Harry Potter & the other characters and places in this story belong to JK Rowling.
Chapter Five - The Tower Room AgainLate on Friday night, Harry found himself once more in the abandoned tower room. Quidditch practice had been very tiring, since it was their first time together as a team with the new additions. Ron had fallen asleep immediately, but Harry had a sore wrist from a rather embarrassing fall off his broom, and so he had been unable to sleep. When he arrived in the room, he spent some time looking around at all the interesting things that were located there. His most interesting find was an old telescope. It had been broken off its stand, and the outer casing was scratched badly, but it seemed that the internal optics were in working order. Harry sat down on the comfortable couch and peered through the telescope out the window. From his latest Astronomy lesson, he knew approximately where the planets should be, and he located each of them... Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. He could never find the outer planets in Astronomy class, so he didn't bother looking for them.
Harry realized he enjoyed looking at the planets when he could just appreciate their beauty, and not have to worry about angles and eclipses and other technicalities. Then he turned the telescope to look at the moon. With the telescope, he could see amazing details on its surface. Craters, mountains, plains... He knew that Muggles had sent people to the moon, but it still seemed to be a very mysterious place. Harry wondered what it would be like to be there. Probably pretty amazing.
Harry's eyes were beginning to get tired, so he put down the telescope and reclined on the couch. The moonlight made everything look different, and peaceful.
Harry closed his eyes and thought of their Quidditch practice. It had been really fun, especially with Ron there. Angelina was a great Captain. She was no less competitive than Oliver Wood had been, but she had a different style of coaching. She was a firm believer in physical fitness as well as Quidditch strategy and fast brooms. Every Monday afternoon she was making the team go jogging around the lake in their full Quidditch uniforms, carrying their brooms. Dean, Seamus, and Ron had murmured some complaints, but they were quickly silenced by Angelina saying that anyone who complained would have to go twice around the lake. The team practised for two hours for their upcoming match against Ravenclaw in a month's time. Katie had mentioned that Angelina was trying out for a spot on the London Lightning Quidditch Team after she was finished her last year of school.
Harry wondered what he would do when he finished school. It was still a few years away, but the thought of leaving Hogwarts was somewhat frightening. It would be fun to play Quidditch, but Harry wanted to help in the fight against Voldemort. Harry didn't know what he could do. He had learned about Aurors last year. That was one option, but Harry didn't particularly want to end up like Mad-Eye Moody. The other option was a Ministry of Magic job like Mr. Weasley. Harry didn't really want to work for the Ministry, though. There must be some other way to help in the fight against Voldemort. Maybe he would talk to Sirius about it.
Suddenly Harry heard a noise from the other side of the room. At first he thought it must be the damaged Bludger which still continued to twitch. But the noises continued, and Harry realized that someone was coming into the room. He was trapped! Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak over his head and gazed at the opening to the tunnel that was the only entrance to the room. What if it was Filch, or Snape? Harry grasped his Invisibility Cloak firmly and tried not to make any noise.
A slender form in black robes appeared at the tunnel opening. Good. Too small for Filch or Snape. As the person stood up, Harry saw a flash of bright red hair. It was Ginny Weasley! She had a large stack of papers in her arms. She had her wand in her hand, but didn't use it to light the room. What was she doing here? Harry wondered. He noticed that she was smiling peacefully.
She began to walk towards the window. Harry froze. What if she decided to sit on the sofa? He could imagine her reaction if she sat down on an invisible person. Ginny was limping slightly, and Harry remembered that she had taken a Bludger to the foot in Quidditch practice. She continued moving towards the window and the sofa where Harry was sitting petrified. She stopped at a broken desk just behind Harry's sofa. She put her papers on the floor, leaned forward against the back of the sofa, and gazed out the window. Her hands were about six inches from Harry's head, but there was no way he could move or she would hear him. Harry noticed how white her hands looked in the moonlight, and how long and slender her fingers were. The graceful way that she held her wand... He tried to concentrate on breathing slowly and silently rather than looking at Ginny's hands, which for some unknown reason seemed to have the opposite effect.
What was she doing here? Did she come here to be alone, and to take in the moonlight like Harry did? After what seemed like an eternity, Ginny finally stood up. Her hands just barely missed hitting Harry's nose. She picked up her papers and limped over to the piano.
The piano! Harry didn't know that Ginny played the piano! There certainly wasn't a piano at the Burrow, and Harry had never seen one at Hogwarts. For some reason, Music wasn't taught at Hogwarts. How did Ginny learn to play? A small smile began at the corner of Harry's mouth. He was curious. Very curious indeed. What kind of a piano player was Miss Virginia Weasley?
Ginny deposited her music papers on top of the piano, and lit her wand by saying, "Lumos." She adjusted the intensity of the light so that it was just enough to light her music, but not so much as to obscure the beautiful moonlight that was streaming in the window. She lay her wand on top of the piano so the lit end extended just beyond the edge to provide the light. Harry held his breath as she began to play.
She started with some simple scales and technical exercises. It was nothing spectacular. Despite Harry's lack of musical experience, he could tell she was good, but not brilliant. Harry noticed she had a very determined look on her face as she played the scales, as if willing herself to complete them.
After about ten minutes, Ginny finally stopped playing scales. Harry smiled when he heard her give a small sigh of relief. She glanced toward the window, flipped through her pages of music and chose a song. She arranged the music in front of her, and then began to play once more.
Harry's eyes opened wide in surprise. This was...for lack of a better word... magical. While her playing was still not perfect, there was such an intensity of emotion in the music that was emanating from that old, dusty piano. Her face, which had been so determined before, was now calm and serious, and echoed the feelings in the music she was playing. Harry was completely entranced. He closed his eyes, and listened to the quiet and lyrical melody. It invoked images of cool starry nights, looking at the moon's reflection in the water. As the song died away into silence, Harry opened his eyes. Ginny sat smiling at the piano, selecting her next song. For the next hour, she played music like Harry had never heard in his life. It calmed his soul and mind. He felt refreshed and sleepy at the same time. It was amazing. He wanted it to go on forever. But eventually, he heard Ginny yawning. She gathered up her music, extinguished her wand, and disappeared down the tunnel.
Harry lay on the couch for a long time after she had gone. What had just happened? He couldn't believe that was Ron's sister. He felt like he had seen into her soul. He suddenly felt very guilty. She had no idea that there was anyone listening. This room was obviously her place where she came to be alone. She had found it before Harry. He had no right to be here. He would never come back. Harry stood up and took one last look out the window at the moon. Whenever he saw it, he would remember this night. Harry decided to take the old telescope back with him. He checked the Marauder's Map to make sure no one was lurking around the entrance to the tunnel, and then left the tower.
After a long walk back to Gryffindor Tower, in which he had to make a detour to avoid Peeves, Harry quietly entered his dormitory and lay down on his bed. He fell asleep quickly. That night, his nightmares stopped.
To be continued…