Disclaimer:
The following material belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am not J. K. Rowling. Therefore this material doesn't belong to me. :)
*****************
"Albus, I simply cannot take one more rendition of that horrid school song," Minerva complained, wincing and rubbing her
aching head. The feast had ended, the students were safely in bed, and Minerva and Albus were once again engaged in a
chess match.
"Why, Minerva, I'm surprised at you," said Albus thoughtfully, moving his king a space to the left. "You love music!"
"Yes, I do, but that's not music. I'm not sure what it is, but it's not music..." Her queen captured Albus's knight and
he frowned.
"It is too music!" He sounded humorously juvenile. Wounded, he stood and retrieved his recordings of famous Charles Ives
compositions, pointing to the one that sounded like numerous marching bands on parade simultaneously. "See?" he said,
holding up the plastic cases with triumph. "Music!"
"Not music," Minerva muttered, cleverly setting up a trap with her rooks. "Cacophony, maybe... annoying jumble of
sounds, certainly... noise, definitely... Anyway, checkmate." She permitted herself a small smile.
Albus did not. "Then what do you call music?"
Minerva rifled through his collection of recordings, chose a lovely Chopin waltz, and sighed happily as the opening
notes sounded. "This is music."
"It's not bad," Albus admitted begrudgingly. "But don't you get bored? There's only one melody line to listen to, and
not enough harmony..."
"Just because you have the mental capabilities required to enjoy Ives's music doesn't mean everyone else does," she
said dreamily, still absorbed in the waltz.
"Ah ha! You admitted it— you called it music!"
Sounding the tiniest bit grumpy, she said reluctantly, "Well, maybe it is music, even though it's horridly modern."
Albus smiled triumphantly. "But isn't this Chopin lovely? It makes one want to dance."
She knelt on the floor for a moment more, listening rapturously to the waltz. When it ended, she said in a melancholy
tone, "Wasn't that heavenly?" But as the recorded pianist struck the chords of the next waltz, she felt a hand on her
shoulder and Albus said, with a twinkle in his warm blue eyes, "May I have this dance, milady?" She smiled up at him
and stood.
For a while they waltzed in perfect time to the music, spinning around the room with such precision that any observer
would have realized they had danced together many times. Suddenly, though the waltzes kept racing by at their usual
tempo, Albus pulled her into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder. As they slowly swayed back and forth,
he gently kissed her cheek and murmured, "You are beautiful, my wife. Chopin must have known someday such a lovely lady
would dance to his music and because of that wrote these waltzes."
Returning his kiss, she grinned mischievously and whispered back, "And Ives must have known that someday such an
eccentric old fool such as yourself would appreciate his music for what it is."
"I love you, my lovely lady."
"And I you, my dearest and most beloved eccentric fool."
******************
As always, I'd appreciate a review. And if you have time, check out my other stuff too, would you? Pwetty pwease? *grin*