Music for the chapter: Zoosters Breakout by Hans Zimmer (from Madagascar)
Slytherin Preparatory was massive. Hermione found her jaw dropping a bit once they got past the front gate. The main road branched off in four directions, and Ron had to stop so they could look at the long list of different locations on the helpful signs. After driving past the front soccer field, the nursery, the elementary school, and the front tennis courts, they pulled into a parking lot that overlooked a creek.
Neville was waving at them from where he had been sitting on a bench in a suit with a green and silver tie. "Hey guys, found it alright?"
Ron laughed. "Your school is massive. I think we got lost twice."
The Slytherin gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, it's big but I got used to it. Come on, it'll be a five minute walk to the Arts Hall. There's another parking lot there, but I thought it might be a bit full."
They followed Neville, and he pointed out the Sciences building and the History building along the way. The Slytherin architecture was all impressive stonework, with green banners on several lampposts every few feet. Hermione stopped when she spied a library with countless bookshelves and desks through one window, but Harry and Ron pushed her along before she could get a closer look. A beautiful white building with huge columns was ahead with a portion of the roof made of glass. Small children in neat clothing accompanied by parents in suits and flowing dresses were currently entering it.
"This is the Arts Hall," murmured Neville as he guided them to a side door. They made their way up a few flights of stairs before Neville peeked through a door. He breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door.
They found themselves in a hallway that was pitch black, save for the light coming from three doors. Neville held the door they had just come from open to let in some light. He pointed to the door on their left. "That door leads to the main hall, so I wouldn't use it unless you want to run into a bunch of rich parents intent on making their kids start learning an instrument." He motioned to the door on the right. "That door will lead to the back of the auditorium. Come in as soon as you hear us start to play the first piece. The performance will begin in about ten minutes. You should be able to find empty seats in the back, and no one should bother you. You can just come back through it whenever you decide you've had enough. Do you remember how you got here?"
Both Ron and Harry looked at Hermione, who just rolled her eyes with a nod. "I remember. Neville, do you think anyone would come here while we're waiting?"
The tall boy thought for a second before shaking his head. "No one really uses this passageway besides a few orchestra members who are trying to sneak around or are late to rehearsal. Everyone's already here, so it should be fine." He looked around. "I guess if you really needed to hide, you can always just stay behind these boxes. They're just props for the annual Christmas concert."
The trio of Gryffindors made their way behind a stack of boxes and thanked Neville, who quickly left the passageway to return to his seat. They had barely settled for less than a minute before the door opened again. They ducked behind the boxes, but it remained dark.
Hermione froze when she caught a whiff of familiar cologne a few seconds before a familiar voice echoed in the darkness.
"Yes, I know, Mother. I just have to finish this concert for the younger Slytherin kids, and then I have to go straight to club practice. The concert should only take an hour, so I should just be able to make the end of practice." Malfoy paused for a few seconds before continuing, "Yes, there's a game on Saturday, so I can't make it to your luncheon. I thought Father could go with you?"
There was another pause before Malfoy was laughing softly. It was a warm sound that didn't suit the boy at all and Hermione frowned. "Anyways, I'll be home late tonight. No, you don't have to ask Mr. Dobbs to stay behind. I'll just grab dinner on my way home. Would you like me to get anything? Of course I can do chocolate cake, Mother. You think so little of your son. I love you, and I'll see you tonight." There was the sound of a call ending and the door opened again before softly closing.
The trio let out a collective breath. From her left, she heard Ron mutter, "What do you know, he does have a heart." Hermione sighed.
A few minutes later, they heard applause and the beginning of music. They quickly slipped through the door and found themselves in a massive auditorium. It looked like it could easily hold five hundred people, and that wasn't counting the empty balcony above them. Harry found a stack of programs and swiped one as they sat in an empty row. He leaned to look closer at the program under the dim light and let out a small laugh. "They're playing Zoosters Breakout from Madagascar?"
Hermione smiled as she looked at the crowd of young children and parents in front of them. She whispered back, "Well, it looks like the kids are enjoying it." The song was fast-paced and exciting, and it only took a couple minutes before the piece ended to excited applause. She could pick out a fair number of familiar faces from HYSO. Malfoy was Concertmaster, Zabini was his stand partner, and Theo was principal cellist
The conductor introduced himself as Severus Snape. His dark eyes were sweeping across the audience, but he never looked in their direction due to the dim lighting. He introduced the goal of the concert, which was to explain a few of the instruments and to give the younger students an opportunity to see if they wanted to explore any in particular. They would have sample instruments in the music classes later this week, so that students could get an even closer look. He gestured to Theo, who stood up with a grin and accepted the microphone.
"Hello everyone. My name is Theo, and I've playing the cello since third grade. I also saw the high school play when I was younger, and I knew I had to get my hands on this gorgeous instrument here." He spun his cello and smirked when a few younger kids perked up. "Let me begin my campaign for the cello."
He gave a charming grin and gestured to his fellow orchestra members. "All the strings are awesome, even if my girlfriend is a wind player. The cello is great because it's big and you can hide all sorts of snacks in the case, just kidding Professor!" he yelped when Snape turned a sharp glare in his direction to the delight of the younger students and a few chuckles from the parents.
Theo turned to his chair and grabbed his bow. "Now, the cello has lower tones but it's so incredibly rich. It's like it's singing on your behalf." He played the open strings and a few random notes that rang through the quiet hall. Hermione marveled at the acoustics of the hall that helped the dulcet sounds sing. "Let me play you one of my favorite pieces."
Turning off the mic, Theo began to play in earnest. She immediately recognized the prelude to the Bach Cello Suites and blinked. Theo was good. Really good. The notes were effortlessly coaxed from his instrument, and Theo was closing his eyes as he played with his left hand dancing up and down the fingerboard. He only played for a minute, but Hermione could see more than a few students tugging their parents' sleeves and pointing at the bowing Junior cellist as the applause rang through the hall.
She turned to see Harry looking impressed. "You never know how good they are until you hear them play alone. No wonder he got principal."
Ron was nodding on the other side and listening thoughtfully. "He is really talented. I wonder what the others sound like."
Snape took the mic again before handing it off to a handsome Draco Malfoy. The blond smirked as he turned off the mic and played the opening notes to Under the Sea before switching to the melody of A Whole New World. A couple of the students were smiling in delight while Snape looked annoyed.
He quickly stopped playing and turned on the mic again. "Hello, my name is Draco. I play the violin, and everyone knows that it's better than the cello," he stage whispered into the mic while Theo just rolled his eyes in his seat.
Holding up his instrument, he gave it a small twirl. "The violin is the more impressive one, as we get a lot of melodies. Theo said that the cello sings, but all the instruments sing. The violin is a little different because you can reach higher notes that you can't sing, so you can play different types of music. It's an extension of yourself. The cello suits Theo because he can't sing to save his life, but he's quite a decent cellist," he bowed towards his friend to the loud laughs from the audience.
Malfoy straightened up with a smaller, but more genuine smile. "The violin is popular, and there's a lot of great music that's been written for it. However, you can play music with any instrument and people are composing music for all instruments today. If you decide to play in an orchestra, it's important to know that the orchestra is about being one cohesive unit. You need to be a team player. No matter what instrument you play, or where you sit, every member of the orchestra has an important role, and you need every single one of them to make great music. You'll hear the band behind us play with us later for Pirates of the Caribbean, and you'll see how fantastic everything sounds with everyone together, despite Theo being right that the strings are better objectively," he winked while the band grumbled good-naturedly behind him.
A loud tapping echoed from where Snape was leaning against the podium. "Any day now, Mr. Malfoy."
"Sorry, Professor." Malfoy continued, "In case you do love solo music, here's a short one for the violin." He turned off the mic and handed it to the disgruntled conductor.
Harry scoffed at the first couple notes, "Of course he's playing Meditation. How pretentious is this guy?" Ron was grumbling in agreement, but Hermione didn't hear them.
The beginning of the piece wasn't anything technically astounding compared to what they were playing in HYSO, but Hermione was floored. Draco Malfoy was good. No, not good. Perfect. She was amazed at the sound coming from his instrument. She had known he must have been good since he was the HYSO Assistant Concertmaster and the Slytherin Concertmaster, but this was something different. She had never been able to hear him play properly because it's hard to hear specific individuals while an entire orchestra is playing.
He was playing like his soul was in the instrument, and his eyes had naturally fallen closed. The notes were clean and perfect, but there was something else about it. It was like each note had its own story and was carefully caressed before being released into the hall. Hermione knew what it looked like when musicians were faking their emotions to play the music, as she was quite terrible at playing with emotion.
Draco Malfoy's expression showed that he wasn't just playing the music, but embodying it with just about every fiber of his being. She swallowed. His confidence about his ability wasn't anything inflated. He was simply that good.
The trio snuck out during the applause. While the boys were wondering how the kids stayed that quiet and still in their seats, Hermione had only two thoughts in mind.
One, Draco Malfoy was an amazing violinist and possibly a decent human being. Two, she was so screwed for Regionals auditions.
Hermione waved goodbye to the others as she hurried into her building, trying to avoid getting too drenched as it suddenly began to pour. Distracted by thoughts of a talented Draco Malfoy possibly failing her Regionals audition, and sweeping her hair into a ponytail, she almost ran into an eight year old and his mom.
She had never seen them before, but she just nodded an apology and turned to grab the mail. Absently grabbing the stack, she almost missed the small boy asking, "Mommy! That girl has a hickey!" She froze and grimaced a bit.
Turning around, Hermione caught the horrified expression of the woman. "Actually, I play—" she barely managed to start before the door slammed shut behind the pair. Groaning, she just continued up the stairs. It had been a while since someone had mistaken the bruise from long hours of violin practice on her neck for a hickey. The first time anyone had commented on it had been her older cousins at a Thanksgiving dinner her freshman year. It had been a small nightmare of a holiday.
Fishing her key out of her bag, Hermione let herself into the apartment and quickly turned on a few lights before dropping the mail on the kitchen table. She paused while opening the refrigerator when an old photograph caught her eye.
It was a picture of a five year old Hermione laughing and dancing with a street violinist. She couldn't remember the piece that had been played, but she had fallen in love with the instrument and begged her parents for her own mini violin. Hermione bit her lip as she grabbed a container of leftovers out of her fridge.
From the way Draco Malfoy had talked about music and played his solo tonight, he had also fallen in love with the instrument like she had.
The next rehearsal, Malfoy was almost late, and he was limping a little when he finally showed up a few seconds into Daphne playing her first A for the orchestra. Hermione sat down after tuning the orchestra and noticed Zabini lean over to whisper to his friend, "How's your foot feeling today?"
"I'm fine. Just need to rest a little bit," muttered Malfoy as he flipped to the right page of music.
Zabini nodded. "I thought Coach Hooch was going to have a breakdown when we thought you broke your ankle last practice. We really can't afford you missing more than a game."
Malfoy shrugged. "It is what it is, and it should be better by the game on Sunday. Besides, Regionals auditions are this weekend, so I might as well use the extra time to practice. I've been so busy trying to keep a handle on everything that this might actually be a good thing."
The second violinist rolled his eyes. "A good thing would be you dropping one of your six AP classes."
Dumbledore arrived and announced they would start from the top of the Tchaikovsky. Hermione was dutifully counting the measures when Malfoy's shoulder rest slipped and fell a few feet towards the front of their stand. He went to go pick it up, but hissed in pain as he moved his left foot.
Still counting measures, Hermione got out of her seat and picked up the shoulder rest before silently handing it to her stand partner.
Malfoy managed a stiff nod of thanks as he slipped it back onto his violin. Hermione noticed he hadn't said anything disparaging to her yet, and she couldn't stop thinking of his performance from a few nights ago. She wanted to hear him play again and wondered how he sounded playing more technical pieces. Would that emotion and style still be there?
They were entering a trickier spot when Hermione felt her shoulder rest wobble. She was still using a replacement, and it always came loose. Groaning, she flipped her violin over in the middle of playing and tried to fix it. As she was working on it, she realized that she could hear Malfoy playing perfectly next to her. He was even playing a little louder to make up for the fact that she wasn't playing. While she worked to fix her shoulder rest, she couldn't help but marvel at his playing. It really was perfect. She wondered how she ever beat him to sit in her chair.
There was definitely something more to Draco Malfoy.
Ahh thank you for reading! And the reviews! A few replies here:
To Musicangel913: Yes with the music! It drove the rest of my friends nuts that I wouldn't listen to piano music while studying and all those tips of listening to classical music to fall asleep never worked for me :( Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far, and co-concertmaster drama sounds like a nightmare in itself! As a former violist, it's part of my duty to sprinkle in the viola jokes hehe
To Butterflies765: Ah not to fear! Pansy isn't too bad here! Or, I'll figure out the outline a bit more haha and yay someone looks at the music recommendations! Hisaishi's music is great! Thank you so much for the lovely comment!
