Preaching On the Corner

Emmett was sitting, cross legged, on a corner in Diagon Alley, his guitar in his hands, an overturned hat in front of him. Leaning against the wall next to him was a large sign. Written in bold letters was the words All mothers' tears are the same: Your war is pointless. On his other side was a similar sign, reading Violence breeds violence. Let's breed peace.

On his guitar, he was playing an old song by someone called John Lennon that most of his peers knew nothing of. The song, Imagine, was usually played on piano, but he had managed to learn it on his guitar and was playing it along. "Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people, living for today. Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace, Ooo-ohh."

His eyes looked around, and saw people hurrying past, sparing him no looks, and if they did, it was a disgruntled glare. No one listened to the sixteen year old drop out who was preaching peace in a time of war. No one ever had, no one ever would. But he had to try.

Ivy was takeing a stroll down Diagon Alley. She looked around at all the people, some walking some running, all trying to get to someplace important. As she was walking she heard the sound of a guitar playing, and started walking to the beat of it. It was a very pretty melody. As she continued walking to the beat of it the guitar was getting louder.

Soon she stood in front of a boy sitting cross legged, with a guitar in his hands. There was a sign next to him that read, "All mothers' tears are the same: Your war is pointless." and on the other side was another sign, reading "Violence breeds violence. Let's breed peace." "That's a very pretty song your playing." Ivy said smilling sweetly. She reached into her pocket and tossed 5 sickles into the hat that was laying on the ground. "Who's it by?"

Emmett was used to people walking right on by. He was used to dirty looks. He was also used to people tossing the bare minimum they could spare and hurrying along, ignoring him because he was beneath them, beneath everyone. That was what he was used to.

What he was not used to, was people stopping, giving him money and taking an interest.

He looked up to see a young girl around his age, with long, red hair. She was smiling nicely at him, and though he knew it was proper to smile back, he had never been much of a smiler. He ticked the corner of his mouth and nodded, touching a finger to his forehead to thank her for the money that she had dumped into his hat. It was not much, but it was something.

She was asking about his music, one thing he could really had a passion for. He continued playing, though he stopped singing and said, "It's by John Lennon. He used to be apart of the Beatles. The song is called Imagine. It's about realizing we are all people, with strings attached, but without all of that, we are all the same." He nodded, knowing he was also referring to their times today. These stupid wars were not achieving anything except death.

Ivy was thrilled when he smiled, well tried to smile the best he could, back at her. He continued to play his guitar and spoke to her. She noded in agreement of what he had to say. "I'm not very good with names, but I have heard of that band before." she said closeing her eyes and trying to think of who told her. Her eyes snaped back open and exlaimed, "My dad was the one who told me about them! I knew it was in my brain somewhere! And I have heard of that song to!" She smilled brightly at him.

She sat down next to him and brought her legs to her chest. She watched his hands as he played and said, "That is very true though, the song. We are all the same on the inside, but the people in this world are to stupid to relize this." She looked back up to his face and smilled again. "My name's Ivy by the way, Ivy Skye!" She held out her hand for him to shake.

Emmett watched her serenely as she tried to recall the name of the band, which would have hurt his soul a little, if he was not used to it. He knew that in the muggle world, not long ago, the name had still been popular, even decades after they had stopped touring as a singular band. And John Lennon had been legendary. It was sad to see such a name fade.

When she over excitedly exclaimed that she had heard the name, his eyes winced slightly. As a musician, and a primarily acoustic folk one, Emmett had rather sensitive hearing and the yell had jolted him, making his fingers cringe on the neck of the guitar. He reached up and slipped the black glasses that had been nestled in his crazy hair onto his nose, pushing them up by the bridge.

At her words, he paused in his music, waiting for the perfect juncture. He mulled over her words, and said in his soft voice, "Maybe not stupid. I think they are just lost." She introduced herself and he stared at her hand before gingerly taking it, shaking it and then putting his hand back on his guitar. "I'm Emmett." And his hand immediately strummed, singing, "Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. Oo-ooh."

After shakeing Emmett's hand Ivy sat there her fingers curled up and placed under her chin. "Nice to meet you Emmett." she said and smilled at him. "I guess I was being a bit harsh when calling people stupid."

She closed her eyes and was listening to him play. She loved the sound of the guitar, it made such a pretty melody and always seemed to cheer her up. And the way he was playing it made it even better. His voice was really good as well, singing every note so nicely.

She moved her head side to side and opened up one eye to look at him. His black glasses covering up his hazel eyes, and asked, "Not meaning to interupt you, but can I ask you a question?"

Emmett jerked his chin at her words, but said no more, continuing onto the chorus, losing himself in the wise words the song offered. "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope some day you will join us. And the world will be as one." He repeated the chorus, something about it striking into him. He was not the only dreamer, there had to be those out there who also advocated for peace, who cringed to think acts of war were being committed. Maybe one day, the world could be as one.

He continued to the second verse, the words from the chorus still haunting his soul, though in a completely pleasant way, if that made sense, which it probably did not. The words again dug into him, but he got lost in the sounds of the guitar, and before he knew it, he was back on that chorus again, this time for the last time. He hoped he was not the only one. That some one would join his cause. That they would cease killing, and the world would-

Ivy's voice interrupted his thoughts and he continued to play until the last note, which resounded and seemed to stay in the air for as long as he held the string down. He finally released it and there was the ghost noise, the sound of silence that really sounded like music... His eyes opened, they had closed behind his glasses, and he ticked his head in Ivy's direction. "It seems that you can, and you already have." He did not smile, but this was as close to a joke as you would get out of him.

Ivy opened both of her eyes and put her hands on the ground and streached out her legs when he had stopped playing. She looked at him and felt a little sad because it looked as she had anoyed him a little. She looked up to the sky and asked, "Have you ever felt like flying away? You know...um..." she sat there for a minute and was thinking how to say the words correctly. "You know to break away from all the hate in the world. To get away from it all."

She kept stareing up at the sky and watched the clouds and birds in the sky. She started to hum the begining to one of her favorite songs, Fly Away by Sugerland and she started to sing, "Oh I swear this town...gets smaller everyday...and I'm waitin for my chance. I'm gonna break away. I'm so sick and tired of being told what's good for me.People got lots of ideas, of who I'm supposed to be."

Her voice got stronger as she sang the chours, "Angel carry me, oh so far away. May my body never... touch the ground. And If I promise you that I'll be back someday, will you set me free so I can fly away? Fly away... fly away..."

Emmett stared at her, saying nothing as he considered her words, his expression unchanging. He pushed his sunglasses up and back into his hair as she finished her questions. He stared at her before slowly saying, "I'd rather not fly away. Then everyone here would be consumed and die. And it's not possible. Instead, I would rather stay here and say what I can and hope someone is listening."

He ticked the left side of his mouth and then jerked his head so that his glasses fell back onto the bridge of his nose. He pushed them back all the way with the heel of his palm of his left hand and then dropped his hand back to the guitar. He itched his chin with his right hand and watched Ivy, wondering what was going on in her head.

She began to sing a song he had never heard before and he slowly began to play along. He did not know how the original song went, but he played an accompanying melody to follow her words, finding the write notes to match her key. They went into the chorus and he began to strum like mad. A woman walking by dropped a galleon into the hat. His mouth twitched.

Ivy could tell Emmett hasn't heard of this song before, but liked that he was playing along with her. She saw a lady walk by and drop in a galleon. She looked over at Emmett and saw his mouth twitch which she took as that making him happy. This made Ivy happy to see that she's helping in some way and not being a burden.

A smile grew across her face as her voice went back to it's softer tone,"Well most folks here well they don't dig too deep. They can't dream too big... ummmmhmmm...cause they've got fields to keep I could walk away and leave behind my family. Or get buried alive in this legacy."

She brushed off her hands and she jumped up to her feet and threw her arms out as they were wings and her voice became stronger again, she sang out,"Angel carry me, oh so far away. May my body never... touch the ground. And If I promise you that I'll be back someday, will you set me free so I can fly away? Fly away... fly away..."