Albus sighed, he hated these end of term assemblies in the great hall. In total honesty, he couldn't see the point in sitting there bored out of his skull whilst the choir sung some pathetically dismal Christmas songs followed by an awfully screechy solo by some nameless Hufflepuff. Sighing he rested his head in his arms and prepared to sleep through what was sure to be a notoriously boring Christmas assembly. He was just about to close his eyes when something struck him as odd; a piano had been conjured in the centre of a stage which he was sure did not exist before hand. It seemed the professors table had been moved so instead of facing the students, they were facing the stage with their backs to the rest of the school. Strangely curious he decided it may be mildly entertaining to stick this one out, "What the hell is going on?" asked James who had (as usual) arrived late and squeezed in next to his brother, Albus shrugged. "Something about as interesting as auntie Hermione, I'm sure." He drawled in his usual 'less than impressed' fashion; James sniggered.
As Albus had predicted, the choir's performance was absolute drivel but he did notice that the piano was yet to be used. Once they finished singing some flitty Christmas carol there was an obvious lag in entertainment, whatever they had planned for entertainment (probably involving the piano) was not going as planned. Professor Flitwick took to the stage,
"I'm terribly sorry students, It seems that we…" Then as if to punctuate his sentence the doors to the grand hall were slammed open and in stormed a familiar head of platinum blonde hair. Having grown up with the stories of the 'evil sod, Malfoy,' from his uncle Ron, Albus had tried his best to hate Scorpius but he had soon found that it was near impossible to dislike the boy in any shape, way or form. He was charming, polite, talented, funny, always willing to help people, quidditch prodigy, potion's prodigy, top of the class, had an amazing sense of style and to top it all off he was sexy as hell… Not that Albus was gay or anything. He wasn't, honestly. He just appreciated beauty; especially male beauty. "Ahh, never mind" said professor Flitwick "Here he is now." Albus raised an eyebrow, so Scorpius was the entertainment… this day just got so much more interesting. Stepping onto the stage he flicked his hand and summoned a microphone, (wandless magic, Albus noted.) The boy's face was totally devoid of emotion, which was strange for the usually chipper Slytherin; he cleared his throat.
"I was supposed to play some cheesy Christmas songs," he said to no-one in particular. "But due to recent circumstances I'm not feeling particularly festive… So here's something else." OK, now Albus was confused, admittedly they were not the best of friends, but he had never seen the Malfoy Heir look anything other than happy and smiling. Casual conversations during fleeting partnerships in Potions classes had shown Albus that the Blonde could find the silver lining in anything, even a minor explosion(caused by Albus, who was awful at potions) that singed off half his eyebrows. He said it gave him a chance to try a new healing spell he'd been working on which, like pretty ,much everything else Scorpius did, worked perfectly. That was the first time he'd touched the Blonde, Albus had been stirring concoction and was pointedly trying not to think about how attractive the boy beside him was; apparently he'd thinking so much he'd missed the other boy tell him to stop stirring several times so when Scorpius put him hand atop the other boy's he flinched violently and ended up backhanding the Blonde across the face; in his haste to apologise he knocked eye of newt into the cauldron at the wrong time and the mixture exploded in the boy's face. He was mortified, the entire class had turned to regard the spectacle and the professor had been livid; Scoprious had just laughed. A lot. He asked the teacher if he could be excused and returned several minutes later looking as perfect as ever. Albus had apologised, grovelled really but the boy just waved a hand in dismissal "It's fine, shit happens. I like your watch by the way, where did you get it?" Ever since then they've smiled at each other in corridors but have never again been paired with each other by the professor. Albus snapped back to reality as Scorpius sat at the piano and put the microphone into the stand, the question still remained; what had made the happy-go-lucky Scorpius so sour? Perhaps it was just stage fright. Attention fully of the Blonde he watched Scorpius wave his hand and begin to play. As soon as his fingers played the first note, a fine rain started over the boy; the song was one he didn't recognise (music wasn't a large part of Albus' life) but from the sound of it the song was muggle and quite beautiful.
"Close enough to start a war,
All that I had, is on the floor.
God only knows what we're fighting for,
All that I say, you always say more.
I can't keep up with your turning tables,
Under your thumb I can't breathe.
So I won't let you close enough to hurt me,
No I won't ask you, you to just desert me.
I can't give you, what you think you give me,
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables.
To turning tables."
Scorpius' voice was beautiful, think and rich with milky tones that made Albus' heart melt. The rain was coating slashing off the floor and sprinkling Scorpius in a fine mist, his once stoic expression changed to suit the music and even though he did not know the entire story he could tell the other boy was in pain.
Under haunted sky's I see you,
When I was been lost your ghost was found.
I've been a hundred storms to leave you,
As hard as you try, I will never be knocked down.
I can't keep up with your turning tables,
Under your thumb I can't breathe.
Scorpius' fingers began to thumb more deftly at the keys, creating a certainly more staccato feeling. It was as is the boy was releasing his pain through the words he was singing and the rain changed to suit his mood; changing from a light rain to a practical downpour that beat down upon the blonde but never seemed to hit anyone else. As he began to thumb the notes of the chorus he threw his head back to enunciate the words,
"I won't let you close enough to hurt me," Scorpius' hair was soaked and hung to his face beautifully, the water had permeated the thin white shirt he was wearing and forced the material to cling to his lithe form revealing two deliciously pink nipples that Albus just wanted to suck… Or at least he would if he was gay, but he wasn't. Honest.
"And I won't ask you, you to just desert me.
I can't give you, what you think you gave me,
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables.
To turning tables." The rain beating down around Scorpius had become murderous and thunder was echoing throughout the room. Lightning had started to strike and was hitting the stage around the boy in causing random bursts of beautiful light that served somehow to highlight his eyes; large haunted orbs holding none of their usual good humour began to well with water as he began the final verse,
"Next time I'll be braver, I'll be my own saviour when the thunder calls for me,
Next time I'll be braver, I'll be my own saviour standing on my own two feet.
I won't let you close enough to hurt me,
No I won't ask you, you to just desert me.
I can't give you,
What you think you gave me.
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables, to turning ta-bl-les;
To turning tables, yeeaahhh.
Da-daa hum, yeahh." Scorpius' fingers began to run down the keys playing various solemn tunes before setting into the rhythm of a new song, using one hand to play the opening notes his other hand flicked several times and a steady drum beat started pounding from nowhere in particular. Albus took the opportunity to cast a glance around the room, every eye in the hall was fixed upon the boy playing before them, several girls were wiping their eyes at the emotional display and several of the "butcher" boys in the school seemed torn between swooning or heckling piano playing pouf. (At least Albus hoped he was a pouf… Well, if he was gay he would hope so; but he wasn't. honest.)
"I let it fall, my heart,
And as it fell, you rose to claim it
It was dark and I was over
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me
My hands, they're strong,
But my knees were far too weak.
To stand in your arms,
Without falling to your feet.
But there's a side to you, I never knew never knew,
All the things you'd say, they were never due, never due.
And the games you played you would always win, always win…"
Then something odd happened,the rain that was continuing to pour around the boy seemed to buzz as if it were electrically charged before bursting into a display of bright blue, orange, purple, red and yellow flames that created a waterfall effect of fire in front of him seamlessly dissipating before it touched the floor.
"But I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well, it burned while I cried.
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name! When I lay with you,
I could stay there close my eyes.
Feel you're here forever,
You and me together Nothing gets better. Cause there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew,
All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true.
And the games you play you would always win, always win. But I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well, it burned while I cried 'cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name! I set fire to the rain,
And I threw us into the flames.
Well, it felt something died,
'Cause I knew that that was the last time, the last time! Sometimes I wake up by the door,
That heart you caught, must be waiting for you.
Even now when we're already over
I can't help myself from looking for you."
The waterfall of flames then began to turn into a whirlpool that surrounded the piano, lifting it so Scorpius was playing above naught but air and flames. Albus watched mesmerised as Scorpius sung what was probably the last verse of the song,
"I set fire to the rain,
Watch it pour as I touch your face.
Well, it burned while I cried,
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name.
I set fire to the rain,
And I threw us into the flames.
Well, it felt something died,
'Cause I knew that that was the last time.
The last time, oh, oh!
Let it burn,
Let it burn.
Let it b-u-r-n."
The last notes were held for several seconds, during which the cyclone became so bright, most of the students were forced to avert their eyes and Scorpius was completely hidden by a roar of flames. When the music stopped, the Typhoon of fire dissolved leaving an empty stage and the very noticeable absence of one Scorpius Malfoy; the piano was still there, unscathed by the magic display but the Blonde haired boy (who was sure to enter Albus' totally non-gay dreams that night) had vanished. A stunned silence was all that filled the hall, Scorpius' voice was beautiful and the show was spectacular but for some reason no-one quite knew how to respond. If Albus had paid to see that in concert he would on his feet, cheering and hooting as loud as he could but for some reason he (and every single other person in the hall) was stunned into silence. Headmistress McGonagall rose to the stage,
"Yes, Well… That was interesting wasn't it children? I can't quite tell you where Mr Malfoy has gone because as you know there is no Apparating within Hogwarts but he seems to have vanished into thin air. Regardless, I'm sure if he were here he would thank you all for sitting so quietly through his performance." She paused and wrinkled her brow, "Now children, off to bed with you and don't forget to pack all of your belongings if you are returning home for the holidays. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you at the start of next term." Several words of farewell later the students were send off to their dorm rooms, most still wondering about the disappearance of Scorpius Malfoy.