Alright I edited this chapter something massive. Tell me what you think.
Professor Snape and Malfoy were forced to stay in the Hospital Wing until Wednesday. Potions class for Tuesday had been canceled and if Madam Pomfrey had her way they would be canceled today as well. However Professor Snape would have none of that, so the most Madam Pomfrey was able to do was convince the Professor to allow Harry to escort him back to their quarters. Harry had even been excused from all his classes for Wednesday, just so he could keep an eye on Professor Snape and make sure he didn't do to much to soon. Malfoy may have also been released from the Hospital Wing, but he was put on bed rest in his dorm for the day, under the careful watch of Blaise Zabini, who had also been excused from classes for the day. The Cruciatus curse was a tricky curse to deal with. The effects of which could last anywhere between a few hours to several days. Therefore Snape grudgingly allowed Harry to follow him around all day. Luckily he only went back and forth from his classroom, to his potions lab and quarters for the day. He even chose to take lunch in his quarters with Harry.
The next day was Harry's first Piano lesson with Snape. After classes where over and done with Harry headed back to their quarters(it was becoming easier to refer to Snape's Quarters as "theirs")and started immediately on his homework, waiting for Snape to return from grading papers, so they may begin their lesson. Harry was barely half done with his work when Snape appeared. Harry quickly put his things away in his room, and returned. Snape was sitting at the piano, apparently waiting for him. Harry took a seat next to Snape awaiting instructions.
"Tell me Mr. Potter, what do you know of playing piano?" Severus inquired.
Harry shook his head, "Pretty much nothing sir. I only know how to play Fur Elise, by listening to it, and watching my muggle Primary School teacher play it for us. I don't know the notes or really anything sir."
Severus sighed, he had so hoped that Potter knew at least the basics. "Very well Mr. Potter, then we shall start with the basics of Musical Theory."
Severus left the room momentarily, bringing back with him several books on basic Musical Theory. He handed the books to Harry, then took a deep breath and started to explain, "Musical theory is the root of all sheet music and good musical understanding."
Severus opened the one of the books to the first page, displaying the notes, their respective meanings, and appearances. "The whole note," he gestured to a flattened oval shape note on the page "takes up four beats, the half note, as implied in it's name, takes up half the beats of the whole note, or two beats, the quarter note, also as implied in it's name, takes up a quarter of four beats, or one beat, and lastly the eighth note, takes up half a beat." Severus stopped there with notes feeling Harry's confusion as if it were a palpaple odor in the air around them.
"Next we cover the time signature. The time signature tells you how many beats in a bar. 4/4 time means four beats, and is the most common, however there is also 3/4 time and 2/4 time as well, which have three and two beats in each bar, respectively. Bars are shown by sections of the horizontal lines here," Severus gestured to a space on the page with five horizontal lines, "that are broken up by short vertical lines, therefore in 4/4 time the notes within the two vertical lines must only add up to a total of four beats, before starting again in the next section." Severus then gestured toward a bar that had only one black rectangle in it, "That is a whole rest, meaning you do not play at all during those four beats, there are also half rests, quarter rests, etc and for each one you pause in your playing. However as a result of all of this music can become messy, and very difficult. So make things add up, sometimes there are symbols that indicate a carryover - for example, if a note is supposed to be held for 6 beats, then it obviously won't fit into one bar of music in 4/4 time. So what they do is link a whole note and a half note (4 beats + 2 beats) across the 2 different bars in the music with an arching line."
"Any questions so far?" Severus asked. Harry seemed confused, however Severus saw the longer, the teenager looked over the sheets of paper, and the pre-written explanations, realization dawned and he obviously began to understand.
"No Professor, I think I got it so far, but can we stop their for now? I've still got homework for classes to do, and I'm rather tired."
Severus glanced at Harry in thought. The boy did indeed appear rather worn out, only to be expected after his sudden mutation, and the students reactions. "Very well, we will continue where we left off next Thursday. However I want you to take that first book there, level 1, and read the first few chapters, on notes, beats, bars, etc. Feel free to study ahead if you have the time, but I do not expect you will, with the homework load in regular classes, and...the students..." That was another topic Severus knew he was going to have to breach with Harry. Some other time perhaps.
Harry nodded and cleaned up the music, closed up the piano, and left for his room for the night, however Severus stopped him with his next words.
"We will be having dinner tonight in the dining room in my-I apologize, OUR quarters. No need to lock yourself in your room and have that infernal former Malfoy house elf Dobby, sneak you food."
Harry nodded, "Yes sir."
Okay! So I went through a total edit on this one, tell me what you think.
THANK YOU Twisted Mind FOR THE ADVICE ON MUSICAL THEORY. Having not studied it for a few years now I needed quite the refresher, that and I only played the Clarinet, so Piano was massive alien territory for me. Therefore Thank you again Twisted Mind for the help, and hopefully continued help throughout the story, on more than just Harry's piano lessens. ^_^