Close Enough

AN at the end! :)


Ch 64 He’s amazing

The remainder of the day’s classes went by smoothly, as did dinner with Draco and the band. It was hard knowing that tonight would be our last practice before my final show. I sat with my band mates and listened intently as they practiced the songs they would play with Marc instead of me. I can feel in the air the fact that this is hurting them too, even Marc seems upset that I will not be accompanying them on tour; he claims that we have ‘wicked power’ when playing together. The sound washes over me and I close my eyes and smile to myself, ‘they sound amazing, they’ll be okay.’ I think as I turn my eyes to the whole group looking at me.

“What?” I ask, looking between the smiling faces as they all stare at me. “What… do I have something on my face?” I mocked, wiping a hand over it quickly to rub off any offending item found there. “Split my pants?” run a hand quickly under myself and shook my head slightly. “I know I don’t have accidental wood, so what the hell are you all staring at?” I smiled at them as they laughed at my antics while they all began to pack up.

“Well… we had an idea about the show tomorrow…” Dex explained after packing away his supplies. “We all feel that you should be our finale tomorrow.” I raised an eyebrow, looking curiously at him.

“Excuse me?” they were all smiling at me again, something that unnerved me to no end. “What do you mean by that? You want to cook me or something?” I give a lopsided grin.

“No, nothing like that.” Cord said, sitting next to me.

“Besides, Draco would kill us all if we cooked you. Then who would entertain the masses?” Loki said, winking at me as he packed away his guitar.

“We think that you should play your songs at the end of the show.” Marc commented, joining the now seated near-circle around me.

“Um.. guys… half the songs in the show are mine.” I am so confused right now, I look around at the group around me. “You want to change the set list or something?” I know my voice gives away my confusion if my face doesn’t.

“No. the set list is to stay as it is. We want you to sing a few of your songs for the encore at the end of the show. Not your songs for the band, YOUR songs.” Cord said slowly, and it dawns on me.

“WHAT! no…” I said, looking at the group wide eyed. “But we have this all worked out…” I get cut off by Lucas.

“Listen, HJ, just hear us out okay. It is an amazing plan. Personally I think it would be a great way to go out.” He smirks.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~POV Draco~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry just got back from practice, he looked a little frazzled. I asked him why and he looked at me slightly confused at first and then said it was nothing. I told him that I would order up some tea and to go lay down, I figured it was something about the show tomorrow and leaving the band. With a sigh I called Dobby and requested some tea for Harry, the elf quickly returned with not only Harry’s favorite tea, but his favorite biscuits spread on a tray.

My mate received his tea with a small smile, stirring the appropriate amount of sugar into it before taking the first sip of the steaming liquid. The smile grew slightly and he looked up at me eyes slightly wide.

“Draco, the ceremony is in a week.” I smiled at him as he made this statement.

“Yes it is.” I chuckled. “You didn’t forget did you?” his eyes narrow slightly. “It was a joke Harry, I know you didn’t forget. Besides you have the show tomorrow and NEWTs next week, I’m not surprised that it snuck up on you.” he smiles, but it fades quickly.

“Draco… what if… what if I can’t…” he struggled for words on how to ask what he wanted. On any other subject I would have let him struggle and laughed to myself as he became embarrassed, but on this one I stepped in quickly.

“We talked about this Harry. We go as far as you are comfortable, there is no rush or hurry with this.” I sat next to him, placing a biscuit from the tray into his hand, “it is traditional that the bond be completed the day of, but it doesn’t matter to me. I know that you will be ready in your own time, and I will wait forever for the opportunity to receive that gift.” I watched a slow blush creep onto my mates cheeks as I spoke, I grinned and continued, “it doesn’t matter anyway, because we both know that there are other things you can do to help me relieve that particular problem.” He blushed deeper at this statement, hiding himself behind his tea cup taking a sip. “Now, finish your tea so you can go to bed. You have a big day tomorrow, and I don’t want to deal with you being cranky.” He pushed my arm playfully and drained the remainder of his tea.

Harry disappeared around lunch the next day. When I asked where my little mate had disappeared to Pansy told me that he and the band left to begin set up for the show. I smiled to myself, knowing that there was no place that Harry would rather be then with the band right now. Even if he wouldn’t tell me how much the band going on tour without him was bothering him, I knew it was, knew it like I knew my own name. I didn’t hold it against him, I also knew how excited he was about us starting our life together after graduation. Harry had spaced out a couple of weeks ago, when asked what he was thinking about he merely smiled and said, ‘having a home.’ I only half understood the comment but knew where it was coming from.

With Harry out of the way for the rest of the evening; until there was a show to be attended anyway; I took the opportunity to hide myself in the shower room for a time and then take hours picking out my clothing. I wanted to be perfect, to be perfect for Harry for his last show. Display for my mate what he was giving up the tour for, me and a lifetime together. Finally settling on an outfit and finishing getting ready, I found Pansy and Blaise waiting for me outside the door.

“Come on Draco. We’ll still be early, but I want to beat the crowd.” She took my and Blaise’s hands into hers and dragged us down the hall toward Severus’ chambers to use the floo. Blaise and I rolled our eyes at eachother behind her back, but allowed her to guide our way.

“What took you so long anyway?” Blaise asked me, I smiled at him.

“Perfection takes time my friend, it takes time.” He chuckled at me as we enter my godfather’s chambers. Severus smiled and gestured toward the fireplace stating that he would join us in a minute and to go on ahead before disappearing from the room. I share a look with my best friends, we shrug at eachother, and take turns slipping into the fireplace and arriving at ‘Cling’.

Unlike the last show that I attended this one was at a wizard club, not a muggle one. Most of the early-comers were people I recognized from the earlier shows that I had attended; figures that the hard core fans of the band would be wizards.

The stage is set, instruments already in place. Chairs cover the floor in rows that slowly rose in elevation. We made our way toward the front row where our seats for the show are, just off center, perfect to where Harry usually was on stage. We made it half way down the isle when I heard a shout.

“Hey guys.” Cloe’s voice rang through the slowly filling club. “Glad you are all here early. I’m excited, are you guys excited?” I smirked, even if she hadn’t said anything we would have all known that she was excited from the tone in her voice.

“Of course we are excited, Cloe.” Blaise said, rolling his eyes and his half sister.

“Let’s get our seats then, not much time ‘til it starts.” She commented, glaring momentarily at Blaise before leading the way up to the front row. I stayed standing while everyone else sat leaning against the ‘crowd bar’ in front of the stage, watching the audience slowly file in and take their seats and listening to his friends chat.

I took a moment to press the bond and see how Harry was feeling right now, I smiled as I felt his excitement and nerves. I responded by sending an encouraging feeling through the bond to him, letting him know that I was right here and he would be fine. I check my watch as I see that every seat is nearly taken, must be almost time. Taking my seat between Blaise and Cloe, I take a steady breath as the house lights dim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Third Person~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The band filtered onto the stage and the audience broke into hysterical applause. Each member stood near their instrument and faced the audience, making no move to touch anything; each with a stony expression on their face. The audience seemed to take this as a sign of some kind and became even louder for a full minute before the noise died instantly. Once the sound of applause died, each person on the stage pressed their palms together in front of their chests in a pose of prayer and bowed to the audience slowly. Once standing fully again, Cord leaned into the microphone nearest her and addressed the audience.

“How are you guys doing this fine evening?” she said, giving a small wave as she ducked under the strap of her bass guitar. The crowd cheered loudly as all the members of the band took up their instruments. “Well that’s good, because you are in for one hell of a treat tonight. You ready?” another loudly crescendo of screams erupted around the club. Cord nodded to her band mates and suddenly the club was filled with music.

Harry stepped up to the center of the stage, looking completely at home and at ease about the whole situation and began to play his guitar along with the music. His hands moved over the instrument as though it were a part of him as he braced himself feet shoulder width apart before leaning toward the mic in front of him and beginning to sing.


“I’m walking a wire, feel likes a thousand ways I could fall
To want is to buy, but to live is to die and you can’t take it all
When everything is said and done I won’t have one thing left
What happened to everything that I ever known

All thay gave me was this ticket to heaven, that ticket to heaven, said to lie in the bed that
you make
Now I’m restless and I’m running from everything, I’m running from everything, I’m afraid it’s
a little too late

Soft voices lie, innocents die
Now ain\'t that a shame
And all your dreams, and all your money they don’t mean a thing
When everything is said and done, you won’t have one thing left
What happened to everything that I have ever known

All they gave me was this ticket to heaven, that ticket to heaven, said to lie in the bed that
you make
Now I’m restless and I’m running from everything, I’m running from everything, I’m afraid it’s
a little too late

It’s a little too late

All they gave me was this ticket to heaven, that ticket to heaven,
said to lie in the bed that you make
Now I’m restless and I’m running from everything, I’m running from everything, I’m afraid it’s
a little too late
All he gave me was this ticket to heaven, that ticket to heaven, said to lie in the bed that
you make
Now I’m restless and I’m running from everything, I’m running from everything, I’m afraid it’s
a little too late
It’s a little too late”

The song finished to wild applause, and a small smile graced Harry’s lips as he moved from the center of the stage. The next few songs brought Dex to the center, no guitar in hand, to sing his heart out to the crowd filling the club. He yelled, spat and sometimes screamed the lyrics into the mic that he held clenched in his hand as though he wished to crush it into dust. After each song that was played the applause seemed to become even more wild, and it seemed as though every person was screaming for a song to be played. When Dex moved away from the center of the stage and picked up his guitar again, Cord made her way toward the center mic and the crowd all seemed to want the same thing. At the first cord of the next song they seemed to be being given what they wanted as the whole audience went wild.
She sang,

“i got a boyfriend. he\'s a bad boy.
he is my favorite. he is my joy.
i got a boyfriend. \"danger boy!\"
he\'s got a girlfriend. she is my toy!

sometimes he\'ll twitch for no reason,
it\'s just a twitch, and it\'s part of his style.
he tells me i\'m his one and only
i\'m the only one making him smile.

sometimes he\'ll twitch for no reason,
it\'s just a twitch, and it\'s part of his style
when he\'s feeling sad and lonely
i\'m the only one driving him wild.

he really likes me. he likes my mom.
he buys me ice cream. he likes my song.
he\'s got a nice car. i buy his gas.
but in the back seat, he moves too fast!

sometimes he\'ll twitch for no reason,
it\'s just a twitch, and it\'s part of his style.
he tells me i\'m his one and only
i\'m the only one making him smile.

(my boyfriend\'s back and you\'re gonna get in trouble!)

sometimes he\'ll twitch for no reason,
it\'s just a twitch, and it\'s part of his style
when he\'s feeling sad and lonely
i\'m the only one driving him wild.”

The whole time she sang, she slowly circled Harry, who had his eyes closed as he played. Everytime she spoke of the twitch his shoulders would tick slightly, and Cord would smile at him. The cheers at the end of the song showed that the audience enjoyed the little plays that were being put on for their benefit.

The show went on in much the same manner for a little over an hour. Harry, Dex and Cord all sharing the mic equally during that time. Harry made his way to the center of the stage again, without his guitar, and stepped up to the mic. He sang, beginning slowly.

“What do I do to ignore them behind me?
Do I follow my instincts blindly?
Do I hide my pride from these bad dreams?
And give in to sad thoughts that are maddening?
Do I sit here and try to stand it?
Or do I try to catch them red-handed?
Do I trust some and get fooled by phoniness,
Or do I trust nobody and live in loneliness?
Because I can\'t hold on when I\'m stretched so thin
I make the right moves but I\'m lost within
I put on my daily facade but then
I just end up getting hurt again
By myself [myself]


I ask why, but in my mind
I find I can’t rely on myself


I can’t hold on
To what I want when I’m stretched so thin
It’s all too much to take in
I can’t hold on
To anything watching everything spin
With thoughts of failure sinking in

If I
Turn my back I’m defenseless
And to go blindly seems senseless
If I hide my pride and let it all go on then they’ll
Take from me ‘till everything is gone
If I let them go I’ll be outdone
But if I try to catch them I’ll be outrun
If I’m killed by the questions like a cancer
Then I’ll be buried in the silence of the answer
by myself [myself]


I ask why, but in my mind
I find I can’t rely on myself

I can’t hold on
To what I want when I’m stretched so thin
It’s all too much to take in
I can’t hold on
To anything watching everything spin
With thoughts of failure sinking in


How do you think I’ve lost so much
I\'m so afraid that I\'m out of touch
How do you expect... I will know what to do
When all I know Is what you tell me to


Don’t you know
I can’t tell you how to make it go
No matter what I do, how hard I try
I can’t seem to convince myself why
I’m stuck on the outside

I can’t hold on
To what I want when I’m stretched so thin
It’s all too much to take in
I can’t hold on
To anything watching everything spin
With thoughts of failure sinking in”


At some point during the middle of the song the audience noticed that another person made their way onto the stage stepping forward to stand next to Harry. Not only that, but a murmur could be heard running through the crowd as the new-comer was playing Harry’s custom guitar. They finished the song singing together, their voices quite similar.

“I’d like to introduce Marc Lewbeck, The Pack’s new member.” Harry said placing a hand on Marc’s shoulder briefly before moving out of the way so that he could stand full on to the crowd before him. The crowd cheered, and didn’t notice that Harry slipped off the stage through a curtain and out of view. He did not grace the stage for the remainder of the show, as Marc took all his parts in the remaining songs. The band left the stage after their last song, and the stage lights went out as soon as they breached the curtain to back stage. The audience cheered for an encore loudly, chanting, begging, and pleading.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POV Draco~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry hadn’t been on stage for the last part of the concert, it was symbolic I know, but I also knew he was alone backstage and that made me sad. Knowing that he was back there listening to his band play without him, walking away from them and having them continue in his wake; I dare not imagine the hurt it was causing. However when I pressed the link, he felt happy almost. I felt relieved and enjoyed the rest of the show, wondering what the plan was, for Cloe leaked to me as Harry left the stage that there was one but she just didn’t’ know what it was.

The cheers for an encore have been going on for nearly five minutes when suddenly they stopped as a single soft spotlight came on to illuminate a single stool with my mate perched on it holding an acoustic guitar in his hands. He began to strum the guitar his eyes closed and his hair falling into his face obscuring it from view. My breath hitched, it was not possible for him to look any more breath taking than he did at his very moment. Then he began to sing.


”It\'s just like you to contest
you wear it like a label on your breast
don\'t you see what this takes of me?
A certain callousness complies
with your charm & in your pride
a hopeful look draped in despise.

I want to give you
whatever you need.
What is it you need?
Is it what I need?
I want to give you
whatever you need.
What is it you need?
Is it within me?

It\'s hard to explain how I am getting by
on so little from you.
It\'s hard to believe that I would let myself
get so wrapped in you.
There\'s got to be something that would
be worthwhile for me to give to you.
We need a connection but you
seem to push me far away from you.

The harder I push the further I fall.
Well you don\'t mind me being headstrong.
But you don\'t want to sing along.
Maybe it\'s trite but I can always be wrong
Try not to be wrong\\

I want to give you
whatever you need.
What is it you need?
Is it what I need?
I want to give you
whatever you need.
What is it you need?
Is it within me?
.”


His voice is so amazing, it fills the whole club, and I wonder if it would do so even without the mic that rests in the stand in front of him. I watch him carefully, paying attention to every single emotion that passes over his face while he sings his heart out and plays. He played three songs, each one expression so much pain and lose, I could read his past in each and every one of them.

Once he finished the last song he was going to play he stood and bowed to the screaming audience that had sprung to their feet screaming and cheering loudly. The stage lights came on fully and the rest of the band came out also applauding and circled around Harry clamping their hands on Harry’s shoulder or hugging him tightly. I applaud and whistle as loud as I can, Harry looks at me and I smile up at him. I see a single tear slide down his cheek and he smiles softly back at me before waving to the crowd, joining his band mates in one final bow and then is ushered off-stage. Cloe leans into me.

“He’s amazing.” She smiles and wraps an arm around my shoulders as we head to go backstage.

“Probably more amazing than any of us will ever know.” I reply, smiling at her as she squeezes my shoulder and smiles back at me. “But I certainly am going
to try\"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Authors note!!!

Ticket to heavan by 3 doors down

twitch by bif naked

by myself by linkin park

and ender wil save us all by dashboard confessional

*i bow to all musical gods*