Minerva McGonagall shrugged off her coat as she stepped inside her sister in law’s home. She looked around at all of the muggle wears, and smiled. She would never tire of seeing what new inventions they came up with, and how advanced their technology got. She smiled at her niece and nephew as they hugged her and told her how much they missed their “Aunt Minnie,” and she said she missed them too.
“Aunt Minnie, you must come and watch this new show with us!” her niece, Lucinda, begged as she pulled on her arm.
“Oh, you must!” Robert also agreed, sliding onto one of the plushy armchairs. “Lucinda and I both enjoy it, so that’s something to consider.”
Minerva laughed, Robert was 14 and Lucinda was 10, so for them both to be enjoying the same show was a huge improvement for them both. Her sister in law brought her a cup of tea as Lucinda did something on the television box, and a colourful show lit up the screen. Glee.
Eyes glued to the screen as she drank her tea, she watched as American teenagers danced and sang around on screen. She had multiple questions, to which Lucinda and Robert were eager to help answer.
“Why is she crying?”
“That’s Rachel Berry. She’s in love with Finn, who is in love with Quinn.” Lucinda grinned. “It’s a love triangle.”
Minerva nodded, noting that there were definitely a few between her newly appointed Eighth Years.
“So, they’re singing because they have a lot of problems they need to air?”
“Sort of, Mr Shue, the teacher, assigns them something every week and they have to sing a song that matches the theme of the week. Sometimes it’s love, sometimes it’s hello or goodbye, this week it’s hello. So, Rachel is singing ‘Gives You Hell,’ and dedicating it to Finn.” Robert replied, sucking on a lollipop as he killed on the armchair, to which at that point, Lucinda had crawled into his lap and was laid on her brother's chest, sucking her thumb lightly.
Minerva smiled softly at the sight, flicking her eyes back to the screen, her brain whirring mechanically as she imagined how this may work with some of the pent up anger between her Eighth Years. She wondered if any of them could sing. She thanked her sister in law for her hospitality and kissed her niece and nephew goodbye with promises to visit them again soon, and the second she reached the end of their road, she disapperated with a crack and ended up in Hogsmead with a smile on her face.
Calling a quick meeting with the Eighth Years, she was grinning. Looking around at them all sat on beanbags in front of her, Draco sat with his legs around Hermione as she leant back onto him, his hands in her hair. She cast her glance onto Theo Nott who was sat with his leg not so discreetly touching Harry Potter’s, and she wondered how long thatrelationship would stay a secret. She glanced at Ron, who was sat staring daggers into Draco with his arms crossed, whilst Blaise had his arm slung around Pansy’s shoulders. She clapped her hands to get their attention.
“Good morning, students.” She smiled.
“What’s up, Professor? Why the meeting?” Harry asked, leaning forward.
“I’ll say it once, and I don’t want to hear any bickering about it. I am tired of you all not-so-discreetly hexing one another in the hallways.” She started, and she was met with arguments - so she held up her hand to silence them all. “I just said I didn’t want to hear any bickering. I have figured out a way you can get past the pent up anger you have for one another.”
The students looked at their professor, confusion etched onto their faces. Everyone was waiting for someone else to say something, so Hermione took the bait. She sat up, dislodging Draco’s arm that was splayed across her chest. “What kind of way, Professor? I mean, respectfully, I don’t exactly want to start.. an orgy.. with some of my classmates.” She flushed red and leant back into Draco, who wound his hand back into her hair.
“Merlin, Miss Granger, not an orgy. You’re all going to start singing.” McGonagall smiled, conjuring a chalkboard. “The assignment for this week, is feelings. You can either choose to do a solo, a duet, or a group project. You have to find a song, or write a song that displays your feelings about the past year.”
“But, Professor,” Gregory Goyle spoke up, looking at Crabbe, “what if we can’t sing?”
“You use magic, my dear boy.” McGongall grinned.
~
The class filed out of the room all murmuring about singing and dancing and Hermione went to ask Draco if he wanted to do a duet, when Harry grabbed Draco’s arm. He pulled Draco and Theo into a small huddle where Blaise and Ron were stood. Hermione just shrugged and kept walking, knowing Draco would catch up with her soon. Pansy caught her attention with a sly grin. “Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey,” Hermione smiled back.
“I know what the boys are doing.” She smirked.
“Tell me,” Hermione grinned.
“They’re doing Bohemian Rhapsody. Blaise told me.”
Hermione shrieked, it was going to be incredible. “You’re lying!”
“Use veritaserum!” Pansy laughed. “Draco’s coming. Ask him about it.” Pansy sauntered away, grinning at Theo and Harry.
Hermione felt an arm snake around her waist as Draco pulled her in close and kissed her temple. “What did Harry want?” She asked sweetly, and Draco tapped his nose.
“Cute. I’m not telling.”
“Arse.”
“What are you going to sing?”
“I’m absolutely not telling you.” She grinned, and Draco laughed, causing a shiver to spin down Hermione’s spine. His laugh was beautiful.
~
A few days passed, and once again the students found themselves in Professor McGonagall’s classroom, except it had now been transfigured into an open space with chairs and a stage. “Welcome back,” she smiled. “We’ve already got some volunteers to show us their feelings. I’d like to welcome to our stage, Mr Potter, Mr Nott, Mr Malfoy & Mr Zabini.”
Ron used his deluminator to rid the room of any extra light, and then cast a strong Lumos as a spotlight, where Harry was now stood. There seemed to be a fog cast around his feet.
“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” Voices chorused from around the room, making Hermione jump. “Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.”
Harry stepped up to the ‘microphone’ and opened his mouth. “Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see,”
Ron stood, and put his wand to his throat, amplifying his voice. “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy.”
“Any way the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me.” Draco’s wondrous voice sung out. “Mama, I almost killed a man. Put my wand against his head, cast a spell, and he was dead.”
Tears welled up in Hermione’s eyes as he kept singing.
“Mama, my life had just begun, and now I’ve almost thrown it all away.” Draco’s voice carried all emotion as he squeezed his eyes closed and walked towards Harry, taking his place at the stand. “Mama, I didn’t mean to make you cry. If I’m not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters.”
Hermione was sobbing at this point, and then Harry took his place.
“Too late, my time has come.” His voice was beautifully pained. “He sends shivers down my spine, my scar was aching all the time.”
Hermione knew exactly what was coming and she couldn’t stop the grunt that came from her throat.
“Goodbye, everybody. I’ve got to go. I’ve got to leave you all behind and face the truth.”
Gasps filled the room.
“Mother, I don’t want to die. I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all.” His voice rang out, and then faded as Blaise started playing the guitar.
Theo’s voice took over. “I see a little silhouette of a man.”
Ron stood again. “I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me.”
Something in Hermione urged her to sing along with everyone else. “He’s just a poor boy from a poor family.”
“Oh, Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia let me go,” Blaise grinned as he sang the words effortlessly.
Hermione was reduced to sobs as the song ended with all of her boys stood on the stage in one line, arms around each other, panting and grinning at one another. They took a bow before sweeping down to kiss their respective partners and taking their seats, but Ron stayed.
“And now, we have Mr Weasley showcasing how he feels at this moment.”
A guitar riff sounded out, a rocky, bass like tone.
“I got my apparition license last week, just like we always talked about. You were so excited for me to apparate to your house, but today I ended up outside, crying because you weren’t around.” He looked directly into Hermione’s eyes as he was singing, causing her to look everywhere but him.
“You were probably with that blonde boy, who always made me doubt. He’s so much taller than me, he’s everything I’m insecure about.” Malfoy stifled a chuckle as he tightened his arm around Hermione, staring at Ron.
“But today I flew through your suburbs, and how could I ever love someone else? Mione, we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt that way about someone else, and I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay, now that I’m gone?”
He was silent for a moment as he closed his eyes, and then sang. “I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in your notes about me, cause you said forever now I walk alone in Hogsmead.”
Hermione had to put her hand over her mouth before she stood up and stopped the show, giggling. “Ron, I’m not laughing at your feelings, please believe me, but this has to stop. You know exactly why Draco and I are together and I’m sorry it didn’t work out between us, but please, leave us to be happy.”
The class murmured an agreement and Minerva dismissed them all, hiding her own smile at the young adults she had come to love as though they were her own. She wondered what Hermione would bring to the table the next day, in retaliation for Ron’s effort of embarrassment.
~
Hermione really came for Ron’s throat for her turn on the stage.
“I caught you cheating, you had the nerve to say you’re sleeping, just not with her.” Immediately Draco grinned and sat forward in his seat, his chin in his hand and his eyes transfixed on his witch.
“But then you told your friends that I’d be lost without you. Yeah, I’ll admit it, sometimes I miss when we were in it, so I made a list of all the things I hate about you.” She looked right at Ron and Harry and Theo had to hide their smirks as they knew what was coming.
“10, you’re selfish.” Harry nodded, reminiscing on when they would hunt Horcruxes together.
“9, you’re jaded.” Ginny whooped, knowing how Ron would be at home.
“8, the dumbest guy I’ve dated.” Draco laughed out loud, earning a glare from Pansy.
“7, talk a big game until you’re naked.” Theo’s jaw dropped.
“Only 6 seconds and I had to fake it.” Draco then whooped loudly and clapped.
“5, you’re toxic.”
“4, can’t trust you.”
“3, you’ve still got mummy issues.”
“2 years of your bullshit that I can’t undo.”
“And 1, I hate the fact that you made me love you.”
She stopped singing for a moment, tossing her hair back, smirking at Draco. “And that is the list of why you don’t get to fuck me.”
Once she has stopped singing, Ron had sunk down in his seat, his cheeks red and the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment. Hermione grinned as Draco hauled her into his arms and off the stage, whispering something in her ear that made her giggle. McGonagall clapped briefly as the classroom erupted into conversation, grabbing their attention.
“Thank you, Miss Granger, that was very enlightening. Draco, are you ready for your solo? I’m not sure how you can top that atmosphere but I am ready to see you try.” McGonagall grinned, gesturing for Draco to put Hermione down and step up onto the stage.
“Of course, Professor,” Draco purred out, taking his place. “This song, is called Blondes.” He laughed, making Hermione put her head in her hands and groan as she giggled, still on a high after her performance.
“Get another round and taste it, tequila on a lipgloss chaser. You just want to dance all night, I just want to call you mine,” He sang, reminiscing on the night he saw Hermione for the first time after the war in a muggle nightclub. “Put on that dress Ron doesn’t like, we can stay out past midnight, crash on my sofa bed. Sleep in my room instead?”
He jumped off the stage, bringing the microphone with him and stood in front of Hermione, bringing her chin up with his thumb. “I’m not usually this forward but I want to be, with your hands on top of me, I know your type and honestly? It’s not serious. It’s just an experience. I’ll be your experiment, and we’ll do it for the hell of it.”
He walked away from her after grinning, standing back in the centre spot. “Floo your boyfriend, tell him he’s fine, he’s just no longer your type. You’ve got someone else on your mind.”
Hermione laughed, hiding her face behind her hands as she thought back to the night she kissed Draco for the first time, tasting muggle tequila and lime in his mouth instead of the firewhiskey she was expecting.
“Floo your boyfriend, play him this song, tell him he did nothing wrong, you just decided you prefer blondes.”
Everyone looked at Ron, and they were sure they saw smoke coming out of his ears; but Draco’s voice drew them back in.
“Hermione, I’ve got a question for you. Does he make you feel like I do? I’ve got a feeling you’d be better off with me.”
Hermione laughed out loud, jumping up to meet Draco as he was coming down from the stage and kissed him. “I’m definitely better off with you.”
“You cheated on me the night you went out with your muggle friends?” Ron fumed.
“Ron, we were never together. It’s not classed as cheating if we slept together twice.”
“I loved you!” Ron roared.
“I loved you, until you stood and screamed at Harry that he had no family. I stopped loving you the moment those words left your mouth.” She stood with her hand on her hip, her head cocked as if to say: go on, apologise.
“Not sure if this is the right time, but isn’t it my turn?” Blaise spoke up, causing a rumble of laughter to erupt around him.
“Please, Mr Zabini, take the floor.” McGonagall encouraged.
There was a short drum beat and Blaise stood, walking on beat to the centre of the room. “I came to dance, dance, dance, dance, I hit the floor cause that’s my plan, plan, plan. I’m wearing all my favourite brands, brands, brands, give me some space for both my hands, hands, hands, hands.”
Pansy laughed, watching her boyfriend attempt to dance.
“I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying ayyyo, gotta let go. I’m gonna celebrate and live my life, saying ayyyo, baby let’s go!”
~
The school was abuzz, thinking about the older students singing songs to talk about their feelings, and McGonagall felt proud. She knew that singing the songs would change Hogwarts and bring a sense of warmth back to it, and she suggested to the students in her class to put a performance on for the rest of the student body over dinner.
“If you would have suggested this a few years ago, I most definitely would’ve refused in fear that Pansy would’ve thrown an apple at my head.” Hermione laughed.
“I might still,” Pansy smirked, shoving Hermione gently.
“Realistically, Granger,” Draco started, putting his arm around his witches shoulders. “It would’ve been me that threw an apple at you,”
“Oh yes, it absolutely would have been.” She grinned, kissing the corner of his mouth softly. “What song do you want us to sing, Professor?”
“I have thoughts..” McGonagall grinned.
Hermione met with McGonagall at the end of the class, and mentioned she and her girls wanted to do a song to finalise the week, to commemorate Harry and what he had lost to the war, first and second. McGonagall listened intently, and when Hermione passed her a sheet of parchment with lyrics she had written with Pansy, Ginny and Daphne, she smiled, tears in her eyes.
The girls practiced and practiced, turning the Room of Requirement into a room where they could without being disturbed, and where no one could hear their giggles and wrong notes.
~
Conversation was buzzing around the great hall, everyone wondering why the Professors table was not at the head of the hall, and instead there were 4 stools with microphones instead. McGonagall walked up to the podium and quietened the hall, and she could see the looks of confusion on the eighth year boys’ faces.
“Now now, children,” she hushed. “We have a performance from some of your peers today and I would hope you to give them the great respect you give myself every day.”
She stepped away from the podium and the girls stood from their tables and walked up to the front of the hall, and Hermione took the lead.
“Over the past couple of weeks, Professor McGonagall had given us the task to sing songs that express our feelings about the war and after. We have come together, as friends, and we have written this song to express how we feel about Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and the boy who saved us all. This is a story to attest to what he lost, for all of us. We love you, Harry, and we hope you enjoy this tribute.” She smiled at Harry, who had gone red, and then she dimmed the candles above.
“Boy and girl locked eyes across the room, he swore her smile made flowers bloom. He’d pull her hair, she’d chase him down the stairs, they’re racing time.” Pansy’s voice sang, causing the room to go silent.
“Years went by, the boy's heart hadn’t changed, but she’d start smiling when he looked away. Eventually, she caught up, hand in hand, they crossed the line.” Ginny continued, smiling at her best friend, who was watching transfixed, his eyes glistening.
“White dress in the summer, their son had his mothers eyes.” Hermione sang. “Until the end of time,”
“They lived free in the world they built for him, oh, they lived free but the dark was closing in. He couldn’t stand by and she couldn’t watch him die.” Daphne’s soft voice breathed air into Harry’s lungs as tears were falling down his cheeks, and he felt Theo’s hand on his thigh, squeezing, grounding him.
“Early twenties fighting for their lives, from dusk till dawn on the front lines. They sold their youth to take up arms, broken bodies, broken hearts.” McGonagall sobbed as she thought back to when Lily, James, Sirius and Remus would roam the halls together, wreaking havoc everywhere they turned.
“Their friends that used to cheat on tests, now 21, cheating death, go out for drinks and laughs before losing their lives to settle scores.” Hermione thought about Sirius, and Remus, and even Peter Pettigrew.
“The boy and girl that found their way, gave up their nights to dig their graves, they’d say goodbye to meet again, neither had been prepared for when.” Malfoy sat and thought about his late cousin, Regulus Black, who he knew deserved better.
“The darkness cast the fatal blow, oh, he bled out, and she fled home, she raced to keep her son alive, and met her love on the other side,” Ginny kept the melody going.
All of the girls joined together to sing the final line, tears dancing across their cheeks. “Boy and girl locked eyes across the room, too young to know they’d die too soon.”
They finished, hugging each other, and had Harry out of his seat sprinting towards them, tackling them each in a bone crushing hug, and McGonagall smiled, knowing in her heart that over the past month, she had healed some hearts, and that those who had fallen would be smiling down on her, proud that she could at least start to mend what had once been broken beyond repair.