A Little Night Music

The windows that usually filled the corridors of Hogwarts were black against the stone walls as Amelia crept through the eerily quiet halls. She had to be very quiet to evade the notice of any prefects, as she was almost entirely certain her midnight ventures out into the castle were classified as illegal student behavior. She ought to be asleep in the dormitory with the rest of her classmates, but sleep had never come easily to her.

Amelia's insomnia had, as it had so many times before, brought Amelia to the empty classroom on the fifth floor. In her left hand she carried a sleek black case in which she carried tonight's insomnia cure: her violin. As she reached the room, she extended a pale hand toward the doorknob to open it, checking both directions to see that the corridor was, indeed, deserted. Her violin case knocked against the door frame as she opened the door to the classroom's quiet expanse, and she looked back down the hallway in paranoia that someone had followed her.

Realizing the noise had originated with her, Amelia flushed crimson despite the fact that no one was there to embarrass her. Stepping into the room, Amelia closed the door nearly all the way, leaving it partially open in hopes that anyone coming up down the hallway would not arrive unannounced. Generally, she had no visitors at this hour of the night, which is exactly how she liked it.

Placing the case on a slightly dusty desk, Amelia flicked open the clasps and pulled out her violin from its velvety home. She ran her fingertips over the strings to test their tension and then lifted the bow from its place.

Turning her back to the door, Amelia faced the empty classroom, closing her eyes to imagine herself in a different place. In one fluid movement, she lifted the instrument to her neck and pulled the bow across the strings in a movement that, by now, felt as natural to her as breathing. With the first notes reverberating against the undecorated walls, Amelia continued into one of many concertos that filled the silence of her nights.

Elv couldn't sleep thhis night... Something has bothered her mind, but she wasn't sure what. She sneaked out from the dormitory and walked nowhere around the castle. She reached the fifth floor as she suddenly heard a beautiful melody from one of the class. She quietly opened the door and saw a girl playing violin. She watched her happily. Elv always wanted to play some musical instruments. But she has no time to learn.

Amelia had lost herself in the music, playing with more motion than was strictly necessary. She let her body move in a way that made it seem like she was both playing the music and dancing to it. Knowing the music as intimately as she did, Amelia had memorized all the tiny intricacies, allowing her to move with a grace and presence she did not usually possess.

The bow flew across the strings as she reached the climax of the song, her fingers pressing down on the strings necessary to produce the hauntingly perfect chords composed by a man from another time and place. Amelia's hips swayed with the notes, her eyes closed and the music enveloped her, allowing her to leave the world she was accustomed to and enter one where she could free herself from the burdens of everyday.

As the notes sped up, furiously following one another, Amelia spun in place to face the door, her eyelids flying up as she inhaled on the rest, ready to launch into the next stanza without further hesitation, but what she saw standing in the doorway made her otherwise flawless performance miss a beat.

A young girl with auburn curls stood in the doorway, looking as though she had been trying to sleep but, like Amelia, hadn't found her way to dreams. From her height and facial features she looked to be a few years younger than Amelia.

Uncomfortable at being caught indulging herself in her music, Amelia dropped the violin and bow to her sides, letting the bow dangle from her fingertips while keeping a firm grip on the neck of the violin. There was nearly a minute of silence while the two stared at each other before Amelia could find her voice.

"I couldn't sleep," she said, offering what she hoped would be a sufficient explanation for the girl. Amelia did not imagine the girl held any power over her, but rather that she might report Amelia for being out at night. Although, judging by the enraptured look the girl had held before Amelia stopped playing, she hadn't disliked what Amelia chose to do with her illegal out-of-dormitory time.

Elv looked at the girl, admired her beautiful performance. She always wanted to be expert in playing some music. She felt a bit disappointed when suddenly that girl stopped to play. She smiled to her and clapped her hand happily. "Woow!!! That was touchfull..." she said. "Same here, i couldn't sleep either..." she added. Elv came into the class and walked toward her. "I've never heard that song, what song was that?"

The response of the young girl with bed head was surprising to Amelia, for she assumed the girl had just stopped to see what the noise was and would be on her way again as soon as Amelia caught her watching. Instead, the little thing applauded her. She seemed absolutely giddy to have heard Amelia play, which was not exactly the response Amelia anticipated.

Usually, Amelia played only for herself. Of course, her mother and father had heard her play on several occasions, and she had been part of an ensemble that played at her parents' dinner parties, but as far as playing for people her own age, Amelia hadn't really had that much experience. For one, she didn't know many people her own age and thus did not have anyone to fit that target audience. For another, Amelia's music was often a private indulgence, not something she liked to wave in the faces of her classmates or professors.

The girl's voice was awfully chipper for the middle of the night, but Amelia suppressed the urge to cringe. It wasn't right for her to chastise the girl for interrupting her because she didn't have any real claim on the classroom. The girl had as much a right to be there as Amelia.

"Ah... thanks," Amelia said slowly, not really knowing how to respond to such honest and willingly given praise, "It's La Primavera from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It's supposed to express the feeling of Spring," she continued, somewhat awkward as she hadn't exactly planned on socializing tonight, "You know, the season?"

Of course she knows Spring is a season! Amelia thought, mentally hitting herself for her lack of eloquence.

"It's originally written for four people, but I don't exactly travel with an entourage," Amelia said, hoping to salvage her image of intelligence and poise.

ELv smiled to the older girl in front of her. "I've heard of him... but not his works..." she said and looked curiously into Amelia's violin. "Oh wow... I always wanted to play any instruments beside piano... Honestly all i can perform perfectly are Romance D'Amor and Canon..." she giggled cheerfully. "And... My name is Elvaleryn Weasley." she offered her hand to be shake.

Fleur as her mom, forced her to do ballets, dance and of course piano. Girls should do such things, that's what she always says. So there she was, day after day... busy with that kind of things before she attended to Hogwarts.

The fact that the young girl had heard of Vivaldi put her a cut above many of the other students here, most of whom would not know a muggle composer from any era, much less one several centuries prior to the one in which they currently lived. When she mentioned having taken piano lessons and that she knew how to play a few pieces, Amelia nodded in response, not wanting to speak without first weighing her words lest she say something foolish as she had before.

The girl abruptly introduced herself, as though the change of topic from what she had been talking about was nothing more than a comma in a larger sentence. Writing this off as a side effect of too much sugar (likely the cause for her being awake at this hour as well), Amelia closed the space between them, transferring the bow to her other hand so she would have a free hand to extend toward the girl.

"I'm Amelia," she said, realizing as she did that this girl was one of only a few people in the school who knew her name. Elvaleryn had likely been at Hogwarts only a handful of years, but judging by the easy way she introduced herself and her friendly demeanor, the girl was probably more easily identified in the school than Amelia.

"I assume you can read music?" Amelia said after their handshake and introductions had been completed. The young redhead did not seem as though she would take kindly to the bristling silence Amelia usually provided, so Amelia had softened her tone and tried to be a little less intimidating, though she doubted very much Elvaleryn could be intimidated. The girl had mentioned an interest in violin, and Amelia had several more hours before she would be able to fall asleep, so the least Amelia could do was foster that interest a bit.

Elv smiled when finally they shake hand. She knew some muggle composer for their music better then anyone could create, even in magical world. Their notess are easy to remember, well, Fleur wanted her to memorize it all, though. "Yes, i can read them." she nooded. "But, isn't it different with how you read Violin's notes?" she asked curiously. Elv thought that Amelia is a bit quiet. She has a different type of person with her other friends. But Elv likes to make friends. Because she was lonely, back home. So, when she finally leave her house, she tried to make as much friends as she could. It wasn't easy at first, but after met her friends, she started to change... She became more cheerfull and talk-active.

"Violin is actually quite like piano as far as reading the notes goes," Amelia responded, noticing the smile which had spread across Elvaleryn's face. Amelia could not imagine what could have made the girl so happy as to smile so brightly, but it did soften her irritation at being disturbed.

As long as she's here, I may as well show her a thing or two... Amelia thought, turning around and walking back to the desk where she had set her violin case. She pulled a small white ball from a pocket in the velvet interior of the case, placing the violin and bow carefully back into the case before turning back to the girl who had wandered into her solitude.

Pulling out her wand,Amelia tapped the ball lightly, whispering: "Suggero mihi key ut meus pectus pectoris."

When the spell was completed, Amelia was no longer holding a small white ball, but instead was holding a stack of sheet music. In addition, there were several equally large piles on the floor at her feet, some looking like they were stacked rather precariously.

"Sorry," Amelia apologized briefly for the mess she had created. At times she forgot just how much she had compacted, "I've collected a lot of music over the years."

Pulling a sheet from the top of the pile she was holding, Amelia set the rest of the papers on a nearby desk and crossed over to Elvaleryn again.

"See?" she asked, pointed a nimble finger at the first line of treble notes, "The music is quite the same as piano, except there is no base cleff. Violin music is written only in treble."

Elv curiously looked at the ball that Amelia held. And it suddenly disappeared and music sheets replaced it. "Oh woow... That was soooo cool!! I mean, you can bring them anywhere you go!!" she said happily. Well, yeah... She always happy because this is the best expression that help her through anything. Amelia showed her the music sheets. "Uhuh... Look more like guitar for me..." she smiled excitedly.