Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or the beautiful song Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade.
Contrary to McGonnagal's promise of next-day-delivery, the instrument didn't come. So she spent the next few days patrolling with the Head Boy, doing homework, and of course, spending as much time as possible in the library. The Heads didn't talk much, and when they did they were civil to one another, occasionally telling jokes and stories to pass the long patrol hours. They weren't quite friends yet, but she liked to believe they were close to becoming that. The piano didn't arrive until the end of the week, and by then Hermione was ready for it.
Malfoy had already gone out for the day, but she had a while before her first class, so she pulled her sheet music out of her bag and sat down at the bench. The piano was beautiful and obviously new. She wondered where McGonnagal had gotten such an instrument. The keys beneath her fingers were cool, and smooth as a sanded stone. She could see the fire reflecting off the black surface. She did her scales, then struck each key one by one. The strings were all perfectly tuned, and the overall sound was wonderful; she would have to thank the Headmaster later that evening. She played what she could remember of Fur Elise, albeit slowly, because she hadn't played full on in several years. By then it was time to head to class, so she set her music on the stand and left the common room.
Around noon, she headed back up during her lunch break to switch out her books. She walked in to find a very confused Draco Malfoy sitting at her piano, his fingers on the keys. He wasn't playing, simply sitting there, watching the instrument as if he expected it to play itself. Maybe that was what he was used to, she thought to herself. She cleared her throat loudly, and he jumped, accidentally slamming his hand on the keys. She laughed at the startled expression on his face, and he scowled and muttered something under his breath, low enough that she couldn't hear. "What is this?"
"A piano. Baby grand. Musical instrument, maybe you've heard the term?" She laughed at the way he glared at her. "I know what a piano is. What I meant was, what is it doing here?"
"Oh. I'm trying to learn a song, so I asked McGonnagal to get it for me." She leaned over and pointed at the sheet music. "Fall for You. It's a beautiful song, and personally I think the piano part is sort of difficult, but you know me. I love a good challenge." He picked up the music and squinted at it, trying to make sense of it. "How are you supposed to learn from this? It's just a bunch of little black dots on a piece of paper, it makes absolutely no sense."
She tsked at him. "Well of course it doesn't make sense to you, you can't read sheet music." She paused. "Neither can I really, not fluently anyway. But I know the basics on it. It will probably take a while, but I'll learn it. See, each line and space corresponds with a different key. Like this top line here, goes with this here," and she played an E. "There are all sorts of tricks to memorize what lines and spaces go with what notes. And then there's all the accidentals and key signatures which makes everything more complicated. But the real difficulty isn't reading the notes, it's playing them. You have to move both hands at the same time and usually they're completely different. My piano skills are very limited, but I'm sure I'll manage." She glanced at the clock then, and said, "we should probably head out for class now. I'll see you later." With that, she headed up to her room, switched out her books, and left the dorm, with Malfoy behind her.
Later that day, after supper and after she had went to the Headmaster and thanked her for the beautiful piano, she went back to the common room. She once again found the Head Boy sitting at the instrument. He looked up when she walked in and gave a nod, then redirected his attention back to the sheet music. As she came farther into the room, he pointed to the paper and said to her, "I've decided something. You're insane. None of this makes any sense, it's ridiculous." He looked quite pleased with himself.
She responded with "that's only because you don't know how to do it. You don't like things you don't understand." She laughed as he sputtered like a dying engine and turned red, trying to think of something to retort with but coming up short. She headed toward the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge, deciding on an apple then making her way back out to the sitting room. She settled on the sofa, took a bite from her fruit and watched him watch the piano. His face was a mask of contemplation, and she didn't think she'd ever seen him looking so perplexed. It was amusing.
She finished her snack and tossed her apple core into the trash by her new desk, and sat in the chair, intent on starting her homework. She pulled out her textbooks and parchment, took her new quill from the desk drawer, and began writing an essay for professor Slughorn on the effects of wolfsbane potion. While she wrote, her companion struck a key. He glanced at her to see if she'd object to him touching the instrument, but she was fine with him experimenting, as long as he didn't break it. He started playing with the keys, going from note to note, slowly trying to decipher the different sounds the piano made. He occasionally made a discontented noise if he played notes that didn't work together, or he'd hum in satisfaction when he managed to get a good sound. They sat in the common room, together but submerged in different activities, and were content to stay that way.
Suddenly there was the sound of clashing keys, and Hermione gave a shout and nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked up and saw Malfoy, his hands still splayed across the piano, laughing as she stuttered and tried to compose herself. She felt her face go red as she yelled at him, "that's not funny," but he either ignored her or couldn't hear her over himself. Irked, she slammed her textbook shut, then walked over and swatted him in the head, much like she used to do to Harry and Ron when they didn't pay attention in class. His laughter subsided to a light chuckle, and she grabbed her bag and stomped to her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.