A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed (Jenna, LongbottomzGirl, Grim Reaper, Frodo Princess of Darknes, aelwyn, and DragonSinger21). I don't own Harry Potter or anything relating to it. Now, please enjoy.
Mary Porter and the Musician's Metronome
Chapter Seven
"Mary? Mary, get up! We have classes today!"
Mary's eyes snapped open. Hannah loomed over her with a bucket of ice water.
"Don't- PUT THE BUCKET DOWN! AHH! COLD! HANNAAHHHHHHHH!"
Hannah dumped the water effortlessly over Mary's head. Mary flew out of bed and tore into her warm marching outfit for the day.
Forty minutes later, Mary met Rob in the Common Room. She yawned, and twirled her still-wet hair as she and Rob looked over their schedules for the day.
"We have Percussion first with Professor Snare… Ugh, it's Double Percussion with the Decadantdudes…"
Her sneakers thumped softly on the stone tile as Mary walked from the G wing down to the Basement of the Main Wing. There were eight wings in the Palace: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, and the Main Wing, which contained the Mess Hall and the Entrance Hall, and also the Basement, where the Percussion classroom was.
Once they reached the Percussion classroom, Mary took a seat next to Rob behind a quite large marimba. She pulled out her mallet set, and waited patiently for the class to begin.
"I've heard Professor Snare is real mean and he only favors Decadantdudes," whispered a Fearlessfool behind Mary and Rob.
"Yeah, he's the head of Decadantdude house, isn't he?" responded another voice.
"And he's always taking away points from Fearlessfool for no apparent reason, I've heard," piped in another voice.
Suddenly, a door slammed open and all heads turned immediately to the back of the room where the entrance to the classroom was.
"Professor Snare!" squeaked one of the gossiping voices of before.
"Five points from Fearlessfool because of mindless chatter before class. Save your idiocy for break," barked Snare. Mary took an immediate disliking to Snare. His cold, gray eyes had absolutely no life in them. Did he even have a soul?
"Welcome, class, to Percussion. This class will not have idiotic twirling of flags or wasting of breath in brass and woodwind instruments. No, it is the most important instruments of all, the timekeepers, which you will learn how to play in this class. From bass drum to the triangle, each and every percussion instrument is vital to the very musical ability of every orchestra."
Snare glanced down at the seat in front of his desk. He glared right at Mary, who regretted ever sitting in the front.
"Ah, Ms. Porter, our new star," hissed Snare. Some of the Decadantdudes hissed with him, and soon the class formed a semi-circle around Mary and Snare.
"So, Ms. Porter now is your time to shine like the star that I'm sure you think you are. Come, play me a F flat harmonic minor scale."
Mary bit her lip and lifted her mallet, unsure what to do. Softly, she mumbled, "I can't play that."
"What was that, Ms. Porter? You can't play that? Bah, stupid girl. Fine, we'll try again. Play this piece," he handed her a piece of complex sheet music, "on the chimes."
"But sir, this is music for drum," whined Mary.
"NO! It is music for snare drum, but the rhythm can be played on the chimes. Obviously you are drowning too much in your own stupidity to realize this. Okay, we'll try once more. Simply tell me what a rim shot is."
"Um, where you hit the rim of the chimes?" guessed Mary.
"WRONG! Twenty points from Fearlessfool for not studying before school," bellowed Snare. Mary hid a tear, and Rob patted her on the shoulder.
"Public displays of affection are against school policy! Fifteen points from Fearlessfool for such indecency from Mr. Otterly. Perhaps I'll have to separate you and Ms. Porter, Mr. Otterly?" leered Snare. Rob glared at Snare with hardened eyes, but did not respond.
Snare whipped around and began typing on a nearby computer. The words he typed showed up on a holoscreen in front of the classroom.
Minor Scales and Their Relative Majors, Snare wrote."Hello? You should be copying this down in your notebooks, nitwits!"
Mary hurriedly pulled out her laptop that had been provided to her by the school, and began typing what appeared on the holoscreen.
Much time passed, and finally Mary and Rob stumbled out of Percussion class, and headed to the Mess Hall for lunch.
"Can you believe it? The first day of school, and we've already got a three-page essay on finding relative majors and relative minors! Ugh!" complained Rob. Mary shook her head.
"Well, at least it's not due until next Monday."
"Yeah."
After lunch, Mary and Rob headed out to the fields for Field and Drillology, commonly known to Boneslides students as Drillogy. The professor who ran Drillogy classes was named Professor Sonata. She was tall and lanky, Hispanic in descent. Sonata was the head of Normalninny house.
Professor Sonata taught the Fearlessfools all about the precise measurements of a football field: the hashes, the yard lines, touchdown ends, and field goals. The front sideline, the back sideline, it was all part of Drillogy. Mary had a lingering suspicion that Professor Sonata knew more about football than ever her Uncle Vincent, the biggest Oakland Raiders fan on Sunny Street.
"Now there are two sets of hashes, the High School Hash, and the NCAA College Hash. We here at Boneslides use the NCAA College Hash, but musical groups from High Schools around the world use different ones, or both, even. The NCAA hashes are marked with yellow on the field, and the High School hashes are marked with blue. Yard lines are white. They appear every five yards. Got it down? Good!"
There was an endless clicking of fingers on keyboards as the Fearlessfools took notes on Professor Sonata's explanation of a football field.
"The field is one hundred yards long and fifty-three point three yards wide. At the end are touchdown areas and field goals, used in the American sport of football. Marchers need not worry about these; their chief concern should be the yard lines and hashes."
Professor Sonata glanced into the west, and noticed the sun's last dying rays.
"Everyone, your homework is only to be sure you have all the notes from today's class. Class dismissed!"
Mary closed her laptop and put it in her book bag. She met up with Rob and together the two walked up to the Mess Hall for dinner.
"Drillogy is really interesting," commented Mary. Rob shook his head.
"Too much math for me," he declared. Mary laughed.
"Did you get all the notes? I did."
"Yeah, so we just have that Percussion essay…" Rob sighed. "Too much for the first week of school…"
"Oh, the essay? I finished that during lunch!" yelled a voice behind them. Rob rolled his eyes as Hannah jogged to catch up with the duo.
"But there's one thing that I don't understand- does the circle of fifths and the order of sharps and flats affect-"
The blank looks on Rob and Mary's faces silenced Hannah's chatter.
"Why do I have a feeling you're not going to do your essay until midnight on the Sunday before?" inquired Hannah.
Rob once again rolled his eyes. "When and how I do my homework isn't a concern of yours."
Hannah's face turned a bit sour and she marched off to the Mess Hall.
Rob shrugged it off without a second thought, but Mary couldn't help but feel a little pity for Hannah. Not to mention envy, even.
Mary bid goodnight to Rob and tramped upstairs to the Girls' Dormitory. As she was brushing her teeth, she noticed two of the other girls staring at her. They quickly turned their heads when Mary looked in their direction. Mary exhaled slowly and decided to get into bed. She was sure the two girls had just been talking about her, for she heard them mention something about Hannah and she climbed under the covers.
Though a bit distressed, Mary settled down and hoped for a good night's sleep.
A/N: You like the chapter? Please tell me if you do or not, coz it is very much appreciated. :)
