The music wing was a section of the castle located on the fourth floor, away from the library. The related hallways formed a letter "D", with small individual practice rooms lining the main hall and the major group rehearsal rooms situated along a curve. This is where Rose came thrice a week for choir rehearsal. The other rooms were used for more informal performance rehearsals, like practicing for the Yule Ball, or simply jamming out with friends. A handful of students in every year brought instruments from home to play for fun. Hogwarts didn't have an official orchestra or band, but many students formed string quartets or unofficial year bands to perform for the Showcases.
Rose tread the familiar path through the castle to the music wing after her final class let out. She felt partly excited, partly apprehensive; she didn't know what or whom to expect. The corridor was deserted when she arrived, although she heard faint strains of music from one of the larger rooms, probably other students whose performances were scheduled for this week, maybe even tonight. She proceeded down the hallway of practice rooms, peering through the glass door of each one, before one of them opened suddenly on the other end of the hall. Rose startled when her name was called.
"Rose! In here!"
She turned to find Scorpius leaning out of the room. He'd taken off his robes but kept his uniform jumper on. His hair was sticking out from the side of his head as if he'd rubbed his hand through it in agitation. Rose headed over, passing through as Scorpius held the door open for her. Inside, the practice room was empty but for Scorpius' satchel and robes slumped on the ground beside the piano.
"Oh," Rose blurted. "Is he not coming today, after all? Who is it, by the way? Your note didn't say…"
Scorpius closed the door behind himself and leaned back against the glass, his hand still clutching the handle. He stared at the ground as Rose stared at him in confusion.
"Scorpius..?" she prompted.
Scorpius took a deep breath before straightening his posture. He looked up at Rose and stated determinedly, "I'll be your partner, Rose."
Rose was quite taken aback. Scorpius Malfoy, partner with her? She was dumbfounded for a moment, until it came to her. "Oh, oh Scorpius, no, you—you don't have to do that. It's alright if you didn't find someone; you don't have to fill in for Finn. I've already spoken to Professor Babbling about it. She knows I might have to drop out last minute—"
"No, I can do it." Scorpius crossed the room as Rose tried to relieve him of any perceived obligation towards her. He rummaged through his satchel and pulled out the sheet music she'd given him yesterday. He sat down at the piano and let out a breath before arranging the music on the shelf.
Rose continued to stare at him. "But-but you don't sing," she said.
Scorpius' gaze remained fixed on the musical notes. His fingers rested lightly on the piano keys but did not press down. Rose could tell by the placement of his hands that he'd been trained to play. "I can," Scorpius reiterated. "I…learned. When I was younger."
What an entirely unexpected development. Here was exactly the chance Rose had been waiting for, and she felt completely out of her depth. She continued to stand there, watching Scorpius jab lightly at the keys, leaning forward to examine the accompaniment part more closely.
"Shall we start from the beginning?" Scorpius asked.
"Um, sure." Rose cleared her throat.
The rehearsal did not go smoothly. Scorpius fumbled his playing frequently—because it's his first time seeing the music, Rose reminded herself—so they stopped and started often. The halting nature frustrated Rose, who did her best to sing along. She couldn't tell if her singing made it easier for Scorpius to find his own way through the music or only served to distract him further. She felt awkward and self-conscious, so she sometimes switched to humming along instead. Scorpius' face became grimmer, and Rose herself became more stressed the longer they attempted to work together.
After a little over twenty minutes of this, Rose interrupted Scorpius, suggesting they spend the next twenty minutes practicing separately. On the pretense of needing a stronger warm-up, she grabbed her things and left, stepping into the adjacent practice room. She took some time to breathe and warmed up her voice as she would in choir rehearsal. Their poor practice so far made her wonder again if it would be better to quit the show herself. It wasn't working, and she really couldn't see how they were going to make this work in only forty-eight hours.
They reconvened a half hour later. Scorpius looked a little harried, but he didn't rebuff her. They took the song in halves. Scorpius' playing was still a little wooden, but he didn't make any mistakes. Rose sang louder this time, shifting her focus to match the vibe of the piano, and felt like she'd perfected her part. Scorpius did not sing at all but did hum from time to time. Rose brought up the discrepancy on their second run, but Scorpius became more detached, saying shortly that he preferred to master the playing first before adding more. He wasn't rude, per se, but his expression wasn't inviting.
They ended the practice a little after the hour, neither one entirely happy. Rose felt weary and hungry and left for dinner as soon as they agreed to a meeting time for the following day.
Rose's proudest accomplishment to date at Hogwarts was the interhouse study hall she'd founded at the end of her fourth year. Ravenclaws were not only intelligent and creative, but they also enjoyed sharing information and working together to add to a collective body of knowledge. The Ravenclaw common room was always filled with students hard at work (Ravenclaws would never procrastinate on their schoolwork), and there was always someone older or more adept at a particular subject who was willing to help out a struggling, exasperated classmate. But Rose had spurred on this tutoring venture during her third year by overtly welcoming students from all houses and matching them up with the right tutors. It had begun with small clusters of friends who wandered into Ravenclaw Tower the day before tests or assignments were due and had grown into the most popular gathering place on school nights.
It wasn't until Professor Flitwick's enthusiastic support as faculty mentor and Rose's newly minted position as prefect this year that she'd had the power needed to turn her passion project into a more formal enterprise. Schoolwide Organized Study (SOS) was a bigger and more official expansion of the sort of collaborative learning environment ordinarily found in the Ravenclaw common room after dinner. The study group met in a group of four interconnected rooms on the same floor as the library. The rooms were outfitted with sofas, armchairs, and tables as well as bookshelves of the required textbooks for every course offered at Hogwarts. Official SOS sessions were held Mondays-Thursdays after dinner, but the rooms themselves were always open outside of those hours for general study purposes. Ostensibly billed as study spaces, the rooms also functioned as lounge areas that encouraged the sorts of academic discussions Madam Pince ruthlessly stamped out in the library. There was no obligation or membership required, so students straggled in at their scholarly necessity. Prefects took turns moderating and sometimes also served as subject experts to ensure that students were productive and not merely faffing about in the shared space. Rose spent most of her nights here, doing her own homework, tutoring, and managing the rota of tutors available for meetings.
That evening, Scorpius didn't attend the study group. This wasn't unusual. While he was an excellent tutor, patient and a good listener, he often preferred to study on his own or with Albus. As a prefect, he was required to attend only a couple of times during the week and had been absent the previous week due to Quidditch practice. But Rose had gotten used to his presence over the past several months since the start of the SOS. For Scorpius not to be here tonight, after their rehearsal… Rose imagined he wanted nothing more to do with her. She could hardly concentrate on her own homework, let alone help someone else, and instead spent the time thinking over their practice session.
Her anxiety over possibly having to drop out of the Showcase had made her impatient and a little frustrated, she could admit. It really was good of Scorpius to step in at the last minute to help her, especially considering her own brother and cousins had refused. If she had been given such short notice, she would have refused, too. She wasn't just asking Scorpius to help her understand astronomy. She was asking him to perform in front of the whole school, to play piano and sing in two days' time. A performance that would be recorded and photographed and commemorated in the yearbook! It was a lot to ask of anyone. She felt even worse.
Rose took out her music and stared wistfully at the lyrics and her additional notations. It wasn't a long song, less than four minutes. Scorpius had learned the entire accompaniment in their hour-long practice that afternoon, but he hadn't sung at all, preferring to hum his notes. They needed more time. She worried one more rehearsal tomorrow, and maybe on Wednesday, wouldn't be enough to make a great performance.
She grabbed her music player, the newest product from MagifyMe, a wizarding company that specialized in adapting Muggle technology for magical spaces. The oval device, packed with several insulation and protection charms, was more advanced than the tape she'd given to Scorpius. It had been a gift last Christmas from Uncle George and Aunt Angie, Fred's parents, and allowed her to listen to both her Muggle and magical music discs. She put on the attached little ear plugs and played the duet.
Ordinarily, she'd repeat the song several times over, humming or singing along, perfecting every note, but this time, she let it play on, really focusing on the lyrics. Rose imagined herself in a flowy red dress, standing across from Scorpius seated at the piano in the Great Hall. She imagined them singing to one another as they gazed into each other's eyes. This vision in her mind's eye splintered a little as she came across the bridge. She paused and replayed it.
Goodness! How had she never realized how romantic this song was? Well, she had known it intellectually, in the same way she knew it was a duet, but it clearly featured a couple in a relationship. She couldn't make Scorpius sing to her about how much he'd longed to show her what she meant to him! It would be too embarrassing, for both of them. She cringed anew at what he must have thought hearing the song for the first time. No wonder he hadn't wanted to sing in practice today!
Oh, why did she ever choose this song! She regretted making such a big deal out of performing for the Showcase. Of asking everyone she knew to help her. Of drawing attention to herself in such an obvious way. She could still drop out, no harm done. She could tell Professor Babbling first thing tomorrow that she hadn't been able to find a replacement for Finn and simply enjoy the rest of the week until it was time to go home. Yes, she could.
But no. She'd told everyone she knew that she'd signed up. She'd aired her worries about performing. Lily was expecting to record her for the yearbook. Her parents and family were looking forward to hearing that recording over the holidays. She'd asked Scorpius to find someone willing to help her, and he'd gallantly offered himself up for the task. She couldn't quit now. It would be a waste of all the time she and others had spent.
Come Merlin or madness, she was seeing this through to the end. But that didn't mean that she couldn't be inventive. A Ravenclaw's most prized asset is her mind, and Rose Granger-Weasley was a very smart girl.