House: Gryffindor
Position: Muggle Studies
Drabble/Standard: Standard
Prompt: (Image) Piano and Sheet Music; (Quote) You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. - Maya Angelou
Word Count.: 2401
AU: Muggle AU
"No! This can't be happening! No!" a voice shouted.
Rose groaned as she buried her head in her pillow, hoping to block out that sound. No such luck.
"Hugo, calm down. This isn't the end of the world!" her father said.
Just one day, she thought miserably, Just one Sunday of sleep. Is that too much to ask for?
Her brother again started moaning and whining. She finally decided to leave her bed. She looked around her room. It was filled with books and books and books. Just like her mother, Hermione, Rose too, loved books. There were books on different subjects like French, Advanced Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and, of course, books on sports—especially football.
Her room was not really decorated since she spent the better part of her year at Hogwarts—a prestigious boarding school in the Scotland Mountains. Her parents had gone there. In fact, every person from her family had gone there. And she had a lot of cousins, aunts and uncles.
This school only took someone in when they had some talent— for her younger brother, Hugo, it was his creative writing skills. For her father it was football. For both Hermione and Rose it was their academic ability. All of her cousins—Lily, James, Albus, Dominique, Victorie, Louis, Molly II, Fred II, Lucy and Roxanne had some talent or other. Same for her aunts and uncles.
She loved her brother, truly she did. But, all the disturbance he was making on a Sunday morning was a bit too much for her to handle. At Hogwarts, they had to wake up by 6:00am. While she was okay with it on most days, when she came back for the summer, she got decidedly sluggish. Of course, having so many cousins meant that she wouldn't be able to sleep in until 9:00am but she had prayed to gods that it would be the one day when her cousins wouldn't unexpectedly drop by for breakfast—mother's homemade mango shake was to die for, and today her brother decides to create a racket. Just brilliant.
She forced herself to slip out of her nightgown and wear a top and fashionably ripped-up jeans. It was the latest style for girls her age after all. And, she loved to provoke her mother. Hermione followed the rules a bit too much—a habit which neither of her children had gained, preferring to break a few rules when necessary. Rules were made to be broken! So, whenever her mother was being too overbearingly bossy, she would wear something that would make her mother tick. Last night… Well, let's just say she and her mother had a fight of epic proportions.
Rose went down. There, she saw the most bizarre sight. Her brother was having a massive tantrum while her parents were trying to calm him. Usually, she was the one who had tantrums while he preferred to be quiet. Apparently, at some point of time, they had decided to switch roles. If that wasn't weird enough, papers and pens were scattered all around the dining room floor. Hugo loved his writing utensils more than he loved anybody in the world and the thought that he would scatter them around just like that was unthinkable to her.
"What's happening?" she asked loudly, hoping that the matter would be resolved and she could go back to bed.
Her mother gave a disdainful look at her clothes to which she smiled sweetly.
It was her father who answered, "Your brother is throwing a tantrum of epic proportions."
Rose rolled her eyes and barely refrained from saying 'Captain Obvious'.
"Yes, I got that much. But, why is he throwing a tantrum of epic proportions?" Rose asked.
"We don't know!" her mother said exasperatedly. Hermione hated not knowing things. What she hated even more was to admit she didn't know something.
She sighed. Obviously, talking to her parents won't help solving her little brother's tantrum.
So, she said, "Hugo, what's the problem?"
He still wouldn't answer.
She could hardly stop herself strangling Hugo. Sure, he may be her little brother but no one and she meant no one interrupted her sleep.
"Hugo," Rose said with gritted teeth, "Tell me what's the problem."
Hugo looked straight in her eyes and she knew what was the problem. Hugo was very touchy. He didn't want anyone to know about his failures—afraid that they would mock him. The only person who knew anything about his failures was his big sister and even she had to use all the tricks in the book to figure it out.
Hugo didn't want his parents to find out.
Rose gave her brother that look. She would figure out what was happening to her brother one way or the other.
Rose sighed and said, "What's for breakfast?"
"Honestly, Rose. Is every waking minute spent thinking about what to eat?" her mother asked, trying to appear grouchy, but Rose had lived with her long enough to note the fondness in her tone.
Rose grinned and said, "Of course, Mum. After all, I am a growing girl."
"More like daddy's girl," her mother muttered but she put a plate in front of Rose's chair.
Rose grinned and sat down. Okay, she was like her dad in this aspect but she was also 14. Or maybe it was her excuse to eat her mother's delicious concoctions.
"Come on, Hugo. Don't you want to eat?" Hermione asked.
"No."
She had forgotten just how stubborn her brother could be when he was having one of his tantrums.
Rose signed internally. She was doing a lot of that this morning. She decided to take a different approach.
"Such a shame. Mum made all of your favorites—scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages… the works. If you are not going to eat it… well, we can't let it go to waste, now can we?"
Hugo gulped. Rose knew that he would lose. Both of them had their father's stomach.
"I-I think that eating might be good," Hugo finally said.
Rose's expression didn't change although now there was triumphant fire burning in her eyes. She tilted her head a bit and saw her father who gave her a discreet little wink.
Bribery. It always worked on Hugo.
While they were eating, her mother said, "Ron and I are going to watch the football game. It is the Holyhead Harpies versus Puddlemere United. I sincerely hope that the house remains standing by the time we get back home."
Her mother wasn't really a sports person. However, her aunt Ginny played for the Holyhead Harpies and Hermione was one of her oldest and closest friends.
Brilliant. They both were going out, leaving the house empty. Hugo couldn't possibly find any excuse to hide behind this time.
Once upon a time, she would've snorted at her mother's belief that they both could keep the house standing. They fought, as siblings are known to, like cats and dogs. However, they had played this game plenty of times ever since she was 12. During emergencies, when Hugo was having tantrums and only wanted Rose, when the Holyhead Harpies were playing. Usually, Rose loved to go to the games but two years ago something had happened and she loathed the stadiums ever since. No, 'loathe' is not the right word. Maybe 'fear'.
Also, Hugo hated going to the Weasleys' place every time there was some emergency. Don't get the wrong idea, he loved his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. But, twelve kids in a single house was the recipe of disaster, especially when they were related. Hugo preferred the quiet.
To keep both of their children happy, Ron and Hermione had installed hidden CCTV cameras. So that they could see if their children were in danger.
After their parents left, Rose turned to her brother.
"What happened?" Rose asked with a hard look in her eyes. She wouldn't take 'nothing' for an answer.
"I-uh… " Hugo stammered.
Rose started tapping her feet on the ground. It was a seemingly normal gesture but she only did it when she was getting angry.
See this? Every tapping is a second, she seemed to be saying, Seconds you are destroying by stammering.
Finally, he said something. Whispered in her ear.
Her eyes went wide as she heard his explanation. She wanted to laugh. It was such a silly reason to get mad over it. However, Hugo was sensitive and would shut up like a clam if she dared even twitch her lips. Besides, he was just 12. She too, would've felt frustrated if she were put in the same position two years ago.
Apparently, Hogwarts was having a creative writing workshop over the summer and Hugo had been selected since the Creative Arts Professor had seen his work and had nothing but praises about it. However, for the past couple of weeks, no plot had been coming into his head and he had been getting madder and madder. Tomorrow was the last date of submission and he really didn't want to embarrass his Professor. Hugo was the sort of person who buried everything down and, when it became unbearable, lashed out at everyone.
She sighed.
"Come with me," Rose said and, without looking back if he were coming, she briskly went towards the living room.
The living room had a grand piano. Rose loved the piano. When she was young, she always demanded her mother to play the piano. The sound was so sweet and that she had loved it ever since she was a child. So, when she was tall enough to touch the keys, her mother and Grandma Molly gave her piano lessons. By now, she was not an expert but better than her mom.
"Sit," she said, patting the empty space beside her as she sat in front of the piano.
She played a tune. It sounded so beautiful that Hugo looked shocked. She hadn't told anyone of her piano classes—afraid that they would start calling her a 'girly-girl'.
After Rose finished playing that tune, she started playing another well-known tune.
As she finished playing those tunes, Hugo said, "I never knew that you could play the piano."
Rose grinned. She loved those instances where she could shock her little brother.
"Well, I can. Now, the first piece was—"
"Beethoven, 'Moonlight' Sonata. The second piece was "Debussy, Clair de Lune."
Now, it was Rose's turn to look shocked.
"Hey," her brother started, feeling a bit self-conscious, "I do know some things about music you know? My best-friend loves piano."
Oh, right. Alice Longbottom II loved piano and plants.
"Yes, you are right. Now, let me try something else."
Then, she created a tune she had never heard of before—a mix between 'Moonlight Sonata' and 'Clair de Lune'. It sounded heavenly, even more beautiful than the original pieces. Also, the new piece sounded nothing like the two pieces which she had fused together to make this piece.
"Woah," Hugo said after she was finished, "That was beautiful, sis."
Rose sighed at the word 'sis'. She hated the word. Maybe, in that way, she was more like her mother—always demanding perfect grammar and spelling. However, this meant that Hugo was coming back to normal from… whatever he had been previously. So, she didn't say anything.
"Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Rose asked. Seeing her brother's blank look, she sighed.
"It means that sometimes you don't have to be original. I don't know how Creative Writing works and I won't pretend to know since it is not my area of expertise. But, I am sure that even the greatest minds in the field have used and overused their own ideas, plots and characters. They have just portrayed them in a different way. Like the piano piece I made up just a few minutes ago. It didn't sound anything like 'Moonlight Sonata' or 'Clair de Lune'. In fact, no one would've recognised it if they hadn't been sitting beside me just like you."
"How did you know so much about these things?" Hugo asked, awestruck. He thought his big sister was awesome, but this was a whole new level of awesomeness.
Rose shrugged and said, "About four years ago, when you became so infuriated with writing and reading fantasy books, I decided to give them a try. Figures that I like some of them."
She knew that her brother wouldn't break her trust by babbling it off to someone. The 'someone' in question being Dominique Weasley. She had always hated Dominique and vice versa.
Dominique was the very example of a 'girly-girl', complete with organising flowers, doing nail-polishing, showering each and everything with love, doing make-up and gossiping.
On the other hand, Rose was a far cry from a 'girly-girl'. She claimed she didn't have time for pointless things such as make-up. She wouldn't shower everyone she had met with love—the only one who deserved it was Hugo and her parents. Also, Lily to a lesser extent. Rose had never had a boyfriend even though the boys at Hogwarts had literally lined up to become hers. She never-ever did idle stuff such as rearranging flower-bouquets, she was more of a sports-girl.
So, yes, both Rose and Dominique absolutely loathed each other.
"O-oh kay. So, you are telling me to take ideas from my previous works? How unrealistic would that be?" Hugo asked, confusedly.
In return, Rose gave Hugo one of her mysterious smiles and said, "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."
"Hey, that's a quote by Maya Angelou."
"But it's true," she shrugged. Rose didn't care to elaborate. Neither she, nor her brother were fans of making long talks—even among themselves.
After a few minutes, Hugo smiled and said, "Thanks, Rosie. Really. You gave me so much more to think about."
Rose laughed and said, "No big deal. That's what big sisters are for, right? Now, off you go. I bet you have many things to write. And, you better make me proud, cookie-boy."
"Sure, Rosie. And don't call me cookie-boy for god's sake! That was once!"
She laughed again at her brother's predicament.
The next day, Rose didn't even have to ask anything, the smile on his face told her.
"Thanks, Rose. You are the best sister in the whole wide world!" Hugo exclaimed.
Rose gave a smile and said, "Glad to hear it. Now, I have football practice in ten minutes."
A/N- Hope you like it. Please read and review. Have a wonderful day/night.