“No!” screamed a shrill voice, which belonged to a gray lump of a Weird Sister.
“What the bloody hell are you screaming about now?” Kirley moaned as Merton fell out of his bunk bed and onto Myron in the bunk below. The quadruple decked lime green tour bus that had been taking the Sisters all over Europe had just jerked dangerously to the side. It had suddenly swerved to let a cat run across the street. Bloody cats.
“Oh, mate, I need my beauty sleep. What are you trying to do, wake up all of England?” Myron grumbled as he pushed his red sunglasses up on top of his head with a flourish that would have made Lockhart proud. His black Who T-shirt was all scrunched up as if he had been thrashing in his sleep. He was probably practicing his new dance routine to show off at the next show. Always the drama queen that one. He had acquired an odd obsession with the muggle band the Who while accidentally walking into the wrong tour bus (please tell me how someone could miss a lime green bus) a few years ago. He still likes them even though they are… you know… muggles.
“I had a nightmare…I-it was terrible,” Merton trembled in his pale gray shirt and sweat pants. His stubby feet were hanging off Myron’s bunk in an odd position. His chin was quivering and beads of sweat were running down his cheeks. He was shaking so frightfully that Kirley thought it best to wake Donoghan and Gideon in the next row of bunks. They were always the levelheaded ones, well at least Donoghan was.
“Why is everyone already up!” Gideon roared, “It is 3 o’clock in the morning!”
“Sorry, I forgot you aren’t a morning person. Just get up, we’re having a bit of a crisis,” Kirley stated while spiking up his aqua colored mohawk and leaning against the wall, causing his hair to clash horribly.
“It’s alright, Merton, we are all here for you. What’s the matter?” questioned Donoghan as he pulled on his favorite Kenmare Kestrals T-shirt.
“Well,” Merton began, “we were playing a show, our show that, well, didn’t go as planned…”
Merton’s dream was not really a dream at all. It was a reality, which made things even worse. The Weird Sisters were on their final stop of their tour with The Ordinary Brothers, who they had been great friends with. As the lights shown down on them their emotions soared. They felt happiness and sadness. They had gone through so many things together, so many victories, and so many losses. They had always stood up for what they believed in. They renounced Voldemort, which ended up for one sister being a terrible mistake.
Merton continued, “The dream kept going back to the time at the show in Glasgow when…when Heathcote died.” A mournful silence filled the room, paying the respects to their late band mate. It was Myron who tearfully broke the silence.
“He was a great guitarist, a great man, and an amazing little brother. I know he was always on the quiet side, but I will never forget when he renounced Voldemort right in front of him and his groupies of Death Eaters.”
“I remember it well,” Gideon said as a wide grin began to spread across his wide pinkish face. “He said, ‘Oh Voldey, why can’t you just understand that you can not kill Harry Potter? He has stopped you so many times. Why don’t you just Avada Kedavra yourself and do yourself a favor.’ Then he spat in his face as old Voldey reached for his wand…” They all sat back sighing contentedly, remembering an either really brave or really stupid Weird Sister.
“Th-that wasn’t all that happened in my nightmare,” Merton whispered, as if afraid to break everyone’s mood. “It also brought me back to the night when we found out that Hermin had been killed.”
“Poor Hermin, nobody knows what killed him, though many suggest Death Eaters were the ones to blame,” Donoghan noted.
“Always the Death Eaters,” Gideon commented, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. They sat in silence for awhile each lost in their own thoughts when there was a tapping on the window. Kirley turned around and saw that it was a beautiful barn owl and had a rather important looking letter attached to its leg. He opened he window and let the magnificent creature into the bus and took the letter off its leg.
“Well I’ve just gotten something that might brighten your spirits, mates,” Kirley smiled and pulled out an official looking letter.
“That’s from Professor Dumbledore,” breathed Merton as he leaned forward on Myron’s bunk to get a better look.
“It says:
‘Dear the Weird Sisters,
I, Professor Dumbledore, am inviting you to come and perform at another dance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You were a huge success at the Yule Ball three years ago, and we would be extremely pleased to have you again. The dance is on January 8th from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 am. If you can please send your response as soon as possible that would be most preferable. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Professor Dumbledore
P.S. Nymphandora Tonks, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Hermione Granger referred me to you. They seem to have taken a great liking to you.'
“Tonks,” Kirley sighed contentedly. He had been going out with Tonks a lot recently and couldn’t see much of her while he was on tour. Of course there were always girls coming after him, he was a rock star after all. He loved his Tonks ever since the moment they met at a concert. “Do you guys remember when we first met Tonks?” he questioned. “We were playing amazingly. The guitars were sounding, the bagpipes were piping, the bass was rumbling, the vocals were vocalizing and I got the sudden urge to stage dive. I, of course, made sure the pit was full of people before I jumped. Tonks was in the crowd and I fell gracefully into her waiting arms and it was love at first sight.”
“I for some reason remember that day differently. What do you think, Donoghan?” Gideon chuckled.
“I do too. Do you remember Merton?” Donoghan giggled mischievously.
“I think that did happen slightly differently,” justified Merton. “What do you recall Myron?”
“I remember,” Myron stated bluntly, “Kirley jumping off the stage and falling flat on his face. He almost crushed Tonks when he went hurtling through the air. Love hurts.” Kirley got up and stomped away, but there wasn’t very far to go. He ended up looking out the tiny tinted tour bus window to avoid the annoying smiles on his band mates’ faces.
“Oh, come on Kirley, you know we’re just joking with you. We know you love Tonks and she loves you. Right now we need to decide if we should play at the Hogwarts dance. I, for one, would love to do it,” Donoghan reasoned.
“Alright,” Kirley relented and slowly turned around and resumed his place on his bunk. “I think we should play. It would be fun to see Hogwarts again.”
“I think so also,” Myron stated.
“Me too,” Merton echoed.
“Me three,” Gideon answered, imitating Merton’s slow languid voice.
“Good, so we all agree. Now if Myron would stop playing with his pretty red sunglasses and pretending he was a model we could all write back to Dumbledore!” Donoghan asserted playfully, as Myron blushed scarlet and threw the glasses under his bunk (only to be retrieved later when Donoghan fell asleep).
Donoghan pulled a bright orange quill out of the top drawer of his nightstand and pondered what to write. Finally, deciding on a few choice words, he wrote the letter with the rest of the band looking over his shoulder and making suggestions.
The finished product read:
Dear Dumbledore,
We are so pleased to accept your invitation. We would love to perform at the dance. We are all excited about seeing Hogwarts again. Thank you for all of your encouragement over the years; it is deeply appreciated.
Sincerely,
The Weird Sisters: Donoghan Tremlett, Myron Barbary, Gideon Crumb, Kirley McCormack Duke, and Merton Graves.
P.S. Kirley says hello to Tonks.