Slythendor

This is awful. She looks so… vulnerable. Gerard can’t have made her like this, he’s, like, in love with her! Something’s not right.

“Vanessa, honey, what is it? What happened?” I said, immediately going into ‘older brother mode’, even though we’re the same age. She stayed silently sobbing. “C’mon, hun, your eyeliner’s running!” Vanessa laughed slightly.

“Gerard… he- he- I can’t believe it!” she sobbed. This is so hard to watch.

“What happened?” I asked softly.

“He was completely not himself. He was acting all cold and distant the entire date and when we headed to the Shrieking Shack, he- he- he did exactly what Draco Malfoy did, the night before I came to Gryffindor Tower!” Vanessa then dropped her head onto her knees, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, comforting her. I can’t believe my brother would do this. He cares so much for her; knows so much about her- how could he abandon her, lead her on like this?
Something’s definitely not right.

I’ve got to cheer her up. But how? I know!

“Hey, why don’t you come to band practice with us? Gerard said he wasn’t coming, maybe you can stand in for him?” she brightened up at this.

“Okay then! When is it?”

“About now.” I said, checking my watch.

“Let’s go then!”

Upon arriving in the Room of Requirements we sat on one of the comfy couches and Vanessa desperately tried to wipe of the eyeliner that had run down her cheeks. It was no use, so she gave up. A few minutes later Frank, Bob and Ray arrived. They all knew that Gerard wasn’t coming. As soon as they saw her, they crowded round Vanessa and asked what was wrong. I explained and Frank hugged her, asking if she wanted him to break Gerard’s nose for her. Vanessa laughed, and said that that wouldn’t be necessary.

I pitched the idea of Vanessa standing in for my brother to the guys and they seemed to like it. We warmed up our instruments with ‘Romance’ and then turned to Vanessa.
“I feel like doing a Pink song for once. We never cover any of her songs. And besides, she’s a girl and today we have a female singer!” Frank said randomly.

“How about ‘I’m Not Dead’?” Bob suggested.

“Perfect!” Vanessa grinned, taking her place behind her microphone.

“I'm not dead, just floating
Right between the ink of your tattoo
In the belly of the beast we turn into
I'm not scared, just changing
Right beyond the cigarette and the devilish smile
You're my crack of sunlight.”

“That was amazing! I didn’t know you could sing like that!!” Ray praised. Vanessa just smiled devilishly and said,
“Neither does the rest of the world.”
“Hey, shall we do ‘Honey…’ and then ‘To The End’ next?” I suggested, changing the subject. Everyone nodded and we began. Vanessa was amazing.

“And you can cry all you want to, I don't care how much
You'll invest yourself in me, we're not working out
We're not working out
And you can't touch my ‘brother’ and you can't keep my friends
and we're not working out, we're not working out
This time I mean it, never mind the times I've seen it.”

“If you marry me,
Would you bury me?
Would you carry me to the end?”

It was amazing how much effort and passion she gave. She’s almost Gee!

“Well I felt I couldn't take, another day inside this place
From silent dreams we never wake, and in this promise that we'll make
Starless eyes for heaven's sake, but I hear you anyway
Well I thought I heard you
Say ‘I like you, we can get out
We don't have to stay, stay inside this place’.”

After ‘This Is The Best Day Ever’, we played one of our new tunes, ‘Disenchanted’. I was amazed that Vanessa knew it almost as well as we did, even though she only heard it for the first time six days ago!!!

“Vanessa? Ness, are you okay?” asked Frankie concernedly, after we’d finished ‘I’m Not Okay’. She didn’t look okay. In response she nodded, then shook her head.

“What is it?” Frank continued.

“I can’t tell you. It’s sad, and today’s your birthday and you should be happy, so I won’t tell you today.” Vanessa said defiantly. Frank replied,

“You’re too thoughtful for your own good. Tell me or I’ll be REALLY sad. And we don’t want that, do we?

She sighed, and explained. “I was just thinking… if my mum was still alive, if that cancer hadn’t killed her – just like the Patient, come to think of it – if she was here she’d offer to put a Bat Bogey Hex on Gerard, and my dad would say,” she smiled, “he’d say, “Times like this make being a lesbian a good idea, don’t they?” and we’d laugh, so much! But they’re both gone, dead, never coming home….” She had a glassy look on her, as if she was lost in her thoughts. She looked as if she was about to cry. Seeing this Frank pulled her into a tight hug and promised her that she’d always have us.

“And Gerard? At the moment I don’t know if he likes me at all, in any way, or if he hates me. Up until now he’s been so nice, so sweet, but now… I don’t know!” she seethed. Calming down she added, “I’m sorry, Frankie, I didn’t mean to get all shirty with you, I just feel so helpless at the moment.” Frank accepted her apology and then, out of the blue;

“I’m sorry too. I can’t really explain but I’ll try.” Gerard emerged out of nowhere. It then clicked in my head; he’d obviously been here all practice and had borrowed Harry’s Invisibility Cloak. I was right.

“I don’t remember our date at all. Not a bit of it. But I do remember being in the boys’ toilets just as I was about to meet you in the common room when Malfoy came in. He insulted me and then splashed this… weird green potion on me. It smelt distinctly of oranges and freshly cut grass. And not to boast, but I am quite good at Potions and I know there’s a potion called the Obedience Slumber which smells distinctively of oranges and grass, when brewed properly it’s green and it makes whoever touches it directly do what ever is said during the spell that kind of… starts it working.” Gerard took a breath and continued. “All I remember was you slapping me, yelling at me and running off. I found Hermione and Ron and they told me what had happened on our date. I’m so, so sorry. I never would have done those things of my own accord. Especially that very last thing. I know how claustrophobic you are, and how much I must have hurt you. You must hate me. Hell, I’d hate me.”