Date: 10 August 2005
Characters: Su, Rabastan, Caradoc, Ernie, Marietta, Kingsley, Cedric, Slughorn, anyone and everyone
Location: Streets of Stoatshead Hill [Arts Festival Area]
Status: Very Public
Summary: It's Day One of the Arts Festival
Completion: Incomplete
(
Let the Good Times Roll )
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They took the stage and set up. At 3:30, the curtain went up and the small band began with Rose belting out an Ella Fitzgerald tune.
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He peeked through the curtain. There were people out there. Who were going to sit and listen to them play. Feeling a bit queasy, he turned to Marietta. "With what are we opening again?" Oh, good Merlin, what if he forgot the chords? Or the words?
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"We're opening with Cauldron, Ernie," she said, trying to calm him down. "Don't freak out now. We'll be fine." Nudging him gently aside, she peeked out past the stage and was relieved that she didn't recognise anyone in the small audience. That had always made it easier when she sang at karaoke clubs in Paris, the fact that she literally knew no one in the crowd. She was always more worried about singing in front of people she knew. But today she was going to push that out of her mind. ( ... )
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Showtime. He pulled the guitar strap over his shoulder, and absently strummed a chord or two, as he waited for the curtain to go up. When it did, he tried not to look at the crowd. He assumed that Eleanor was somewhere in it as she'd said she would be. Instead, he focused on a spot in the far distance and began playing the first few notes of Cauldron.
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As Ernie began playing the opening notes of A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love, Marietta let the lyrics roll through her mind. Ernie strummed a bit harder, leaning into the bluesy song, and Marietta joined in at the right bar, breathing an internal sigh of relief while she belted out the lyrics. Unlike at a karaoke club, this tent had no microphones, so she assumed that Mr Dearborn had done something to magnify the singers' voices magically; she had a fairly strong voice but assumed it wouldn't reach the back of the performance tent without a Sonorous charm. When she reached the end of the first verse, Marietta launched into the chorus:
Oh, come and stir my ( ... )
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For a split second, his mind went blank, but when it was time to sing, he opened his mouth and...
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band,
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Thank Merlin, the correct words came out. The crowd looked a bit confused as they'd likely never heard of Elton John before now. The audience seemed to be with him by the time he sang out:
Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
you had a busy day today
He was also very glad to hear Marietta hit the high notes.
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Ernie's singing and guitar playing were close to flawless. His voice wobbled a tiny bit at one point, but not enough to be noticeable to anyone but Marietta, who had practiced the song with him several times in the last few weeks. As they neared the end of the song, she turned toward him, smiling as she sang:
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand
Ernie strummed the final chords and the applause this time ( ... )
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He started playing Superstar. Marietta sounded good. Not that she hadn't during the Warbeck song, but this suited her voice much better. His mind went back to their--brief--conversation about the meaning of the lyrics and he wondered if she was thinking of anyone in particular. That'd be a shame as he thought she was a nice person. Plus he just thought that everyone should be as happy as he and Eleanor. When it was time for the chorus, he chimed in, loud and strong:
Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again baby.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you, I really do.
When they came to the end of the song, there was a moment of silence before the applause started. Louder than it'd ( ... )
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"Thank you!" she called out to the crowd as she and Ernie left the stage.
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But he was pleased that everything had gone off without a hitch, as he knew Ernie had been nervous. Not that he was really any sort of judge when it came to music. Unless something was obviously wrong, and with the rhythm, he'd never know. He gave Ernie another thumbs up before his friend left the stage, then headed off again into the crowd.
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"It is going well so far for a first time festival. A bit slow getting started, but I think things will pickup over the weekend. Has the museum been busy?"
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