Jily oneshots

give me the beat boys and free my soul

by kingslayers

oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul

i wanna get lost in your rock 'n' roll

and drift away

drift away—dobie gray

James is fourteen years old when he falls in love with rock'n'roll.

He stitches a The Who patch onto the sleeve of his favourite jacket, scrawls Dobie Gray lyrics on his arms and proclaims Cat Stevens as the King of Soft Rock to anyone who'll listen.

When he's seventeen, he falls into The Clash, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, but can also sing along to every Lynyrd Skynyrd song released and learns how to play Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide' by virtue of listening to it over and over until his mother warns him his ears will bleed. He declares allegiance to Jimi Hendrix, the only sovereignty he will accept in the realm of guitar, and still insists that Cat Stevens is the King of Soft Rock.

On the fourteenth of July the following year, when James is eighteen, three things of life-altering importance occur:

1) The Who releases their single 'Who Are You?'

2) Marlene McKinnon, one of his childhood best friends, turns eighteen and drives away from her boarding school with nothing more than a beat-up truck and a redhead in her passenger seat.

3) The Phoenix plays a set at HQ, a venue three towns over from James' hometown, Godric's Hollow.

x

The first to find out, of course, is Emmeline.

Emmeline Vance has known James since he was a child—the only friend he's had longer is Marlene, who brought the two of them together. He spends most of his time with the Marauders nowadays, but he and Emmeline are still close, and always do something on Marlene's birthday that she will enjoy—both to celebrate her, and in the hope that she might be allowed to come home that year and celebrate with them. Emmeline is also the most observant, cunning, brisk and capable person James knows, so he is never surprised to find her three steps ahead of everyone else. Today is no exception.

When Emmeline arrives, he's sitting at the kitchen bench, eating a sandwich as Sirius lounges in the kitchen. Sirius has lived with James since they were sixteen, and there is not a single day that James doesn't feel grateful for the fact that his best friend lives with him instead of his awful family.

"James!" Emmeline calls, striding through his house. He jerks his head up, glancing at her in askance as she comes through the corridor into the kitchen. "C'mon," she continues briskly. "We're off."

"Where?" he asks, even as he slides off his stool and shoves the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

"HQ," she answers. "The Phoenix is playing, and it's Marls' birthday. It's perfect." She tilts her head to the side, listening to the slight strains of radio before walking over and turning the volume up. Roger Daltrey's voice comes streaming through, and all three teenagers stand entirely still as they let the newest single from The Who wash over them.

James keeps turning the lyrics over in his mind—they're like an epiphany, or a challenge, he can't decide which. Who is James Potter, he finds himself wondering, for possibly the first time in his life. Some people have existential crises because of the meaningless of life; James has his because music, the language of his soul, asks him the one question that hits him right at his core and he can't answer. So, in that moment, he pledges to.

Emmeline is the one to break the silence of the awe that filled the room as the last chords of 'Who Are You?' faded away.

"HQ," she repeats. "It's imperative."