InsaneJournal

Exiled here from other worlds
My sentence comes too soon;
Why should I be made to pay
On the bad side of the moon?

"Here, Severus." A fistful of T-shirts, thrust into his face, interrupted his singing. "One in each design."

"I--" Severus looked from the T-shirts to the woman who held them. "Charity, I was about to buy them myself."

Charity grinned. "I know. That's why I bought them for you."

"You already paid for the concert tickets," he protested.

"I'm sure," Charity said, winking, "you can think of a way to repay me."

He pulled off his shirt.


* * *


"I meant later," said Charity, laughing.

Severus glanced up at her, rolling his eyes, then donned one of his new T-shirts, one that displayed the full-color cover of Elton's most recent album.

"I like that," said Charity.

"The shirt or the wearer?" Severus sardonically inquired.

"Both." Charity kissed him. "Happy now, Rocket Man?"

"She packed my bags last night, pre-flight..." Severus grinned and kissed Charity again. "Zero hour, nine a.m.--"

"You do sing it much better than Shatner."

"That hardly comes to a compliment."

"You sing it better than anyone, save Elton John."

"That," said Severus, smirking, "I will accept."


* * *


Charity sat, waiting for the concert to begin.

"I can't find, oh, the right romantic line..."

She looked sharply to her side: Damned if Severus wasn't singing, softly, to himself.

"But see me once, and see the way I feel..."

She opened her mouth, but another voice joined Severus:

"Don't discard me just because you think I mean you harm..."

By the end of the song, Severus, from the nineteenth row, floor seating, was leading a veritable small choir.

"It's like the sun going down o-o-on me!"

And, to Charity's wonder, Severus joined his fellow singers in laughter and applause.


* * *


"ELTON JOHN!"

Charity watched as Severus--snarly, surly, Severus; strict schoolteacher Severus, stoic master of Occlumency; Severus the scowling Bat of the Dungeons--threw both hands high above his head and, along with an arena full of fans of the Rocket Man, screamed at the top of his lungs, grinning as madly as the DADA professor recently admitted to St. Mungo's.

Fuck. WHY do we have to go back?

He happened to glance at her, just then, and raised an eyebrow.

Charity smiled. "I just want you to be happy," she shouted above the din of the crowd.

Severus grinned.


* * *


Charity hated herself for it, but she always wondered whom Severus really thought of when he heard a love song.

And all I ever needed was the One...

Out of the corner of her eye, Charity snuck a look: Severus stared straight ahead, his face a perfect mask. She knew that expression well.

Practicing Occlumency at an Elton John concert, for God's sake.

She felt his hand slip into hers, his fingers interlacing and closing round in a tight embrace.

When stars collide, like you and I, no shadows block the sun...

Charity blinked and looked back to the stage.