“You’re Harry Potter!”

Harry barely caught the words, not only because of the noise, but also because a muggle pub was the last place he expected to be recognized. Surprisingly, it had been Hermione who had suggested they come here for a drink to celebrate his birthday. With the help of Sirius, she had even managed to get some fake muggle IDs. “It’s only one more year before you can drink legally anyway,” Hermione had said, “and besides, it will be the perfect way for you to have some fun without being bothered.” She had obviously been mistaken.

Harry’s hand was grabbed and quickly shaken. “Hi, I’m Will. Wow, I have to say I never expected to run into you here. Do you come here often?” Will spoke excitedly, in a way that made it obvious he was used to conversations in the middle of such noise.

“No, I’m just here with some friends.”

Harry had to work to keep the frustration out of his voice. The boy, Will, seemed nice enough, but in the end all conversations apart from those with his close friends or his Godfather came to the same thing. Just for one twenty-four hour period he wanted to avoid the all-consuming question: “Did you really defeat the Dark Lord?” It had been a year since Voldemort had finally been vanquished, for Merlin’s sake, couldn’t people just leave him alone?

For all that he felt, Harry still managed to keep a pleasant expression on his face. He had found that the more you tried to avoid people and their questions the more they refused to leave you alone.

“Harry! We found a table!”

A wave of relief came as Ron stepped up beside him. “Sorry, I have to go, nice meeting…”

Harry’s hopes of escape vanished as Will interrupted. “Hey, mind if I sit with you guys? The place is packed tonight and there’s a really great band playing. Wait till you hear, they’re awesome!”

Ron looked worriedly at Harry, but The Boy Who Lived just shrugged in reply before following his friend back to the table where Hermione was already waiting. The table was up some stairs and set in front of a window-like opening in the wall that overlooked the bar and allowed a view of a small, platform stage. Will happily took a seat, seeming to absorb the energy of the people around him.

“Who’s this?” Hermione asked as they all got settled.

Will didn’t wait to be introduced, “Hi, the names Will. I ran into Harry here a few minutes ago and when I heard you all had a table I thought I’d come join you. I take it you all go to Hogwarts? I’m a Durmstrang student myself. Graduated last year. Went to school with the members of the band here tonight. They’re great, let me tell you.”

Ron, who was still having a hard time getting used to the muggle world despite Hermione and Harry’s influence, got an odd look on his face. He had nothing against muggles, but he didn’t understand why some Wizards chose to spend so much time in their more complicated world when magic made things so much easier. “Why is a band of wizards playing here?”

Will just laughed at the question and seemed about to reply when the band came the lit platform. “Hey, here they are now! Just watch, they played here last week too and they blew everyone away!”

Harry followed the movement of the men now on stage as they made their adjustments to the instruments already in place. There appeared to be no difference between them and any of the other local bands whose pictures decorated the walls amid football and rugby paraphernalia. Unlike Ron, these wizards were completely at ease in the muggle crowd.

One of the boys stuck out from the rest. He had wispy blond hair that erupted to gleaming silver in the bright lights. Harry was too far away to really get a look at him, but sitting where he was he had to say that the boy looked a lot like Draco Malfoy. He laughed to himself at the thought, knowing it was simply the bright blond hair that influenced the likeness. The blond finished fiddling with something or other and gave the three other guys a thumb up. They smiled at him as he made his way off stage to stand by someone who could have been the manager of the pub.

Will started up again, “That one there is Ian Pierce, he was the captain of our Quidditch team. The other two are Kayd McMillan and Eric Crofton. They’ve been friends for ages and have been working on putting this band together all year. The other guy, I can’t remember his name, he was on stage a second ago, blond hair, you saw him. He didn’t go to Durmstrang, but I hear he’s Ian’s best friend, maybe a bit more from what Kayd said, if you know what I mean.”

A wink followed the comment and Harry had to fight back a blush. It hadn’t been until last year, after all the Voldemort mess was over with, that he had actually realized he had a thing for other boys. By default, he had always just assumed he liked girls, but he had since made some stunning revelations about himself. His friends and Sirius, his godfather, had all taken the news that he was gay (to put it in muggle terms) very well. They had given him their acceptance and gentle encouragement, but he found he was still getting used to the idea himself. Even if the war was over, he still couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around the fact that he could start moving on with his life. Harry just wanted to let it go, but how could he constantly had to remind himself that the past year hadn’t been a dream?

Will, who had not noticed Harry’s discomfort, was still talking: “…he and Ian have been working on the music most of the summer. Oh, wait, I think they’re about to start.” Will put a finger to his lips in a signal to quiet down as if it had been them who had jabbered on for the past five minutes.

Harry was slightly annoyed, but really didn’t mind that much. At least with Will he had no explaining to do and no awkward questions. He didn’t know much about music, muggle or otherwise, so Harry didn’t know what to expect, but if the other boy was correct in his assessment of his friends’ talents then this evening might turn out to be pleasant after all.

There was a short introduction of the band a moment later, made by the same man Harry had earlier assumed was the manager. The band’s name was Vantage Point and the manager seemed to uphold Will’s opinion of the group. Shortly after, the band started off with an upbeat piece that had people gathering around the base of the platform and trying to move with the beat, though there really didn’t look to be much room. Soon enough, Will excused himself with a slight nod to go join in the excitement.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent a few moments simply listening to the music. The band had a nice beat and the lyrics seemed pleasant enough. Back when Harry had lived with the Dursleys, his cousin Dudley had had a collection of CDs he played obsessively, but most of had not been to his taste. Harry had found the violent lyrics disturbing and thankfully enough so had Aunt Petunia. She had put her foot down for once with her spoiled son and for that, Harry could not be more grateful.

The table they had chosen was far enough away so that they could still hold a conversation. Hermione went to get them each a drink and when she got back they let the noise of the band settle into the background as they talked about the upcoming school year.

“Harry, what have you heard about this new period that will be required this year? It doesn’t seem very academic, “ Hermione said, leaning in to be heard.

Harry shrugged, “I don’t know much. All I’ve heard from Sirius is that its to help inter-house relations, but I get the feeling its purpose is more to help keep tabs on any students with dark relations.”

“Dad said the Board of Governors was talking about closing Slytherin House. You know, break them up by taking their den away, but Dumbledore wouldn’t have it,” Ron added.

Hermione nodded, “Well it would be ridiculous to get rid of the entire house. I mean, sure the Slytherins are nasty but not all of them are connected to the Death Eaters. It wouldn’t be fair to punish them all.”

Before long they had finished with their first drinks and Hermione went to get them a refill, though promising it would be the last one. When she left, Harry tuned back into the music that was still playing. The band’s set couldn’t last much longer and it might be nice to at least pay attention to the last song or two. Just as Hermione returned, the music changed to something a bit softer and by unspoken agreement their table remained quiet as the first verse began, but it wasn’t until the chorus that the song really began to catch Harry’s attention.

Somehow the words of that song, out of all the others, seemed to catch and hold Harry’s attention. Even the music suddenly seemed to thrum through his veins and as the final cords of the song sputtered out, Harry found himself wanting to hear it again. He replayed the chorus in his head, wanting to memorize it, but within a few seconds of the song’s end a voice broke into his concentration.

“They were great weren’t they?!” Will said upon his return. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to them. They’re some great guys. Man I can’t wait to tell them how awesome they did!”

Hermione and Ron shared a look as if to decide which one of them would dare break into the other boys monologue to refuse the invitation, but Harry spoke up first, “Sure Will, lead us to them.”

Ignoring the questioning looks of his friends, Harry followed Will to the stage, glad that the noise of the other pub dwellers seemed to drown out Will’s commentary on the finer points of his friends’ band. It took some pushing and shoving, and Harry was aware that Ron and Hermione were trailing along as best they could, but eventually they made it to the platform where the band was starting to store their gear.

“Hey guys,” Will said hopping up on stage without hesitation, “look who I found in here tonight. Harry Potter!”

The three young men suddenly turned to look at him and Harry had to fight to keep from blushing. He hated being called to attention, but then he had practically asked for it this time.

“Hi, I just wanted to let you know I enjoyed listening to you, especially that last song,” Harry said, trying to project his voice up onto the stage.

None of the band members seemed to react for a moment and then the one who was Ian shared a look with the other two, Eric and Kayd, before turning back to him, “Thanks, we’ve been working hard all summer. My best friend writes most of the lyrics. I’ll give him your compliment.”

“And where is this friend of yours Ian? I want to meet him!” Will piped in.

Ian was silent for a second before peering past Harry, as well as Ron and Hermione who had finally managed to join him. Harry turned his head to see what Ian was looking at, but he only caught a glimpse of blond hair disappearing into the back of the pub.

“I don’t think he’s feeling well. I better go check on him,” Ian finally said as he jumped down from the platform. It was only as Ian finally stood next to him and away from all the annoyingly bright lights that Harry got a good look at the tall, auburn-haired boy. Harry felt his temperature go up a degree or two and a small flutter in his stomach as he took in the longish, yet neat hair and wiry build. Will had already implied that Ian was involved with someone else and so Harry silently chided himself for his reaction.

“It was nice to meet you Harry,” Ian said, pausing to look at him for only a moment before beginning to edge his way through the crowd.

Harry was silent as his friend exchanged pleasantries with the other two boys before Hermione said that they had better let the band get back to what they were doing. A few moments later, the trio was leaving and heading to a small restaurant where they had planned to get a snack and some coffee. Hermione kept shooting him questioning looks, but Harry just smiled even as the chorus from that last song continued to play over and over through his head.

(The lyrics in this chapter come from the song "Inertia" by the band The Exies)