Summer Kids

1977: Front Row

Cranking his eyelids apart to take a better look at the situation, James realized that the funny sort of industrial section next to the river must have been the backstage gathering area for props and personnel. He and Alice were now standing at the very front of the entire concert. 

The audience – rows as far back as the entire Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts and farther – rolled out beyond them in a blog of cheering bodies. Not a bus-length directly off to his right stood the stark black box of the stage. And filling the air was music – guitars, rattling drums, joyous keyboards. 

James found himself instantly smiling at it all. The pure energy of the moment flushed any negative mood to the back of his mind and yanked him into the one instant of sound, heat, tingling excitement.

A few steps away, Remus's lean shape emerged, surrounded by fuzzy pink concert lights which made him look like a shadow as he slogged forward through the sound and took James by the shirtsleeve. He yelled something and pointed at the stage, but James motioned back that he could only hear the overwhelming noise of the crowd. Remus then gathered James under one arm and waved Alice forward with the other, herding them closer to the stage.

From what James could tell, it seemed like Remus was guiding them to the very front row of the audience. He resisted a bit – he didn't want to chance Rod Stewart himself seeing him be a novice fan. Then, up ahead, James caught a glimpse of a curvy silhouette with long auburn hair. Lily's trademark locks swished as she turned to meet them – James briefly wondered why she had been standing so close to the steps of the stage – but then Lily was finally walking next to James, the two of them crushed together under the edge of Remus's arm so that the four of them formed a mass of bodies to push their way into the front row. James got the impression that a few large Muggle men in black shirts and sunglasses looked rather angry at their presence so close to the stage as they walked by, but Remus simply steered the four of them onward into the audience section without giving the Muggles so much as a second glance.

James gulped in a deep breath as they passed the first row of concert-goers and held it as he, Remus, Lily, and Alice merged into their midst and began to squeeze their way towards the middle of the field. At one point, some stranger's hand knocked James' glasses just inches from the end of his nose, leaving him to follow Remus through a compressed blur, and he had to thank his lucky stars that they hadn't fallen completely off. Deep in the ranks of the audience, James had no idea which way was north, south, east, west...

James knew when he ran into Remus's bony back that they must have arrived at an acceptable place. Pushing his glasses back, James turned in the direction of the stage and was amazed to see that his friend had secured them a place almost directly in front of the band. If James had thrown a Quaffle from his vantage point, he thought he could have easily sent it directly through one of the large standing drums onstage.

A happy yell nearby drew James' eyes to some of his immediate nearby concert-goers – Marley, Dorcas, Peter, Sirius, and the Muggle girl Thelma. James guessed that Remus must have spotted either Dorcas' shining gold glasses and hip-length black hair or Thelma's translucent white arms, sans-jacket now, as the two girls sat atop Marley and Sirius' respective shoulders, high above the rest of the crowd. James sent Sirius a sly look – he almost couldn't believe what a quick flirt his friend was – and somehow felt even more amused when Sirius missed the look completely, being too busy grinning up at the American girl on his shoulders.

Peter, clearly uncomfortable in his spot amidst the two couples, all but ran for his life to Lupin and James and joined their huddle. To James' chagrin, Lily also chose this moment to switch parties, drifting over to the other witches in their group and yelling something up at Dorcas with a smile on her face. Alice stayed where she was, next to James, and seemed to be intensely focused on the band up on stage. James was about to ask her if he was missing out on another famous Muggle musician when Peter fell against Remus's shoulder and grabbed his jacket for balance. "MERLIN," the other boy yelled, pressing his hand to his lungs and closing his eyes in strain. "IT'S BEEN SO BLOODY AWKWARD. CAN I STAND HERE WITH YOU?"