DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story (apart from maybe the conductor). Harry, Ginny, Ron and many other characters mentioned are owned by JK Rowling. I have set this mini-episode style fanfic just before Ginny got pregnant with James Sirius Potter
Carbon Fibre Wands
30 August 2003
It was a beautiful sunny morning, where the trees were growing tall, the roses blooming and even the daffodils glowing. Everyone was having a very relaxing and pleasant time either at home or in the exuberant sunshine. Even in dark hiding places did it feel like an inspiring climate.
Meanwhile, at 12 Grimmauld Place, two of the most tortured wizards in the past, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, were sharing their best kiss ever in their lives. It was more passionate than ever planned and the latter glued their relationship tightly together. As they finish their kiss, they continued to talk seductively to each other.
"We're having our best of times together." said Harry. "You're so hot and I absolutely cherish staying with you to make up for all the trouble I had during my childhood."
"I know exactly how much you want me and how much I want you." said Ginny. "Without you around, I would have never coped in life. You're more than just an inspiration. You're a lifelong inspiration."
They were insanely in love with each other that they even got married recently and were thinking of starting their own family.
"You know, I really want some children, especially a boy and a girl at least." said Ginny.
"That'll be cool but it'll require a great deal of responsibilities, especially in the very early stages of their lives." Harry added. "Note that at least one of us must always be there for them so that we can keep an eye on them and make sure they don't cause chaos or are put in danger with someone else. No babysitters, no au pairs, no one but us, are the ones to look after them."
"What would you like to call our child?" asked Ginny.
"I want to base his name on my biggest parental figures, for example James Sirius Potter, lifted from my father and my godfather, both of them being Gryffindors." replied Harry.
"Good idea." agreed Ginny, as she favoured his idea of naming their children after Harry's dead relatives.
As Harry and Ginny were discussing together their thoughts of what they could do together, they were thinking of many different entertainment ideas besides wizarding activities. They knew it would be boring to do nothing but magical stuff and some non-magical undertakings could be much more thrilling and sensational.
"I wish we could do something which muggles do." said Ginny. "In some ways, it is more enjoyable than some of our wizarding stuff."
"Well, we're already attending an event which doesn't use any magic." Harry added. "We've already bought tickets to an orchestral concert. This is totally muggle. And trust me, it's great fun."
Ginny soon gave a puzzled look. She then asked, "Is classical music supposed to be magical or muggle-like?"
Harry answered, "Instruments are made out of different materials and are played by humans using different parts of the body. This is totally human so I deduce that it's muggle-like."
Ginny immediately went to look for the tickets. She found them on the dining table and took a gander at them to see how many Harry had bought. But then she found that there were only three tickets.
Ginny blushed, feeling worried. "Hey, have you thought about Ron and Hermione?" Ginny reminded Harry.
"I spoke to Ron and have also bought a ticket for him but Hermione can't make it. I don't know what she's doing at this time." Harry responded.
As soon as Harry gave his vague news, he and Ginny game-faced it off as if they didn't care about whether their relatives would go with them or not.
In the evening, Harry and Ginny dressed elegantly and used floo powder to take them to the entrance of the Barbican Centre, which was where the concert was held. As they entered, they walked around the elaborate and spacious foyer with an eye-catching bar and an entirely musical-themed souvenir store. While they were looking around, they met Ron Weasley. They were pleased to see Ginny's brother and Harry's old friend after knowing him for many years at Hogwarts.
"Hey!" Ron greeted with excitement as he gave Harry and Ginny each a wholehearted hug.
"Long time no see!" Harry welcomed Ron. "What have you been up to these years?"
"Nothing much. I've been training hard in Wizarding College." replied Ron. "Remind me, what kind of event is this?"
"This is an orchestral concert. Have you forgotten that?" Harry demanded. "We're getting a taste of what muggle music is like."
Then Ron sighed, "But I have no idea on what's coming in this type of concert. Is it even worth me spending my time in a concert hall waiting for the orchestra to do their stuff?"
"Just because you don't know anything about classical music, doesn't mean anyone else wouldn't." snapped Harry. The fact that Harry was smarter than Ron and Ginny was very similar to when Hermione was smarter than Harry and Ron during school. As Harry developed his intelligence, he certainly became bossier than before.
"Hey! Don't get like Hermione in school. You know Ron hated it." Ginny interrupted.
"I was used to her bossiness at school." Ron admitted. "We had relationship counselling which helped her to understand me more and also taught me how to behave better towards her and not do anything stupid." Ron had many problems with friendship and conduct as a student. He committed many despicable acts, including when he insulted and abandoned Harry during their Horcrux hunt which made both Harry and Hermione mad at him. By this point, Ron was much more mature and easier to get along with which made him an even closer friend to Harry and earned him Hermione as a girlfriend.
"Ah, OK." acknowledged Harry. "Where's Hermione anyway?"
"She's on some sort of business trip in Bulgaria. I'd better hope she doesn't see that creepy motherfucker Viktor Krum." Ron answered anxiously. He consistently had fears of losing Hermione to someone else.
"Oh don't be absurd. You know she wouldn't cheat on you unless she became slutty." retorted Harry.
As Harry, Ginny and Ron showed their tickets to the door guards, bought programmes for themselves and entered the concert hall, they took a seat in the centre of a balcony row with Ginny in the middle between the two men. They could easily get an excellent view of the performers from where they sat. While they were waiting, Harry looked inside the programme, reading the notes. He was abruptly stunned by the repertoire.
"What?" Harry gasped. "There's music about me and everything around me? How weird is that?"
The three wizards had a chuckle over it. "Maybe this muggle composer, John Williams read up all about you and composed music based on your thrills." Ginny pointed out.
It was then time for the concert to start. The orchestra slowly came on with full focus and everyone started applauding continuously until all the players took their seats and settled down. The orchestra followed the traditional procedure; tuning to a concert A and the leader coming onto stage, followed by John Lang, the conductor.
Before starting their performance, John Lang gave his introduction saying, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our concert of the London Symphony Orchestra. We are raising funds for what is so-called the Ministry of Magic. First, we are going to perform a few well-known themes from Harry Potter by John Williams which you all may know. Then, we will perform The Water Goblin by Dvorak which is based on a story of a girl who goes to the lake and meets a goblin who keeps her as his wife. But then disaster strikes. The girl's mother, when she saw the girl with the goblin, demanded him to leave the girl with her. However, the goblin got very angry, carried the girl away and killed her in the lake by severing her head. After that, we will have a short interval where refreshments will be sold. Finally, we will perform possibly the best-known piece by Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique. It is based on a story of an artist who has had a very hard life. In the first movement, he looks back at the tortures of his past before falling in love with his significant other. The second movement portrays a ball scene where the artist meets his love again. The third movement is very relaxing but quite long-drawn. The artist is in the field hearing two shepherds conversing with each other. Then, we are led to a huge contrast where we reach the popular fourth movement, March to the Scaffold. This is when the artist has a nightmare of killing his beloved and being sentenced to death. The march is particularly dark as it leads to the death penalty, known to be capital punishment. In the fifth movement, the artist has another dream where he is at a Witches' Sabbath. He hears monsters with loads of gruelling sounds. His love soon appears but now she has a diabolical character. She along with everyone else at the Sabbath perform a grotesque dance and we come to Dies Irae which is part of the artist's requiem. These themes are then manipulated to lead to a climatic ending. We hope you do enjoy this concert."
As the orchestra performed the pieces by Williams and Dvorak in the first half, the audience were thoroughly enjoying every single moment in the music. The orchestra was more than just an accomplished orchestra. It made a very pure, resonant and refined sound with perfect coordination between every single player. They had obviously been training very hard in such short time, perhaps 9 hours. The repertoire was slightly challenging but nevertheless, very exciting. When the orchestra finished performing the Dvorak, which had a quiet ending, everyone in the audience gave an enthusiastic long clap which lasted when the conductor went off the stage for the first time, came back on, signalled the orchestra to stand up, shook the leader's hand and then went off again.
As the interval began, Ron read the programme notes and said comedically, "Luckily Griphook wasn't a water goblin, otherwise we'd all be dead, wouldn't we?" Harry giggled but Ginny looked baffled.
"I've never met a goblin in my life so I don't know anything about one." said Ginny.
Harry, Ginny and Ron had quite a long chat on how their experience was so far and how much more they appreciate orchestral music than ever before. This concert could potentially make them develop their maturity further, maybe more than Hermione. They gained bonus knowledge on a less well known aspect of muggle life. Later, they found themselves meeting the conductor.
"Good evening sir. You must be John Lang." Harry said.
"Of course I am." said John. "And who are you all?"
"I'm Ginny and this is my brother Ron, and my husband, Harry." Ginny replied.
"Are you Harry Potter, by any chance?" John immediately asked Harry.
"Of course I am. How did you find out about me?" answered Harry.
John then described, "Because I keep up with the city news all the time and I read about you at some point. I'm also glad you're having a good time here right now, always and forever. I even heard you are all famous wizards who worked together to defeat a Dark Lord. I should consider myself extremely lucky that he didn't cause any harm to me and any other conductor at all. By the way, Can you help me please? I left my baton in the toilet and it has mysteriously disappeared. I really don't like conducting without a baton."
"Sure, I can do anything to summon that baton." replied Harry.
Harry and John secretly entered the male toilets, leaving Ginny and Ron bewildered as to what Harry will do there. Ginny and Ron edged towards the door and listened to what was going on. Eventually they hear "Accio conductor's baton". Harry used a very useful spell to help John retrieve his baton to use for the second half. Although they were not in a magical venue, Harry, at the age of 23, was old enough to use magic there. Soon afterwards, he and Colin emerge from the toilet and surprise Ginny and Ron.
"Thank you so much Harry. You helped me regain my baton which I craved. You're a legend." said John delightfully.
"You're very welcome, sir." responded Harry. "What material is that baton made of? It looks and feels quite strange to us wizards."
John explained, "Let me tell you all about carbon fibre. Most of the bows that string players use and batons that conductors use are made of wood. However, this baton is made of carbon fibre. It is stronger, unbreakable and lasts a lot longer. I can assure you if you find any carbon fibre substitutes for your wooden things, you'll make more use of them because you'll enjoy them more."
"I could imagine carbon fibre wands being more powerful and unbreakable." Ron predicted.
"That's handy; at least they wouldn't break like my one did during our Horcrux hunt." observed Harry. Maybe we should suggest this to the Ministry of Magic."
Then the bell rang and the audience started making their way back to their seats and the performers backstage. "Oh, I'm afraid I must get back. It's been a pleasure meeting you and thank you so much for your help." said John as he went back to focus on the Berlioz.
As everyone entered the concert hall for the second time, they followed the same process as in the first half, waiting to hear a favourite they could not miss. Similarly, John and the orchestra came onto stage formally and performed the favourite that the audience was waiting to hear all the time while at the Barbican. Again, the orchestra made an exceptional performance with a grasp of all the storylines achieved by the players in addition to expert technique and synchronicity. At the end of the Symphonie Fantastique, there were clusters of applauses and shouts of joy with a full-on standing ovation. The conductor even received some posh flowers and a bottle of red wine as gifts from his wonderful orchestra.
As the wizards left the Barbican, Ron carried on being comedic by saying "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath, more like Dream of Bellatrix's Sabbath." Everyone laughed. Ron always had a funny comical side and he especially got to use it when Hermione wasn't with him.
Suddenly, a mobile phone rang. "Just bear with me, I need to take a call." Ron said hastily. "Hello?... Yes, I was lonely quite a lot of the time but I'm not complaining because that's life… Yeah, I'm with my sister right now and I'm having a great time… Nah, it's not anywhere near as good as our time together. You're the only one I can love besides my family… Cool, it's been great talking with you and I'm glad you're okay. Talk to you soon and see you when you get back. Bye babe!"
Ron talked back to Harry and Ginny. "That was Hermione. She's really enjoying herself in Bulgaria. She'll be back this Wednesday. I'm so excited!" Ron exclaimed. He then continued on more quietly by saying, "Hermione is going to be so jealous if she finds out that we have been to a muggle concert and happen to own carbon fibre wands."
"At least there's something we know that she wouldn't." Ginny deduced. Would Hermione not be the same bookworm she used to be?
As everyone left the concert in a very contented mood, they all made their way home to rest peacefully and get some sleep. Harry and Ginny decided to let Ron visit them until Hermione returned and they all saw such a gratifying period within their beloved relationships. They were all looking forward to their brightest future ever intended.