Jimmy

Chapter 9: Homelights

Most of the Hogwarts students were lurking around the corridor where the competitors were submitting their names. Harry and Hermione had submitted their names early that morning, not wanting to do it with a bunch of people around, but Ron had slept in and only just submitted his. Harry and Hermione had gone along for moral support. Rather than stick around and make more people nervous, the trio went out to the grounds to take a walk.

A group of Salem students was seated at the base of a tree in a group. They appeared to be singing. Robbie noticed them, grinned and waved, but the rest of the group ignored the Hogwarts students. The boys were singing a rollicking song that Hermione whispered was called "Callin' Baton Rouge."

Harry noticed the girl from the previous night, the one called Rebecca, sitting off to the side and listening with a smile. He nudged Hermione. "Say, Mione, does she look familiar or is it just me?" he asked softly.

Hermione looked. "She is familiar, but I don't know why," Hermione answered quietly.

One of the boys, as they finished the song, nudged the dark-haired girl. "Hey, Rebecca, why don't you sing something?"

Rebecca shook her head. "I don't sing."

"Aw, c'mon," wheedled the boy.

"Yeah, we wanna hear you sing," added Robbie.

Rebecca blushed. "I don't know..."

"Please?" begged one of the girls.

"Yes, we'd like to hear you too," Harry said, startling the group.

Rebecca's eyes flashed. "Was that a challenge?"

"If you like," Harry shrugged.

Rebecca studied him for a second, then stood up and faced him. "Fine. I'll sing the beginning of a song, then you see if you can finish it."

Harry shrugged mildly. This wasn't what he'd had in mind, but..."I suppose I can try that."

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and began.

"In Dublin's fair city,

Where the girls are so pretty,

I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,

As she wheeled her wheelbarrow

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'

Alive, alive oh! alive, alive oh!

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'"

Harry knew this one--Sweet Molly Malone. While Rebecca had a sweet soprano, Harry's was a rich tenor he hadn't known he had until he began singing.

"Now she was a fishmonger,

And sure 'twas no wonder,

For so were her mother and father before,

And they each wheeled their barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'

Alive, alive oh! alive, alive oh!

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'"

Harry dropped, wondering who was to sing the last verse, but Hermione broke in with it.

"She died of a fever,

And no one could save her,

And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.

Now her ghost wheels her barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'

Alive, alive oh! alive, alive oh!

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'"

Harry smiled at Hermione and raised his eyebrows at Rebecca. She frowned, then smiled and started again.

"You get a line and I'll get a pole honey.

You get a line and I'll get a pole babe.

You get a line and I'll get a pole

and we'll go down to the crawdad hole, honey, baby mine."

Harry laughed. "That isn't quite fair, but...here goes nothing." He began the second verse, which sounded strange in a British tenor.

"Whatcha gonna do when the creek goes dry honey?

Whatcha gonna do when the creek goes dry babe?

Whatcha gonna do when the creek goes dry?

Sit on the bank and cry, cry, cry, honey, baby mine."

Ron practically died laughing. A small smile quirked Rebecca's lips as well. "Okay, wise guy, try this one." She turned around. "Thomas, Reannon, come give me a hand."

Harry and Hermione exchanged a brief look as the two joined them. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was...that Rebecca said her R's like W's.

Having held a brief whispered conference that sent both the other Salem students into a fit of giggles, Rebecca turned back to them and started singing a nonsense song Harry had heard exactly once before.

"I'm a little coconut

Sitting in a coconut rut.

Everybody stomps on me,

I'm as crazy as can be.

I'm a nut

In a rut

And I'm crazy."

Thomas jumped in next and sang out, complete with motions.

"Called myself up on the 'phone

Just to see if I was home.

Asked myself out on a date--

Gotta be ready by half-past eight."

Rebecca joined him for the chorus, and Harry realised the pattern they'd worked out.

"I'm a nut

In a rut

And I'm crazy."

Reannon sang the second verse, also with rather exaggerated movements.

"Took myself to the picture show,

Sat myself in the very first row.

Wrapped my arms around my waist,

Got so fresh I slapped my face.

I'm a nut

In a rut

And I'm crazy."

Harry took a deep breath and did his best on the next verse--and the movements, which were rather strange altogether.

"Coca-Cola went to town,

Pepsi Cola shot him down,

Dr. Pepper fixed him up,

Now we all drink 7-Up.

7-Up, he got the 'flu,

Now we all drink Mountain Dew.

I'm a nut

In a rut

And I'm crazy."

To Harry's surprise, Hermione joined in with a verse he hadn't known existed--one that would have put him in stitches had he not already been laughing harder than he had in months.

"I can sing and I can dance,

I wear flowers on my--

Whoops, boys, take another guess--

I wear flowers on my dress.

I'm a nut

In a rut

And I'm crazy."

Ron was laughing so hard at this point that he fell over. Harry, trying to calm down, looked over at Hermione. "Where'd you learn that?"

Hermione shrugged. "My friend Ellie taught me."

Rebecca held out her hand. "I suggest we call a truce. I'm W--Rebecca Weston."

Hermione gasped. "Rebecca Weston? You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. Why, does the name mean something?"

"Mean something!" Hermione exclaimed. "Don't you remember me, Rebecca? And since when are you going by Rebecca?"

Rebecca frowned. "I...no, I can't place you. And I've been called that since I moved to Massachusetts. Who are you?"

Hermione looked helplessly at Harry, and he suddenly understood. Turning back to Rebecca, Hermione told the other girl, "Hermione Granger. Remember now?"

"Nope. But nice to meet you."

"We aren't just meeting!" Hermione said in frustration. "Harry, help me out here."

"Second year of schooling," Harry said slowly, trying to make sure he got it right. "Ms. Stites' class, room 104...smack dab in the middle of the room, seventh row, behind...oh, who was it..."

"Kevin Newman, Lois Armstrong, and Kristin Arvidsdatter," Hermione supplied. "Because you sat right across the aisle from me, and you"--she now directed her comment to Rebecca--"were always complaining you couldn't see around Lois because she was so tall."

"We went trick-or-treating together on Halloween," Harry added. "You were a witch."

"You taught us how to play hopscotch," Hermione reminded her. "I taught you Sweet Molly Malone...and Harry taught us how to climb trees."

Rebecca frowned. "My second year of school, I only had two friends, and their names were..."

"Janey and Jimmy," chorused Harry and Hermione. "And they called you Becky."

"And it was Janey who taught me to sing and Jimmy who..." Rebecca trailed off. She stared from Harry to Hermione and back for a minute. Slowly, a grin split her face. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Nope," Hermione said with a grin. "Missed you, Becky."

Rebecca grinned and gave both Harry and Hermione a huge hug. "I missed you too."

They pulled back and Rebecca turned to Harry. "I can't remember what your real name is," she said sheepishly.

"Harry, Harry Potter," Harry reminded her.

Thomas looked super impressed. "The Harry Potter?"

"Here we go again," Harry muttered.

Rebecca grinned. "So I was right."

"About what?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Remember...right before you and I both moved out of the neighbourhood, I told Jimmy that he would get out of the neighbourhood someday, that he'd be famous..."

"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about that," Harry said.

That evening, when the students gathered to see who would be chosen as champions, Rebecca joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione, talking excitedly about who might be chosen for their respective schools. As the lights dimmed and the first name came out of the box, Harry almost didn't care who it was. It was enough for him just to be finally, after nine long years, sitting with the three closest friends he'd ever had: Becky, Janey, and Ron.