation.

“You don’t need luck, you’re Harry fucking Potter. Go kick ass.”

With encouragement like that? How could he not?

Harry felt more connected to the audience while he sang his way through half a dozen of their most popular songs. He played his part, he gave them a rockstar. He gave them his anger, his pain, his joy, and his triumphs in his songs.

He gave them all that he had to give.

And they loved him for it.

And, in a way, Harry loved himself for it.

After nearly four hours of performing, Harry paused to down half a bottle of water and introduce the others, as he usually did at the end of their set.

Harry smiled out at the cheering crowd, specifically at the boy in the front row sporting a blue wig with a pink-haired woman behind him.

“I need to take a moment to introduce you to the members who this show wouldn’t be possible without,” Harry announced. He walked over to Ron and threw his arm around his shoulders. “This god damned genius is my best friend in the entire world, one of the reasons I’m still here to sing for you all, and the greatest guy I’ve ever met- RON WEASLEY!”

Ron was smiling so hard it had to hurt when he caused the crowd to laugh as he made a feminine little curtsy. “I’m so bloody grateful to be here,” Ron called to them all. “You lot are making my dreams come true.”

Harry moved to the back of the stage, knowing the cameras would follow him, and smirked from beside George. “And whoever said you need two ears to play music has never met GEORGE WEASLEY!”

George stood up and held both his drumsticks high while the crowd cheered and chanted his name. He pulled his microphone toward him and winked, “I’ll be here all week, ladies.”

Harry’s smirk only increased as George undoubtedly just set himself up for a few wild nights.

“And last, but not least…” Harry moved over to where Hermione stood and he smiled at her when she caught his eye. He put his arm over her shoulders, just as he did Ron’s. “This lovely Australian lass has been the brilliance behind the guitar for the last few years and deserves to be recognized for her talent, MISS HERMIONE GRANGER!”

It was bittersweet, hearing the crowd cheer and whistle for Hermione while she winked and waved.

The crowds used to love Draco’s snark and his charisma in the way that he was always too aloof to interact with them. And now they loved Hermione for her sequined outfits and her shy smiles and sweet waves.

She deserves this, Harry reminded himself. Hermione had put up with being treated like shit for years, and she bore it with a hell of a lot more patience and grace than Harry ever could have. He felt his throat swell when Hermione kissed him on the cheek—

He wouldn’t doubt if there would be fifty new articles tomorrow with that kiss being interpreted into the most wild stories.

—and he tried to give her the apology he would never say with his eyes.

“I’m Harry Potter, we’re Liquid Luck, and we have one last song for you all that I hope you’ll enjoy.”

The cheers didn’t diminish at all when Harry moved from the center of the stage to the grand piano off to the side. If anything, they increased.

Harry sent a genuine smile toward the cameras and the crowd as he took his spot on the bench and spoke into the microphone set up for him. “I wrote this recently, but before I play it, I just want to tell you all that in,” he checked the watch he wore just to keep track of the time, “one hour and thirty-seven minutes, I’ll have been sober for a year.”

Harry had been nervous to admit that- nervous that his hardcore fans would be turned off by the admission of what magazines loved to guess at, but they weren’t.

Harry had never heard a cheer so loud.

He doubted if Barclays had ever had an audience screaming, whistling, and clapping so enthusiastically.

Harry cleared his throat and blinked back the prickle of tears threatening to overwhelm him.

“Thank you,” he told them. “If I can do it, so can you. Without any more bullshit though, here’s our new song from our upcoming album, Without Fear.”

The lights dimmed, with single spotlights on the four members of the band, and Harry began playing piano for an audience for the first time in his career.

“Lovin’ thoughts livin’ in my young mind.

Give this boy a beautiful view,

And tell him, ‘Without fear now’,

‘Without fear, now’.”

Harry closed his eyes while the bass tempo increased and George’s drums slowed. When Harry sang next, he swore he would make every listener hear his entire fucking soul in his words.

“I’m moving on a feeling here, I don’t know.

Never hide, baby, always grow.”

Harry looked toward the curtain on the side of the stage until he found Theo.

“Love me like there ain’t another day.

Lead with the heart, ain’t that the only way?

Keep thinkin’ ‘bout how much we changed today.”

Even from the stage, Harry could see Theo’s eyes light up and Harry knew that he would write fifty songs about his smile.

The beat slowed, Harry’s fingers slowed, and he gave a smoldering look into the cameras before him.

“And now I really think you’re heaven-sent,

But there’s a beauty in being broken,

And I’ve been seein’ it.”

Harry waved out to the crowd as they erupted into applause. “I’ve got a coin to collect and then I have a hot date with a gorgeous guy, ladies and gentlemen, GOODNIGHT!”