(Summer, 1983)
"Ow! Dad, why does this hurt so much?" Harry yelled in pain. His father merely laughed with amusement. He grabbed the seven-year-old's small hand.
"In time, you will develop callouses, Harry. But for now, you have to work through the pain. Learning the guitar takes time and patience," The father smiled softly at his child, who returned the smile. "Now, try again,"
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath; he placed his hands on the strings of the instrument, letting out his breath before beginning to play. The sound was rather horrendous but it was a start.
The young child looked at his father, who kept the same smile. "Good, but press your fingers down a little harder," He nodded and adjusted. The sound improved slightly. "See, how much better that sound?"
Harry stopped and looked at the fingers on his left hand. "They are so red," His father smiled and held up his hand, which showed callouses from years of practice.
"As I said, in time you will get better,"
"Wow, look at you two getting along," a female voice stated in a joyous tone. Harry turned towards the owner of the voice and watched as his mother walked towards them. Standing by her side was his little brother, who hung onto their mother's dress.
His father chuckled and stood up. "Just teaching him a little something on the guitar,"
The red-headed woman smiled and laughed. "You act like your father more and more each year, James. Well, lunch is ready if you two want to eat,"
The older man looked at his son, who was still seated with the instrument that was a little too big for him. "Just a little longer Lily and we'll be in,"
The mother rolled her eyes. "Alright, but don't stay out too long," she walked away with the littlest member of the family following behind.
Harry watched as his father sat back down next to him. "Alright, Harry, play it one more time,"
(Present day)
"Harry, can you please do that somewhere else? I'm trying to do my homework," Adrian asked in an annoyed tone. Harry looked at his younger brother with a confused look. He removed the loose guitar string from his teeth.
"I only have like three more strings to change and besides you should have finished all of it during summer. Not the night before school,"
The younger Potter rolled his eyes. "You change your strings like every month,"
"When you play as often as I do, you have to change your strings a lot," The older brother stated as he finished changing his fourth string.
"Whatever, can you at least tell me the answers to Snape's assignment?" He asked in desperation.
Harry scoffed and kept the focus on his task at hand. "You think I remember homework from my fourth year?"
"You are the smartest wizard at our school," Adrian stated flatly.
"That doesn't mean I know what Snape is giving you, besides, he probably changed it by now to prevent cheating,"
The younger Potter sighed and leaned back in his seat, slamming his book close in the process. "I give up, I'll just cheat off of Hermione on the train," Harry chuckled at the notion and continued to change his strings. The room was quiet for a moment before the young brother broke the silence with a rather surprising question. "Do you miss dad, Harry?"
The young man stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his brother. He was stunned by the question. "Of course I do, why wouldn't I?"
Adrian just shrugged his shoulders. "It's just, I don't know, it's been a whole year since he disappeared. Everything just changed once he was gone. Mom passed away not long ago and according to that stupid court order, we can't even see Rose. How are we a family?" a tear was visibly forming in his eye.
Harry sighed and placed down his tools. "We're still a family, Adrian, just different that's all,"
"How can we say we're a family? We barely see her and when we do, we miss more and more of her life. She started school while we were away. What are we gonna do when she's a witch? I'll be gone and you'll be off somewhere in the world. " The young man stood up forcefully and slammed his hands on the table. "We are missing more and more of our little sister's life. Tell me how we're a family Harry?"
Harry stayed quiet, he was speechless. Adrian clenched his fist and quickly ran up out of the room. The older brother stood dumbfounded.
"What am I going to do?"
(Paris, France)
"One more time," the teacher firmly stated.
The young woman sighed and placed her hands back and on the ivory keys of the piano. She began playing and everything was flawless. Like it was supposed to be.
"See what happens when you focus?" The young woman stopped playing and looked at her teacher.
"Thank you, madame," she stated coldly.
"We're done for today, but I want you to practice for at least an hour tonight, and please record it. I am beginning to doubt if you are actually getting in your house."
"Yes, madame," the young woman stated in the same cold tone.
"Good, I will see you tomorrow at the same time," The young woman stood up from the seat and headed towards the exit. When she entered the waiting area, seated was a handsome young man who was busy reading a book. He looked up at her and smiled.
"Finally done, huh?" He stood up and made his way over to her. "You know it would help for you to smile a bit, Fleur?"
She rolled her eyes and kept the same cold expression. "I don't need your sass, Isaac," She walked passed him without a second thought.
"Well I love you too, cousin," she heard him whisper sarcastically.
The pair walked out of the building and into the cold night. Fleur looked up at the moon and sighed. She clenched her fist and felt tears forming.
"Hey, is everything alright?" he placed a hand on her shoulder.
She just shook her head and wiped away the tears, making sure to hide it. "I'm fine, just tired that's all,"
"No, tell me what's wrong, the ice queen of the Delacours doesn't cry without a reason," The young man placed a hand on the shoulder of his cousin.
Fleur sighed and took a deep breath. She wiped away a loose tear. "For one, I wasn't crying and two, I'm sick of these lessons. It's not fun anymore,"
"Then why don't you quit?"
"You don't think I've tried? Our demon of a grandmother won't let me," She yelled in anger.
"Hey, keep your voice down, it's late, and you'll wake the neighbors," The young man removed his hand and gave a defeated tone. "I know our family is tough but I remember that you love playing the piano-"
"I used to love playing the piano, now it's just torture," She cut him off.
"Well you know what I mean, sometimes, you just have to stop worrying about what others want and listen to your heart,"
The young woman held back a laugh. "Listen to my heart? Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?"
He smiled and chuckled. "Okay, you have a point there, but you know what I mean, sometimes you just have to listen to the music of life and let things happen. It's late, go home and get some rest. We'll more about this tomorrow," The young man began walking away but not before looking back one more time.
"Remember, sometimes you just have to listen to the music of life,"
Fleur watched as he walked away and scoffed. She began walking in the opposite direction.
"The music of life,"
AN: Guess what, I didn't quit. Anyways, it's been months since I've written and I can gladly say I am back. Anyways, let's some questions out of the way. What happened to that one story? Long story short, I lost passion for that one and I made a lot of plot holes I didn't want to patch up. I still have the story files and might republish it, but I am uncertain. At the moment, I want to just focus on the task at hand. Along with that, grammar-wise, I don't have someone to check for me, so I have to catch and fix them myself. If I miss something, please let me know.
For those who read my other story, this one is set in the same universe, same characters, the same strengths, and weaknesses of the characters. Just a completely different plot. Anyways, thank you for being patient and I hope I still have your attention.
