"Dad and Mom," I said with a confused smile. "What's all this about?" I went to my little sister and Mother handed her to me.
"Well, we were just wondering what are you going to do about that Hogwarts letter," Father said.
"I hadn't really thought about it. I wasn't going to go," I answered sitting down on the stool and fluffing Lyra's hair.
"We think you should," Mother said.
I raised a brow when I looked at her. Even Draco seemed to agree. "Why is that?" I asked.
"You didn't finish your education and even though that working in a gallery is fun work for you, we do think that you have potential to even work in the Ministry."
"The Ministry?" I chuckled. "What would I do in the Ministry?"
"If not the Ministry, perhaps a professor in WADA or maybe even Hogwarts?" Father suggested.
"I like working at the gallery, Dad. And, really, I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. I'm working with my friends and I just got a lease for an apartment in London. I'm doing more than fine on my own."
"We just think it'd be best if you finished your education. It's very important," Father said.
"I agree with you. But, even if I did go to Hogwarts, I would be behind. In WADA, while they do teach the basics like Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and all of that, they focus on the arts. Like theater, writing, painting, acting. That's what I love to do. And besides, I'd be in Gryffindor."
"Wouldn't that be something," Draco said with a smirk. "The first Gryffindor Malfoy."
"If you insist," Father said with an understanding smile. "Good luck, Lynx."
"Thank you, Dad. Thank you, Mom."
"We're off now. Lyra has an appointment with the Healers," Mother said. I handed back Lyra to Mother after I gave her a soft kiss. They said their goodbyes and headed out of the flat. I turned to Draco.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Beats me. Looks like to me that they're trying to parent you for all the times they didn't. So is it true, you got a new flat?"
"Yeah! I spent Christmas night with him and we just got talking."
"You're not moving in with him, right?"
"Oh, no. That's way to early."
I went to my room and Draco followed, talking to me about his day at the Ministry. It seemed that Draco took the job at the Improper Use of Magic as a project manager. A lot of his old classmates were there so he fit right in. I took my wand out and said, "Pack!" All my belongings started to float up and a tote bag opened up. One by one, my things started to enter the bag and in a flash, my room was empty. The only thing that was left was the desk, bed, and dresser.
"That's it, then," Draco said. "I'm finally free of you."
"That's right," I said, grabbing the tote. It was heavier than expected. "Thank you for letting me stay here, Draco."
"Not a problem at all. You're always welcomed here. And I'm so glad everything is going well with our parents and with you."
"I am too."
I gave him a huge hug and he returned it and pat my back. "I want to visit your flat. I'm inviting myself for dinner soon."
"You got it, mate," I said with a wink. And with that, I Apperated out of Draco's flat and into mine.
The flat was lit only by the evening sun from the window. I placed my bag on the ground and went to Stef's flat but he met me halfway.
"How did you know I was here?" I asked.
"I heard the crack of the apparition."
"I gotta put a spell to muffle that noise."
Behind Stef was a skinny dark man in his mid-thirties. He was wearing a business casual suit and thick glasses that covered his grey eyes.
"I brought Hank Wills with me. Remember him? He'll let you try different designs in your room."
"Hello. I'm Lynx Malfoy."
"Yes, of course. I am Hank Wills and I am here to make this Muggle apartment room a really magical one," He said in an American accent. "So, let's get started."
"I gotta warn you first, Hank," I said, impersonating an American accent. "I'm very picky."
"Were you faking your English accent? Because that sounded way to natural for it to be a fake one," Hank said, really impressed by it. I giggled and looked at Stef who, too, looked extremely impressed.
"Let's get this magical journey on the row!" Hank said.
"Alright!" I said, staying with my American accent. The three of us entered my living room.
Hank waved his wand a three chairs and a desk appeared. We sat down and he started with the millions of questions.
"What's your favorite era?" He asked.
"The Gothic Era," I said.
"So do you want your room to be like the Gothic Era?"
"Let's see how it looks."
"Well, I gotta ask you some more to get the actual picture, right?"
"Sure."
"Can you please speak normally?" Stef asked. "I'm freaking out."
"Look at this little English person," I said to Hank. "Doesn't know that we're in America."
"It's sad. So very sad," Hank helped out with my humor.
Stef playfully rolled his eyes, we all laughed and continued on with the questions. We've come to a conclusion that my flat was going to be Gothic Themed and the color scheme was going to be purplish, gray, and black. But my room was going to be a "Burst of Color" as Hank said. I'm not sure what he meant by that but we'll see.
"Ready to make this dull white room into a Burst of Color with a bit of Gothic mixed into it?" Hank asked, taking some notes on his clipboard. "We can always change it if you don't like it."
"Yes! Let's do it!" I exclaimed.
"Why am I scared?" Stef said in a mono-toned voice.
"Weren't you scared when we were going to change your room, Stefan?" Hank asked.
"That's very true."
"Anyways! Let's go!" I said, really anxious.
Hank took out a paintbrush and waved it into the air, as if the canvas was right in front of his face. He was mumbling spells really quickly for me to understand what they were. I was sure some of them were a different caliber of magic. I suddenly noticed some color coming in on the corner of my eyes.
I looked around and saw the white on the wall caving into the dark blue. Furniture came out of no where and replaced the sample ones that came in with the flat. Chandeliers hung down from the ceiling and... voila! A Gothic room was shown.
I stood there open mouthed and amazed how one little apartment room could turn into something as magical as this. I felt like I was on my small textbook back at school. Suddenly, I ran to my room and it certainly was a "Burst of Color." It fit the Gothic theme but this time, whites and golds were uses.
"Look! It has a Sweeny Todd portrait," I pointed out with a huge smile.
"Do you like it?" Hank said, observing his amazing work.
"What's not to like?! This is amazing!" I said, going back to my English--normal, as Stef said--accent.
"I'm glad you like it. Remember, I'll be in the office if you ever want some changes," Hank said, writing stuff on his notebook. "In total... that would be... 840 Galleons, but since you know Stef and this room is definitely one of my favorite, I'll put it down to 500 Galleons."
"Oh, Hank. Thank you. You are too kind!" I paid him by what needed to be paid.
"And that's it then. Owl me whenever you want a change." I shook his hand. "Have fun with your room, Lynx." And with that, Hank left the flat, leaving Stefan and I alone at last.
"That guy really knows how to take pride in his work. Muggles... BE JEALOUS!" I exclaimed. "I can't get enough of this flat!"
"It really is pretty impressive," Stef said looking around.He wrapped his arms around me and I thought that I could literally die of happiness. "I'm going to go make tea."
I sat down in my new Gothic furniture and took out my Hogwarts letter and realized that I forgot to open the other letter that I received at the same time. I opened it and it read:
Dear Lynx,
I have came up with the greatest idea ever. It has seemed like forever since you've done your last play, yes? And I always hear you sing Worst Pies in London in your gallery so I'm going to make a little school reunion by reviving the play Sweeney Todd! Do you like the idea? Please answer straight away because I really need to know so I can tell the others.
Your (almost and maybe) Director,
Klarix Rodriguez
"Oh my gosh! This day just keeps getting better," I said. "Klarix wants to do Sweeney Todd. We did that play when I was in WADA."
"Sweeney Todd, huh?" Stef commented. "Who did you play? Lucy?"
"Why would you think that I played Lucy?"
"Because you play a really good streetwalker," Stef said with a smirk.
"And you would play a really good dead man," I said hitting him on the arm. "I played Miss Lovett for your information. Got the Best Thespian award for that, too."
"That really is amazing. The last time I was in a play I had a horrible experience. I played a person in the background, sweeping up the floor. Koldovstoretz isn't very strong in the arts. So are you going to do it?"
"Yes, I really want to. It'll be so good seeing everyone from WADA again."
~*~
"IS IT FEBRUARY ALREADY?!" Janice exclaimed from her gallery.
"Yes, Janice, for the third time today, it's already February 25!" Marcus yelled from his gallery.
"It's been February for twenty five days!" I yelled from my gallery.
"Keep all of your mouths shut. Oh, Lynx, thirty more minutes till Sweeney rehearsal. Does Stef know?"
I put down my paintbrush and left alone my self portrait and entered Janice's gallery. She covered her canvas when she saw me come in and said, "Don't look! I'm not done yet!"
"Calm down. I'm not going to peek. I was just going to say that we should put the fliers around the Alley because the earlier the people know, the better. C'mon. C'mon."
"Alright, fine. Marcus! Let's go! We're going to put the fliers!" Janice said getting the loads of papers that said:
Sweeney Todd
Directed by Klarix Martinez
Cast:
Sweeney Todd: Stefan Abbate
Mrs. Lovett: Lynx N. M.
Johanna: Pricilla Downey
Lucy: Amy Grint
Judge Turpin: Marcus Gypsy
Beadle: Dru Wake
Anthoney: Andrew Phillips
Toby: Janice Kelly
Pirelli: Ashley "Ash" Horne
March 3, 4, and 5.
15 Galleons each ticket but 8 Galleons to buy one ticket for each night. Hope to see you all there and don't go trusting any of these people up above. You don't know what they'll do to you. We hope we see you all there at Martinez Stage!
"Ah! I'm getting so excited! Six more days till opening night!" I exclaimed as we went out to the Alley and posted the fliers.
"Who do you think's going?" Janice asked as she covered an old ad.
"Uhm, I think Klarix put loads of fliers around our old school so most of our teachers might be there. Our graduating class, of course... and the family."
"That'll take most of the seats. Is your family going to go?"She asked me, waving her wand. Ten fliers from her hands flew out and they placed themselves on walls and billboards.
"Draco's probably going to go, but I'm not too sure about my Mum and Dad. I mean, they might? Our relationship got better but they've never seen me perform. Can Muggles go?"
"Klarix said that they were allowed. Her stage is exposed to Muggles so yeah. It's going to be crazy. You better tell Draco that Muggles are going."
I laughed. "Why?"
"Because... I don't know. All you Malfoy's are like that. No offense."
"Non taken. I think he's getting more mature. He getting used to them and he doesn't throw them off like he used to when he was in Hogwarts. He'll be fine. And hopefully so will my Mum and Dad."
"Yeah, I guess so. Just as long as he's not as bad as your father."
"Oh, please. I sometimes mistake my father's name for Lucifer."
We went out of Diagon Alley and posted some fliers in Muggle billboards and went all around the sub-cities of London and advertised. After an hour or two of posting and fliers, we Apperated into Martinez Stage and went on with the practice.
George PoV
I walked out of the really busy shop and stretched out. Ever since Hogwarts and the other magical schools closed down for this year, my shop has been busy every single day. Lena has been working over time and Angie, surprisingly, helped out sometimes. I went to the billboard next to my shop and saw a really colorful flier. Sweeney Todd. Never heard of that...
I read through the flier and saw Lynx's name. For someone who has been working so dangerously close to me, I am a bit relieved that we've never bumped into each other. I did miss her in the sense that she was an important person in my life. I smiled at the flier and said, "This is interesting."
"Hi, George!" I head Angie say. "What are you looking at?"
"It's a flier for this play called Sweeney Todd. Do you want to see it?"
I saw the hesitance in her eyes and mouth. I knew it was only because Lynx was one of the main characters but I haven't seen her since Christmas. One of our main companies for one of our painted items, we'd go to Janice's shop and whenever I would order something in her shop, Janice or Marcus would be there. Never Lynx.
"Sure," She said.
"What? Really?" I asked. That really caught me by surprise.
"Yeah, you know. You were right. I hated her for no specific reason so we should go see it opening night. I heard a lot of people in the office talking about it and they said that opening night was always the best. And the director won Best Director in her old school. Let's enjoy it."
"Alright! Thanks!" I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. I can't wait!
~*~
Is it already March the 3rd? I checked my calendar again and again to seize my excitement. This is going to be awesome. I Apparated into my shop and surprisingly, it wasn't so busy.
"Lena, why isn't it so busy?" I asked her.
"Oh, it's because I overheard some people talking about his really big play called Sweeney Todd and apparently it's going to be a huge hit! I've never been a fan of plays or musicals so I'm not that interested. Are you going to go, sir?" She asked.
"I told you loads of times, call me George and yes I'm going to see it. A really good friend is going to be there."
"Oh, who is she playing?"
"Mrs. Lovett, I believe."
"Ah, here come the customers." Lena pointed to the door and loads of kids came in. Here comes the happiness. The day was LONG. I usually look forward when the shop is packed. Kids from all over come to see what we have new and it's really satisfying to see their smiles and hear their laughs. It's all Fred and I ever wanted. However, today, I just wanted the day to end. It's been a long time since I've seen her and perhaps I won't speak to her but it'll be good to see her again.
Finally, after the day ended, Angie met me in front of the auditorium. I played for both of us and when we went inside, I saw that it was almost a full house. We quickly found our seats and I shook my leg, anxious.
Finally, for what it seemed like forever, the lights dimmed and a short girl with black hair that reminded me of Snape's hair came in the center. She was dressed as a stereotypical director which made me chuckle just a bit.
"Wow, a full house!" She exclaimed. "I did not expect that. I'm so glad you all could come. My name is Klarix Rodriguez and I am the director of this show. This is sort of like a class reunion of our old drama school. This was such a big hit that we wanted to perform this show outside of the school. So here you are. Please, put your hands together for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Oh, please silence your... cellphones. Thank you." Klarix did a small bow and left the stage. All the lights went dark.
The crowd applauded and whistled. What my mind was in... What the hell is a cellphone?
"Darling, remember, there are some Muggles here as well," Angie said. "I think a cellphone is like an electronic owl."
"That's a bit odd, don't you think?" But before I could ask another questions, the curtains opened and all eyes went to the stage and I gasped.
It's show time.
________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry, I really had to do a Sweeney Todd chapter. I just freaking love that movie/play. And yes, Janice is playing Toby! The best version is the Tim Burton one!! :D Anyways, sorry if this didn't really catch your interest but it does have A LOT of importance!! I love you all so very much!
~Misha~ xoxoxox