Music recommendation for this chapter: Dawn by Dario Marianelli (from Pride and Prejudice)

The last four notes of Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony rang in the practice room as Dumbledore put his baton down with a flourish. He nodded approvingly. "Everything sounds wonderful. I know that quite a few people have been looking forward to hearing you all tonight, and I do not think they will be disappointed. You are all free to practice on your own for the next few minutes until the stage managers call you to the stage."

Stand partners began to chatter as he stepped down from the podium, and a few stands were going through some trickier measures. Hermione thought she could see a few violists frantically learning a few tricky spots with an irate Ginny coaching them through it.

She glanced up to see Dumbledore looking down at her with a smile. "Miss Granger, you will be entering the stage right before me to tune the orchestra. I'll make sure someone shows you to the right place once we have the rest of the orchestra seated."

"Thank you, sir," she murmured as she nervously shuffled the sheet music around on her stand. There were a few places here and there that she was worried about, and her fingers were freezing. She needed to practice more to keep them from stiffening.

Hermione silently flipped through different parts and practiced. She could hear Malfoy chatting with Blaise next to her, and it sounded like they were discussing an upcoming championship match. How did people not get nervous before performances? Looking up at the clock, she realized she had less than five minutes to practice. Quickly turning the page, she looked at the trickiest part in the music. Five times. She was going to practice it five times before she stopped. Maybe she would go over to talk to Harry and the others afterwards to calm down a bit.

She managed to get through it four times without any mistakes. As she began to play a final time, Malfoy also raised his violin and joined her. Their notes soared over the rest of the Orchestra with perfect precision and musicality. Hermione was so focused on playing that she didn't notice the other students looking their way or the small quirk in the corner of Draco's mouth.

The pair had barely gotten to the end of the passage when a large man entered the room while clapping his hands. A broad smile was barely visible under his beard. "Hello, I'm Rubeus Hagrid. Please line up, and we'll have you go into the hall shortly."

Hermione gulped and froze as everyone else got out of their seats in a flurry of instruments and sheet music. She shivered a bit and flexed her fingers to keep them warm under the air conditioning. Her eyes were still focusing on the open music in front of her as she tried to concentrate on her breathing. The blurry black notes disappeared from view with a faint wave of cologne.

Blinking, she looked up to see a frowning Malfoy give her a nod. "It'll be fine, Granger," he muttered gruffly. She had barely returned the nod before he turned and left her alone in a sea of empty black chairs. He had been nicer in the past couple rehearsals, but nothing extraordinary had happened. He had checked all of their bowings, asked her before making any changes, and even asked her for her opinion on certain fingerings. She just focused on trying not to throw up as her friends rushed past her and wished her good luck to catch up with the students leaving the practice room.

The chattering and random notes disappeared from the room, and she could faintly hear the Orchestra setting up on stage and beginning to practice. Someone entered the room, and Hermione looked up to see Hagrid give her a friendly wave. "I'll show you how to get to your spot, Hermione."

She managed a shaky smile and made sure she had her violin, bow, and new shoulder rest. "Thank you, Hagrid." She followed him, and he kept up a low stream of commentary explaining how she should navigate through the corridors behind the stage. He finally opened another door to reveal a small antechamber where Dumbledore was already waiting.

The conductor smiled at her and thanked Hagrid for showing her to the spot. "How are you feeling, Miss Granger?" he asked.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Honestly, I'm slightly terrified, sir." She focused on the small window in the door opposite to her, where she could see the bright lights of the hall and her fellow HYSO members practicing.

Shaking his head, the older man adjusted his glasses. "It'll be wonderful, you'll see. Once you begin to play with everyone, just make sure you enjoy it. Every time music is made, it's a special time that must be savored."

The lights in the hall dimmed, forcing the light on stage to become blinding in comparison. The cacophony of practicing vanished, and Hermione froze. She blinked when Dumbledore pulled the door open for her. His kind blue eyes held a twinkle as he gestured for her to walk forward.

Making sure she had a firm grip on her violin, Hermione stepped through the doorway and made the walk towards the podium. She found Harry, Ron, Ginny, and even Theo giving her smiles as she walked closer. She found herself grinning back while she steadfastly ignored the soft murmurings of the crowd to her right.

Finally arriving at the podium, she took a deep breath as she turned and gave a short bow to the crowd to applause. She made the mistake of looking out at the audience and froze a little at the sight of so many people. What on earth was she doing? The hall was completely silent as she blinked at the crowd in front of her. This was way too many people to be watching her play on stage. A few people were starting to look confused when she didn't move, but Hermione couldn't move her legs.

A soft crack rang in the hall, and Hermione jumped. Turning, she caught sight of Draco bending over in his seat to pick up the stack of sheet music that must have fallen off of the stand. Shaking her head, Hermione quickly got a hold of herself and made her way onto the podium. She found Daphne behind the string players and nodded for the A. The oboist gave her a reassuring smile before obeying. Hermione also raised her violin to tune and felt herself relax a tiny fraction. She could do this.

All too soon, she was back in her seat and shuffling her feet with the rest of the Orchestra when Dumbledore began to walk on stage. She watched for when Theo stood up, and led the rest of the Orchestra in standing as Dumbledore bowed to much larger applause than she had received. The conductor shook her hand, and Hermione met his eyes again. She could do this.

Hermione patiently counted the measures of rests before cuing in the rest of the violins into Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony. Her nerves began to ease as she played, and the rest of the concert hall fell away. She didn't think of the hundreds of audience members, the bright lights that were slightly blinding, or the unfinished essay on her laptop. It was just her and the rest of the orchestra creating music.

The last movement ended with the lowering of Dumbledore's baton and loud applause. The old conductor picked up a microphone and gave a gentle smile to the audience.

"Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us for the HYSO fall concert. I know you are anxious to hear the next piece, but please allow this old man to explain his choices for this evening." His blue eyes twinkled as he turned around to survey the orchestra.

"Every year, I spend the summer deliberating over which pieces we should play this year. The list gets finalized only after auditions are over. Every orchestra is different, and I think the first concert should emulate the orchestra itself."

He gave the students a smile before turning back to the audience. "Tchaikovsky was a complicated man. While he was successful and talented, his life was full of personal crises. When it came to this particular symphony, he was filled with extreme self-doubt. Yet, he managed to complete this symphony over the period of one summer and it is still played around the world today."

Dumbledore paused for a moment. "He was determined to prove himself. The beginning of the symphony begins with a somber motto, one that echoes throughout the symphony itself. The first movement was described to be resignation to fate itself. It's a bit discordant compared to how symphonies usually go, but there's light at the end. There's a resolute victory at the end of this strife. In fact, this has been described as Fate trying to get out and escape. Some think that it's a bit over the top, and that the victory sounds a bit fake. I suppose that is up for the listener or player to decide."

Hermione frowned as Dumbledore spoke. Self-doubt, struggle, Fate. If he picked it for this Orchestra, what did that mean about the students in the Orchestra? It seemed a bit pointed at her, but would Dumbledore really pick a Symphony just for her?

She could see other Orchestra members shifting in their seats, and she found herself looking around. Harry and Ron didn't look to be listening to the conductor, but she noticed that Theo was moving his gaze from a serene Dumbledore towards her.

She blinked at the calculating look in his eye. No, he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Malfoy.

Biting her lip, she chanced a glance at her stand partner. Malfoy was stoically looking at the sheet music that was still open to the last few measures of the Tchaikovsky. Anyone looking from the audience would think he wasn't listening either. But she could see that his mouth slightly pinched in one corner, his jaw clenched.

Hermione quickly averted her eyes as Dumbledore finished his speech. "This year's Orchestra is a lovely mix of students, many of whom haven't played together before. As you can see, they play beautifully together. I think you will all see a great victory in their progress at the Spring concert. Now, enough words from an old man. The final piece for the evening will be Mozart's Symphony No. 27. I hope you enjoy."

She straightened in her seat, as Malfoy robotically reached to nudge the Tchaikovsky aside to prepare for the Mozart. He closed his eyes slightly too long to be considered a blink before looking up at Dumbledore. Hermione also took a moment as she looked up at the conductor. Maybe she had self-doubt in her playing, but she was ready to play. When Dumbledore swept his gaze around the Orchestra with a small smile to make sure they were ready, she found herself smiling back at him.


Hermione let out a deep breath and grinned as the applause rang on. She survived the first concert more or less, and nothing too bad happened. She looked out at the high golden ceilings, remembering the first time she had been entranced by the hall and wondering if she would ever get to play a concert there.

As she brought her eyes down to look into the audience and try to find her parents, she spotted a blond man who looked a lot like Draco glaring at her from the balcony. Hermione blinked at his harsh expression and quickly moved her eyes to the beautiful woman next to him. She was applauding but had a more curious expression on her face.

The applause began to peter out, and Hermione moved to sit back in her seat as Dumbledore left the stage. She didn't dare look next to her as the other members of the Orchestra began to talk to their stand partners and congratulate them on a successful concert. Hermione quickly scooped up her copy of the music and disappeared into the crowd of high school students exiting the stage.

It had been a successful concert, she was starving, and she really needed to hurry home and finish her essay that was due the next day. She didn't have the time or energy to waste on a boy whose whole family was so intent on hating her apparently.

Usually she finished her school work at least a day in advance, but she had had so many tests to study for that it looked like her essay was going to turn into an all-nighter kind of paper. She had worked on it a bit earlier today, so hopefully she wouldn't be up too late. Hermione followed the others into the practice room and grinned a little when she saw the other members laughing and celebrating while quickly packing up their belongings.

Harry had already put his cello away and rushed towards her. His bow tie was completely undone, and his hair was messier than she had ever seen it, but his grin was the same. "We did it!" he exclaimed as he picked her up and spun her around.

She couldn't help but laugh while shrieking. "Harry James Potter! Put me down! I swear if you break my violin, I will come after you!"

Fortunately, she made it safely back on the ground. Ron also came up and just gave the two of them a hug. "No need to make any threats right now, 'Mione. There are witnesses around."

Ginny rushed up to them with shining eyes. "My little violists only made one mistake. I'm so proud."

"I think it was all because you terrorized them at the last second, Gin. You sounded just like your mum at that point," teased Harry.

Undoing her bun, she tossed her long red hair in the cellist's face. "I still need to work on my mum impression, but whatever it takes."

Ron rolled his eyes and just held up his viola case. "Let's get out of here. I'm starving, and it's going to take forever to get out of the parking deck."

"You guys go ahead, I still need to pack up and I need to get my laptop out of the lockers," Hermione said as she shook her head at her friends' antics.

Harry frowned. "We can wait for you."

She shook her head. "It's fine. I'll be leaving with my parents anyways. I'll see you all at school tomorrow." Hermione waved goodbye as everyone rushed out of the rehearsal space.

The room was quickly emptying, and a few people nodded at her as she made her way towards her case. Theo and Daphne called out their congratulations on a successful concert, Neville waved goodbye as he wheeled his bass out, and even Zabini granted her a smile as he gracefully made his way past her. By the time Hermione carefully packed up her violin, she as completely alone in the rehearsal space.

She took a moment to appreciate the stillness. There was one case in the far corner, but no one else was around. Maybe someone had decided to see their parents or go to the bathroom before packing up? She turned off all the lights except for one before walking out the doors and taking a right instead of a left. There was a wall of lockers lining the hallway, with larger ones on the bottom and smaller ones towards the top. Many of them held things belonging to the Symphony members, but one of the smaller ones towards the top had been available before the concert, and Hermione had asked Neville to help her safely stow away her laptop. Unfortunately, she was way too short to reach the locker. Even Neville had had to reach a bit to tip her laptop in.

Hermione put her violin case down, and spotted a small step ladder in the corner. Perfect. She had just managed to move the ladder into place when she heard a loud bang down the hallway.

No one else was around backstage, and she could barely hear audience members making their way out of the hall by this point. Had something fallen?

She padded her way down the hallway, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Hermione was reaching the end and found herself near the antechamber Hagrid had shown her earlier. She was about to turn around when she realized that the door was ajar and loud voices were coming from inside. She ducked around the corner and realized it wasn't loud voices. It was just one loud voice.

"Did you hear me, Draco? How dare you lie to us?" a voice that oozed privilege and old money was currently blasting down the hallway.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Father. I told you I was first stand. That isn't a lie," replied a steady voice. She barely recognized it belonging to Malfoy. She had heard his warm voice directed to his mother on the phone call at Slytherin Prep, the teasing one he had had when she had first met him, and the derisive tone he used after he found out she was Concertmaster. This was one was stiff and formal.

The loud voice transitioned to a hiss and sounded deadlier than any yelling. "Do not be smart with me. You led us to believe you were Concertmaster. You're lucky that your mother and I didn't tell the other parents about you being Concertmaster. It is impolite to boast, and we wanted to surprise the other parents when they saw that our son was the Concertmaster of not only the Slytherin Prep Orchestra but of Hogwarts as well. Imagine our surprise when our son was already sitting in his seat, and a girl we had never seen before comes on stage to tune the Orchestra. I'm glad we sat in the balcony. I don't think we could have seen you from our usual seats, Draco."

A gentle voice cut in, "Lucius."

"And I know you missed that note in the third movement of the Tchaikovsky, and your bow division in the Mozart was atrocious, and what on earth was that stunt in the beginning with the sheet music? I have never been so mortified."

Malfoy coughed. "What do you mean?"

"Don't deny it. You have never been clumsy, Draco. Not only have you grown up with sheet music and stands, but you are a Malfoy. I know you dropped that music on purpose when that girl froze. How dare you embarrass us like that? You might as well have dropped your violin on stage while you were at it."

Hermione blinked. Malfoy had dropped the sheet music on purpose? Why? There was no way he had meant to help her, right?

The gentle voice, which must have belonged to Malfoy's mother cut in again, a bit firmer this time. "Lucius, you know there are drafts in the hall. It could have simply been an accident."

A cold laugh echoed in the room. "An accident, Narcissa? No, I saw it. Draco clearly dropped the sheet music on purpose."

A soft sigh filled the silence. "It was a lovely concert, dear. Although, I was a bit surprised that Dumbledore chose Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony to begin the season." She paused. "The girl was good, and I know you were impressed by her, Lucius. Where does she go to school, Draco? I don't believe I've seen her before."

"She's a Gryffindor, Mother," Malfoy stiffly replied.

Lucius Malfoy snorted but Narcissa just hummed in response. "Well that explains why we haven't seen her before. Draco, you played very well. I do think it's the best I've seen you play in a concert. And the pieces were quite difficult."

A scoff sounded at that. "They should have been playing this at Slytherin Draco's freshman year. I need to speak with Severus about the repertoire along with a few other things." There was a pause. "Draco, I don't think I need to remind you about the Concerto competition in the Spring? If you're going to lose the position of Concertmaster to some girl who doesn't even go to Slytherin Prep, or even Ravenclaw, I expect you to make up for it."

"Lucius, that's enough. I think that it's time for us to leave, and the crowd should have thinned out by now. Draco, I asked Mr. Dobbs to make sure we had your favorite for dinner. It was truly a wonderful concert, darling."

Hermione jumped at the sound of footsteps and rushed back down the hallway towards the lockers. Her heart was still racing as she quickly climbed the precarious step ladder to the top locker. She kept one hand on the ladder as she used the other to quickly unlock the locker and grab the small bag with her laptop and a couple notebooks.

She had just managed to close the locker door when she smelled the familiar scent of cologne. Looking down, she met grey eyes looking up at her.

"Not bad for a first concert, Granger," he murmured.

Hermione just blinked back down at him and was thankful that she wore pants for this recital. She was quite high up on the step ladder, and a skirt would have been a bit precarious. She noticed that he had a tired and small smile on his face. His tie was unknotted and his hair was a bit rumpled and fell into his face a little bit. His suit jacket was loosely draped over the arm holding onto the step ladder. Draco Malfoy was quite handsome.

She realized she should probably reply instead of ogling her nemesis of a stand partner. "Not bad, Malfoy." Her wrist started to hurt with the weight of her bag, and she was suddenly aware that she needed both hands to make it down the step ladder unless she wanted to break her neck.

Malfoy offered her his free right hand to come down, and Hermione hesitated a bit before taking it. His hand was much larger than hers and was warm compared to her freezing fingers due to the chilly air backstage. She gripped a bit tightly as she made her way down, and he lightly squeezed back as she made it down the last step.

She looked up at him once she made her way down, and he nodded as he let go of her hand. "Have a good evening, Granger," he murmured before turning towards the back rehearsal room.

Hermione couldn't help but watch as he walked away and noticed him flexing the fingers of his right hand. Self-doubt, struggle, Fate. She replayed the conversation she had just overheard. Maybe Dumbledore had a few students in mind. Shaking her head, she quickly shrugged her violin case on and fled before Malfoy made his way out of the rehearsal room or before she ran into his parents.

She was still lost in her thoughts when she emerged into the lobby. Hermione blinked at the brighter lights and froze when she saw the blond man who looked like Malfoy and the beautiful woman next to him. Those had to be Malfoy's parents. They were chatting with a few other adults, but the man was starting to turn towards her. Hermione bit her lip and quickly turned right and almost walked straight into her parents.

"Hermione! Oh, it was absolutely wonderful! Your dad may have fallen asleep at one point, but you were terrific!" her mum was beaming and quickly took her bag from her.

"I didn't fall asleep! I was just enjoying the music with my eyes closed. The lights were a bit too bright for my taste. You were wonderful, Hermione," exclaimed her dad as he took her violin case from her and wrapped an arm around her.

"I think we should bring your grandparents next time. I'm sure they would enjoy it. Although, let's talking more in a bit. We have an early morning tomorrow."

"What was the name of that first piece again? It sounded quite beautiful. Did you play it in the apartment before?"

Hermione laughed a bit and tried to answer her parents' questions as they made their way out of the building. On the ride home, she took out her laptop to work on her essay, but she was a little preoccupied with what had happened earlier. It had been an enlightening concert in more ways than one. Shaking her head, she forced herself to flesh out her essay more. But the one thing she kept noticing was that despite the evening autumn chill, her left hand was still a little warm.

Thanks for reading! Peep and small P&P reference if you can find it!