Thank you, thank you to all my reviewers. It really boosts my day to read your comments and to know my story is being read.
TheRealiz - I have actually written out your last review on a post-it and stuck it to the side of my computer - I thought it was great!
Fury's Grace: re your review - Severus in the bath?! Did you HAVE to put that picture in my head before I went to bed? I had a VERY restless night!
Chapter Eight
TEA DANCE
She had wondered what could be in the room that Dumbledore had said might interest her but she hadn't come up with any answers.
What she saw was a total surprise.
Before her was a large hall with a very high ceiling from which hung two enormous chandeliers, each with two tiers of at least twenty candles.
The floor was dark varnished floorboards - a welcome contrast to the stone flags which lay everywhere else in the castle.
Along the bottom of the walls, to a height of about five feet, was dark wood panelling, and above, bare walls painted a delicate shade of pale blue which looked to have been rag-rolled.
Ahead of her, at the far end of the room, was a tall and wide set of French windows which appeared to open onto a balcony. Through these windows came a shaft of sunlight, a hazy, dust-speckled spotlight that fell on the main focus of the room:
A Concert Grand piano.
Andi let go of the door handle and walked, almost dream-like, across the huge room to the piano.
She folded the tan cover up from the front and her eyes widened. A Beckstein.
How had he known? How could Dumbledore have possibly known?
Quickly she lifted the lid and touched her fingers to the yellowing ivory keys, picking out an anonymous tune.
The tone was wonderfully rich and resonant.
Eagerly, she walked around the piano, pulling off the rest of the cover, and when it lay in a stiff heap on the floor, she opened up the piano and returned to sit at the keys.
The notes she played echoed in the emptiness of the room and she knew immediately which composer's music to play.
With a confidence borne of many years practice, she began to play Satie.
Taking her usual route through Satie's music, she began with Gymnopedie 1, moving through to Gnossienne 1 and 5.
Her eyes closed, as they so often did when she heard music that particularly moved her. Her fingers found their way with ease, and the sound of Satie's music played in an echoing hall was haunting - just as it should be.
She always saved her favourite until last...
She was just five bars in when she happened to open her eyes...
...and screamed.
She leapt up from the stool, her hand at her throat, her heart beating a tattoo in her chest.
Standing along the far wall (between her and the door she noted subconsciously), was a crowd of people. About twenty-strong, men and women in various different costumes, all gazing at her, silently.
Each and every one of them was transparent.
One, a man, in frills and a frock-coat, stepped towards her. She backed off until her back came against the wall.
"Please don't be alarmed," said the man in a very polite and gentle voice. "We were drawn here by the most beautiful sound."
"This room has not been used for years," said another, stepping forward to join the first. "Please would you continue playing?"
Andi made a whimpering noise, she was almost crying with fright.
"Y...y...you're ghosts!"
"Why, yes we are," agreed the first man, "but we can still appreciate beautiful music."
"Jeremiah," said a motherly woman in a crinoline, putting a warning hand on the first man's arm. "The young lady is a muggle, she is not used to us." She turned to Andi and smiled gently. "Please, we so seldom hear such music. What was the piece you were playing?"
"Je....Je te veux" stammered Andi, beginning to calm down a little at the woman's soothing voice and the realisation they were not here to hurt her.
"Please..." The woman gestured to the piano.
With much hesitation and not taking her eyes off the crowd, Andi sat at the piano and put her fingers to the keys and began to play.
As the tune warmed up, the ghosts began to pair-up and waltz around the room. Andi's fingers almost tripped in shock, but she carried on, gradually becoming entranced by the gossamer forms gliding over the floor.
She played the piece twice, and when she stopped, she was smiling.
"I remember waltzing in Vienna to wonderful music," said a young woman with ringlets high on her head.
"Do you mean Strauss?" asked Andi.
The woman gasped and put her hand to the necklace at her throat.
"Oh, if only you could play..."
Andi played the first few bars of The Blue Danube and seeing the delight on the ghost's face, continued.
They moved on to Chopin.
She must have played a dozen tunes while the ghosts danced, when the door opened and a house-elf walked in carrying a tray laden with a large silver tea-service and a plate of pastries.
"Yes, yes, have a rest, my dear. Take tea." urged the ghosts.
Andi went to the little side table.
The cake stand had a variety of cakes and pastries and several of the ghosts were 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over them. Andi picked up a cup and saucer and the silver milk jug and prepared to pour. The two female ghosts standing nearest her, gasped.
"What?" said Andi in alarm.
"Non, non, non!" said the one with a very wide dress and high hair, wagging her finger at Andi. "Zis tea cup is Limoges! We never pour ze milk first into Limoges!"
Now she was having lessons on etiquette from a ghost?
"O-kay." She poured the tea into the cup and then poured the milk.
She wandered over to the French windows, taking her tea with her, and looked out over the lawn and the lake, which was sparkling in the sunlight. She shivered as a rather austere-looking ghost came up to her, almost fading from view as he stepped towards the light.
He wore a wig with a little ponytail at the back. His face was long and he wore pince-nez on his nose.
"Thank you for playing most beautifully, darling-heart. It has been a most revitalising afternoon, but I wonder...what music do the young people of today enjoy?"
"Nothing like the music I've been playing," laughed Andi, now feeling totally at ease surrounded by ghosts.
The man smiled, expectantly.
Andi considered. She didn't think they were ready for Eminem. She had worked a great deal in the amateur operatic circuit, playing in the orchestra. Perhaps she could play them some show-tunes.
She eased them in gently with some Gilbert and Sullivan then working her way through songs from 'West Side Story', 'My Fair Lady' and 'Guys and Dolls'.
The biggest surprise came though when, just as a joke, she began playing tunes from 'Grease'. They were so taken with 'Summer Nights' that she played it four times as they divided into male/female and each group tried to learn as many words as Andi could remember.
This was surreal!.
A rather beautiful young woman quickly got the hang of Hopelessly Devoted To You and sung it so beautifully, some of the women wiped away ghostly tears.
"Now we really must have another dance..." said a ghost who looked like a General, rubbing his hands together.
"OK," said Andi and, feeling totally flippant by now, laughed, "I'll teach you the 'Time Warp'. I think that's appropriate."
They were having so much fun as they did the 'Time Warp' again and again and there was so much noise with the piano hammering out the tune and the singing and laughing, no one noticed the door open.
Then two of the women ghosts gave little screams. The party scattered to the sides of the room and Andi's fingers ground to a halt.
"Oh, Professor," said Andi, disappointed to see her new friends dissolving one-by-one through the walls. "We didn't see you standing there."
Could there be a bigger party-pooper?
"It is eight o'clock," he said, his face changing back to the usual stern expression after a brief shadow of astonishment.
"Really?!" She turned in genuine surprise to look at the sky through the window. "I had no idea."
He merely stood at the open door and gestured they should leave.
Why did she suddenly feel like a schoolgirl who'd been caught smoking?
Refusing to let him faze her, she bounced out of the room, smiling broadly.
She'd had a great afternoon.
NB: The songs from 'Grease' mentioned above are not in the original stage version of the show. However - just in case anyone wanted to pull me up about it - there is now a new version of the show that incorporates the songs from the film.